Sermon Prep
Dan Metzger, pastor at St Marks United Methodist Church in Findlay, goes behind the scenes of weekly sermon prep, addressing cultural and spiritual issues, and what happens the other 6 days of the week.
Sermon Prep
Episode 18 - Talking to God
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Pastor Dan and Director of Discipleship Mandy Stevens answer your questions about prayer
Hey everybody, welcome to another Sermon Prep Podcast. I'm Dan Metzger, and I'm the pastor at St. Mark's United Methodist Church here in Finlay. And with me today is Director of Discipleship, Mandy Stevens. Mandy, how are you today?
SPEAKER_00I'm doing great, Dan. Thanks for having me. How are you?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing very good. We're actually recording this a week ahead, so I feel like I love getting ahead.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's exciting.
SPEAKER_01I love having things done in advance and not at the last second panic deadline.
SPEAKER_00And next week, which is the week you guys are hearing this, it's vacation Bible school, so we have to get ahead.
SPEAKER_01Oh now I'm panicked again.
SPEAKER_00Sorry. It's gonna be great. Oh no, no, I guess. Corinne has done so much work. It looks amazing.
SPEAKER_01She's got it all all good to go, ready to go. It's gonna be it's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um, but we are in the middle of a series where we are talking about what it means to root ourselves in our faith, uh, how we um how we make sure that we are solid in our faith so that when the storms of life come, uh we aren't blown over by the by the hard things of life. And also we talk about here all the time reaching out wide uh into our community. But to be able to do that, you've got to be rooted deep in in your faith and in your life, or else you know it's very fragile. So uh we do want to grow deeper in our faith. That's a part of what a director of discipleship does. Yeah, is helps us grow deeper in our faith. And you're actually gonna be giving the sermon on this this uh coming Sunday after you're hearing this podcast, depending on when you're listening. Um uh, but we're gonna be talking about prayer today and uh how it is that we're supposed to pray. I think we all know that prayer is a part of what it means for us to be followers of Jesus. Um, but that might be about as much as what some of us know is that we're supposed to, and then, but how do I do it? And uh I think we all struggle with with that kind of stuff from from time to time. So um one of the things that you did, I know, is that you reach out to people to see if they had any questions. So I'm gonna let you just kind of take it from there.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, thank you. Yeah, and thanks uh to those of you who submitted some questions that you have about prayer, so we can answer those today. We just wanted to change up the format a little bit and uh give you what you are needing. So, Dan, is it okay if I just ask you some questions?
SPEAKER_01By our way, but I'm making you answer stuff now.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, okay. You have to do it. Oh, all right. Well, here we go. Okay. All right, so question one. Jesus gives us the format of the Lord's Prayer and says that is how we should pray. Is that the only way we should pray, or is it just a way to pray?
SPEAKER_01Very good question. Um, yeah, so Jesus gives us this, it's in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, and he gives us the prayer that you know we say this prayer um uh during our church services, and maybe it's something that you pray uh yourself uh from time to time. But um when he gives us prayer, it's it's in the context of teaching, um, teaching about prayer. And one of the things that he says is, well, so to answer the question, no, it's not the only way to pray. Um, but uh the the reason that he gives this to us is he says that when you pray, don't pray like hypocrites who are standing on the corner and they're just trying to have a lot of words and uh and they're babbling on and on. He says, Your father in heaven knows what you need before you even ask. And so then he gives us this short little prayer. He says, This then is how you should pray. And he gives us this prayer, and it's got a great outline of some things that we should pray for. You know, it's um it's honoring God, you know, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. It is um it's asking for God's will to be done, it's asking, it's asking for things, give us our daily bread, and then it's also confessional, uh, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, or forgive us our debts or sins, whatever version you're reading it into. And then it also has to guide us, you know, lead us not into temptation. So uh it's a good outline of well, I it's a Jesus outline, it's a great outline of how you can pray and some and some ways that you can pray. But I think his main point when he was giving this prayer wasn't just like you have to pray just like this. Yeah, it was um it was hey, you don't have to be big and showy, and in fact, you shouldn't be. This should be a private thing for you most of the time. There's times to do corporate prayer together, but um, this is your own personal thing, and it doesn't, you don't have to have all the right words, just these are the honest things of your heart that you can pray. Um, and I don't know if there's a question about this later on. I I I glanced over them, but I forget if it's in there. But there's several other um different, because it's not the only way to pray. I think there's several other formats for how you can pray. Um one that I tend to use sometimes um when I'm just thinking through, like making sure I want to hit all the points, is this um acronym that's Axe A C T S, and it's adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Yeah, I always think about it. I always like to think through but adoration, you know, praising God and worshiping God, like making that a part of it. Confession, laying out the things on my heart that I need to confess, thanksgiving, just thanks for all the things that God has already done for me, and then supplication that's asking for different things. Uh so sometimes that's the way I pray. Sometimes I I have other red prayers that I do, the Wesley Covenant prayer. It's a good one, uh, several, several others. Uh, sometimes I pray the Psalms. Uh, there's a lot of different ways to pray.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and I love that like with the Lord's Prayer, to me, it feels like Jesus is like, hey, stop overcomplicating it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because that's what we do, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, and you mentioned, I'm gonna jump ahead to a question. So remind me to come back to number two, Dan. You know, I'm forgetful. But um you mentioned something about like that right before he gives the Lord's Prayer, he says, My father already knows everything, right? So one question was, why should I pray if God already knows everything?
