The movie Avatar came out, how amazing it was when it first came out.
And I remember talking to one person, and I was waxing lyrical about how great it was.
But they said that they didn't think it was that good.
And sure, it was a bit of a rehash of Pocahontas with aliens, but it looked amazing.
They disagreed again, they didn't think it was anything special.
I said, I can't believe it, it was cutting edge.
The 3D was phenomenal.
Ah, I saw it in 2D.
I didn't want to pay the extra for 3D.
Ah, that's why you missed out.
You missed out on seeing the movie as it was supposed to be seen.
It was so vibrant.
The animals, the aliens, the plants, they were jumping off the screen.
It was like you could touch it.
You really missed out.
Today we're starting a new series on prayer as we seek awe and intimacy with God.
And prayer is a delight.
It's a privilege that we can pray to a God who listens to us.
Prayer is where we come before our Heavenly Father and we talk to Him.
We bring our requests and our pains and our griefs.
But the reality is that prayer is also hard.
I'm sure all of us know the temptation not to pray.
Whether we're tired or we're busy or maybe we don't know how.
Maybe we occasionally throw up an emergency prayer, like a flare to God.
God, help me out with the job I've got coming up.
Help me find this job.
Help me with the interview.
Help me with money.
It's a bit tight at the moment.
But I'm sure that many of us don't really pray unless we're desperate.
Because our human hearts don't naturally desire to pray.
It means we need to admit our weakness.
And that God is in control and that we're not.
Has the Christian God that many of us have put our faith in,
has the relationship with Him been as good as we expected?
I wonder, is it possible that we have a 2D relationship with God?
You know, all the pieces are there.
You can still see the same thing.
You know, you've still got Jesus on the cross.
We can still read the Bible.
But the relationship is just fine.
It's just okay.
Can you imagine having a 3D relationship with God?
Where you could say that it is just so vibrant.
It is delightful.
It's delightful.
It's like you could touch Him.
And it's life-changing.
Can you imagine having a closer relationship with God?
One that is rich and satisfying and nourishes the soul.
Is it possible that there is something amazing that we've missed out on?
Is it possible that we've missed a trick on prayer out of a laziness or busyness
or just misunderstanding?
And it's meant we've actually missed out on an intimate relationship with God Himself?
Is it possible that the extra D to make it 3D is actually the D of devotion to prayer?
One of our core values.
Today we're going to begin to see the joy and delight of prayer.
It's going to be a wake-up call.
We're going to spend five weeks on prayer.
We're not going to hear everything about prayer tonight.
This is just the start.
But I hope it's going to be like placing those 3D glasses over our eyes
so that we can see the joy of talking to our Heavenly Father.
And so today as we seek to desire prayer,
we're going to want to go from a dry to a nourishing relationship with God.
We're going to hope to go from duty to delight in prayer.
And I'm going to hope for us that we pray instead of wanting to get things from God
so that we actually get God Himself.
And so let me pray as we look at God's Word.
Heavenly Father, we want to know You better
and we want to be in relationship with You.
We want to be in a close relationship with You, Lord.
Father, in particular today we ask that You would give us a desire to pray.
Not just to read Your Word, but to talk to You.
Amen.
We're going to start in that passage that Nick read for us
as we seek to go from a dry relationship to a nourishing relationship.
So please have your Bibles open at Ephesians 1.
From verse 15.
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus
and your love for all God's people,
I have not stopped giving thanks for You,
remembering You in my prayers.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the glorious Father,
may give You the spirit of wisdom and revelation
so that You may know Him better.
I pray that the eyes of Your heart may be enlightened
in order that You may know the hope to which He has called you,
the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people.
This is Paul's prayer for the people of Ephesus.
And what stands out is what he keeps asking God for.
Verse 17.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the glorious Father,
may give You the spirit of wisdom and revelation
so that You may know Him better.
He keeps asking God that they would know God better.
It is the heart of this prayer.
He's not asking that they would have new spiritual blessings,
that they would have a better condition in life,
that they would avoid suffering.
