ACTS of Prayer - Adoration

[0:00] Come with me please to Matthew's Gospel and chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6. I thought I'd left my glasses at home, that'd have been a short sermon.

[0:23] I'm sure you're wishing, I wish you had left these glasses at home. So, Matthew chapter 6, we are looking, we're beginning a new short series of prayer over four weeks and we're looking at adoration this morning.

[0:38] But let's set the tone for this as we read the Lord's Prayer together. Well, I'll read it and you can listen in case we're all reading different versions. Matthew chapter 6 and Jesus in this great sermon on the mount is teaching his disciples how they should pray.

[0:55] So, Matthew 6 verse 9. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

[1:07] Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

[1:18] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. We'll end our reading at the end of verse 13. I wonder if you can, if you know what this is, what country this might be.

[1:33] Do you know what country this is all about? It's represented here. A bit of audience participation. India. No, it's not India. It could be India, but it's not India.

[1:45] It's not Turkey. No. No. It's Iran. Iran. Iran. This is basically, this is how they celebrate the Iranian New Year, the Persian New Year.

[1:59] And it's called Nowras, Happy Nowras 2023. The date of it this year was the 20th of March.

[2:10] This year it changes all the time because it coincides with the spring equinox. And it was the 20th of March this year at 9.24 p.m.

[2:22] It was midnight on the 31st. They were able to focus when is it happening and so forth. And usually when you celebrate, it's done slightly differently in various places.

[2:34] But there's usually seven things that they bring together, all beginning with S in Farsi. So it might be grass and garlic and apples and so forth.

[2:45] Fish and what have you. And they all represent something about strength and about blessing or health. And you can see why they do this. But we had quite a few Iranians in our church in London.

[2:57] And I was always fascinated every time it came around by the preparation for this. They don't just kind of get together at 9.23, one minute before it's due to kick off.

[3:10] They have a lot of preparation. And one of the things that they do to prepare, they have a really deep spring clean of their house.

[3:20] Big time. They really do. They just go bonkers. I remember we had a couple of guys, big muscly. They were always in the gym. But yet they'd go away and they'd be clean.

[3:31] I go, you're away cleaning your house? Yeah, every time. And I said, what's that? Just a wee dust. He says, no, they move everything. They move every bit of furniture. And they really clean everything out.

[3:42] And because the word now, Rose, means new day. Everything's new. There's a whole new start. And I thought, that must be great. On that day, these things resemble or represent something.

[3:55] But your house is absolutely immaculate. Not a speck of dust to be seen anywhere. They really had a massive deep clean of their house. And I thought, that's a great way to begin the new year.

[4:06] We're going to begin a short series of prayer. And I mentioned to you the reason for this. Sometimes I would do something like this in January the 1st. Let's really concentrate on our walk with the Lord.

[4:18] But it's good to do that before January the 1st. To begin to prepare. To, you could say, maybe a spring clean of a life. To begin to look at how we can walk better with the Lord.

[4:29] I don't know about you. Every new year, my mom was quite, whether it was superstitious, certainly before she became a Christian. She would clean the house. I don't think maybe quite as much as the Iranians did. But she would hoover and dust and what have you, tidy the place up.

[4:43] But she was always kind of a new year, a new start. That was very much in her mind. And I'm just going to, I've carried that on. So come the 1st of January, I just forget what lies behind.

[4:54] And think, here's a new year. I want to get off on the right foot. I want to start well with God. And to try and keep that up under his grace and under his strength. And there's no better way than to do that through prayer and God's word.

[5:07] Through your own devotional life with God. And that is what I want this four-week series to do on prayer. It's such an important thing.

[5:20] And also the reading of God's word. Prayer. We're saved for our relationship with God. Prayer is where we speak to God. The word of God is where he speaks to us. If you only do one to the exclusion of the other, the relationship is not as healthy as it could be.

[5:34] You're only praying. You're only asking for things. I don't want my daughters just to ask me for things. I want them to listen to me as I talk to them. As we develop our relationship together.

[5:47] Prayer is not an easy thing to do in the Christian life. Martin Lloyd-Jones, I think I've mentioned a quote to you. He says, almost everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.

[5:59] To be consistent. And sometimes it can become more a duty than a delight. We're praying. We're going through the motions. We're dry. And we're finding it hard.

