Thanks, Mike. I love a dad joke, so I was all up for the amazing.
But it is lovely to get together.
And I must say it's one of the most thrilling parts of church for me
is just seeing how international it is, isn't it?
And just actually what goes on here on a Sunday
is just a microcosm of what's true for the church of Jesus around the world,
that it is made up of a family of people of every tribe, tongue and nation
who gather together to celebrate the unity and diversity that we have
as we worship King Jesus.
So that day next Saturday is going to be thrilling,
so do make an effort to come along if you can.
And if I haven't said hello to you today, my name is Graeme,
particularly for those who are new this morning.
It is lovely to welcome you here today,
and it's great to gather together as a family.
We do this every Sunday,
and the purpose is really to fix our eyes on the Jesus who unites us together.
So grab Luke 11 if you've got it there,
and we're just going to be in these verses this morning.
But let me tell you what we're doing in this little series
that Archie kind of flagged up top.
Here's a typical Edinburgh scene,
one that we see on a regular basis.
Maybe you met somebody this morning who travelled in on the bus.
Imagine many of us travelled in on the bus.
We love our buses in Edinburgh,
and there's a bus stop that's right outside our front door
where we live in the south of the city.
Three buses pass that bus stop many times every single day.
And every day I look out and I see people queuing up at this bus stop,
and they're gazing at the screen,
trying to make out what is happening.
And every so often I pass and somebody stops me and says,
excuse me, do you know where this bus goes?
For us it's the 7, the 37, the 47.
Do you know where this bus goes?
And of course, how do you find out where a bus is going?
You look at the number that's on the front,
and the number tells you exactly where the bus is going.
And that's what this little series is all about.
It's all about familiarising and realigning ourselves
with the sign that's on the front of the Brunsfield Evangelical bus.
Because the sign will tell you where we're going
and what we're all about.
And for those of us who are members of this church family,
I hope this is a wonderful and a timely reminder
of what it is we're seeking to do here.
Every event that we do, every meeting we attend,
every gathering that we put on and we have,
they all have the same central purpose.
And for maybe some of us are new here today,
maybe we're even exploring the Christian faith,
I hope this introduces you to some of the distinctives
and some of the priorities of this local church.
Now, are you ready for the sign on the front of the bus?
You seem really enthusiastic.
Here's the sign on the front of the bus.
It really says, really simply,
being disciple making disciples of Jesus Christ.
That's the sign on the front of the bus.
What is a disciple?
A disciple is someone who is seeking to follow after,
learn from, and growing to be like Jesus.
If you like, a disciple is someone who has their L plates on
and they're sitting and they're learning
in the Jesus classroom of life.
And in turn, a disciple helps others to do the same.
Now, how do we seek to do that here at the church?
Well, we devote ourselves as a church to three core things.
Firstly, we devote ourselves to God's words.
We're unashamed in our conviction
that when we open the pages of the Bible,
we hear God speak.
Secondly, we devote ourselves to fellowship,
which is our love for and our commitment to one another.
Of course, that's what Jesus said, isn't it, to his disciples.
That's how the world will know you,
by the way that you love one another.
And the word fellowship in the Greek
doesn't just mean playing happy families.
It means coming alongside each other,
linking arms out of love
with a shared ambition of what you want to do.
And thirdly, we devote ourselves to prayer,
which we save to the end
because it's going to be the topic
for the next 20 minutes or so.
And let me ask you,
when was the last time that you prayed?
Now, there's an assumption in that question, isn't there?
And here's why there's an assumption in that question.
There's a famous saying
that I think originated from World War I
that goes like this.
There's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.
Now, a foxhole is just a place
where you'd hide from the enemy fire.
And here's what that means.
It means that everybody,
no matter what you believe,
prays in a crisis.
Now, according to a recent survey,
51% of people in our country
admit to praying on a regular basis.
What's surprising is that our younger generations
say that they're more likely to pray
than an older generation.
