SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Church of the Lookout is an older Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.
SPEAKER_00: Visit us online at thelookout.church.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bible, open up to Matthew chapter seven.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we're starting today.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter seven.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna jump right in.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible with you today, you probably have one on your phone.
SPEAKER_00: You can pull that up or read from the screen.
SPEAKER_00: This is Matthew chapter seven, starting in verse seven.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Ask and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_00: Seek and you will find.
SPEAKER_00: Knock and it will be opened to you.
SPEAKER_00: For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
SPEAKER_00: Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone.
SPEAKER_00: Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent.
SPEAKER_00: If you then who are evil know how to good give g good give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, we are back in the Sermon on the Mount for a reprise, alright?
SPEAKER_00: Um, if if you are just joining it with us today, over the whole summer, we we took like kind of passage by passage through Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: I peeled this one out because I knew that we were going to be getting into this this fall.
SPEAKER_00: So in the Sermon on the Mount, we're back into the central vision casting of Jesus of what life in the kingdom looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is primarily concerned with his followers, with those who are listening, about establishing him in the Jesus life, to do what he does, to relate to the Father the way he relates to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And central to life in Christ is this idea of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is the centerpiece, it's the anchor point of living life in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is our first priority, not our last resort.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: It's our first priority.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's communal abiding with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why Jesus, over and over again, even in the Sermon on the Mount, casts vision around how it is we come to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh back in Matthew chapter 6, one of the first teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount was one that we know as the Lord's prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and it's what it's a simple framework, it's a simple uh prayer when he was teaching his guys, it's like, hey, listen, if you come, when you come before the Father, I want you to do it differently than everybody else is doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Because what was happening at that point in time is a lot of the religious leaders were making a spectacle out of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: So prayer became this thing of how loud can we get, how how visible can we get, how much can we prove, how zealous we are for God, and somehow earn some brownie points uh along the way.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus said, Listen, I don't want you to be like them.
SPEAKER_00: What I want you to do, I actually want you to go lock yourself in a closet.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to be in secret before the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And then when you pray, I want you to pray like this.
SPEAKER_00: Can we just say it if you know the Lord's Prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Can we say it together?
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our sin, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so he teaches them to come to the Father and he says, I want you to do this in a place where you can receive from the Father.
SPEAKER_00: This is not about creating a show on the side, this is about just being with him.
SPEAKER_00: So what's interesting though is that when he gets to Matthew chapter 7, we what we just read, though, is a is a different posture of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Where the Lord's prayer was one about secret secretness and hiddenness and listening and waiting and receiving, as sons do, he brings a new movement of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And in this movement, he talks about asking and seeking and knocking.
SPEAKER_00: And this posture of prayer has more to do with wholehearted and embodied pursuit of the Father that requires the surfacing of desire and persistence.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that persistence actually matters in prayer as well?
SPEAKER_00: And there's something that's important to Jesus that we catch a glimpse of both sides of life before God, that there's a part of life before God that is a that is a receiving, and there's a part of a life before God that is a persisting and a reminding and a showing up and being clear with what we're asking for.
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys with me today?
SPEAKER_00: What you notice though in this passage, and Jesus talks about asking and seeking and knocking, uh, we should all take notice that he doesn't put a lot of caveats and parameters around this.
SPEAKER_00: If I was preaching on this, I probably would.
SPEAKER_00: I would bring a lot of points and subpoints about what exactly we are to ask and seek and knock for and whatnot.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's almost uncomfortable how wide open Jesus leaves the door.
SPEAKER_00: You guys with me?
SPEAKER_00: And he did this a couple different times.
SPEAKER_00: He does this in Matthew 7, he does this in John 7 or John 15, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I almost wish I was there to warn him about what was going to happen if he said it like that.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I could have told him how to prep for this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Jesus, do you understand what you're about to do?
SPEAKER_00: You're about to unleash thousands of years of people asking for the wrong things, or people taking advantage of this, or people not being in your will, and doing other types of things and asking for all kinds of things that may or may not be spiritual, according to me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, did you know that there's there was a day coming with televangelists too who were gonna really take a hold of this one and and they're gonna ask for all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_00: I wish you knew that, Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_00: But what so but what's fascinating in these passages, it doesn't appear as if he's super concerned with being misunderstood.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't appear that he's worried about that.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't talk about what to ask for, it doesn't talk about when to ask, he doesn't talk about how to ask.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't define which topics are are appropriate and which ones are surface level and immature.