[6:10] And the relationship is there. We're talking and we're praying. But really we can become dry. And really here is an attempt for us to think about enjoying prayer.

[6:21] And I'll recommend a wee book to you. In fact, I'll recommend it to you. I'll give you a wee book. Some of you. I've only got a dozen of them. That may help you enjoy your prayer life. To enjoy God. It's not about.

[6:32] We often talk about prayer changes things. God changes things. Prayer is a vehicle. We don't worship prayer. We worship the Lord. And prayer is how we go about that.

[6:44] So we're going right back to basics. And we're looking at this. It's often over the next few weeks. We're going to look at these. It's adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication.

[6:55] And so this is an attempt to hopefully challenge yourself in our prayer life. And to maybe cause us to enjoy God more. I don't know about you.

[7:05] But sometimes I almost forget the first three. And I just jumped to number four. Supplication. Just asking God for things. You read the Bible and you say, God, I've got a difficult day today. Can you help me?

[7:16] My back's sore. And you spend about five or ten minutes just asking for things. And then you finish. There's something really unbiblical about that. That's probably the most important thing.

[7:28] That's not really how we should be praying. There are these four things. So I've called this Acts of Prayer. Next week I'll introduce you to my big family devotion book.

[7:39] And I'll read to you a bit from that. Every one of these prayers are all the same. They are adoration. You are great God. We are sinners. We thank you for Jesus.

[7:50] And all that you've done, help us. There's a natural flow to this. There's a pattern. And that is really how prayer should be. We begin when you adore God.

[8:03] You become aware of your own sin. A bit like Isaiah in chapter 6. He was in the temple. And these burning ones were. I was in the spirit in the Lord's Day. John as well.

[8:14] When you encounter God, you become aware of your own sin. There's no other response other than that. And that's why it's natural. The more you adore, the more you become aware of your own shortcomings.

[8:27] But then you thank the Lord for spiritual blessings, for temporal blessings. And then you come with your needs. And you see the same pattern here. Paul mentions in Timothy, I urge then first of all that requests, prayers, intercession, thanksgiving be made for everyone.

[8:44] So Paul mentions these ingredients. But look at the, in Matthew 6. I'm not going to expound this. I'm preaching topically this morning. But you see this, these ingredients here.

[8:55] Verse 9. Jesus says, this is how you should pray. He tells us, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Adoration. As we are coming, we're adoring the Lord.

[9:06] Your kingdom come. Your will be done. That's adoration and supplication. You're asking for this. Give us today our daily bread. Supplication. Verse 12. Forgive us our debts.

[9:18] As we are forgiven our debtors. Confession. Confession. Lord. You become aware that you need help. You become aware that you're a sinner. So here is ingredients for effective biblical prayer.

[9:31] Adoration. Confession. Thanksgiving. Supplication. So let's begin, shall we? I want to look at a few things. Three things here mostly.

[9:42] Some of this I've mentioned to you before. But it would be good to remind yourself of how we should pray. So first of all, adoration is natural. Or it should be natural for the Christian to adore God.

[9:55] Before we became Christians, we never did this. We didn't know God. We were not impressed by Him. We were not interested in Him. We are taken up with ourselves. Dawn Carson says this.

[10:07] In our fallenness, we constrict all there is to our own petty horizons. I think of all relationships in terms of their impact on me.

[10:20] How it affects me. My daydreams circle around my own life and circumstances. My goals, my hopes invariably turn to my place in the universe.

[10:32] Left to ourselves, that's what we're like. It's just about us. It's not about God and adoring Him. It's just about us. But when we become Christians, all that changes.

[10:46] Here's another quote by somebody else. It's not Don Carson, but it's the same book. Worship is an active response to God, whereby we declare His worth.

[10:57] That He is worthy of praise and glory and honor. Worship, he says, is not passive, but it's participative. He says worship is not simply a mood. It is a response to what God has done.

[11:10] Worship is not just a feeling. It is a declaration. We come and we say, you are this. Regardless of we feel like it, we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

[11:22] And therefore, left to ourselves, it doesn't come naturally. If we weren't Christians, there are people today who couldn't care a job. They're not interested. And so were we at one time in going to church.

