SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you that you're near, not just with Jenny and her journey, but you're near to every one of us in this room.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us that the hairs on our head are numbered.
SPEAKER_00: So for those of us who don't have hair, we still take comfort in that.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're a God that's intimately familiar with everything having anything to do with us.
SPEAKER_00: There's no area of our life that you're not concerned about, that you're not aware of, and can do something about.
SPEAKER_00: So why would we not submit everything to you today?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, illuminate the scriptures today to where we grow and we increase in our capacity to trust you and enjoy you.
SPEAKER_00: So we don't walk out of here thinking this is duty.
SPEAKER_00: This is not duty, this is delight.
SPEAKER_00: And so God calls us to delight in what your word says today.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone said, Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Philippians chapter four.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a guest, let me tell you what we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: We're in a series right now called Words to Live By.
SPEAKER_00: And each Sunday we just take a word and we just kind of talk about this word from the perspective of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about rhythm, we talked about contentment, we talked about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And today I want to talk about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to talk about it in a way uh that that I wanted to change the way you pray, the way you think about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I remember towards the end of his life, Billy Graham, the great evangelist, was interviewed.
SPEAKER_00: They asked him, they said, Do you have any regrets?
SPEAKER_00: And I was struck by what he said.
SPEAKER_00: He looked in the camera and he said, I wish I would have prayed more.
SPEAKER_00: And my first thought was, Dang, bro, you're Billy Graham.
SPEAKER_00: I thought you were talking to God all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't want to get to the end of my life and say that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to get to the end of your life and say that.
SPEAKER_00: And students, I want you, when you meet your husband, uh, and he's not sitting next to you right now, just for the record.
SPEAKER_00: When you meet your husband or you meet your wife, I want you to be able to say with integrity, hey, I've been praying for you since I was in the ninth grade.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to finally meet you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because when you understand what the Bible says about prayer, you enjoy praying and you see a consequence for your prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Say amen.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Bible talks about in Philippians chapter four.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just read verses four to seven.
SPEAKER_00: He says this, because I think a lot of people think, well, praying is just talking to God.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_00: But there's some things that we do on the way to prayer that inform and elevate the way we pray.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: Philippians chapter four, verse four, verse four.
SPEAKER_00: Uh rejoice in the Lord uh always.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I say rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
SPEAKER_00: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In these like four or five verses, there's six things I want to point to.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh and just kind of say, hey, could we incorporate this and in into how we pray and how we think about prayer?
SPEAKER_00: And here's the first one: rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: He says, rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: The word picture here around the word rejoice, it means literally to be well and to thrive in the Lord, to be well and to thrive in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now we've got to change the way we think about God because our focus is to be well and thrive at everything else, and we come to God for comfort over the things that are not going well and the things at which we are not thriving.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to just submit to you, beloved, that is not prayer.
SPEAKER_00: He says, rejoice is to be well and thrive in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing that the gospel does is it alters what you find joy in.
SPEAKER_00: So to rejoice is to come back to that which exposes you to your deepest joy.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing the gospel does is it changes what we find joy in.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things that I used to find joy in that I don't find joy in anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Like I have a friend that smokes weed consistently, habitually, all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that may weird some of you out.
SPEAKER_00: You're kind of like, like, I'm not gonna say who, but there's lady this section right here that just went, oh.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gotta be friends with Wade Collier.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, uh, it's not Wade Collier.
SPEAKER_00: Relax.
SPEAKER_00: His kids just looking like dad.
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, I have a friend, and my friends always ask me questions about weed.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, hey, did you used to smoke?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like 1982 before I became a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: So would you, if they legalized it, and everybody talks about marijuana, well, it's illegal in 21 other states, not Texas.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, if we ever legalized it in Texas, would you ever smoke weed?
SPEAKER_00: I said, No.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, How do you know?
SPEAKER_00: I don't find joy in that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I just don't.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing the gospel does, and the most consequential thing it does, is it alters the things that you find joy in.
SPEAKER_00: It it affects, so when the Bible says rejoice, it basically is saying, come back to that which exposes you to your deepest joy.
SPEAKER_00: And again, the question becomes you should, students, before you go home, by the way, here's the formula: lunch, nap, homework.
SPEAKER_00: Don't push through and try to do homework.
