Full Transcript for Essentials: Prayer

seen and understood, even by people who have never heard the gospel, never set foot in church, have no background of faith. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:51.520 Pete Gregg put this really well when he said, Nobody watches the northern lights and thinks, my goodness, I really am incredible. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:03:09.520 Um I remember discovering that on San Antonio Beach in Ibiza, at sort of the epicenter of human hedonism, every night a huge crowd gathers to applaud the sunset. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:21.439 And they do that on San Antonio Beach because the eternal power and divine nature of God can be seen and understood by what he has made, even if we don't have language and categories for that. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:26.240 So that's the first thing I think people have a some subconscious knowledge of. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:30.879 And then secondly, we are very aware as human beings that we are fragile and we are limited. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:36.719 The word prayer comes from the Latin precari, from which we also get the English word precarious. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:40.240 We pray because life is precarious. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:46.639 And you live long enough, uh, it doesn't take very long to discover just how fragile and limited we are. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:59.840 And I suppose when you bring those two things together, the fragility of human life, the unpredictability of human life, and the inner knowledge that there probably is something out there, it produces everything from manifestation to meditation to prayer. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:08.560 A friend of ours recently texted Naomi when we were going through a hard time and said, I'm praying for you in my own way. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:14.080 And um, I suppose what she meant by that was probably some kind of manifestation. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:15.840 They're not all the same, though. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.800 Manifestation is a form of prayer to the universe. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:22.720 Uh, the problem with the universe is that it's not a person, it's created matter. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:27.199 The universe doesn't think about you, it doesn't know you, and it certainly doesn't love you. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:34.319 Uh, Christian prayer is a very specific kind of relationship, and I like how Nikki Gumbel expresses this. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:39.120 Well, Nikki Gumbel didn't, yeah, I suppose, yeah, he expresses it. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:48.319 He didn't um, in any sense, discover this, but um, Christian prayer is prayer to the Father through Jesus by the Holy Spirit. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:54.160 Christian prayer is a form of participation in the life of the Trinitarian God. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:03.680 It is the relational experience of Christian faith to know someone in Hebrew tradition is to know them experientially, not just intellectually. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:08.240 Prayer is the medium of a lifetime of knowing God, not just about God. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:18.160 Feel a little bit inadequate, both personally and pastorally, before a subject that you could preach on for years if we wanted to. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:31.600 And I thought what we could do this morning is we could learn from Jesus about prayer and um we could sort of dive into the scriptures where Jesus responds very specifically to a request for a lesson on prayer. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:34.079 And so this is from Luke chapter 11. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:40.879 If you're able and willing to, could we stand together just for a moment and the uh the scripture will be on screen? 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.240 So we stand together just out of reverence for the only part of today's talk that will be perfect. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:48.879 Uh, this is Luke chapter 11. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.879 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:00.480 When he finished, one of the disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:09.920 He said to them, When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:19.600 Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us, and lead us not into temptation. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:27.839 Then Jesus said to them, Suppose you have a friend and you go to him at midnight and say, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:31.439 A friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:40.560 And suppose the one inside answers, Oh, don't bother me, the door is locked, my children and I are in bed, I can't get up and give you anything. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:51.120 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:55.920 So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:59.680 Seek and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:02.000 For everyone who asks receives. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:07.839 The one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:09.199 In Jesus' name. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:09.920 Amen. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:10.959 Grab a seat. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:15.199 I want to share with you today eight ways to learn from Jesus on prayer. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.279 So if you're taking notes, get ready. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:18.000 Eight ways. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:19.920 Number one, it's good to have a place. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:24.079 Jesus was praying in a certain place. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:26.639 He also had specific times. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:28.399 It is good to have a time and a place. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.399 And if you were struggling for somewhere to go, Jesus actually has a suggestion.

