Pleasing God Over Man, Part 2.

Steve Gentry

[0:06] We’ll go ahead and have a seat. [0:07] Welcome to Village Church. [0:08] If this is your first time here, my name’s Steve. [0:10] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:12] And as always, I am thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you. [0:16] If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it to Matthew chapter six.

[0:19] I forgot there for a second what I’ve already said twice. [0:23] Matthew chapter six, we’re going to be starting in verse five this morning, but we are getting [0:28] into really the heart of the sermon on the mount where Jesus is going to talk about [0:34] really two tensions that we have in our lives, two realities. [0:38] And only one of these realities can hope to be true. [0:41] The first one is that you live with a motivation of the applause of people where the expectations,

[0:52] the wants that people have in your life and what they think about you, whether they think [0:59] you know what you’re talking about, whether they don’t think that you know what you’re [1:03] talking about, whether they think that you are spiritual or whether they think that you [1:07] are unspiritual, whether they think you are good or whether they think you are bad. [1:11] It just consumes you what other people are doing and thinking. [1:18] But then there’s another applause that you can also have, and that’s the applause of

[1:22] God. [1:24] That is what God says that your life is to be about. [1:26] That is what God says you are to do with your life. [1:29] That is what God says that is expected of you and what God says the purpose for you [1:34] is. [1:35] And I will tell you right now that no human being can live under both of those weights.

[1:42] You will forsake one for the other, or you will just be crushed under the weight of [1:48] both. [1:50] And Jesus, last week and this week, I think really deals with that reality because it [1:57] is easier to be motivated by people than it is to be motivated by God. [2:03] And that’s where prayer becomes a struggle.

[2:08] Because when you pray, Jesus is going to tell us, you are going into the presence of God. [2:13] I mean, this is what prayer is. [2:14] It’s very simple. [2:16] It is a human being connecting with God. [2:20] That’s the most simple definition of prayer that you can have. [2:24] It is not unlike any other relationship that you have in your life.

[2:28] If you go into his presence, you receive from him, you speak to him, and you converse. [2:36] That’s what prayer is. [2:37] But I would be willing to bet that for maybe almost everyone in here, that’s not what [2:42] prayer feels like. [2:44] Prayer probably feels like just speaking into a great abyss. [2:48] And within 30 seconds, you are wondering what’s for lunch.

[2:52] At least that’s what happens to me because I really like lunch. [2:54] I mean, I value it greatly. [2:56] You don’t, liar.

[3:00] But your mind kind of drifts, your mind kind of travels. [3:03] When I was a young man, I would go to church. [3:09] About 18 hours every Sunday was spent in church. [3:12] I would be there for 32 hours on Sunday morning and about 76 hours on Sunday night. [3:17] Now, how is that possible? [3:18] I don’t know, but we seemed to accomplish it.

[3:20] At least that’s how I felt. [3:22] And on the Sunday evening service, it was very different than the Sunday morning service, [3:26] mostly because years later I found out that there’s no way the pastor was prepared for [3:30] two in one day. [3:32] But the fact of the matter is that at the end of the Sunday night service, before they [3:37] would let us go to Friendly’s and get our ice cream, he would call on someone in the

[3:42] crowd to close us in prayer. [3:43] That didn’t happen on Sunday morning. [3:45] And even years later, I don’t know if the person knew they were going to get called [3:48] on or if he just picked them at random. [3:50] I just felt like I was in the middle of a lottery and the lottery was how soon am I [3:57] going to get out of here?

[3:59] There were a handful of people that if they called that guy’s name, OK, we’re good. [4:04] We’re going to be out in under a minute. [4:07] But there was this one guy. [4:09] Oh, my goodness.

[4:12] Brother Johnny was his name. [4:15] And if he called on Brother Johnny, I knew we were about to experience and be the audience [4:20] of his quiet time because his prayer just felt like it went on and on. [4:26] And he said, Father, God, at least 72 times while he was doing it. [4:32] And I just felt like he was praying more for my benefit than for his. [4:40] It was more for me to see how godly he was and how spiritual he was than it really was

[4:48] about ending the service with a connection with God. [4:52] Have you ever been in a community group situation? [4:55] If you’ve been in a community group or if you’ve been in a discipleship group or a [4:58] small group or a life group or a cell group or a go group or a come group, I don’t know [5:01] what it was called. [5:03] So many different names.