SPEAKER_00: Nap first because you're kind of cranky and not enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00: Just eat and go to your room, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Come out about 6:30 or 7, do some homework, call it a night, all right?
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things you've got to ask yourself is, what is my deepest joy?
SPEAKER_00: Now, mom and dad, if your deepest joy is in your kids, uh, and I get that, my kids are deeply enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00: They were both here this weekend, so my wife didn't talk to me for three days.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I didn't I didn't think our stove worked until our kids got to then it's like, hey, what do you want?
SPEAKER_00: What do you want?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what about me?
SPEAKER_00: We take every oh shut up, the girls are here.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, never mind.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, good.
SPEAKER_00: Not not a problem, but you have to ask yourself, hey, what is the thing uh that I find my deepest joy in?
SPEAKER_00: Because when the Bible says rejoice to be well and thrive in the Lord, here's a hard question for students.
SPEAKER_00: You got to ask yourself, do I really believe that I can be well and thrive in the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Or do I have to go outside of the context of my relationship with God in order to be satisfied?
SPEAKER_00: This is the nature of sin, is you don't find satisfaction and joy in God.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing he says about prayer is you have to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, he says, be reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: I love that this sentence is in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Reasonable means to be affable, mild, moderate, patient.
SPEAKER_00: Ask you a simple question.
SPEAKER_00: Are you a reasonable person or are you consistently difficult to deal with?
SPEAKER_00: Because what's that got to do with prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times people come to prayer and you're not reasonable, you're you're eccentric, and it almost gives you permission to believe things that aren't true.
SPEAKER_00: But just in the warping move of life, we should be reasonable as well.
SPEAKER_00: Like you saw Ginny, that's Jenny Hardcastle, who is the basketball coach at Logos Prep.
SPEAKER_00: Can we get a shout out?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Her husband Blake is our spiritual formation pastor.
SPEAKER_00: We they started here in June of 2019.
SPEAKER_00: However, we hired them in October of 2018.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, What?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we're in a meeting with the elders, and they were like, Yeah, we think this is a go.
SPEAKER_00: We said, we think this is a go.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Okay, I guess we can go back to Delaware and put our house on the market and fix some holes in the walls.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, time out, you got holes in the wall?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got teenage boys.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there you go.
SPEAKER_00: And and she said, I teach second grade, and I guess they might let them know, and da-da-da.
SPEAKER_00: And my spirit just got grieved, and I was like, Okay, that's an option.
SPEAKER_00: Or you could go back to Delaware, you could finish.
SPEAKER_00: Blake's been the BSM director at the University of Delaware for like 21 years.
SPEAKER_00: You can finish next spring, get some free lunches, maybe get a plaque or something.
SPEAKER_00: You can finish your teaching contract.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to get to heaven and some second grade kids come up to me and go, You took me so cancel away.
SPEAKER_00: And you can let your boys finish kissing all the Delaware girlfriends and then come to Texas.
SPEAKER_00: Which that's what it's like in an elder meeting, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we talk.
SPEAKER_00: We don't sit around and go, um.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, which would be better?
SPEAKER_00: And they were like, Oh my gosh, you're serious?
SPEAKER_00: You would hire us now?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I ain't gonna start paying you till you get here, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: But yes, we hired them in October and they started in June.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we try to be reasonable, we try to be reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: We try to be win-win.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Rejoice, be reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, proclaim, proclaim.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the text.
SPEAKER_00: He says, let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand, and this makes something possible.
SPEAKER_00: It's not possible before.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand, which means near.
SPEAKER_00: He's within reaching distance.
SPEAKER_00: And so before you pray anything, you need to declare this one thing over what you're about to pray about.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: I prayed with some friends last night on the phone, and he just came out of me.
SPEAKER_00: God, you're you're you're at hand, you're near.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: When Jenny said, My story is one of the God is near.
SPEAKER_00: He's not way off in the clouds.
SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to wake up a sleepy grandpa out of the recliner of heaven to kind of get concerned about your life.
SPEAKER_00: He is near, he is concerned.
SPEAKER_00: And so before you pray, you just need to kind of proclaim the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: He's not far off, watching, greeting you from a distance.
SPEAKER_00: No, he is very near.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a word, a picture in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's Genesis 1.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1, the Bible says that the world, the earth, was formless and void, but the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
SPEAKER_00: And so to say that God is near means that you may have some things in your life you don't know what you're supposed to do, you don't know what you're going to do, you're operating on borderline overwhelmingness, and you're like, I just don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Again, you're not trying to get away off distant God.
