[Music] all right let's go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] imagine you were diagnosed with such a lethal condition that the doctor told you that you would die within hours unless you took a particular medicine it's a pill every night before going to sleep imagine that you were told that you could never miss it or you would die would you forget to take this pill would you not get around to it some nights no it would be so crucial that you wouldn't forget you would never miss it well if we don't pray together to God we're
not going to make it because of all that we are facing I'm certainly not we have to pray we can't just let it slip our minds now these words these wise words and illustration came from a wife Kathy Keller to her husband Tim now here's the context uh Tim had just been diagnosed with thyroid cancer on top of that his wife had just been diagnosed with crohn's disease add to that they were leading a church in Manhattan New York City and it was 2001 right after 9 11. and so there they are trying to pick
up the pieces of their lives their health the the city the community around them and they hit a Breaking Point and Tim shares these wise words this challenge that came from his wife one night because he realized that prayer was not an essential anymore to him and that praying with his wife had not been an essential to him anymore and I think her words strike true for us today without a life of prayer we're not going to make it which is why the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6 in the same way prayer is essential
in this ongoing Warfare pray hard and pray long now it's important that uh I would say it's probably the most important activity that we engage in because every other part of the Christian Life flows from prayer a day that often begins in prayer ends with living on Mission and so my thought too today is that when we put prayer back into the center of the church we get discipleship in the city and that's not prayer just for believers but prayer when you think about it is one of the most human innate things that we long
to do Henry now instead of like this prayer isn't just the pious Declaration of life but the very breadth of human existence to be human is to long to pray and what he means by this is something that we see in the world today which is that while stats continue to decline when it comes to church interest and attendance all across the Western World at the same time the interest in prayer is moving in the opposite direction so for example in Western Europe which is generally recognized in one of the most secular parts of the
world 25 percent of people today who bubble in non-religious on a survey still say they pray once a month so even in our culture today which is very anti-authoritarian institutionally suspicious spiritually dismissive and emotionally cold with people who would laugh off going to church on a random Sunday they still find themselves talking to God when no one else is listening why is that because prayer is one of the most human things that we can possibly do oftentimes it just it spills out of us we don't even know it my friend Rich Perez he says it
like this the best kind of prayer he says is the one when you don't even notice that you're praying it just kind of comes out of you because it's an A in other words the soul your soul my soul long to be in a communion with God we long to communicate we long to have a connection relationally it's how we are wired and so it's so innate to us either if it's with words or if it's just us being we long for prayer and this is the case whether you have a religious background no religious
background whatever your upbringing is whatever your preference is today however busy your life is today your soul longs to speak to your maker and to commune with him now even without all that said there is a massive obstacle in the way of you and I sustaining a life of prayer and it's this boredom we get bored you get bored with prayer there's some days where I feel like I'm praying very well like man I'm pretty good at prayer and then other days where I feel like I'm so bored I'm thinking about food I'm thinking about
The Next Star Wars show I'm thinking about my kids right and I I feel as if at the same time I'm both decent and bad at prayer I don't know if you guys feel like that too because of boredom and that's partly because uh we're not necessarily regressing in prayer but it's a sign that we're actually maybe growing in it honestly and that's part because we have experience especially if you've been following Jesus for a little bit of time these spiritual Mountaintop moments in which prayer may be felt invigorating to you like powerful and life-giving
and like just on fire and then those eventually fade and so that what you experience is just kind of the the boredom of ordinary life wondering like did this work God did you like that did I say it right nothing seems to be happening right we can't control prayer which is our problem with it it's not efficient it's not effective we don't know how well we are doing and so the the condition a lot of us find ourselves in is this we are spiritually bored constantly distracted in a state of exhaustion this is the sole
condition of the modern world people are bored distracted and tired and they don't know what to do about it the other obstacle is this unanswered prayer what do we do with unanswered prayer you know you've probably lived life long enough to know that God doesn't answer your prayer sometimes you pray for a job how do you pray for a job you didn't get the job you prayed for a certain relationship you didn't you didn't get it turns out they don't like you the way you like them I pray for the Lakers why are you laughing
