Enjoying Prayer in 2017.

Steve Gentry

[0:02] Alright, well once again, welcome to Village Church. [0:04] If this is your first time here, my name is Steve, one of the pastors here at Village [0:08] Church. [0:09] And anytime someone forgets to say, have a seat, I’ve been in church basically my whole [0:15] life and one of my favorite things to do is watch people kind of think, alright, am I [0:19] allowed to sit down?

[0:20] That’s what some of y’all were doing. [0:22] Some of y’all were hesitating, other people sat down, you’re like, well I don’t know if [0:24] it’s time to sit down. [0:25] I don’t know if I’m allowed to sit down. [0:27] But you know what, I’m thankful for those of you that just sat down because you don’t [0:30] care.

[0:31] Alright? [0:32] You’re just like, look, the video’s on, I’m down. [0:35] You gotta get me back up if it’s time, bro. [0:38] So, but all jokes aside, last month, if you weren’t here last month, we have an offering [0:44] in December that we do called the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. [0:47] Many churches across the United States do this offering in partnership with the International

[0:51] Mission Board. [0:52] And I just want to thank those of you who are generous and we far surpassed our goal [0:57] and by God’s grace we’re gonna be able to give the International Mission Board $35,000 [1:04] because of your generosity. [1:05] Give God a hand for that.

[1:08] I am so thankful for those of you. [1:11] Now all of that money will go to the Mission Board towards sending people overseas, towards [1:18] getting people into unengaged people groups, towards, I mean, everything that goes into [1:23] that. [1:23] I mean, you have no idea how much behind the scenes, on the ground, everywhere it goes [1:29] into getting missionaries overseas.

[1:31] But because of your generosity here at Village Church, we can truly say that we are having [1:37] an impact all over the world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [1:41] And I just want to personally thank you as well as encourage those of you who may be [1:47] in December, you hadn’t planned, you didn’t know we were gonna be doing that, and so [1:52] you were unable to give or maybe you’re newer to the church and this is the first time [1:56] you’ve ever been introduced to this offering.

[1:59] Go ahead and start making plans now in January so that next December you will be able to [2:07] be generous. [2:08] So go ahead and maybe start a budget line every month where you’re just going to put [2:12] a little bit of money aside so that you can make sacrifices with a vision throughout [2:18] the year to next December you will be prepared to give towards this wonderful offering towards [2:25] international missions.

[2:26] But those of you that have given, thank you. [2:28] And those of you that are gonna start preparing right now for next year, thank you and I [2:32] encourage you to do so. [2:34] Pray with me right now. [2:36] Father, you are such a good God. [2:39] Lord, you have not told us as individuals you’re on your own to reach the world, but

[2:45] instead you’re building a church in which we can partner with one another to take the [2:50] best news that has ever been all over the world to let people know that salvation is [2:56] available in Jesus Christ. [2:59] You’ve given us great partnerships to reach the world and make disciples helping people [3:05] learn what it is to be a follower of Jesus. [3:08] Lord, help us in 2017 to continue that mission.

[3:11] Lord, thank you for the cooperative program. [3:14] Thank you for the Lottie Moon Christmas offering so that we know that each and every day we [3:18] are having an impact all over the world for the gospel of Jesus Christ. [3:22] Even in areas where people don’t even know the name of Jesus, Lord, by your grace and [3:27] by your sovereignty we’re going to reach those areas. [3:31] And Lord, today as we talk about the subject of what we’re doing right now, prayer, Lord,

[3:35] help us. [3:37] Lord, help us to learn what it is to enjoy your presence, what it is to have a great [3:40] affection for you, what it is to hear from you and what it is to respond to you. [3:45] Be merciful to me, a sinner. [3:47] In the name of Jesus, I pray. [3:49] Amen.

[3:50] If you have your Bibles this morning, go ahead and open them up to Luke chapter 18. [3:54] We’re going to start in Luke 18. [3:55] One, then we’re going to go over to the book of Matthew, talk about the Lord’s prayer for [3:59] a while. [4:00] But today specifically, we’re going to be talking about the subject of prayer and not [4:05] just what prayer is, even though we are going to cover that, but specifically how can we

[4:11] enjoy prayer in 2017? [4:14] Usually when somebody talks to me about prayer or when somebody’s asking me about prayer [4:19] or just when we’re talking about prayer in general, we rarely talk about it in terms [4:24] of enjoyment. [4:26] Rarely talk about it in terms of, man, how can I enjoy prayer more? [4:30] Man, this is how I’m enjoying prayer right now.