[5:04] You’ve been in one of those groups and it was prayer time and they got to you. [5:10] And you just felt like, OK, Steve, don’t blow this one. [5:15] Don’t say anything stupid and remember the person’s name in the prayer request. [5:21] That’s where I fail. [5:22] I don’t know where your struggle is. [5:24] I never remember their cousin’s name, mostly because I was thinking about lunch.

[5:32] But I pray and I’m like, bless him that he would be well. [5:40] And so many times we’re caught in these situations where we called on to prayer. [5:46] It’s time to pray and all that we feel is the weight of everyone around us and what [5:53] they think about our prayer and what they think about what’s coming out of my mouth, [5:58] even though I know that prayer has nothing to do with you and everything to do with God. [6:06] The question is, why am I so stuck on what you think about my prayer?

[6:14] Well, I think the Jews of the first century can help us. [6:19] When Jesus talks about this prayer, he starts and if I can get it up on the screen, [6:23] he just simply says, and when you pray. [6:27] Now, there’s an expectation there that it’s not an if you pray. [6:30] OK, so if you pray, then you’re not an unbeliever, you’re not a believer. [6:34] But when you pray is for believers.

[6:37] So if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you cannot do it without prayers. [6:41] Jesus is simple point right there. [6:43] If you want to follow him, it’s a win. [6:45] It’s not an if it’s a rhythm of your life. [6:48] It’s a habit that you form. [6:51] If you want to follow Jesus, it’s going to require the spiritual power that only God can give

[6:56] into your life. [6:58] And then he talks about these two distinct realities that are going on. [7:04] He says, here’s how you don’t do it. [7:07] You don’t go on to the street corners. [7:10] You don’t go into the public and put on a show for other people. [7:14] Why would Jesus say that?

[7:16] Because you don’t often go into the mall or you don’t often go to short pump town center [7:21] and you don’t see people making a display of their prayers. [7:25] So this seems completely pointless to us. [7:29] What was going on in that time is the Pharisees had developed this system [7:34] for prayer. [7:35] And I don’t want to talk about whether or not this was a good system or a bad system.

[7:38] It just was the system that they formed. [7:41] There were flaws that we’re going to get to later in just the system itself, but it was [7:45] called the Shimonai O’erse. [7:48] And don’t ask me to air say that again. [7:50] But what was going on is that they had formed 18 recitations for prayer. [7:57] And so these were 18 phrases that you were to pray multiple times a day.

[8:04] And so they had the verbiage you were supposed to use. [8:08] But then they also had the time that you were supposed to use it. [8:11] It was at the third hour, the sixth hour and the ninth hour of every day. [8:16] You were expected, no matter what you were doing, to stop and say these 18 distinct recitations [8:25] at that point. [8:26] And you did it multiple times a day.

[8:28] But what had happened is, is this system that they had formed to aid and to ensure [8:34] that the Jews were praying became something more than that because they began to realize, [8:41] especially the Pharisees, that if I’m at home at those times of the day, nobody knows whether [8:49] I did it or not. [8:51] And while the system that they had was, well, we’re trying to measure whether you’re growing [8:55] spiritually, whether you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

[8:58] And so what the Pharisees and other people started catching on to this too, so they could [9:02] get a better seat in the synagogue, they would say, well, more people will see me if I’m on [9:06] the street corners. [9:09] And so this is, you know, it’s a pedestrian culture. [9:11] And so on the street corner at the busiest intersection in town, the Pharisees would [9:16] ensure that at the third hour of the day, the sixth hour of the day and the ninth hour

[9:19] of the day, they just happened to be walking by that intersection at that distinct moment. [9:26] And so, oh my goodness, I’ve got to stop and pray. [9:28] And they would pray them eloquently. [9:30] They would pray them loudly. [9:32] They would pray them so that everyone around could hear that they were doing their religious [9:38] duty.

[9:39] But the problem was, is that prayer was not designed to be a religious duty. [9:44] Prayer was designed to be a way to connect with God. [9:49] But it had ceased to be that and it had become. [9:53] I will show everyone how good I am at praying. [9:57] I won’t blow it. [9:59] I’m a better prayer than you ever thought about being a prayer.