You'll hear politicians
in the wake of a tragic event
talking about how their thoughts and prayers
are with the family and friends
of those who have been caught up in a tragedy.
And our friends of other faiths pray as well.
Prayer is something that,
despite our secular leanings as a society,
we still do.
In other words, we are surrounded by prayer.
And if you come to Luke 11,
what we need to understand
is that the disciples too
are living in a world
that's saturated in prayer.
They are accustomed to the religious prayers
of their contemporaries,
who in the Gospels are these people
called the Pharisees,
whose prayers are very public,
whose prayers are full of many long
and many impressive words.
So they get religious prayer.
And they also get
the prayers of the peoples of the nations
round about them
who are praying to all sorts of God
and praying all sorts of things.
And those prayers are noisy.
Those prayers are loud.
Those prayers are powerful.
So the disciples understand prayer.
But notice, if you've got the text there,
what Luke,
who is this first century doctor-come historian,
is telling us at verse 1,
don't skip over it.
What's he telling us?
Look at it there.
That Jesus has been what?
He's been praying.
Now this isn't the first time
in this Gospel of Luke
where Jesus prays.
Where Jesus retreats to a solitary place,
gets up early
for a time of undistracted prayer.
In fact, I counted them,
and if you count them up until chapter 11,
three times Jesus has said
to be praying.
So when Jesus talks about prayer here,
we need to understand
that this is not a spur-of-the-moment
inclination to go to Facebook
and post his thoughts on prayer.
He's living this.
And the disciples think to themselves,
we get religious prayer,
we know what Gentile prayer sounds like,
but Jesus, we see in you
something that's radically
and refreshingly different.
Because the religious people who pray,
the Gentile people who pray,
they do it for the praise of other people.
Particularly the religious people
who are praying in our day.
They want the Instagram snap.
They want the retweets on Twitter.
They live for the praise of men.
But you don't seem to live
for the praise of men.
I must say it's one of the most
endearing things about Jesus
that you read about in the Gospels,
is just how unstrategic he is
when it comes to the people
who he both hangs out with and loves.
There's nothing in it for him.
There really is nothing in it for him
when it comes to the people
that you read about him
hanging out with.
It's one of the most endearing things
about Jesus.
One of the things that drew me to him.
And the disciples think on that.
And they say,
Jesus, you don't want praise of people.
You want God.
And that's what we want.
That is what is attractive to us.
You commune with God
in a way like we've never seen before.
And so do you see what they say to him?
They say, teach us.
And notice they say not teach us how to pray.
They say, teach us to pray.
They don't want a method.
They don't want a technique.
They want to enter into this thing
that Jesus is doing called prayer.
Jesus, we want in on it too.
Show us how.
Teach us how.
And what is verse 9?
As Jesus says,
ask, seek and knock.
But Jesus saying to his disciples
and to his disciples ever since,
I want you in on this as well.
Jesus, teach us to pray.
And so what Jesus gives the disciples firstly,
if you want to think about this,
verses 1 to 4,
is a pattern to follow.
Now, you up for a little nursery rhyme?
It's kind of my life at the minute.
You up for a nursery rhyme?
See, if I sing you the first line,
would someone be brave enough
to tell me the second line?
Yeah?
Don't leave me dying up here, okay?
Here it is.
Pussy cat, pussy cat,
where have you been?
Look to the boomers in the room.
London to visit the Queen.
You up for another line?
Pussy cat, pussy cat,
what did you do there?
Under the chair.
So here's the thing about that nursery rhyme.
The cat is in the presence of the Queen
and chooses to look at the mouse,
not the person on the throne.
Here's the thing about prayer.
Prayer is not about the eloquence of our words.
It's not even really about the affection of our hearts,
because that will dip in and dip out.
What prayer is about
is the magnificence of the one on the throne.
See what Jesus says there,
the first word of the Lord's Prayer.