[11:34] They don't see any need. They don't feel guilty if they don't come. He's just not on their agenda. They're thinking about primarily themselves, their own world, how they're going to get by.

[11:45] But you're here, not out of command. You're here out of delight. It should be in your heart when you come in. You'll know the Lord. You'll love the gospel. Maybe even this week you've had so many answers to prayers.

[11:57] If I brought you up, you'd be saying, John, what a week I've had. The Lord has done these things for me spiritually, temporally. He's blessed me with material things. He's helped me. I've got the doctor's appointment I wanted.

[12:10] My back's feeling a bit better or whatever. You know that God is good. And that is because he's given us a new heart and a new mind to know him better.

[12:21] He says this in Ezekiel, isn't he? I'll take away your heart of stone, John, and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit on you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

[12:33] Paul says as well, don't be drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit. Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, which is what we've been doing.

[12:44] Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. I like that verse. I'm not very musical. I kind of play an instrument hardly. But to make music in your heart to the Lord.

[12:58] Music begins here, isn't it? You don't need to hold an instrument. Sing and make music in your heart. That is what a Christian should do. It should be our desire to do this.

[13:10] And it's a natural desire. It should be there that we want to do this. And therefore, only Christians can really worship and adore the Lord. Because only we really know Him and understand Him.

[13:23] I think I've said to you, no long after I was saved, I was saved on a Monday night. I couldn't wait till Sunday. For the first time, I went to church different from every other time. I didn't go wandering. I didn't go out of duty.

[13:35] I went because I wanted to go. I was saved on the Monday. And I had a whole six days thinking, is this going to wane? And then just disappear. And it was still there.

[13:46] And then suddenly singing songs with great truths for the first time. I knew what it meant. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood. These great songs that suddenly light up to you now.

[13:59] The scripture. The devotions that you've had during the week. Only Christians can really do this. Because only we have this new heart. Don Carson says this. The sign that self is broken is true worship.

[14:14] God becomes the center. The focus of delight. The joyfully acknowledged King. The Creator. The Redeemer. In this sense, none but the transformed can truly worship.

[14:25] And they too discover how much more transformation is still needed. We have been changed. Our heart has been changed. And the most natural, the first response of this is to praise God.

[14:38] Is to adore Him for who He is in and of Himself. Not just for what He has done for us. So adoration should be this. And the Psalms speak very much of this.

[14:51] The Psalm is praising the Lord. It really should be the first thing. And it should begin. How do we go about adoring God? We begin with His Word.

[15:03] There is no substitute for this. If you never read His Word, your vocabulary would be really limited. You'd be saying, Lord, you're great. You're big. You're powerful. I see the birds.

[15:13] I see this, that, and the other. And you would soon run out of things to say. Maybe from your experience, you would adore Him. But that's mostly thanksgiving. But you would adore Him.

[15:25] But the Word of God is key. It's where God speaks to us. Warms our hearts. And gives us something to. It's where He describes Himself. Who is God?

[15:37] What He is like. I'll mention this next week when I show you my family devotion book. Just how these old Church of Scotland ministers during the days of McShane and Andrew Murray and folk like that.

[15:50] How they really knew how to adore God. And how they adore God without exception is by taking God's Word and using God's own Word.

[16:01] How He describes Himself. How the Word of God describes Him. And that is such a key thing. That's my first practical thing for you this morning. If I was to give you practical advice, it would be that.

[16:16] In my own devotions, I have these two books. A black one and a green one. The black one I use for, if the Lord speaks to me through a verse.

[16:29] You can see there. I've got loads of. I just write. Usually in one quiet time. I may get one verse. Just a thing that really strikes me. And I write it down.

[16:39] I often don't refer to it again. But I know if I do want to refer to it, I've written it down. I can remember last Tuesday. And then what was that? Oh yeah, there it's there. So I keep it just. It's just that.

[16:50] Just a verse about. Maybe the Lord has maybe challenged me. Maybe John, you're a big waster. Whatever it is. It's not necessarily adoration. It's just a verse that speaks to me. The other.

[17:01] The first half of the section is to do with ministry. I've got harvest verses. Evangelistic verses. Loads of funeral verses.