[10:04] So Jesus goes directly into the reality of their spiritual lives. [10:13] And he says, when you pray,

[10:17] don’t do it the way that you’re doing it. [10:22] See, Jesus isn’t dealing with a mythical practice. [10:27] No, Jesus is saying, don’t you dare be like the hypocrites and the hypocrites were standing [10:33] right there. [10:35] We talked a few weeks ago about what hypocrites are. [10:40] And Jesus is dealing directly with that reality in their lives.

[10:48] The problem with hypocrisy is that it’s one of two things.

[10:54] Usually, if you are a hypocrite, everyone knows it. [10:58] People can see it. [10:59] You’re flashy, but there’s no substance. [11:03] The reality of your everyday life has nothing to do with what you’re showing to everyone [11:07] around you. [11:08] And many of us are hypocrites in one way or another.

[11:12] But what’s harder, I think, is being hurt by a hypocrite or being hurt by hypocrisy, [11:18] because what happens there, I think, is more devastating than being a hypocrite. [11:22] The answer to being a hypocrite is cut it out. [11:25] Stop being a hypocrite. [11:26] But when you’ve been hurt by hypocrisy, what is tempting is to look at what hypocrisy [11:32] was going on and just quit altogether.

[11:37] And so if hypocrisy involves the practice of prayer, the temptation is to say, oh, [11:43] yeah, I know I’m supposed to pray, but you don’t know what I’ve experienced by people [11:48] that are praying on those street corners. [11:50] They’ve hurt me. [11:51] They told me I wasn’t praying right. [11:53] They were had to be so much better than me.

[11:55] And you don’t know the reality of the pain that I feel. [11:58] And so instead of realizing that the hypocrisy was the problem, you go past the hypocrisy [12:03] to the practice. [12:05] And you say the problem isn’t just the person. [12:07] The problem is the practice. [12:08] Well, Jesus is coming at both things.

[12:12] He’s coming at the hypocrisy and saying, don’t do that. [12:15] But then he’s also coming at the practice and saying, don’t give up on the practice [12:20] just because someone has tried to ruin it because there’s power in this practice. [12:28] And Jesus goes on. [12:31] It says, for they love to stand and they pray in the synagogue, they pray in the street [12:35] corners so that they can be seen by others.

[12:38] Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [12:41] But when you pray, when you pray, go into your room in the original language, it’s [12:50] called store room to may on.

[12:55] And you shut the door and pray to your father. [12:58] I love this part. [12:59] Who is in secret?

[13:02] See, the presence of God is not something to build an audience around. [13:07] The presence of God is something that you seek.

[13:11] This is and when you do that, your father who sees in secret, he will reward you. [13:16] And when you pray, don’t heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. [13:21] The Gentiles in this phrase simply means people who don’t believe. [13:26] This is where they think they will be heard for their many words. [13:29] Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him.

[13:37] The first phrase that I forgot to tell you five minutes ago is the truth about your [13:42] faith is revealed when no one is looking. [13:45] The truth about your faith is revealed when no one is looking.

[13:52] I realize how true this is the longer I live and the longer I am, frankly, around Christians. [14:01] And the longer I live, the more I see that there are people who claim to be one thing [14:07] while they are quite in fact another thing. [14:10] And I felt the fallout from that. [14:12] I’ve viewed the fallout from that. [14:14] And there’s always pain.

[14:15] There’s always struggle. [14:16] But I’ve also found that the truth about an individual is never ultimately going to [14:23] be found in what they do or what they say from a public standpoint. [14:28] But rather, I try to get to know a person in private to find out what they’re really [14:34] like, to find out what they really struggle with, to find out who they truly are. [14:39] And the longer I live, the more I realize some people are just really good at hiding

[14:44] who they really are. [14:45] But what Jesus is saying is that there is someone who knows the truth of who you are. [14:51] And that is the Father in secret because God does not just invade public spaces. [14:58] God is in the secret spaces that we think that no one sees. [15:03] We think that we have hidden it in our mind and no one knows the truth of who I am. [15:07] But faith tells me in the word that there is a God who knows who I really am.

[15:16] And that is either liberating or that is terrifying.

[15:22] And what you do with the Father who sees in secret will dictate the type of life [15:27] that you will live. [15:31] For these people, rather than being an activity [15:34] where they could connect with the life of God, they just saw prayer as another way [15:39] to turn a profit, as another way to get people to look at them, as another way to imagine [15:43] that other people’s thoughts of me are more important than the thoughts of God about my life.