As he gets his disciples not to look at the other things,
but to gaze their eyes at the one on the throne.
What's the word?
It's the word Father.
See how that's the first word that he says?
Father.
Now here's a thought for you.
Whoever you are here today,
whatever you think about this God,
it is only by coming to know this God
that you will truly come to know yourself.
Knowing God as our Father, says Jesus,
is the key to getting started
and keeping going in prayer.
Having an awareness of the Father's commitment to us.
Having an awareness of his love for us.
Having a knowledge that he's for us.
We've been thinking about that in Romans 8
the last few weeks.
Having an appreciation that he knows us
and that he wants us to seek him in prayer.
We'll see more of that in a few moments.
The key to praying
is knowing the one that we're praying to.
And Jesus, from that starting point,
he outlines five things
that he wants his disciples to
go to this Father and ask.
Right?
We can only name them
because of the time constraints this morning.
But just take these in.
If you're a note taker,
just write these five things down.
Here's what Jesus is saying.
You can go to the Father.
And remember, that's a blood-bought privilege
that Jesus has won for his people
on the cross through his resurrection.
He's at the right hand of the Father.
We can pray to the Father
because he's there.
We can know him as Father
because of Christ.
He says, first pray,
Father, would your name be honoured?
Your name be honoured.
In a world that doesn't recognise you,
in a world that doesn't want to know you,
in a world that dishonours your name,
how different then are Jesus' people
who love your name?
Second, pray that his kingdom would come,
that his will would be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
And of course, what have you got
just before Luke 11?
I hadn't seen this before.
You've got the parable that Jesus tells
of the Good Samaritan.
Something of the kingdom
and the values of above
breaking in through the hearts of God's people
to how they love the world.
Third, that this Father would provide
all that we need.
Notice the plural there.
We're going to come back to that.
Fourth, Father, that you would forgive our sins.
And fifth, that you would deliver us
from temptation.
And do you notice in Luke 11,
you can have this for free,
how Luke has put it together
just before in Luke 10.
You've got the parable of the Good Samaritan.
And just in case you came away from that,
thinking it's all about do, do, do.
What's right next?
It is Mary and Martha.
Mary picks the good portion.
When Martha is serving,
Mary is there at Jesus' feet
saying, I want to learn.
And it's both, isn't it?
Both action and devotion.
That is the heart of Christ's people.
How often we can talk about prayer
like it's wishing on a star
or like it's requesting wishes
from a genie in a bottle
or treating God
like he's some kind of fortune cookie.
You know, we had a takeaway last night.
I got mine.
Apparently, I'll receive no parking tickets
in the next year.
But how different does Jesus talk about prayer here?
And when you think about it,
all that we could ever ask
is his people.
All that we could ever need
comes under one of those five headings.
And what struck me this week
is that Jesus could have just easily
left it there
and said,
on you go,
see how you get on.
There's what to pray.
But isn't it interesting
that he doesn't stop there?
But he wants to draw
his disciples' hearts
deeper
into the character
and the heart
of the Father
that they're praying to.
Do you see?
And what follows,
if we consider it,
is truly marvelous.
He moves from this pattern
to follow
verses 5 to 13.
He gives them
a reason to seek.
And Jesus gets them,
and I think this is
a magnificent bit
of first century
genius storytelling.
He gets them
to picture themselves
in a story.
So they're in this story.
They're not watching on.
They're in this story.
Do you see?
I love how Jesus does that.
He lifts us
out of our stories
and our self-absorption
so often
and he places us
in his.
And he says,
imagine that you
have a friend
that turns up
at your door
unannounced at midnight.
Now I'm freaking out
at that.
Are you not?
Those words,
unannounced at midnight,
they do not go together.
I can maybe handle one,
but I cannot handle both.
If my doorbell
goes at midnight,
I've got my phone
in my hand
and I'm dialing
999.
Who turns up
at midnight
at a friend's house?
