SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Refinery Church Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad you've joined us today.
SPEAKER_01: Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in your pursuit to love and follow Jesus for life.
SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ, visit us online at refineryohio.com.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's dive into today's message.
SPEAKER_02: Good morning, y'all.
SPEAKER_02: Happy Mother's Day to the moms in the room.
SPEAKER_02: And uh some of you, like all uh God, just craftswoman in mind with just kind of this fierce, like protective instinct and that tenacity, and it means so much.
SPEAKER_02: Some, you know, always planned to be a mom, and that's just kind of how the story worked out.
SPEAKER_02: Some it was through adoption or foster care.
SPEAKER_02: You hadn't anticipated that.
SPEAKER_02: For others, man, like you just play that motherly role in the life of somebody in such a significant way.
SPEAKER_02: Um, in my life, I've had two grandmothers by adoption, not official adoption, but they played a very important role in my life and in my faith, and so I'm grateful for that.
SPEAKER_02: Have my wife, the mother of my boys here, and I mother-in-law today, too.
SPEAKER_02: Super excited to have them and grateful for them and their influence.
SPEAKER_02: And so, man, just we celebrate you today, and we're just grateful for you.
SPEAKER_02: Um, this morning, I I want to continue in our rooted series.
SPEAKER_02: I want to start this way.
SPEAKER_02: On Tuesday, I have a meeting.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it'll be um a pretty good chunk of the day.
SPEAKER_02: I meet with five other pastors.
SPEAKER_02: We do this three to four times a year, and we kind of just talk through work, talk through shops, so to speak.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, how are you doing this?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, how are you navigating this situation?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, here's an issue I have that I'm trying to process through.
SPEAKER_02: How would you handle that?
SPEAKER_02: Have you seen it before?
SPEAKER_02: What that looks like.
SPEAKER_02: And my my guess is, or at least my hope would be, you all have something like that in your own professional sphere.
SPEAKER_02: About a month ago, somebody in the church texted me and said, Hey, I'm I'm looking for some mentoring in this particular area as it pertains to work.
SPEAKER_02: You know, could you give me any recommendation, advice, whatever that might look like?
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Yeah, let's let's chat.
SPEAKER_02: And we even talked about it today because we need we need feedback.
SPEAKER_02: Like we we need to be able to process, like, man, so much of our professional life what that looks like and how to do those things well.
SPEAKER_02: But we need counsel in other areas too.
SPEAKER_02: Like when it comes to marriage, if you're a married person, you've realized that sometimes it's a little tricky to be married.
SPEAKER_02: Like, sometimes like your spouse doesn't understand exactly what you're thinking in the moment that you're thinking it, even though you've conveyed it in perfectly articulate language.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever encountered this?
SPEAKER_02: Never happened in our marriage, but in other people's marriage, I've heard about this.
SPEAKER_02: And so you hopefully have people that you talk to that, man, just have a strong marriage.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe they're 10 years down the line, or maybe just really strong marriage in kind of a similar vein.
SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, have you guys ever dealt with this?
SPEAKER_02: How do you process it?
SPEAKER_02: If you got kids, then you definitely need counsel.
SPEAKER_02: Like, you need some help, a lot of help, right?
SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes you're like, man, I think I'm doing this parenting thing pretty well.
SPEAKER_02: And then you have kids and you realize you're not.
SPEAKER_02: And so, like, you talk to other people, like, hey, is your kid crazy too?
SPEAKER_02: And like, what do you do and how do you navigate it?
SPEAKER_02: When it comes to managing finances, like, my hope is that you talk to people, like, hey, is this a good idea?
SPEAKER_02: Is this a good path?
SPEAKER_02: Is this a good thought?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, don't get financial advice from your broke friends, right?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's just helpful.
SPEAKER_02: Um when you think about just all of life, like we need counsel, we need feedback.
SPEAKER_02: I even think about just like in general hobbies that I have or general interests that I have.
SPEAKER_02: Like I've got friends I'll legit text with, or we'll call.
SPEAKER_02: I was talking to somebody the other day about a hobby that we share, and we're just kind of talking through strategy.
SPEAKER_02: What podcast are you listening to?
SPEAKER_02: Have you read this article?
SPEAKER_02: Have you heard about this idea?
SPEAKER_02: We need counsel, we need feedback, we we need helps, we need inputs.
SPEAKER_02: You've got your people, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like you have your people.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't, you need to get your people.
