WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.819 Well, welcome, church. We're glad you're here. 00:00:03.899 --> 00:00:08.839 Happy New Year. Okay, there's like a quarter 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:13.320 of you that are like, yeah, New Year. Cool. Happy 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:16.179 New Year to those of you on our online family. 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:18.960 Paul, then that's you with your New Year's breakfast. 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:22.839 Well done. Different year, same groove. Well 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:25.679 played. Baghdad, we're so excited for you to 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:27.640 be with us. We're excited for what God has for 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.269 this year. within your community. We can't wait 00:00:30.269 --> 00:00:32.270 to see all that he does. And those of you on 00:00:32.270 --> 00:00:35.009 the online family, Tracy in Minnesota by the 00:00:35.009 --> 00:00:38.570 Canadian border, sounds cold. Welcome to you 00:00:38.570 --> 00:00:41.030 and anyone else. We're glad you're with us. Okay, 00:00:41.090 --> 00:00:44.869 so if you're new to this space, and by new, I 00:00:44.869 --> 00:00:46.969 mean you're new to church, you're new to Heights, 00:00:47.229 --> 00:00:51.329 whatever kind of you feel that puts you in that 00:00:51.329 --> 00:00:54.350 category, if that's you, whether that's here 00:00:54.350 --> 00:00:55.990 in the room, whether that's across the screen. 00:00:57.770 --> 00:01:00.070 I'd like to just slow down to go, you belong 00:01:00.070 --> 00:01:04.650 here. I think it's really important that when, 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:06.329 you know, it's one thing to say, hey, you're 00:01:06.329 --> 00:01:09.689 welcome. We're glad you're here. It's also another 00:01:09.689 --> 00:01:13.730 thing to entrust the gift of time. Time is one 00:01:13.730 --> 00:01:16.329 of the biggest commodities we have. And so to 00:01:16.329 --> 00:01:20.549 trust time and trust time too, and entrust your 00:01:20.549 --> 00:01:24.010 journey with God, whatever step, stage that's 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:26.519 at. I just want you to know that whether you're 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:28.219 here or whether you're across the screen, we 00:01:28.219 --> 00:01:32.219 don't take that lightly. And the reason we don't 00:01:32.219 --> 00:01:34.060 take it lightly is this, because you belong here. 00:01:34.099 --> 00:01:37.079 This is home. And what I mean by that is you 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:40.519 belong because you are human. We often say, well, 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:42.500 once you believe the right things, then you belong. 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:44.640 No, you belong because you are human. And to 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:48.519 be human is to struggle to discover this God 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:51.659 who loves you and you were made for relationship 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:54.459 with him. We're all just fumbling into that together, 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.689 right? Like we're all just. This isn't a clean, 00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:01.010 like anybody's got it all figured out and look 00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:03.909 at that person and they're the model. That's 00:02:03.909 --> 00:02:06.409 not how this works. How this works is we need 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:08.289 each other because we're all stumbling towards 00:02:08.289 --> 00:02:11.789 Jesus. We're all growing. No one has finished 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:16.050 growing. No one has reached the level where we 00:02:16.050 --> 00:02:17.849 look at them and go, oh, they're a super saint. 00:02:17.969 --> 00:02:19.949 There are no things as super saints. There are 00:02:19.949 --> 00:02:22.449 just saints. And we're all, once you meet Jesus, 00:02:22.550 --> 00:02:24.110 we're all just saints, right? We're part of the 00:02:24.110 --> 00:02:27.479 family. And so if you're here. And that's you. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:30.500 You go, hey, I don't even know if I should be 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:33.360 here. You belong. Welcome. We're glad that you're 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:41.979 here. The New Year's an interesting thing. I 00:02:41.979 --> 00:02:45.199 don't know if it's just age, but I got no desire 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.539 in 2026 to change all these things in my life. 00:02:49.949 --> 00:02:52.930 Like I got no desire to like make my habit stacking 00:02:52.930 --> 00:02:54.990 a certain way and like I'm going to be a better 00:02:54.990 --> 00:02:58.229 version of whatever. And I have no desire. So 00:02:58.229 --> 00:02:59.650 if you're here and you're like, oh, I'm excited 00:02:59.650 --> 00:03:02.069 for a New Year's message. I got news for you. 00:03:02.250 --> 00:03:05.069 That's not what this is. Right. Like I don't 00:03:05.069 --> 00:03:07.509 have any desire to put a weight on you to to 00:03:07.509 --> 00:03:11.110 make you measure up or to make a better, improved 00:03:11.110 --> 00:03:14.030 version. I don't I don't think that's what the 00:03:14.030 --> 00:03:17.569 gospel calls us to. But I do think that the gospel 00:03:17.569 --> 00:03:21.810 calls us to wrestle with this idea of walking 00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:25.250 with God and what that looks like. I do think 00:03:25.250 --> 00:03:28.689 that the gospel calls us to kind of enter in 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:32.009 on a relational level with God and go, what is 00:03:32.009 --> 00:03:35.689 it that God's doing in me? And back in earlier 00:03:35.689 --> 00:03:38.490 2025, I got to go on sabbatical. And part of 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:41.580 sabbatical for me was. wrestling with God on 00:03:41.580 --> 00:03:43.659 the front side going, hey, what is something 00:03:43.659 --> 00:03:47.819 that I'd really like to kind of see God change, 00:03:48.020 --> 00:03:52.000 develop, grow into my life when it comes to spirituality? 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:55.900 And so I had this like specific topic I was interested 00:03:55.900 --> 00:03:58.800 in. I did what I think most people do. You grab 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.240 a book and any information you can kind of consume. 00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:04.300 So I'm listening to different podcasts and messages 00:04:04.300 --> 00:04:08.400 and I'm reading this book. The book is great. 