Have they not heard
about the travel lodge
down the road?
Who does this?
But we've got to understand
in this culture,
not of sprawling
city suburbs,
but of small
rural villages,
a desperate friend
who finds themselves
in your neighborhood
in darkness
has nowhere else to go.
That's the point
of the story, right?
No one else to go.
And you would
welcome them.
You would inconvenience
yourself because
if you fail to do that,
you would,
in this culture,
you would bring shame
on you,
you would bring shame
on your family name,
and you would bring shame
on your village
because you couldn't
provide for someone
who turned up
and needed help.
You couldn't do it.
But given the late
hour of the day
and the days before
fridge freezers
and stockpiling,
your bread for the day
would likely be
all gone.
So you'd have
no other choice
in this moment of need
to go and chap up
your neighbor,
another person
in your village,
and ask them to help you
in this emergency.
You tracking with me?
Yeah?
So picture the scene.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
Can you help me?
And the way that
Jesus tells the story,
and it's genius really,
isn't it?
You don't get the impression
that this neighbor
is all too impressed.
Right?
It's not,
way good to see you.
It's been way too long.
No, this neighbor
has bolted the door.
The kids are finally
off to bed.
The horlicks
has been drunk.
The jammies are on.
I would be not opening
the door
if I was this neighbor.
And yet,
despite the neighbor
thinking,
you've got to be kidding me,
because he too
doesn't want to bring shame
on himself,
on his family name,
nor on his village,
he will put on
his dressing gown
and go to the cupboards
and rummage through them
to see what he can find.
Now, what is the point of this?
Here is Jesus' point,
I think.
How much more,
and hear this today,
how much more
is your father
willing to listen
and to answer
in his perfect way
your cries
and your petitions
whenever you come
to him in prayer?
It's a how much more
story.
Do you know what
this demonstrates?
It demonstrates
the father's
wonderful
willingness.
Isn't that not amazing
that the God,
when we go to him
in prayer,
doesn't just say,
oh, not them again.
They prayed to me
yesterday
and they're at it again.
Do they not know
that I'm up to my eyeballs
here?
I'm trying to answer
all sorts of other
different people's
prayers.
You ever seen that,
was it Bruce Almighty
or was it Evan Almighty?
I forget what that 90s film,
which one it was,
where you get the thing
where he's answering
all the prayers,
yes,
and he's getting overwhelmed
on his computer
by all these prayers
when he's trying to act
like God.
It's that kind of thing.
The father doesn't
put us on hold
saying,
your call is very
important to me,
you're number 18
in the queue
and while you wait,
here's some lovely
background music.
Here's what you need
to understand.
Here's what we need
to understand.
In Christ,
we have our father's
ear,
no matter what hour
it is
and no matter what state
we come to him
in prayer.
The father's
wonderful
willingness
to listen
and to answer
the cries
of his people.
And what complements
that story so well
in what I think
is a little bit
of first century humour
is Jesus tells
the story
about an earthly
father.
Now,
if you're a parent
here that you'll
get this,
probably not for
reasons that you think.
Honestly,
as a parent
and other parents
in the room,
you tell me this.
We feel our
weakness.
Right?
And we know
the mistakes
that we've made
and yet,
deep down,
despite our failings,
we will only
ever give good
things to our
children.
But Jesus says,
picture the scene,
it's dinner time
and you're feeding
your child who's
opened their mouth
for a bit of fish
or egg.
You wouldn't,
at the last minute,
do a switcheroo
and put into their
mouth a scorpion
or snake in their
mouth instead.
Right?
Can you imagine
the scene on Christmas
Day if you were
to do that?
They opened a gift
thinking it was one
thing and out jumps
a scorpion.
And remember
the scorpions
and snakes
in this day
aren't plastic toys.
These are things
that will kill you.
Again,
what's the logic?
It's a how much
more then?
If that's the heart
of an imperfect
yet loving father
towards his children,
how much greater
then is the heart
of the perfect father
towards his children.