[4:32] It usually starts with I’m struggling in prayer. [4:38] It usually starts with, man, I don’t even know what to pray. [4:43] Usually starts with, man, how can I learn what prayer even is? [4:47] And so I want to talk briefly about what prayer is, but then I want to move on to how should [4:54] we pray and how can we look at prayer as more than just something that takes a lot of effort, [5:02] something that takes a lot of focus, something that takes a lot of discipline, just all

[5:06] of the words that we use towards prayer that kind of make it sound like a little bit of [5:11] a drudgery. [5:12] Now, prayer is completely countercultural to the way that we’ve been conditioned to [5:17] the world. [5:17] So it is normal for us to not naturally see prayer as something that fits in our lives. [5:25] One of this great legend or, you know, apocryphal story of Martin Luther, the great reformer,

[5:30] he goes that he was one day speaking to someone else about how busy he was going to be the [5:34] next day, and he stated that he would be so busy that he would need to spend at least [5:39] three hours the next morning in prayer. [5:42] Now, I’ll be honest, I have no idea if that story is true. [5:45] I have no idea of its validity, but what I do know is that usually when the story is [5:51] told in this type of atmosphere, it is meant to challenge and encourage you towards a

[5:56] vibrant prayer life. [5:57] But what I think normally happens when we hear about that is that it greatly discourages [6:03] us and begs the question, what in the world was he praying about for three hours? [6:09] I mean, think about it. [6:10] I mean, usually, if you’re honest about your prayer life and you’re the normal person [6:14] that I encounter, and I’m sure most of you are absolute prayer warriors and you don’t

[6:18] struggle with this, prayer is that thing that you do when you lay your head down at night [6:23] and about 30 seconds into your prayer, the next thing you hear is the alarm clock. [6:27] Or it’s the thing that you try to do early in the morning before you start smelling [6:31] the coffee and bacon and all of your thoughts immediately go to, I am so hungry, or all [6:37] of your thoughts go to, what is for lunch? [6:39] Or all of your thoughts are going to, what am I going to do today?

[6:42] I mean, if you’re a normal person, I want to kind of take some burden off of those of [6:46] you that are going to try to be super Christians right now, and I’m going to let you know [6:50] that I’m fully aware that the majority of you are like that. [6:56] The majority of you aren’t really kind of going into prayer in 2017 with this thought [7:04] of, man, it’s going to be so enjoyable. [7:07] But instead, you’re probably looking at it in the light of, I know it’s something that

[7:11] I should do, but I’m struggling with the how. [7:16] Sometimes I’m even struggling with the why, and I’m really struggling with the want to. [7:22] I mean, if you’re honest, I want you to be as honest this morning as you can be to really [7:27] admit that the fact is that you don’t pray, and if you don’t pray, it is because you really [7:35] don’t desire to pray. [7:37] You don’t want to.

[7:38] Whatever it is that you do, it’s because that is more expedient, timely, and ultimately [7:46] more important to you than prayer. [7:49] But understand that to pray is literally to believe God, and to not pray is the opposite [7:58] of believing God, because prayer is, at its foundation, a vital means of grace into the [8:07] life of a follower of Jesus. [8:10] But I don’t think we often look at it as grace.

[8:13] I think we look at all the effort it takes. [8:17] I think we look at it in the lens of concentration, in the lens of time, in the lens of, man, [8:22] it’s going to be a struggle. [8:24] I know I need to do it, but what I hope you can do today is begin or be reminded of the [8:37] both a form of exercising the reality of our reconciliation with God, as well as strengthening [8:45] and giving legs to our faith in the truth that God has given us about himself.

[8:53] Now prayer is communion with God, but it is also engagement with the truth of God. [9:03] Prayer is literally experiencing what you know about God. [9:08] And as your knowledge of God grows, so should your experience of prayer. [9:15] As I said, I want to talk a little bit about what prayer is, and then I want to spend [9:18] the rest of the time talking about how should we pray. [9:21] So number one this morning, I want you to understand that prayer literally reorients

[9:25] my focus toward God. [9:28] Prayer reorients my focus towards God. [9:32] If you look in Luke chapter 18 verse 1, here is what Jesus says about prayer. [9:39] It starts by telling that Jesus, he told them a parable or a story to the effect that they [9:47] ought always to pray and not lose heart. [9:52] And so Jesus is about to tell them a story, he’s about to tell them a parable, which is

[9:55] a story with a purpose behind it towards their spiritual lives. [9:59] And he tells them that the function of this story, the author summarizes, he says, it [10:04] is about the reality that prayer is something that their minds, their hearts, the essence [10:10] of their being should always be geared toward. [10:14] But he tells us a second thing that I think is just as important as this reality that [10:19] you’re going to constantly hear in your Christian walk, and that is pray without ceasing.

