The way prayer works

[0:00] Good morning and welcome to this pre-recorded meeting from Calvary Church here in Brighton! on the south coast of England.

[0:20] And this morning I'm introducing it. My name's Philip Wells. I work for the church as pastor elder and the speaker is going to be Julian Rivera, our very good friend, and we're very grateful for him for speaking to us this morning and I'll be handing over to him in due course.

[0:43] So a very warm welcome to you visiting and a very warm welcome, as I say, to our special guest speaker. The plan of what's happening is up on the screen behind my head, so I've done the welcome and introduction and in a moment we're going to sing a psalm. The psalm is, if you have the book, a praise book, it's 98a, but the words will come up on the screen and you'll be able to sing along to it. It's the one that says, sing to the Lord a new song for he has done marvellous things, for his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

[1:28] He has remembered his love, his faithfulness. So it's a very exuberant song of praise and perhaps we need a little bit of stirring up in these days, at this time, to remember that God is always great and greatly to be praised. So let's come before him, sing to God new songs of worship, Psalm 98.

[2:13] Sing to God new songs of worship, all his deeds are marvellous. He has brought salvation to us with his hand and holy arm.

[2:42] He has shown to all the nations, righteousness and saving love. He recalled his truth and mercy to his people Israel.

[2:59] Sing to God new songs of worship, earth has seen his victory. Let the lands of earth be joyful, praising him with thankfulness.

[3:18] Let the lands of earth be joyful, praising him with thankfulness.

[3:48] In the lands of earth and in the waters, sound your praises to the Lord. Let the hills rejoice together, let the rivers clap their hands.

[4:04] For with righteousness and justice, he will come to judge the earth.

[4:15] In a moment we'll come and pray. But before we do that, let's hear what God says to us before we come to speak to him. And let's hear what he says to us through his own son, the Lord Jesus, our saviour.

[4:30] And I'm going to read from Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 to 12. And this is the remarkable sort of upside down blessing that Jesus confers on his followers.

[4:45] So Matthew chapter 5 verse 1 says, When he says, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

[5:48] For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

[6:02] Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

[6:13] You, says Jesus, are the salt of the earth. And we thank the Lord for his wonderful word. And now we're going to turn to him in prayer.

[6:24] We come, O Lord, to worship you. To remember that you are great and greatly to be praised. We lift up our hearts to you.

[6:35] We shout to the Lord as it were because you are glorious. We want to sing to you new songs of worship. We want to praise you for your faithfulness, your love.

[6:49] We want to praise you for your mercy. We want to praise you for your righteousness. We want to praise you for your holiness. We want to praise you in your glory.

[7:00] We think of you high above this world that you have made. And we think you have made it. It belongs to you with all its wonder and complexity. And even in all its rebellion.

[7:12] So we come in worship and we come to confess our sins. And we ask that you will change us as we turn to you from our sin.

[7:23] As we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to be people who learn Christ. Who put off sin and put on Christ. So we pray Lord that we be able to put off the ingratitude and the grumbles that so often are on our lips and in our minds.

[7:44] Help us to be grateful. Help us to have eyes to see your generosity and goodness towards us. Help us to be God-centered and Christ-centered.

[7:56] Forgive us that we are so often self-centered. Just thinking of how it affects us instead of how things matter to you. Please take away our pride, O Lord.

[8:07] That within us which makes us think that we're the center of the universe. And we're great. When actually, Lord, we're wretched sinners. Who are only anything because you've shown grace to us.

[8:21] Help us to learn the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in all these ways and in many more. Cause us to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[8:32] Cause us to cleave to him in faith and love. And grant us to put on Christ and all his ways in our hearts and lives. And have the blessing that we just heard him pronounce.

[8:46] We also pray for the advance of his kingdom. And we pray that in our land and across the world.

[8:57] Many people will come to know and love Jesus Christ. And turn from their sins to him. We particularly think of our city in its need.

[9:08] Like Nineveh. Where there were hundreds of thousands of people. Who didn't know their right hand from their left. And surely you, as you had compassion on that great city of old.