SPEAKER_01That's yeah, that's a that's a really interesting point. So, like I think of my own, like my own kids. Um, I know the kind of stuff my kids want, like, and yeah, but um, and I and I know the kinds of things that they need, but that doesn't mean I don't want to have conversations with them. Yeah, you know, and uh I still want them to come and I want them to come ask me for things, and I want them to come, they can sometimes slow it down a little bit and make it less expensive, but um, but I I want them to come to me and and to have conversation and to um, you know, I don't need them to come to me and lay out their case for why they need to go to Starbucks today or whatever it might be. They can just ask. I already know they want to go to Starbucks, they're teenage girls, of course.
SPEAKER_00It's a day that ends in why they're they want to go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I don't need them to give me this whole case and to and to plead and to cry about it. In fact, I'd rather they didn't. Um, but I still want them to come to me and I also want to have a conversation with them. I also just want to talk and and just about how my days, how their days go and all those kinds of things. So, so why pray to God if you if he already knows everything? I don't want a trans a transactional relationship with God, I want a relationship with God. So that's I think that's why you go to God, even if he already knows everything that you need. Yeah, you know, it's and I think about like when somebody's in the hospital and you're praying for their healing and stuff like that. It's like God knows that you want them to be healed. Yeah, but he also just wants to talk to you, like, how are you doing? And like this is hard, and you've got things that you're going through, and there's things weighing on your heart, and he wants to be, he wants to be there for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I don't know if this is one of our questions or not, but I know I've heard people say before, like, can I be honest with God in my prayers?
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, can I complain? Can I tell him, you know, I'm I'm frustrated that you answered this prayer this way? And yeah, what you're saying is absolutely like he wants that.
SPEAKER_01God's a God's a big boy, he can handle your anger, he can handle, he can handle your frustration. And, you know, again, I go back to like thinking about relationships with with my family or you know, with you know whether it's with my kids or or with anybody. I I want them to be able to come to me and say, hey, this is it. I know it's not always sunshine and rainbows, and that sometimes life is hard, and sometimes somebody might be frustrated with me. Um and I and so I think God is more than happy to have those conversations with us and to and to have those prayers come and for us to say, I'm just angry with you, or I'm hurt, or I don't understand. And God's not gonna get mad at you in the midst of all of that. Um it's a it's a part of it's a part of what it means to have an a real authentic relationship is to be able to have those kinds of prayers.