[15:51] When the thoughts of other people, ultimately, if Jesus is God, is absolutely meaningless. [15:57] And so what is required for prayer? [15:59] Well, there’s a posture that will purify your prayer. [16:04] See, the problem with much of our prayer life is that we have a public prayer life, [16:10] but we don’t have a private prayer life.

[16:13] You pray at mealtime, maybe. [16:16] You pray in church. [16:18] You pray in your community group. [16:20] You pray when you’re called on. [16:21] You pray when you have to. [16:23] But you’re not making the space for that secret place.

[16:27] You’re not making margin in your life to get alone with God. [16:33] But you must. [16:35] It is vital. [16:36] In Psalm 37, we read this. [16:39] It’s the command to delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. [16:44] Commit your way to the Lord.

[16:46] Trust in him, and he will act. [16:48] I want you to focus on two things in that first two phrases. [16:52] First one is delight in the Lord. [16:53] That is prayer. [16:54] Do you know that? [16:56] See, it is in the act of prayer, in the secret place, anonymously,

[17:01] when no one is looking, that you learn to delight in the Lord, [17:05] or you avoid delighting in the Lord because you don’t think it can happen in your life.

[17:12] But the second thing is where people often run into problems. [17:15] It is that reality of he will give you the desires of your heart. [17:20] And quite often, we misread that section into thinking he will give me what I want. [17:27] And we treat what I want as an object. [17:31] But in the original language, it actually reads, he will give me desires.

[17:40] In other words, he will feed desires into my heart. [17:45] When I delight in him, he then becomes the definer of what I desire [17:52] because I have gotten into a posture of dependence. [17:57] When you pray, you come into the presence of God with nothing to offer to him. [18:03] No offering that you could give to God would be sufficient to fulfill what he deserves. [18:11] Therefore, it would be obnoxious to try.

[18:15] And so when you come into the presence of God, you only go in need. [18:21] But you often don’t even know how much you need. [18:26] It’s not that you come before God with too much need. [18:30] It’s that you underestimate what you need. [18:34] You are so needy that you don’t even know what you should desire. [18:40] You don’t even know what you should want.

[18:44] And so the psalmist tells us, he says, come before God with an expectation.

[18:51] Of delight, but an expectation that in that delight, he’s going to change the very substance of who you are. [18:59] Because he’s going to change what you want out of life.

[19:04] And so I’m 27. [19:06] The text tells us, he says, you’ve said God has said, seek my face and my heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek? [19:14] Hide not your face from me. [19:16] Turn not your servant away in anger. [19:19] Oh, you who have been my help, cast me not off, forsake me not. [19:24] Oh, God of my salvation.

[19:26] And there is a tension in this passage because it is a person who has experienced the delight of the presence of God. [19:34] But this is a person who has gone through a dry season. [19:38] And he’s saying, oh, God, I just want that delight again. [19:41] Return it to me because I can only get it from you.

[19:48] And for so many of us, we struggle to even understand what that feeling would be like, because our prayers have only been God give, God, I need, God, I want, God, I desire, God, why won’t you?

[20:07] And that’s why what Jesus says here is so important. [20:12] Number two, this morning prayer reveals what really matters to us.

[20:16] Prayer reveals what really matters to us. [20:19] What reward matters most? [20:21] I love the concept of reward because I like being rewarded.

[20:26] Right. [20:26] I am even irritated that as an adult, I go to the dentist and he doesn’t let me go to the treasure box.

[20:33] The toothpaste and toothbrush ain’t cutting it. [20:36] I want the sticker, bro.

[20:39] But I love being rewarded. [20:41] And I think the desire for reward is something that’s misunderstood by most people because I think we feel guilty, especially if you’re a Christian, you feel like you should just obey because God said so. [20:54] And that’s not wrong, but it’s not sufficient. [20:57] It’s not enough. [20:59] God has placed a desire in you for reward because he is the God of reward. [21:07] He rewards those who diligently seek him.

[21:10] Therefore, my desire for reward is actually from God. [21:14] And you’re like that, too. [21:16] You just don’t want to admit it. [21:17] I mean, if your boss called you this afternoon and had the audacity to say, we got to make some budget cuts and we’re going to have to cut your salary, but feel free to come in tomorrow morning for no reward. [21:31] Not many of you would go in tomorrow morning. [21:33] You would be seeking someone that would give you a reward.