00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:36.000 Jesus said, Why don't you go into your room and close the door behind you? 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:45.120 And what he means by that is prayer happens best somewhere where we aren't tempted to perform, where we can just be ourselves. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:51.120 And that could be a car, it could be somewhere that you walk, it could be a chair that you sit in. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:55.519 But Jesus was praying in a certain place. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:10.000 Something I've always been fascinated by is when the Bible seems to correlate really beautifully with forms of modern psychology, with stuff that uh psychologists and sociologists and different forms of human wisdom are sort of engaging with and writing about today. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:16.959 One of the most popular books over the last sort of 10 years is a book called Atomic Habits by a guy called James Clear. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:25.519 James Clear basically teaches people how to hack into their own daily routines and rhythms in order to improve their habits. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:32.799 And he makes this incredibly valuable point, I think, for Christian spirituality, although he didn't know that that's what he was teaching on. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:40.799 And he says, you know, very often in life, when you're trying to do some kind of habit formation, you don't lack motivation. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:46.399 You don't, you think you do, and you beat yourself up about that, but you don't lack motivation. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.879 What you lack is clarity. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.120 You need a time and a place. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:56.399 Take a couple of things in your everyday life that happen without thinking. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:58.960 Maybe you drive to work every day because you have to. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.360 If you didn't drive to work, you'd be in trouble. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:07.360 And on your drive to work, you might listen for five or ten minutes to an audio Bible. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.960 And then you could decide before I get out of the car every day, I park the car. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.200 And when I park the car, I go into work. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:21.360 And what I'm going to do is I'm going to take a moment and I'm going to pray just for a few minutes before I head into work. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:29.600 All of a sudden, when you have that kind of clarity, it becomes easier to engage in a particular place and time. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:42.159 Prayer does involve some discipline, which is challenging for brains that have been trained for distraction and busyness, but God has given us a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:44.639 We can do hard things. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:53.679 What happens over time when you have a specific place to pray is that certain places become thin. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:10:01.279 And if you haven't heard that expression before, Celtic spirituality had this wonderful concept at the heart of it of a thin place. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:07.360 A thin place is somewhere where it becomes easier and easier to recognize the presence of God. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:21.840 And what I found as I walk the dog every day around our neighborhood and use that time and that specific place to pray is that I am becoming more aware of God's presence in that routine week by week. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:26.080 Number one, Jesus tells us it's good to have a place. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:30.080 Number two, it's normal to feel inadequate. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:32.159 Teach us to pray. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:37.679 No one asks for teaching or advice because they have it sorted. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:44.000 The disciples have asked for teaching or advice because they feel a lack, they feel inadequate. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:48.159 Should note, of course, that it's not the first time that the disciples have ever prayed. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:49.600 They've been doing it their whole lives. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:54.399 They are supposed experts, but they watched Jesus doing it. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:11:04.080 And there was something about his relationship with the Father, something about his friendship with the Father and the intimacy that they shared that they really, really wanted. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:11.360 When this the disciples asked teach us to pray, what they're really asking is, would you teach us to pray like you do, Jesus? 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:30.559 I suppose on that point, I really just want to say if you feel like you've got a lot to learn about prayer, if you suspect that there's a lot more to experience and you feel like you could spend the rest of your life learning, then you are in the company of the apostolic giants of the early church. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:40.159 Final thing when the disciples ask for a lesson on prayer, Jesus doesn't in any sense condemn them. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:41.440 He helps. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:42.559 He helps. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:49.039 Number three, you learn to pray by praying. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.679 As he begins to teach on the subject of prayer, Jesus prays. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.279 He says, say this. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.000 He doesn't start with a theory, he starts with practice. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:07.279 One of the most famous statements on prayer ever made was from a guy called Dom John Chapman, and he said, The best advice I can give you is pray as you can, not as you can't. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:20.720 There are many different forms of prayer that I feel inadequate with, I'm not quite sure how to do it, I don't feel like an expert, and yet he would say, Johnny, just begin to pray as you can. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:43.039 Sometimes if you grow up in church, and some of us in the room have had a really thorough Sunday school education, which is maybe in some ways a blessing and a curse, but um, a thorough Sunday