SPEAKER_00: He is near, he's hovering right over it, and he can speak into it and bring form out of formlessness and substance out of nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you and I say, the Lord is near, we're not reminding God, we're reminding ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And so ask yourself today: do my prayers reflect the fact that the Lord is near?
SPEAKER_00: That the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this isn't just about nature, it's about proximity.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just about nature.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord, that's his nature.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, he says in the book of Jeremiah, I am the Lord God of all flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Is anything too difficult for me?
SPEAKER_00: That's his nature is near.
SPEAKER_00: That's his proximity.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why do I make a big deal out of that?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're drawn to one side of that statement or the other.
SPEAKER_00: His nature or his proximity.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they're in that order because the nature of the person that is in proximity to you determines the comfort you derive from their presence.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: The nature of the person that is in close proximity to you determines the comfort that you derive from their presence.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord, that's his nature, is near.
SPEAKER_00: So you can derive a lot of presence.
SPEAKER_00: Like students, if you had a bad dream tonight and your little brother ran in the room and said, Sissy, are you okay?
SPEAKER_00: You would not be comforted.
SPEAKER_00: You'd be like, Go get mom, dude, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But if your mom came in there all of a sudden, it's like, oh my, I had a terrible dream.
SPEAKER_00: And your mom's up in the bed.
SPEAKER_00: Hold why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the nature of that person, you such that it is, you derive a measure of comfort from their presence.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: This is also why you can despise someone you once loved.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all like, oh, I didn't see that coming.
SPEAKER_00: Where'd you go?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can despise someone you once loved.
SPEAKER_00: I talk to people about this in counseling all the time.
SPEAKER_00: I may meet with a couple, and the lady's like, I said, Tell me why you're here.
SPEAKER_00: I I can't stand him.
SPEAKER_00: Opening salvo.
SPEAKER_00: I just can't stand him.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Uh, can I have some coffee?
SPEAKER_00: Sure, get some coffee.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I said, What do you mean when you say you can't stand him?
SPEAKER_00: I can't stand to what listen to him talk.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he snores.
SPEAKER_00: I sleep upstairs now.
SPEAKER_00: I can't stand.
SPEAKER_00: This was the love of my life, and I abhor him.
SPEAKER_00: That's a bad word, by the way, kids.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, so is this reconcilable?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I hope so.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we're here.
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, I like I have disdain for this man.
SPEAKER_00: And the guy's just sipping the coffee.
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty good coffee.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, focus, focus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how does somebody come to a point where they despise someone they once loved?
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
SPEAKER_00: You got to know their nature.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, What have you discovered about him that you didn't know early on?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00: How much time do you have?
SPEAKER_00: 75 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Talk fast.
SPEAKER_00: And she said it was starting off here, and then slowly it just eroded and eroded and eroded and eroded.
SPEAKER_00: And now it's just like I would rather be alone than in a relationship with this man.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, can you feel what's happening in this room right now?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, oh strangely familiar language all of a sudden.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the beauty is that people can change, people can repent.
SPEAKER_00: I said, What's the one thing that he could do that would surprise you?
SPEAKER_00: And she said, uh I don't need much.
SPEAKER_00: How about just say I'm sorry?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, You're you're you're you're you're telling me a lot.
SPEAKER_00: But again, the nature of the person that's in proximity to you determines the comfort you derive from their presence.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the fourth component of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Respond.
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough to say what the Bible says, like it's a magic potion that makes problems go away.
SPEAKER_00: You have to learn to live in light of what you just said, to respond to what you proclaim because it's true.
SPEAKER_00: So it's one thing to say the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: Students, if you're in a relationship and you get sometimes, not all the time, but occasionally you struggle with the physical part of the relationship, just proclaim out loud, the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: Could we act like it?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is near.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to play house.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking just the students, I'm talking to some of you people that are divorced, and you think because you're divorced, and hey, well, you know, I'm divorced.
SPEAKER_00: And so you know, no, no, the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Our theology tells us that the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: The application of that truth tells us that I don't have to live at the mercy of my anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand, the Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6 Do not be anxious about anything.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it's such a big deal that you and I could understand the nature of this being who is near.