Although in this church, like many of the early churches,
it would have been great for them to avoid suffering,
but he is praying that they would know God better.
This is a really important thing to be praying.
In the midst of whatever is going on for the Ephesians,
whatever is going on for us,
to pray that we would know God better,
to know the God that has blessed us very richly.
You only have to glance over the first 14 verses of Ephesians
to see how God has blessed them.
He's a God who has blessed them with every spiritual blessing.
He's chosen and adopted them.
They're redeemed through His blood.
They're forgiven.
They're marked with the Holy Spirit.
And so this is who the God that they worship is,
that we worship.
We see Him through His actions.
He is a generous and loving God,
and Paul prays that they would know Him better.
And Paul uses an expression.
He prays that they would have the eyes of their hearts enlightened.
Now, our hearts don't have eyes,
but the eyes is an expression used to describe a doorway.
So we would still use the saying,
the eyes are a doorway to the soul.
But here, the eyes are a doorway to the heart,
which in the biblical sense,
it's the seat of the body, the spirit,
and even the mind.
The mind isn't in the head,
it's in the heart.
It's in here.
We would still use a similar expression.
What is the way to a man's heart?
It is through his stomach.
That's right.
And I can't wait for food next week.
But the heart here is the affections.
It's the desires.
And so knowing God better
is not just about knowing things about God.
It is about the whole being,
the whole physical life,
the emotions and the inner life.
Paul is praying that the way to their entire life,
to their heart,
might be opened to know this God better.
And so when we come to God in prayer,
it is so important that we know
the God that we're talking to.
That's why we said the creed before.
We're not just talking about some kind of vague God.
No, we have a description of who our God is.
And so the better we know him,
the better our prayer will be,
the better our relationship with God will be.
We can know things about God.
We can know things about him.
But when we know who his character is,
when it has gotten into our heart,
it can turn a dry and formal relationship
into one that nourishes the soul.
Now, I've used that word nourish a couple of times now.
There are just some relationships that we have,
some friendships that just,
they're just really nourishing.
Maybe you know people that, you know,
drain you and make you feel exhausted.
But there are just some people,
some friendships that we have
that just leave you feeling vibrant and excited
and just pumped up.
Do you have those kinds of friends?
Yes?
Some of you are nodding.
That's good.
One of those people to me is my good wife, Alyssa.
But as parents of a busy family,
it's not always nourishing.
Often it's task-focused.
Deal with this child, feed them, clean that.
We talk about money.
We talk about calendars.
I don't get excited about calendars.
It's not always nourishing.
But date day, date lunches,
that's usually a Monday lunch for us,
my day off.
I could take Alyssa out,
maybe eat some dumplings anywhere in Chatswood.
It doesn't bother me.
And I could sit and stare into Alyssa's eyes.
And we don't even need to talk.
And it is just nourishing for the soul.
But we don't need to talk
because of our long, shared history.
We can just spend time,
and I can spend time with Alyssa
because of our history together.
And it's nourishing.
But imagine if I did that on the first date.
I don't know if you've dated a person
for the first time recently.
Imagine on the first date,
they're just sitting there,
staring at you.
I don't think you'd get to a second date,
do you?
Thanks, Nick.
Obviously, it's not what Sam did.
I'm glad for you.
Knowing God, like Paul prayed,
for this church is so important.
Dwelling on what he has done,
on how he has blessed us,
on who our God is,
it nourishes the soul.
It takes us from talking to God,
like a servant to a master,
to a child talking to a God,
who is a father.
This is one of the real distinctives
about Christianity.
We don't have a master-servant relationship,
but it's a child to a father.
And yet, so often,
prayer can feel like we're trying
to twist God's arm into giving us things.
You know, getting the parking spot,
getting the job,
getting the grades at school,
getting mum and dad off your back,
whatever it is.
And God is a generous father,
and he loves to give us things.
But if we only pray to God
to get things,
it's like that 2D movie picture.