SPEAKER_00: He's not concerned with those who will abuse his words and ask for the wrong things.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I think what Jesus is doing here, and almost all scholars would agree, what Jesus is actually doing, he's confronting what appears to be an appalling lack of faith among his listeners.
SPEAKER_00: And he's leaving the door so wide open as if to say you need to know who you're praying to.
SPEAKER_00: And if you knew who you were praying to, you would never shrink back from your asking.
SPEAKER_00: He would do this in Luke 18 as well.
SPEAKER_00: He's sharing a parable of a needy widow who is going before a judge asking for justice.
SPEAKER_00: And this is this we know it as the story of the persistent widow, and it ends like this in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus is primarily concerned about is not us getting right, it's whether we are going to be ones with faith on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: The ones who are clear about our asks, the ones who are partnering with heaven and partnering with his will.
SPEAKER_00: So, a question for us today: what are you asking for?
SPEAKER_00: What are you seeking?
SPEAKER_00: What are you knocking for?
SPEAKER_00: Are you asking too little as sons and daughters of God?
SPEAKER_00: See, prayer, prayer is tricky though, as you guys know.
SPEAKER_00: There are ditches on either side of the road.
SPEAKER_00: Now, listen, when I grew up, I grew up in a pretty spicy church setting.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you did not do that.
SPEAKER_00: I was I was I was kind of like charismatic slash Pentecostal, the youth group I was in.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was it was loud, right?
SPEAKER_00: It was with like hundreds of kids showing up, crying out to God, pursuing God, fasting and praying, kids showing up on Tuesday, not even just for youth group night, they had a whole prayer night just for the youth, and we'd come and walk the room and and pace the room and be praying, praying in tongues, the whole deal, man, as spicy as it gets, right?
SPEAKER_00: And these kids, I mean, and and it was it was really good because it instilled in me that passion should be normal in the kingdom life.
SPEAKER_00: That passion is not just a let's wait for a passionate day.
SPEAKER_00: Passion is the life given to us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I but the thing is in that environment, there were some bags that picked up some other things that probably didn't belong as well.
SPEAKER_00: Because what happened was as we would go to youth camps, as we'd go to um different things, uh it became easy to believe that God answered our prayers to the to the degree that we raised our voices and to the impassioned fervor of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And if we could just get more passionate, it would move God.
SPEAKER_00: If you could just hear, he doesn't hear us right now.
SPEAKER_00: If I if I stay a little longer, if I cry out a little greater, um, then that's what's going to move his heart.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what's that's what's really going to do it, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so it created an environment where prayer was less about relationship and it was more about technique.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us fall for the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: We think that prayer is about technique, and we do that because that's what we that's what we did with our parents, that's what my kids do with me, all right?
SPEAKER_00: This is why this whole passage is seated between is it starts with prayer and it ends with knowing who the father is, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because my kids do the same thing with me.
SPEAKER_00: When they come to me with a request, they're they're they're they're measuring several things.
SPEAKER_00: You guys know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: When they come in the room, they're looking for something, they want to know has he has dad had a coffee yet?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, how was his day?
SPEAKER_00: Is he well rested?
SPEAKER_00: Did the Broncos win or lose?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Is he hangry?
SPEAKER_00: Is he, you know, they're they're meant and so I know when my kids come in the room because they start kind of talking, and you kind of know they're ramping up towards a question, but they're not willing to say, they're just kind of they're gauging the temperature, man.
SPEAKER_00: And I know it.
SPEAKER_00: And I and I just let them just kind of hang awkwardly for a little bit until they get on with their requests, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes they, you know, they ask and they know right away if I'm in the mood for it.
SPEAKER_00: You usually have to do with video games, right?
SPEAKER_00: Can we have video game time?
SPEAKER_00: And I and they come in and and they start in, hey, so I was thinking, you know, I got my chores done, and I don't know, it's it's a great day, and and you look great, you know.