at that and they got worse right God doesn't always answer our prayers and listen that's not necessarily A Bad Thing C.S Lewis once said we will spend most of Eternity thanking God for prayers he didn't answer it's a word for some of us but at a deeper level maybe you did pray for a friend you prayed for a family member and God did not heal them God did not deliver them and that has hurt you at a deep level and you're still wondering why didn't God answer my prayer and I'm not going to risk offering
you as another Pastor working for a church a shallow religious answer life is too complex and mysterious for me to know why exactly why God didn't answer your prayer I will not go that route life is way too important right now for religious people including churches to continue to shovel out shallow answers to people in pain so I don't have an answer for you I'm sorry but what I do know is this the most important person to ever live life was a man of Prayer Jesus prayed and he like you and I knows what it's
like to have a prayer request tonight Jesus knows the Obstacle of unanswered prayer in the garden Gethsemane before he's betrayed falsely tried and then crucified he says father don't let this cup pass please take it away denied and so if there's anyone worthy enough I think to teach you and I today about prayer and it's an Essence in our lives it's Jesus and so that's what we're going to do we're going to hear from Jesus from Matthew chapter 7 on why prayer is so essential and so with that in mind would you please stand with
me for the reading of God's word and as we do I just want us to just take a deep breath in for now good exhale uh in part because man I have said a lot already but also because anytime you come to church and you hear a message on reading scripture like we did last week or praying this week there is this heaviness that naturally sets in because if all of us were being honest with each other we are not good at this and so there's a temptation to feel like I'm going to go to
church and hear another word of what I'm not good at doing as a Christian let that not be the case in our mindset today let us breathe in and breathe out and just say God would you help me to see why prayer is essential God help me to see why prayer is essential and with that let's hear these words of Jesus Matthew 7. he says ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you for everyone who asks receives the one who seeks fines
and to the one who knocks the door will be opened which of you if your son asked for bread will give him a stone or if we ask for a fish we'll give him a snake if you then though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him this is God's word let's pray together spirit of God would you now speak to us and as Jesus said would you give us ears to hear eyes to see and
allow us to open up our whole selves so that we might receive from you all that you have to give us today we pray these things in Jesus name amen a man you may be seated now Jesus offers this short blurb on prayer as he's finishing up what I think is his most important sermon he ever preached The Sermon on the Mount um in this message he talks about what life is all like what life is all about is we follow him as we live life in his kingdom and in this sermon in his greatest
sermon he talks about things like anger love forgiveness sexuality money and of course prayer and it's at this point that his disciples ask him would you teach us to pray now why I find the sopa killer is because his disciples actually when you think about it should have known how to pray they would have grown up reading and most likely memorizing the first five books of the Bible that's a lot imagine trying to memorize Genesis Exodus levitic God knows Leviticus ain't got a shot in my life Numbers Deuteronomy they would have memorized this not only
that they would have grown up seeing the rabbi's prayer uh the rabbi's pray excuse me they would have seen their parents pray but then when they got to Jesus though I think they looked at him and they say man when Jesus when you pray you have a kind of life in your prayer and a kind of power to the way that you pray and so in response Jesus gives them the Lord's Prayer the Our Father prayer Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done Jesus first and responding to
them teaches them the what this is what you say in prayer then in our passage Matthew 7 what I Think Jesus is doing is offering them the how to do this and this is crucial because Jesus knows we can have the right words and the wrong heart when it comes to prayer and so Matthew 7 I think will offer us a handful of things that show us what prayer is all about now out of everything that could be said about prayer before it's a duty before it's a discipline before it's something you have to do
or something doesn't quite make sense in your Modern Life because you're so busy and so sophisticated listen first and foremost prayer is ultimately about love prayers about love prayers about loving communion and intimacy with god notice Jesus's Choice words here from the passage when he's saying if you are somewhat decent parents and you know how to give what your child asks for how much more he says how much more will your father in Heaven notice the way he chooses to identify the Creator The Sovereign one the God who hears prayers is a father is your