00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:11.919 It's really inspiring. There's stories in there, 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.840 like this guy tells a story of being in eighth 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:16.699 grade, I think it was, or middle school, and 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:19.839 he just feels a burden for his school, and it's 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:22.680 summer break. God's doing something in him, and 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:26.079 he's like, I want everybody to have this. I want 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:27.920 to see if you're real, God, so I'm going to go, 00:04:27.939 --> 00:04:30.540 and I'm going to prayer walk on my summer break 00:04:30.540 --> 00:04:34.449 around the middle school every day. And so this 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:37.790 guy's prayer walking his school. School starts 00:04:37.790 --> 00:04:40.670 and he goes, I'm going to start a Bible study. 00:04:40.829 --> 00:04:42.509 And so he creates this Bible study. He doesn't 00:04:42.509 --> 00:04:44.069 really know what he's doing, doesn't really understand 00:04:44.069 --> 00:04:45.569 the Bible, but he's like, we're just going to 00:04:45.569 --> 00:04:47.850 pick a passage, whichever one I kind of open 00:04:47.850 --> 00:04:49.350 the book to, and we're going to talk about it. 00:04:49.610 --> 00:04:51.730 And so these middle schoolers are doing this. 00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:55.189 And wouldn't you know that God rescues, saves, 00:04:55.290 --> 00:04:59.509 Jesus meets them, and two thirds of them end 00:04:59.509 --> 00:05:03.040 up meeting Jesus and are saved. Yeah, which you 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:06.699 go, yeah. I mean, I'm sitting there reading this 00:05:06.699 --> 00:05:09.620 like, I'm like, oh, this is amazing. I want this, 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:12.600 right? And so you're inspired and I'm reading 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.379 it. Well, I get about three quarters of the way 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:17.699 through this book and I'm just frustrated. I 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:19.839 can remember where I was. It was by myself. I 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:24.079 had gone on a trip and like, and when a Christian 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:26.019 says frustrated, what they really mean is angry. 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:27.980 You know, we just don't have anger because that's 00:05:27.980 --> 00:05:30.959 sinful. So we're frustrated, you know? But I'm 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:33.240 angry. Like inside, I'm just like, I don't get 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:35.899 this. This is frustrating to me. I'm not learning 00:05:35.899 --> 00:05:42.620 anything new. And as clear as anything, God steps 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:45.279 into that moment as I'm unpacking emotions with 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.899 him about this book. He goes, John, because you 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:53.279 don't need more information. You have all the 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.839 information you will ever need to be able to 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:59.259 put this into your life. John, you need to do 00:05:59.259 --> 00:06:03.779 something different. You need to just do it. 00:06:05.180 --> 00:06:10.759 And the topic was prayer. You see, I can already 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:13.279 tell you guys, some of you over the next four 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:15.160 weeks are gonna be bored out of your minds with 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:17.740 me because you're gonna be like, John, this is 00:06:17.740 --> 00:06:21.899 not new information. I would dare say that the 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:23.980 average person does not need more information 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:28.800 on prayer. You need to just. Do it. You need 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.660 to do something different. And as I'm sitting 00:06:31.660 --> 00:06:33.879 with God and I come to this realization of like, 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:36.839 I just need to do something different than I've 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:40.220 been doing. I'm frustrated with my prayer life 00:06:40.220 --> 00:06:42.160 and it's not because I don't know the Lord's 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.160 prayer. It's not because I don't know that the 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:45.980 disciples came and said, hey, would you, would 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:47.560 you teach us how to pray? And he teaches them 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.600 how to pray. It's not because there's not plenty 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:51.680 of verses in the Bible that talk about prayer 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:53.079 and I haven't read those and spoke on those. 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:55.639 It's not a lack of information. It's a lack of 00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:59.639 doing. what I know to do. So let me ask you, 00:06:59.699 --> 00:07:06.319 how satisfied are you with your prayer life today? 00:07:10.779 --> 00:07:12.980 I had this image in this moment. You ever seen 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:17.300 Big Hero 6? How satisfied are you with your character? 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:20.860 I am satisfied. I literally went this far. I 00:07:20.860 --> 00:07:23.459 got online and looked for a Baymax costume, and 00:07:23.459 --> 00:07:24.860 I was going to preach the whole message in a 00:07:24.860 --> 00:07:27.279 Baymax costume. So that you would never forget 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.839 it. Needless to say, they weren't very good. 00:07:30.899 --> 00:07:35.000 So that we don't have Daymax today. But how satisfied 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:41.839 are you? It's interesting. The question raises 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:47.620 emotion. It raises maybe feelings that I would 00:07:47.620 --> 00:07:51.600 say the gospel didn't create you for. Like Jesus 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:56.209 didn't save you for feelings of... yeah, I'm 00:07:56.209 --> 00:07:58.790 not satisfied. I'm not very good at it. I wish 00:07:58.790 --> 00:08:02.410 I was better. Right? Like, I don't think, in 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:04.730 fact, I would say this, that if you're still 00:08:04.730 --> 00:08:06.410 sitting in the camp of like, oh, I got this all 00:08:06.410 --> 00:08:08.029 together. You should see my prayer life. I'm 00:08:08.029 --> 00:08:11.050 really happy. Okay, hang on a second. And again, 00:08:11.189 --> 00:08:13.829 right? I'm not going to wow you with verses you 00:08:13.829 --> 00:08:18.629 don't know. But in Colossians, chapter four, 00:08:18.629 --> 00:08:21.629 verse two, it says this, devote yourselves, devote 00:08:21.629 --> 00:08:26.300 yourselves. Devote yourselves to prayer, being 00:08:26.300 --> 00:08:29.100 watchful and thankful. Okay, just so we're clear, 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:32.360 the word devote means to faithfully, faithfully 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:38.840 do it. It means to, you are going to attach yourself 00:08:38.840 --> 00:08:43.220 in a way that this is what your passion is. Kind 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:45.759 of like, kind of like, there's a big game tonight. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.919 Don't know if you know. The Steelers are playing 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.389 the Dirty Birds. And speaking of prayer, you 00:08:52.389 --> 00:08:55.230 just need to pray, right? This is our playoffs. 00:08:55.429 --> 00:08:57.669 We started tonight because we're that good, okay? 00:08:59.870 --> 00:09:02.289 But it's easy to devote ourselves to things, 00:09:02.389 --> 00:09:04.690 right? Like to faithfully participate in something, 00:09:04.830 --> 00:09:07.190 to be, that's what it's talking about, to devote, 00:09:07.350 --> 00:09:09.269 right? Like think in this concept that when you 00:09:09.269 --> 00:09:11.830 look at the New Testament, you get to the early 00:09:11.830 --> 00:09:13.730 church and the early church is gathering and 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:17.429 it says they devoted themselves. They faithfully 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:21.350 attached themselves to prayer. That was what 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:25.110 they were known for. And when I hear that, I 00:09:25.110 --> 00:09:30.309 go, that's not me. Right? Like all of a sudden, 00:09:30.389 --> 00:09:36.909 it's like, huh. If that doesn't get you. And 00:09:36.909 --> 00:09:39.429 I got good news for you. 2026, you can start 00:09:39.429 --> 00:09:42.070 today by memorizing a verse of the Bible. You 00:09:42.070 --> 00:09:44.809 ready? You can leave here today with the victory 00:09:44.809 --> 00:09:47.250 of you memorize the verse from the Bible. It's 00:09:47.250 --> 00:09:49.289 maybe the easiest behind Jesus wept. You ready? 00:09:49.950 --> 00:09:53.250 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17. Pray continually. 00:09:55.490 --> 00:09:58.009 Good job. You walked out of here, you have attained 00:09:58.009 --> 00:10:03.590 Bible memorization. Pray continually. Okay, pray 00:10:03.590 --> 00:10:11.330 without ceasing. That means don't stop. Continually 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:14.370 live in a dependent posture through prayer on 00:10:14.370 --> 00:10:18.620 God. Right? Like continually, like you are leaning 00:10:18.620 --> 00:10:20.879 into this dependency. And here's what we do in 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:22.620 Christian world with this verse, okay? So pray 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:24.580 without ceasing. Okay, well, you know what I 00:10:24.580 --> 00:10:27.659 do? It's kind of like a phone call. I call God 00:10:27.659 --> 00:10:30.019 in the morning because I talk to him and I don't 00:10:30.019 --> 00:10:33.259 hang up. And I just leave the line open all day 00:10:33.259 --> 00:10:35.820 between me and God. It sounds really good, doesn't 00:10:35.820 --> 00:10:38.899 it? It sounds like something tangible. Like I 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:41.019 just call him and I go through my day and that 00:10:41.019 --> 00:10:42.519 phone's still there and me and God, we're just 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:44.820 having this phone conversation all day. Then 00:10:44.820 --> 00:10:46.580 I get to the end of my day and I'm like, okay, 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:49.000 God, I gotta go to sleep. Talk to you in the 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:55.659 morning. I don't know about you. I'll just speak 00:10:55.659 --> 00:10:59.539 about me. I call God in the morning, every morning. 00:10:59.659 --> 00:11:02.139 God and I have a conversation as I'm getting 00:11:02.139 --> 00:11:04.960 ready. Then sometimes that conversation continues 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.440 on longer depending on the day. But there's some 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.740 point, we'll say an hour and a half. I've been 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:12.379 talking to God for an hour and a half, and then 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:16.259 I step out and into my day. And my day often 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:18.879 has these things called meetings. And sometimes, 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.700 because that phone line's there, we'll talk to 00:11:20.700 --> 00:11:22.720 God, right? Like when we start that meeting, 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:26.039 we'll pray to start that meeting. But if that 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:28.679 meeting goes good, I may not talk to God for 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:32.720 another two to three hours. So the line has been 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:36.539 dead for two to three hours. And maybe I pick 00:11:36.539 --> 00:11:38.100 it up then, but you know what normally happens 00:11:38.100 --> 00:11:40.980 by then? It's lunchtime. And depending on if 00:11:40.980 --> 00:11:43.120 lunch is about fueling my body or if it's actually 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.100 slowing down to enjoy the good gift that God 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:48.059 gave me, right, of food, sometimes I'll pray 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:50.799 for my lunch, sometimes I won't. I can go an 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:53.460 entire day from the morning when I'm like, hey, 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:56.700 good morning, God, all the way to night and go, 00:11:56.840 --> 00:12:03.860 huh, I never picked up the phone again. If you 00:12:03.860 --> 00:12:06.379 called me first thing in the morning, please 00:12:06.379 --> 00:12:09.759 don't, but if you did, and you're like, hey man, 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:11.379 I'm just gonna leave this line open all day because 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:13.159 I just wanna be connected to you and you don't 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:15.240 talk for three hours, I'm hanging up on you, 00:12:15.299 --> 00:12:19.519 right? Like it's interesting, we take this verse 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:21.980 and we try and make it something to make us feel 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:24.299 better about what we're doing, but pray continually 00:12:24.299 --> 00:12:28.159 is pray continually to be in constant dependency 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:35.419 on God. And I don't know how you feel, but when 00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:39.460 I read these verses, it's really easy for a sense 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:45.519 of guilt. I'm not devoted. A sense of, man, I 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:50.419 don't talk to God continuously. Shame can creep 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:54.919 in. Judgmentalness over, oh, if I was just more 00:12:54.919 --> 00:12:57.200 spiritual, I would have a better prayer life. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:04.039 Can I just ease the tension? In 2026? Jesus did 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:08.100 not save you to guilt, shame, and self -judgment. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:12.519 Those are not part of the gospel. So that tells 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:16.320 me, that tells me that we have made prayer something 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:20.159 it's not. And we have missed the purpose of prayer 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:25.559 for the process of prayer. We have grabbed prayer. 00:13:26.429 --> 00:13:29.070 And we have made it this religious activity that 00:13:29.070 --> 00:13:32.629 if I was a good religious man, whatever, right? 00:13:32.690 --> 00:13:35.809 Like if I was good, I would do this and I would 00:13:35.809 --> 00:13:38.970 be winning gold stars to tell you through the 00:13:38.970 --> 00:13:41.710 year. That is not what prayer was intended to 00:13:41.710 --> 00:13:45.350 be. And so if you'll let me, I'd love to take 00:13:45.350 --> 00:13:47.190 the rest of our time just to shape prayer in 00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:49.070 a different direction because we've got to do 00:13:49.070 --> 00:13:51.990 something different. I have to do something different. 00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:59.019 Some of you are like, I memorized this verse. 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:02.039 Okay, you ready? Or you're sitting there going, 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:03.639 hey, we're talking about prayer. I bet he goes 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:10.820 here. Philippians 4 verse. Well done. Good job. 00:14:13.419 --> 00:14:15.639 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:17.679 situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:20.549 present your request to God. And the peace of 00:14:20.549 --> 00:14:22.529 God, which transcends all understanding, will 00:14:22.529 --> 00:14:25.210 guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 00:14:25.750 --> 00:14:28.970 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every 00:14:28.970 --> 00:14:32.070 situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, 00:14:32.230 --> 00:14:35.450 present your requests to God. How many of you, 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:36.929 just out of curiosity, you've memorized this 00:14:36.929 --> 00:14:40.370 verse at some point in your life? Yeah. How's 00:14:40.370 --> 00:14:44.470 your anxiety? Why? Because here's the thing. 00:14:44.549 --> 00:14:47.009 Here's the thing. Memorizing a verse doesn't 00:14:47.009 --> 00:14:50.620 mean that I live the verse. Right? Like this 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:53.419 is the whole point. I'm not giving you anything 00:14:53.419 --> 00:14:54.879 new. You're like, yeah, I've heard this before. 00:14:55.019 --> 00:14:56.960 I thought you'd say this. I'm kind of bored now. 00:14:57.059 --> 00:15:01.220 What time's the game on? Right? But the idea 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:05.139 is the information doesn't transform you. It's 00:15:05.139 --> 00:15:10.559 the action. And prayer, prayer has to be something 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:15.419 that you do. Like some of you are like, okay, 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:16.759 we're going to talk about prayer. I'm going to 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:18.100 go out and I'm going to get my new prayer journal. 00:15:21.259 --> 00:15:24.059 And if you looked at your old ones, they're about 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:27.000 a quarter full and you ran out and you stopped. 00:15:27.299 --> 00:15:30.340 And I'm not bashing that. I'm not bashing prayer 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:33.639 journals. But what I am saying is somewhere along 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:35.799 the line, we've substituted prayer journals for 00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:40.019 what prayer actually was meant to be to us. This 00:15:40.019 --> 00:15:42.970 verse here where it says, Do not be anxious about 00:15:42.970 --> 00:15:45.250 anything. I think sometimes around prayer, we 00:15:45.250 --> 00:15:47.389 just need some fresh language. So I'm gonna make 00:15:47.389 --> 00:15:50.570 a disclaimer. Don't email me, okay? Those of 00:15:50.570 --> 00:15:52.529 you that are here, those of you that are across 00:15:52.529 --> 00:15:54.669 screens, whatever, don't email me from what I'm 00:15:54.669 --> 00:15:56.590 about to do. Because I know for some of you, 00:15:56.610 --> 00:15:59.190 you don't like it and it will annoy you. Okay, 00:15:59.309 --> 00:16:01.110 I just need you to know you already live rent 00:16:01.110 --> 00:16:04.090 -free in my head, okay? So we're good, we're 00:16:04.090 --> 00:16:06.690 good. I already got you there. But in the message 00:16:06.690 --> 00:16:10.899 translation, it says this. And it puts new language 00:16:10.899 --> 00:16:16.440 to it. Same verse. Don't fret or worry. Instead 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:21.620 of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:26.080 shape your worries into prayers. Letting God 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:31.960 know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:34.759 of God's wholeness, everything coming together 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:40.820 for good, will come and settle you. It's wonderful 00:16:40.820 --> 00:16:44.960 what happens when Christ displaces worry at the 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:54.019 center of your life. Come on. That's good. I 00:16:54.019 --> 00:16:57.720 love that this came from a man who faithfully 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:00.419 walked with God for a long time, Eugene Peterson. 00:17:01.100 --> 00:17:04.349 That when people... testimony of people that 00:17:04.349 --> 00:17:07.130 met Eugene who translated the message have said 00:17:07.130 --> 00:17:09.309 that it was like sitting in the presence of Jesus. 00:17:10.289 --> 00:17:12.829 That's a beautiful testimony. And that's the 00:17:12.829 --> 00:17:14.730 guy I go, hey, I could learn a thing or two. 00:17:16.329 --> 00:17:22.170 Don't fret or worry. Okay, so it starts out with 00:17:22.170 --> 00:17:25.910 this thing that we're all common to. There's 00:17:25.910 --> 00:17:27.970 not a human alive that doesn't worry about something. 00:17:28.670 --> 00:17:30.730 There's not a human alive that isn't fretting. 