[9:18] You have compassion on our city here. Please bless every gospel church. Whether it is large or small. But our hearts are particularly wrapped up with the fortunes of the smaller churches.

[9:32] Like the dear people at Park Hill Evangelical Church. The folk at Ebenezer Reformed Baptist Church. The people at New Life Moolscum.

[9:44] The impending Grace Church Plant. And our own fellowship here at Calvary. Be pleased, Lord, to send labourers into the harvest.

[9:56] Be pleased to fill your people with your Holy Spirit. Be pleased to use us to bring glory to Jesus Christ. And make us clear and confident and bold.

[10:11] To speak about him at every right opportunity. So may his kingdom come. And we pray in his name. Amen.

[10:22] The next song we're going to have is 566. For those of you who have a book. Be still for the presence of the Lord. Is moving in this place.

[10:33] It's actually, well, we're not in the same place, are we? But this does remind us that there is something very special about being in the presence of God. And this is the song that Ruth sang for Colleen's funeral.

[10:47] And very beautifully too, if I might say so. So let's be in God's presence as we sing this song. Be still for the presence of the Lord.

[10:58] Is moving in this place. Be still for the presence of the Lord.

[11:16] The Holy One is here. Come bow before him now.

[11:27] With reverence and fear. In him no sin is found.

[11:39] We stand on holy ground. Be still for the presence of the Lord. The Holy One.

[11:52] Is here. Be still for the glory of the Lord. Is shining all around.

[12:07] He burns with holy fire. With splendor he is crowned.

[12:18] How awesome is the sight. Our radiant king of light.

[12:29] Be still for the glory of the Lord. Is shining all around. Be still for the power of the Lord.

[12:44] Is moving in this place. He comes to cleanse and heal.

[12:56] To minister his grace. No work too hard for him.

[13:06] In faith receive from him. Be still for the power of the Lord.

[13:17] He is moving in this place. Now for our second reading.

[13:32] Again in Matthew's Gospel. I'm going to read the passage. I'm going to read the passage that Julian is going to speak about. And it's in chapter 7. Verses 7 to 12.

[13:44] Matthew chapter 7. Verses 7 to 12. It ends up with one of these bookends. Earlier on in his talk.

[13:57] In his sermon on the mount. Jesus had said. I don't come to abolish the law and the prophets. And here's the other bookend of that. Where he says. This sums up the law and the prophets.

[14:07] So we'll just catch that. In the end of this reading. But here we are. In chapter 7. Starting at verse 7. Ask. Ask. And it will be given to you.

[14:20] Seek. And you will find. Knock. And the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks.

[14:31] Receives. He who seeks. Finds. And to him who knocks. The door will be opened. Which of you. If his son asks for bread.

[14:43] Will give him a stone. Or if he asks. For a fish. Will give him a snake. If you then. Though you are evil. Know how to give good gifts.

[14:56] To your children. How much more. Will your father in heaven. Give good gifts. To those who ask him. So in everything. Do to others.

[15:08] What you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. So we thank God for his word. And Julian's going to speak on that in just a moment.

[15:20] It is about prayer. And I take this opportunity to remind you. If you're watching in real time. That this afternoon. There is a prayer meeting. The details have been advertised.

[15:31] Three o'clock. To pray for Grace. Church plant. And David Sculls organising that prayer meeting. And I think Julian will really be encouraging us.

[15:43] To be part of that. Or that will be one of the actions. Following from what he's going to speak about. Concerning prayer. Well. I mentioned speaking.

[15:54] Let's ask the Lord to speak. This next song is. Speak O Lord. As we come to you. And we do. Really want the Lord to speak to us. So let's sing. For reference.

[16:06] It's 1148. But the words again. Will come up on the screen. Speak O Lord. Speak O Lord.

[16:34] As we come to you. To receive the food. Of your holy word. Take your truth.

[16:47] But in deep in us. Shape and fashion us. In your likeness. That the light of Christ.

[17:00] Might be seen today. In our acts of love. And our deeds of faith. Speak O Lord.