SPEAKER_02: You've got to have people to give these inputs because even if you are an expert in any given particular field, expertise can actually be to your detriment if you're not careful.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're an expert and you know the stuff, but then all of a sudden you can get tunnel vision if you don't have other inputs coming in.
SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, have you ever thought about it from this vantage point, or have you considered this angle, or do you ever try this instead?
SPEAKER_02: We need inputs, we need feedback, we need wise counsel in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: Well, we need to feel like we're heard.
SPEAKER_02: When you have a thought, when you have an idea, like you need to be able to share it, you need to be able to express it and feel like, man, somebody cared to listen to what I had to say.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes, like, we need people to correct what we said.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I was thinking I had this idea, and somebody's like, hey, that's not a good idea.
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's a dumb idea.
SPEAKER_02: You shouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_02: We need rebuke, we need correction.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we need encouragement, support.
SPEAKER_02: Like I was thinking about this, and it's like, yeah, you should do that.
SPEAKER_02: That would be fantastic.
SPEAKER_02: We need counsel, we need feedback.
SPEAKER_02: We all need healthy sounding boards and wise counsel.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it's easy to find people for that.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, depending on a hobby or work or whatever, depending on your work, it might be a unique enough specialty that it's sometimes it's tricky, but we all need people to dialogue with.
SPEAKER_02: And there's some areas of our lives where that's easy, and there's other areas of our lives where it's a little bit more tricky.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes there's just sensitive parts of our life, like, man, I'm processing this, I'm dealing with this, I'm not quite sure what to do with it, but we still need people.
SPEAKER_02: This month we're spending our time talking about how we practice the presence of God in our lives, how we root ourselves in his presence.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're gonna be exploring the ideas of prayer and of scripture, of fasting and of generosity.
SPEAKER_02: These spiritual disciplines that we cultivate in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: And this morning we're talking about prayer.
SPEAKER_02: We need a sounding board.
SPEAKER_02: God is intended to be our primary sounding board.
SPEAKER_02: God, I'm dealing with, God, I'm trying to figure out, God, so-and-so is driving me nuts.
SPEAKER_02: God, like I love this about God.
SPEAKER_02: I think about this idea.
SPEAKER_02: I'm wondering, should I?
SPEAKER_02: We need that sounding board, and God longs to hear from us.
SPEAKER_02: We need wise counsel in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: God, here's what I'm trying to think through, here's what I have ideas, or should I do this?
SPEAKER_02: Should I do that?
SPEAKER_02: And we need to listen for the word of God, listen for the prompting of God, look for the Spirit of God to move us in certain ways.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, twice a year as a church, we set aside what we call our 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the idea is based on that, you know, old terminology used to say that 21 days to form a habit or whatever else it is.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but there's just something about uh the whole church and a common focus, a common lean-in into prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And so um, you can do this one of two ways.
SPEAKER_02: As you came in, there were paper copies you could grab.
SPEAKER_02: They'll also be there on your way out, unless we run out and then we'll print more.
SPEAKER_02: You can also scan this QR code, it's gonna auto-populate a text for you, and you just hit send.
SPEAKER_02: You don't need to add anything else to it.
SPEAKER_02: Um, if it doesn't auto-populate, you can just type in 21 D O P, 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Um, or you can stop by the connection hub if you have any difficulty, and it'll start sending it to you literally tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: And so it'll be a text prompt every day.
SPEAKER_02: And there's the encouragement to read a chapter of scripture, and then from that chapter, there's one or two, three verses max that are called out, and then it's just kind of a prayer prompt.
SPEAKER_02: But I want to read you what we write at the before you begin on this 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: It says, prayer is essential in the life of the individual who follows after Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer is essential.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer is essential for families and for churches who long to be centered in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: We believe it's essential, and so we want to cultivate this discipline in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: We want to lean into this.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer matters.
SPEAKER_02: We arrive at this conclusion in agreement with the consensus thought throughout the history of Christianity, and as we look at the life of Jesus, prayer really does matter.
SPEAKER_02: Having God as our primary sounding board, having God as our primary source of wisdom, there's a bug.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it stings or bites.
SPEAKER_02: If it does, every man and woman for themselves.
SPEAKER_02: I am recovering from a sprained ankle, so if I'm slow, I'd like a few of you to be slower.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer matters.
SPEAKER_02: This morning I want to look with you to the book of Luke.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna walk through just the first few chapters initially.
SPEAKER_02: We'll end up in Luke chapter 5.
SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's kind of an interesting movement.