father the entire Enterprise of prayer is built on a loving relationship it is all about love before you do anything or say anything right or wrong in prayer it is already about love San Augustine said this true whole prayer is nothing but love think about that true whole prayer is nothing but love every prayer of confession every prayer of repentance every prayer of petition when you're celebrating when you're crying when you're going on behalf of somebody else when you're begging God for life all of it is ultimately about love or it wouldn't be anything and
so here's my thought to you if you can't love then you can't pray either because praying is loving and learning to pray to God is learning to love God more importantly praying is learning to let God love you the real you C.S Lewis said the prayer that precedes all prayers is the prayer when you say let the real me talk to the real you prayer is about you allowing God to love you as you actually are not what you think you should say not you convincing yourself you really believe in your prayers this time or
you're saying all the right things this is crucial we get this because for me for for a man probably the first decade of my life trying to follow Jesus I viewed prayer primarily as a transaction with God and so he was more more like a boss than a father to me and so I would show up and I'm like man I haven't been to work in three weeks but I'm going to go in I'm probably gonna get fired but I'm gonna go in I'm going to ask this boss for a race so I go I
knock you know oh door's open while you're here okay I didn't think you'd be here so I go in I sit down I was Sovereign one creator of all things I know I haven't been here in a few weeks but I need a race and the boss says The Sovereign one says well listen I've seen you around the office like and I've tried to actually say some things but you kind of like you're on the go try to stop you for a second you keep it moving I'm like I know and I'm busy don't you
understand I'm busy doing work and then I started to think about what if instead of asking for the raise the boss says instead of taking my resources how about you just take me and you get my strength and you get my presence and you actually allow me to do what you're trying to do on your own prayer is All About Love Jesus wants us to undoubtedly understand this so much so that anytime you see him praying in the gospels or teaching others how to pray he uses the word father the same word he's used in
Luke 11. it says one day Jesus was praying in a certain place he's praying in a certain place his disciples watch this when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray because what I just saw you have I want that too and he said to them when you pray say father Hallowed Be Your Name Jesus never forgets to remind us who we are talking to prayer is first and foremost All About Love now here's the thing about love you and I know a little something about love don't we the
romantic love in the beginning that is so intoxicating so new so fresh it gets you up in the morning you are excited romantic love is powerful it will make some of you do some dumb things right but then you fast forward to the end of life and you see like two people who have loved each other for decades and their love feels so effortless and you're like man I would love to have that we know a little bit about love but how about all the ordinary days in between that come after the romance and before
you're about to die with each other this is the Beauty and the Brokenness of a movie that I watched when I was a young kid called The Notebook anyone seen The Notebook I'm not gonna find Nicholas Sparks did something with this film and I remember sitting in the theater I will have no shame admitting that watching this movie Ryan Gosling Rachel McAdams love each other and then Ryan gets old and wrinkly he still looks good yeah and I found myself watching that movie saying that is better than anything I got and I want it and
I think when the disciples saw Jesus praying they said that same thing that is better than anything I got and I want it but here's the problem with that movie Nicholas Sparks fast forwards all the ordinary days in between those are the days that require you embracing the fact that this is all about love so Jesus says start by praying to God more intimately than you think you're allowed to do because this whole thing is about what prayer is about love and until we understand this y'all we will never fully see why prayer is so
essential secondly prayer is about Simplicity every day Simplicity notice the words from our passage Jesus says ask seek knock now here's why I kind of love Jesus and still get a little bit bothered because he's kind of ambiguous ask what Jesus whatever well that's not helpful I'm asking for the Lakers to win seek seek where where am I going knock knock on what what am I doing ask Sig knock here's what I want you to see about these verbs two things number one these verbs in the Greek convey a kind of Simplicity to prayer in
other words everybody can do this and one of the reasons why I Think Jesus is doing this is because in his day he would have seen the pagans pray who typically pray with Superstition in other words they think if I say the right words perform the right dance and I can manipulate the gods to give me what I need from them in the act of prayer he also sees very religious people pray devout people pray who pray with the kind of super spirituality who aren't necessarily trying to manipulate Yahweh they know they can't do that