[17:13] And fulfill us. All your purposes. For your glory. Teach us Lord.

[17:31] For obedience. Holy reverence. Through humility. Test our thoughts.

[17:44] And our attitudes. In the radiance. Of your purity. Cause our faith to rise.

[17:57] Cause our eyes to see. Your majestic love. And authority. Words of power.

[18:10] That can never fail. Let their truth. Prevent over unbelief.

[18:20] To our sin. And my grace will stand on your promises And my faith will walk as you walk with us Speak, O Lord, till your church is built And the earth is filled with your glory Greetings brothers and sisters at Calvary Chapel

[19:26] It's great to be among you, even if it is through video And I bring greetings to you from New Life and Brighton as well It's a great joy to be able to share with you from God's Word And we're thinking about a really great subject We're thinking today about prayer Looking at Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 to 12 I think we've already had it read, so I'm not going to read it again But this is that famous little passage Ask and you will receive, seek you will find Knock, the door will be opened It's a great encouragement for us to pray And we need encouragement to pray And before we get into the passage I want to do or question a question Okay, here's the question that I want to question The question is this, does prayer work?

[20:15] All right, does prayer work? Now this is an important question to question Because I think it's a really unhelpful question Ultimately, I do believe prayer works I've got real conviction prayer works But I think it's an entirely wrong question to ask In the way that we ask it and think about it most of the time When we think about the whole idea of prayer working Maybe it's not that we ask the question, does prayer work?

[20:44] Maybe we tell people prayer works Maybe we think, oh yeah, prayer works We have that kind of mentality And I don't think it's a helpful one I do think prayer works But I think even when I say that I hate even to say that Because here's the reason why When we talk about does prayer work It makes it out like It gives the impression And the view that Prayer is a bit like a divine It's like we come to a divine slot machine Prayer is the currency We put the currency in the slot And out rolls the answer to prayer The Coca-Cola at the bottom of the divine vending machine Do you know what I mean by that?

[21:24] You know? Does prayer work? It's like What are we saying about prayer? We're saying there's some sort of impersonal mechanism You know, sometimes we can think of it a bit like a spell You know?

[21:40] We say a prayer As long as we say in Jesus' name Like abracadabra We should get the answer Because Jesus said You can ask for anything in my name And I will do it It's like So as long as I say in his name He'll do it, right?

[21:55] And we can construe from Jesus' words That, yeah, this kind of divine slot machine Divine vending machine mentality And, you know, I think that's all wrong And it causes all sorts of problems It causes all sorts of problems It causes problems because we have We've all experienced Praying for things that haven't worked out And not We're not just talking about one or two things, are we?

[22:28] If we're honest How many things have you prayed for And you've not had the answer? How many times have you sought something for God? Or in God and not found?

[22:39] How many times have you knocked on the door? Maybe you've been in an endeavour In mission prayerfully And it's not It just hasn't opened Not all of us have had that kind of experience The whole question about prayer works Listen, right?

[22:56] This is true In the New York Times There was a report 31st of January 2006 It was a report On a whole load of scientific research That was done on prayer You may have heard about this But New York Times reporting on it This is what they said This was the conclusion Prayers offered by strangers Had no This is 1,800 patients Over 10 years This research was carried out Over Prayers offered by strangers Had no effect On the recovery Of people Who were undergoing heart surgery A large Heart surgery A large and long-awaited study has found And patients Who knew they were being prayed for Had a higher rate Of post-operative complications Like abnormal heart rhythms Perhaps Because of the expectations The prayers created The researchers suggested Scientific research even suggests

[23:59] That prayer doesn't work If we think of it in that kind of way It doesn't seem to work Now Firstly I don't think we need to be worried About that scientific research Right Because however carefully It was carried out It raises You know We have to ask the question Don't we Why would God Subject himself To human experimentation To validate His existence Or his power It's not going to It's like Just because it's an experiment I imagine God wouldn't do it But the point that I'm making Is this Right It's not healthy To think about Does prayer work In the way that we often think Now let's get Into Our little passage here This passage In Matthew chapter 7 Follows Matthew chapter 6 And in Matthew chapter 6 Jesus teaches on prayer And in Matthew chapter 6