00:17:31.339 --> 00:17:34.819 And he goes, instead of letting those things 00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:38.480 build up, instead of growing those things into 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.279 your life, instead of letting worry grow into 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:43.980 where it begins to take space and it begins to 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:45.819 make you anxious because you're so worried and 00:17:45.819 --> 00:17:47.519 wound up and so concerned and how's it gonna 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:49.059 work out and I don't know and all the unknowns 00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:50.880 and all the stress, right? And it's building 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:54.039 up. He goes, you can grow that, but he goes, 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:58.839 don't grow that instead of worrying. Do what? 00:17:59.180 --> 00:18:03.210 Pray. So if you hear nothing else and you want 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:07.890 to take away, instead of whatever that is, pray. 00:18:09.569 --> 00:18:15.809 Instead, pray. Which tells me that I have a choice 00:18:15.809 --> 00:18:19.430 in my life about what I choose to grow. That 00:18:19.430 --> 00:18:22.049 there are seeds buried deep inside of you that 00:18:22.049 --> 00:18:25.420 were put there at the beginning of a time. That 00:18:25.420 --> 00:18:27.799 when God created humanity, he put these things, 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:31.180 these seeds into humans that were meant to grow 00:18:31.180 --> 00:18:33.660 and flourish. And what we see in the person of 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:37.279 Jesus is we see a restoration where now it is 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.319 possible for the very things you were always 00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:42.019 meant to experience and grow, that now because 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:50.019 of Jesus, you can grow again. This is not a whole 00:18:50.019 --> 00:18:51.839 collection of what they are, but it's just an 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:57.869 idea. That you were made, you were made with 00:18:57.869 --> 00:19:02.369 a seed inside of you for a relationship with 00:19:02.369 --> 00:19:06.450 God. That the whole point of your existence is 00:19:06.450 --> 00:19:09.589 to be connected to the God of the universe. That 00:19:09.589 --> 00:19:12.109 the whole point of you is that this relationship 00:19:12.109 --> 00:19:14.329 would flourish. And guess what happens? Instead 00:19:14.329 --> 00:19:16.869 of whatever's going on, whatever's happening, 00:19:16.950 --> 00:19:22.170 and I pray, guess what happens? I grow. By prayer, 00:19:22.190 --> 00:19:25.089 I grow this relationship with God. It's nurtured. 00:19:25.089 --> 00:19:28.589 I feel closer to him. I had somebody tell me 00:19:28.589 --> 00:19:31.029 just in between services that they had a moment 00:19:31.029 --> 00:19:33.369 where they're like, it resonated so deeply because 00:19:33.369 --> 00:19:36.130 I felt distance and I just got away and sat with 00:19:36.130 --> 00:19:38.950 God. And in sitting with God, I felt distance. 00:19:39.089 --> 00:19:41.569 And after I'd sat with him, I felt this closeness, 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:44.750 this nearness, right? Why? Because prayer, prayer, 00:19:44.890 --> 00:19:48.210 instead of whatever it is, I'm gonna pray, it 00:19:48.210 --> 00:19:51.000 grows the relationship. God dependent. That when 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.059 I pray, what happens is I move from being independent, 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:56.559 right? Because you are born independent. What 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:59.960 prayer does is it makes you God dependent. That 00:19:59.960 --> 00:20:03.059 when I enter into this gift of prayer, what happens 00:20:03.059 --> 00:20:05.259 is this little seed inside of me that's been 00:20:05.259 --> 00:20:08.319 crushed by just being born as a human, separated 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:11.039 from God, all of a sudden in Jesus now, I can 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.180 become God dependent in a way that everything 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:15.880 depends on him. And I'm not trying to be self 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:19.160 -independent. I'm not trying to be self -dependent. 00:20:20.550 --> 00:20:24.509 Control. Isn't it amazing that when you begin 00:20:24.509 --> 00:20:28.230 to pray, it's really hard to keep your hands 00:20:28.230 --> 00:20:30.190 closed and go, God, I'm praying, but I don't 00:20:30.190 --> 00:20:31.769 want you to touch these ones. I got these ones. 00:20:32.130 --> 00:20:35.109 Don't touch them. I don't want your influence, 00:20:35.349 --> 00:20:36.809 God, in this part of my life. That's not what 00:20:36.809 --> 00:20:38.930 happens. You begin to pray and what happens? 00:20:39.009 --> 00:20:42.549 God, I need you to have control. I need to relinquish 00:20:42.549 --> 00:20:45.329 control. And that seed inside of you, you were 00:20:45.329 --> 00:20:47.529 created to not be in control. You know that, 00:20:47.549 --> 00:20:50.069 right? You weren't created to be in control. 00:20:50.769 --> 00:20:53.410 And what prayer does is it begins to nurture 00:20:53.410 --> 00:20:56.069 that seed and that seed begins to grow. Healing. 00:20:56.869 --> 00:20:59.549 You know that one of the beautiful things about 00:20:59.549 --> 00:21:02.289 prayer is that within prayer, right? Like we 00:21:02.289 --> 00:21:05.069 go to him in our brokenness and what we get is 00:21:05.069 --> 00:21:07.849 healing. And the beauty of the gospel is this. 00:21:08.190 --> 00:21:10.509 that our God is a healer. And when I get in prayer 00:21:10.509 --> 00:21:12.970 and I get around him and I spend time, what I 00:21:12.970 --> 00:21:15.829 realize is that he is the healer and the only 00:21:15.829 --> 00:21:18.329 healer. And it changes because of my dependency, 00:21:18.369 --> 00:21:21.109 my control. I begin to trust him more. And guess 00:21:21.109 --> 00:21:23.609 what? Whether you experience that healing here 00:21:23.609 --> 00:21:26.750 or into eternity, there is healing coming that 00:21:26.750 --> 00:21:32.329 is full and complete. That's a promise. It was 00:21:32.329 --> 00:21:34.809 on the cross that what? Everything was restored. 00:21:36.470 --> 00:21:38.990 To where you will be made whole again. God's 00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:41.250 wholeness that Eugene Peterson talks about. That's 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:44.589 what you will experience. The power of God. Healing 00:21:44.589 --> 00:21:46.549 is one of the most practical ways when somebody 00:21:46.549 --> 00:21:47.970 comes up to you and they're like, hey, would 00:21:47.970 --> 00:21:50.369 you pray for me? And you're like, it's a gift, 00:21:50.410 --> 00:21:51.829 by the way, to pray for somebody else. And you 00:21:51.829 --> 00:21:54.329 get to pray for them. And after you're done praying 00:21:54.329 --> 00:21:55.789 for them, you prayed for healing. And then they 00:21:55.789 --> 00:21:59.910 contact you and they go, hey, guess what? I was 00:21:59.910 --> 00:22:03.539 healed. Right? Like all of a sudden, what grew 00:22:03.539 --> 00:22:05.640 inside of you, you don't go, oh, well, God's 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:08.339 not very powerful. That's weird. No, all of a 00:22:08.339 --> 00:22:10.119 sudden you're like, wow, I can't believe the 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:13.480 power of God. All we did was pray and the power 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:16.779 of God transformed. Right? And all of a sudden 00:22:16.779 --> 00:22:20.000 there's this change. Why? Because the seed inside 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:21.759 of you that you would trust the power of God 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:23.619 has always been there. Gratitude. You ever notice 00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:26.299 that when you slow down, right? Like, and maybe. 