WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:05.440 So this week, my five-year-old she scored her first soccer goal. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:09.679 Soccer game, big deal for her, big deal for us, big family event. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:13.839 And when it happened, uh it she was she was just standing in the right place. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:20.000 The ball comes in front of her, bam, right in the goal, and she had this look like did that just happen? 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:21.039 What happened? 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:22.000 What do I do now? 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:28.800 Because this hasn't ever happened for me before, happens to other girls on the team all the time, but has not happened for her. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:42.479 And so just look a surprise and then joy, and then arms are up and starts running, and I was out on the field uh helping coach, and so I got to meet her out of the half half field and just give her a pat on the back and gave her a hug. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:46.960 Now it wasn't the only time last week that I hugged her. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:59.119 Uh a few nights ago, Christy was out for work, and so she was out working, so that meant that night I had uh dinner time and bathtime and bedtime, book time and bedtime and all that. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:05.200 And so I get all of them into bed, get the three into bed, and then out comes the five-year-old. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:06.959 And I know she's playing me. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:08.319 Dads, we know, right? 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:10.000 When this happens, we know what's going on. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:12.719 I know she's in bed and she's zinking, mom's not here. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:14.480 Let's see if I can play dad. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:16.400 And she can, like it works, right? 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.480 She comes out, she comes out, and the world is ending. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:30.560 The world is over, the world is ending, it's tears, it is sadness, it is it is everything in life is breaking down because she misses mom. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:41.359 And the thing that will help this huge problem is for me to hug her and hold her, and she gets to watch TV with me for a few minutes. 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:43.920 This is the thing that solves the problem. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.640 And so, of course, I fine, that's fine. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.359 So she climbs up and I hug her. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:57.200 And still, there's another time, there's one other time that I hugged her this week, and it was it was after she had done something wrong. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:10.639 She had done something that she was ashamed of and she was embarrassed, and she came and she confessed after the confrontation occurred, and she was sorrowful, and I hugged her. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:16.800 Now, also this week I heard this podcast about this uh Buddhist lady who lives in India. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:22.000 She grew up in India, and as a little child, at this point she's older, she's 50 or 60 years old. 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:25.280 She's like the Billy Graham of Buddhism, just so you know, that's that's her. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.719 She has a whole campus and schools, and she has a whole thing going. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:30.080 She's she's Billy Graham. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:38.639 All right, so as a child, she be she began to hug street beggars and just hug them, just affirm them. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:48.400 And then as she gets older, she begins to go on these tours all around the world, and first just in living rooms, and she'd go around and she would meet in living rooms, and other people would come. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:49.439 Her name's Ama. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:56.159 Other people would come, all these people would come, and just in living rooms, she would just she would hug people, she would just embrace them. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:10.800 And and then now she travels around on these tours with 250 people to run these events where thousands and thousands and thousands of people show up to be hugged by her. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:19.439 And all she does is she hugs them and she says, Daughter, darling daughter, you are so loved. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.439 Son, you are so loved. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:28.159 And I'm listening to this, I'm going, thousands are showing up for that. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:47.360 I mean, I'm listening to them going, thousands and thousands of people are showing up to be hugged by a lady, just a lady, in my point of view, just like a lady, just like a lot of ladies in here, if you decide to start hugging people and affirm them, like she's just like any other human being in the world and she's hugging people, thousands and thousands of people are showing up to be hugged. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:51.520 Like that's how needy, that's how needy we are. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:53.759 Why are people showing up? 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:59.520 Or, or, or, why is that hug from your granny? 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:03.919 Or why was that hug from your grandpa so good? 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:12.159 Or why do we want romantic love so badly? 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:24.879 Because we're all wondering, is there a non-judgmental, compassionate presence in this world that will have me? 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:35.120 That will not just hugs when I score goals, but also hugs at other times in my life. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:37.680 Now, Jesus tells a story in Luke 15. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:40.000 If you've been around church, you've heard it before. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:43.920 It's the prodigal son, the prodigal God story. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.920 And I love this story in Luke 15. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:58.000 And for us in this text this morning, this text about prayer, but this text about prayer coming from the fact that we're praying to a father, this Luke 15 helps open our minds to Matthew chapter 7. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:06.800 And so this story to catch you up, if you're not from church world and church is new to you, there's a family, there's a father, a dad, two sons. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:10.480 The younger son comes to dad and says, Hey, I want my share of the inheritance. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:11.199 I want it now. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.600 I don't want it when you die, I want it now. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:18.879 I mean, this this is this would be appalling to the father because basically it's saying, like, I don't even want to wait. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:21.519 This would be like you going to your dad and saying, Hey, I want all your money. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:22.319 Just give me your money. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:24.160 I don't care about you, give me your money. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.319 I don't want a relationship with you, just give me the money, and I'm not even willing to wait till you die. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:29.680 And this is what the son does. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:31.759 So the father gives him the inheritance. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:36.240 This is Jesus teaching this parable for us to understand about God. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:41.680 And so this son, he takes the money and he runs off to a foreign country, right? 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:45.040 And we read in Luke 15, he gets there and he just starts spending the money. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.360 He's running through it, and life is good. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:55.680 I mean, it is it is parties, it is women, it's more parties, it's more women, it's stuff, and then you know what happens? 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:57.600 The money starts to run out. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:02.000 And then the parties go away and the women go away, and the stuff go away. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:08.720 And then he's broken financially, he's broken morally, he's broken emotionally, he's broken spiritually. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.240 He has nobody. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:11.759 There's nothing left. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:12.959 He's starving to death. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:16.959 It says that he's gotten hired out to a farm and he's looking at the pigs. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:18.240 The pigs are eating food. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:22.319 He's looking at what the pigs eat, and he's longing for that. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:24.560 He's at the end of himself. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:26.079 He's at the bottom. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:31.680 And then it says, I love this in Luke 15, it says that he came to his senses. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.160 It's like he he remembered. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.399 He remembered his dad. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:42.319 He remembered his father, and he thinks, he thinks, perhaps dad will take me back. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:44.800 Maybe Papa will take me back. 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:48.160 I wonder if he'd still love me. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:55.439 And so he forms a little speech, like, I've sinned against you in heaven, I'm not worthy to be your son, make me like a hired man. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:58.399 We could we read it in Luke 15, 20 through 24. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:10.319 And he arose and came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:17.680 And the son said to him, he starts on his speech, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:20.000 But the father said to his servants, right? 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:25.040 It's like he the the son didn't even get to get into the speech and earn his way back in. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:36.800 The father, but the father said to his servants, Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fat and calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:38.639 He's gonna throw a party for this boy. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:41.600 For this my son was dead and is alive again. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.959 He was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate. 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:51.120 So here's what this parable teaches us God's heart is for you. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:08:00.399 It's for you without regard to what you have or have not or will or will not do. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:09.519 So point number one is this before we even dig into Matthew 7, God should be understood as a loving father. 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.959 This is what Jesus wants us to understand God as. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:19.360 That's why this is the dominant metaphor Jesus keeps using is a papa. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:23.439 Now, to be philosophical, it's a metaphor. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.639 And so the metaphor does not bound God. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.399 The metaphor of father does not bound God, it doesn't encompass God. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:36.799 If the metaphor bound God, like a box, then the metaphor is just religious idolatry. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:40.480 But the metaphor is just, it's one metaphor. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.360 That's why when you read scripture or one name, right? 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:48.879 You read scripture, you read one name, or you get one metaphor about God, and you go, yeah, like I get that, but what about this? 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:51.919 The reason for that is that none of it bounds God. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.879 He's too vast, he's too expansive. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:58.240 But Jesus keeps coming back to this one. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:05.759 Like, hey, if if you need one, if you need a metaphor, think about a papa. 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:18.799 So we have this papa on that porch and he's waiting for this messy, inadequate, broken down, nothing to offer child, and he runs and he hugs them. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:25.279 Not when he scores the soccer goal, not when he earns his way back in, but while he's still undeserving. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:26.399 And this is what we need. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:27.600 This is what we need. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:51.440 This is why people are showing up to the Buddhist lady of going on hugging tours, is because we need to be loved and accepted from outside of ourselves, not based on our past, our current, or our future record, but based on, based on, this is what humanity needs, what we need, based on the Father's love for us, God's love for us, known in Jesus. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:54.960 And this is the picture Jesus keeps painting for us. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:58.159 This unconditional acceptance. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:00.399 Now I know maybe you're here. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:02.559 The idea of father's hard for you. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:04.320 You didn't have a good dad. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:09.840 And maybe your father never accepted you, maybe your father never hugged you, never held you. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:14.240 Maybe you feel like, do you remember Cameron from Ferris Wheeler's Day Off? 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:16.320 The profound film? 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:18.000 Profound. 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:24.960 He's beating the tar out of his dad's classic Ferrari at the end of the movie. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.360 And he's just beating the tar out of this car. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.519 And anybody who loves cars at all, it's just painful to watch. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:36.080 And he's beating it, and he's just kicking in, he's kicking it, he's beating it, and he's saying, Who do you love? 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:37.360 You love a car, who do you love? 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:50.240 You love a car, and he's yelling at his dad, but his dad's not there, but he's yelling about his dad, and the car eventually crashes through a window down into a ravine, and Cameron's standing there and he's dazed, and he's like, What am I gonna do? 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:51.519 This look over his face. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:56.879 But see, he's he's tired of not being loved, so where all that anger's coming from. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:01.600 And he's tired of being afraid because he hasn't been loved. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:09.440 And then to quote the great Cameron Fry my father will come home and see what I did. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:11.279 I can't hide this. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:13.360 He'll have to deal with me. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.039 I don't care, I really don't. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.639 I'm just tired of being afraid. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:25.519 Right, so we'll take any attention in reaction to not being loved. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:32.320 And we're all wishing we were loved better by somebody. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:47.759 And for some of us, that's really big and we've compartmentalized that and shoved it pretty deep down, and you think it's over, it's back there, but it just creates unhealthy coping mechanisms today. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.600 Because the question never leaves. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.159 Is there someone? 00:11:54.559 --> 00:12:03.279 Is there a presence, a non-judgmental, compassionate presence who will love me for me? 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:05.919 Even when I mess up. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:12.240 Now think about all that, and now listen to Matthew 7, verses 7 through 11 again. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:17.279 Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock, and it will be open to you. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:22.559 For everyone who asks, receive, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be open. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:29.440 Or which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:41.440 If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Papa who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:45.440 And that's the word there, fathers, paters, father. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:48.159 It's the general term for father. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:13:02.080 Now, father is used fifteen times, that word pater, fifteen times in the Old Testament and the New Testament, 245 times. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:06.080 See, Jesus is trying to teach us something. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:20.240 That on this side of Jesus, where Jesus is the sacrifice, that we don't have to pay for our own sin, but he takes on our sin and gives us his righteousness, on this side of Jesus and the new covenant. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.799 We say the metaphor is a dad. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:27.120 That's the best metaphor for you to grab hold of. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:28.399 If you need a metaphor, that's the one. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:29.679 It won't bound them. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:31.360 But it's the best one. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.399 245 times. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:37.279 Do you have a good Monday? 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:38.240 Monday? 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:39.120 Halloween? 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:40.799 Maybe you're against Halloween? 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:43.519 Fall festival, if you're more comfortable with that, I don't know. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:45.200 Some of us need fall festival. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:45.600 That's fine. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:46.559 We can do fall festival. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.279 Anybody celebrate Reformation Day? 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.480 Anybody big on Reformation Day? 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:53.919 There we go. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:54.639 One, two. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:55.679 We can do it. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:56.240 Rob. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:59.120 Rob dressed up as Martin Luther, very proud of him. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.159 Or give him a bonus at the end of the year. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.799 Our church will for that. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:06.559 Great behavior. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:09.679 Y'all know what the Reformation is? 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.840 499 years ago, let me tell you, it's a lot bigger than the fun you had on Halloween. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:15.919 It's bigger than what will happen Tuesday. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:17.039 I can guarantee that. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.879 Because 400, it shaped what will happen on Tuesday to the truth. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:22.799 It shaped Western civilization. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:24.399 It shapes you. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:33.200 499 years ago, this guy, Martin Luther, is reading the scriptures, which is sort of new for just regular people to read the scriptures back then. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:37.519 He's reading, and the church at the time is selling forgiveness. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:44.320 That's how work things is becoming, is you pay to be pay monetarily to be forgiven by God. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:46.559 And he's reading it, and he's going, oh no, no, no. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:52.559 This is no, this is justification before God by grace through faith. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:15:00.559 And he writes this big document, his 95th thesis, he writes this thing, and he nails it on a church door, and the reformation begins. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:10.320 And so if you have any connection to your heart being relieved by grace, this reformation is everything to you. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:14.559 So next year, 500 years celebration. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.639 On Halloween Day, it would be five years. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.960 We're all going to dress up as Martin Luther, all of us. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:20.240 I'm kidding. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.200 Weird out our neighbors, read them theological documents. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:27.519 And here's what we got out of the Reformation. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:32.720 We don't have a God demanding us to pursue Him as to be accepted. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:34.320 That's not what it is. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:35.759 That's not what the scriptures teach. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:40.879 We don't have a God demanding us to pursue Him as to be accepted. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:47.600 We have a God who pursues us, and we know this in Jesus, so we are accepted. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.320 That's a huge difference. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.080 We are justified by grace through faith. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:03.039 So point number two, we are regarded by this loving father as a loved, secure child. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.440 And we are secure because it's based on his word and not ours. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:16.240 Point number three, as a loved, secure child before a loving father, we can ask and we can seek and we can knock. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:21.039 As a loved child before a loving father, we can ask and seek and knock. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:25.840 So two conversations from this past week stood out as I wrote this sermon. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:31.120 One was I bought a downspout and some light bulbs at Home Depot. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:37.039 And so I was in line, and the cashier, she's very pleasant, but she was struggling. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:45.360 She was struggling with the guy had like an American Express gift card, and she didn't realize, neither of them realized like the code on American Express on the front of the card, not the back of the card. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.480 Well, I use American Express, so I was able to say, hey, it's on the front of the card. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:52.399 And he leaves and I step up and she's like, Oh, it's my first day, thank you. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.000 I'm like, hey, no problem. 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:55.600 I hope you have a good day. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:57.840 And bam, bam, bam, out the door, right? 00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.840 Like I was pleasant to her, she's pleasant at me. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:01.679 There's a transaction, out I go. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:05.119 Now, what I didn't ask is like, why is this your first day? 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:06.799 Did you lose a job? 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:11.359 Why do you have do you oh you have to go why do you have to go back to work? 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:15.200 Is this depressing to you? 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:17.839 Is this like a really sad day to you to have to be here? 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.440 Or is this exciting? 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:24.000 Like, is this so exciting to you to land this job? 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:25.839 Didn't do that. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:27.680 It was transactional. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:29.759 It was a transactional conversation. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.799 Now later in the week, my friend Jonathan calls me. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.559 He says, Hey, I need to talk to you. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:35.440 It was a voicemail. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:37.279 He said, I really need to talk to you the next couple days. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:44.079 And so then I call him back the next day and we talk, and he says, Hey, um, I had this new opportunity come up for a job. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:50.160 I'm gonna be leaving the church, leaving the church he founded, which is village church, the church that helped us start. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:52.960 He's leaving that church to go to a church in Houston. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:57.440 And he said, Man, it's been unfolding over time, and he kind of plays it out for me over the phone. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:59.759 And I'm and I'm going, This is this is awesome. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:00.559 This is exciting. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.960 Like, this is exciting how all this lined up. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.519 And if you know what, if God calls him away, he's gonna call somebody into that church. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:08.799 So I'm not worried about that. 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:14.000 And he's worried about that, he's expressing his heart, all the anxiety tied up in that. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:17.519 He's moving his family, his kids, the stress for his children. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.799 You know, he's gonna let down all these people at his church. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.720 I mean, all of this, right? 