[21:36] And that’s what money is. [21:37] It’s a reward for my work. [21:40] If you have a spouse or if you are seeking a spouse, you want the reward of a healthy relationship, you want the reward of a healthy marriage. [21:50] That is a reward. [21:51] If you have children, you want the reward that they will finally listen to you.

[21:57] Or you want the reward that they won’t forsake you in your old age. [22:02] It’s a weird cycle where you go from changing their diapers because one day, well, they may need to change yours. [22:10] But there’s a reward in that a guy that loves his lawn. [22:15] Have you ever watched a guy from across the street? [22:18] Moses grass does all the edging and then he stands in his driveway and he’s just staring.

[22:26] See, that’s the reward of completing a task. [22:30] There’s a reward involved by looking at what his hands have done and work. [22:36] So we all love reward and loving reward is not the problem. [22:42] It’s that you often want the wrong one. [22:45] You’re seeking the wrong reward. [22:48] So often the things that we seek will lead to dysfunction.

[22:51] They will lead to chaos. [22:53] They will lead to hurt and they will lead to pain. [22:56] But we continue to believe that there is a reward on the other side of that. [23:01] And so we just bang into it over and over again, doing the same wrong practices. [23:05] The same dysfunction entering into the same chaotic atmosphere, expecting the reward to be better. [23:11] And it’s not.

[23:13] And that is because you cannot be trusted to define the reward.

[23:18] It is God who must define the reward. [23:21] We can’t be trusted with it. [23:23] And there are three levels of reward in this passage that I see. [23:28] The first one is the most important one, and that is God.

[23:34] He is the reward in John 1413. [23:39] It gives us an amazing promise that is often misunderstood. [23:42] In John 1413, the text reads the words of Jesus, whatever you ask in my name, [23:47] this I will do that the father may be glorified in the sun.

[23:53] This is often a hard passage for us because we will even say things like, [23:58] Well, I prayed in his name and I didn’t get what I asked for. [24:03] And it’s a doorway to disappointment for many of us. [24:06] Or we look at that and we’re like, is this a name it and claim it verse? [24:09] I mean, what is going on in this passage? [24:12] But you see, there’s two qualifiers that are vital to understand this passage.

[24:16] The first one is in my name. [24:19] And the second one is that the father may be glorified. [24:24] What he’s saying is, is that when you enter into that atmosphere, [24:28] I think Matthew chapter six helps us understand this verse. [24:32] When you enter into the atmosphere of the presence of God, [24:36] he rewards you in secret in his name with himself that the father may be glorified.

[24:44] Who is the point? [24:47] God is the point.

[24:50] See, the problem with many of our prayers is that our prayers are self centered.

[24:55] Our prayers are not God centered. [24:57] God is the point of prayer. [25:00] I am not.

[25:02] I remember I was about 27 years old, 12 or 13 years ago. [25:08] And I was going through a season where I was extremely sick and I didn’t know what was wrong [25:12] with me and the doctors I had been misdiagnosed. [25:15] And then I got a doctor who couldn’t diagnose me, he said. [25:19] And then I saw I did what any logical person does. [25:22] I went to the internet.

[25:23] Don’t do that. [25:25] Here’s the deal. [25:26] When it comes to the internet, you’re always going to die.

[25:31] Always. [25:32] So don’t do that. [25:34] I mean, you could have like a pimple on your arm terminal. [25:38] All right. [25:38] So don’t go to the internet. [25:39] Doesn’t have good medical diagnosing skills.

[25:42] But I had convinced myself of some crazy things and I was just struggling in prayer. [25:49] I was struggling with what was going on in my life. [25:52] And you remember one Saturday morning, I was 27 years old. [25:55] And I got up early and I got alone as my normal practice. [25:59] And I went to Genesis one and just started reading it. [26:02] And I didn’t get past the first verse.

[26:03] It said, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [26:07] And it just struck me. [26:08] And God just spoke through the word, which is how he speaks, by the way. [26:13] And he spoke into my life. [26:15] And I just realized in that moment how foolish I was being because I read and I said, I said, [26:20] This God who created the heavens and the earth, he knows my name.