school education can teach you a certain syntax and tone and way of praying that doesn't feel or sound very natural. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:57.440 I really like in Bruce Almighty when uh Bruce meets God for the first time and he's talking about prayer, and and God says to Bruce, right, Bruce, just just go ahead, just give it a try, just just pray something, you know. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:07.519 And and Bruce says, uh, Lord, feed the hungry and bring peace to all mankind, to which um Morgan Freeman says, Bruce, you sound like a Miss America speech. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.679 Um what do you actually care about, Bruce? 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:14.639 And I think it's true of us as well. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:20.320 Sometimes we have learned a language and a tone and a syntax that maybe isn't all that helpful. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.960 And and and Jesus teaches prayer by simply praying, by starting. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:26.080 And he says, say this. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:28.480 In other words, the beginning of prayer is verbal. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:30.080 Uh, we we talk to him. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:35.200 If you're not sure what to say, you could pray scripture back to God. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:51.919 I think there are forms of prayer that are quiet or even silent that have become re-popularized in in recent times, and people have written a lot and said a lot about forms of Christian meditation and silence. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:14:01.759 But part of the reason that Naomi and I are comfortable sometimes with silence in our relationship is because that has been built on 20 years of talking to each other. 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:07.279 Um, Jesus says prayer begins with words and it begins by just praying. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:12.720 Don't use a lot of words, don't perform, just be yourself and start. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:19.120 Number four, prayer is relational, not transactional. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:21.360 Our father. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:22.879 Our father. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:28.000 Prayer is not a note in a bottle to whatever gods may be. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:32.240 I love what Edmund Clownie, the American theologian, said about this. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:38.720 He said, we need to know not so much the art of prayer, but the God of prayer. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:44.639 The story of Scripture is of a God who longs to be close, who walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:15:06.080 And then the story of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, are really about human beings learning to cope with the closeness of God, a God who longs to be close to them and yet who often finds human rebellion and sin and the ways that we sort of vandalize good things getting in the way. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:12.000 The law, if you like, is the story of human beings learning to be close with God. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:26.240 And the prophets are really the story of a series of warnings about what will happen if the

people of God don't lay down the patterns of idolatry and injustice in their community. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:38.159 And um in Ezekiel 10, we're told in the Old Testament that the glory of God, the closeness of God, departs for a season from the people of God, and yet the story culminates in the arrival of Jesus. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:41.200 And um John's gospel puts this really beautifully. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:52.000 He says, The word became flesh, like the glory of God, put on flesh and tabernacled, like came and was present and close with us, and we have seen what? 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:54.159 We have seen his glory. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:01.600 Prayer is about a relationship with a God who longs to be close to you and I. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:10.879 And um, you know, the very last thing that I want to do today on any given week at Harbour, I'm so anxious about this at times, and you probably don't see it, but it's there. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:22.159 I I'm anxious about giving you one more thing for your to-do list because you're really, really good people and your lives are full, and so is mine. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.840 And our to-do lists are often oppressive and heavy. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:34.399 And I don't want to give you one more thing on your to-do lists, but prayer is not a thing to do, it is someone to be with. 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:38.879 Um, and and to be with God is to be in the presence of pure love. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:57.600 We will always, as human beings, we will always look for ultimate validation and affirmation in life in a sideways direction until we learn in prayer to remember and to know where that validation and affirmation comes from. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:02.559 Tim Keller, we should bring Tim Keller into this before it's too late. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:10.000 He said the Father is always available to his children and never too preoccupied to hear what they have to say. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:12.880 We are not subjects, we are children. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:14.160 That's halfway. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:15.279 You doing okay? 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:16.480 He's still there. 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:20.160 Number five, we're learning from Jesus about prayer. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:23.839 Number five, the first reward is perspective. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:30.160 Jesus begins praying by acknowledging the name, the kingdom, and the will of God. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:36.319 And if he could put it another way, I think Jesus would say, You have to remember in prayer that life is not all about you. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:47.039 Our culture is architectured in such a way as to persuade us that we are indeed at the center of the universe, that we have to run the universe, that we can control outcomes, that we can carry the whole weight of the world. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:18:04.480 And Jesus invites you and I today to uh journey into a place in prayer where we elevate our perspective above those day-by-day concerns and recognize that we have been we have been pulled by grace into a story that is much bigger than ourselves. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:11.440 And that the name of God, the kingdom of God, and and the will of God is primary. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:14.559 Sometimes prepositions in prayer make all the difference. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:22.640 Kevin DeYoung said his four-year-old son told him once at bedtime, I can't go to bed yet, Dad, because nobody has prayed to me. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:31.119 Um prayer begins with perspective. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:34.640 It begins with taking our place and giving God his place. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:38.000 And it is a wonderful relief. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:39.759 A wonderful relief. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.599 Proverbs 1 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:54.160 We we begin to live more skillfully, we begin to live in line with reality, we begin to live in the presence of God when we take our place and give him his. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:57.440 His shoulders are bigger than ours. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.279 I love what it says in in Philippians about this. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:15.359 It says, Don't be anxious about anything, don't allow anxiety to dominate your life, but come before a God who has broader shoulders and bigger vision, and with thanksgiving, present to him everything that you need. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:19.359 And that's number six be honest about what you need. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:24.160 Jesus invites us to pray for strength, grace, and help. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:27.680 That is really the culmination of the Lord's prayer. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:31.759 Honesty and need are welcomed. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.960 There's an old hymn that often moves me quite deeply. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.279 And I'm not really a crier. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:51.039 I don't cry easily, but there's an old hymn that says, Oh, what peace we often forfeit, and oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:20:00.640 And I think it, I think it moves me because I know it describes my life with diagnostic accuracy. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:19.519 Like so much of the anxiety and the pain and the grief and the the heaviness that I carry around on my shoulders is is completely unnecessary because I could be bringing it to God and um and He could carry it in a way that I never will be able to. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:25.759 And Jesus invites us to bring our need before God in prayer. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:28.720 I wonder how much you're carrying around unnecessarily. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:31.359 The Bible is more honest about prayer than church. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:37.279 Um, in church, prayers tend to be very polished, they tend to be a bit strange, and they tend to be very formal. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:38.960 The Bible is not like that at all. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:42.480 Job uh prayed,

Lord, it would have been better if I had never been born. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:45.519 Jeremiah prayed, Lord, I wish you would let me die. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:47.599 You deceived me, and I have been deceived. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:50.079 The Psalms are spirituality in every key. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:54.400 And even Jesus asked the Father, Why have you abandoned me? 00:20:54.559 --> 00:21:02.799 Um, I think what this is saying, or what we can learn from that, is that your prayer life is more likely to die from politeness than it is from honesty. 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:09.200 Jesus said, if you need grace, just come and get it. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:21.039 If you need strength, if you need help with temptation, if you need help for circumstances in the workplace, come and ask for it. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:31.440 I often think that sort of um that middle road of processing our feelings in prayer is the antidote to a generational difference that I sort of observe. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:38.400 Now, I I don't really love when people like people sort of fetishize like generational difference a little bit. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:42.000 Like everything at the minute is about analysing what's wrong with Gen Z, right? 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:43.440 I think Gen Z are great. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.400 Um I consider myself to be one. 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:53.519 Um, but there's a generational difference that I notice in in Northern Ireland around how we process feelings. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:57.920 And it starts with like, I'm gonna I have to generalize here. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.839 I I don't want anyone to go home feeling attacked. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:00.720 Right. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:05.759 But there's an older generation in in Northern Ireland who are pretty stoic. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:13.839 And you know, it's understandable because there was a generation in Northern Ireland that lived through two world wars, the Titanic sank, and then the troubles happened. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:23.039 And it makes sense actually that when you endure that kind of trauma, you become quite stoic and you don't maybe find it easy to name or express or process emotion. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:30.079 Someone once did a PhD study on a generation in Northern Ireland and how they process emotion. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:41.279 And their conclusion on their study was that essentially there are there's a whole generation living here for whom okay and pissed off are the only two emotions that they know how to like name. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:44.720 So those are the only two settings in their in their life, right? 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:48.319 And then I look at certain people and I'm like, hmm. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:23:10.640 Um the opposite of that, where feelings are just continually suppressed, and you end up with only two settings that you can actually name or live with, is maybe the scenario you see unfolding in younger generations where feelings have