[10:24] Always pray. [10:24] Second thing is don’t lose heart. [10:29] That means that God is not up in heaven watching you struggle to pray and say, what’s your [10:36] problem? [10:38] He’s not up there saying, oh, how disappointing you are for not being able to pray. [10:44] No, the King of Kings is about to tell us a story with the full awareness that part

[10:50] of the human struggle, part of the struggle with sin that you’re going to have, even [10:55] as a follower of Jesus, is that you are going to get discouraged about your prayer life. [11:03] You are going to struggle to pray. [11:05] And he says don’t lose heart, which he means in the core of who you are. [11:09] Endure. [11:10] Don’t give up even though you are going to want to.

[11:14] And so I hope some of the burden relief that can happen in your life right now is the fact [11:18] that God knows your prayer life is a struggle. [11:22] He’s aware. [11:23] It has not caught him off guard. [11:25] It is not shocking to him. [11:26] He’s not looking at you saying, I don’t know why I chose you.

[11:30] You can’t measure up. [11:32] Surely, my grace is not sufficient for you. [11:34] I’ve seen the way that you pray. [11:37] No, he knows the struggle. [11:38] And he’s looking at you saying, don’t lose heart. [11:41] He’s encouraging you towards that.

[11:44] But don’t. [11:46] When he says don’t lose heart, he’s also giving us the first thing. [11:53] You need to grow. [11:55] You need to be strengthened. [11:56] You need practice. [11:58] It does take effort.

[12:00] But what you will find in a life of vibrant prayer is you will experience greater communion [12:08] with God. [12:08] You will experience more obedience with God and you will experience more passion and [12:14] faith than you could have apart from prayer. [12:18] Therefore, the struggle. [12:21] That endurance is vital to the life of your prayer.

[12:26] Now we live as people who struggle to concentrate. [12:30] I mean, we rarely unplug from the screens in front of our faces or the things that we [12:35] have committed to in order to seek the encounter with God that prayer promises us.

[12:44] Understand that struggling with prayer is a symptom of loving the success of the world [12:51] more than God. [12:54] It is. [12:55] So what do you mean by that? [12:57] Well, the scriptures as a whole are filled with these commands, these demands, these [13:03] encouragements that we are to turn our eyes off of the transient, the temporary, calls

[13:11] it temporal, calls it worldly pleasure, calls it the place where rust happens, where moth [13:20] corrupts. [13:22] And so what he’s calling us towards in prayer is that we will in that time turn our attention [13:29] off of the transient nature of worldly pleasure, off of the temporal nature of worldly success, [13:35] off of everything that this world has to offer us and say, no, what is real, what is reality [13:45] is defined by God.

[13:48] Therefore, my affections, therefore my attention, therefore my focus needs to turn towards [13:54] him. [13:55] And I need to begin to make this a practice in my life so that what forms? A habit forms. [14:06] So that this becomes the norm so that the I ought always to pray can potentially become [14:15] I do always pray. [14:18] My mind is saturated with the thoughts of God. My heart is pointed towards the desires

[14:27] of God and my reality is defined by the promises of God. Prayer must be the defining activity [14:39] of the follower of Jesus because it is faith exercised. It is the most important thing [14:48] and the most unworldly thing that you can do. [14:54] I mean, having a conversation with someone who isn’t physically in front of you is otherworldly. [15:01] It’s experiencing the supernatural in every moment that you take part in it. [15:08] And Jesus, following what he says in Luke 18.1, then gives a story noting that encountering

[15:13] God through prayer needs to be a constant activity and a source of strength in your [15:20] life. [15:21] He gives a story of a woman continuously badgering a judge for justice over and over and over [15:28] again so that he finally relents and says, if you just leave me alone, I’ll give you [15:33] what you want. [15:35] And Jesus’ point is that prayer is an enduring activity where you go to the judge of all

[15:42] of the world as a child goes to his parent, his or her parent, seeking that which will [15:51] provide. [15:52] And our thought is, well, surely God will tire of me. [15:56] And Jesus’ point is, he will never tire of you. No matter how many times you come to [16:03] him for the same thing, no matter how often you come to him to communicate, no matter [16:08] how many times you come to the presence of God, if you are a follower of Jesus who has