SPEAKER_02: So we have the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
SPEAKER_02: We're in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: 39 books in the old, 27 in the new, 66 books comprise the library, written across hundreds of years by dozens of authors.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a Bible, we'd love to give you one.
SPEAKER_02: It's the exact same Bible I use.
SPEAKER_02: Stop by the connection hub.
SPEAKER_02: But in the opening, it explains about how John the Baptist is gonna come to be born, and this is gonna be the cousin of Jesus, he's a forerunner to Jesus, announcing the ministry that he's gonna be about.
SPEAKER_02: And then we see like the birth of Jesus, how he's presented at the temple, like what he's like as a child, all of these things, and then we actually see Jesus's, we we read about his genealogy, and we read about his temptation and the wilderness and how he's rejected, how he begins to heal and call disciples, all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And this is the story that's moving along, and it brings it to this point in Luke chapter 5, verse 12.
SPEAKER_02: It reads, While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy, and Jesus' ministry has begun, he's beginning to heal people, right?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is just giving us a quick update to where he is.
SPEAKER_02: It says, When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_02: He couldn't be in community, he couldn't be in relationship with people.
SPEAKER_02: He would have not only dealt with the physical challenges of what his disease presented, but also with the social challenges that would have been connected.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, which was something you shouldn't do for health reasons and also cultural reasons.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I am willing, he said, and he said, Be clean, and immediately the leprosy left him.
SPEAKER_02: Now, things like this get attention.
SPEAKER_02: Things like this bring about a response.
SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus gives some instruction.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Don't tell anyone.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't need more clamor, I don't need more noise right now.
SPEAKER_02: Don't tell anyone, but go show yourself to the priests and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.
SPEAKER_02: He's re-establishing him within the community.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 15 tells us, but yet the news about him spread all the more.
SPEAKER_02: So that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and he prayed.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and he prayed.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is busy here, he's healing people, he's teaching people, he's building his leadership team, he's establishing a culture of what it means to follow after God.
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot going on.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, things are growing, things are really taking off, like there is momentum.
SPEAKER_02: Even if he tries to squelch the momentum, like people just keep coming out of the woodwork.
SPEAKER_02: People want time with him, travel schedules need to be arranged.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, leadership development for the new movement needs to be established, needs to be carried out.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you think about like the responsibilities that you and I hold.
SPEAKER_02: We each get 24 hours a day.
SPEAKER_02: Whether you're more important, less important, doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: You get 24 hours a day.
SPEAKER_02: You get seven days in a week.
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't matter if you're highly efficient, terribly inefficient, highly effective, terribly ineffective.
SPEAKER_02: You get 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes, like I don't know about you, but I've found like the time there's never enough.
SPEAKER_02: The two to do the to-do list is always longer than the amount of time in the day.
SPEAKER_02: Before you know it, like, listen, we're almost halfway through 2026.
SPEAKER_02: Is that what we're year we're in?
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: About said 25, okay, about a year and a half late.
SPEAKER_02: We're almost halfway through this year.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it just imagine how much more so for Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Like, Jesus, everybody wants time with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody, Jesus, you got to meet my friend.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, you got to meet my boss.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, can you come speak at our club?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, could you come and network?
SPEAKER_02: Listen, Jesus, we're having a lunch and you gotta be there.
SPEAKER_02: And it's in the midst of all of this that we read this verse, right on the heels of a monumental healing, an incredibly catalytic moment for the ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Things are happening, very good things, life-giving things.
SPEAKER_02: And it's in the midst of this that we read, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
SPEAKER_02: Amidst the clamor to hear and experience the good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus often withdrew.
SPEAKER_02: It isn't just that Jesus would get away after the big moments, it was part of his regular rhythm.
SPEAKER_02: He regularly got away from the crowds and the noise.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't do this simply to find alone time or just some quiet space for himself.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus didn't withdraw merely for rest, he withdrew for communion with the Father.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, like, I need some time with the Father.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus, things are like, these are cranking.
SPEAKER_02: Like, could we wait maybe till tomorrow, maybe this weekend, maybe next week?
SPEAKER_02: Listen, let's get through this season.
SPEAKER_02: Busy season, I know.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus says, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: I need time with the Father.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_02: We won't get this opportunity again.
SPEAKER_02: He goes, I don't need this opportunity again.
SPEAKER_02: I need time with the Father.
SPEAKER_02: He found rest in time with the Father, and we too are to find rest in time with God.
SPEAKER_02: If Jesus, fully God and fully man, did this, how much more do you and I need to establish this rhythm in our lives?