We can miss out on the 3D picture.
That prayer is not just about
getting things from God.
It's about getting more of God.
Romans 8, verse 15.
The Spirit you receive
does not make you slaves,
so that you live in fear again.
Rather, the Spirit you received
brought about your adoption to sonship.
And by Him we cry,
Abba, Father.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit
that we are God's children.
Now, if we are children,
then we are heirs,
heirs of God,
and co-heirs with Christ.
Paul, again here in Romans,
he's encouraging people,
they're not slaves,
but they're made children
adopted into this family
who can cry out,
Father.
But to be able to cry out,
Father,
means that we have to be
sitting under His roof.
Imagine the picture of,
from many movies,
of an unruly teenager
adopted into a new family.
For that family to work,
He's going to have to
sit under that roof
and under that authority.
And so for us,
as children before our Father,
we need to submit to Him.
To draw near to God
is to acknowledge that
God is God with a big capital G,
and that we are the child.
And so it looks like
not rebelling against
our Heavenly Father,
but choosing obedience,
choosing to follow,
to come before God
in a posture of trust,
like the chick
under the chicken's wing,
the hen's wing.
Because God is the one
who is in control
of all situations.
And it's that posture
we come to Him
when we pray.
And so when we know
who God is,
and dwell on that,
it leads to trusting in God.
And when we trust in Him,
we can draw close,
submitting to Him,
and it leads to intimacy.
And to be God's child,
like Romans 8 says,
means that we are His heirs,
and the heir has an inheritance
from the Father.
So we don't just come to God
to get things from God.
We come to God in prayer
because we trust Him to be God.
And that way we get more
of God Himself
by submitting and drawing near.
We pray to get God.
We pray to be close to Him,
to be intimate,
and in relationship with Him.
And God loves to give us
the things that we need.
As I've gotten older,
the more my preference
for birthday presents
and Christmas presents
has changed.
They used to be about
getting the things I want,
but the best presents,
it turns out,
aren't things,
although things are good,
it's the people giving them.
It's the reason my kids' craft
is so special and meaningful.
And, you know,
if you're a leader of my kids,
thank you for doing craft
with them this morning.
If you go into my,
into the church office
and go to my desk,
you will see my kids' art
all around my desk.
Not because it's particularly good,
but because my children
are special
and because they're important to me.
When we just expect God
to be a prayer-answering piñata,
when we use prayer as a stick
to get things from Him,
we miss out on an intimate relationship
with a Father who loves us.
Prayer isn't just about
getting things from God,
it is about drawing near to Him
in submission to His will,
knowing that He is in control.
Maybe you're thinking at this point,
okay, okay,
you've convinced me, sure,
I need to pray more,
that sounds good,
drawing near to God through prayer,
but I just don't want to.
Prayer is hard
when it's not intimate,
when it's not nourishing.
It can just feel like a duty
that we just have to do.
Maybe even today,
at the prayers
that have been said up the front,
you've just said amen at the end.
Maybe we just go through the motions
at church,
at me,
even at home.
How can prayer go from duty
to delight?
Jesus has a warning for us
when it comes to prayer
from Matthew 6.
When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues
and on the street corners
to be seen by others.
Truly, I tell you,
they have received their reward in full.
But when you pray,
go into your room,
close the door,
and pray to your Father
who is unseen.
Then your Father,
who sees what He's done in secret,
will reward you.
And when you pray,
do not keep on babbling
like pagans,
for they think
they will be heard
because of their many words.
Do not be like them
if your Father knows
what you need
before you ask Him.
The hypocrites,
most likely the Pharisees,
they saw it
as something they had to do
to pray to God.
And so they would do it
so that they could get a reward.
They would do it out in public.
And people would see them
and go,
oh, these are Pharisees.
They're praying for us.
Aren't they so pious and wonderful?
And they would get their reward.
They weren't praying
out of relationship.
They were praying out of duty.
The pagans,
well,
they prayed for long periods of time
to try to get their God to hear them.