[16:13] been redeemed by the cross, every moment he will say, welcome my child. [16:20] And this is literally what Jesus example with his very life. He constantly turned his focus [16:27] towards God through prayer in every instance of his earthly ministry. [16:32] And even in his teachings, when he speaks about prayer, he continually begins by saying [16:38] things like, when you pray. Now, with that very statement, there is an assumption that [16:43] in receiving the instruction you already get that you need to do it, it is instinctive

[16:49] for the follower of Jesus to go to God in prayer. I don’t think if you’re a follower [16:54] of Jesus in here, I don’t think I need to spend much time telling you that you should [16:58] pray. I think it’s instinctive to you. I think that’s what the spirit is going to draw you [17:03] towards in every moment. But what you need to see is the foundation of your life needs [17:08] to begin with prayer. And then you need to begin by seeing how should you pray? How often [17:12] should you pray? Why should you pray? And what should you pray? I mean, Jesus example

[17:16] this over and over. I recently surveyed the four gospel accounts of Jesus’s life to see [17:22] when and how Jesus prayed. And what struck me were not the methods that Jesus used, [17:28] but rather I found it quite interesting to look at the timing of his prayer. In every [17:34] moment of Jesus’s day, prayer was preeminent. He would get away early in the morning and [17:41] late at night to pray alone. He prayed before every meal. He prayed before ministering to [17:47] people. After he was done ministering to people, he even paused while he was serving people

[17:53] and prayed in the middle of it. He prayed before he gave sermons. He prayed after he [17:58] gave sermons. He even prayed right smack dab in the middle of some of his sermons. Jesus [18:04] prayed continuously. In one story, Jesus was debating Pharisees and Sadducees and he simply [18:10] paused in the middle of his argument and started to pray. In his final address to his disciples [18:17] in John 17, he just stopped talking to them and began to pray for them. While he suffered, [18:25] Jesus prayed. At his death, Jesus prayed. Everything Jesus ever did on earth was marked

[18:36] by the constant of prayer. Therefore, I truly believe there is something important about [18:45] prayer in every moment of every day because Jesus taught us that there is not a specific [18:53] time that you need to pray. There is not a best time to pray. There is just continual. [19:00] You ought always to pray. Prayer is about your need for God. I mean consider this. If [19:08] God the Son while on earth lived a life of constantly turning his focus towards the [19:12] life of God, we cannot hope to follow Jesus without that same type of posture in our

[19:19] lives. This is exactly what Jesus was getting at in John 15, 4 when he said, abide in me [19:26] and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither [19:33] can you unless you abide in me. He’s talking about this connectedness that needs to be [19:41] constant in your life with God. He’s talking about a posture of complete and utter dependence [19:47] on God that marks the life of a follower of Jesus. So understand the type of connectedness [19:56] that Jesus is talking about here is unique to what your experience may be. When prayer

[20:01] is all about asking God for things, it reveals that your vision is all about you. Don’t get [20:09] me wrong, making your requests known to God is an important aspect of prayer. But if [20:15] that is what it is limited to, you are not turning your focus towards God. You are simply [20:21] seeking to use God. Prayer is meant to be by God an aid in you experiencing what you [20:30] are learning about him in your life. It’s about growing in knowledge of him and it is [20:39] your everyday. Now, how then should you go towards prayer? Because that’s what prayer

[20:48] is. Number two this morning, prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started. Prayer [20:57] is continuing a conversation that God has started. Too often many of us look at prayer [21:05] as something that begins in us. It’s not. Many of us look at prayer as being about [21:11] a subjective feeling that we are to chase after with our lives. And what’s that going [21:16] to do? Well, that’s going to be discouraging from the very start. What that’s going to [21:20] create in you is a lack of knowledge of exactly how you should pray. Conversations are two-way

[21:28] streets, are they not? What most of us do is we get in our prayer posture and we’re [21:33] like, okay, Lord, speak. Crickets. Okay, Lord, I’m, you know, to borrow an old religious [21:43] adage, I’m throwing my Gideon’s fleece out. If you don’t speak now, crickets, crickets,

[21:54] and what does that cause? Well, friend, I’m telling you, that is a one-way street to [21:59] disappointment with God. I do not believe the scriptures lead us to that being our [22:05] experience with God. Prayer is ultimately personal, communicative response to the knowledge [22:14] of God. It begins with the gospel of Jesus and then grows from there. So understand, [22:20] the clearer our understanding of who God is, the better our prayers will be. That’s what [22:28] Jesus means when he prefaces the Lord’s prayer with this in Matthew chapter 6, starting