Do you know
what that celebrates?
It celebrates
his perfect ability
towards his children
to give us
what is good for us.
So you've got
these two things,
think like a gymnast
holding the bars.
You have the father's
wonderful willingness,
says Jesus,
and you have
his perfect ability.
And together
that is something
that you can hold on to
and run to him with.
If we come to God
with those two things
in mind,
that is an absolute
game changer
for our prayer lives
both personally
and as we'll come on
to see in a minute,
corporately.
And what's surprising
in this passage though
is the what
that Jesus is talking
about here
isn't stuff.
You see that
in the text?
He names
the good thing.
And the good thing
is a person.
The good thing
is the Holy Spirit,
the third person
of the Godhead.
Now you might read that
and you think to yourselves,
well that,
okay I get that
that's not a scorpion,
but I still don't understand
how that's better
than all the stuff
that I think
I need for my life.
And I've been thinking
about that all this week.
First of all,
I think I've been convicted
how often I overrate
my own ability
to know what the best thing
is for my life
and for your life.
But as more
as I've been chewing
on it this week,
the Holy Spirit
sent to dwell
in the heart
of every believer.
What is it
that the Spirit does?
I take it,
if you've got the text there,
that the Spirit
loops us
back round
to the top
and further in
and deeper in
to the heart
of the Lord's
prayer.
and here's
what I mean,
track with me,
the Spirit
helps us
to know God
as our Father.
The Spirit
helps us
to have a heart
for the glory
of God
in the world.
Of course,
that is a missionary cry,
isn't it?
The Spirit
helps us
to know the forgiveness
that is ours
in Christ
when we just
don't think it's true
when the accusations
of the devil
are coming at us.
The Spirit
helps us
forgive
other people.
Friends,
the Spirit
is the greatest gift
that God
could have
possibly given
his people.
And so,
verse 9,
Jesus says,
ask,
seek,
and knock.
And as true
as what Jesus
is saying here
has got so much
to teach us
in terms of
our own prayer lives
and that's
because we live
in this individualistic
culture,
that is where
our minds
will straight away
have gone to.
we need to see
the emphasis
all the way
through the prayer,
did you notice it,
is corporate.
Right?
It's our Father.
It's give us
this day
our daily bread.
Have you thought
about that
when we're praying
that God
would give us
our daily bread?
Actually,
you're praying
for other people
that God
would,
out of his
wonderful willingness
and his perfect ability
would provide
for their needs.
Great thing
to do off the back
of this today,
go towards
someone you love
and say,
how can I pray
for you this week?
What are your,
what is your daily bread
if you like
in this context?
Forgive us
as we forgive
those who sin
against us.
It's a prayer
for God's people
to pray,
not primarily
as isolated Christians,
but as part
of a family
who are journeying
together
through this
pilgrim world?
And so here's
two challenges
just as we begin
to wrap this up
this morning,
as we think about
our corporate life
together.
Here's the first one.
Let's allow this
to affect our diaries.
Will we prioritize
meeting together
to pray?
You know,
our corporate prayer life
is really
very much
on our hearts
as elders
that we would
love to see
it continue
to flourish,
that more people
would join
the corporate
prayer life
of our church.
You know,
we've got two
prayer meetings
that happen
on a regular basis.
We've got one
that happens
on Zoom
every Monday evening
at 8pm
for 30 minutes.
And it's amazing
how that's just,
that actually started
during COVID
and we prayed
every night
since that lockdown
started.
and we went
through the whole
Psalms
and then we went
through,
I think,
John's Gospel
as well.
We did all,
we just,
every night
we were praying
and that still
continued,
that we pray
every single
Monday
for the things
of this church,
for the things
of this world.
And we have
an in-person one
that happens
on the first Sunday
of the month
and we even
throw in pizza
for dinner as well
to get people
to come.
And that's next
Sunday evening.
