WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:07.200 Good morning everyone. Good to see you, especially if you're visiting. It's great to see you. 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:14.620 What a great scripture to start from this morning as we start our new series as we talk about prayer. 00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:22.559 And as we think about prayer this morning, one of my favourite weeks on an Alpha course is 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:29.979 how, why and how do we pray? It's really interesting. There was Oswald Chambers said, 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:37.899 we have to pray with our eyes on God, not on our difficulties. And this morning, in fact, 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:42.480 if you were a little bit early, you would have seen this place was packed with families 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:49.780 and they were talking about the enormity of God. And as we think about prayer, we talk about this 00:00:49.780 --> 00:01:00.120 connection with the enormity of the God that we worship. So I get to kick off this series 00:01:00.120 --> 00:01:11.180 with why do we pray? So why do we pray? Firstly, because God, Jesus told us to, and he showed us. 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:16.500 I suppose I could sit down now and say that's the end of the sermon and many of you will be really 00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:23.700 pleased. Because Jesus told us to. We are told, we are commanded to do that. It's an essential part, 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:29.140 but mostly it's an essential part of our relationship with him. We want to build relationship. 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:34.579 When you get to know somebody, you want to build that relationship with them. You want to know about 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:41.299 them. You're interested in them. The thing is, it's just not, you're not praying, you're not speaking 00:01:41.299 --> 00:01:50.019 to somebody, connecting with somebody in a vacuum. The whole intention about prayer is about relationship. 00:01:51.780 --> 00:02:00.420 Imagine if you can, with the one you love, not actually communicating with them. Maybe that 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:08.180 resounds something, maybe even, or if it's a one-sided conversation all the time, maybe that resounds a 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:15.219 little bit more sometimes in a relationship. The thing is, this is an intentional two-way conversation 00:02:15.219 --> 00:02:23.460 that we're talking about. It's not just this one-way thing that we're doing. In the next few weeks, as we 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:31.700 rapidly approach Advent, we're going to explore what's the point of prayer? Why didn't God answer my prayer? 00:02:31.699 --> 00:02:40.099 And how do I pray? But the question this morning is, we've encountered this morning, is the disciples 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:46.679 just before this reading, where Jesus actually gives them this explanation and actually talks to them 00:02:46.679 --> 00:02:53.819 about, tries to unpack this, they have actually, he has actually given them a prayer to pray, which is the 00:02:53.819 --> 00:03:02.479 Lord's Prayer. And my guess is that they had seen Jesus doing this thing. And they had said, teach us 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:10.120 how to do that. Because we see that it works. We've seen you doing this day in and day out. You're going 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:15.740 off, you're praying, you're connecting with the Father. And then out of that, amazing things happen. 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:24.060 So how do we do this? Show us, tell us how to do this. And my guess is that they had already answered 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:35.740 the question, why pray? Because they'd seen it happen. Prayer was front and center in Jesus's life. 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:43.700 And therefore, he wants to do the same, for us to do the same as he was showing us, to live that life, 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:50.539 to be a part of that. Remember, you know, this was a culture at the time where you had to jump through 00:03:50.539 --> 00:03:58.179 lots of hoops to even talk to God. And yet Jesus was saying, now you can cut all of that out. And you 00:03:58.179 --> 00:04:03.719 can have this direct approach. You know, if you remember, you know, when Jesus died on the cross, 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:11.000 the curtain was torn in two in the temple. There was that division that had always been there. And there 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:18.660 was this physical thing to say, no, that is no more. There is this direct contact and relationship 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:27.240 with a God that wants to have a relationship with you and I in the everyday, 24-7. But why pray? 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:36.279 I think relationship is a good place to start. You know, we have been given this direct access 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:44.619 and communication with God. The maker of heaven and earth, the one who threw stars into space, 00:04:44.939 --> 00:04:51.139 the one who created us and shaped us, our sovereign Lord. And if that doesn't fire you, 00:04:51.479 --> 00:04:59.659 then I'm not really sure what does. Because this is the awesomeness of prayer. We know that Jesus 00:04:59.659 --> 00:05:05.939 intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. He told us he would do that. He is an 00:05:05.939 --> 00:05:12.100 advocate for us. And there's nothing better than an advocate in your life who knows about your life 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:20.500 because Jesus lived it. Jesus lived that life. He knows our joys. He knows our pain. He knows our 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:28.220 challenges. He knows our temptations. He knows, on our case, he knows that we are not alone. 00:05:28.220 --> 00:05:37.980 And likewise, it says in Romans 8, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what 00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:46.120 to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:56.340 Have you ever worried about not what to pray? What do I pray about? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. 