[17:14] So just whenever he's ready. I've got just a funeral text. That's a good verse for preaching at a funeral. And these pile up. Lloyd-Jones used to call them his skeletons.

[17:25] He would look at a verse and work out his points. And then they were there whenever he needed them. So that's really for me personally. In terms of ministry. And in terms of things for me. But if you want something for Christmas.

[17:38] Get yourself a wee booklet like this. This is one of the best things I can say to you. In this wee booklet here. I have adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication.

[17:49] I just divide it in. So adoration and confession, thanksgiving, supplication. As I read God's word. And as a verse comes up that's to do with who God is.

[18:03] His attributes. That's to do with just him. Not what he's done for me. That'll come under thanksgiving. I write that down. I don't necessarily write the verse. But I just write what it is.

[18:13] Your eyes are too pure to look upon sin. And so forth. You are gracious and merciful. And as I do this. So if I'm feeling dry. Your greatness is unsearchable.

[18:27] Various things. You dwell in unapproachable light. This is love. Not that we loved you. But that you loved us. And just an everlasting kingdom. We behold your glory.

[18:39] Full of grace and truth. There are so, so many. But we don't focus on them enough. So we just come to the Lord all the time. We were Janet and John type prayers. We thank you that you're big.

[18:50] And you're fluffy. And it's just gobbledygook. And that's all the thought that we put into adoration. When I was courting Lucille and writing her letters.

[19:03] I would be quite intimate. And I would talk to her. And I love you. And I miss your smile or whatever. I'd put it down in writing. It wasn't just. I remember watching a film once.

[19:14] And this girl just poured her heart out to this guy. Saying, I love you. This is what I like about you. Blah, blah, blah. She went on for a good couple of minutes. And I thought, that's quite something.

[19:25] She really loves this guy. And he turns around and says, ditto. Just made me laugh. Typical bloke response. He's put no effort in whatsoever.

[19:36] But as Christians, we become lazy like that as well. And yet, the Bible has given us so, so many verses that adore God. But if you don't get the vocabulary, you're never going to really adore him.

[19:52] Your adoration is going to be shallow. And there are so many reasons. And so, I just have this. And when something comes up, I thought, that's just really.

[20:03] God is great. I write it in. I just write the verse. Or the wee bit. The wee truth that's there. Slow to anger. Abounding in steadfast love. Something that describes who God is.

[20:14] And then you get a good vocabulary. And the more you write these down, when you come to prayer, privately or even publicly, they're all there. You've saturated yourself in God's description of himself, which is better than you can ever describe him.

[20:29] You look at how revelation, you look at the Psalms, you look at so many of the books of the Bible. God knows how to describe himself. He knows how to communicate how awesome he is.

[20:41] We need to take these things and pray biblically. Of all the churches I've pastored in, I must confess, this is one of the best for this. You guys are actually quite good at this in public prayer.

[20:55] Some of you are especially good. Dorothy, who isn't with us, she's very good at this. She'll just start and she'll say, Lord, we thank you. And you can see she's praying biblically.

[21:06] She's praying biblical phrases. That's a great habit to get into. You're using God's own words and you're taking them. Does that make sense? Get a wee booklet for a couple of pounds.

[21:20] A nice wee green one so I kind of lose it. And I use this. And when I'm dry, Lord, and I'm finding it hard to find the words, you get a wee vocabulary. I really commend it to you.

[21:32] It's a very practical thing to be able to do. By all means, have another wee black book or whatever and put personal things in it. But if you want to adore him, use his word.

[21:43] It's the best way to do it. And you'll think you'll remember it. You won't remember it. It takes two seconds. I'm going to write that. That's described who you are. I'll forget that.

[21:54] And the more you do that, the more your prayers are more biblical in nature. And so that's my wee green book. So adoration should be natural.

[22:04] It's intimate. And it should cause us to grow. Tim Keller, in his book, I'll mention this to you in closing, talks about D.L. Moody. You know D.L. Moody. He says, One day, this is D.L. Moody speaking, in the city of New York.

[22:16] Oh, what a day. I cannot describe it. I seldom refer to it. It is almost too sacred an experience to name. I can only say that God revealed himself to me, and I had such an experience of his love that I had to ask him to stay his hand.

[22:31] I remember one of the Puritans saying this one, Lord, the Lord was just pouring his love into him, and he says, Lord, remember, I'm only a human vessel. I can't take too much of this.