but they can manipulate people into thinking because they pray so well and they're so loved by God they can keep power Jesus says avoid Superstition avoid super spirituality Embrace Simplicity prayer is just asking anyone can ask for anything anyone can seek anyone can knock we all can do this second thing about these verbs these verbs are in the present tense in other words they're in the present continual tense so what Jesus is saying is ask and keep on asking seek and keep on seeking this is an ongoing thing right which is no wonder why Paul
seeing this Vision that Jesus originally taught later on in Thessalonians when he says this in first Thessalonians 5 that we are to pray continually another translation says pray without cease in other words for Paul the Christian Life we view prayer not just as an essential activity but we view prayer as essential to life living is about praying everywhere you go you are in communion with God either being with him in conversation or just being with him all of life is prayer and it's simple and it's every day like you would with a friend like you
would with a spouse whether you have something planned what are we doing I don't know we're just sitting around on tick tock or you're just there in each other's presence all of life is prayer which is why he says Be Joyful in Hope patient in Affliction faithful in prayer consistent in prayer now even with all that said I suspect now listen that most of our prayers are unprayed are they not how many things in your life are you carrying right now that you have refused to offer in prayer James 4 says it bluntly he was
Jesus's brother so he gets right to the point he grew up with God so he's not missing words you have not because you asked not in other words God is saying I have a life for you but you have never asked for this life because most of our prayers are unprayed prayers one of the reasons why I think that is is because all of us to some degree still love and worship self-reliance and productivity you see the best kept secret of my life and I'll take a risk and say the best kept secret of the
modern church today is that we believe in productivity not prayer we have a formula for Success it's basically this create a solid program give above average teaching hello and good worship and boom you'll make Christians and church after church believe in productivity and not prayer and as a confession the hidden atheism of my own personal life is that I would rather busy myself with anything but prayer now what's helpful in this moment is that this is not a modern problem this is not a new problem this is actually a very old Ancient One Jesus himself
dealt with it as you remember in his life as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday people there actually announced him as king and he's okay with it you might remember the scene he comes in riding on a donkey of all things which is pretty silly and foolish when you think about it you're a king but you're on a donkey a donkey fit for a child so imagine Jesus full-grown 33 year old a man Jesus Carpenter he's strong on a donkey fit for a kid he's probably dragging his feet through the dust and he enters Jerusalem
and where does he go first Matthew 21 says he goes into the temple a lot of people know the story of Jesus if they don't know the full story of Jesus why because in this scene you see him so angry you see him emotional and this is what Matthew 21 says he said to them the scriptures declare my temple will be called a House of Prayer a House of Prayer but you have turned it into a den of Thieves in other words you have allowed religious corruptible productivity to get in the way of people doing
what they were meant to do when they come into the house of God which is to commune with him which is to pray this is an old one now what's kind of unique about this story is that it's not the first time this happened you might think Jesus is kind of doing something original because Jesus did a lot of things that were original but he's actually doing something that is great great great great great great great great grandfather did first King David second Samuel chapter six stay with me story time with Fredo so put your
seatbelt on second Samuel chapter six some of us might know the story David comes into Jerusalem for the first time announces King too much like Jesus did on Palm Sunday but what's interesting about David is that he comes in the text says in a Priestly ephod that's a nice sophisticated way to say he came in wearing underwear and what was he doing he wasn't riding in the back of the parade float on the throne as king he was dancing up front so much so that his wife at the time is embarrassed by what she sees
and we think oh this is about the joy of the Lord because David has recovered the Ark of the Covenant we'll get to that in a second but the full context is more than just that because listen seven years to that day David was anointed king but he couldn't go into Israel and Rule his King why not because Saul was still alive and Saul was jealous of David we know this and it was hunting him down so when Saul finally dies you might think it's time for David no because Saul's son ish basheth has forcibly
occupied the throne he surrounded it with his military the the nation of Israel doesn't even want ishma he's got a terrible name anyways he can't be their King but he's forcefully occupied it so by the time he finally gets out David's able to come in Imagine you were told you're going to have your dream job but then you got to wait seven years before you even take your first day in office that's a lot of time for you and I to dream about what we would do on our very first day in and this is