SPEAKER_00: Because he has the capacity to say, anxiety, you can't stay here anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not digging at people that struggle with anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: It's a real thing.
SPEAKER_00: But I am saying this: we have to learn to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Because he says, Hey, uh, do not be anxious about anything.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a dig at people that struggle with anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: It's an invitation to all of us to stop future tripping and projecting gloom and doom on ourselves instead of learn to respond to what we know instead of being paralyzed by what we can't know, and yet choose to fear.
SPEAKER_00: Respond.
SPEAKER_00: Or as I tell people all the time, could you stop accommodating and accommodating and accommodating and just taking it and taking it and taking it?
SPEAKER_00: And one day you wake up and your soul is bent, crooked, doubled over, and the psalmist question rises in you why are you so downcast?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my soul.
SPEAKER_00: Because you accommodate people and things that you shouldn't.
SPEAKER_00: Someone asked me not long ago in council.
SPEAKER_00: A lady said, Hey, can I ask you a question?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Sure.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Do you ever struggle with anxiety?
SPEAKER_00: I said, By the grace of God, no.
SPEAKER_00: And not because I'm super Christian, I just don't accommodate people in their junk.
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Maybe we could plunge on that?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Because whatever you accommodate, you have to continue to experience.
SPEAKER_00: And you just accommodate.
SPEAKER_00: And students, some of y'all have been told since first grade, this week's character trait is tolerance.
SPEAKER_00: God made you to be like this.
SPEAKER_00: And so people bring you their nonsense, your boyfriend brings you his stupidity.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: You know I love you.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: You should love me because I love me.
SPEAKER_00: So you loving me is a good thing because I love me and I find that enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00: But to prove that I love you, I don't have to do this.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to accommodate you.
SPEAKER_00: Because whatever you let in, whoever you let in, you got a process for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: So what am I saying?
SPEAKER_00: Stop accommodating.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, I'm not a harsh person, believe it or not.
SPEAKER_00: But I have to sometimes I have to say, no, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: What you just said is not true.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the fifth thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually pray.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, that that that that's great.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He said, but it's in everything by prayer, and the Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is fueled by a right understanding of the relationship between anything and everything.
SPEAKER_00: Anything and everything.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Be anxious, do not be anxious for anything.
SPEAKER_00: Huge statement.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that balances that seesaw out is over here, he says, but pray and do not be anxious about anything.
SPEAKER_00: But in everything, by prayer and supplication, make your request be known to God.
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons most of us live at the mercy of crippling anxiety is we don't know how to pray with leverage and authority about everything.
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like, well, is it's just all I can do.
SPEAKER_00: I guess there's nothing I can do.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot you can do.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things you have to do is understand the difference between prayer and supplication.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Most people just supplicate, they never actually pray.
SPEAKER_00: Now you're probably thinking, if you tell me what supplicate is, then I'll know if I do it or not.
SPEAKER_00: We all do it.
SPEAKER_00: Supplicate means to ask.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the difference in it, it's a simple difference in supplication and prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Supplication means you ask God for things.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that's great.
SPEAKER_00: Asking God for things is wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: God has no problem with that.
SPEAKER_00: One of our students that goes to church here came up to me after the last service and said, Hey, Pastor Neal, I mean, he calls me at eight in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: You want to go to breakfast?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I work for a living.
SPEAKER_00: You freeload off your parents.
SPEAKER_00: I've got a job.
SPEAKER_00: Come up to me right after the service.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Hey, I've got a date.
SPEAKER_00: This girl's coming to pick me up.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, at church?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Yeah, we're going to Jupiter.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, that's expensive.
SPEAKER_00: I highly recommend the Ricky Bobby, though.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I don't have any money.
SPEAKER_00: Look at me, you knuckleheads.
SPEAKER_00: Don't none of you think this, okay?
SPEAKER_00: None of you think this.
SPEAKER_00: Because he said, Can you give me some money?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, He goes, I'm just gonna buy hers.
SPEAKER_00: I said, You gotta eat.
SPEAKER_00: I said, How much do you think?
SPEAKER_00: He said,$15.
SPEAKER_00: I said, You've never been to Jupiter, have you?
SPEAKER_00: That'd get you maybe a waffle and a glass of water.
SPEAKER_00: And so I peeled off some money and said, Here you go, pay for hers and yours.