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:26.160 It wasn't a transactional conversation. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:31.839 As I get to say, Jonathan, if God's calling you somewhere else, God will call somebody into that church. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.000 Hey, Jonathan, your kids, be really patient with them. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:37.359 Just listen to them. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:38.480 They're teenagers. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:40.240 They're gonna be really, they're gonna be mad. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:42.480 They're gonna be mad for a while. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:44.319 Just give them time. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:46.400 And Jonathan, you know what? 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:51.599 I'm really proud of you because you pastored that church really well. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.160 And this job sounds really great for you. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:57.119 It wasn't transactional. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:58.559 It was it was like a family. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:00.960 It was like two brothers talking. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:06.880 See, we can relate in like a transaction, or we can relate like a family. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:10.079 Transactional is a conditional relationship. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:16.400 What you have and how you behave, it's about doing, it's about if you perform and to perform so that you get something. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:19.039 But family's different, or at least it should be. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:20.079 It should be. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:23.200 It's about unconditionality, it's about who you are. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.960 It's about the fact that you're in, you're in, you're safe. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.880 And it's about your being, it's about your identity. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:34.400 It's about the fact that you are already accepted. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:39.039 And so when it comes to prayer, it's family. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:44.480 You're not praying in transaction, you're you're you're praying to a father. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:46.079 That's why Jesus teaches us. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:51.279 How much more the fact that your father will give you good things? 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:54.480 And I love this text. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:56.079 Ask, seek, knock, right? 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:58.000 It implies that it's not always easy. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:07.279 I mean, sometimes dad's on the couch and you get to like find him right away, but sometimes he's working in the closet in the back of the garage, and it takes you forever to find him to ask something. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.839 You have to seek him out, you've got to go knocking, you gotta go. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:11.359 I mean, that's what it implies here. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:16.240 And the point here is that God doesn't always seem immediately close. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:21.039 But we still knock and seek, and we still ask. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.599 And the promises is that he hears. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:34.720 And your awakening, my awakening to our secure status is the very thing that opens up willing dialogue of what's really going on. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:47.680 Wednesday night we had an elder meeting, we have a monthly elder meeting and talk about the church, and we talk about ministry, we're talking about congregational needs and what's going on with people, we talk about money, we talk about the future, we talk about all sorts of stuff. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:53.200 We got into a kind of a good, good conversation, like a heated, good conversation. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.559 At one point I got really opinionated, I got very opinionated. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:58.400 And I think I ranted at one point. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:01.440 Maybe I got preachy, that's possible, that can happen. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:05.680 Um, and the elders were just gracious and they let me rant a bit. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:16.000 And then the next morning I woke up and I and I was just wondering like how much of that was good and how much was selfish. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:24.880 Now, how I understand God and my position before him means everything in this moment. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:27.359 Or maybe it's a worse moment. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:42.480 Maybe you belittle your wife, maybe maybe you uh you lose your job, maybe you do something to lose your job, maybe you belittle your husband, maybe you yell at your kid, maybe maybe it's lust or greed, and you give in to that thing again. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:49.519 And then what if God's demanding or controlling or uncaring? 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:58.079 See, if so, in that moment, in that moment, if God is one of those things, you will inevitably not speak your heart. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.839 You can't, you can't risk it. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:01.839 Can't risk it. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:03.920 So you'll have to hide. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:05.759 You'll have to pretend. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:09.200 If he's not a father, you have to pretend. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:10.480 You have to hide. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.920 If it's transactional, when you screw up, you have to hide. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:14.480 You have to pretend. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:15.839 So prayer can never be honest. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:17.200 It can never be real. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:29.440 But if he's a good father, he's patient, he's caring, he's fully accepting, he's the dad we all wish we had. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.480 This is good news for us. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:40.079 We can bring whatever burden we have, even if it's selfish, just to voice it, to begin that process. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.319 Even in the voicing, there'll be transformation. 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:45.680 But we can bring it, we can bring the confession. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:48.160 We can bring the request. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.359 Maybe you're here, you say, right, okay, I get it. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:51.759 I get it. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:52.640 I'm tracking with you. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:53.839 I get all that. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:23:00.640 But when I do this, you'll say, when I do this, because I've done it, and I don't get anything. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:04.000 Like I've asked and nothing happens. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.200 Like I asked for an opportunity and it didn't happen. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:08.000 I asked for relief. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:09.599 I got no relief. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:11.680 Right? 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:17.680 I mean, the good thing here is the text actually implies you won't get everything you ask for. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:22.160 Verses 9 and 10, a good father won't give his kid a stone or a serpent. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:30.960 Even if you ask for it, even if you ask for something you think is good for your life, if it's not good, the text is saying you won't get it. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:33.680 So don't be surprised when you don't get it. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:38.000 I ran into this quote this week by Mark Galley. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:42.640 He's an author and he's an editor at Christianity Today, which is a magazine. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:47.039 And here's what he says: here's the lesson I have learned from Jesus. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:51.759 A lesson reinforced by four decades of failed prayers. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.519 It doesn't matter how I feel when the worst seems certain. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:58.400 Jesus didn't say ask when you feel hopeful. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:00.000 He just said ask. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.160 And he said it will be given. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:06.160 Once we announce our desire to God, it's his job to deal with it. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:10.319 Prayer is not manipulating heaven to fulfill our desires. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:19.519 It's putting what we desire into the hands of a loving, if inscrutable, God and letting him fulfill it in his time, in his way. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:31.839 See, if faith in prayer is transactional, you go, I've been behaving, been paying my dues, and now I'm praying and I'm getting nothing. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:34.640 Well, there's only a couple reactions on the back side of that. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:40.799 The back side of that is uh I'm just gonna distance myself because this isn't working. 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:46.880 Or I must be unworthy because the transaction's not working. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:50.880 So I must not be living up to something, and so you'd live in guilt. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:56.240 If it's transactional, faith is transactional, which is not, but if it is to you, that's where you end up. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:02.960 But if it's family, which is what this text is talking about, is how Jesus is painting the picture for us over and over again. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:12.240 Our response to unanswered prayer is the humility of a child that knows the child is accepted in the family. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:14.400 You go, okay, okay. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:17.200 Papa sees something I don't see. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.160 Papa knows something I don't know. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:23.519 And I'll keep asking and seeking and knocking. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:39.279 See, what's going on here is this one true God, your creator, the creator, is just showering you with value based on Jesus' work for you. 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.640 And it's not transactional, it's family. 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:45.759 You are the darling child. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:49.440 And he's saying, I wouldn't give you that. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.720 Even if you ask for that stone or that serpent, I wouldn't give you that. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.599 You mean too much to me. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:25:59.039 I won't give you that. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:25:59.759 You know what? 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:02.559 Go ahead and ask for it, but let go. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:05.680 And I'll give you what's good. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:14.480 So, my brothers and sisters, may you ask and seek and knock as beloved children before a loving father. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:27.039 And may you speak those burdens of your heart, not to manipulate heaven, but in humility before him, for he is non-judgmental and compassionate for you. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:28.880 Let's pray together. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:38.799 God, we thank you that you give us metaphors, pictures for us to begin to understand what you are like. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:43.920 We thank you that in Jesus we know what you are like. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:51.599 We thank you for the gift of Jesus that our sins are taken away, our shame is taken away, and we are made right. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:27:04.000 We are adopted as your children, secure in the family, relieved of having to work our way into justification and rightness with you. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.359 Would you help us to know this more? 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:16.160 Would you help us to understand this metaphor of father better, that you are papa for us. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:18.880 You are a good dad. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:29.839 Forgive us for all the ways that we rebel, we self-save, we refuse to let you into areas of our hearts and our lives. 00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:36.880 And would you this morning call us deeper into your good news that you are enough? 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:39.680 You are enough for us. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:41.440 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:42.319 Amen. 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:45.920 We serve communion each week here at Redeemer.