WEBVTT 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.599 Welcome to our Church at the Grove online gathering. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:06.639 My name is Russ. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:12.320 If I hadn't met you, it's great to have you with us as we worship and as we spend time in Scripture today. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:13.839 Excited to have you with us. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.120 Make sure you've got your app or your computer pulled up. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:20.320 You can follow along with sermon notes that way. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:26.559 And make sure, if you haven't, to fill out what we call an electronic or digital encounter card. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:33.520 We want to connect with you and help you take next steps in your faith journey and with our faith family. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:35.840 There's a Dr. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:36.320 J. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:40.960 Edwin Orr in 1940 from Wheaton College. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:44.880 He took a group of students to go study abroad in England. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:51.359 And so one of their trips that they took while they were there was to the Epworth home of John Wesley. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:56.560 Now John Wesley was one of the fathers and founders of the Great Awakening. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.359 He's the founder of the Methodist movement. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:16.799 And so they were walking students through his home at Epworth, and they went into his bedroom, and you could see two little spots on the floor next to his bed where he had kneeled for so many years to pray and to seek God's will. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:28.079 And you know the fruit of that prayer was the great awakening now, and even the even to today, what we see and how God has worked through the awakening, through the Methodist movement. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:29.439 And so Dr. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:36.000 Orr takes all the students back out and gathers them on a bus, and he's realizing he's missing one student. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:42.879 And he walks back into the Epworth home of John Wesley, all the way back to the bedroom. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:52.560 And there he finds Billy Graham kneeling in those two little kneel holes by the bed of John Wesley. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:57.280 And Billy Graham is praying this prayer, oh Lord, do it again. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:01:58.959 Oh Lord, do it again. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:12.240 And so what a powerful picture, especially as we look back and see how God has used Billy Graham to bring revival and to impact the world and his generation. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:18.240 I love what Mark Batterson says when he says, he says, I live by what they did in the Bible. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:20.000 God will do what he did. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:28.000 God still speaks, God still heals, God still delivers, he still whispers, he still answers prayer. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:29.120 And I believe this. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:45.199 What happens, what happens right now in this gathering, what happens on Sunday morning in our worship gatherings, what happens in our public areas of worship and prayer is dependent upon what happens on Saturday night in private prayer. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:53.120 And I believe what happens in this coming generation is dependent upon what happens in the private prayer of this generation. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:03:07.520 And so we must posture ourselves privately in prayer if we want to see God move publicly in our generation and work in our church and work in our families and see our friends and neighbors come to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:17.919 I love this story and I love stories about great men of faith like Billy Graham, but because we in our generation have seen the fruit of his private prayer. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:30.719 I think of that first crusade, and we talked about this a couple weeks ago in 1949 where Billy Graham had his first big public crusade in Los Angeles. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:37.360 And God worked through his ministry in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s and the 80s. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:45.199 And then I went, I got to go to a Billy Graham crusade in Atlanta in 1994 at the Georgia Dome. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:50.000 And it was at that point the largest crusade that he had ever had in his public ministry. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:04:00.560 Over 311,000 people gathered over five nights in Atlanta to hear him preach and what was one of his final crusades in his ministry. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:05.840 And we saw hundreds and thousands of people in that crusade come to faith in Jesus. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.000 Here's something I think we would all say. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.240 We all would say we want revival. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.680 We all say we want to see God move in our community. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:19.199 We would all say that we would want God to move in our church and our families. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:21.199 We want to see God move in our country. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:28.959 But here's the question: are we willing to pay the price in prayer privately in order to see God move publicly? 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:50.160 We've spent the last 18 weeks or so in Jesus' first sermon, his sermon on the Mount, where he gathers his disciples, he gathers people that are following him on that little hillside called the Mount of Beatitudes next to the Sea of Galilee, and he begins to teach, he begins to teach a new kingdom ethic, a new kingdom conduct. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:05:09.759 Some call it his kingdom manifesto, where he takes and and and he realigns the followers, his followers, with what God said in his word and makes sure that he corrects what has been misunderstood, what's been misaligned and manipulated. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:22.319 And he shares the beatitudes, which we spent time, we took one per week, and we went into the statements of declaration where he says, You are the salt of the earth, you're the light of the world. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:34.319 We go into the section where we looked at these six antithetical statements where Jesus realigns God's word with truth and he corrects what's been manipulated. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:38.879 And he says, If you you may have heard it said, but I say to you. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:51.439 And so we come into this section where Jesus looks at three specific spiritual disciplines: the discipline of giving, the discipline of prayer, and the discipline of fasting. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:06:07.600 And he's saying, um, listen, you need to you need to align yourselves and you need to invest yourselves privately in these disciplines if you want to see the public move of God in your life and the life of your church and the life of your communities. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:10.800 And so last week was was the discipline of giving. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:23.759 And Nathan uh talked about our motives, our inward motives, and that's what matters most, and the fact that is it a public spectacle or is your giving a private devotion? 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:25.360 And when we give, we have a choice. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.879 We can give for temporary praise or we can give for eternal reward. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:44.319 And when you um when you give in private, your father sees that he will reward you, and and what we're rewarded with earthly will burn up, but what we are given in the heavenly rewards will last forever. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:45.920 And so let's dive in right here. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.120 We're starting picking up with verse 5 in Matthew chapter 6. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:59.439 And he says, And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:03.839 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:09.519 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:12.639 And your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:20.720 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases that the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard with for their many words. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:25.759 Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:31.920 And see, I believe there's four anchors that Jesus wants us to sink down into our hearts. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:36.319 Four anchors that hold us in prayer and help us to understand. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:42.240 And the first one is this Jesus is assuming that if you follow him, that you are praying. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.759 He assumes that you are following him, you're a person of prayer. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.079 If you're following, you're praying. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.759 People that love Jesus are gonna be people of prayer. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:08:06.800 He says three times, and when you pray, and that statement is assuming that we're gonna be praying if we're following, if we're seeking, if we're pursuing a relationship with Jesus, we're gonna naturally respond in prayer. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:08.720 We're gonna be people of prayer. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:11.600 And so he's encouraging us to be a person of prayer. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:15.759 There's different perspectives on how what people believe on prayer. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:21.839 One view of prayer, this extreme, is this view that emphasizes God's sovereignty. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:30.800 And it and the extreme application of this view holds that God will work according to his perfect will, regardless of the way that we pray. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:32.879 Or even whether we pray or not. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:39.840 And so this view says that prayer is nothing more than tuning in to God's will that's already been established. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:52.879 The opposite extreme view of prayer holds to the perspective that God's actions pertaining to us are determined largely on the basis of our prayers. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:09:06.399 On one hand, prayer is seen as a way of lining up with God regarding what he's already determined to do, and on the other hand, it's beseeching or petitioning God to do what he otherwise may not do. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:09.440 And so I believe that scripture holds to both of these views. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:28.879 And it draws us into this tension between God's sovereign will and our responsibility to seek him in prayer and to petition God, to ask him for divine guidance and ask him for provision and protection and mercy and forgiveness and our countless other needs. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:43.120 It's not required of us to understand exactly and completely the way God works and executes his perfect plan and our role praying and making it happen. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:48.960 See, that's a mystery we can't necessarily understand on this side of heaven completely. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:50.480 But here's what I do believe. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:52.159 He calls us to pray. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.519 He calls us to petition our Heavenly Father. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:02.080 He invites us into prayer, which is amazing that we can come to God personally in prayer. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:10.799 We believe that we don't have to go through a priest, we don't have to go to a temple, we don't have to go through a religious organization. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:23.360 We each individually have the blessing and the opportunity and this unbelievable access that God gives us to petition and come to Him and have a relationship with Him. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:26.080 And so if we're following, we're praying. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:36.000 Jesus assumes that if we're following, we're praying, we're taking advantage of the access that He's provided through His life and His death and His resurrection. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:44.879 And the second anchor is this is that He says, when you pray, don't pray like the religious professionals and make it a public spectacle. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:49.360 We're going back to what Nathan said in the previous section here. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:53.120 It's about private devotion, not a public spectacle. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:58.960 And in verse 5, he says, and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, which are the religious professionals. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:04.399 He says, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:08.320 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.559 And so here's my confession. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.279 I am a professional prayer. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.120 I'm a professional prayer. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.240 And I'm not saying that with any amount of pride. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:28.000 Everywhere I go, to meetings, to public gatherings, to family meals, I'm always looked to as the person that's supposed to pray. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.799 You know, Pastor Russ, would you open us in prayer? 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:32.240 That's what I hear a lot. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:35.840 And then I'll go to a public event or a gathering. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:40.399 Reverend Butcher, would you like to do the opening invocation? 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:42.240 And I was like, what does that mean? 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.559 You know, I what does invocation mean? 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:46.639 I remember when I asked that for the first time. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:52.960 Uh one of my greatest fears is that I would be a 21st century Pharisee. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:55.600 That's one of my greatest fears. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:14.320 That I would be this generation's Pharisee where I'm praying publicly, and that I think about how I sound, I think about how I look, I think about how I'm perceived in my public prayers, but man, as I follow Jesus, I'm not spending time with Jesus. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:40.159 And I'm guilty of being the religious leader that Jesus is talking about, that prays publicly, wants to be seen, but misses out on the personal, private prayer that literally can shake the kingdom of God, that can move heaven and earth, that can that says, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven in a private way. 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:46.799 And here's what he says about those public, those public prayers and the religious leaders and the Pharisees. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:51.679 He says they have their reward, but it is short-lived. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:59.200 See, Timothy Keller, one of my favorite writers, he says this when he's talking about prayer in this passage. 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:02.720 He said, What's the acid test that you're a hypocrite? 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:04.960 You don't have a prayer life. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:05.919 That's what he says. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:07.600 You want to know if you're a hypocrite? 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:15.200 That you act as if you're religious on the outside, but you don't spend any time with the Heavenly Father in your private time. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:24.000 And he refers to a sermon that he read years ago from a great spiritual leader that goes back to the first great awakening by the name of Jonathan Edwards. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.080 Jonathan Edwards wrote this sermon years ago. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:30.000 The name of the sermon is Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:36.799 And so Timothy Keller says, boy, I had nightmares for about a month after I read that sermon because this is simply what he says. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:40.960 He says there's only one thing you don't do for show in the Christian life. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:43.919 One thing that you don't do for show in the Christian life. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:46.639 It's secret private prayer. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.200 He says everything else is for show. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:51.360 Everything else somebody sees. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:55.840 Secret prayer is the only thing you do just for God, just for him. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.639 Not for anybody else, not even for yourself. 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:00.639 It's just for him. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:08.159 I heard one writer say that who you become in life is determined largely by how you pray. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:09.759 Let me say that one again. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:14.480 Who you become is determined largely by how you pray. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:21.759 This third anchor that Jesus is showing us in this passage, he's saying this, pray in private to the audience of one. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.799 Pray in private to the audience of one. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:35.679 And a lot of times we don't notice this when we read scripture for face value in the English language, but that in the previous verses, when Jesus says, when you pray, it's second person plural. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.360 He's talking to the big crowd. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:44.399 And when you all pray, or if you in southern Jerusalem, he would have said, when y'all pray. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:48.559 In northeastern Jerusalem, he'd say, when you ins pray. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:52.559 And you know, out in the Midwest, he would say, when you guys pray. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:54.960 But he's saying when you all pray. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:15:13.360 But he gets to verse 6, he says, but when you pray, and he locks eyes with somebody in the crowd, some individual, he says, when you pray privately, when you pray privately, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.720 And your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:28.080 As we said, private prayer is potentially the only thing that you will do in ministry, do in life that's that's part of following Jesus, but it's not for show. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:31.519 Here's one of the things I was thinking about. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:44.159 We tend to think of sin in terms of somebody living in the gutter, somebody that's addicted to drugs, sin is somebody living immorally, sin is somebody that's down and out. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:50.399 Sin is somebody that's, you know, in prison, just got out of prison, barely staying out of prison. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:57.039 We associate sin with all of these bad type of behaviors, that person, those people. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:04.159 But reality, there's a dangerous sin, maybe even more dangerous than outward immorality. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:10.399 It's this idea where you have everything right externally. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:12.320 You can even change your behavior. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:19.039 You can become religious, but miss out on a personal encounter with Jesus. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:20.960 And that's what Jesus is talking about. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:40.159 He's saying that the sin that is even more dangerous is when you're religious and people look at you and they think that you've got it together, but privately you're a mess, and you're missing out on praying to God, the audience of one where he's the focus of your prayer. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.480 He says, go into your private area. 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:48.799 And the literal idea is there's a pantry, a closet in the middle of your house. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.120 There are no windows. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:53.200 See, nobody can look in and see. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:57.919 You're not kneeling by the window where people can see you praying. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:02.639 You're kneeling in the center of your house, away from your family, away from anybody's view. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:07.920 And you don't care if you're seen, but you care because you're in the presence of God. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:10.880 And you're praying to the audience of one. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:17.599 Shut the door and spend time with your Abba, with your daddy, your heavenly daddy. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:24.880 And you will, though, when you invest that time in the secret, he will grant you your request. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:27.759 He will pour out his spirit publicly. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.440 You'll see and reap the fruit of that investment. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.799 Jesus models this for us in Luke chapter 6. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:39.039 In verse 12, it says, In these days he went out to the mountain to pray. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:42.880 And all night he continued in prayer to God. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:46.960 Why did Jesus go away from his disciples? 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:48.880 He had to get away from the crowd. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:54.240 He had to model for his disciples what it meant to go into his private prayer time. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:55.599 He had to invest. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:11.680 And if you read the rest of the verses, it says he comes down and he begins to call his disciples to him. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:14.960 He begins to invest into his disciples. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:17.440 That's the up and that's the end. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:23.519 And then it says in verse 19, they went out to the crowd, and all the crowd sought to touch him. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.559 For power came out from him and healed them all. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.160 Where did the power come from? 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:34.240 The power came through his personal prayer life, his private prayer life. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:37.599 It came from the investment that he made in prayer. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:41.599 See, and he Jesus says, You will be rewarded. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:48.079 But instead of short-lived fruit like the religious leaders, it will be long-lasting fruit. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:53.599 Mark Battison says this if you will seek answers, you won't find them. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:57.200 But if you seek God, the answers will find you. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:00.079 And so this fourth anchor is this. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:01.359 Fourth anchor. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:04.240 Don't pray like the godless or the unbelievers. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:12.799 He says in verses 7 and 8, when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:17.359 Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:25.119 And he's referring to this idea of meaningless repetition or just meaningless, endless babble. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:35.839 It's when somebody's in a crisis, when somebody experiences trauma, when they experience loss, or even sometimes when there's excitement, what's their response? 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:40.960 They'll often say, Oh my, and you know what the next word is. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:42.160 OMG. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:49.599 Or when somebody's in the midst of pain and crisis, they'll say, Oh God, oh God, oh God. 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:54.640 And a lot of times those people are people who say they don't believe in God, they don't believe in prayer. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:02.960 But man, when they're in pain or they're in um in some type of crisis, what comes out of their mouth is, oh God, oh God, oh God. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:28.720 And this this meaningless babble in the culture of Jesus, it would have been the pagans, maybe as they worshiped in some of the false, worshiped false gods in the temples and ritual sacrifice or ritual worship, and they had multiple gods, and they would they would they would babble pagan prayers that made no sense but were just part of the religious ritual. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:38.000 They think they would be heard in those moments, and some people think that God will hear him in moments of in moments of crisis or desperation. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:39.839 Here's what I've come to understand. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:44.720 Prayer reflects the relationship you have with your Heavenly Father. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:47.039 Prayer reflects relationship. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:59.200 And so what I have found is that people that really have an intimate, close relationship with Jesus, man, I love to hear them pray because their prayers just sound like one friend talking to another friend. 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:00.799 It's not irreverent. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:03.599 It's not that God's not high and lifted up to them. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:04.960 They are respectful. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:09.440 They do think that God is big and he's almighty and he is beyond us. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:10.960 He's transcendent. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:16.400 But God is also, he's also come up close to us through Jesus. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:18.960 So how does how does what does this mean for us? 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:23.920 We've got these four anchors that Jesus gives us in this passage. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:34.640 And I let me give you a couple of things I think you could apply to your life even today, even right now, even at the end of this message, even at the close of our time together. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:40.640 When you pray, Jesus says, when you pray, three times, when you pray, here's application number one. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:44.319 It's create unhurried space in your daily rhythms. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:47.359 Create some unhurried space in your daily rhythms. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:53.440 We live in a culture where there really isn't a lot of um open time in our schedules. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:22:00.880 I mean, from the time we get up um and we're we're we're taking care of family, we're taking care of our business, we're taking care of Getting to work. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.559 We've got just crazy busy lives in our culture. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:11.599 So we've got to be more intentional about creating unhurried space in our daily rhythms. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.559 In that space, you spend time with your Heavenly Father. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:16.640 Jesus pulled away when it was dark. 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:20.400 So he would get up early or he would go out in the middle of the night. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:28.880 And I'm not saying you have to pray all night, but what I am saying is you better create some space because if you don't, somebody else will take that space. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:30.960 Something else will take that space. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:36.079 And so we say this a lot at Church at the Grove, pick a time, pick a place, stick to it. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:40.000 Say it again, pick a time, pick a place, stick to it. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:57.440 I even have a spot in my house, this my spot, that I begin the day with, where I just open up scripture, and one of the things I'm trying to practice is just being silent and spending some time in solitude and time listening, which is our second application. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:01.599 Is consistently check your motives as you pray. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:06.319 Is this all about me or is it about making Jesus the center of my heart and life? 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:09.599 Consistently check your motives as you pray. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:12.880 And then thirdly, prayer is not just talking to God. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:15.519 Prayer is just sitting in the presence of God. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:22.799 It's maybe sitting in silence, experiencing some solitude, and listening to God. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.240 Listening to God. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:25.920 And then fourthly, journal. 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:26.480 Journal. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:43.759 One of the best ways you can kind of keep track with how God is working and moving is you journal and then you reflect on some of the specific requests that you've made and the ways that you've petitioned and asked God to move and you get to celebrate it. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:48.240 And so you do this in private and then you can celebrate in public. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:49.839 Listen to this. 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:52.960 It is said that the famous preacher, D.L. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:59.039 Moody, once felt so overwhelmed with God's blessings that he prayed this. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:00.880 God, stop. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:03.519 God, stop. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:12.960 Can you imagine that you are so overwhelmed with the blessings of God that you literally, I cannot imagine that I would ever say, God, stop. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:13.680 But D.O. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:17.440 Moody was so overwhelmed with God blessing him, he said, God, stop. 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:19.519 Now, that's where I would love for us to be. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.039 That's where I would love to be. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:26.640 It's quite possible that God wants to pour out his blessing in revival and awakening. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:28.640 I'm praying for that for our church. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:30.240 I'm praying for that for our community. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:38.640 I'm praying for that for our nation and this world that we live on that's been so troubled in the last year and a half. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:40.640 I just want to ask you to pray. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:50.799 Maybe your first prayer, you've never been a personal prayer, but your first prayer is to simply say, Jesus, I want you in my life. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:53.200 Jesus, I want you to save me. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:58.160 And I want to invite you maybe into a relationship with Jesus for the first time. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:14.799 Maybe you have been involved in religious life, or you grew up in church, or somebody in your family was a pastor or a deacon or something, and you've been kind of standing on their shoulders, and it's time for you to have your own faith. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:18.000 It's time for you to have a personal encounter with Jesus. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:21.519 And we say this at Church at Grove is as simple as A, B, C. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:32.799 A is for admit that you need God, admit that you're a sinner, admit that you fall short, and then B is for believe and trust and put your faith in the gospel of Jesus. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:36.160 It's to repent and believe the good news of Jesus. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:41.359 He came, he lived, he died, he rose again so we could have a relationship with him. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:44.400 And then C is to confess Jesus as your Lord. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:51.839 And so I want to encourage you just to just for you to respond in your own personal, private way. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:53.920 And then we would love to hear about it. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:57.119 You can text us at 9700. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:08.400 Text these three words, start to follow, start to follow to 9700 if you're taking that first step to put your faith in Jesus. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:17.920 Now, church, those of you that are part of our church family, those of you that are part of a church, let me invite you to be a person of prayer. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:24.960 Let me invite you to join with us as we pray and seek God that God would do it again. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:32.000 In the words of John Wesley, in the words of Billy Graham, God, would you do it again? 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:33.680 God, would you move again? 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:36.160 God, would you bring revival again? 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:44.880 God, would you bring fruit that comes publicly, but it's birthed privately in prayer. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.519 Lord, I pray that you continue to bless us. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:48.960 Pour out your spirit. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:50.799 God, we say, do it again. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:51.839 God, work. 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:54.240 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:55.119 Amen. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:56.559 God bless you guys.