SPEAKER_00I love that. And you talked a minute ago about like praying for healing. Um one of the questions was I feel like I'm constantly asking God for things like healing for people. And sometimes the healing never comes. Should I be asking for something different, or is it wrong to even ask for those things?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, it's definitely not wrong to ask for those things. Um, and again, I think I think God knows that you want uh you want healing and you want those kinds of things. Um by the time this podcast comes out, we will have already had uh a conversation about what um what God's will is and what and what that looks like, you know, how how we how we kind of walk through life, like not fully comprehending God's will. Uh there's the Jeremiah verse that everybody likes to quote that says, Um, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope in a future. And I think we're all like, well, it'd be great if you'd let me in on those plans from time to time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And also sometimes things happen that seem like, well, that's not prospering, that is harming. That this does hurt. And and I don't see a future in in everything, and and hope is hard to find sometimes. Um and a part of the reality is is that I think God's will for us and God's will for for people who are hurting and who are sick, I don't think it's ever God's will for there to be hurt and pain and death. And that's not a part of God's will that those kinds of things happen. That's a part of what it means that we live in a broken and hurting and fallen world. Yeah um that God is redeeming and restoring and uh and is bringing about resurrection, and um, that's why a part of the plan is for one day there's no more hurt or pain or crying or sadness, and like that's ultimately what God's will is. But in the midst of all of that, in the midst of getting to that point, we do sometimes experience the hurt and pain and and the sickness and the things that come with being a part of a of a hurting and broken world. There are times where it feels like God intervenes, and there's times when it seems like he doesn't, and I don't fully understand why he does sometimes and why other times he doesn't. But what I trust is in the middle of all of it is that I know that God is good and that God is not intentionally harming me. It's not like the God of the Bugs Bunny cartoons where he's throwing lightning bolts down and you know, trying to, you know, trying to smite and and all of those things. That God does want good things for us, but we live in a hurting and broken world that is still in the process of being redeemed and restored. So all that going back to prayer. I think it's great to pray for those things. And there are times where God seems to do something miraculous, uh, where God does seem to intervene in some way. Um I think that in the midst of all of it, it's kind of going back to Jesus' prayer, right? Uh thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Like we we pray for those things. That's the that's the ultimately, that's the ultimate goal, is for God's kingdom to come and his will to be done. And um and that's gonna happen and we and so we're looking for how does that happen even in the midst of the hard things that we go through? How is God going to redeem this? How is God going to do something beautiful out of all of these things? We say here all the time that the worst thing is never the last thing, right? And so when it seems like it's the worst thing, where's the place where God's making sure that it's not the last thing? How is he bringing redemption and restoration out of all of these things? So ultimately, I think what we pray for, it's great to pray for, you know, please heal this person, please, you know, whatever that might be. But also, and God help me to glorify you and praise you even in the midst of these hard things, and may your kingdom come even in the midst of all of this. Um, help me to stay close to you, help me to continue to honor you in the middle of all of this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think what you're um what you're talking about here really just requires so much trust. Like we have to trust God so much to know that no matter how he's answering our prayers, you know, like he does have good plans for us. And yeah, that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it kind of feeds into the I'm reading ahead. Yeah, go ahead. So but it feeds into that next question, like, what if what I prayed for doesn't happen? Did God still hear my prayer? Yeah, yeah. I mean, God, of course, hears our prayers. Um, I'll once again go back to the analogy of you know, my kids. Yeah, um, sometimes what they ask me for is like it's not that it's a bad thing or anything like that, but there might be a reason that they don't understand, like, hey, this is not gonna happen right now. Yeah, and um, you know, and or maybe ever, you know, this thing that you've asked for. Maybe yes, no, or not yes. It's not that you're asking for necessarily asking for a bad thing, but like sometimes like um a kid came up, one of my kids came up to me the other day and it's like, hey, are we doing like a beach vacation this summer? I'm like, you know, I'm gonna have to say no. It's not that I didn't hear you, yeah. We're not going to do that. Financially, we're not gonna do that. We don't have time to do that this year, we didn't plan that, we got other things we're doing. And um, does that mean that I didn't listen to them? No, of course I listen to them. It's just like I'm not we're not doing that. And um, even as much as I might like it, exactly. Uh I would love to be able to do that. But you see the big picture. I see the big picture, yeah. Yeah, and and God sees the big picture of of everything, of um and and and you know, sometimes there are things uh that that happen that's like, God, I just don't understand how this could possibly be a part of of what you want, of your will, of those kind of of that kind of stuff. Like, I don't see how you how you don't answer this prayer. Like, we think we've got just logically, like we get how life should be. And uh, and so we struggle sometimes when it doesn't work out that way. But um, but I believe that ultimately in the midst of all of it, God is still loving us. And even if you don't get exactly what you want, uh God has still heard your prayer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and good news about the beach vacation, you don't get to go to the beach, but you are going to the rainforest next week.
SPEAKER_01That's what I hear. Yes, yes, the rainforest, which by the time you're listening to this or have already been we've already been in the rainforest.
SPEAKER_00Hopefully, we made it out alive.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00This might be our last podcast ever.