SPEAKER_00: If it's a date, you should be paying for hers.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Okay, Pastor Nil, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, somebody was kind of watching, like, I said, I can't think there's nothing you want to ask me for.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't bother me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the rest of you, you're on your own.
SPEAKER_00: You got your mom and dad.
SPEAKER_00: Uh wh why am I telling you this?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's he don't mind supplicating.
SPEAKER_00: He asks.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, called one time, hey Pastor, you gonna play basketball?
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm at work.
SPEAKER_00: I can't play basketball.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, click.
SPEAKER_00: So asking is not a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer, see, supplication is asking God for things.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is a simple enjoyment of talking to God.
SPEAKER_00: It's the simple enjoyment of talking to God.
SPEAKER_00: There's three components to prayer that He kind of Paul kind of points to here.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tick them off for you quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Thanksgiving, authenticity, and vulnerability.
SPEAKER_00: Thanksgiving or gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: I prefer the word gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: Thanksgiving is an expression.
SPEAKER_00: You're giving thanks.
SPEAKER_00: It's an ex so when you pray, don't just ask, but thank God for things.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for what you already have.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for how He's worked in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for something.
SPEAKER_00: Don't just be like, oh this week's list of demands is this.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't come through, I'm gonna deconstruct my faith and become some internet theologian agnostic.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen that movie.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of Thanksgiving, the great theologian Ray Wiley Hubbard said this in the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, well, I have really good days.
SPEAKER_00: Authenticity.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Your request.
SPEAKER_00: Make your request, your request known unto God.
SPEAKER_00: The most important word there is not request, but your.
SPEAKER_00: Yours.
SPEAKER_00: Most people say to God in prayer what they think they're supposed to say because they've been trained by what they heard other people pray.
SPEAKER_00: And they use so much borrowed language they never get down to this authentic place of your request.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just remind you sometimes God doesn't answer your prayers because they're not yours.
SPEAKER_00: They're what you think you should pray because, but it's not yours.
SPEAKER_00: There's what your parents have told you you should pray, but they're not yours.
SPEAKER_00: There's what society's told you you should pray, but it's not yours.
SPEAKER_00: And it's always typically Somebody else's.
SPEAKER_00: And so to be authentic, let me give you authenticity.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's in Luke 17.
SPEAKER_00: Don't turn there.
SPEAKER_00: There's two guys on the corner.
SPEAKER_00: One of them is a Pharisee, like a professional preacher, and he prays this long, flowy prayer, Lord, I think I'm not like other men.
SPEAKER_00: I tithe of all that I possess.
SPEAKER_00: Ah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: The guy over here is a tax collector.
SPEAKER_00: He's a cheat and a liar, and he skims 2% off the top, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Lives in a nice gated community, got a lot of money, but he's got this gnawing anxiety that I am crooked deep down.
SPEAKER_00: And it comes his turn to pray after that.
SPEAKER_00: You ever hear somebody pray and you're like, I'm not praying around that guy ever again?
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: He's just like, that's what I'm supposed to sound like?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: This guy wouldn't even look up to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's just beat his chest.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, God, who am I kidding, dude?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, I can't even look up at you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so embarrassed.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so ashamed of who I am.
SPEAKER_00: And look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Authenticity says, Jesus says, that guy walked away justified.
SPEAKER_00: This guy over here, he's just praying for everybody else in the room.
SPEAKER_00: This guy over here, he's being authentic.
SPEAKER_00: Simple question.
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to be authentic when you pray?
SPEAKER_00: I have a friend Dave.
SPEAKER_00: They were, he was part of the healing ministry of his church.
SPEAKER_00: And they would get together every every Sunday at 8 o'clock and pray for an hour before the services.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, We've been going about eight months praying for this list of people.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Finally got to me.
SPEAKER_00: I was so mad.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't disrespectfully mad, but I was agitated.
SPEAKER_00: And I just, people were like, Lord, we ask you to come and heal your Jehovah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: He said, got to me, and I just said, Lord, we've been praying for like seven months.
SPEAKER_00: You ain't healed any of these people.
SPEAKER_00: What's up?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody in the room died laughing.
SPEAKER_00: And they just stopped the prayer.
SPEAKER_00: They all just had a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, but I didn't want to say it.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not saying be disrespectful.