David's Grand idea he's gonna walk down uh Jerusalem's main streets he's got a two-step down Broadway in his chonies this is his Grand idea y'all now much like being at Disneyland where you hear the parade coming first before you see it that's what Israel would have done oh David's finally coming the king is arriving but what's so jaw-dropping is that he's not at the back of the float he's at the front of the float he comes in first reciting what many believe was psalm 24. open the gates let the king of glory come in who
is this king oh it's you David this is your Royal Parade no the king of glory Lord God Almighty who saves that's the King this is so subversive right David is intentionally I think symbolically symbolically saying to Israel I am not just a king but I'm a priest who's come to Usher you into God's presence because there was a back float to this parade and it wasn't a castle with Mickey and Minnie the Ark of the Covenant was back there and what David does is he walks this parade not to his throne room that he's
been waiting seven years to sit on he goes to the center of the city why would he go to the center of the city here's why because David his Grand idea in his first day of office has pitched a tent he's pitched a tent here's what you need to know he recreated Moses's tent of meeting which was said to be this is the very place where Moses saw God face to face and in this tent David ushers in the Ark of the Covenant it is beautiful and he says you know what we're going to do
my first day we're going to pray we're going to pray now what you have to keep in mind is that they are in tribal conflict with neighboring Nations still Philistines are literally in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem so David's first order of business as a general as a warrior king sits down with his advisors can you imagine how this meeting goes he's like guys I got a grand idea and I was like yeah David we know you know we saw what you did he's like I know but let's pray he's like but there's a war outside
he's like I don't care we're gonna blow the entire Budget on worship and prayer so first Chronicles 25 says David hired over 292 worship leaders prophets and Elders to Simply minister in this tent and this was not a nice tent you couldn't find this at REI you most likely found a tent like this at Walmart right there's nothing special about it but that the Ark of the Covenant the sacred box that before Indiana Jones was looking for King Saul lost in a moment in which his life was comfortable in a foreign land which is typically
what we tend to do with God In Prayer we lose him when life is comfortable because we forget we need him David recovers this Ark is so excited to bring it in and his first day is office he says we're all going to pray and meet with God his political strategy one scholar says was God's presence David's Grand Vision is this if we put prayer back at the center of God's people you get discipleship in the city put prayer in the center you get discipleship in the world this is the formula this is how it
always has worked any way you slice it the kingdom of David's Reign was the greatest Israel ever saw so this prayer tent was not just an overly emotionally hyped Pentecostal service where people are dancing around swinging Flags jumping right and no offense if that's your background this was a beautiful thing many of our Psalms from the Old Testament come from this very tent you want to know the book that Jesus quoted the most from the Old Testament was the Salter that he quoted Psalms constantly describing who he was and what he's come to do something
profound happened in this tent so much so that Scholars say it's a mystery because for three decades people without restriction anyone you and I can go in and encounter God In Prayer so Jesus Winks at us in Matthew 21 and says I'm just doing what my great great grandfather did but finally and fully and we know this because on the cross the temple curtain tore in two symbolizing not just that we had access to God but that everybody had access to God he was right his house will be called a House of Prayer this is
what we need put prayer back in the center of your life in the center of the church and we get discipleship in the city now that's a cute story some of you Bible nerds might be happy to hear that but what does this all mean here's how I think we can actually embrace a practice of Prayer that is both about love and everyday Simplicity remember the words of Jesus ask seek knock how much more will your father and Heaven remember these words because Jesus is saying here's the secret to prayer Pray with the heart of
a lover because this whole thing is about relational love and pray with the discipline of an athlete ask seek knock in other words love like marriage needs to be protected in a covenant a structure and Rhythm so that that romantic love can deepen and grow and transform over the years and so prayer cannot just be motivated and fueled in your life by simply fluttery feelings and difficult moments it needs structure and Rhythm to grow and so here's what I'm offering to you guys take a deep breath Here's my thought structure your day around a three-part
