When you pray

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Alrighty, oh, let's pray. Father, we, Lord, just humbly come before you. And Father, the words of the old hymn come back to me at this point in time. How can it be that a God would love me, that love's so amazing that he would die for me? Father, we just thank you for Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that he died on the cross for us, Lord, that he gives us eternal life through the resurrection. And Father, we pray, Lord, that he also, Lord, as we unpack the scripture today, Lord, for his teaching, Lord, for his disciples and for us today, Lord, is so pertinent to us, Lord, as a challenge to us. But Father, above all, Lord, it's about our relationship with you. And Father, we seek that with all our hearts and minds. Father, pray for those today who might be struggling and thinking as we've shared that sometimes prayer isn't answered. But Lord, we know that in your will and your timing, you answer accordingly. And Father, just help us to understand that more dearly. Well, we thank you in your name, amen. Well, we're in week two of our call to prayer. Who was challenged last week about how we pray and what prayer is about? Is there any change there? At Bobber College, I was told when we preach, we have a heart to change. And if we hadn't changed, well, then we think, well, Lord, we wait for you to do that in your timing. So, how'd you go? There was a bit of a revelation for us or some great things. There was an interesting illustration that Pastor Dylan shared with us about lists. I'm gonna speak about that in a moment. But just to put it all into context about the call to prayer, this prayer that Jesus did for his disciples happened in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, chapters five to seven in Matthew. Right in the midst of everything that was being said, all the teaching about divorce and about looking after the poor, about revenge, all those things Jesus spoke about. In the midst, he spoke about prayer. And it's interesting when you read in the script, right at the start of chapter five, it says Jesus saw the big crowd and he called his disciples together. So when he called his disciples together, they all said, yes, Lord, we'll come and sit at your feet. But at the end of chapter seven, in verse 28, it said the crowds were amazed. So even though the discussion started with just a few people, with 12 people, thousands and thousands heard it. Because Jesus was bringing change. He's bringing a cultural shift to what people knew about prayer and what people perceived about God. And that is what our heart is for our church and this community, is to see how we can be obedient to God and do things perhaps a little bit differently to what we've been doing because God is speaking to us individually and as a group together. So it was a culture shift in heart and personal discipline because he talked about the Pharisees, about the people who babble and he talked about going into quiet room, he talked about their relationship stuff. And he wanted us to learn to pray from our heart and not our tongue. So our heart's connected to God and we pray that way. Because we're so used to making lists, aren't we? And when we have those lists, sometimes they get in the road. Jesus' transformation and attitude and action of prayer is what he was after. He was after the attitude of changing prayer. And I believe the message for us as a church is that no matter what you've learned so far, be prepared to learn something new. Can I ask you with all my heart to come to the church and pray? With all my heart to consider that for yourself. Says the Lord, what do you need to teach me about prayer? Because I might be 102 years old, not been a Christian for 99 years, but I still need to learn about prayer. The definition of maturity in Christianity is not how old you are, how long you've been walking with the Lord. The definition of Christianity is the amount of time, the maturity is the amount of time between you hear God and obey. That is maturity in Christ. So I challenge you with that today. So let's talk about lists. So it's interesting, isn't it? Who's likes to keep lists? I like to keep lists of things too. It's funny, I go to the shops and I have a list and I have things I've got to do on the list or the shopping down there. I never need a list when I go to Bunnings. I like to just go and let immerse myself in the culture of Bunnings. And oh, I need that, oh, I certainly need that. And do I need that? No, I don't need that. But when we make lists, we become part of a tick-and-flick culture. And the tick-and-flick culture sometimes comes from the screens we have. We just sort of scrolling, scrolling through. And one of the challenges we have is even though we organize our lives, we feel we're in control if we keep a list and we tick off as we go through. It gives us a self-censorship of accomplishment. Oh, good, I've got my list done today. And sometimes the woes are that we feel unfulfilled if we don't get our list done. And obviously, you know, who really knows except you and the keeper of the list? But the list is only of short-term importance. One of the dangers we have in Christianity is that when we're praying and in an emotional life, it becomes a bit of a tick off the list. As you can see on my list, off my phone, up here, I've got a time for Jesus, go for a walk, pray, eat a snack, go for a walk. Oh, no, let's go to work, sorry. Think about the mowing. I didn't get to those this week. Sermon prep reading and make lunch. We tend to have a list of priorities. But what happens when in our devotional life we