00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:28.819 Maybe for you, it's kind of at the end of the 00:22:28.819 --> 00:22:30.200 day. There's this thing called the prayer of 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:32.279 examine that we may talk about in the coming 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:34.440 weeks. We'll see. But one of the beautiful things 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:36.039 about the prayer of examine is it happens at 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:38.200 the end. It happens at nighttime. Some people 00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:40.720 believe nighttime to be the start of your new 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:43.700 day. So the way that you start your day, according 00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:45.279 to them, is you have this prayer of examine. 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:48.579 What is the prayer of examine? You just go back 00:22:48.579 --> 00:22:51.319 through your day. Where did you see the fingertips 00:22:51.319 --> 00:22:53.539 of God, fingerprints of God all over your day? 00:22:54.039 --> 00:22:56.420 Where did you see God show up? What did you, 00:22:56.460 --> 00:22:58.000 and all you do is thank him for it. And what 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:01.240 gratitude does is all of a sudden you go to sleep, 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:06.299 what, with a full heart because you see the goodness 00:23:06.299 --> 00:23:10.099 of God in every single moment of your day. The 00:23:10.099 --> 00:23:12.079 moments that you just passed you by, all of a 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:13.720 sudden you grab them and go, no, I'm not gonna 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:17.880 miss those, right? And so this gratitude opens 00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:21.519 my soul up that he's the provider. When you sit 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:25.400 at a meal, And when you're not fueling yourself, 00:23:25.500 --> 00:23:27.619 you're actually sitting there and you pray and 00:23:27.619 --> 00:23:29.799 you begin to thank God for your food. What are 00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:32.079 you doing? You're recognizing him as what? Your 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:34.900 provider. And it's a small little nudge to if 00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:37.220 he can provide the food that I need to stay alive, 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:39.579 he can provide everything else I need, right? 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:41.700 And so all of a sudden, this idea of this little 00:23:41.700 --> 00:23:45.440 seed of him as provider begins to grow. We talked 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:47.019 about this one a little bit, but talking to God 00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:50.230 for others. That it's a gift to be able to talk 00:23:50.230 --> 00:23:52.710 to God for others, right? And the idea of prayer 00:23:52.710 --> 00:23:55.150 is prayer is where that's nourished, that you 00:23:55.150 --> 00:23:57.890 get to go and talk to God. And what it's ultimately 00:23:57.890 --> 00:24:01.269 doing is building trust, that you would trust 00:24:01.269 --> 00:24:05.049 God because you were designed to trust him. So 00:24:05.049 --> 00:24:07.789 all of this is planted inside of you, right? 00:24:08.369 --> 00:24:11.990 And kind of is a picture of how does prayer actually 00:24:11.990 --> 00:24:15.609 work then? What is prayer and another image of 00:24:15.609 --> 00:24:28.059 prayer? You have this. And prayer, when I come 00:24:28.059 --> 00:24:30.519 to the seeds, when I begin to pray, what I'm 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:35.000 actually doing is watering my soul and the seeds 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.579 that have been put there since creation. How 00:24:38.579 --> 00:24:40.799 can I pray? Well, it's a gift that's given by 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:44.519 God through the person of Jesus. And I come and 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:46.519 I water. Some of you thought water was going 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:52.160 to come out, didn't you? You just wait. So I'm 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.579 watering, I'm watering, every time I pray, I'm 00:24:55.579 --> 00:24:58.400 watering the seeds that God's planted in me. 00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:01.740 For example, when I water, when I go to God and 00:25:01.740 --> 00:25:04.059 I just spend time with him in prayer, in conversation, 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:06.759 I'm watering the relationship when I go to him 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:10.160 and listen. What's blooming, what's growing through 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:12.500 prayer, through watering is the relationship 00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:14.140 with God. You can go through each one of these, 00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:17.680 that each space you go to, right? Like that when 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:20.559 I stop for dinner and I thank God for being my 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:24.000 provider, I recognize that what, that he is provider 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:26.259 and that grows in me. But all I did was stop 00:25:26.259 --> 00:25:28.099 and pray. Why? Because what prayer does, it's 00:25:28.099 --> 00:25:31.640 the water to what he's put in you. It's what 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:34.460 he wants to grow inside of you. It's what he 00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:37.200 wants your life to become. And prayer is this 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:39.779 gift that allows us. Now, the problem is this. 00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:42.980 Most of us assume that what we were given in 00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:45.440 Jesus when it comes to watering and prayers is 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:48.720 you have a limited amount. And if you don't believe 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:53.180 that, we don't pray like it's not limited. Or 00:25:53.180 --> 00:25:56.980 I don't pray like it's not limited. Right? We 00:25:56.980 --> 00:25:59.869 assume. That there's a certain amount before 00:25:59.869 --> 00:26:02.509 God's going to be overwhelmed with the relationship 00:26:02.509 --> 00:26:04.450 with me. There's a certain amount that I have 00:26:04.450 --> 00:26:06.309 for gratitude. There's only a certain amount 00:26:06.309 --> 00:26:08.549 of prayers that I have for healing. Right? There's 00:26:08.549 --> 00:26:11.490 only a certain. And so we assume that it's going 00:26:11.490 --> 00:26:16.289 to run out. However, I think it's more like. 00:26:26.730 --> 00:26:43.609 Some of you know me too well. It's not really 00:26:43.609 --> 00:26:49.650 on. I just got to break the tension. What you 00:26:49.650 --> 00:26:55.309 were given in Jesus is an unlimited source. It'll 00:26:55.309 --> 00:27:01.970 never run out. And why is praying without ceasing 00:27:01.970 --> 00:27:05.730 important? Because all day long I can water into 00:27:05.730 --> 00:27:08.150 bloom the things that God has planted in me. 00:27:09.170 --> 00:27:13.049 Why is this idea of devoting myself to prayer 00:27:13.049 --> 00:27:16.750 so important? Because just by exercising, just 00:27:16.750 --> 00:27:19.910 by doing it, what am I doing? I am growing something 00:27:19.910 --> 00:27:23.470 that God has planted in me. And it doesn't run 00:27:23.470 --> 00:27:26.069 out. The prayers can continue and continue and 00:27:26.069 --> 00:27:29.819 continue. Because there's an unlimited source, 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:34.839 the power of the Holy Spirit in you, right? That 00:27:34.839 --> 00:27:36.500 is even praying for you when you don't know what 00:27:36.500 --> 00:27:40.200 to pray. We'll talk about that later. But this 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:43.640 idea that there's this reality that when it comes 00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:46.420 to prayer, prayer is a gift that I water into 00:27:46.420 --> 00:27:48.819 bloom the things that God has put inside of me. 00:27:48.859 --> 00:27:53.220 That changes drastically. That overwhelmingly 00:27:53.220 --> 00:27:58.089 changes. What prayer is and how prayer works. 00:27:59.109 --> 00:28:01.269 Because prayer is not this religious activity 00:28:01.269 --> 00:28:04.369 I have to do. It's a gift that lets everything 00:28:04.369 --> 00:28:08.950 I want bloom into my life. That I get to experience 00:28:08.950 --> 00:28:14.549 the goodness of my salvation through taking things 00:28:14.549 --> 00:28:17.609 to God as I water the different things and they 00:28:17.609 --> 00:28:20.009 grow and they bloom. I mean, just imagine for 00:28:20.009 --> 00:28:23.170 a second a human being where all of these are 00:28:23.170 --> 00:28:26.869 in full bloom. You go, man, that's the person 00:28:26.869 --> 00:28:30.609 I want to be around. Eugene Peterson, people 00:28:30.609 --> 00:28:34.910 would travel from far away to just go sit and 00:28:34.910 --> 00:28:37.809 spend time. Why? Because he'd spent the seasons 00:28:37.809 --> 00:28:40.750 of bringing into bloom what God had planted inside 00:28:40.750 --> 00:28:47.349 of him. This idea of instead pray, instead pray. 00:28:47.650 --> 00:28:51.710 You look at the life of Jesus. Early on in Luke 00:28:51.710 --> 00:28:54.940 chapter five, Jesus. Goes off to a desert place. 00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:58.019 And it says that he prays. What is Jesus doing? 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:01.880 Well, he's on the back end of an extremely busy 00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:04.640 day where he's just poured out and given away 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:07.259 and taking care of people. And he's just overwhelmed 00:29:07.259 --> 00:29:11.559 from loving and serving everyone else. And it 00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:13.799 says that he gets away to a desolate place and 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:16.559 he prays. What is he doing? He's watering back 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:21.029 in. The things that he needs, like a relationship 00:29:21.029 --> 00:29:23.509 with his father where he's reminded that even 00:29:23.509 --> 00:29:26.150 though I poured out, you are the provider for 00:29:26.150 --> 00:29:28.349 what I'm pouring out. It's not dependent on me. 00:29:28.690 --> 00:29:31.349 I think the model that we see of Jesus is so 00:29:31.349 --> 00:29:33.269 many of us are so busy giving to everybody else 00:29:33.269 --> 00:29:35.250 that when we get done, there's nothing left. 00:29:35.349 --> 00:29:41.150 And it leads us to sometimes sin. It leads us 00:29:41.150 --> 00:29:43.450 to sometimes unhealthy thoughts. It leads us 00:29:43.450 --> 00:29:46.710 to sometimes spinning up and worrying and being 00:29:46.710 --> 00:29:51.170 concerned. Jesus is exhausted. He's worn out. 00:29:51.170 --> 00:29:52.890 He's given everything he can. And what does he 00:29:52.890 --> 00:29:55.109 do? He goes and he what? He restores through 00:29:55.109 --> 00:29:58.390 the gift of prayer. Why? Because what the father 00:29:58.390 --> 00:30:01.910 does is begins to bloom inside of him what he 00:30:01.910 --> 00:30:04.490 needs for the next day. The next day, Luke chapter 00:30:04.490 --> 00:30:08.680 six, you find Jesus going to a mountain. He gets 00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:13.039 on the mountain and he prays all night. Now what's 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:14.720 interesting with him praying all night is what 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:17.599 happens the next day. Because he prays all night, 00:30:17.660 --> 00:30:20.200 comes down the mountain. When he gets off the 00:30:20.200 --> 00:30:23.700 mountain, he goes to pick the 12 disciples. He 00:30:23.700 --> 00:30:25.579 goes, I'll pick you, you, you. Think about it 00:30:25.579 --> 00:30:27.519 for a second. This moment changed the course 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:31.819 of history. The reason you're sitting here. The 00:30:31.819 --> 00:30:35.140 reason I'm here is because God chose 12 people 00:30:35.140 --> 00:30:39.079 to carry the gospel and the good news, right? 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:42.099 Like plan A, according to God, not plan B. Plan 00:30:42.099 --> 00:30:45.380 A is Jesus would ascend and leave 12 people to 00:30:45.380 --> 00:30:47.880 take the gospel, the good news, to every corner 00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:53.099 of the planet. You're here because of the decision 00:30:53.099 --> 00:30:57.099 made in that moment. And where was Jesus before 00:30:57.099 --> 00:31:00.519 he made that decision? On a mountain. And what's 00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:04.519 he doing? He's watering. He's watering. Could 00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:06.059 have been easy for him to go, hey, I got my own 00:31:06.059 --> 00:31:08.380 wisdom. I got my own smarts. I can make this 00:31:08.380 --> 00:31:10.059 decision. I don't need my father's power for 00:31:10.059 --> 00:31:11.680 this. I can figure this out. I can do this all 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:17.480 by myself. Instead, he's on a mountain. And then 00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:20.079 he comes down under the wisdom of God. Instead 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:23.539 of his own wisdom, he prays. Instead of figuring 00:31:23.539 --> 00:31:25.839 it out, he prays. You follow Jesus a little further. 