WEBVTT 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:16.320 Welcome to City Church Dublin's Durban Archives. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:24.399 Join us in session three of our Family Church weekend away in 2022 as our guest speaker Colin Crichton speaks to us from Matthew 7. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:33.200 So if you do have a Bible, do flick open um Matthew 7. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:43.039 I uh I I said at the start when I was a kid growing up, I didn't I didn't have uh any interest in Christian stuff or church stuff. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:59.439 Um and when I was at school, um uh my brother, my oldest brother had invited me to go to England to this summer Christian camp that sounded a bit weird, but I went and and I remember when I came back, I was at my final year in secondary school. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:01.759 Um so I was 17, 18. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:08.560 Um, and I I remember wrestling with I'm struggling to say it's not true. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:15.519 I didn't want it to be true, but I'm struggling to say, you know, it's it's it's as silly as I thought I was. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:23.519 Um and and kind of in my last year at secondary school, I was exploring it, and it's uh it's amazing what you see when you look for it. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:27.359 So I hardly I hardly knew that there were Christians in my year group. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:29.840 I was part of a uh you know, it was a reasonably sized school. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.239 There's about 150 in our year group. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:41.120 Um, and you know, my world uh in school was sports, so it was it was rugby through the the first two terms and athletics and the final one. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:45.040 My weekends were spent for the fellows who drank and went to the nightclubs. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:50.719 And after I went to that camp, I noticed that there were actually Christians in my year group. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:58.239 And not only that, they'd organized like this little weird CU group that sort of met after school. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:00.719 And I like I was struggling to get my head round. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:04.799 You would actually you would actually put church on in school. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.560 I mean, that's the strangest thing. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:11.520 It's bad enough to go when you're dragged to it, but you actually're doing this yourself. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:17.520 Um, and there was one time, and I think rugby practice was cancelled. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:23.280 Um, and and and I was wondering about all this Christian stuff. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:49.360 Uh, and I remember I sneaked in and and I and I sat in the in the back and I watched people in my year group who I didn't know them very well, but like they were up at the front leading stuff and and praying and and doing all that sort of stuff, and and I can't remember a thing that was said, and and and I wasn't in there long, and I sneaked out before anyone talked to me. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:58.719 But as I look back on that little after-school CU group, I've I've learned a lot about prayer from that. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:06.159 And and this passage in Matthew 11 just warm in Matthew uh 7 just warms warms my heart. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:10.159 If you've got it there, let me um let me let me read it out. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.360 Ask and it will be given to you. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:16.159 Seek and you will find. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:20.240 Knock and the door will be open to you. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:28.960 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:34.800 And like the way that he he says that, it's it's it's so simple. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:45.199 Do you know ask and you receive, seek and you'll find, knock, and the door will be uh open, and and there's no great trick to it. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:48.719 Jesus is just like, just come and ask. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:55.039 Um but the reason that there's no great trick to it is because of verses 9 to 11. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:00.800 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:04.879 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:16.879 If you then, though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:22.959 I don't know what it is that uh that shapes your prayer life. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:25.519 But do you see what what Jesus is saying? 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:33.519 Here's what I want you to shape, here's what I want to shape your prayer life, and it's what you understand God to be like. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:44.000 And he's saying, if if if if you want to come before God in prayer, you gotta know what type of God it is that you're coming before. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:52.160 And what he says is, this is a God who knows how to good gifts, and and even even a human father knows how to good gifts. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:05:11.839 Well, well, this father is amazing, and that's really important because if we if we have this picture of you know, God is this sort of grumpy old man in the sky, and I have to come before him and try and twist his arm in order to get him to give me what he wants, what I want. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:13.600 You know what happens? 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:15.920 Eventually I get tired. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.199 It's too hard when I'm when I'm hurting, when I'm vulnerable. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:25.600 I don't want to come before a grumpy old man to try and wrestle something out of his hand. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:35.439 And she says, Isn't no grumpy old man that that you have to come and beg for some bit of bread? 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:38.480 His father loves you. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:41.439 I mean, he loves you to bits. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:46.079 And I uh I I love this verse from Isaiah 49. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:51.920 Now remember, this is this is like hundreds of years before Jesus comes on the scene. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:53.920 Isaiah 49, verse 15. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:06:00.160 Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.079 Though she may forget, I will not forget you. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:10.560 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:13.040 Oh he has, hasn't he? 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:16.079 Could could a mother forget her child? 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:22.000 No, a mother couldn't forget a child, but even if she did God's not gonna forget you. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:27.040 He has engraved you on the palm of his hands. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:33.279 This is hundreds of years before the nails are put through Christ's hands. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:36.079 Could a mother forget her child? 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:41.600 No, she couldn't, but even if she could, God's not gonna forget you. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:48.079 Um I suspect in a few weeks I'm gonna be c putting kittens again on Facebook. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.199 Um we we live out in the country now, there's there's about an acre of of of the site. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:00.319 Um the first time that cat had kittens, you can imagine my three daughters. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:10.959 Uh and and as soon as the kittens were ready to lift, they they were going to the our next door neighbour across the hedge and showing off these uh little kittens. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:21.839 Um and and I could see my daughters in the in in the distance, and I could see by the they've got the kitten, they're showing, they're showing Breed, our neighbour, uh, how gorgeous these kittens are. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:26.240 Uh, and as I walked over to them, I'd walk past the mother cat. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:34.240 And all of a sudden, as I started walking towards the girls, this bolt of lightning shot past me. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:36.720 I couldn't hear it. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:38.240 But she could. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:41.199 The little kitten was just meowing. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:44.720 This is across an acre of a field. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:47.360 I could barely see my daughter. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:59.439 That mother cat heard that little cry and like a bullet came up to my daughter, put her paws on her leg, and asked for the kitten back. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:07.120 And she took the kitten by the scruff of the neck and walked across an acre of a field to drop her back safe. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:12.560 Don't underestimate the love of a parent. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:19.040 Don't underestimate how their ear is attuned to their cry. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.639 Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.920 Though she may forget, I will not forget you. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:34.240 See, I have engraven you on the palm of my hand. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:41.039 Even a mother cat can hear the cries of her kitten across the field. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:49.840 Your heavenly father hears every cry and his ear is listening. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:09:02.240 And his his palms in Isaiah 49, his palms are engraved with our names. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:15.840 And if that's how much a parent loves a child, then imagine a father that would give up his son for us. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:18.559 Romans 8. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:24.720 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:33.279 For God forenew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that we might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.200 Those he predestined, he also called. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:38.720 Those he called, he justified, those he justified, he also glorified. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:41.759 What then shall we say in response to these things? 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:44.639 If God is for us, who can be against us? 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:58.159 He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for all of us, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:17.759 This is the Father who did not spare his own son because he loved us, and on the palms of Jesus are the scars the scars that paid the price for our sin. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:31.840 And when we come before God in prayer, we're not coming before a grumpy old man that we've gotta twist his arm in the hope that he might give us some crumbs off his table. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:38.879 We're coming to the father who did not spare his own son. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:46.320 We're coming before Christ, who has engraven us on the palms of our hands. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:51.679 Can a mother forget the baby at her breast or have come no compassion on the child she has born? 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:55.919 Though she may forget, I will not forget. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:02.480 See, I have engraven you on the palms of my hands. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:09.679 Which of you, if a son asks for bread, will give him a stone, or if asks for a fish, will give him a snake. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:20.639 If you then, though are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.679 This isn't a grumpy old man. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:34.879 And until we get a picture of this loving father, it's that picture that sets our prayer life on fire. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:37.679 Because he wants us to come. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:43.039 And he is listening for the cry of his people. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:53.679 And if a mother cat can hear it across the field, let me tell you, God is listening to your cry and my cry, and he knows how to give good gifts. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:12:00.559 He's not a grumpy old man, but here's the thing, he's he's he's also not a genie in a magic lamp. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:01.600 Do you know what I mean? 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:05.360 Like, you know, you you rub the lamp and you get your three wishes. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:22.000 And if we think God is like a genie in a magic lamp, what happens is we start off really excited of my prayer life or my wish life or whatever it is is just, you know, it's on fire until hang on, the magic lamp isn't working for me. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:27.759 We know he's not a grumpy old man, but he's not a genie in a lamp either. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:33.919 Because you know, this passage is saying if a son asks for bread, the father doesn't give him a stone. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:37.200 If he asks for fish, he doesn't give him a snake. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:44.879 You know, when children come and ask for things that are good for them, the father knows how to give good gifts. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.879 But he doesn't give snakes, he doesn't give stones. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:58.320 And and when you're reading this passage, you've got to read it in the whole sermon of the mount that Jesus has been given from Matthew 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 7. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:04.559 I mean, listen to some of these verses because he's telling us to ask, he's telling us to seek, he's telling us to knock. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.679 Actually, he's been telling us that the whole way through the Sermon on the Mount. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:10.639 Uh, read read some of these, uh, Matthew 5, verse 6. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:19.360 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:22.080 Matthew 6, 19. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:38.720 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and vermin do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:40.480 Matthew six, thirty-one. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:44.399 So do not worry saying, What shall I eat, or what shall I drink, or what shall I wear? 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:49.360 For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:57.679 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.799 See, the whole way through, Jesus has been saying, seek the kingdom of God. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.440 And God knows that we need all the physical stuff as well. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:09.440 He's going to give us, but seek first the kingdom of God. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:17.279 Jesus isn't some genie in a magic lamp where he just makes everything nice and comfortable for us. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:20.559 He's saying, Seek the kingdom of heaven. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:29.440 And when you seek it and you come before your Father and you ask and you seek and you knock, he is ready to give those good gifts. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:31.519 Jeremiah 29, verse 12. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:37.679 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:43.120 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:47.279 I will be found by you, declares the Lord. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.240 God is saying, seek him. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:58.000 Seek his kingdom, seek his righteousness, ask and knock, and you will receive. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:05.120 He's not a grumpy old man, but nor is he a genie in a magic lamp. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:13.679 And if we don't get the right view of this father, our our prayer life might be on fire for a while, but it'll fizzle. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.240 This is a father that we come before and we trust him. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:20.240 And we ask. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.720 And we seek and we knock. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:31.440 I said that that Christian union meeting I went to in school taught me so much about prayer. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:36.080 I haven't got a clue anything that was said in that meeting. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:42.000 But after I I left that school, that's that's when I came to Christ. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:46.399 That's when I saw how amazing Jesus was and the forgiveness of sins that he offered. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:49.519 And I went off to university. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:56.240 But most of those people that I was at school with, I I lost touch with them, I hardly saw them again. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:06.960 And and as I went to England to train to be a teacher, I got converted and I trained to be a teacher, and then I uh and and and I took a career break and I went to train to be uh a minister. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:21.279 It was when I was in London training to be um a pastor, I met folk like Mark Smith and other Irish exiles living in London. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:33.039 And my intention had been to train in London and go back to the north of England to minister there because there wasn't anywhere near as much going on Christianly in the north of England than there was in the south. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:48.480 And then I met these Irish exiles who were having this little prayer meeting, and they would have a map of Ireland, and they could look at entire counties and name the gospel witnesses that were going on. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:55.840 And I you have to remember, I wasn't a Christian when I lived in, I didn't have a clue about the spiritual scene here. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:59.120 I'm sitting looking at this map and saying, that can't be right. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:08.480 Surely we surely there's and and and and that's that started me sort of exploring um, well, actually, could we come back to Ireland? 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:15.680 It would be very strange to come back, but I didn't know anyone Christianly in Ireland. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:22.559 And so I started asking around if I could come back in my summers and and preach at different churches. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:28.160 And and what I didn't realize, and I'm in a Baptist church now, forgive me that, but I am. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:33.440 Um I didn't even realize in my hometown of Lisbon there were two Baptist churches. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:34.400 Imagine. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:36.000 I didn't know that. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:18:01.039 In fact, I knew there was one because it's it was in a pr it's in a particularly rough part of the town, and and and the entrance is kind of set back from the street, and so it's kind of in shadows, which means when you're coming home from the nightclubs, it is a perfect place to be because it's just it's there, the chip shop's there, the facilities are there, and you can go. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:29.759 So that was my only understanding of Baptist churches in my hometown, and it had a big Baptist church, all different Baptists, and and so I spent I spent my summers trying to preach at as many churches that would have me as a totally unknown quantity, and and lo and behold, one day I got to preach in one of the Baptist churches in my hometown. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:54.079 Now I didn't think it through because I I hadn't been in my hometown for 12 years, and I remember going to preach in this church, and it was on John 3 about the new birth, and I didn't think it through at all because I didn't know any Christians when I left Lisbon. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:19:04.640 And I remember I went into this church and I uh and I preached John 3 about new birth and the amazing news of Jesus and the work of the Spirit. 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:12.799 And and I remember getting down from the pulpit, and normally in these churches, you you go to the back and you, I was told you shake everybody's hands. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:19.920 Um, and and as soon as I got down, I saw this fella like running up the aisle. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.480 I thought, who's this old man coming? 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:24.880 Actually, he was in my year at school. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.240 It was disconcerting. 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:37.039 And he ran up to me, and as he got closer, I recognized him. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.319 He was in my year, I didn't really know him, he was one of the Christians. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:47.519 And as he came up, a strange feeling came over me. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:56.240 Because the last time I saw that man, I was the guy who spent the weekends in the nightclubs. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.640 I was the guy who peed on his front door of the church. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:08.559 And I had just walked in to his church, and I felt such shame. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:15.920 And he came up running to me, and I couldn't I couldn't speak. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.880 I was like, what is he going to say? 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:27.039 And he was so excited, and he was saying, it's Colin preaching the gospel. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:31.440 And he says, What happened? 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:52.160 And he said, Colin, I remember you when you were 18 in your last year of school, because I was leading one of the CU meetings, and as I was leading it, I saw you sneak in the back. 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.759 And you thought none of us saw you, but we did. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:08.319 And after the meeting, me and six other people in your year group, we sat and we prayed that Colin Crichton would come to faith in Jesus. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:14.240 And I was standing there with shame, and he was standing there with joy. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:20.480 I thought, that's the prayer life that I want. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:34.960 To pray those big prayers and to come before your heavenly father, who listens to the cries of his children, who has their names engraved upon his hands. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:43.200 I learned a lot about prayer from that meeting that I sneaked into. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:49.759 I don't know the people that God has put in your lives. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:57.359 I don't know the things that you're doing as a church that come before him. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.839 He's not a grumpy. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.880 Old man that you've got to wrestle stuff away from. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:07.279 He's not a genie in a lamp who just grants you magic wishes. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:09.680 He's a father we trust. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:15.839 And we come before him and we know he hears our cry. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:24.400 He says, Come, ask, seek, and knock. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:36.160 And know that the one that you come to is the one that did not spare his own son, but give him up for us all. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:43.680 How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:02.880 If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, visit our website found in the links below.