[22:33] in verse 7. He says, when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, [22:38] for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for [22:44] your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Now, what he’s saying there, he’s [22:56] saying, you’re not going to be like me as a person who doesn’t know God, but instead [23:01] your prayer should become like someone who’s very familiar with God. Would it surprise [23:08] you if I told you that my conversations with my wife over a decade into our marriage are

[23:15] far different than the first month that we were dating? I mean, when I was dating my [23:20] wife, I mean, what are you doing? You’re really getting to know the person. You’re [23:24] deciding whether you want to put a ring on it or not. And I’m trying to be impressive. [23:30] So before our dates, I’m like, all right, if she talks about this, then I’ll go here. [23:35] I’m going to tell her this story that makes me look really awesome. I’m going to talk [23:40] like this so that she’ll think I have a much larger vocabulary than I actually have. So

[23:45] I’m mapping out conversations. I mean, it’s a little bit formal. You know, you know, [23:50] you know, I’m trying to come up with, well, should I call her by her nickname? Should [23:54] I call her by her full name? Should I call her Mrs. Delgado? I mean, like, what do I [23:58] do here? And so I’m like thinking it through, faking myself out here. All right. That’s [24:04] not what happens now. If it is in your over a decade in your marriage, we’ve got help [24:09] for you. OK, but now, all right, there’s a familiarity. There’s assumptions that I bring

[24:19] into it that I don’t have to just seek to impress her. Right. I’ve grown to a place [24:26] that when I leave, you know, I just kiss her goodbye and I say, hey, babe, I’ll see you [24:30] later. It’s no more of that awkward end of date at the doorway. Do I kiss her? Do I hug [24:36] her? Side hug, like front hug, back hug? Like, like, how do I hug cheek, mouth, nose, [24:42] forehead? Like, where am I going with this? When I come home after being gone, you know, [24:50] I’m not I’m not in there. OK, do I call her most glorious Jessica, bride of Steve? Like,

[24:56] how do I? How am I? I just come in. Hey, baby, give her a kiss on the lips. Daddy’s home, [25:03] you know, that’s how I roll. I don’t know about you. There’s a basis of intimacy between [25:14] the two of us that has already been laid as we’ve grown in marriage over a decade.

[25:23] Too often, we are the Gentiles that don’t know God, and most of our prayers are Father [25:28] God, dear heavenly Lord, hallowed, your holiness and righteousness bequeaths me. And, you [25:35] know, we start talking in King James English. We pray as those who don’t know God. Because [25:45] the reality is we don’t know him that well. And what I’m telling you is that it is not [25:51] up to you in your subjective, sinful heart. To just become to know God. No, he started [25:58] the conversation. He gave us his word. You need the Bible as the gateway of your conversation

[26:07] with God. God began the conversation by revealing himself through prophets, priests, kings, [26:12] and then Jesus and the apostles. This is the Bible. The Bible is the vital means of knowing [26:19] God. As John Piper has said, if you want to hear the voice of God, read the Bible out [26:26] loud. Because it is the voice of God. God has begun the conversation, and we need to [26:35] hear him in order to know how to respond. Too many of you are trying to experience [26:43] God based on a feeling that is not natural to you and will not become natural until you

[26:53] listen to God before you respond to God. And the biggest problem in your prayer life is [27:01] the fact that you have not listened before you began to speak. And God says, I have [27:08] given you 66 books of my word, of knowledge about me, of how I have worked, of what I [27:18] expect, of how I have redeemed, of how I have filled you. And to say that this is [27:24] insufficient to give us the voice of God into our lives is a lie. It’s untrue. That is [27:32] why I find books like Jesus Calling, which is one of the most popular books of our decade

[27:37] right now, it is completely unhelpful and filled with false notions of what prayer is [27:43] all about, because it begins with the idea that the Bible is not enough. It begins with [27:48] the idea that everything that God has revealed to me about himself, everything that God has [27:53] revealed to me about myself, is insufficient for me to have a real, legitimate encounter [27:58] with God. That is a lie. The Bible is enough. The Bible is the way that God has revealed [28:06] himself to us, and it is the measuring stick by which we can see what an authentic encounter

[28:11] with God is versus an inauthentic encounter with God. Anytime anyone begins with the [28:16] basis of what you feel being over and above what God has said is a false gospel. God [28:26] has revealed himself to us, and the basis of prayer being faith in God exercise should [28:33] show us that if he has told us of himself, we need to begin our prayer life by trusting [28:40] him what he has told us of himself being enough. When you do that, when you grow in [28:46] your knowledge of God, eventually prayer becomes a full encounter with God. The key