[22:43] And I think that that is, he's a radioactive loving God. And the best way for this love and this sense of awe is adoration.

[22:55] You won't just get it through supplication coming, Lord, help me, help me, help me, help me. It's the adoration. The more you adore him, the more you'll just feel, Lord, you are just, you're just blowing my switches.

[23:08] So I commend that book to you. Get a wee notebook. It's up to you. You can do whatever you want, but I commend that to you. It's a great resource. We need to put effort into this. We'll watch rubbish on the telly for half an hour.

[23:22] We need to be able to do this. So I commend that to you. So first of all, adoration is natural. And I'm going to go through this next stuff fairly quickly because I've mentioned this to you before. When we talk about adoration of God, what do we mean?

[23:36] We mean adoration of the Father. So that's the second point. Adoration of the Father. I mentioned this to you in a sermon early on when I came here, maybe February or March time. What is the good news?

[23:48] The good news is not just about what it means to you. It's what it means to the Father. It glorifies the Father and it glorifies the Son. We only think of what's good for us.

[24:00] We need to, and when we think about God, what do we mean when we're coming to adore God? There is a trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In our minds, we need to be able to somehow distinguish them in the gospel.

[24:14] The Father is worthy of all praise and glory and honor. Jesus begins Matthew 6. This is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

[24:27] Right at the very start, the first words are directed to the Father. Adoring the Father and recognizing who he is. And in the gospel and in creation, you see the roles within the Godhead.

[24:40] And the Father is often described as being first in order within the Godhead. This doesn't mean the Son is subordinate to him, that the Son is less God than he is God.

[24:54] It's not the case. But just in the roles within the gospel, we see that is the case. But whenever God moves, he moves as a trinity.

[25:05] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see this in creation. The Son was with the Father at the beginning. I was with you in the beginning. Glorified in the beginning.

[25:16] The Holy Spirit moves across the waters. They function as one. In the gospel, they function as one. The Father sends the Son. The Son comes in obedience. The Son comes to glorify the Father.

[25:28] The Holy Spirit comes. That's why I quite like when we sing that last verse. Spirit, we love you and adore you. And that is right, but glorify his name in all the earth. His purpose is to glorify the Son.

[25:41] Jesus said this, when he comes, he will testify of me. So there are roles within this. And it's good for us to realize this. The differences, the roles.

[25:53] In relation to adoration of the Father, we remember that he created all things. He is our great creator God. Revelation 4, they are saying, is these words, holy, holy, holy.

[26:07] These living creatures, four living creatures with wings and eyes and all that. They are crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and who is to come.

[26:20] The living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever. The 24 elders lay down their crowns before the throne and says, you are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.

[26:35] You created all things and by your will they were created. God is worthy of glory. God the Father in his created power. But nothing reveals God more than the gospel.

[26:49] Creation reveals the birds and the bees and the plants and the fish and it's so impressive. But it doesn't reveal his loving character, his forgiving character.

[27:00] The gospel reveals who he, what he's really like. And that's why Paul in Ephesians 1 says, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing.

[27:16] I'm going to look at this when we come to Thanksgiving. He has blessed us. The Father has blessed us with every. He chose us. He predestined us. He did this for the praise of his glory.

[27:27] We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He made known to us the mystery of his will. We, in order that we who are first to hope, might be for the praise of his glory.

[27:39] Paul is clear in this. The Father did this. Chose us and so forth. He's worthy of glory. Forgiveness is from the Father, Jesus tells us on the cross.

[27:50] Father, Father, you forgive John. For he knows not what he's doing. The inheritance is from the Father, Jesus says. Come, you who are blessed by my Father.

[28:01] Take your inheritance. Our sonship relates to the Father. He's given us his Holy Spirit that we cry, what? Abba, Father, Daddy.

[28:13] The Father is key. We are kept safe by the Father. No one can snatch us out of his hand. Compassion and comfort come from him. He is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.

[28:23] Daily blessings. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father, James tells us. He is the administrator of salvation.

[28:34] He oversees the whole process and blessings. No wonder Paul says in Ephesians 5, Always give thanks to God the Father for everything.