[26:30] And that’s something I had known my entire life. [26:33] But that is something that in that moment struck me because he speaks and worlds exist. [26:39] He speaks and everything that you see around you exists. [26:44] And he knows the name of Steve Gentry and not just he knows my name, [26:48] but rather there was a barrier between me and him. [26:51] And he loved me to the extent that he sent his son to die on the cross for my sin

[26:56] so that I could go into his presence doing nothing to earn it. [27:00] But he gifted it completely. [27:02] And more than that, he doesn’t just say you can come into my presence every other odd Thursday [27:09] if God is in a good mood. [27:11] No, it’s just this open invitation where God says, [27:14] Come into my throne room when you need grace and mercy.

[27:21] It’s an open invitation. [27:23] And in that moment, I was struck that when I seek God and nothing else,

[27:36] here’s the secret of prayer.

[27:39] I get God.

[27:45] He is the reward. [27:47] But it goes beyond that because I seek God, I get God, [27:52] but prayer is also seeking life by God’s design. [27:56] And that is a reward. [27:58] Christians are called peculiar people by the apostle Peter. [28:02] He actually says that that is to be one of our distinctions.

[28:04] We are to be a peculiar people. [28:07] Now, some of you are weirdos. [28:08] That’s not what I’m talking about. [28:10] You need to stop being such a weirdo. [28:12] We are a peculiar people. [28:14] In other words, Christians live distinctly.

[28:17] We live and we do things that is not common to unbelieving man. [28:24] And prayer is one of the paramount peculiarities. [28:29] Because if anybody is sitting in a room alone and just speaking into the void, [28:34] then you think they’re a nutcase. [28:36] But in prayer, he says, get alone and speak. [28:41] And it’s so strange.

[28:43] He’s not physically. [28:44] I can’t see him, but he promises that through faith, [28:49] he hears and responds to every single word that I say. [28:55] And when you open yourself up through faith to that being something that is a reality, [29:02] then here’s the great thing. [29:04] You open yourself up to any peculiar change that God wants to make in your life.

[29:11] And so prayer opens the doorway to you receiving the type of life [29:18] and the type of changes that God wants to make in your life and demands of your life. [29:26] Did you know that’s a reward?

[29:29] But there’s another one, and that is seeking desires from a loving father. [29:37] Seeking desires from a loving father. [29:41] I’ve already said you’re more needy than you realize. [29:45] But many people take that to mean that there are things that I want in my life [29:52] that I don’t take to God because they’re too small for him. [29:56] And I would say that’s foolishness.

[30:00] Everything that you want, everything that you need, [30:03] everything that you desire should be taken to God. [30:07] Everything. [30:08] Paul Miller in his book, A Praying Life, tells a story of his mother. [30:14] And she was in an urban area where there were no parking lots. [30:19] I like to call those my least favorite areas in the world,

[30:22] which is why I love living in the land of parking lots. [30:25] But you had to parallel park and you know, it’s this difficult thing [30:29] because it was a busy time of day and there was no parking spots. [30:32] And he said, Mom, what are you doing to find a parking spot? [30:36] And her response was, I’m praying. [30:39] And he said, praying?

[30:41] And her response to him was, yes, how else am I going to find a parking spot?

[30:47] And in that moment, he realized that she kind of had a point.

[30:52] There is no need so insignificant in your life that God does not want to hear it. [30:59] I have three children and I love all three of them, believe it or not. [31:03] They don’t all love me yet.

[31:06] But that’s kind of a joke. [31:08] But if you know us, you know the youngest. [31:10] He’s a holdout right now. [31:12] He’s waiting for a better option.

[31:17] But he does that to everybody except my wife, whom he loves significantly more than me.

[31:25] But one of the most detrimental things that I have seen some fathers do to their children [31:31] is act like there are times when the children should shoo away from their presence. [31:36] It’s like, oh, I just got home from work. [31:39] Or I’m just tired right now. [31:40] Or I’m frustrated right now and don’t be in my presence. [31:43] And if you’re a father, I want to help you in this moment to help your children learn about prayer.

[31:49] Never shoo them from your presence. [31:52] Never. [31:53] No matter how insignificant, you’re all going to fail at some point, but determine not to do it. [31:58] No matter how insignificant, no matter how foolish, [32:00] no matter how many times you have to hear about Minecraft and you don’t understand,

[32:06] I mean, it doesn’t make any sense.