[24:59] He gives us A couple of Conditions He teaches us in chapter 6 The Lord's Prayer And And basically what he teaches us Is that we shouldn't pray Just for show You know Don't pray to be seen by men He says And so the There's qualification Or disqualification Disqualification Is praying For our own Glory That would be Why we don't see Prayer as answered That's one reason That Jesus gives But you know Apart from that You know The positive way Of putting it Is this Jesus says Pray in my name Very often doesn't It's what he says And You know If you take All the teachings Of Jesus Across the gospels On prayer What it amounts to All that he says About prayer Is loads

[26:01] And loads And loads Of encouragement For us to pray That's what it amounts to He wants to give us Lots of encouragement To pray Lots of encouragement Very very few Qualifications The apostles later They give a few more Qualifications Like James says You don't ask You don't receive Because you don't ask When you do ask You ask For your motives That you may spend What you get And blah blah blah But Jesus gives Very few Qualifications For prayer Why is that?

[26:36] Why does he give So much encouragement Very few qualifications? Well Could it be That he knows That we need Very little reason To not pray?

[26:49] In other words If he gives Too many qualifications He knows We're just not going to Really get started With it It seems to me That Jesus Is More than anything Just keen for us To get praying So he says Doesn't he Ask And it will be Given to you Seek And you will find Knock And the door Will be open Yeah he's given A bit of teaching But then he says Let's just do it And see He taught Teaches us the Lord's Prayer In chapter 6 And then he's saying Get on with it Get asking Get seeking Get knocking If you know The Lord's Prayer You know everything You need to know To get started In prayer It's not some Great mystery So Jesus Tells us Ask Seek Knock Why does he Tell us To ask Seek And knock Well he tells us

[27:50] Why in verse 8 For everyone Who asks Receives The one who Seeks Finds And to the one Who knocks The door Will be opened Now I don't know This is Like pretty It's very basic Isn't it Yeah Why does he say Ask Why does he give us This invitation This exhortation Well because Those who ask Receive Those who seek Find To those who knock The door Will be opened That's why That's why And notice Notice this As well Don't fail To notice That one Small word Everyone Everyone Everyone Who asks Receives This is Encouragement Isn't it This is real Encouragement To pray Jesus is saying Come on Come on Everyone Who asks Receives Get asking And when he says To the one

[28:51] Who knocks The door Will be opened And to the one Who seeks Finds That is exactly The same As saying Everyone Who seeks To the one Whoever that one Is You You You're You're We're all In everyone And we're all A one You If you Seek You will find This is what Jesus said If you Knock The door Will be Opened So he Gives us Great Encouragement Now As we Think about That great Encouragement We might Think of Objections Excuse me Maybe You Think Well I've Kind of Lost Faith For Prayer Maybe You think That This Often Happens We Begin to Lose Faith For Prayer And here's The reason

[29:51] Why We hear What Jesus Says But in Our In our Experience As I was Saying earlier We have Asked And not Received We've We have Saw And we've Not Found Maybe You've Been Praying For A Youth Worker Maybe You've Been Praying For Whatever It Might Be Listen Right That Experience Of Not Seeing Prayers Answered It's Not Always Because We're Sinning It's Not Always Because We're Asking With Wrong Motives Maybe You know You've Asked To the Best Of Your Ability With Right Motives Still You've Not Seen Answers To Pray Still God Doesn't Seem To Come Through Here's What I Want To Say To You Right Every Single Christian Experiences!