go, oh, good, I've got some seven till 7.15 to do this. Let's just get it done and move on. Folks, I encourage you to understand this. That we may have a list with a pen and paper or we have a computer screen. But God owns the pen and the paper. So when we come into opportunity to really reflect upon our devotional life, these three weeks we have set aside, look at the Lord's prayer, it's about digging deeper into that, about understanding that more wholly. We'll say, well, Lord, what does this mean for me? We move from there. So let's have a look at this passage well, shall we? Jesus said, and we learned last week, he said, not if you pray, it's when you pray. In my NIV Bible, it says, and this is what you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Two aspects are happening here when we read this. One is about going up. The other one is about going in. Going up is about God, going in is about us. And when we read the Lord's prayer, when I remember when I first became a Christian and started going to church and they'd say the Lord's prayer in church, it freaked me out. Not of the words, the way it was done. All these people in church had once going, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. We forgive those who trespass against us. Oh man, chanting it. And I thought, it just put me off. I've got to be honest. Well, until I learned later what this was about and the words are important. And I thought it's the inspiration through our pastoral team as we've been praying about prayer for this term and going towards what we pray and led to believe it's going to be a significant decision at the end of this term, is how do we break this down? Well, there's three things that'll come out of this today. I hope that they'll connect with you. God is exalted. God, it's about God, exalted, yet it's relational. It's also about the kingdom in your life and how does that happen in your life and three, to rely on him. So when we think about our tick list, it's not a case of just ticking it but actually pausing with the pen long enough to say, God, have you done everything you need to do with me today during this time? We're gonna have call to prayer. We have a call to prayer every Tuesday morning, at seven o'clock here. Come when you can, go when you must. We have about half a dozen people who come to that because we know what life's like. I've had several people ask me about having it at nighttime as well and I thought, that's great. We can do it on a Tuesday night as well if that suits. And so we'll be building into this life of prayer for the church and then into the final stages. And I think I'm giving too much away here past little and past the day. We're gonna have a week of prayer where the church will be open 24 seven. And someone will be here to look after the church 24 seven for a week. Isn't that exciting? He's gonna be part of that. He thinks that's awesome. Oh my gosh, the hands aren't up. Oh, okay, let's try again. If you even think it might be a half a good idea, put your hand up. All right, okay. Put your hand up, you're gonna pray at home. No, don't pray at home, come here. And pray with us, we're encouraging with us so we can pray together. It will be because there is, and we'll talk about it a bit later, a cost to seeking God. Okay, let's pull it apart a bit more. The first part about the Discipline Prayer is relational. It starts off verse nine. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Hallowed there in the Greek word means to separate, consecrate, cleanse, purify, sanctify, regarding a reverence as holy. When we say those words, we're saying, holy God, it's just so awesome. Lord, I am reverence of you, Father, I respect you so much. There's so many words that we could put in that hallowed be thy name. But we don't just say those words, we need to think it from our heart. Need the words to come from our heart. We enter a sense of majesty, acknowledging his sovereignty, seeking his presence. And Daniel said these words. And Daniel, who was struggling, as we know and we read through the Old Testament, Daniel was in where he was with Nebuchadnezzar and the others and he was struggling with what was going on and what's going to happen, Lord. And they wanted to eat the wrong food. And he said these words. I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confess, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commands. He didn't ask, Lord, take away this thing from me. Lord, help me to give the right words to say to the gods. Lord, help me to understand this dream. He didn't say, Lord, I'm my bed's uncomfortable. Please make it more comfortable. His first and foremost thing was, glory to God. Hello'd be thy name. Part of our prayer response. When we understand that he sent his son to die on the cross for it should bring us humbly to our knees and say, Lord, hello'd be your name. You're sovereign over my life. All the stuff that's happening in my life, Lord. I know it's a hassle sometimes and I know I struggle with it, Lord. You are constant, you are there. If you believe that in your heart and soul and mind, then you walk into his presence in relationship. You become one with him and understand more deeply what it means to be in his presence. We don't have the tick and flick of our society. We have that deep understanding about who he is. You see, folks, we are our focus versus to be good disciples, to show much fruit. We're called to be disciples. Our church has been doing a solvorship for five years. But having Edmund come and speak about, challenging us about where we are, talking about trying to stop being compartmental Christians and being a whole life