SPEAKER_02: And it's a rhythm that doesn't happen naturally.
SPEAKER_02: In your role as a worker, as a friend, as a spouse, as a parent, maybe you're volunteering with an organization that's here at the church or in the community.
SPEAKER_02: There's things to get done.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you still gotta mow the lawn.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta get some mulch down, seriously.
SPEAKER_02: The weeds are attacking y'all.
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: We got to get to the grocery store.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I told so-and-so I'd help them.
SPEAKER_02: They asked for a meeting.
SPEAKER_02: I still gotta get the bills paid because I've got to get that settled.
SPEAKER_02: All these things have to get done.
SPEAKER_02: Think about how much more significant it is in the midst of all that to get this time alone with God.
SPEAKER_02: You see, because when we spend time alone with the Father, we can figure out or we can be reminded or we can be clarified who God is, who we are, and how we're to live in community with one another.
SPEAKER_02: We don't get away for time, we don't get away for prayer when there's time, we make time.
SPEAKER_02: We don't get away for prayer when we're just at our wits' end and we've got nothing left.
SPEAKER_02: We get away for prayer before we reach that spot.
SPEAKER_02: We don't get away for prayer like as this last resort.
SPEAKER_02: We get away for prayer as our very first move.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus regularly withdrew to lonely places so he could pray because prayer was so vital to who he was and all that he was doing.
SPEAKER_02: He's modeling for us what it means to be fully human.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer should be so essential to who we are and what we're doing that we just can't help but get away.
SPEAKER_02: Mom, I need, mom, I need, mom, I need.
SPEAKER_02: You ever heard that?
SPEAKER_02: Boss says, Listen, we gotta have you come in.
SPEAKER_02: We need you.
SPEAKER_02: Local organization says, we gotta have, if you're not here.
SPEAKER_02: Friends say, hey, listen, we got a tea time at the course, you'll never believe it.
SPEAKER_02: It's like, listen, I've got something else I gotta do.
SPEAKER_02: What could be more important than this?
SPEAKER_02: It's literally the most important thing in my life.
SPEAKER_02: To regularly withdraw for prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that it would be said of you and of me.
SPEAKER_02: Man, they had joy, they had peace, they had patience, they had kindness, they had goodness.
SPEAKER_02: All these things were true about, oh, they were great in their work.
SPEAKER_02: You could tell they love people, but what else?
SPEAKER_02: Were they always around?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, they were always available, except they would regularly withdraw just to lonely places just to pray.
SPEAKER_02: They would regularly shut down activities to pray.
SPEAKER_02: They were people of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: As I mentioned at the outset, we all need and have people we go to regularly for counsel or for sounding boards to get feedback.
SPEAKER_02: We need people to listen to us, to give advice, like to give ear to whatever we're dealing with.
SPEAKER_02: Man, I've you ever have that person that's really frustrating you and they're driving you nuts?
SPEAKER_02: And you tell your colleague or you tell your friend or you tell your neighbor, do you talk to God about them?
SPEAKER_02: You should go tell him.
SPEAKER_02: God, this person's driving me nuts.
SPEAKER_02: I can't believe in they and this and that and the other, and then stop long enough to see if God agrees with what you're saying?
SPEAKER_02: Or but God begins to work on your heart.
SPEAKER_02: God, I've got a I've got a situation that's impossible.
SPEAKER_02: It's a task I can't manage, it's something that's too big, I don't know what to do with it.
SPEAKER_02: And then you sit before the infinite sovereign God of the universe, and all of a sudden the problem looks a little different.
SPEAKER_02: God, and I I've got an opportunity, I've got to seize it, it's a moment.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I know it's gonna cut into my family time, or I know it's gonna cut into my faith stuff, or I know it's gonna cut into, I know it's gonna push me a little more than maybe I should.
SPEAKER_02: God, but this is incredible.
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't possibly pass on it.
SPEAKER_02: And then you sit before the God of the universe and realize every gift you've ever needed has already been readily afforded to you.
SPEAKER_02: And if it pushes you beyond your capacity, then eventually it will break you.
SPEAKER_02: And so you pass on that great opportunity because you spent some good time with God.
SPEAKER_02: Our situations, our challenges that we face, the opportunities that are on the horizon, and life in general all look different after we've spent time with God.
SPEAKER_02: And this is why Jesus models for us to regularly get away with the Father.
SPEAKER_02: God, I've got this.
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of stressing me out.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, it's okay, I get it.
SPEAKER_02: I get it.