00:05:56.339 --> 00:06:06.719 What do you say? With this huge accessibility to the Lord Almighty, my question is, why don't we pray 00:06:06.719 --> 00:06:13.939 as much as we should? I don't know what your prayer life is like. You probably don't know what mine is 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:20.579 like. You probably think I'm on my knees 24-7. You'll notice my knees aren't worn out. 00:06:20.579 --> 00:06:29.539 But it is about prayer 24-7. It is like breathing. And if you manage a team, if you manage a team, 00:06:29.659 --> 00:06:35.079 maybe you have been leaders, maybe you're in a management setting, maybe you've been part of a 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:43.740 team, you will know so well that you will normally discover that your team are far more effective and 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:51.220 efficient, happy and empowered if they know why they are doing what they've been asked to do. 00:06:52.220 --> 00:07:00.420 And we have been asked to pray. That's our call as Christians. Prayer is the same. We are called to 00:07:00.420 --> 00:07:10.480 pray. So why do you pray? Now it's an 1115 service which is really interesting because we get to that 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:15.980 point where we get to talk to one another. Now maybe if here, even if you're a couple and you 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:21.640 haven't talked together this morning, this is a great opportunity. But the question is this morning, 00:07:21.640 --> 00:07:35.420 and it's quite simple, why do you pray? It's that simple. Why do you pray? We sung about we bring 00:07:35.420 --> 00:07:41.939 everything to God in prayer. Pray in Greek, which I won't even try to attempt to pronounce, 00:07:42.460 --> 00:07:48.840 but literally means to give thanks and to make requests. And in Philippians 4-6 it says, 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:56.180 don't worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, 00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:04.139 let your requests be known to God. Bring it to God in prayer. I've heard so many people say, 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:11.680 oh God, God won't be bothered with this thing. He's got bigger things to worry about. That isn't 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:19.399 the case. In our relationship and what we say is we bring everything to God in prayer. That's what he 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:25.599 wants. In other words, when we pray, we need to come to God in an attitude of worship. And in that mind, 00:08:26.099 --> 00:08:32.980 we need to bring those requests and bring our questions. Firstly, I sort of broke these things into 00:08:32.980 --> 00:08:41.279 four things. And the first one is this, on our slide we'll come up. Prayer does not inform God. 00:08:41.920 --> 00:08:49.879 It involves God. It involves God in what we do. In Matthew 6-8 it said, your father knows what you 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:57.139 need before you ask. Matthew 6-8 demonstrates, interestingly, a point about God's inimpotence. 00:08:57.139 --> 00:09:04.840 God is already informed and knows ahead of time what we need. For me personally, the good thing is, 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:12.039 is that I know that God's not shockable. You know, don't think that you can shock God. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:21.639 You can tell him everything. So why pray? Why pray then if God knows everything? And I've known so many 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:28.240 people who have used this verse as an excuse not to pray. Why do I bother to pray? Because God knows 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:36.740 everything. Yet on the contrary, God wants us to bring our life and our heart and our needs to him 00:09:36.740 --> 00:09:43.699 in our concerns and our joys. He wants to be involved in that. Why wouldn't he want us to do this? 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:50.440 You know, it is because he wants to be involved in our everyday. That he wants us to do life with him. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:59.200 Not just exclude him, it's to some place elsewhere. You know, why would he want to do this? It's because 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:05.640 he wants to be involved. If you've raised children, if you've known what children's like, when they're 00:10:05.640 --> 00:10:12.780 very young, they come home and you say, what did you do at school today? And you get this great thing, 00:10:12.779 --> 00:10:19.799 don't you? About what they've done in great, great detail of what they've done at school. And they tell 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:27.799 you, it's just wonderful. What a great picture of us with God. But sadly, some of us have moved into 00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:38.839 that sort of adolescent phase where, what did you do today at school? Not much. Well, what did not much? 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:47.720 Well, you know, we did stuff. Really? Well, what did that stuff look like? Oh, what times tea? 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:55.800 You know, I've interviewed prisoners that are easier to do that with than to interview. You know, 00:10:56.040 --> 00:11:00.280 suddenly we get into this relationship with God where it all just becomes very complacent. 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:08.059 God is really interested. Why pray? Because God wants to be part of what we do. You know, 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:14.459 that's what this verse is saying, is that God knows us. He also knows what we need better than we know 00:11:14.459 --> 00:11:21.419 ourselves. So therefore, why not be in a conversation with him to actually gain what he wants to share 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:27.600 with us? Therefore, it's logical to seek and to share and discuss our day. Two Chronicles said, 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:34.159 for the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:41.180 committed to him. Where wouldn't I want that affirmation and confirmation from God? You know, 00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:48.740 to hear that well done. It's well done, Clive. That's okay. You're doing well. You may have had a tough day, 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:54.800 but you're doing well. Isn't that great when we hear that? This simply reiterates that God is actively 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:02.979 interested in us and our