daily prayer rhythm and this isn't a new idea this is not sandals trying to be revolutionary we're done with that that ended after 2020. this is what the church has been doing from the very beginning this has always been the drum that God's people have been beating Psalm 55 listen to the psalmist as for me I call to God and the Lord saves me evening morning and noon I cry out in distress and he hears my voice you think back to the Book of Daniel the entire plot of that story was him in a Babylonian
culture with other allegiances to foreign gods and he is told don't you bow down and pray to Yahweh what does he do three times a day he faces Jerusalem and he prays that's how he gets in the den in the New Testament every gospel highlights the prayer rhythms of Jesus and the overwhelming historical evidence is that Jesus attended the temple three times a day to pray yes he prayed spontaneously and also in structured Rhythm Jesus prayed alone all the time but he also prayed with people he prayed pouring out his emotions before God so much
so that people thought he might die and he also went to the temple and recited written prayers that would be regularly said over and over and over by people if you turn to the book of Acts you see this in the early Church community as well Acts chapter 3 for example listen one day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon another one acts 10 about noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city Peter went up on the roof
to pray here's the question we can all ask how is it possible that when you read through acts the apostles seemed to get everyone together day of an event you and I we need three weeks before we invite someone to a party but they're able to get everyone together day of an event in a massive City with no iPhones how did they get everyone together all the time one of the best historical points is that they were already planning to gather around a three-part daily prayer rhythm the early church document referred to as the didike
highlights for us additional things the church would do that we don't always see in the book of Acts and one of them is their three-part daily prayer Rhythm Gathering they joined together morning midday and evening to pray you see this with Peter Acts chapter 3. they pray someone approaches them heal me I need money silver and gold I have none but in the name of Jesus Christ get up and walk that's the first miracle post-resurrection Acts chapter 10 when Peter goes up to pray what happens he gets a vision that the gospel is not just
for Jews but for Gentiles right might there be a connection just listen with me this is kind of a reaching thought but might there be a connection between the power of the spirit and the book of Acts and the prayer Rhythm of the church in the book of Acts I think so and so when we pray expressing our love for god listen now the power of God is not far behind in your life and so if intimacy with Jesus is what you long for plant yourself in a rhythm structure if the power of the spirit
is what you want to see in your life plant yourself in a rhythm of structure some of you right now are facing problems that are too great for you problems at work illnesses that you're dealing with relational conflict in your marriage trying to disciple your friends and children that's an impossible task and you are doing it in your own power why not consider the power of God at work in your life as you Embrace a morning midday evening prayer with them pray with structure and watch the love and power of God enter and overwhelm and
transform your life but even as I say that here's a major issue modern Believers modern Christians like you and I we're so you know we got podcasts we got books there's a conference for this I don't need a prayer Rhythm right there's a new book coming out by someone this will be the trick right we seem to have this aversion to set prayers to set times why because we confuse rhythm with ritual and with structure as being against spontaneity but listen free spontaneous prayer can be born out of rhythmically structured prayer case in point come
to dinner with me just once come over to my house we sit down to eat Ash and I play a game with the kids it's called high low what do you know the kids love it hi Lo what do you know they can't wait to play so as we sit down and eat we ask them can you share a high from your day a low from your day something that you know and Ella loves it she goes first she takes most of the time so that by the time it's Eli's CERN our dinner is done
because I eat fast y'all like a hobbit I'm on the move but what I have found is that out of this structured time together with my children has come spontaneous moments moments of laughter stories from there like I learn and discover parts of my children that I would have never discovered anywhere else why because I have a structure a rhythm am I great at it no God knows I'm not great at it but when it's there something beautiful comes out of it last night I was laughing I had tears coming out of my eyes because
of what my son was saying it was too much I can't share it it was hilarious and it's not the first time my kids have made me cry there's been plenty of times my children give me tears but these last night were tears of joy right and I loved it and it was birthed out of a structure high low what do you know like any good jazz musician you know they can have that ability to break out into a spontaneous symphonic magical moment of tunes but they also know the structured notes to play it's both