become completely dominant in terms of how they live and experience life. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:12.559 And you know what the middle road is? 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.759 The middle road is the book of Psalms. 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:23.680 It's the book of Psalms where God invites us to be honest about how we feel, to feel what we feel, to lean into our emotional life. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:29.440 God created us with an emotional life, but to process that emotional life in prayer. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:42.960 And in prayer to be to be finding ourselves actually elevated out of the subjectivity of feelings into the objectivity of God's truth and presence in our lives. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:51.359 The Bible would be incredibly honest about prayer in a way that church is not, and need is welcomed and invited. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:53.759 Feelings are welcomed and invited. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:56.960 Groaning and crying are an acceptable form of prayer. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:23:59.839 Tudogo, number seven, it makes a difference. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:07.039 Don't know if you've ever noticed this, but um, sometimes when we say the Lord's Prayer, we haven't reached the end of the little lesson that Jesus teaches. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:09.519 He goes on to tell a story about two friends. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:13.519 Uh, and in another version of the story, it's about a persistent widow. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:16.640 Um, in this version in Luke 11, he talks about two friends. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:22.720 One friend has an unexpected guest arrive in the middle of the night, finds he has nothing to offer his guest. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:24.640 Hospitality in this culture is everything. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:28.160 And he and he goes around to see his neighbor and pleads for a loaf of bread. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:32.880 Now, I don't know if you've ever been disturbed at midnight by somebody knocking on the door. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:36.480 If you're a parent of teenagers, that might happen from time to time. 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:46.400 But um, Jesus basically tells this story where, with a little bit of persistence in asking, the request makes a tangible difference. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:25:07.839 And he goes on to contrast that then, that reluctance of this friend who doesn't want to get up at midnight, who doesn't want to hand over a loaf of bread with the generosity of God the Father, and says, like, God the Father is not like this, he's not reluctant, he's not half asleep, he's actually so like ready to respond to what you are asking for in prayer. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:08.960 Prayers make a difference. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:14.880 I the NIV translates um what Jesus commends in the passage as shameless audacity. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:22.640 Here's a question: When was the last time in prayer that you asked for something with shameless audacity? 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:30.000 You're more likely to insult God with the smallness of your request than the boldness of your faith. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:37.519 Blaise Pascal said God instituted prayer to afford his creatures the dignity of causality. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:46.079 People get healed when we pray, resources get released for the kingdom of God when we pray. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:49.119 Circumstances change when we pray. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:56.400 Coincidences happen when we pray, but God doesn't answer the prayers we haven't prayed. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:02.720 And at this point, I would like to tell you my favorite story about coincidences happening when you pray. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:05.759 And I've stolen it from an evangelist called J. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:06.400 John. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:08.240 J. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:18.160 John tells the story of a pastor who bought a little kitten as a family pet and brought the kitten home for his children. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:24.079 And they were all enjoying that little honeymoon phase of having a new pet in the house. 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:28.559 And a few days after they brought the pet home, the poor animal got stuck up a tree. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:32.319 And the fire service were called and they said, Look, we don't really do the cats thing anymore. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:34.400 You're gonna have to solve this problem yourself. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:38.480 And uh the pastor said, Right, look, I've spent my life fixing problems for other people. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:39.359 Bring me a rope. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:43.279 Okay, so he went and he found a rope and he tied it to the back of his car. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:48.799 And he said, Just tie the other end of the rope to the tree, to the branch that that poor cat is stuck on, and tie that into my car. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:51.039 And he slowly began to reverse down the street. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:27:03.200 And as he reversed down the street, this cat that was like 35 feet in the air was like slowly, you know, the branch was kind of like bending and like very, very slowly was coming down to a point where they could almost reach out and grab the cat. 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:09.680 And the poor guy's car had smoke coming out the back of it, and he was like revving it like mad, desperately trying to pull this little cat down. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:16.079 And and just as they were at the point of being able to reach out and grab it, the branch snapped, right? 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:20.000 And the cat just disappears off into orbit. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:26.480 And the you know, the kids, it's probably the most traumatic thing they've ever seen and experienced, and the whole family are devastated. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:30.880 And it takes them weeks to get over this horrific accident. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:46.480 Anyway, a few weeks later, the pastor goes round to visit one of his parishioners, and as he walks into their hallway and is greeted by this parishioner, he notices a cat in the hallway that