[28:45] Everything. Thank the Father. Recognizing his place within the Trinity. No wonder Jesus says if you're in your prayers, Adoration coming first.

[28:57] Praise the Father. Give glory to the Father. But thirdly, it's not only adoration of the Father. It is adoration of the Son. We need both. And if that is natural for us, He too is worthy of adoration because of who He is.

[29:13] He is not just a prophet or a teacher or somebody from Nazareth or a historical figure. He is the Son of God. He is God the Son, the second person in the Trinity.

[29:27] Paul goes to great lengths. We don't have time to look at Colossians and everything. He might have the supremacy. He is the image of the invisible God. This great passage in Colossians.

[29:39] The Son, chapter 1, verse 3, Is the radiance of God's glory. The exact representation of His being. Sustaining all things by His powerful word.

[29:51] Of the Son, the Father says, Your throne, O God, Will last forever and ever. And righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. So when it comes to adoration, It involves the Father and the Son.

[30:06] Because of who He is, And also because of what He has done. He has died on the cross for you. He loves you. He fought well for you. He ever lives to make intercession for you.

[30:18] And He desires you to be with Him. And He will come back for you one day. I've quoted, I want to quote the John Piper quote, The highest, best, and final good of the good news is the glory of Christ.

[30:33] He says, Justification's great. All these great doctrines are great. He says, But they are not the highest and best and final good of the gospel. In fact, they are not the gospel in and of themselves.

[30:47] What is the highest, best, final good that makes every part of the gospel good news? 2 Corinthians 4.4 The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers So that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

[31:02] Who is the image of God? You now. It's the thing that sets us from every other religion. We don't just praise God in a vague way that a Muslim would praise God. If there was an ecumenical service here, And you're Muslims and Sikhs, And they're all praying, And they only mention the name God, You'd think we were all the same.

[31:21] But Jesus is the thing that separates. He is the one who separates us from every single other religion. Because He is God the Son. He is the beloved Son of God.

[31:32] He is my Son whom I am well pleased. He brings to us the plan of salvation. He makes it real. He puts it into effect.

[31:42] He dies for us as the atoning sacrifice for our Son. He is raised back to life. All power, all authority has been given to Him, Regardless of what other religions say about Him.

[31:53] Jehovah Witnesses, other cults. We love Him. We love the Son. We adore the Son. We worship Him. And that is why in Revelation it talks about, Praise be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb.

[32:11] The Father is not embarrassed to share His glory with the Son, And vice versa. Revelation 5, Do not weep. See the line of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has triumphed.

[32:23] He is able to open the seals. They sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll open at seals, Because you were slain. And your blood you purchased men from every tribe, Linguish, people, and nation.

[32:37] You have made them a kingdom and priests. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, Numbering thousands upon thousands, And ten thousand times ten thousand.

[32:49] They encircled the throne, And the living creatures, And the elders. In a loud voice they said, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, To receive power, And wealth, And wisdom, And strength, And honor, And glory, And praise.

[33:02] When was the last time you used that, All those words, And adoration, Regarding the Son. Worthy of all praise, And glory, And honor, And strength, And adoration. It's just, It's, We're rubbish in our vocabulary, And these things.

[33:16] I don't know about you, But I constantly think, I mean, What's it? Wesley says, Oh for a thousand tongues, To sing my great Redeemer's praise. Do you know, Wish you had more tongues.

[33:27] Do you know, Wish you could praise him better. Are we satisfied, With a wee bit of adoration, When angels, And people are falling down, At his feet, And angels are worshipping, In him in heaven.

[33:39] And we who are the redeemed, Who now have the spirit of God, Within us. We limit our vocabulary. It won't happen overnight, But what a year, To begin by thinking, I'm going to get more words, I need more words, I'm going to use God's words, I'm not going to beat myself, With a big stick, And feel like I need to get loads of verse, And write a 30, 300 word essay, But every now and again, There'll be something, That'll leap out at me, And I love the way, That God describes himself, Father, And son, In this verse, I'm going to write that down, I'm just going to write that, Half a verse down, And see, I'll tell you, See when you're, When you're feeling depressed, Pick it up, Just read the stuff, You've written over, The past six months, Or whatever, And over the years, Your vocabulary will grow bigger, And the more you read it, The more it'll become part of you, You'll just be able to think it through, I mean often, I used to, Say to, I used to have to comment, On young students, Preaching in Oak Hill,