SPEAKER_00: You're a great dad.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, I don't know, I was just thinking if if you're in the mood, and you know, it just depends.
SPEAKER_00: And quite honest, it does depend on my mood.
SPEAKER_00: Some days I'm like, go to your room, right?
SPEAKER_00: Some days I'm just like, I'm short to there's there's a variety of things.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not proud of that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying this is true, you you're gonna get honesty here.
SPEAKER_00: It's truthful.
SPEAKER_00: Other days I'm like, have whatever you want, take it anything you want.
SPEAKER_00: You can play all day, every day, right?
SPEAKER_00: And this is why Jesus would later say, Hey, you if you who are evil know how to good give good gift, uh good gifts to your kids, why not the Father in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: It's like, I don't know if Jesus is trying to do a backhanded insult or what, you know, but it's like, hey, look at you.
SPEAKER_00: You're evil, and you did you give great gifts.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But I get it, right?
SPEAKER_00: I get it because I see it in my own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't, I'm very temperamental.
SPEAKER_00: I'm very, I'm very conditional.
SPEAKER_00: Um, when it comes to requests from my kids.
SPEAKER_00: And so what happens is my even my kids can learn to come to me with technique and not trust in the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: We do the same thing with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: We come to him, all right, God, I'm gonna time this right.
SPEAKER_00: How many, how much scripture can I read this week?
SPEAKER_00: How many people can I help?
SPEAKER_00: I gave extra in that offering last week.
SPEAKER_00: No, I have these things, and we try to do sometimes we do things and we turn prayer into technique.
SPEAKER_00: And prayer was he's not asked, he's not bringing us into technique, he's always inviting us into relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is always about communion with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about getting it right or timing it right or have all the the stuff in your life mapped out perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: It's about trust that there's a father on the other end of this prayer who knows how to I can't get this right.
SPEAKER_00: Give good gifts.
SPEAKER_00: He knows how to do that because he's good.
SPEAKER_00: So one of the ditches, though, is prayer becomes a technique.
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys with me on that?
SPEAKER_00: It's a ditch.
SPEAKER_00: But what happens is when we live our life with prayer as technique, sooner or later that pendulum is gonna swing because technique will lead to disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're realizing that we can do everything perfectly and still some prayers are mysteriously not answered the way we thought.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens is a lot of people when we talk about a life of prayer, the reality is the other ditch from prayer becomes technique is prayer just becomes tiresome.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes tiresome.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us in this room have prayed for things or labored or contended for things, and we're still waiting on those things?
SPEAKER_00: And we're s and and what happens, it can wear us down.
SPEAKER_00: Even this last week we were here in this room on Friday.
SPEAKER_00: I was officiating a funeral in this room for one of my wife's co-workers, uh not current co-worker, but from years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we found out that she had cancer, and um, and uh, and and my wife had a series of dreams and just uh earlier this year just felt like we need to go pray for her.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I believe she's gonna get healed.
SPEAKER_00: I believe we're we need to go pray for her and release faith.
SPEAKER_00: And so we did that a few months ago.
SPEAKER_00: We went to their home and sat with sat with them, listened to her, so we prayed for them as best as we knew how.
SPEAKER_00: And I know my wife, I mean, she's just like she has faith.
SPEAKER_00: When she catches a vision for something, she's going after it.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna stop her.
SPEAKER_00: And she went in there and she prayed, we prayed.
SPEAKER_00: And we spent that time, we invited the presence of the Lord, and I believe the Lord came.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, a few days ago we uh we were here for a gathering um because she did pass away, that the cancer did um ultimately take her body and wear it down.
SPEAKER_00: And it's difficult in times like that when you feel like you you you're asking and seeking and knocking, and you don't get it the answer to the prayer that you prayed.
SPEAKER_00: And for all of us, it creates this internal tension of like, what does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean if you're not God?
SPEAKER_00: Did you let me down?
SPEAKER_00: Did I get something wrong?
SPEAKER_00: Did I miss something?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just telling you, you know, the the reality is that not all of our prayers come out on the other side exactly like we think they are going to.
SPEAKER_00: But that does not negate the fact that the Father is good in all things and he knows how to give good gifts.
