WEBVTT 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:13.919 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:34.719 And he said to them, When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:45.920 It's great to have you with us for our online uh worship gathering. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.280 My name is Russ, and I am one of the pastors at Church at the Grove. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:56.320 And if there is a chance that you are new to our online gathering, I want to say welcome to you. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:08.560 We encourage everybody to download our Church at the Grove app or uh check out our webpage, churchatthegrove.com, where you can fill out an encounter card, an electronic encounter card. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:09.920 We want to connect with you. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:13.040 We would love to have a prayer request from you. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:15.200 We'll be honored to pray for you. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:24.159 Speaking of prayer, we are in this section of our journey through the Sermon on the Mount at the Lord's Prayer. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:30.640 We're at the Lord's Prayer and we're listening to what Jesus is teaching us about prayer. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.480 And so it's been great. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.079 It's been so good because I'm I'm passionate about prayer. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:40.640 I'm I'm wanting our church to raise the bar on prayer. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:48.640 And I and I just want to teach people that maybe haven't had confidence themselves and just being confident in prayer. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:51.920 But here's a couple of things I want you to think about regarding prayer. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:57.280 Um I know I struggle with this, is if I I believe that God is sovereign. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:58.560 God is in control. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:14.319 So if God is sovereign on one hand and he is going to accomplish his will uh in a way that is completely uh transcendent to what happens on earth and in our lives, then he is, you know, how can we pray? 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:21.439 I mean, maybe what maybe the question is, why should we pray if if God is going to accomplish his will in a sovereign way? 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:44.240 And on the because on the other hand, um we are encouraged by Jesus and we're encouraged in Scripture with this idea that we can boldly approach God and that we can pray and pray in such a way that God will respond, God will move, God will even maybe change and how he's working that would be suitable, that would be blessing to us. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:46.080 So how do we how do we get that? 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:53.840 And it's something I I came across where uh one of my favorite pastors, theologians, writers, Tim Keller, he talks about this. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:59.599 He says, obviously, in the ultimate sense, God is in charge of everything that occurs. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:05.599 Our prayers could not possibly uh wrestle control of any part of the universe away from God. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:13.439 However, it is part of God's goodness and appointment that he allows the world to be susceptible to our prayers. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:15.280 How does he do this? 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:25.680 How he does this, how he maintains control of history and yet still makes human prayer and action responsible within human history. 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.439 It's one of the most practical mysteries of the Bible. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:36.879 In Nehemiah 4, uh, the Jews were rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem when they learned that they were going to be attacked by their enemies. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:38.400 Um, what did they do? 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:45.199 It says this, quote, we prayed to our God and we posted a guard day and night to meet the threat. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:52.560 Um, in Isaiah 38, um, King Hezekiah was dying, and the prophet Isaiah uh told him so. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:04:00.159 Then Hezekiah prayed, and the Lord replied, I have heard your prayer, I will add 15 years to your life. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:10.400 And yet, when Isaiah brings the message to the king, he tells him to prepare a hot dressing and apply it to the infection in order to recover. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:14.639 So, so why do we call this a practical mystery? 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:20.079 See, the teaching of uh the teaching that our prayers matter, man, it's so important. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.800 We have not because we ask not. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:26.240 Um, and so we need to understand that that biblical principle. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:34.000 We we have not because we ask not, and yet God's wise plan is sovereign and infallible. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:41.040 These two facts are true at once, and how that is possible is a mystery to us. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:49.519 See, see, we feel that if God is completely in control, that our actions don't matter, or vice versa, in a sense. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.360 But think how practical this is. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:05:02.480 If we believe that God was in charge and our actions meant nothing, it would lead us to become discouraged and to become passive, especially passive in our prayer. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:11.439 If on the other hand, we believe that our actions completely change God's plans, it would lead possibly to us being paralyzed in fear. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:15.439 But here's what I believe if that both are true, and it's a mystery. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:23.759 If both are true, however, we have the greatest incentive for diligent effort in our prayer. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:34.480 God is sovereign, but God invites us to prayer and he tells us that we can pray for him to provide, for him to move, and he will provide and he will move. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:39.920 So we can sense God's everlasting arms around us in this. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:45.120 In the end, um, we can't frustrate God's good plans for us. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:49.680 And so Jesus, Jesus calls us to prayer in the Lord's Prayer. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:57.680 In the last couple of weeks, we've looked at the very beginning parts where Jesus says, pray like this, and this is in response to the disciples. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:04.800 If you look at Luke chapter 11, verse 1, the disciples tell asked Jesus, would you please teach us to pray? 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:05.839 Teach us to pray. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:09.600 And so in response, Jesus says, Okay, pray like this. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.759 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:20.240 And last week we looked at verse 10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:31.279 And then we get to this uh verse 11, which is the verse that's sandwiched in the middle of the Lord's Prayer, where he says, give us this day our daily bread. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.399 Give us this day our daily bread. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:48.800 And so it's so important for us to understand uh what it means to walk through this prayer, because this prayer that Jesus is giving us, it is not meant to be just recited in some ritual way. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.600 It is meant to be a guide for us. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:07:03.600 It's not meant, there's nothing uh really powerful, there's nothing uh that's uh transformational in just reciting the Lord's Prayer like maybe athletes do before a game or after a game. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:05.279 And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:09.199 I'm not saying it's a bad thing to teach your children to memorize this prayer. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:10.160 That's a good thing. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:12.639 But really, the Lord's Prayer is a guide for us. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:17.680 So I want to just do something real practical as we walk through, especially down to verse 11. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:25.040 I just want to give you a little insight and how I, in my personal prayer time, might use the Lord's Prayer as a guide to me. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:30.000 Where it says, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:37.120 And so the first part of that is just to realize how special and how significant it is to be able to say, our Father. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:40.160 God is a heavenly daddy. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:45.360 And so I might would begin my prayer time, and I always do, I always say, Father, Father. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:49.680 Sometimes I even say, Abba, Abba, my heavenly daddy. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:08:05.759 And if I just, and I know this may sound crazy, it's sometimes I want to imagine myself either sitting on my knees before him or sitting in his lap or uh, you know, just just being sitting before him and just knowing that he's attentive to me. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.279 And I say, Daddy, I I need you right now. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:10.079 I need you. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:20.560 I need I need you to be aware of what's going on in my life, be aware of what's going on in my kids' lives, and my wife's life and my family. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:32.080 And Lord, I'm, you know, I'm leading a church, I'm leading people, and I need you, God, I just need to know that you've got your arms wrapped around our family, our church family. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:35.600 And then I would do something, and this this is just something I learned. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:55.600 I learned this about 29 years ago at a youth camp with another pastor by the name of Louis Giglio, and he taught just a few of us in a setting about what it means to come into the presence of God and to say, hallowed be your name, and and and just begin to think about his kingdom, your kingdom come, your will be done, and to surrender our hearts. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:09:04.799 And it's it's basically me taking the alphabet and putting the alphabet down vertically on a piece of paper, A, B, C, D, E. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:14.960 Um, and and what I do is I want to begin to name characteristics or names or attributes that are uh that are part of God's character. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:18.320 And so I would say A is for Almighty God. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:22.159 You are Almighty, you are Abba, you my Abba Father. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:26.159 Um, you are awesome, you are the Alpha. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:39.200 And so I begin, as I begin to focus on his character and who he is, it's crazy how my heart begins to turn and just rest in him and focus on him and who he is. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:44.240 B, uh he is beautiful, he is uh my bounty. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:47.519 I mean, he he is he's just um he's everything. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:50.639 C, I would write and I write them down on my piece of paper. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:56.960 C, he's the comforter, um, he is caring, um, he is the one who watches over me. 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:04.000 And so uh D is he's delightful, he is my destiny maker, he is my deliverer. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:09.279 Um, E is um he's my encourager, he's everlasting, he is eternal. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.960 And so I'm gonna stop there, but I hope you get the gist of this. 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:16.399 And you go through and you list out the names of God. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:21.679 It's amazing how focused your heart is and your mind is on who God is. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:34.320 And so um and so we want to uh we want to get rid of worry, we want to we want to see anxiety move to the side and where you can completely rest in God and in his character. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:39.360 Um and so uh and so then the next thing is I is gratitude. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:44.159 I I maybe write down some things where I'm thankful for how God is working. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:48.080 I love how Paul gives us some guidance to that in um in his letters. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:52.480 Philippians 1 3 says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:53.840 Colossians 1 3. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:58.799 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:05.120 Colossians 4 2, he says, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with what? 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:06.639 Thanksgiving. 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:15.679 And so thanksgiving and gratitude continues to help turn our heart toward God uh with a surrendered heart. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:21.840 And then uh finally we see in verse 10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.279 And I wrote down, but come to God with humility. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:26.879 Come to God with humility. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:28.320 It means we surrender. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:33.200 He is our king, and we're not the king, and we surrender our heart to him. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:44.080 We say, along with the words of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, um, God, you know, sometimes I want to let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:52.799 And so then, sandwiched in the middle of the Lord's prayer is this give me this day my daily bread. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:57.919 It's this petition for God to provide for our needs. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:02.639 Um, the key understanding is this he says, give us our daily bread. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:04.799 You know what bread always represents? 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:08.399 Bread always represents what we need. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:09.840 What we need. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:12.799 And here's why I want to encourage you to focus on that. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:16.080 We're not coming to God with our wish and want list. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:21.120 We're not coming to him with with this idea that God is a vending machine. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.200 God is a one who provides. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:28.480 And I'm not saying we we don't ever ask for those things that we wish for or want for. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.279 I mean, that that's that's that's part of prayer. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.159 But but asking God for basic needs. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:38.000 Bread represents what we need to live, not what we want. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:44.159 And so God is not stingy or generous, but He it's important that we come to Him with attitude. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:46.159 What is it that we need? 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.639 And so we can come boldly. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:51.679 We can come boldly to God and ask Him to provide. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:58.480 And so I even put down here in the notes, and if you have your notes for the sermon notes there, it says, boldly ask for God to provide. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:04.639 See, in Luke 11, uh Jesus says this, and I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:08.080 Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:14.320 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the to the one who knocks it will be open. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:24.639 What father among you, I love this, what father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:32.320 If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, and here's these three words that are so beautiful. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:34.240 How much more? 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:44.399 Underline, circle, put a star, I mean, you know, put that on a piece of paper, put it on your uh mirror or or your, you know, somewhere you're gonna see it every day. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:45.519 How much more? 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:51.519 How much more will the Heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:53.440 So here's here's this. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:58.879 We can trust God with a how much more kind of trust. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:00.399 Now, isn't that beautiful? 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:01.600 I mean, let's say it together. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:03.200 One, two, three, ready? 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:04.879 How much more? 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:07.440 I mean, let's say it again, how much more. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.399 God is the God of how much more. 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:18.399 God is a God that is good and he is gracious and he wants to provide for us, he wants to give to us. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:21.360 He is the God of how much more. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:22.960 He's the God of how much more. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:39.440 So I want to encourage you as we come and surrender our hearts to his will, and we focus on him, being as our heavenly Father, and we and we focus on him for what we need on a daily basis, but I want you to come boldly to God and know that he's the God of how much more. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:46.159 He's good and he's gracious, and he invites us to come to him with our request. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:15:24.639 Um I was reading a story this past week and talking with um one of our other pastors uh, and and it we came across 2 Kings chapter 19, and this is a place in Scripture where God's people are being surrounded by Assyria, and they're being defeated by Assyria, and they're they're being besieged, and and it's just you can imagine they're starving to death, they're they're um they're they're wondering and questioning whether God is with them, whether God is out there, whether God is going to provide or protect them. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:40.000 And um and so you know they're they're they're they're talking to Hezekiah, and uh who is uh representing uh the nation of Judah and God's people, and they're they're saying, hey, you might as well give up. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:41.279 There is no hope. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:42.879 Where is your God? 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:49.759 We're we're coming, we're gonna defeat you, and and we're gonna basically prove to you that your God is not real. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:53.679 If he's real, he doesn't care, he's not able to protect you. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:16:04.159 And and so um so so he sends Hezekiah a letter that's just really just bombarding him with insults and insulting his God. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:12.879 And so Hezekiah in chapter um 19 of 2 Kings, verse 14, Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:17.600 And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and he spread this letter before the Lord. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:21.440 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, This, listen to his prayer. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:29.600 O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:31.519 You have made heaven and earth. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:33.200 So you see what he does? 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:35.600 He's saying, God, you're great. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:37.919 I mean, he's following almost Jesus' pattern. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:45.600 Outside of just saying, Father, you know, he that was newly introduced to Jesus or by Jesus, but he's saying, God, you are great. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:46.879 He's getting his heart focused. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:51.279 He's getting, he's surrendering his heart to the greatness and the goodness of God. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:55.919 And then he says, Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:17:07.680 Open your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Shenacherib, which is the evil leader that is leading the Assyrian assault, which he has sent to mock the living God. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:19.680 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.279 Therefore they were destroyed. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:32.480 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:45.680 And then Isaiah, the son of Amos, sends to Hezekiah, saying, Thus the Lord, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, your prayer to me about Shenacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:46.960 I have heard. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:50.880 And now, if we continue to read, we're not gonna continue. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:55.359 You see how God provides deliverance and God shows up. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:01.359 God has heard their prayers and he has shifted what takes place in history. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:07.359 A prayer from his servant literally changes the course of history. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:13.680 We think that our prayers, I mean, I I'm just gonna be honest with you, and maybe you're with me on this. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.759 Sometimes when we want to pray, you just wonder, are my prayers being heard? 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:19.920 And do my prayers matter? 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:21.680 And can they change? 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:23.920 And I'm telling you, yes, they can. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:24.960 Yes, they can. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:31.039 God invites you to come to him and to pray for him and to and to trust him. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:35.440 And so I want to encourage you with this, just pray. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:36.880 Just begin praying. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:44.960 Our Father, oh Daddy, God, I'm coming to you, not knowing whether I can trust you, but I'm gonna trust him and pray. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:47.519 And I'm I'm gonna surrender my heart. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.839 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:19:09.839 And then you, and then you can, after you shift your heart to the greatness of God, surrender to the plans and the purpose of God, and you you're on board with God, then you give him your list, your needs list, the desires that you have that match with his will. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:11.200 So here's what I want to do. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:22.319 I want to give you a couple of practical ideas, a couple of tools that I think that'll that'll really put feet on how you can move forward from here to begin to pray. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:29.039 And one of those tools we've shared before here at Church of the Grove, it's on our website, it's on the app, but uh, but it's called Bless Every Home. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:34.000 Um, and it's the website is bleseveryhome.com, bleseveryhome.com. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:46.160 And so you would go to that website, you would put in your address, um, and it will immediately show you with the names and the address of the people that live closest to you. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:56.799 And you can set it up to receive an email on a daily basis or every other day basis, ever however fits you and however you want it to be set up, you can do that. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:08.640 But the biggest thing is it gives you the names of people that live closest to you and and it emails you on a regular basis and reminds you to pray for them by name. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:09.839 Now I like to walk. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:18.240 Uh part of that is for my exercise, part of that is for uh, you know, just my my emotional and and mental well-being. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:24.799 It's a it's a bit of therapy to me, and and but it allows me to walk by these homes and pray for people. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:36.799 And I'm able, because of Bless Every Home, if I don't know everybody in my neighborhood, um, which I know most of them, but but I don't, if I don't know everybody, it gives me their name, and I can pray for them by name as I'm walking by their home. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:21:10.400 And and um, and so I want to encourage you, you don't even have to walk, but you can you can have a map, you can have the names on a list, and it gives you a practical way to begin to pray and ask God to move in the lives and the hearts of these people and to ask God to give you an opportunity to either invite them to join you in church or or the opportunity for you to tell your testimony or to share your faith, um, somehow to build a relationship with them, have them over for a barbecue, whatever it is that God may uh work for you, you can be connected. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:14.799 And if nothing else, you're just simply praying for them by name. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:26.160 And I listen, I've been doing this over a year, and I've seen God open doors that I know that would not have been opened if my wife and I had not been praying for our neighbors by name. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.400 So it's bleseveryhome.com. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:45.519 This is how powerful would it be that if every person, every adult in our church that was a part of bleseveryhome.com, we would begin to hear stories of people connecting with people in our church and hearing about Jesus, coming to worship with us. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:59.680 Um, and this would be a practical way for you to petition God to say, God, provide a way for us to share your name, share your uh the gospel, share your hope and share your joy and share Jesus'. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:02.079 It's a great tool. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.559 Here's the second thing I want to ask of you. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:28.400 Over the next few months, one of the things that I have a desire to see happen in our church is to have what I call a pastoral partner prayer team that would be people praying, but but which I know many of you pray, but praying in an organized way for specific things in the life of our church. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:33.759 And if you're interested in that, I want you to email me or send me a message in some way. 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:34.400 Let me know. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:36.400 Come speak to me at a gathering. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:39.599 You can email me Russ at churchatthe.com. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.400 It's Russ at churchatthegrove.com. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.160 You can let Nathan know or one of our staff members know. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:50.720 And I'm going to be sharing more and more details about that in the weeks to come. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:23:15.359 But this will help us raise the bar in our prayer ministry, in our prayer efforts, knowing that we've got a church unified coming to God on a regular basis, petitioning Him and asking for Him to meet our needs and to show up in a big way in the lives of people in our church and in our community. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.839 And so I want you to consider that. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:18.880 Let us know. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:22.240 It would include communication. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:27.680 It will include maybe once or twice a year getting together for like a breakfast or something. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:36.799 And then you're praying for me, you're praying for our staff, you're praying for Nathan, and then we're praying for our church in unity to touch lives. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:38.960 We've got a few different needs in our church. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:42.400 I was talking to a few people even in the last day or two. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:47.200 We've just got some major needs within our staff, some things going on. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:49.359 I think some of it's spiritual warfare. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:24:01.519 And there's nothing more powerful than a church or a family of God that are unified in praying God's protection and God's provision. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:05.279 So I believe for big things in the life of our church. 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:09.759 And I think of what the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 4 3. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:12.720 He says, at the same time, pray also for us. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:31.119 And he's talking about the leaders in the church and the direction of the church, that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:36.559 Isn't that amazing that Paul's in prison and he's not praying for release from prison? 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:38.559 He's not praying just to get out of prison. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:40.000 That's what I would do. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:50.720 But he's praying that God would open a door so he can declare the gospel, the mystery of Christ, the message that Jesus wants to set us free. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:53.519 See, we're all living in prison if we're without Jesus. 00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:57.920 Everybody who's without Jesus, they're enslaved to sin and to something. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:21.279 And so, and I think of the words of Matthew as he writes the words of Jesus, and right when Jesus is about to ascend after his resurrection and spending 40 days preaching the gospel of the kingdom, he says, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded them. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.559 And I will be with you until the end of the age, the Great Commission. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:34.240 There's no greater prayer is for us to live out the Great Commission, be able to share the mystery of the gospel, the truth of Jesus with people around us. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:36.319 All right, so we're gonna pray right now. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:43.599 I'm gonna invite you to pray with me, and I'm really gonna ask you to pray in one of two categories. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:56.799 I mean, first of all, there might be some of you that don't have a relationship with Jesus or you don't understand that Jesus can be known, that Jesus has called us to walk with him, to follow him. 00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:01.519 And you're living outside the family of God, you're living outside the faith. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:07.039 And man, you've heard about Jesus, you've heard about the reality that he is real. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:13.200 Um he invites you into a relationship with him, in a relationship with our Heavenly Father. 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:26.160 And so your prayer might be something like this, where you say, Dear God, I acknowledge that you are real, and I acknowledge and admit that I am far from you, and that I am enslaved to sin. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:27.440 I am a sinner. 00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:30.960 And and but right now I am trusting you. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:36.799 I am asking you, the God, of how much more, to come and to save me. 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:42.480 And I believe and trust in this good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:53.680 I believe that he lived, I believe that he died for me, and I believe that he rose again and that he ascended to the Father, and he is praying for me right now. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:59.440 And so just if I confess that Jesus is my Lord. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:04.079 And so if you have never prayed before, you don't know Jesus, you know what it means to follow him. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:20.240 Maybe, maybe you thought you were a believer and thought that you were following Jesus, but you realize you're far from him and you've been connected to religion rather than to a relationship with the Heavenly Father, and that's your first step is just to acknowledge that you need to turn and follow Jesus. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:42.720 For the rest of us, the prayer is this, where we just we come to to our Heavenly Father, our Abba, our Daddy, and we say, you know what, I I have been negligent, I've maybe just been slow to understand the significance and the how how easy it is to connect with my Heavenly Father. 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:44.400 God, I come to you. 00:27:44.640 --> 00:28:06.640 I I know that you are great and you are worthy, and you are um you are delightful, you are my comforter, you are my deliverer, and I know that you are good and you are generous and you want to give me every blessing that you can, and you are the God of how much more. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:20.720 And so, Father, I ask that you would use me, that you would uh break down spiritual strongholds in my life, and that you would help me take spiritual steps to join you. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:28.799 And in not just in being a follower and a believer and being saved, but to be a partner in the Great Commission. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:36.240 God, would you use me and in helping my neighbors and helping people come to know Jesus, people in my family. 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:39.440 Father, I pray for unity in our church. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:58.319 I pray that we would be a body that is so joined and so unified and so motivated, inspired by who you are and the work of the gospel that you would allow us to partner together in the gospel going forth. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:28:59.200 We ask it. 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.279 God, would you provide for us? 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:05.279 Would you meet our daily needs and even beyond? 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:07.200 You are the God of how much more. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:13.920 We want to see you work in a mighty way in our church and in our community and in the world. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:15.359 So, Father, we love you. 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:16.480 We love you. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.640 We love you, Father. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:30.720 I pray for those people that just feel a bit hopeless, that feel a bit isolated, but I just pray that you'd be with them. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:32.960 God, we love you. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:35.359 We thank you for being the God of how much more. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:38.240 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:39.119 Amen. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:40.000 Amen. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:46.799 And listen, if you turn to Jesus, I want to encourage you to text 9700. 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:49.599 Text text start to follow. 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:51.759 All lowercase, no spaces. 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:55.440 Let us know so we can come alongside you and encourage you. 00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:03.119 And if you have a prayer need, if you if you're just hurting and you say, I I want to, I need some, I need some prayer, let us know. 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:04.640 You know, email me. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:10.880 Um, follow on the on the website or the app and let us know. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:12.640 You can fill out a prayer request. 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:17.440 Um, and if you're interested in being a prayer partner, we're gonna talk more about this in the next few weeks. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:23.359 If you're interested in being a prayer partner with us as pastors, um, you let us know. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:28.480 You send us a message, come see us, call us, email us, and uh, we're excited. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:29.440 God bless you. 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:30.400 Have a great week.