and what I'm learning about my own life right now is that the passion I'm seeking for with God the moments that I want to recover that I seem to have in my early 20s that I don't have at 37 because life is ordinary and I literally do the same thing every day I'm learning that a structure is breathing New Life morning midday evening that intimacy that spontaneous goes hand in hand with structure when you think about Jesus just for a second he prayed on this structure and this is how he measured time like think about
it how do you think they measure time without clocks some might say you're wise well the sun dude like you did things before the sun rose you did things while the sun was up and then you did things after the sun went down that's how time was measured think about your life right now how do you measure the passing of time in your life I know how I do it food I wake up I'm it's ready I can't wait overnight oh it's what I had and then while I'm at breakfast no lie I'm thinking about
lunch there's a lunch meeting I'm gonna go to work today and then at lunch I'm thinking about you know I can't wait to get home three hours till dinner I've told you before I'm a hobbit I truly am a hobbit I structure my life in days around food when's my next meal how do you structure or I'm sorry how do you measure the passing of time in your life right now is it through notifications email the to-do list is it your kids waking up going to sleep is it when you're gonna go on that date
is it when you're counting down the days of the work week till you get to the weekend because you swear that new brunch spot is going to change your life and the next three day weekend is coming now this is the real thing yo people are still very religious it's just instead of going to church they go to brunch y'all food call I'm not lying food culture has transformed transcendency right we don't believe in heaven but we live in good chili chilies that will transform your life but how do you measure the passing of Time
how do you measure it consider measuring time around an encounter with a God who loves you who personifies love because what you like honestly you owe it to yourself to discover how you measure time right now because whatever it is I guarantee you it has your affections and it's shaping you into its image and it may not be Jesus and so adopting a three-part daily prayer Rhythm is a way for you to reorient your whole life this is not just an activity this is a way of life praying is a way of life and so
here's how I think you can do it morning prayer you pray scripture you can pray scripture think about Pastor Matt's message last week remember it's three questions what does the Past come on what does the passage say what does it mean how do I apply it to my life some of y'all probably should go back and watch message what if you took that last question what does it mean or how do I apply it I mess it up now how do I applies to my life and you just prayed that in God I heard today
from the Psalms that you are a rock and that you are worthy of my trust help me to live like that today I find stability in my job I find stability in this help me to find stability in you pray scripture as you wake up for me I often pray the Lord's Prayer I pray they are our father in Heaven oh that's right Fredo you are a son today before you do anything or say anything you are loved today your kingdom come your will be and oh that's right Fredo you're not just trying to build
your cool little kingdom where you're in control Jesus your kingdom is coming may your will be done through my body today because I have desires that I can't control on my own I need your will to be done give us today our daily bread that's right God I got needs today I have needs in my life I have needs in my family's life the world has needs would you meet these needs forgive us of our sins as we forgive those oh gosh yeah Lord I got sin this morning here we go I allow the Lord's
Prayer praying scripture to catapult me into a conversation with god midday pray for the Lost midday pray for the Lost imagine just for a moment like I want you to zoom in where are you at midday normally are you driving a truck are your kids driving you Are you delivering something are you helping patients are you making food wherever you're at midday imagine just for a moment breaking away out of that stream releasing your hands from work because you know a secret and the secret is this while everyone else is hustling in the middle of
the day trying to build a kingdom that won't last you know a kingdom that is coming that will last and so you take a moment to pray for the Lost Jesus you are the Good Shepherd you leave 99 to go after the one the same way you came after me would you go after my co-workers they need your love in the same way I Need Your Love name them midday write their names down how do you think that would transform the way you work you are all in Ministry you have all been commissioned to be
pastors wherever you go act like one in your workplace pray midday pray for the lost and then evening time you pray a prayer of gratitude now if you're anything like me by the end of the day I'm cooked I'm told I can't do a math problem I can't watch another show I can't read another verse I'm done I'm well done me at that point I gotta lay down try to shut my eyes not look at bleach report and I just if you're like me you start to rehearse the day and you think about all the