SPEAKER_00: I am saying be authentic.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the last component of prayer: vulnerability.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known.
SPEAKER_00: Your request.
SPEAKER_00: Not what you think you should pray, what you really want.
SPEAKER_00: Be made known to God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's where the vulnerability comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Be made known.
SPEAKER_00: You're smart people, students.
SPEAKER_00: We're almost done.
SPEAKER_00: Still awake?
SPEAKER_00: You start to fade.
SPEAKER_00: Don't clap.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Staying up till three the last two mornings is a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, let your request be made known to God.
SPEAKER_00: How do you let something be known to an all-knowing being?
SPEAKER_00: By telling him.
SPEAKER_00: But see, there's nothing you can tell God that he doesn't already know.
SPEAKER_00: There's something that's being made known here that you need to understand.
SPEAKER_00: And what's being made known is not your request.
SPEAKER_00: What's being made known, do not miss this.
SPEAKER_00: This is where vulnerability comes in.
SPEAKER_00: What's being made known is you, not to God, but to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: The literal translation of this phrase is to become known to be recognized.
SPEAKER_00: Most people don't recognize themselves when they pray because when they pray, they become somebody they really aren't.
SPEAKER_00: And it feels awkward and forced.
SPEAKER_00: I remember I was at a camp years ago in Alto Frio in Leakey, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we had just gotten word that a tragedy had happened.
SPEAKER_00: And their former youth pastor and his wife were in a car accident.
SPEAKER_00: She was killed.
SPEAKER_00: They said, Hey, we're gonna have a prayer service.
SPEAKER_00: Can you come to the tabernacle?
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sitting in the worship guy.
SPEAKER_00: They pick a kid in the youth group.
SPEAKER_00: He is a senior, so I guess he gets to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And he gets up and says, Lord, we supplicate thee like the mighty Frio River.
SPEAKER_00: And I just nudge the guy next to me.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I bet you 50 bucks, he don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_00: And my buddy's like, Come on, Neil, we're praying.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I ain't praying.
SPEAKER_00: That kid's posing.
SPEAKER_00: I say unamen to this.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, dude, you better bow your head.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not bowing my head.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, I'm looking at this kid right now.
SPEAKER_00: I hope he looks at me so I can just go.
SPEAKER_00: I do not believe you.
SPEAKER_00: And so this guy starts trying to fix me.
SPEAKER_00: The worship pastor starts trying to fix me.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, I'll tell you what, put your money where your mouth is.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your voice down.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I bet you 50 bucks, he does not know what the word supplicate means.
SPEAKER_00: I'll take your money.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
SPEAKER_00: So afterwards he walked up, asked the kid, hey, what does supplicate mean?
SPEAKER_00: You I never heard that.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I don't know, but I heard a man at my church say it one time and it sounded awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And because I'm full of compassion, I walked up to my friend Sam and said, I take my money back now.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want cash.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want credit card.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want check on credit card.
SPEAKER_00: Like Randy Moss says, cash money, homie.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may be thinking, did you make him pay?
SPEAKER_00: I took it out of his bill fold.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the next day we're driving into town, he had on the console of his Ford Explorer.
SPEAKER_00: I picked it out.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, this'll do.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00: Now, am I mocking that kid?
SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying is that kid's never been introduced to himself in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Because when it comes to being vulnerable, the thing that gets known is you.
SPEAKER_00: Pray in such a way that you recognize yourself when you're done.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you think you're going to put on a costume to come into God's presence and say a bunch of things you think God wants to hear, you'll never experience answered prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Because God recognizes you, but you don't recognize that person you've become.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the last thing.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: The last component is peace.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7, he says, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The goal of prayer is not answers, it's peace.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: The goal of prayer is not answers, because you're not always going to get an answer.
SPEAKER_00: The goal of prayer and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest consequence of prayer is not that we get everything we ask, it's that the peace of Christ begins to stand guard over our heart and over our mind.
SPEAKER_00: Said differently, the peace of Christ begins to stand guard over how we feel and how we think.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you may think, great, so I get the peace of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's better than you can imagine.
SPEAKER_00: It's not passive, it's active.
SPEAKER_00: It acts upon you to produce three things in you, and I'll be done.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, an experience with peace that you cannot explain.
SPEAKER_00: An experience with peace.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Bible says this peace that surpasses understanding.