SPEAKER_00: And even on Friday, being able to be with the family and just really and feeling like we were able to minister the presence of God to her or her husband, to her kids, to hold a space with them.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was talking to Megan even this morning, and she just she really felt like God did come through, God did minister his presence in different ways, and ultimately we believe that she is with him in heaven and she is cancer free right now.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that.
SPEAKER_00: But there's sometimes we're we're asking and we're seeking, we're knocking, we're like, oh my gosh, am I just praying to an empty sky here?
SPEAKER_00: Which is why in the scriptures, though, we have hope.
SPEAKER_00: Because in Revelation we get this picture of how in heaven that the throne of God is surrounded with creatures and angels and elders, and in the middle of all of them is a bowl.
SPEAKER_00: And that what is that bowl full of?
SPEAKER_00: The prayers of the saints, the intercessions of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it says that it's rising like incense in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And the reality of for those of us who are in Christ, those of us who are walking out the mystery of the kingdom of God or praying for things and in the middle of unknown things and not knowing timing, just being outside of what God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: The reality is every single one of your prayers is being stored up in a great bowl in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Every request, every intercession, everything that you've ever asked God for, and it's treasured by him, and it rises as incense to his heart around his throne.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe there's coming a time where the prayers of the saints will tip over.
SPEAKER_00: And when God, when Jesus comes and he completes everything that he started, he restores and renews all things.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you what, that bowl, every prayer you've ever prayed before him, it's gonna spill out on this earth and he will have his way once and for all.
SPEAKER_00: That is what's gonna happen with your prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Because he treasures your prayers, he treasures it when we ask of him.
SPEAKER_00: And so what happens though is if prayer doesn't become technique, it becomes tiresome.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that's where a lot of us are at today.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we've stopped asking the Father for things because we're tired of being disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: We're tired of being let down.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're we we think, well, I'll just lower my exit, let me just be content with what I have.
SPEAKER_00: Let God be God, I'll just be me.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to tell you this morning, I believe that's where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been worn down, if you're tired, I just I believe the Father just wants to tell you, hey, don't stop asking.
SPEAKER_00: Don't stop asking.
SPEAKER_00: I love it when you come to me with your prayers and your requests and your big dreams, and I have gifts waiting for you on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that's what he wants to remind us uh you this morning, but all of us in this season, I think we're on the precipice right now of God saying, I I want you to get used to making big requests before me because you're going to see things happen in your day and your time.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, God uh He won't answer 100% of the prayers that aren't prayed.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand?
SPEAKER_00: But when you are when you are dealt, when you are bold enough as a son and daughter to keep showing up and saying, I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna seek, I'm going to knock, not out of technique, not because if I do it right, God's gonna answer me, but because I know that he's a good father, so I'm going to keep showing up.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you guys, we're in a season of sowing seeds of faith to see what God does in the season ahead.
SPEAKER_00: So this is why this uh next month, we are actually as a church dedicating an entire week to what we call unbroken prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer that is continual, prayer that is in one accord as a community, prayer that allows us to have a duration of time where just like we read in the scriptures of men and women being called to minister to the Lord day and night, there's something about continual, steadfast, broken prayer, not out of technique, but out of the belief that we serve a good God and He wants to instill faith into our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We're actually gonna take a week for 24-7 prayer in the month of October.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be prayer themes and a whole guide to keep us unified during this time.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have a prayer room open for part of it.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are gonna pray from our home, from your home.
SPEAKER_00: All of this is in partnership with an organization, a ministry called 24-7 Prayer USA.
SPEAKER_00: And what happened at the beginning of this year, they put out it, they cast out a big vision to all the churches who are a part of this network.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, listen, we believe that we are to we are called this year to span the entire year, 2024, with unbroken prayer, where every church takes a week.
SPEAKER_00: At least one church takes a week.
SPEAKER_00: And it's happened already, all the way to September.
SPEAKER_00: All year, people have been praying diligently in cities all across the United States.
SPEAKER_00: And this is just one prayer movement.
SPEAKER_00: This this isn't even all the other prayer movements that are happening, it's just one.