[34:39] I used to have to, They give you a crib sheet, For their sermons, About their exegesis, Their application, Their introduction, And you have to go through this, But you also have to comment, On them leading a service, But you don't get a crib sheet, For that, You just get, How were they, And after, And without exception, Every single one, I say, Their introduction was good, They chose good songs, The readings matched that, The intercessory prayer was good, Every one of them, And I include myself in this, I always said, The thing where they were weakened, Was their opening prayer, Was, It was very much, Lord we're here, Bless us, That's it, And I often say to them, People are coming in, They're rushing, They're shouting at me, Johnny and Mary, And they're coming in, And we're all stressed, And we've gulped our dinner down, And we're sitting, And I say to them, Their heads, Their congregation's heads, Pull up postman, Pat, Just, Just, Your job, As the leader of the service, Is to lead them,

[35:40] Into the throne, Of God, And you won't ever lead them, Closer than you are yourself, It's quite a challenge, So, It's the task of the worship leader, Not just to announce songs, You're not a jukebox, I used to say to one of the elders, In one of the church, Any halfway can announce a song, I've got to sing this song now, You can be the most ungodly person, In the building, And do that, Your task is to, Be a godly person, Remain close to the Lord, Walk with the Lord, Have these adoration type things, So when it comes at the start, Let's pray, You're able to bring, Lord, We thank you, That you are A, B, C, D, E, And suddenly, The mundane things, Evaporate, And the congregation's left, Going, He's brought me right into the presence of, That's a challenge, Isn't it?

[36:28] I can see the guys that lead in the service, Thinking, Wow, I'm dreading leading the next one, But, It is that, And we need to take that seriously, If we need to do it, In our own private life, Also, Those who lead service, I include myself in this, That it's not just, Lord bless us, And you will betray yourself, In that, So it's, This is where it, It becomes such a, It's a walk with God, And it happens, As I mentioned, Dorothy, Pray, Boom, The verses come, The truths come, The great biblical truths come, So I commend that to you, Remembering Jesus, It's the adoration of the Son, God exalted him, Gave him the name, Which is above every name, He is glorious, So what have we said, Adoration is natural, It should come, We have the Holy Spirit, Should be our natural breath, To want to adore God, And we should, In our prayers, Want to begin there, But I don't know about you, I just jumped straight to supplication, We should stop, And say, Lord,

[37:29] Before I bring my petitions, Before I even thank you, For what you've done, T, I want to, To just adore you, And to, To focus on that, And I'm struggling, Lord, I got by with 20 seconds, And I dried up, Don't be surprised if that happens, You think, I'm trying to think of something else, As you get the vocabulary, And as your heart has changed, That will happen, Adoring the Father, Creator, His role in the gospel, Choosing us, Regenerating us, The redemption through the blood of his son, Reconciled his back, A plan that justifies us by faith, We have fellowship with him, We will be glorified, We will see him as he is, And the son as well, For his obedience, For revealing to us who the father is, For his sacrifice, For his ascension to the father's right hand, For his power, His glory, For his intercession, For his return, These great biblical truths, And we do all of this, Through the Holy Spirit, The great verse in Romans,

[38:30] In the same way, The spirit helps us, In our weakness, We do not know, What we ought to pray for, But the spirit himself, Intercedes us with groans, And the words cannot, I thank you for his ministry, We need the Holy Spirit's ministry, To lead us, And to guide us, So, We need, Focus on God's word, I want to recommend, A couple of books, And with this we're going to sing, Here is two books, Here is one, Called, Timothy Keller, I think I've seen, This maybe in the church here already, Has any of you read this book?