SPEAKER_02: It's beginning to take shape.
SPEAKER_02: God, I'm dealing with this situation.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_02: God, this relationship's kind of tricky for me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to, okay, yeah, I get this.
SPEAKER_02: Regularly get away time for prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you've heard the thing, you know, you're not yourself when you're hungry, eat a Snickers, right?
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Testify.
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: Almond Snickers in the house.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, come on, come on.
SPEAKER_02: I see that hand.
SPEAKER_02: You're not who you're meant to be when you don't pray.
SPEAKER_02: Literally.
SPEAKER_02: You're not meant to go without communion with God.
SPEAKER_02: We are not meant to live that way.
SPEAKER_02: Look with me to another passage.
SPEAKER_02: It's in Luke.
SPEAKER_02: We're literally flipping over a chapter.
SPEAKER_02: It says this in Luke chapter 12, verses 6, 12, through chapter 6, verses 12 through 16.
SPEAKER_02: It says, One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray.
SPEAKER_02: This was just what he did.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus often withdrew to pray.
SPEAKER_02: We've already read about this.
SPEAKER_02: And if you read the gospels, you'll see it's a regular pattern.
SPEAKER_02: You'll see this in the life of the disciples too, when they have the regular hours of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And as they were going to the temple to pray, as they often did, they decided to heal somebody along the way.
SPEAKER_02: And he spent the night praying to God.
SPEAKER_02: When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them.
SPEAKER_02: The disciples, there were a ton of disciples, there were a lot of people that were following after Jesus that were interested in what Jesus was saying.
SPEAKER_02: They wanted to follow after him, but there's twelve that are chosen, it says, to be apostles.
SPEAKER_02: Simon, whom he named Peter, his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alpheus, Simon, who was called the zealot, Judas, son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who would become a traitor.
SPEAKER_02: This was Jesus' core leadership team.
SPEAKER_02: These were the men who would follow him most closely and be entrusted to them like they would literally go and teach in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: They would heal in Jesus' name, like they would perform the same task that Jesus would perform.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, this is an incredibly significant moment in his ministry.
SPEAKER_02: They're launching off on an endeavor, and it is profound, it is impactful, it is meaning.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, Jesus no doubt was like going over the charts, figuring out who'd had success, who was struggling, doing the personality profile, strength finder, everything to see who would fit, who wouldn't.
SPEAKER_02: And right before this passage, we actually see Jesus being challenged multiple times by religious leaders of his day who just misunderstood, they they missed the moment of what the gospel was intended to be about.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus wouldn't play by their rules.
SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus reveals the brokenness in some of their systems.
SPEAKER_02: And it's on the heels of these encounters that Jesus sets apart twelve to be his leadership team.
SPEAKER_02: He's choosing them.
SPEAKER_02: One of the twelve he knows is going to betray him.
SPEAKER_02: He will become broken himself.
SPEAKER_02: The other eleven will literally help establish the birth of the church where it grows by thousands.
SPEAKER_02: It spreads and around the entire globe to every language, nation, tribe for over 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_02: And notice what precedes the calling of the twelve.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and he spent the night praying to God.
SPEAKER_02: He already knows what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: He already knows everything to go.
SPEAKER_02: But he's laying a pattern for you and for me.
SPEAKER_02: Because as you and I head into difficult conversations, as we head into significant inflection points in our lives, whether it be professionally, relationally, some health challenge we're dealing with, the idea of a move, when we're dealing with something like that, we don't know how it's Going to play out, and Jesus says, listen, if you want to do it right, you already have it as a regular rhythm.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't, first you've got to establish the regular rhythm.
SPEAKER_02: But when you come upon these really big things, here, look at my life.
SPEAKER_02: Look what happens before his arrest and his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_02: He goes and he spends time in prayer, extensive time in prayer, to where literally his disciples are falling asleep.
SPEAKER_02: What's your process for making a decision in life?
SPEAKER_02: We make thousands of decisions all the time.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you get up to that board at McDonald's and you're like, who knows what it's going to be this time?
SPEAKER_02: It could have changed.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: You ever been there?
SPEAKER_02: You're standing back, two, three people, and now it's all, I know, you just order on the digital screen or whatever, but you'd stand behind somebody, they look at the screen the menu like they've never seen it before in their lives.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, you've been standing here, bro.
SPEAKER_02: It's a cheeseburger and fry, let's go.
SPEAKER_02: But in the course of our lives, amidst all the thousands of decisions we make, professionally, relationally, everything else, we don't make that many really big decisions, maybe a handful a year, give or take.