[28:54] term there is eventually. I know how some of you guys are. You are going to get fired [29:02] up, and I hope you do. That is why I get up here. I am going to fire you up to live for [29:05] the gospel. You are going to leave here, and tonight you are going to get in whatever your [29:09] prayer closet is. I get uncomfortable claustrophobic in my closet, but you are going to get somewhere [29:14] and you are going to be like, all right, I am going to pray. You are going to sit down, [29:17] you are going to kneel down, you are going to lay down, and you are going to be like,

[29:19] I am not getting up until I feel God. Thirty seconds later, you are already thinking about [29:26] cereal. I should have gotten a drink of water before I started this. Hold on, God. All right, [29:33] I want to feel you. I want to caution you. That is what could happen. Now, the Holy [29:42] Spirit could move and Shekinah Glory could fall out of the sky, but that is rare. What [29:49] is going to happen is it is going to be like my toddler who is just now getting his legs [29:55] up under him and he is stumbling around and he is falling on me yesterday. Just bam,

[29:59] right on his face. He is just learning. It is going to be like going from couch to 5K [30:06] or something like, you people are really ambitious, like couch to marathon. Good luck on that [30:12] first tenth of a mile, bro. It is going to be like the guy who just starts a workout [30:18] program. He is really sore the next day and he is like, I did not expect that. It is going [30:22] to be like learning a new language for the first time where you are like, ¿Cómo está? [30:26] I do not know. It is going to be like doing anything for the first time. You are going

[30:33] to struggle. It is going to be hard. It is going to be like a little child learning how [30:39] to do anything, but be completely comfortable with that. As we grow in knowledge and understanding, [30:48] we will grow in our experience of prayer and without that, you will be limited to who you [30:53] are right now and you will never grow. You need to hear from God, but the beauty of [31:00] prayer is that it actually leads to a growth in self-knowledge as well as growth in knowledge [31:07] of God. As you learn about God, you will learn who you are intended to be by God. Because

[31:16] all good relationships require hearing and responding. But your response comes from hearing. [31:27] This is the emphasis that Jesus gives us in Matthew 6, 9-15. He tells us, he says, pray [31:32] then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will [31:39] be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our [31:46] sins. Have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from [31:53] evil. Now the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, he unpacks it in

[31:59] the following way about what this text is actually telling us. I cannot do it any better [32:04] than him, so I stole it from him. First, understand that this prayer begins with fear of God. [32:12] It begins with fear of God. Now I’m not talking about terror. If you’re a follower of Jesus, [32:19] there should be a deep admiration. It’s hero worship. There’s no terror, but fear of doing [32:27] something stupid because you admire God so greatly. Now imagine you work for a very large [32:34] company and the CEO of that company actually calls on you to come to a very important

[32:39] meeting about the future of the company. Now if you’ve got any sense, before you go [32:45] in that meeting, you’re going to think to yourself, please God keep me from saying [32:49] anything stupid. Lord I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me fired. I [32:55] only want to say that which makes sense. I only want to say that which is good. That’s [33:00] what it means to fear God. But it’s also as if that same CEO after the meeting has said, [33:07] hey I want you to stick around. Why don’t you kind of casually hang out with me here

[33:13] for a while. Let’s get some coffee. Let’s get a meal together. Let’s just sit down [33:16] and get to know one another. The more that you did that, the more that you would grow [33:21] with familiarity, the more that you would get comfortable in his presence, but trust [33:26] me, if you value your paycheck, that realization that I hope I don’t say anything stupid is [33:31] never going to go away. So it is with our conversations with God. There is a healthy [33:37] admiration. There is a healthy fear that this is the creator of all that is. That this

[33:43] God has the power to speak and worlds exist. This is the God that parted the Red Sea. [33:50] This is the God that made the walls of Jericho fall down. This is the God that can literally [33:56] raise the dead. You’re going to walk into his presence a little differently than your [34:02] buddy down the block. There’s a deep admiration. Number two, there is a spiritual insufficiency. [34:11] Calvin writes that there is a sense of need in prayer that excludes all unreality. What [34:18] that means is that we need God to work in our lives. So we avoid phoniness in our prayer.