SPEAKER_01There was there was a couple of uh vacation Bible schools ago. There's always a thing at the end of it um where the kids are trying to raise money for some sort of project or something like that, and like a part of the um a part of what they get to do is usually something to me or somebody around like whether it involves water balloons or some sort of little slime or some sort of funny haha thing. Yeah, and so a couple years ago it was turning me into a human chili dog, and uh that's right, they dumped mustard and chili sauce on my head and that kind of thing because they raised so much money. Like, if you do this for this mission, you will do that, and they did that, but then there were also water balloons involved, and I had so they had put mustard and chili sauce on my head, and then I got hit in the side of the head with a water balloon, and mustard got shoved so far in my ear, I thought I'd busted my eardrum. I went to the ER and they had to scrape mustard, a doctor had to scrape mustard out of my ear. Anything for the kingdom. Yes, I'll do anything for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00A doctor, I guess there's the first time we're gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01You know, I like to keep them on their toes. You do. Yeah, you sure do.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. I'm only laughing because you're okay.
SPEAKER_01I am okay.
SPEAKER_00I wouldn't have laughed at the time.
SPEAKER_01I am okay. Just so you know. All is well, and I still like mustard.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, that's good. Very awesome. Okay, um, let's see here. How long should I keep praying for the same thing?
SPEAKER_01Oh, be very persistent. There's this great story uh where Jesus talks about, and I I don't remember exactly where it's at. Uh, I I'm not one of those people that's great at like being able to pull it up right away. But Jesus tells the story of of like the persistent widow, and um it's this parable that he tells about like she keeps asking and asking and asking for a thing, and finally somebody relents because of how persistent she is, and it's almost like Jesus is saying it, no, pester God, like feel free to to just keep bringing this thing, and um and and keep asking. Did you have it pulled up to find out? I found it.
SPEAKER_00It's Luke 18, 1 through 8. Okay, yeah, and it's it is fascinating.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's almost like he's saying, Yeah, go ahead, pester God, you know, do do whatever you gotta do to to keep bringing your petition and your prayer before God. And um, it's uh yeah, it's a really, really interesting thing. You would think that he would say, like, listen, I heard you the first time. But um enough. But but no, he wants you, he he's he wants you to keep bringing that because I think I think a part of it is it shows trust even when you don't get the answer you want the first time. Uh it shows trust and it shows um faith that God can do something, even when you've not seen it happen yet. Um, yeah, keep bringing it to God. And um, and who knows, who knows, but that at some point in time God might say, All right, it's now the time for this thing to happen. And I also think there's something that happens to your own heart when when you allow something like that to be so um just ingrained in who you are. I know some people who have um uh we have a prayer chain here, and there's like two or three prayers that I see consistently from the same person every week. Uh-huh. And I love that. I think it's a beautiful thing. Like, I haven't gotten an answer to this prayer yet. This thing hasn't happened yet. We're gonna keep doing it though. And when those prayers do get answered, uh, like I and I've seen it happen so many times. I've been praying for this for 20 years or whatever it might be. What a beautiful thing it is. Yeah, and um, so yeah, be persistent, keep praying for things.
SPEAKER_00Okay, awesome. Yeah, such rejoicing, I think, as a community too, when you come alongside each other and pray. Like we all get all get to rejoice together about that. That's awesome. Well, we're about out of time, but I have one more like really pressing question. Okay. So a few weeks ago when we were recorded the podcast, I don't even remember what we were talking about or how this came up, but we talked about you wanting there to be tacos in heaven.
SPEAKER_01We were we were talking about different cultures in the world. That's right. And like, and how there's beauty in all these different cultures.
SPEAKER_00And you were like, I'm kind of not going to heaven if there's not tacos there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I want there to be tacos in heaven, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So can we pray for there to be tacos in heaven?
SPEAKER_01I don't see why God would not answer that prayer.
SPEAKER_00I I think that that's But is he gonna answer yes?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I mean, I I think you will answer C.
SPEAKER_00C.
SPEAKER_01C. Oh no. There will be tacos in heaven. Good. Good enough. That's fine. So yeah, I think that's it.
SPEAKER_00I think we're good. We've answered all your questions about prayer. All right. You should have no more questions, right?
SPEAKER_01I'm sure that there's never. I'm sure that there's more.
SPEAKER_00I have about a million more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh but well, thankfully we're about to hear a sermon that'll hopefully answer all of our questions. Um, but no, thank you all so much for being a part of this week's sermon prep podcast, and hope you have a great week.
unknownYeah.