SPEAKER_00: And the the reason they felt that was important in 2024, as you guys know, um 2024 is what we could call a divisive year.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a It's a year that's full of divisiveness in politics, divisiveness societally, divisiveness in homes, there's brokenness even in churches across the board.
SPEAKER_00: There's brokenness everywhere we are.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of you guys know the people of God, though we can be broken, our greatest call, the reason that God called for Himself a people called the church was to be a prophetic group to model to the world what it looks like to walk in unending prayer and unending devotion to God and to each other and to model for the world prophetically what it looks like to be undivided as a people.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's something about putting our stake in the ground and saying we're going to take a slice of time to consecrate it before the Lord, and we're actually going to have a concentrated time to seek his heart, to have some big asks, and to believe in faith that God wants to move on our behalf, not just for this church, but for this region, for our nation, ultimately the entire world.
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys with me on that?
SPEAKER_00: So we're calling you, and I'm planting a seed with you right now.
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be a time for not only praying, but for fasting.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about that in a couple weeks.
SPEAKER_00: What does that actually mean?
SPEAKER_00: That uh that that might feel like a lot to you if you've never done this before, but just to be even a little bit more clear, during the course of this week, what we're inviting you to do is to take one hour a day for seven days.
SPEAKER_00: And it can be a different hour each day, but just to hold one hour a day to be before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to have some prayer points, some prayer prompts, and some worship music and some things that kind of hold us in this space.
SPEAKER_00: There's going to be some communal gatherings in the evenings.
SPEAKER_00: There's probably going to be some Zoom calls over lunch.
SPEAKER_00: We're kind of still working out the plan.
SPEAKER_00: But what if for an entire week we did that together?
SPEAKER_00: We actually linked arms and we say, we are going to be ones while everything else is breaking.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be ones who, in one accord, believe in the purposes of God in our generation and believe that He wants He has not done yet.
SPEAKER_00: And even as we come up to election, we can say, this is what's breaking down.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: Part of the reason we give ourselves to asking and seeking and knocking is because from time to time we have to break up the hard soil of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: I know that this church, we're a prayerful people.
SPEAKER_00: We're already a prayerful people.
SPEAKER_00: But what I'm telling you is it's easy, it's so easy, it's easy in my heart, and I think it's easy for all of us to put at points in the year to get crusted over and to dry up on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: And so what happens is when we get, when we set aside times to say, for this week, I'm going to intentionally go beyond what I normally do and I'm going to seek the face of God.
SPEAKER_00: What it does is it starts to just beat that hard soil and starts to clear it away to reveal the soil that's underneath underneath the hard soil.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the Bible, the scriptures talking about breaking up the fallow soil.
SPEAKER_00: And we actually have to do that from time to time in our pursuit of Jesus, in our apprenticeship to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We actually have to do things that purposefully say, I'm not going to settle in for church as normal.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to settle in for what I am used to.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just going to do what I've always done.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do something to interrupt my life, to remind me of the reality of who God is and what he's doing on this earth.
SPEAKER_00: William Booth said it like this.
SPEAKER_00: He said, the tendency of fire is to go out.
SPEAKER_00: Watch the fire on the altar of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who has tended a fireplace fire knows that it needs to be stirred up occasionally.
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true with you and I.
SPEAKER_00: There's times where we have to stir up the fire occasionally.
SPEAKER_00: We have to, you have to let we have to ask the wind of the spirit to come blow on the fire.
SPEAKER_00: And God remind us of what we are made for.
SPEAKER_00: Remind us of what we're made for because it is true.
SPEAKER_00: We are in a battle against complacency.
SPEAKER_00: And even in a spirit-filled church like this, you can yell all you want during worship or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: You can cry all you choose.
SPEAKER_00: We are in a battle for complacency and we're in it all the time.
SPEAKER_00: The what we are inundated by in our culture can oftentimes create a crust over our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're talking about is not striving or just creating a surface level hype or religious zeal.
SPEAKER_00: We're saying, God, we want to be the type of people who are set apart.
SPEAKER_00: And if we have to interrupt our own lives to just call ourselves back to you, we're going to do it because we know that you're faithful and you're good.
SPEAKER_00: And you have more in store for us in this next season.