[30:45] Could Have Said The Same As Well And So Here's What I Want To Say To That Right Firstly As An Initial Thing Don't Let That Experience Rob You Of The Very Real Encouragement That Jesus Is Giving Right Don't Let It Rob You He Don't Let It Nullify The Encouragement Take The Encouragement That Jesus Is Giving Us Here Everyone Today Take This Encouragement He Says Do It Do It Just Just Forget About All The Unanswered Prayers And Pray Here's Another Objection Which Is Very Much Connected To That Is This But What Kind Of Encouragement Is It That Says Everyone Who As Receives But Not Everyone That Asks

[31:45] Receives What Kind Of Encouragement Is It That He Says Yeah Asking You Will Receive And Then I Ask And I Don't Receive You Know Doesn't That Create Inertia Well!

[32:27] Positive Stuff To Stuff Loads Of It From Jesus But We Mustn't Think That Because He's So Encouraging Us Which He Is That He Is Saying That He Will Answer Every Question And Every Request When We Ask It Let's Just Imagine The Problem Is This Is How We Read It We Read It As If Jesus Is Saying We Just Need To Ask We're Going To Get Just Like That And And So When It Doesn't Happen We Think There's Something Wrong But These Encouragements Aren't To Be Taken In That Way Just Imagine That It Was Like That Imagine Jesus Actually Answered In That Kind!

[33:15] Every And By This Even You'll Be Get Text Messages From Relatives That Weren't Saved Saying I've Come To Know The Lord If That's How Jesus Worked All Your Problems Would Be Solved Very Very Quickly Everyone Everything

[34:28] Everything It Would Just It Would Just Be Chaos And It Is Not Possible But What About If He Answered Just What About Those Things That We've Prayed That Are His Will Or Even Yeah That We Believe Are His Will That Are Good Well Even Those Things Even Those If God Just Answered Things Just Like That It Would Be Chaos So What Did He Mean!

[34:58] When He What Does He Mean When He Says Ask And It Will Be Given To You Seek And You Will Be Find Well He Means It To Encourage Us As I've Been! All Along But Not Only That Jesus Is Kind Of Also Saying This Right In These Verses There Are Those That Ask And Seek And Knock And Then There Are Those That Don't Ask And Don't Seek And Don't Knock The Ones That Receive The Ones That Find The Ones Of Whom The Door Is Open Is These And Not These It's Very Simple Jesus Is Saying You Know That These Groups Of People Those That Ask Who Receive The One Who Sees There He's The One Who Find This Is Kind Of Really Basic Obvious Stuff When You Think About

[35:59] It He's The One Who Find And So If You Are One Of Those That Does Not Ask If You Are One Of Those That Doesn't Bother To Pray You've Given Up If You Are One Of Those That Leaves It To Others To Go To Go To To The Prayer Meeting Etc Then Don't Be One Of Those People Don't Be Among Those People Let None Of You Be Among Those People That's What Jesus Is Saying He's Saying Come On Pray You'll Receive It You Will Seek Seek And You Will Find Not The Door Will Be Opened So This Is Firstly A Great Encouragement Here's The Second Thing To Get From This And The Second And Third Points Are Much Shorter Okay

[36:59] The Second Thing Is This God Only Gives Truly Good Things Which Of You If Your Son Asks For Bread Will Give Him A Stone Or Asks For A Fish Will Give Him A Snake I Think This Helps The Things That We Believe Are Genuinely For God God Doesn't Answer Them I Think The Reason Why Is Right Here You See Let's Just Take Verse 10 Or If He Asks For A Fish Will Give Him A Snake So Jesus Say Which Of You Fathers If Your Son Asks For A Fish Will Give Him A Snake The Answer Is None Of Us Okay And We're Evil Compared To God And So The Point That Jesus Is Making Is That When We Ask We Can Be Sure That God Will Only Give Us But

[38:00] I Don't Think That's Really What He's Saying Here I Think The Point That He's Making Is He Will Not Give Us That He Will Not Give Us A Serpent He Won't Give Us That Which Is Bad For Us And Here's The Thing He Knows Sometimes The Fish That We Ask For Will Be A Serpent To Us We Think A Fish It's Good For Me But He Knows Sometimes That Which We Are Convinced And Persuaded Is Best For Us He Knows It Isn't And He Will Not Give Us A Serpent And So You See This Is A Kind Of A Corrective Thing That God Holds In Place For Our Good He Knows What Is Good For Us We Don't He Knows What Will Advance His Kingdom We Don't Always Know We We We