[34:26] Have you ever heard somebody pray and been like, man, that sounded really phony. When [34:32] you realize your spiritual insufficiency and understand that God knows about your spiritual [34:37] insufficiency, you don’t need to be phony in his presence. We need him to lead us in [34:43] our prayer as well as in our life. We depend on him. Now, this also frees you for confession [34:49] and repentance in your prayer. If God has redeemed you through Christ, he knows your [34:57] weakness. He’s not surprised that you are a sinner. Therefore, we can take our sin to

[35:04] him. Thirdly, there is a restful trust, yet confident hope. There is a trust in prayer [35:13] regardless of circumstances. Yet, we pray with a sure hope that our prayer will be [35:20] answered. These two things do not contradict one another, but rather they complement one [35:25] another. God will not give us anything contrary to his will. That is trust and that is hope. [35:33] Don’t be afraid to ask for the wrong thing in prayer because you will. You’re going [35:40] to. One of the greatest freedoms in prayer is that I take all of my needs before him

[35:46] with a restful trust. That trust is that God is never going to bring anything into my [35:54] life that is contrary to his will. If he says no to anything or everything that I’m praying [36:00] about in this moment, I can trust that because he’s a good God. Because he sent Jesus to [36:07] die for my sins. I believe that he’s a good God. If he’s a good God and he’s all powerful [36:11] and he has a will for my life that’s uncompromisable, he’s never going to bring anything into my [36:16] life that’s contrary to that. But, I also have a confident hope that when I bring my

[36:23] needs in front of him, he listens to my needs. If it be his will, he’s going to provide exactly [36:31] what I asked for, but he’s also such a loving father that he doesn’t always listen to my [36:37] advice. I mean, if I go to my three year old and I say, hey honey, how can I cure your [36:42] cold? Pop tarts? Oh, well that makes perfect sense. So I’m not going to give you medicine, [36:49] I’m going to give you pop tarts. No, that’s not what a loving father does. A loving father’s [36:54] like, man, you must not be a doctor. You must not know much, huh? Yeah. So I give her medicine.

[37:03] That’s God’s relationship to us so many times that we’re asking for things that are going [37:09] to hurt us. God’s so wise and loving, he’s not going to give me that which is going to [37:16] hurt me, he’s going to give me that which is going to build me. And I am always so ignorant [37:22] between the two that I need his wisdom. That’s a restful trust, yet a confident hope. Fourthly, [37:30] God will not reject your prayers. I think some of you need to hear that. God will not [37:37] reject your prayers. If you’ve placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you’ve been transformed,

[37:41] you’ve been baptized in the Spirit of God, God’s not in the business of rejecting you. [37:46] Don’t be afraid of breaking any rules. There is no magic code in prayer. I wish I could [37:54] tell you the magic words. I can’t. There’s no magic code. You don’t like stand on one [38:00] foot, hop in a circle, snap the right way, and God will listen. No, there is no magic [38:06] code. There is just a God to trust. He finishes by saying that prayer is a balanced interaction [38:14] of praise, confession, thanks, and petition, or making your request to God. The Lord’s

[38:20] prayer is instruction that we should not become too familiar with or unfamiliar with. [38:26] And sometimes I have faltered in thinking that every prayer had to have every element [38:32] or it didn’t count. I learned when I was a young man, I learned the act’s model of [38:38] prayer, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. And that’s a good, I’m across [38:42] it to keep in mind. But, you know, when I would go to bed at night, I’d be terrified [38:46] that if I didn’t make it to supplication, my prayer didn’t count. Or I would be terrified

[38:51] that if I didn’t end with, in Jesus’ name I pray, amen, then God just didn’t hear it [38:56] because I didn’t use the code word on the end. Or if I didn’t dial up the right way [39:00] and say, thou most gracious heavenly Father, and hang up the phone the right way in Jesus’ [39:06] name, God would never hear my prayers. Friends, there’s no magic code. Calvin writes that [39:13] the Lord’s prayer does not bind us to its particular form of words, but rather to its [39:18] content and basic pattern. There are times where you simply need to praise God. There

[39:27] are times when you can spend some time thanking God, spend time confessing your sin to God, [39:33] or just pray through his word out loud. There’s great freedom to prayer because he is the [39:41] Father who loves us. Sometimes I simply read a chapter from the scriptures and I’ve prayed [39:48] that chapter to the Lord. Thirdly, this morning, prayer seeks a heart sense of the presence [39:56] of God. You need to fix your mind and you need to incline your heart towards God. Prayer [40:03] is not God’s voice discerned subjectively within the heart. I’m going to say that again.

[40:09] Prayer is not God’s voice discerned subjectively within the heart. Too many prayers are marked [40:18] by frustration because you don’t feel anything. A heart engaged in all of God begins with [40:25] trusting that how God speaks is true and that he is working. You need to begin your prayer [40:33] with a base level trust that what God has said is true and what God has promised will [40:42] happen and what God has told you to do is effective whether you feel it or not because [40:52] God can be trusted. Let me tell you, that will save you from a lot of discouragement.