daily needs to give us our daily bread as it prayed just before Jesus shares 00:12:02.979 --> 00:12:09.979 this thing with his disciples, giving us his life presence and power. By spending time daily in prayer 00:12:09.979 --> 00:12:22.439 and worship, we invite God in. God wants to hear from us. Secondly, next slide, is God does not change, 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:30.920 prayer does not change God. It changes us. You know, I hope we aren't presumptuous to think we can change 00:12:30.920 --> 00:12:37.820 the character of God. I've been in a few prayer meetings where people have tried to change the 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:44.520 character of God by telling him what his job should be. You know, okay, that's okay. John, I think you 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:51.340 should be doing this. You know, you get that reply, are you sure? Are you really sure you want it that 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:59.399 way? I remember many years back, there was the, it was really, it was when we had heavy snow and ice, 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:08.340 and Russ and I were at the end of Russ's road. And we saw this car slipping slowly, uncontrollably 00:13:08.340 --> 00:13:15.280 down the road. And it was all sort of hands on deck, people got out. And there was a guy that stood at 00:13:15.280 --> 00:13:21.600 the side who said, oh, I wouldn't have brought, I wouldn't have brought a car out on a day like this. 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:31.000 Thank you so much for that observation. God just doesn't want to stand by and just say, 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:39.080 oh, I wouldn't have done that if I was you. God actually wants to get involved. That's this thing, 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:46.580 prayer does not change God. It changes us when we allow him to be involved. God is our rock, 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:54.700 a solid place and character on which we stand. This deep relationship with him changes us. 00:13:54.700 --> 00:14:02.360 A great film that I love is Shadowlands, which is the story of C.S. Lewis. And if you remember, 00:14:02.520 --> 00:14:09.460 he fell in love in later life with this wonderful lady called Joy. And shortly after they fell in love 00:14:09.460 --> 00:14:19.620 and had that wonderful beginning of a relationship, Joy was diagnosed with cancer. And C.S. Lewis was very 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:27.259 honest about this. He later wrote a book called A Grief Revisited. But again, in the film, what really 00:14:27.259 --> 00:14:35.560 struck me is that we can often come out with platitudes. And yet C.S. Lewis was really honest. 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:43.560 It doesn't change God, it changes me. It just flows out of me. And that's why so many Christians, 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:53.739 I believe, so often walk away from God. It's because when their shopping list of prayers aren't 00:14:53.739 --> 00:14:59.679 seemingly answered the way in which we expect them to be, or at least the way we want them to be. 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:06.699 And if you ask a Christian if prayer was important, they will answer yes, of course it is. If I were to 00:15:06.699 --> 00:15:12.819 ask you if prayer, if you pray as much as you know you should, then your answer may probably be no. 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:21.779 The issue is that it should just flow out of us, just in an everyday conversation and part of our 00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:30.439 life with God. Because why? Because it doesn't change God, it changes me. Prayer without ceasing, 00:15:30.599 --> 00:15:38.659 as Paul encourages us to do. Prayer changes us. It opens up a new aspect that God wants to reveal in 00:15:38.659 --> 00:15:45.159 us. And for me personally, and I don't know about you, the thing that I find prayer helps is it helps 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:53.299 me in my character. It helps grow character into me, godly character, in the way I think, in the way I 00:15:53.299 --> 00:16:00.500 react, in the way I respond. Well, how do I react to this person? How do I react to this situation? 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:05.200 How do I react to this email that's just come in? Lord, would you show me? 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:18.500 Because it will change me, it won't change you, but it changes me. Thirdly, prayer does not get our 00:16:18.500 --> 00:16:22.600 will done in heaven, it gets God's will done on earth. 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:33.259 In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to the Father, not my will, but yours be done. Why pray? Why pray? And I 00:16:33.259 --> 00:16:40.019 would suggest to you, it's about building trust. We want to build trust. We trust, we say, we trust in 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:47.879 God. You know, when the chips are down, the question is, do we trust? In trust, if you get to know somebody 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:53.960 really well, in a relationship with you, you build trust, you build relationship with them, and we 00:16:53.960 --> 00:17:01.399 trust him for God's will to reign in us and through us. How often do we want our own will to be done in 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:08.359 our lives, but not God's will? I love that verse in Jeremiah, for I know the plans I have for you, 00:17:08.460 --> 00:17:14.640 declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:23.560 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you, and you will seek me 00:17:23.560 --> 00:17:30.900 and find me when you search for me with all your heart, and I will be found by you, declares the Lord. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:37.060 The thing that jumps out at me there is with all your heart. With everything that we do, we need to 00:17:37.060 --> 00:17:43.000 start putting our trust in the Lord's will for our lives. In Matthew 6.10, Jesus taught his disciples 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:50.319 to pray, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I think it's important we tell God what it 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:56.000 is that we think that we need, and then allow God to show us what we really need. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:04.960 But, the heavy emphasis on the but, we need to listen to God and find out what he thinks 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:15.980 and what he knows that we need. Not my will be done, but your will. Why pray? Simply to experience 00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:22.039 what God's will in your life. Russ has given me a really, thanks for the advert, Russ, for the thing, 00:18:22.140 --> 00:18:30.700 but the, I was quite humbled to be asked to do a podcast by a lady from ITV, and first of all, 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:35.880 I said no, because I was so humbled, and she said, no, I really think people want to hear your story. 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:42.240 And as I thought about this, it came back to me quite starkly, 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:54.180 that I had to really ask what God's will was in my life. But what is your will in my life? 00:18:54.180 --> 00:19:02.259 And God's will in my life at this time for Mandy and I was to sell our house, to take a dramatic cut 00:19:02.259 --> 00:19:08.900 in income, to trust God with my family's needs, to cut off what was a certain status I had in the 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:16.560 community and in my job. You know, it was nuts. It just didn't, you know, honestly, God, you are asking 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:26.659 what? But prayer, if we're honest about prayer, is seeking and asking and knowing what his good and 00:19:26.659 --> 00:19:34.700 perfect will is in our life. You know, and reflecting back now, whose will did I want to be accomplished? 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:42.759 I'm so glad it was God's will. I'm so glad it was God's will. Just to think what I could be doing now 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:51.099 if I hadn't responded. You know, we really only have two choices, people. It's our will or God's 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:57.200 will. And it's really great to ask him to check in and say, what's your will for my life today, Lord? 00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:06.220 What is your good things that you've got for me? And finally, finally, prayer is not because God needs 00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:14.740 us, but because we need God. And that may seem quite obvious. In Isaiah 40, it says, all the nations 00:20:14.740 --> 00:20:22.120 are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless because God 00:20:22.120 --> 00:20:29.279 made us to serve him, not for merely God to serve us. And that might come as a bit of a shock 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:38.279 to some people who think that God is a sort of cosmic slot machine. You know, you just choose what 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:46.420 you want and you put it in and you expect him to deliver in the way in which we've asked. I'm so glad 00:20:46.420 --> 00:20:52.299 God hasn't responded to my prayers in that way because I probably wouldn't have got what I really 00:20:52.299 --> 00:21:02.859 wanted. Our sense is quite, if you make asks of God, know that God is secure in who he is, 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:09.399 that he will know what is good for you. In Galatians 6, it says, for if anyone considers himself to be 00:21:09.399 --> 00:21:21.740 something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. It's because God needs us. God needs us to work with 00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:29.339 him. God is not complete, but we are complete. God is not complete in us, but we are complete in him. 00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:38.799 And in him, you have been made complete, it says in Colossians, and he is the head over all rule and 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:49.440 authority. Trust him. Trust him. Prayer is the key to being made complete in Jesus Christ, I can assure you. 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:56.200 And this happens through prayer. And I suggest strongly, this is why we pray. Not to inform God, 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:04.519 not to change him to our way of thinking, not to get our will done, not because he needs us, 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:10.120 but because we need him, love him, and we long to worship him. 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:21.539 At the end of our verse this morning, it talks about God knocking on the door. If you've been part 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:28.459 of the Alpha course this time, on this one particular week, this was one picture that on our Alpha course 00:22:28.459 --> 00:22:36.719 that caused a lot of conversation. Because this picture was painted by Holman Hunt. It hangs in St. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:43.160 Paul's Cathedral. I remember as an eight-year-old, it was my only school visit where we ever went, 00:22:43.579 --> 00:22:49.160 and we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I remember gazing at this picture. So impressed was I, 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:56.960 I bought a bookmark, and I still have it. But here in this picture that Holman Hunt had painted, 00:22:57.100 --> 00:23:04.640 is Jesus the light of the world, is Jesus stands at this door. And at this door, there is ivy all over it. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:09.060 You will notice when you look at it, there is no handle on the outside. 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:19.380 Jesus is inviting us to open the door. Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:27.240 and if any person opens it, I will come in and I will be with them. The invitation here with prayer 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:34.579 is that Jesus longs to come in prayer, if we open the door, to come and meet with us, 00:23:35.019 --> 00:23:40.480 to fill us afresh with the power of his Holy Spirit, to engage with the light of the world, 00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:46.960 to illuminate our life, to bring light and life to the fullness of the situations in which we find 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:53.740 ourselves in, to bring his peace and his presence and his fullness into what we do in our lives, 00:23:53.980 --> 00:24:00.039 and to allow us to worship him fully, to know a freedom that the world cannot give, 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:08.400 to experience him, to know his heart, his life, his purpose for us. So my question is, why not pray? 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:16.700 We pray because it changes us.