disciples. And then we come to this understanding, oh yeah, but so much is happening. I just struggle with it so much. Sometimes prayer is hit and miss with me. Sometimes I just can't make my head around it. Jesus said these words in Luke 9.23 about disciples. If you wanna follow me, fill out this form, get in line, and if it's not too hard, it's okay. Did I quote scripture correctly? No. Jesus said these words, if you want to follow me, you must give up the things they want. They must be willing to give up their lives and lay them down and follow me. There is a sacrifice to following Jesus. There is a cost to following Jesus. There is an opportunity to humble before Jesus and say, Lord, I haven't got the answers. And I know this is outside of my comfort zone, but you're calling me to prayer. You're calling me into a different way of understanding. Lord, I gotta get rid of my prejudices and I've gotta come before you and understand, I gotta pick up my cross and follow you. As hard as it's going to be, I know you are faithful to me, Lord. I know you'll be warped beside me in this. Do you believe that? And that's the question you ask yourself. Well, do you believe it? Not rhetorical. Do you believe it? I'm wondering if that was response to Jesus. I'm not telling on Jesus, but if he's sitting on the Sermon and Mount, I wonder if when he got up and walked away at the end of chapter seven, he was pretty good. Look, Jesus, he was pretty good. Nice words. I love the fact that when we come to God, he opens our eyes to things. We step into the intimacy of relationship that permeates through our bodies and lasts with us for the entire day. So when we come to our checklist of devotion in the morning and you know about the sacrifice, you know the call of a disciple to put all your prejudice aside, all your feelings aside and engage in Jesus, you'll stay with you for the rest of the day from the words he's put on your heart that morning and becomes that relational thing where you're reminded of his presence day by day, praying in the car as Sharon said, praying hopefully with your eyes open, Sharon. Yeah, good. Bit awkward, especially around here. Not too bad out of captain. We're being there in his presence on a day. You see folks, our prayer then reflects the closeness with God. It's not a checklist, it's not something you tick off, it reflects your closeness with God. You start to pray what his heart is. You start to understand the burden that he's placed. You take away your personal bias and you come into the presence of him. Couple of weeks ago when Ian shared with us about bias, actually Ian, I went down and I hunted through the Lockheed Valley years ago and I bought two bowls, lawn bowls. If I had to know when you were preaching on that, I could have given you one, you could have rolled it across the stage. But I had it on my desk for ages and people just to come in and sit at my desk and say, well, you're getting a bit old, dougie, you're gonna retire and start bowls. I said, no, that just reminds me to make sure my bias doesn't get in the road of who I am. Make sure your bias doesn't get in the road. So when you come into that closeness with God, you start to reflect his heart, the things of this world fade away and Jesus comes in and teaches us to pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The prayer goes on in verse 10 to talk about being kingdom focused. So not only are we talking about, nothing's about us yet. Have you noticed that? Nothing about me, nothing about you in there. It's all so far acknowledging who God is and then it's kingdom focus, the kingdom of heaven. Before me, I'm part of the kingdom of heaven, Lord. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's a big call. You think about those words. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom on in earth, your kingdom on earth. That's a big call. If only a big God can answer a big call. It's a state of big call. I suppose the question we have to ask, do we believe his kingdom is operating today amongst us in the believers and the hearts of the believers, in those who reach out for Jesus, those who reach towards Jesus, those who reach out with Jesus, those who live their days in faithfulness, no matter what their body is doing, no matter what their mind is doing, they hang on to God because they know he's there. Now, if you saw anything about the Emmys during the week, but Jelly Roll won a Grammy for one of his songs and he'd written it from the bottom of his heart and he got up there and he said roughly to the words that God can, music can change you, God can change you, Jesus can change you and this is about Jesus and Jesus can change you and he will always be with you to the end of the age. Along those lines, look it up on YouTube if you want, it's a great little testimony of his faith in his walk, whether or not he keeps going, we keep praying for him, we don't know where he is in his walk with God, but to say those words to a bunch of pagans who have been up there sprouting about other things from Satan and everything else and he speaks the truth, that's when you know your heart is speaking in the darkness, the light is coming through. And that's what the kingdom is about, his kingdom in my life, do you experience his kingdom in your life? Jesus promised his kingdom presence in John 17, 11, he said, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are in the world and I'm coming to you Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me so they may be as one as we are one. When we have the name of Jesus in our heart when he's transformed our life, we have God walking with us. It's our duty, it's our call, it's our understanding as a cycle to acknowledge him and all we say and do. It's a tough gig sometimes, but he's always faithful and always walks with you. When we understand what the kingdom means for us personally, it's about being transformed in heart and will in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 3.18 says, and we all with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the spirit. You're not there yet, you're on the journey for it. You're not perfect, but you're forgiven, you're on your way. When we think of the heavens first, the kingdom both has Jesus walking through and as people are engaging in the kingdom of heaven, as we are part of the kingdom of heaven, then it's the words start to come true to us. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Are you able, the will of God in your life to know what that's about? And it's always helpful to understand it's his will that'll be our will. Romans 12 says, do not be transformed by the patterns of this world by the scroll and flick, but be transformed by the nearing of your mind. You'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. When you read your Bible, when you pray, when you come into his presence, when you spend time with him and then contemplate him through the rest of the day, you'll start to understand what his will is. We think, well, let's get this thing ticked off. We've got some situations in our church that need to be worked through with Lord's help. And then we have a list straight away, we made a list. Pastors, we sat down and made a list and we go, okay, but at the end we had to make sure I put down question mark at the bottom of the list, something we hadn't thought of, maybe because God is thinking of it and he hasn't informed us yet. And one of the things about the seven weeks of prayer vigil we're having over the seven weeks, it will be an opportunity for us to hear what God is saying. We understand what he's keen about, we understand the personal worship, what we're saying, Lord, give us revelation. Lord, we pray in all humility, give us revelation that we may understand you more clearly and a way forward. The third discipline of prayer is relying on him. Verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. We acknowledge his provision in our life. I wonder how that reflects in your worship for him. It just came to my mind just now. How do we reflect of the acknowledgement of his provision in our life? Do we do it with a thankful heart? Do we do it with resentment saying, Lord, you've given me this, but you haven't given me that. I want this as well. Do we do it through worship in prayer? Do we do it through worship in offering? Do we do it through worship in music? Do we have the acknowledgement of that provision he has for us? One of the things that really impacted upon Shri and I when we came here was just how much the physical part of the church had changed. When I came to the Lord in this church, we were in a tin shed over on Myfield Road. We got moved out here eventually, and then the building got built, we were moved out here, and the building stayed the same way for a long time until one of the pastors, because we used to have a baptismal tin tank, put the hose in after the service in the morning, went and did young adults, then came back at six o'clock and opened the church, and the water was oozing out the weep holes. Then we got new carpet, and then we found out our sound wasn't good enough, so they dug a hole through the middle of the church to put concrete in, to put more, and that wasn't, then we had to go over the roof, and then we had to expand walls, and they got air conditioning. We're not finished yet, folks. It's not about this thing, it's about this thing. It's about what's in your heart and what God's doing to you as His church, changing who we are and challenging us to say, Lord, what does it mean to rely on you wholeheartedly? One of the great challenges we have is where we sit with God. I love the fact that when we have a church family that comes together and we have awesome morning teas, we have coffee that's awesome, we have great fellowship, we have wonderful singing and praising of God, we have this connection that's happening, we have people doing stuff in the community to become together. The essence of that is where you personally stand with God, and I'm wondering today where you are with the Lord. And John 6.35, it says these words, Jesus declared, I'm the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never go hungry, whoever believes in me will never go thirsty. Give us the day our daily bread, give us the bread that's going to last, give us the bread of eternal life. Lord, keep reminding us what it means to be in a relationship with you so we can share with others what it means to have that bread of life. If you don't know Jesus, Lord and Saviour, as a personal Lord and Saviour, can I encourage you to contemplate that today? The right and the mist of all this talk about prayer, this is the verse for you, that he is the bread of life that will last you for eternity. Have you considered what it means to be in a relationship with Jesus? So you can understand what prayer is, you can understand what the Bible is saying, so you can understand what it means to have a person walking with you through thick and thin. I encourage you today, if that is where you're at. In Matthew 7, 9 and 10, Jesus talks about the provision he has, and we can talk about the physical needs. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone, or if we ask for a fish, will give you a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how much, how good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? Good gifts. We gotta wait for those good gifts. We don't know what those good gifts are, we think we do, because we have a system that we put in place. We think, oh, God's given us a good house, God's given us all some vehicle to arrive. God's given us great worship leaders, God's given us awesome pastors. So awesome, He's given us three of them. God's given us awesome coffee. No one laughed at that third one, I'm sorry. Probably the most important things to understand about relying on Him, is it helps us to align a proper view of our needs. Because when you ask Him, Lord, what are my needs, they'll be different to what your wants are. They'll be different to what you think. I need that. When I go to Bunnings with my, up my list, I have to do that whole thing inside my head. Is this something I need or something I want? When I go to the day-night shop, is this something I need, is this something I want? When I see people in their awesome four-wheel drives, is that something I need? Do I need that winch? Do I need those max-tracks things? Do I need an awning that wraps right around or is something I want? What is God saying to your heart today about your needs? Whatever asked Him about your needs. Lord, what are my needs? What do I need? And amongst all this, we call it a humbly pray. Do it out of humility. In our seven weeks, we're going to be asking for feedback from folk and you're going to be reluctant to give it because you think, is this really what they want to hear? It's not about us as what God says to your heart to write down and to send through. Because we want to get a feeling, a sense of what the Spirit is doing through the church. And we'll know you'll do it in humility. Not about what you think is important, what you think, but understand what God's laying on your heart. And you know what happens, folks? It says in Acts, when they got together, everything had anything in common. It means that there's a common spirit that says, this is direction you will go. Give us this day, Lord, our daily bread. We humbly pray. As His disciples, we glorify Him and produce much fruit for His kingdom. So that's the disability of prayer, the first three verses of that part of the Lord's prayer. Pastor Dave's going to bring us an awesome closing to the trilogy next week. The distal prayer is this. It's God's sovereignty number one. It's God's purpose and will number two. It's God provision number three. It's our obedience number four. Because we might not like what we hear from God, but we've got to obey because we know there's blessing coming with that. We are experiencing a culture shift. Are you experiencing a culture shift? I believe we are. We learn to pray with our hearts and not with our tongues. We learn to pray with our hearts and not with our tongues. There's a... I'll bring it with me. I've got to drop it. Excuse me. I've got a middle ear infection going down like that and nearly had disaster written all over it. Thank you, Michael. Casting crowns wrote a song in 2004. And I love it and I can't play it because of licensing, but I can sing it. Someone's praying right now, Lord, let that not be your will that Pastor Doug sings. It's a great song. I love it. I love the melody, but I love the words even more. I'm just trying to pick a short section here. What if the church, for heaven's sake, finally stepped up to the plate, took a stand upon God's promises and stormed Hell's rusty gates? What if his people prayed? And those who bear his name would humbly seek his face and turn from their own way. And what would happen if we prayed for those raised up to lead the way? Then maybe kids and schools could pray in unborn children's sea light of day. What if the life that we pursue came from hunger for the truth? What if the family turned to Jesus, stopped asking Oprah for what to do? He said that they would hear. His promise has been made. He will answer loud and clear if only we would pray. If my people called my name, if they'll humbly humble themselves and pray, my people called my name. They humbly served and pray. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your desire, Father, for us to not be static. Lord, for us not to be in a place where we just sit and wait, but Lord, you call us into action. Lord, you call us to pray. Father, when you spoke to the disciples, you're speaking to us here in 2026, Lord, in Kabuchah Baptist Church, because you have a purpose for our church. Lord, you have a direction you want us to go, Father, but we need to know what that is. Lord, we can't make up our own mind, but all we can't make up our own bias. Lord, we need to wait upon you. Lord, call us as your people to pray. Father, as we've just learned, it's about putting you first in your will, Father, and being obedient, humbly asking, because we know what you provide, what you provide to your purpose. Father, I pray for each person here, that Lord, you won't give them rest this week unless they spend quality time with you. Lord, don't let them flick and tick. Holy Spirit, convict them when they go to flick past after a couple of minutes. Lord, let them ponder. Lord, I pray, Father, you'll encourage us, you'll compel us, you'll draw us near to you because, Lord, we need to know what you're about. Lord, we need to know what you want for us. Oh, thank you for your son, Jesus. Lord, who changed everyone's hearts and minds when he died on the cross and was risen again. Thank you, Lord, you've called us to be his disciples to glorify you, Lord, and bear much fruit. I thank you, Father, for who you are. Father, help us to be a people of prayer. Amen.