SPEAKER_00: You have more for this country, you have more for the state, you have more for Boulder County, and we want to be ones who turn our attention to you to see what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Paul in Ephesians, he encourages the Ephesians as he's ending his letter in Ephesians 6 through 6 18.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Pray in the spirit on all occasions and with all kinds of prayers and requests.
SPEAKER_00: With this in mind, be alert and always keeping on praying.
SPEAKER_00: Always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
SPEAKER_00: And we read that again.
SPEAKER_00: He said, pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
SPEAKER_00: Bring them all.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you got, bring them all.
SPEAKER_00: All kinds of prayers, all kinds of requests.
SPEAKER_00: He said, with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
SPEAKER_00: I believe the reason he calls us to ask and to seek and to knock is because God is glorified when we participate with him in the coming of his kingdom on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how easy it would have been for Jesus to say, Oh my gosh, forget it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to do it myself.
SPEAKER_00: Do you read the gospels and ever think like, why didn't he just do this himself?
SPEAKER_00: Even it's funny, even Jesus didn't have a savior complex, though.
SPEAKER_00: He actually entrusted his disciples to do the work.
SPEAKER_00: He commissioned them to go out into the world.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I want you to be the ones who ask and to seek and to knock.
SPEAKER_00: And there's the reality is, while God's purpose, I believe, will ultimately be done in heaven and on earth and for all of time, we are in a time of history.
SPEAKER_00: His invitation for us is to be a part of what he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: And there's certain things that aren't going to happen outside of our participation with them.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe what Jesus would want to say to you, us, is where are the ones with faith?
SPEAKER_00: We're the ones who are willing to keep asking and to keep seeking and to keep knocking until the will of the Father is done on earth.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that's what's before us.
SPEAKER_00: He moves us from passivity into participation because he's glorified when we participate.
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to ask you this morning if you were standing in front of Jesus and he asks you the question, what is it that you're asking for?
SPEAKER_00: Would you know what to say?
SPEAKER_00: What are you asking for?
SPEAKER_00: Are you still asking?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it funny how in the gospels, when every time, you know, there's there's times when Jesus would come before people on the road who needed healing, he didn't, he wouldn't just heal them, he'd say, Hey, what is it that you want?
SPEAKER_00: Why did he do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not because he didn't he didn't know what they wanted, he wanted to be sure they knew what they wanted.
SPEAKER_00: And so I and so he would ask somebody, What I well, Jesus, I want to be healed.
SPEAKER_00: And then he would say, Well, be healed.
SPEAKER_00: And they would be healed.
SPEAKER_00: I I there's something so important about clarifying what you are asking for, what are you requesting before God?
SPEAKER_00: Are you certain of it?
SPEAKER_00: What are you asking God in your marriage?
SPEAKER_00: What are you asking for your children?
SPEAKER_00: What are you asking for your friends who don't yet know Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Are you praying for the lost?
SPEAKER_00: Are you are you are you do you have a burden in your heart for the things that God cares about?
SPEAKER_00: What are you praying for Boulder County?
SPEAKER_00: What are you praying for the U.S.?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're just like, I'm not worried about anything else.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just praying for myself, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm not trying to take over the world.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just asking God, I need something right here.
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you're asking for?
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to encourage you, even right now, what we're gonna do, just have a time of considering this question.
SPEAKER_00: What are you asking for?
SPEAKER_00: And what is God inviting us to ask for in this season?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you have a phone, maybe you have a piece of paper.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to encourage you to get out something to write with.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna we're just gonna take a moment here before we end.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to think about your current season in life.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about this church.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about the state of the world.
SPEAKER_00: There's no right or wrong answer here.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to ask you this question.
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you are asking for?
SPEAKER_00: New chains that need to be broken, new questions that need to be asked.
SPEAKER_00: New doors that need to be knocked on.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I love about ask, seek and knock.
SPEAKER_00: Ask, seek and knock.
SPEAKER_00: Asking is the words of your mouth.
SPEAKER_00: Seeking is what are you looking for?
SPEAKER_00: What do you see with your eyes?
SPEAKER_00: And knocking is what are you doing with your body about it?
SPEAKER_00: What door are you knocking on?
SPEAKER_00: And over the next several weeks as a community, we're gonna clarify some of those things, these things that we are to ask for in this season, but I want you to answer that for yourself this morning.