ways you failed here's what I didn't get to here's the kind of person I'm not yet for Ashley here's what I still need to do tomorrow I'm about to quit but what if you with a prayer of gratitude instead of rehearsing guilt you just started to rehearse gratitude he said God thank you for breakfast thank you for my kids thank you for this moment thank you for that conversation thank you like what would it do to your life that as you were knocking yourself out to sleep your eyes were not looking at a screen but
your lips were just saying thank you thank you thank you thank you prayer of gratitude now I have said a lot and here's our aim as a church we're not lying when we say these are the essentials and so our desire as a church is to help serve you well on this journey of adopting some kind of a three-part daily prayer rhythm in the coming days there'll be some ways tools that we have available to help you stay reminded every day some of you can set a reminder right now Siri tell me to pray morning
midday evening but we're gonna have some things coming to you that will help you join with your church family as you adopt this structure because listen if we can get prayer back at the center of the church we get discipleship in the city that's the vision now here's how I want to close the gospel Jesus coming on our behalf not just modeling for us prayer but he himself lived his prayers because we all know the strongest prayer is the incarnated prayer we ask God to do something he says I'm ready to do it through you
let me see you trust me and obey me and so where does it take Jesus Jesus's prayer is taken to the cross and on the cross you see him dying as he's praying the last thing Jesus did as he was losing his life was prey and he said this father into your hands I entrust my spirit and trust my spirit at the root of why all of your prayers and my prayers struggle to feel like they're what they should be is because deep down inside we all have an idol of control especially in the Western
World which is why the unanswered prayers I mentioned in the beginning hurt so much I couldn't control the situation God I thought you could why didn't you do this life maturing in life the people who you see who have like a lightness about them they are those who have learned to pray as Jesus did on the cross father into your hands I entrust my spirit and they release the idol of control they release their life to them they release their problems they release their sin to them they release their relationships to God so often in
the last few weeks I have found myself praying Jesus this is too much for me but it is not too much for you can you take this and listen before anyone thinks that's a prayer of a resignation nine on the Enneagram because he doesn't want to deal with it you're wrong the first step to dealing with it is releasing it how do you think Jesus was able to die he released it that's how I was able to sacrifice his life for you because he knew at the end of this something beautiful was coming David's Tabernacle
was coming where God would be with his people forever release it you want to grow you want to see the beauty of prayer as in essence you got to know how to yield yourself to God every day every day yield yourself God I entrust myself to you and you can see something profound happen in the way that you pray let's do that now as we go to Jesus [Music] father we as a church we entrust ourselves to you we thank you Jesus and the way that you model this for us but you also lived it
for us your prayers took you to the cross so that you might live die and rise for us we pray God that our prayers would take us to you they would take us to people they would take us to Mission they would take us to the kingdom and so we pray now that you would help us become people of Prayer and that in this moment God you might lead some of us to surrender everything to yield themselves to you and declare you Jesus as Lord we pray these things in your name amen hi I'm pastor
Matt Brown thank you so much for watching this content the reason that we produce this content is to help you build an authentic relationship with God with yourself and ultimately with others people just like you who are furthering their relationship with God if you would like to transition from someone who just watches this content to partner with us so that we could produce that content I would really like to invite you to go to donate.sc this is the best way for you to become a part of what God is doing at Sandals Church to share
this message of authenticity all across the globe thank you so much for your time and I appreciate your generosity oh God my God I need you now I need you [Music] I'm standing on your faithfulness [Music] on your face [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm standing on your faithfulness [Music] [Music] the moments in this our church calling on the god [Music] of your love into Generations [Music] I need you now to do this thing for me can we just lift our hands in this place and every voice let's declare this [Music] oh God my God I need
you [Music] ages standing on your faithfulness [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh God my God I need you now how I need you now standing on a faithfulness [Music] [Music] let's go [Music] [Music] what you've done before do it again you hear your children you are the same because you are the same God for you and your prayers you are the same [Music] you are the same come on we declare you whatever [Music] the same amount [Music] you are the singer [Music] now now I need you for I Need You Now I need you
[Music] baby my heart every voice oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you lift your voice I Need You Now [Music] lay on your faithfulness amen amen [Applause]