SPEAKER_00: So, students, that means something terrible can happen.
SPEAKER_00: Your girlfriend can break up with you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get into the college you really wanted to get into, and at your core, you have this deep abiding peace.
SPEAKER_00: That's the byproduct of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: That's the goal of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you turn it into this transactional thing instead of a relational reality.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, an ordered heart.
SPEAKER_00: The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You should ask yourself before you go to bed this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: How's your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Is your heart at peace?
SPEAKER_00: Are you anxious about anything?
SPEAKER_00: How is your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Because an ordered heart produces secure emotions.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, a calm mind.
SPEAKER_00: He'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What would it be like for the peace of God to kind of stand guard over your heart, students, and over your mind, over what you think and over what you feel?
SPEAKER_00: Because this is what the Bible invites you to when it talks about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: This is the experience is that this peace comes over you.
SPEAKER_00: And anxiety begins to realize, you know what, I can't reside here anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's something bigger.
SPEAKER_00: There's somebody in proximity, and their nature is bigger and more authoritative than mine, and so it has to leave.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just ask you a simple question and I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: What if that's the way God created you and I to live?
SPEAKER_00: To experience this peace?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you think about prayer in terms of answers, see, you have a transactional way of viewing God.
SPEAKER_00: But a relational way of viewing God says, I think of prayer in terms of peace.
SPEAKER_00: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: If you're visiting today, just relax.
SPEAKER_00: We like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_00: So some questions come on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk about these tonight and the questions from last week in our community groups tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_00: God, thanks for the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks that it finds us and unwinds us.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're not careful, most of us are going to go through life of never having prayed enough because we're never really comfortable, because we're never really ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We're a poor representative of what we think we should be.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible tells us that what gets revealed in prayer is our true self.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's so vulnerable to really pray.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we can talk, we can put on a show for our friends, but to really pray is indicting.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to be rescued from that, God.
SPEAKER_00: We want to understand that.
SPEAKER_00: So, Holy Spirit, just brood over us for a moment while we think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Father, our prayer today is that we would not miss the old me.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, we put some distance between us and the old me.
SPEAKER_00: Because God has altered what we find joy in.
SPEAKER_00: Things that people that used to interest us don't interest us anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's not because we're better than, it's just that we're growing.
SPEAKER_00: And who we are is not yet come, and who we're going to be is better than who we are today, so we take comfort in that.
SPEAKER_00: So, Holy Spirit, I pray that your peace would stand guard over the head of everyone in this room and over the heart of everyone in this room.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray this in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: And all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you're our guest, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: You're always welcome here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we'd love to meet you.
SPEAKER_00: So if this is your first or second visit, uh, if you would just come and introduce yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got any questions about anything you heard today, some of our pastors will be available down front.
SPEAKER_00: We would love to answer questions, pray with you about anything you got going on.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we got a lot going on in the life of our church we want you to be aware of.
SPEAKER_00: So check out their screens for this week's announcements.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_01: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_01: Today is a community group Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Find your group online and join us as we discuss today's sermon.
SPEAKER_01: The Super Bowl collection is continuing in our lobby until next week, so grab some soup and drop it off in the lobby.
SPEAKER_01: Pine Cove Registration is happening February 7th.
SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for a week of fun memories shaped by learning truth from God's Word, look no further.
SPEAKER_01: Sign up at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you want your child to be involved in that, it opens up, I believe, on Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you not to delay on that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, one last thing.
SPEAKER_00: Where's Ian?
SPEAKER_00: Ian, you over here?
SPEAKER_00: He left.
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, tell Ian I said this.
SPEAKER_00: Ian, you're doing a good job.
SPEAKER_00: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: So, anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we we are we are currently looking for a female for an associate student pastor, which is a female, so so be praying.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, God's got a plan, uh, and so we're gonna be reasonable and we're not gonna hurry.
SPEAKER_00: We believe the kingdom comes, but it doesn't hurry, okay?
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna kill Ian.
SPEAKER_00: So we'll be like, hey, are you gonna replace Yaunt?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we're not gonna hurry.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna hire just anybody.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so there's your update.
SPEAKER_00: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.
SPEAKER_00: So stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_00: Things like that happened when Jesus was on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And it didn't bother you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let it bother you.
SPEAKER_00: Depart now and be bothered by less things and enjoy more things.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you.