[39:28] Come To The Crux Of This Right Jesus Is Always Clear We're To Pray According To His Will We're To Pray For His Kingdom To Come For His Rule And His Will Right What Does It Mean To Pray According To His Will Okay So God Is Not So Concerned About Us Being Happy In Getting The Things That Make Us Happy When We Pray But He Wants Us To Pray According To His Will What Does That Mean This Isn't Restrictive Okay I'm Not Saying There's Nothing Else Right But Certainly These Are Major Perhaps The Most Important Things Number One His Will Is That We Know And Love Him That We Know And Love Him More Right That Is His Will Here's Another Thing

[40:28] It's His Will That We Become More Like Him And Here's Another Thing That's His Will That We Make Him Known To Others Okay There's Three Things And I Think That Covers Virtually Everything That We Really Need To Know When It Comes To His Will That We Might Know Jesus And Love Him More That We Might Be More Like Him And That We Might Make Him Known To Others Now That Is Really Important!

[40:59] When We Think About Prayer Even In This This Context Right Here Because When We Know That That's His Will When It Says Ask And It Will Be Given You Ask What?

[41:11] For Anything No That Which Is According To His Will That I Might Know Him And Love Him More That I That I Might Become More Like Him That I Might Make Him Known Ask Seek That From Him Knock On The Door Of Heaven Until He Grants These Things And He Will He Will Look At What Paul Says Galatians Chapter 4 Verse 19 My Dear Children Look At What He Says For Who I Am Again In The Pains Of Child Birth Until!

[41:47] You How I Wish I Could Be With You Now And Change My Tone Because I Am Perplexed About You But What He Says There The Important Thing Is This He Says My Dear Children For Whom I Am Again In The Pains Of Childbirth Until Christ Is Formed In You This Becoming More Like Christ It Includes Others Becoming More Like Him Okay So Here Paul Is Praying Not But The Point Is Clear Isn't It Paul Was In The Pains Of Childbirth He Was Going Through It He Was Straying Out The Oars White Knuckles For Their Christ Likeness God's Purpose And Aim Is Not So Much To Make Us Happy But To Make Us More Like His Son Jesus Now Let's Notice A Pattern That's Going Really

[42:48] Help Us I Think With This Whole Idea Of Prayer Jesus He Had A Mission He Came To Glorify And Make His Father Known Right We Want To Know Him Jesus Came To Make Him Known That's One Of The Reasons He Came Here's Another Purpose That Jesus Came Another Mission Purpose He Came To Pay The Price For Our Sin That We Might Be Redeemed So He Comes To Make His Father Known But He Also Comes To Do What Is Necessary For Us To Be Redeemed What Does That Mean For Us To Be Made More Like Jesus That That That That That Was Jesus Mission And He Prayed For That And Here's The Pattern Okay Ultimately Jesus I've got a little rhyme here for you

[43:48] Jesus prevailed in his mission and we can be confident prevailing in our mission if our mission is to know Jesus to love him more to be more like him to make him known we will prevail in our mission Jesus prevailed in his we will prevail that's why Jesus says ask because we will but but Jesus prevailed but first he prevailed didn't he life was hard man of sorrows familiar with suffering Jesus prevailed through life and prevailed in his mission

[44:54] I think that means for us in prayer we travail in prayer and as we travail in prayer and other things we keep at it we don't give up we prevail in becoming in knowing him more loving him more and becoming more like him this is no small thing look at what Paul says he talks about you know the pains of childbirth listen to what he says in Philippians he says I look at this he says this I want to know Christ see if this is our burning desire and that's what we pray for then we're kind of on par with the apostle Paul but he doesn't just say I want to know Christ and listen and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead but think about what he's saying there