[32:10] Bring them in and act like it is the most important thing you’ve ever heard in your life.

[32:16] Because that is how God the Father treats your prayers.

[32:21] He always wants to hear them.

[32:24] And he is a loving father, and he’s proven it through his son, Jesus, [32:29] that there’s nothing that he won’t do to invite you into his presence and to make you one of his [32:34] children. He will do the work when you cannot because he wants you to know that you are dependent [32:41] on him. He’s that loving. [32:46] But realize that that is always going to possibly create a doorway to disappointment.

[32:55] Because we are petulant children sometimes. [32:59] And what I mean by that is there are going to come illnesses, there are going to come [33:04] material needs, there are going to come relational desires. [33:09] There are going to come periods in your life where God has something in your life and you [33:15] want him to remove it, or there is a void in your life and you want God to provide it, [33:21] and it seems like he is silent.

[33:24] And in those moments, it requires a great deal of faith to believe that he is there, [33:30] and that he is listening, and he is receiving, and he is hearing. [33:38] But you have to trust him to design and define the reward.

[33:47] But listen to the text again. Look at verse six.

[33:53] It says, but when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, pray to your father who is in [33:59] secret. And what does it say? Your father might reward you if he’s in a good mood. [34:05] It’s not what it says. It says your father who sees in secret. What will he do? He will [34:14] reward you. It is never a question of if God will reward you.

[34:23] It is always a question of will you trust him to define and design the reward.

[34:33] Number three, this morning, you need to grow into real conversations with God. [34:40] You need to grow into real conversations with God. [34:45] John 15, Jesus says this amazing thing. He says, abide in me.

[34:51] He says, you need to abide in me, and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless [34:58] it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. It’s this amazing imperative promise, [35:05] imperative promise where Jesus says, do this reward, do this reward, because if you have a [35:13] storm and a branch falls in the middle of your yard and you just leave it there as none of you [35:20] have done, you’re all great landscapers. I know. But if you just leave it there and months go by [35:26] and it’s there and you go out and you expect that in springtime, it’s going to be budding

[35:31] and there’s going to be fruit on the branch, that’s foolishness. It’s going to be a stick. [35:37] All right. That’s all it’s ever going to be capable of being again is a stick because it’s [35:41] going to be dead because you have removed it or rather the storm has removed it from the sustenance [35:48] that it was receiving from the root of the tree. And Jesus is saying that if you want sustenance, [35:54] if you want your prayer life to grow, you must constantly understand your need to abide in Christ. [36:04] How do you do that? Oftentimes prayer is difficult for you because God knows you.

[36:13] I mean, he knows you, knows you. God knows everything about you. There’s no secret place. [36:19] But do you know God?

[36:23] It’s the problem with a lot of our prayers is that we go into it with a one-sided [36:27] knowledge and our prayer is a monologue. God give. That’s our prayer because all that we know how to [36:34] be is self-centered because we only know one side of the relationship. But God wants a dialogue [36:42] and he has initiated the conversation in his word. Everything that you need to know about God [36:54] is contained in the 66 books of the scripture. It is sufficient for you to build that relationship [37:03] and in the secret place you can walk in God having full knowledge of you, you having full

[37:09] of what God wants you to know about him. And that creates a conversation between the two of you. [37:17] And that’s what Jesus means by abide in me and I in you.

[37:23] And second Kings 18, first Kings 18 rather, there’s this amazing story. And when I was a kid, [37:30] it was one of my favorite stories. I gave my son the middle name Elisha, literally because [37:35] Elisha called bears out of the woods to kill people. I’m that kind of person and I just turned [37:40] some of you off. This is the only service that said that and I’ve made a huge mistake. [37:45] But in this passage of scripture in first Kings chapter 18, there’s other reasons to calm down. [37:52] But in first Kings 18, Elijah has prayed that it wouldn’t rain and it didn’t. His prayers were

[38:01] I’ve tried that at theme parks when it was raining that it would stop [38:04] and I don’t have meteorological powerful prayers. I don’t know why, but Elijah did. [38:10] And the priests of Baal were going to have a competition with Elijah and Elijah was like, [38:16] I’m not going to call down liquid rain. I’m going to call down fire from heaven. And they built two [38:21] altars and Elijah was supposed to pray to the living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the [38:30] priests of Baal were going to call to Baal to rain fire on their altar. And what follows was