SPEAKER_00: What am I asking for?
SPEAKER_00: Have you stopped asking?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you able to continue to come to the Father to ask in the seed?
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, Father, as we come before you, we just want to declare that this whole invitation to ask and seek and knock is in the light of your goodness.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, God, that you're not moody, that you're not temperamental, that your love is unconditional, God.
SPEAKER_00: And even this morning, I just ask that faith would rise in our hearts that we serve a good Father, and that we are your sons and daughters.
SPEAKER_00: And I thank you for your invitation.
SPEAKER_00: That what we ask for will be given, what we seek will be fine, the doors that we knock on will be open.
SPEAKER_00: I just thank you for a season of quickening where we see the answers to prayers like we've never seen them before because we're willing to pray those prayers and be persistent with them.
SPEAKER_00: I pray as a community that you continue to fill us with faith, the faith of God, to pray bold prayers and to dream big dreams.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, Father, to unleash a new life of prayer in this community, Lord God, that brings about the purposes that you've always intended for us.
SPEAKER_00: And God, I thank you for encouragement, Lord Jesus, for those of us who have set down prayers because we've grown tired.
SPEAKER_00: I speak strength to your heart, and I speak to you that you will be mounted up on wings of eagles, that you will run and not grow weary.
SPEAKER_00: And that God is strengthening your legs to be who He created you to be, to pray with bold faith as a son and daughter of God.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, Lord Jesus, for a one accord moment in this next season, both this next weekend with Rezound and as we move forward at the week of prayer and fasting, God, that there would be such a strengthening together, a bonding together in prayer, Lord God, that we haven't seen that would allow us to continue to step into all the things that you have planned for us.
SPEAKER_00: We lift you high, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Before we go, we're gonna do one last thing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask Shannon Capel to come.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pray for it resound this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: All right, I want you to join it.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody stand on their feet.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a powerful time.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to join our prayers together, the prayers of the saints coming together over this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: So across the room, could you pray in your own words as Shannon prays?
SPEAKER_00: And let's just let's partner with God, with our Father in prayer, that everything he wants to accomplish would happen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
SPEAKER_01: Father God, we thank you for the opportunity to prepare a table for your people to come and to eat.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, and we just pray for each one of them, Lord, that you you would impart your wisdom and your love for them.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that this is not only for creatives, Lord, but it's for engineers.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, God.
SPEAKER_01: It's for businessmen, it's for entrepreneurs, Lord God.
SPEAKER_01: We pray that you would release your creativity across this land, Lord, that we would partner with heaven to bring it to earth, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We pray for each person that's coming to speak and each worship leader.
SPEAKER_01: We pray for health, Lord God.
SPEAKER_01: We just pray that no weapon that forms against them will prosper, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, God.
SPEAKER_01: God, we just pray, Jesus, we know that we can't do these conferences without the finances, God.
SPEAKER_01: Would you bring the people, Lord, that need to be here, that need to hear the words, Lord, to take back to their community, God?
SPEAKER_01: Would you bring the financiers to write the checks, Lord God, that it is paid for in full in Jesus' name, God?
SPEAKER_01: And would you use us, Lord God, to just be a people to prepare for the hearts of those that you want to impact in this weekend?
SPEAKER_01: We thank you, Lord, for the leadership team, Lord, and we just cover them in prayer this week as they prepare for what you want to do in and through them.
SPEAKER_01: And we just partner with them in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, come on.
SPEAKER_00: So good.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_00: We got an awesome week, awesome season ahead, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let me bless you as we go.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have the ministry team come forward this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here and you need prayer, you need some others to ask and seek and knock with you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you to come forward.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need prayer for physical condition or healing in your body.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need prayer over finances or something going on in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Don't hesitate to come up and to ask for prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Um, as you leave, if you're a guest here, we'd love to meet you in the back.
SPEAKER_00: There's a sign in the back that says, connect with us.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be back in a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to meet you and give you a gift.
SPEAKER_00: And with that said, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
SPEAKER_00: May He make his face to shine upon you, may He be gracious to you and give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: Now go sent by Jesus into the world.
SPEAKER_00: Love you guys.