[46:06] I want to know Christ and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings you know we can only really know Jesus we can only really know him in suffering without suffering we can't really know him we can't really identify with him without suffering because he suffered a great great songwriter called Don Francisco we're coming home now to land a great songwriter called Don Francisco wrote a song called Too Small A Price and it's a song written from the perspective of the thief on the cross that turned to the Lord Jesus and let me just read to you the last verse it says then this is the thief speaking as he's there hanging on the cross then with all my courage in a voice not quite my own I asked him Lord remember me when you come into your throne he answered me and even then his love was undisguised he said before the sun has set today you'll be with me in paradise well the shouts and curses did not stop even when the sunlight ceased but somehow in the midst of it my soul had been released and though the agony continued it was still too small a price to be allowed to hear those words and to die beside the Christ

[48:09] I wonder if you've ever thought of the privilege that that man had to suffer alongside the Lord in faith we travail in prayer and in humility and in faith we prevail in knowing Jesus and becoming more like him all of this is to say that prayer is really about our relationship with God isn't it it's not about getting stuff you know a vending machine that works it's about him about knowing him being in relationship with him here's the deal right yeah you might think but I want to see this happen I want to see that you know listen the more we know him and the more we love him the more like him we will be and the more like him we are the more effective we will be as witnesses as evangelists the more like him we are the better we will live everything will be better as we close as we close

[49:38] I want to speak lastly to some of you who might feel that okay all this is good but I have blown it you know God isn't really going to be interested with me I'll be a hanger on in the church I can't lift my face to him I'm too sinful I've messed up I've blown it maybe you put on a front and no one knows but you know you feel you've blown it with God and that he's not interested in you coming to him in prayer well think about what Jesus says in this encouragement to us we'll see that it's for you as well if you then Jesus says 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 you if you though you are evil see Jesus when he gave this teaching he was speaking probably to thousands of people thousands of people and among the crowd that he was speaking to there were the self righteous there were the humble!

[50:48] who genuinely sought Lord and there were the wicked adulterers or whatever liars all of them were there so but Jesus ties them all with the same brush he says though you you lot you're evil even though you're evil yeah you'll give good gifts to your children he says just take that thought from a even though you are all evil I'm saying to you lot ask and you will receive ask to be more like Jesus if you maybe you're wicked ask Lord may I know you more may I become more like you may

[51:50] I make you known Lord Jesus we thank you for your word thank you for this great encouragement ask seek knock Lord we thank you that you're not a vending machine and we're sorry that we've ever treated you like that but Lord we hear your invitation to ask in your name for your glory and we know we're so glad Lord that that means us knowing you more and I pray that you will help this to be the focus of our prayers that we might know you more that we might love you more that in all of our service we might be looking to you to please you in everything that we do to be in fellowship with you and that we might become more like you and make you known to others in

[52:55] Jesus name Amen so Julian thank you so much for that very clear and motivating talk that on the subject of prayer and can I also add personal thanks to Julian for his support and counsel and fellowship over the last well many months but the last few months in particular it's been great to have Julian as a colleague and praying together and seeking to support one another and support one another's churches in these past particularly difficult few months well we're going to sing and the song that I chose which I think at least touches upon the matters that Julian mentioned is number 850 take my life let my life be in your hands Lord and my hands and my voice and my money and my motives and my love take me and then use me as

[53:58] I pray in your name so 850 take my life take my life and let it be all you purpose Lord for me consecrate take my take my take my fleeting days let them flow in ceaseless praise take my hands and let them move at the impulse of your love take my feet and let them run with the news of victory won take my voice and let me sing always praise only for my king take my lips let them proclaim all the beauty of your name take my silver and my gold not a might would

[55:55] I withhold take my might that I may use every power as you shall choose take my motives and my will all your purpose to fulfill take my heart it is your own it shall be your royal throne take my love my love my thought at your feet its treasure store take myself and

[57:02] I will be yours for all eternity so having sung it remains simply to close the meeting which I'll do by reading this doxology from the end of Jude to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy to the only God our Saviour be glory majesty power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages now and forever more Amen Amen I hope it's been a good time this morning and see you all soon

[58:02] God bless bye bye now