[38:37] both comical and tragic in that Elijah said, you guys go first and maybe you’ve heard the story, [38:44] but I love it because they begin to pray to Baal. They begin to plead with Baal. They begin to beg [38:53] Baal. They then begin to sacrifice animals to Baal. And at that point, I love it because Elijah [38:59] looks at them and he says, Hey, maybe Baal’s sleepy or maybe he’s in the bathroom. And I [39:05] love that sarcasm because that is the chicken soup for my soul. I just love that the scripture gives. [39:12] But then it turns tragic because these priests get so desperate that they begin to mutilate

[39:17] their own bodies thinking Baal will respond. And Baal never responds. And I, the fact I believe [39:26] it’s because Baal doesn’t exist. So he couldn’t do anything. But the most important part of the [39:33] story is what follows next is that Elijah told them, he said, Hey, bring as much water as you [39:39] can get, pour it all over my altar and then build a trench around my altar and put water in there [39:44] too. Because I don’t want you guys having any excuse as to why my prayer is more effective than [39:50] theirs. And then Elijah doesn’t chant. There’s no magic code. There’s no mantra.

[40:02] There’s no dance. There’s nothing that he does except God defend your name, send fire to show [40:14] you’re there and fire rain from heaven.

[40:21] I think some of you are looking for a magic code in your prayer.

[40:25] I think some of you think that on the 15th recitation of the Shimon A.

[40:34] that he’ll respond. Maybe God is sleepy. Maybe he’s in the bathroom. Maybe he’s in a bad mood. [40:42] That’s why he hasn’t answered my prayer. That’s not it. They say you’re not trusting him [40:49] because maybe you don’t know him. See, when you walk into prayer, not knowing God, you can only [40:58] speak as to an unknown God. And that’s what it’s going to be. And that’s what it’s going to sound [41:06] like until you get to know him. I’ve had the privilege and God has graced me with a few [41:14] relationships in my life that have lasted for many, many, many years. And even at what I still

[41:20] consider my young age, I have some relationships that have lasted most of my life. And I love [41:27] when I’m able to hang out with people that I’ve been friends with for a long time, [41:32] because it’s not hard. It doesn’t take effort. It’s not hard work. It’s almost like we just pick [41:39] up on the same conversation we were having yesterday. And sometimes we are picking up [41:42] on the same conversation we had yesterday and we just flow and we get nostalgic and we’re like, [41:48] Hey, do you remember when and Hey, do you remember this event and that event? And it’s just so

[41:54] relaxing and it’s just so wonderful. And when you have that type of relationship, you want to enter [41:59] that environment more and more because it’s not hard. And I will promise you, prayer is not unlike [42:06] that. The more you get to know God, the more you learn of who he is from his word, the more you [42:16] experience the power of the reward that he defines in your life, you will just pick up where you left [42:23] off and you will sometimes get nostalgic and you will even say, I find myself sometimes praying [42:29] God, I remember when. And you will take what you want to him. You will take what you need to him.

[42:36] You will praise him. You will thank him. You will worship him and you will walk away with reward.

[42:46] But friends, Ephesians 3 20 says this to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that [42:54] we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in [42:59] Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. You see, when you tap into the power [43:06] of God in your life, when you build true intimacy with God, when you trust God to define the rewards [43:12] and outcomes, you are free to expect amazing things by his design. But the question is, [43:19] are you trusting him with a reward or are you blaming him because he didn’t let you define the

[43:25] reward? When you desire to control the reward that you want, you’re probably settling for [43:35] trinkets like a toy from a happy meal when God has sovereign power in his hand. Don’t settle. [43:47] Here’s what the great reformer of our faith, John Calvin says. He says, believers or Christians, [43:54] do not pray with a view of informing God about things unknown to him or of exciting him to do [44:02] his duty or of urging him as though he were reluctant. On the contrary, Christians pray [44:11] order that they may arouse themselves to seek him, that they may exercise their faith by

[44:18] meditating on his promises through the word, that they may relieve themselves from their anxieties [44:26] by pouring them into his bosom in a word that they may declare that from God alone they hope [44:36] and expect both for themselves and for others all good things. Do you trust God with that?

[45:06]