SPEAKER_02: What's your process for making those big decisions?
SPEAKER_02: When you're considering the move, when you're considering the job change, when you're considering what it looks like to make a pretty significant financial investment somewhere.
SPEAKER_02: When you're trying to think about schooling, when you're trying to think about, man, should I ask this person to marry me?
SPEAKER_02: When you're put on the spot and like, should I respond yes or no?
SPEAKER_02: That's one you want to think about and anticipate.
SPEAKER_02: In the midst of that, like, how do you make a decision?
SPEAKER_02: How do I make a decision?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus models for us what to do.
SPEAKER_02: We need a regular rhythm for getting away with prayer.
SPEAKER_02: It helps us maintain clarity on who God is, who we are, because if we know who God is, then we know who's really running everything.
SPEAKER_02: If we know who we are, then we can know kind of what our role in this thing.
SPEAKER_02: Then we know how to live in relationship with one another.
SPEAKER_02: We have this regular rhythm of prayer, and then in moments we have these catalytic times of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus spent the night praying to God.
SPEAKER_02: It helps us maintain clarity before establishing his leadership team.
SPEAKER_02: Even though Jesus knows exactly how it's going to play out, he spends an entire night in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: What priority does prayer have in our lives?
SPEAKER_02: How much is God our sounding board?
SPEAKER_02: God, I got some ideas, I got some thoughts, I want to run them by you.
SPEAKER_02: Not just bless these things.
SPEAKER_02: God, are you in this?
SPEAKER_02: Is this what you would have me to do?
SPEAKER_02: Does this make bring joy to your heart?
SPEAKER_02: God, I've got some challenges I'm facing.
SPEAKER_02: I don't exactly know what to do.
SPEAKER_02: God, what is it you would have me to do?
SPEAKER_02: Take your time to answer.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna sit with you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in no rush, I'm waiting upon you.
SPEAKER_02: In the midst of the decisions we make in life, how much more should we seek God in prayer to know what we should do?
SPEAKER_02: There's this quote from Brother Lawrence in the practice of the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_02: And this is a book, again, written in the 1700s, a Carmelite monk from France who just man developed this practice of the presence of God in his life, and it will be a helpful dialogue with us.
SPEAKER_02: But it says, he writes, one way to recollect the mind easily in the time of prayer and preserve it more in tranquility is not to let it wander too far at other times.
SPEAKER_02: Did you catch that?
SPEAKER_02: One way to recollect the mind in the time of prayer and maintain this sense of tranquility, just this sense of, man, God is with me at all places, is not to let it wander ever too far at other times.
SPEAKER_02: If you find that, man, it's hard to get yourself in a place of prayer, it's like, well, I really need a ramp up to kind of, if you're like, I come into church, it's gonna take me a little bit to get ramped up, you're doing it wrong.
SPEAKER_02: Well, God wasn't with you?
SPEAKER_02: I ain't seen him since last week.
SPEAKER_02: Which one is he?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, God, it's me again.
SPEAKER_02: I know, it's only been an hour.
SPEAKER_02: My bad.
SPEAKER_02: We need to talk.
SPEAKER_02: This regular rhythm.
SPEAKER_02: And to where more and more you say, God, I really want to reflect you in between these prayer times, just like I am in these prayer times.
SPEAKER_02: Because then I don't have to change my verbiage.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to change my demeanor.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to change my character, I don't change my wants or my desire.
SPEAKER_02: I want you.
SPEAKER_02: I desire you, I desire your presence, I desire to be so deeply rooted in you that all of my life, everything flows from that place.
SPEAKER_02: And so the time of prayer for me isn't all that different than the time of conversation with my neighbor or the pursuit of my passion or my hobby, or carrying out with diligence and excellence my professional capacities.
SPEAKER_02: So a few simple steps for growth in prayer, ideas to consider, thoughts to try.
SPEAKER_02: Uh the first would just be the 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: It's a simple resource.
SPEAKER_02: It's again meant to kind of cultivate this rhythm, cultivate this pattern.
SPEAKER_02: Some may already have it, and this is a helpful way for us as a church to all be praying and in the same kind of scriptures together, which is a good thing.
SPEAKER_02: Uh maybe the Lord would kind of prompt you, you think about somebody in your life group or just a friend in the church, they're dealing with something, you're reading a passage of scripture, they come to mind, shoot them a text, give them a call.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, listen, I was thinking about, I was doing the prayer for man for church today, and I was thinking about your situation.