And listen,
if you come to
the Vision evening
tonight,
a good 20 minutes
of that time together
is given over
to us praying.
And that really
is one of the
highlights of the year.
Let's meet together
to pray.
Let's pray big prayers
for our world.
Let's pray big prayers
for our city.
Let's pray big prayers
for our community.
Let's pray big prayers
for each other.
To this God
who is able to do
way more
than we ask
or even imagine
is possible.
Let's allow
what Jesus is saying
there to affect
our diaries.
And second,
let's allow this
to impact
our community.
I mean,
wouldn't it be great
to recreate
a culture
where asking
how we can pray
for each other
and then maybe
on the spur
praying for each other
was just a normal
thing that we did.
Praying together
should be the most
natural thing
that we do together
as Christians.
And so here's
a challenge for you.
Why not ask
one person today?
Just ask one person.
If you can manage
more than that,
go for it.
But ask one person
how you can pray
for them this week.
And then maybe
if you feel like it,
if you feel comfortable,
why not pray together
on the spot?
You know,
just as we close,
let me tell you
how this has impacted
me this week.
And then we're done.
When we first moved
to Edinburgh,
we lived in the
part of the city
known as the Newtown,
beautiful part of the city.
One of the things
about that part
of the city
is that there's
cobbled streets
everywhere.
So every time
I used to take our car,
our little car,
it was a wee
silver VW Fox,
I don't even know
if they're still going,
this tiny little
tin machine.
Every time I used
to take it for an MOT,
they said the same thing.
They said,
you need to have
your wheels realigned.
And the thing was
that all the knocks,
all the bumps,
all the cobbles,
all the potholes
in the roads,
as they collectively
took their toll
in the car,
had totally knocked
this thing out of sync.
So you weren't driving
the steering wheel
like that,
you were driving
at it like that
to get it to go straight,
the kind of thing.
And every time
they would say
the same thing.
Do you want us
to realign this car?
You need to realign
this car.
Now thinking about
that this week,
because so often
in my life,
I know that it's true
that all the worries,
the concerns,
the people,
all these things
come along.
The bills that need paid,
the things that need done,
the trash needs taken,
all these things
that come along in life,
they can knock us.
They can knock us
from remembering
the thing
that Jesus has called us to.
What does this prayer do?
It realigns us.
It lifts us
out of our world
of self-absorption
and it throws us
by God's grace
on the priorities
and the heart
of the Father.
And so listen,
I'd love us to finish
and I hope I've got
this slide right.
Yeah.
Just by saying
the words of the Lord's Prayer
together,
it's really short,
just those words
on the screen
on my cue
and then we're just
going to pray
to close.
And listen,
we don't do this token,
this is never token,
this is a commitment
that we're making
to make Jesus' priorities
in the heart of the Father
the thing that we're seeking.
So you ready for this?
If you feel comfortable
on my cue.
I can't even read that right.
Father,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day
our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
for we also forgive
everyone who sins against us
and lead us not into temptation.
And so Father,
we do pray this morning.
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us today
our daily bread.
Would you forgive our sins?
Would you help us
to forgive those
who have sinned against us?
And Lord,
would you guide us?
Heavenly Father,
we thank you
for the privilege today
that we can call you Father.
And I ask that maybe
for some of us here today,
maybe we're doubting that.
Maybe we don't know
what that means.
Lord,
may today be the day
by your spirit
where we come to appreciate
your love for us
and sending your son for us
just that little bit more.
Would you fill us afresh
with a passion
to see your name
hallowed in our land
and in our lives?
Father,
we long to see your name
put in lights.
Help us,
Father,
to be a people
who come together
to seek your face
in prayer.
And Lord,
we thank you
that you hear us,
not because we pray
eloquent words
or because of any righteousness
that we have,
but we come to you
knowing that you hear us
confidently
because we pray
in the precious
and in the loving name
of Jesus.
Amen.