looks remarkably similar to the one that he watched disappearing off into orbit. 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.119 And so he says to them, That's a lovely cat you've got there. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:52.799 You know, just not accusatory, but just enough to ask the question. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.359 And um, and and the parishioner says to him, Pastor, you're not gonna believe this. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:02.720 Our kids were nagging for years about getting a cat, right? 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:05.680 Doing our heads in, please, please, please, please. 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:09.839 And I told them over and over and over and over again they couldn't have a cat, they couldn't have a cat. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:13.839 And actually, a few weeks ago, I my temper finally snapped. 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:18.079 And one of my kids said to me, 'Can we dad, can we please have a cat?' And I said to him, I'll tell you what to do. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:22.720 Why don't you go up into your room, close the door behind you, get down on your knees, and ask Jesus? 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:25.839 Why don't you ask Jesus very nicely if you can have a cat? 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:31.599 And then, Pastor, you are not gonna believe what happened next. 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:37.519 All that just to say, when we pray, coincidences happen. 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:39.519 Prayer makes a difference. 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:46.160 Number eight, and finally, God collects prayers. 00:28:46.400 --> 00:29:02.799 Uh, the very last line then of Jesus' piece of teaching on prayer, uh, he says, those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and those who knock will find that the door is opened for them. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:20.559 And um, if I was to be honest with you for a moment, I would say there are a number of passages in the Bible with which I have a lot of uh trouble um that create a lot of tension in my faith, both intellectually and um like on a heart level. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:28.880 And this is probably uh one of the the top three or four uh because Jesus makes an outrageous sort of statement here. 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:36.720 He says, If you if you ask and if you seek and if you knock, you will find an answer to your prayers. 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:44.720 And if you've ever tried praying, you will know that sometimes prayers are not answered. 00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:57.599 And so we're left with this tension in the text, and we're left with this conundrum in terms of like probably up until this point, I can swallow really well everything that Jesus wants to teach us about prayer. 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:11.359 And then at this point, I find myself sitting with the text, looking at it, going, really, like there just seems to be such a gap between the scripture and my lived experience of faith. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:14.720 And I've been doing this thing for a little while. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:18.240 How do we deal with that? 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:30.079 The verbs in the passage are in the present continuous Greek tense, which is kind of a go-on asking and go on seeking and go on knocking kind of invitation. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:39.920 Maybe Jesus is talking about a whole lifetime's worth of asking, seeking, and knocking, and yet even then sometimes prayers don't get answered. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:51.359 And I suppose I wanted to share with you today that probably the two biggest prayers in our life are sitting currently without an answer. 00:30:51.599 --> 00:31:00.079 The two biggest prayers that we are bringing before Jesus are um, first of all, for a friend who needs healing. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:09.599 Uh, we have a friend journeying with cancer over the last three years, still uh very young, young family, and it has broken our hearts. 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:15.440 And our second biggest prayer is um for our own family. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:32.480 Naomi and I have probably wanted to start a family for the last four years or so, and to this point, it's not a prayer that God has answered, and we're left listening to the words of Jesus. 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:40.960 Ask and seek and knock, and you will find, and the door will be opened, and you will receive. 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:43.279 How do we cope with that? 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.000 I think that there is part of an answer. 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:59.119 Some of this aspect of faith is incredibly mysterious and difficult, but there's part of an answer at the end of the narrative of all scripture. 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:05.359 Because at the end of the story in Revelation 21, we find that God is a collector. 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:09.119 I don't know if there's anything in your life you like collecting. 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:12.480 I collect football stickers. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:16.480 Turns out God is a collector of prayers. 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:25.680 Because at the culmination of all things, we see the entire throne room of heaven gathered before Jesus. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:30.559 Jesus is the center of attention and the object of worship. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:35.279 And all tribes and tongues are represented before him. 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:43.920 And in that moment, this beautiful bowl of incense is brought out as an act of worship before Jesus. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:52.960 And this bowl of incense is going to be used in some illustrative and creative way to bring about the redemption of all things and the new creation. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:33:00.559 And we're told in Revelation that in that bowl of incense, he has collected the prayers of the saints. 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:10.720 And so, not one prayer that you pray will be wasted ultimately. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:14.000 I love the way Tyler Staten puts this. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:23.440 He says, the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth, they are seeded by prayer and they are watered by tears. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:36.799 This life is our one opportunity to worship Jesus through unanswered prayer and broken hearts, because on the other side of a new creation, that opportunity will be gone. 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:45.599 There are prayers that you have forgotten you ever prayed, that are still held before God.