Maybe God will hear me
if I pray for long periods of time.
But that's not an intimate relationship.
Jesus says something radically different.
Go and pray in secret.
Don't babble.
Your Father sees you.
He hears you.
He knows what you're going to pray for.
And so Jesus shows
that the test
of a person's spiritual life
is not what we do in public.
It's not how we go
and how we look on a Sunday,
whether we can say amen
or whether we sing in church,
but it is about
whether we are praying in private.
It's in those hidden moments
that will show
whether we have a
nourishing,
intimate relationship
with God
or not.
You might be feeling guilty
right now.
That's not my intention.
And over the five weeks
of this series,
we hope to grow
in prayer together.
But right now,
I just want to show
that we can delight
in prayer
in all seasons.
In the Old Testament
prophetic book,
Habakkuk,
they were under
a lot of stress.
There was
a lot of
heartache going on.
Let me read from Habakkuk 3.
Though the fig tree
should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail,
and the fields
yield no food,
the flock be cut off
from the fold,
and there be no herd
in the stalls.
That paints a terrible
picture of famine
and starvation.
Yet,
I will rejoice
in the Lord.
I will take joy
in the God
of my salvation.
Because Habakkuk
knows who his God is,
that he is a God
of salvation,
even though
everything around him
looks terrible,
he can still
rejoice
in his God
and delight in him.
And so when we know
every blessing
that we have received,
because God loves us,
we can rejoice.
We can come to God
as his child
because we know
that he has saved us
through his son's death
and resurrection.
It means our prayers
can go from duty
to delight.
We don't have to pray
to twist God's arm.
We don't have to pray
long prayers
just so he'll hear us.
Take something
like the Lord's Prayer
from Matthew 6.
Has anybody ever
prayed this prayer
before the Lord's Prayer?
How many times
do you think
he would have
prayed this prayer?
A lot?
I wonder
how many times
it's been
prayed in the church.
Did anybody
that was here this morning
try and crunch
those numbers
for how many times
we've prayed
the Lord's Prayer
in this church?
Steve's just doing
some quick calculations
in his mind.
I wonder
how many times
has the Lord's Prayer
been prayed here?
How many times
has it just been done
by a rote
by the people
in the church?
When we have
a dry relationship
with God
when we don't
have his blessings
in Christ
in front of our eyes
saying the Lord's Prayer
can just be something
we do from memory
something we just
read off the screen
and it can have
no meaning
no joy
and no delight
in God.
But when you're
holding on to
God's promises
it means this
simple prayer
that Jesus
taught his disciples
to pray
can be a delight.
Knowing how much
God loves us
and his graciousness
to us
even though we sin
makes his forgiveness
so much more delightful.
And so it can take
some simple words
forgive us our sins
have so much more
meaning and significance
when we know
how depraved we are.
Even when I'm well fed
and I'm physically
nourished
I can rejoice
and delight
in the God
who provides
not just my food
but all things for me.
And so I can pray
give us today
our daily bread
and these words
can have so much
more meaning
and delight.
Again
I'm talking a lot
about my wife tonight
that's okay.
In my relationship
with Alyssa
I can walk out the door
and just say
I love you
goodbye
and it can just be
something I say.
I've said that
a thousand times before
and it can just be
something I say.
I can even say it
in the midst of conflict
you know
if we
if we went to bed
fighting
you know
just say those words.
I can say it
half-heartedly
but I can also say
those three little words
with all of the weight
of our nearly 12 years
of marriage
behind them.
Our prayer
can be something
we just do
out of duty
or it can be
a delight
to rejoice
with a God
who delights in us
that despite our sin
despite our depravity
he has showed us
grace and love.
I wonder
how differently
we would be
as a church
if we prayed
like this.
If we were people
who delighted
to pray
not just to get
things from God
but because we've
already got him
because we've got
every blessing
and we are his children
and we want to
draw near to him.
What would we be like
as a church
if we had that third D
the devotion
to prayer?