[40:58] That will save you from sitting there or lying awake at night and thinking to yourself, [41:04] well I didn’t feel X, Y or Z while I was doing this action. I don’t know if I did [41:11] it right. I don’t know if God’s working in my life. I don’t know. See friends, one of [41:18] the reasons that God gave us his word is so that we could get rid of that I don’t know [41:23] and replace it with I trust. You see friends, the problem with your prayer life isn’t that [41:30] you aren’t feeling anything. The problem with your prayer life is that you are not trusting

[41:36] what God has said is true. See in Luke chapter 11 verse 13, Jesus puts it this way. He says, [41:44] if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more [41:48] will the heavenly father give the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? See, [41:55] I am a sinful man. I was born that way just like you were. But I have children. I love [42:03] my children. When they ask me for something, I wish I could give them the world. I wish [42:09] I could give them anything that they ask me for. There’s no request too great for my

[42:15] children. I want to give my children to me. What my desires, what I want to move is concerned. [42:20] What I want to provide for them is concerned. And Jesus’ point is, if me, a sinful man in [42:31] need of redemption through Jesus Christ, if I want to provide for my kids, how much more [42:38] than a righteous, holy, perfectly loving God? I want to provide for my children. I want [42:45] them to look to my children when they come before him. God wants to give you his life. [42:56] Trust him for that. And don’t be afraid of the word meditation. Simply focus on the right

[43:02] things in it. Namely, that God has revealed in what he has said to us. Scottish theologian [43:09] PT Forsyth puts it this way. He says prayer brings with it as food does a new sense of [43:14] power and health. [43:16] Prayer gives the energy you need to follow Jesus. [43:20] And therefore prayer builds a life of experiencing God. [43:25] This is what Tim Keller says when he says, prayer is communion with God through engagement

[43:30] with theological truth. [43:32] And that is why the information of the Bible is so important and turning my attention [43:38] to God is also important. [43:40] I was meant to ask the Holy Spirit to help me experience my theology. [43:48] Experiencing God is the greatest gift that God gives. [43:53] This is what Jesus says when he says, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the

[43:58] Father may be glorified in the Son. [44:01] And to understand that you have to realize that as we grow in understanding who God is, [44:05] so will our encounter with him in prayer become richer and more meaningful. [44:12] You must devote time, focus, and knowledge to this task. [44:16] And this is where faith becomes a reality. [44:21] As A.W. Toser put in his great work, The Pursuit of God, we spend too much time attempting

[44:27] to conjure the presence of God. [44:31] The experience of prayer isn’t about finding God as much as it is about realizing his [44:37] presence is already there. [44:41] So I tell you, friend, that when you pray, do not spend your time trying to conjure God [44:49] as you would conjure a genie. [44:51] Do not spend your time trying to coax him into your presence.

[44:56] No, I promise you, and the word leads us to an understanding that when you get into [45:01] the posture of prayer, the greatest thing that you need to realize is that God was [45:07] there before you were waiting for you. [45:13] You don’t need to coax the presence of God. [45:15] Instead, you ought always to pray, realizing God’s presence is always with you if you’ve [45:24] been redeemed by Jesus Christ.

[45:26] You need to reorient your view toward God as often as you can in every moment of your [45:32] life. [45:33] The immediate response to true meditation and prayer is either the enjoyment of God [45:38] or crying out in anguish to God. [45:43] But understand, God wants them both. [45:47] Bring your mind to God.

[45:50] To respond to God in prayer, we must listen to his word. [45:55] We must pray the text of his word. [45:57] And then we must pray our lives to God. [46:03] This is a great gift. [46:06] And we must bring more than just requests. [46:09] We must bring our lives to be changed by life.

[46:15] You know, the Lord’s Supper is an offering of our life to God through faith in the Gospel. [46:22] And as the band comes up, I want you to understand that when we do this, when we eat the bread [46:29] and we drink the cup as a church, what we are doing is we are beginning every week by [46:35] reorienting our focus towards God. [46:40] About focusing in on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, realizing what [46:46] a great relationship it is that God has called us towards.

[46:50] And so when we eat the bread, when we drink the cup, we proclaim to everyone around us, [46:56] yes, I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [47:00] And then as we do that, we say, thanks be to God for the body and blood of Christ. [47:08] Thanks be to God that Jesus has paid the penalty for my sin. [47:13] Thanks be to God that I walk out of here into a life lived in enjoyment of the presence [47:21] of God.

[47:23] That is where prayer begins. [47:27] If you believe that, when you’re ready, come. [47:31] Celebrate the death of our King.