SPEAKER_02: This seems to speak to it, and you were on my heart, you were on my mind.
SPEAKER_02: Always follow those promptings.
SPEAKER_02: Second thing is I'd love to invite you to join our prayer watch team.
SPEAKER_02: It's it's a team that operates in the background.
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's rooted in this idea of Daniel 9.3, um, or Daniel 3.9, sorry.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's 9-3.
SPEAKER_02: I remembered it right.
SPEAKER_02: You can take your phone and hold it to one of those stickers in front of you, or it's in front of your neighbor and just kind of awkwardly do one of these numbers and give them a head nod.
SPEAKER_02: And this is just a way to join our prayer team.
SPEAKER_02: Three three three days a week, twice a day.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I want to interrupt your day with prayer for the church, for the ministry of the church, what God's doing in the church and what God's doing through the church.
SPEAKER_02: If you say, I don't know that I'd have time, you should probably join.
SPEAKER_02: Um and I'll send you out a text once a week, and then we got some prayer watch meetups.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna about a have a half a dozen of them throughout the year, just a chance to pray together, dialogue together.
SPEAKER_02: And so it would be another means you might try.
SPEAKER_02: A third thing might be is just establishing some regular rhythms of prayer in your own life.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, maybe, maybe you're like, hey, I always pray before my meal, and that's probably the only guaranteed time, or maybe that's not even one.
SPEAKER_02: Like, throw that in.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, what about in the morning or in the evening?
SPEAKER_02: Just setting a regular rhythm of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Or you might say, hey, I'm gonna just put a time for two or 1111, 707, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't have to be some sacred time.
SPEAKER_02: Tie it to a scripture if you want.
SPEAKER_02: But just these regular rhythms to interrupt your life with prayer.
SPEAKER_02: It's like, man, I think I don't want to go more than 12 hours without a set aside.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, then set it to every 12 hours, 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: and 8 p.m.
SPEAKER_02: Man, I'm just gonna have these reminders to pray.
SPEAKER_02: Building in these rhythms, because what we prioritize, we plan for.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, who is in very nature God, prioritized prayer.
SPEAKER_02: It was prioritized within the regular rhythm of his life and at catalytic moments as well.
SPEAKER_02: And so for us, like we have this chance, if we want to root ourselves deeply in the presence of God, how much is the regular rhythm of my where somebody'd say, oh, yeah, he's probably off praying somewhere.
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, she's off praying somewhere.
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, their family prays about everything, literally.
SPEAKER_02: Like you, if you ask them, hey, we got a great opportunity, they're probably gonna pray about it.
SPEAKER_02: If they have a challenge, they're gonna pray about it.
SPEAKER_02: They're people of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And then in significant moments, how do I prioritize prayer?
SPEAKER_02: We would be wise to learn from Jesus' example.
SPEAKER_02: Cultivating a deep and abiding like life rooted in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Like it's not always gonna be easy.
SPEAKER_02: There are gonna be a lot of things that compete for it.
SPEAKER_02: I believe very much that the enemy would love to distract us and keep us busy with anything else.
SPEAKER_02: Us trying to figure out with one another how to deal with the painful co-worker instead of inviting God into the process.
SPEAKER_02: Us trying to figure out how we navigate the blessings in our lives rather than asking God how we steward those to his glory.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer, though, is a gift we're invited to receive because we're in a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_02: It's just like uh like a child with a loving mom or a loving dad, and they tell them everything.
SPEAKER_02: They tell them the good, they tell them the bad, they ask him for little things, they ask him for big things.
SPEAKER_02: They kind of just process, they never think uh, you know this, especially with like kids, especially when they're small.
SPEAKER_02: You notice this?
SPEAKER_02: Look at mom, mom, mom, mom, mom.
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: You could be talking, you can be in the restroom, you can be like hiding, right?
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't you could be asleep, they'll wake you up.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't bot doesn't bother them the slightest.
SPEAKER_02: Why not be that way with God?
SPEAKER_02: God, hey, God, God, I gotta talk to you, God.
SPEAKER_02: And we'll always find there's just this ready invitation.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because a loving child knows they can go to the parent.
SPEAKER_02: We can trust that God desires to hear from us and speak to us in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: We can trust that.
SPEAKER_02: God desires to hear from us, and God desires to speak to us in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And so before we head out, I kind of want to just sit with this for a moment, this thought.
SPEAKER_02: A few thoughts.
SPEAKER_02: The God who created the universe is not reluctant to hear from you.