Would we delight
in the people
that God places
around us
because of us
delighting in God?
Would we extend
the hand of friendship
to others
because we have
an intimate friendship
with God?
Would we just
pray prayers
appreciating the things
around us
and not always
thinking about
how much better
life could be?
Would we pray prayers
appreciating who God
is
instead of to
get things from God?
You may not feel
particularly equipped
for prayer
at this point
but my desire
is that we would
just want
to talk to God.
And so
I've just recently
started reading
through the Psalms
and I've been
summarizing them
and praying them
every night.
I think I've done
five days in a row
and they have been
wonderful.
I'm not sure
if you've ever
tried to read
the Bible at night.
I've always failed
at reading the Bible
at night.
I don't know why.
I get into bed
and I fall asleep.
I go to bed
regardless of the time
and I go,
great!
Time to read the Psalms
and pray.
It has been wonderful.
And so I'm going
to be doing something
for the next four weeks,
the next four Wednesdays.
I'm going to be down
at a cafe
that looks like this.
It's called Pichon.
Does anybody know
where Pichon is?
Yes?
Where is it?
Near the station.
Just down that way,
near the train station,
next to Woolworths.
You've got the train station,
you go up the escalator,
you turn left,
you kind of go around
a little bit
and it's right there.
I don't know
if it's the best coffee.
It's got a good cafe,
a good coffee machine,
a Lamazocca,
so it's good.
But I like it
because there's space inside.
And so I'm going
to be there
every Wednesday
for the next four weeks
from 7am
till 8am.
I'm going to probably
go to the gym after that,
you can join me
for that too.
Please come and pray with me.
If you don't feel
particularly equipped
to pray,
come and let's figure
it out together.
I'm going to be
reading my Bible,
praying every Wednesday
for the next four weeks
at this cafe.
If you don't have
anything to do
because uni hasn't started,
you can get up early
and come and pray
and then go home
and go back to sleep.
That's okay.
And so what we're
going to do now
is Sarah is going
to click through
the Lord's Prayer
slowly for us.
And what I want
to do as a church
is just to spend
some time
praying through
the Lord's Prayer
individually.
And so as these
different slides come up,
instead of just
praying it,
spend a moment
delighting in the truth
that this has for us.
We'll spend
a couple of minutes
doing this
and then I'm going
to pray through
the Lord's Prayer
for us together.
So please take
a couple of moments
to pray
and I'll pray
for us in a couple of minutes.
to pray
in calcs.
Thank you.
Lord, help us to not miss out on the privilege of being able to come to the foot of your throne and to talk to you.
Help us to delight in you, Lord.
Hallowed be your name.
Father, we ask that we would praise and glorify you.
That we would treasure Jesus above all other things in our lives.
And that all the glory would go to you, Lord.
Your kingdom come.
Heavenly Father, we ask that we would see your kingdom come into our lives.
That we personally would seek to see the gospel expressed in our lives so that people around us would see it.
So that it would spread forth from this church into Chatswood and all across Sydney.
So that your kingdom would spread here and across the world, Lord.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us to come before you in submission.
That we would choose to do your will so that we could draw close to you, Lord.
Father, we thank you that we call you Father.
Help us to come before you and not to flee and run away.
Give us today our daily bread.
God, I thank you again so much for how you have richly provided for us.
Physically, spiritually, emotionally, through our Lord Jesus.
Father, but it is easy to take the things we have for granted.
To take the food for granted that we have.
And to take our financial wealth for granted.
Father, again I ask that we would not treasure anything above Jesus.
But help us to come before you daily in dependence upon you, Lord.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lord, that you would forgive even people like us.
Just speaks to your graciousness to us, Lord.
Father, help us to be like you.
To forgive others, Lord.
And we ask that we would not be led into temptation.
Deliver us from evil, Lord.
Deliver us from the world and from the devil.
Help us not make you sad or grieved by the things we do.
But we ask that you would help us to bring honor and glory to you.
Lord, the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours.
Now and forever.
Amen.