[39:04] I bring these books, Just so you can pick them up, And see them, It's experiencing, And intimacy, With God, That's what this series is about, It's not just going through the motions, But it's that, I commend this to you, It's a very easy book to read, There's that one, The second one is this one here, By, Jim Packer, And Carolyn Nystrom, Praying, Finding your way from duty to delight, I bought that book, Because of the strap line, I thought, I need to delight, I want my prayer life to be a delight, Yeah, There'll be times it'll feel like duty, But if it's only duty, Somewhere along the line, We're going to miss, The other thing is, Is this wee booklet here, Look at this, You could shave yourself with that, Look at these things, Enjoy your prayer life, It says on it, It says, This is not another book, That will pile on the guilt, Simply saying, Pray better and more often, Instead, Michael Reeve shows us, Not only what prayer is, Why it's so essential, But how we can enjoy it too,

[40:05] Enjoy your prayer life, I only could get about 12 or 13 of these, They're two pounds, It's a suggested venation, You don't have to do it, You can just take it, The church will pay for it, Speaking, It's 20 odd quid, Best 20 quid the church I'll ever spend, Look at the words, Look at the big words, You could finish this with a cup of coffee, So if your prayer life, Is, I'm going to make kickstarting my prayer life, I commend out this wee book to you, There's a dozen of them, I'll take them out to the front of the church, You can take one of these, Take it away, If you want to donate two pounds, You can, But great wee books, The best two pounds you'll ever spend, But take it honestly, Nobody's going to be chasing you for the money, Just take the thing away, I commend that to you, It's a great wee book, Terrific wee book, The other thing is, I just printed this out, I keep this in my day, In my, One, I keep it in the black book actually, God is, 30 days of praying, The names and attributes of God,

[41:07] It just reminds you who he is, Faithful, Rightful, Merciful, Sovereign, And the names of God, Adonai, Elohim, Just, I commend this, There's 25 of these, Because they didn't cost us anything, They're 25, Take one of them, Fold it up, Put it in your book, When you're wondering what to say, There's, There's a wee prayer help for you, Go through the names of God, And I'll go through it, And through it again, Through it again, Through it again, You'll be an expert, On the names and the attributes of God, So, There are two practical things, Buy your own wee book, If you want to do it, Does that make sense?

[41:40] We're going to stand, We're going to sing together, Our closing song, We don't, Know this, I thought we'd sung it before, But I don't think we have sung it before, But we're going to stand, And we're going to sing this, This is a great song, I just love this song to pieces, How many of you know this, Come praise and glorify, Our God, Good, It's me and Paul, Yep, Another one, Yeah, Great, There's three of us, A trio then, Along with these, This trio, We'll get into it, It'll happen, So let's stand, And we'll sing this together, Shall we?

[42:10] Praise and glorify our God, The Father of our Lord, In Christ he has the heavenly realms, His blessing on us poured, For pure and blameless in his sight, He destined us to be, And now we've been adored to through, His Son eternally, To the praise of your glory, To the praise of your mercy and grace, To the praise of your glory, You are the God who saves,

[43:14] Come praise and glorify our God, Who gives his grace in Christ, In him our sins are washed away, Redeemed through sacrifice, And then God has been known to us, The mystery of his will, That Christ should be the heaven of all, His purpose to the will, To the praise of your glory, To the praise of your mercy and grace, To the praise of your glory, To the praise of your glory, To the praise of your glory, You are the God who saves, Praise and glorify our God, For we believe the word,

[44:16] And through our faith we have a sin, The Spirit of the Lord, The Spirit guarantees our hope, Until redemption starts, Until we join in endless grace, To God the free and wise, To the praise of your glory, To the praise of your mercy and grace, To the praise of your glory, You are the God who saves, To the praise of your glory, To the praise of your mercy and grace, To the praise of your glory, You are the God who saves, Very good, well done to the singers,

[45:17] The musicians, that was very good, And we'll sing that again, I'm sure, I like those kind of tribal ones, They just kind of, Whether it's blokey, I don't know, But they're very good, We have a great God, Who's worthy of all praise and glory and honor, May we find the words, Let's just close in prayer, Our loving Father, We do indeed praise and thank you For who you are Lord, Oh that we did have a thousand tongues Lord, But each time we come to you in prayer, Father help us we pray, To adore you as you deserve, Help us Lord not to be lazy, Or complacent in this, And just to concentrate Lord on our supplication, But Father help us, Even this new year coming up, To begin Lord, To develop our prayer life, To pray as Jesus taught us, Hallowed be your name, So Father we pray that these things Might become the reality of our life, Bless us Lord and our efforts in this area, We pray in Jesus name, Amen, Amen, Please be seated, Thank you for,

[46:21] Amen,