SPEAKER_02: He's not annoyed by your voice.
SPEAKER_02: And he is not waiting for polished words.
SPEAKER_02: He is your father and like a good father.
SPEAKER_02: He longs and delights to hear from his children.
SPEAKER_02: Whether it's something good, something bad, it's the big things or it's the little things.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer isn't getting, isn't about getting God's attention.
SPEAKER_02: In Christ, you already have it.
SPEAKER_02: Simply say, Father, I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: And trust that He is too.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're gonna head out this morning.
SPEAKER_02: And I really would love to invite you to say, okay, God, what step are you asking me to take?
SPEAKER_02: Um, 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: That's a simple thing I could join.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna do the text thing because, man, I'm gonna forget.
SPEAKER_02: Or I'm gonna do the paper thing because I need something tangible in my hand.
SPEAKER_02: That's fine either way.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer watch, man, I think that's something that could benefit me.
SPEAKER_02: We ask, it's a one-year commitment, just so you know.
SPEAKER_02: I'll follow up with you if you're interested in it.
SPEAKER_02: And to explain what it looks like and everything else.
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, oh man, that might be too much.
SPEAKER_02: It might be too much of an interruption in my life.
SPEAKER_02: You should join.
SPEAKER_02: I want to interrupt your life.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe for you, it's like I neither of those are like my specific step, or that's, but I really do.
SPEAKER_02: I need to set aside some times for prayer because I tend to only pray when I get super frustrated or I kind of almost forget.
SPEAKER_02: And one last thing, uh, my friends Kevin and Miranda, when I pray here in a minute, they'll come up and join me on the sides of the platform.
SPEAKER_02: And if you could just use somebody to pray over you, maybe you got a situation that's going on.
SPEAKER_02: You could share as much or as little as you want.
SPEAKER_02: Um, once I dismiss, you'd be welcome to come forward and just say, would you mind praying about this or praying for this with me?
SPEAKER_02: We'd love the privilege to pray with you.
SPEAKER_02: We we do this a couple times every month just to create a space.
SPEAKER_02: Uh sometimes it's good to know you're being prayed for from afar, and you can always submit those online.
SPEAKER_02: But sometimes you could just use somebody who can pray words you can hear in the moment, and that's good as well.
SPEAKER_02: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_02: And then uh as we send you out, uh, gals 18 and older, we got beverages out there for you, um, like coffee drinks, matcha, and things like that.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think.
SPEAKER_02: I don't even know if that's how you pronounce it, but it's that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: And uh so we we would uh invite you to take one of those.
SPEAKER_02: We'd also invite you, man, grab one of the 21 days of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Come pray with us if you could use some prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for being here.
SPEAKER_02: Happy Mother's Day, moms.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_02: Your love, your grace, your kindness, for your goodness to us.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, help us anchor ourselves, root ourselves in your presence.
SPEAKER_02: To be people of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, might it be said of us that, yeah, it's they kind of get away often.
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe people would even begin to notice in our lives, like, where are you going?
SPEAKER_02: I feel like I, where'd you go?
SPEAKER_02: It's like I just went to pray.
SPEAKER_02: I just went to spend some time with God.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, just as a regular rhythm, but also like when the big things come in our lives, when opportunities seem to present, Lord, can we take them before you before we think about the finances of it or the calendar of it or the prestige of it?
SPEAKER_02: Too often we're we're quick to act, and then we ask you to clean up the mess.
SPEAKER_02: Might we be quick to prayer and ask you to help us steward whatever season you're affording us?
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray for each of the women in the room.
SPEAKER_02: For some, this day, man, is just incredibly joyful.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, we rejoice with those who rejoice as they had a great mom themselves, or they get the chance to be a mom, or whatever that might mean.
SPEAKER_02: For others, this is a really difficult day.
SPEAKER_02: Because that mother figure wasn't quite there the way they should have been.
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe they thought they would get to wear that title now, and they've not yet got to.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's just a complicated day.
SPEAKER_02: And so we weep with those who weep, just like the scriptures tell us.
SPEAKER_02: We rejoice with those who rejoice, we weep with those who weep.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, I'm grateful that we get to do both.
SPEAKER_02: Might we go out from this place as a people of prayer?
SPEAKER_02: Might we prioritize it in our life?
SPEAKER_02: Might your presence be so real to us.
SPEAKER_02: So, in the name of Jesus, we always pray, and we always can pray wherever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for being here today.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast.
SPEAKER_00: If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website, refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have a blessed day.