00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:29.950 He ends up at a tomb. And within that tomb is 00:31:29.950 --> 00:31:33.210 a friend of his, Lazarus. Lazarus has died. What 00:31:33.210 --> 00:31:37.049 does Jesus do outside of the tomb? He prays. 00:31:38.329 --> 00:31:45.049 He waters. God, we need to see the power. God, 00:31:45.130 --> 00:31:50.089 we need to bring into fruition that you can raise 00:31:50.089 --> 00:31:55.309 the dead. And what happens? Lazarus comes hopping 00:31:55.309 --> 00:31:57.670 out. literally hopping because he was wrapped 00:31:57.670 --> 00:32:03.349 in bandages. He's like a rabbit. It could have 00:32:03.349 --> 00:32:04.930 been easy in that moment for Jesus to bypass 00:32:04.930 --> 00:32:07.470 that and go, we're just going to do this. Lazarus, 00:32:07.470 --> 00:32:09.430 get out here. He doesn't do that. He goes and 00:32:09.430 --> 00:32:14.009 he waters what? The power of God inside of him. 00:32:14.849 --> 00:32:17.589 That God, you would, you would do this. You're 00:32:17.589 --> 00:32:20.769 growing faith in me. And he even says, this is 00:32:20.769 --> 00:32:22.609 for everybody else. What was he doing? He's watering 00:32:22.609 --> 00:32:25.619 the faith of everybody else. that they would 00:32:25.619 --> 00:32:29.160 see the power of God raise Lazarus. You follow 00:32:29.160 --> 00:32:30.519 it a little further. He ends up around a dinner 00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:32.440 table. What does he do at a dinner table? It 00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:34.539 says that he takes bread, he breaks it and he 00:32:34.539 --> 00:32:36.940 gives thanks. That's that gratitude. He's just 00:32:36.940 --> 00:32:38.680 watering gratitude. God, you're the provider. 00:32:38.900 --> 00:32:40.480 I'm just showing people that you're the provider 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:42.480 and what's growing in them is God is our provider. 00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:46.119 Follow fast forward. Jesus is resurrected. He 00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:47.619 meets two people. They end up having dinner. 00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:50.420 What does he do at dinner? He takes bread and 00:32:50.420 --> 00:32:53.640 he breaks it and he gives thanks. The same thing 00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:56.720 he's doing before the cross, he's doing in his 00:32:56.720 --> 00:32:59.160 resurrected body. Tells me there's a pattern 00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:01.579 here that we need because it's important for 00:33:01.579 --> 00:33:06.940 us. He goes and he waters. Jesus gets to the 00:33:06.940 --> 00:33:09.039 cross. Before the cross, he gets to the garden. 00:33:09.500 --> 00:33:12.779 In the garden, right? Like sweat drops of blood 00:33:12.779 --> 00:33:16.849 because he's so stressed. The anxiety, the stress, 00:33:16.970 --> 00:33:18.890 the pressure, whatever you want to call it, is 00:33:18.890 --> 00:33:21.869 so high that he gets to the garden. What does 00:33:21.869 --> 00:33:28.369 he do? He cries out. He prays. He waters. And 00:33:28.369 --> 00:33:30.609 when he leaves, where's he at? God, you're in 00:33:30.609 --> 00:33:32.890 control. It's your will, not mine. Let's go do 00:33:32.890 --> 00:33:37.190 this. We'll talk about a word called supplication 00:33:37.190 --> 00:33:39.049 in a few weeks. Supplication is a phenomenal 00:33:39.049 --> 00:33:41.509 word. Do you know why? It's all of the emotions. 00:33:42.569 --> 00:33:44.269 I don't know about you, God packed me a little 00:33:44.269 --> 00:33:47.990 bit with emotion. It's all the emotions. And 00:33:47.990 --> 00:33:50.309 what I do in supplication, I take them to God 00:33:50.309 --> 00:33:54.849 and go, there it is. It's like showing up and 00:33:54.849 --> 00:33:58.349 going, God, I don't like today. And you know 00:33:58.349 --> 00:34:00.509 what God does? Because you're watering what? 00:34:01.750 --> 00:34:04.609 Relationship, dependency. He just pulls up alongside 00:34:04.609 --> 00:34:07.789 you. Hey, why don't you tell me why you don't 00:34:07.789 --> 00:34:09.349 like today? Well, this happened, this happened, 00:34:09.369 --> 00:34:10.530 this happened, this happened, and I'm still worked 00:34:10.530 --> 00:34:16.570 up. That's pretty bad. Where was I in all that? 00:34:18.829 --> 00:34:21.849 Well, I don't know. Hadn't stopped to think about 00:34:21.849 --> 00:34:25.090 it. And you see what happens, right? Instead 00:34:25.090 --> 00:34:28.409 of letting my bad day turn into a bad week, turn 00:34:28.409 --> 00:34:31.889 into a bad year, turn into a bad life, instead, 00:34:32.230 --> 00:34:38.230 pray. That's what Jesus did in the garden. Think 00:34:38.230 --> 00:34:42.190 about Jesus on the cross. On the cross, he's 00:34:42.190 --> 00:34:46.110 praying for others. I don't know about you. I 00:34:46.110 --> 00:34:47.469 ain't praying for your forgiveness if you're 00:34:47.469 --> 00:34:50.710 beating me to death. It's not happening. What 00:34:50.710 --> 00:34:53.389 does Jesus do? Father, forgive them. They don't 00:34:53.389 --> 00:34:55.150 know what he's praying. Forgive them. They don't 00:34:55.150 --> 00:34:57.230 know what they're doing. He's watering. Why? 00:34:57.349 --> 00:34:59.769 So that his soul doesn't grow bitterness, anger, 00:34:59.889 --> 00:35:02.840 so that his soul doesn't. grow in a way that 00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:05.159 it shouldn't, that it wasn't designed for. Instead 00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:07.760 of growing those things, he grows dependency 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:10.300 on God, he grows forgiveness, and he's able to 00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:13.980 release them from a cage. What else does he do 00:35:13.980 --> 00:35:15.639 from the cross? He goes, Father, into your hands 00:35:15.639 --> 00:35:21.360 I commit my spirit. He's watering the dependency 00:35:21.360 --> 00:35:24.739 and the power that I am giving up my spirit, 00:35:24.820 --> 00:35:29.559 knowing you will raise it from the dead. And 00:35:29.559 --> 00:35:33.960 in that moment, He hands over his soul, his spirit. 00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:39.019 He entrusts it. Instead of trying to cling on 00:35:39.019 --> 00:35:40.960 to this life and cling on and not worried and 00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:43.539 does God really have it? Can he do it? Instead 00:35:43.539 --> 00:35:45.099 of that, he goes, instead, I'm just going to 00:35:45.099 --> 00:35:54.000 pray. Instead, pray. What is it that God wants 00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:03.090 to grow in your life? What is it that he wants 00:36:03.090 --> 00:36:09.469 to grow in you? Because what you've been given 00:36:09.469 --> 00:36:16.710 is a gift called prayer to water into bloom the 00:36:16.710 --> 00:36:21.130 seeds that he has planted inside of you. And 00:36:21.130 --> 00:36:24.909 so what is it today that God wants to grow in 00:36:24.909 --> 00:36:28.730 you? When it comes to relationship, dependency, 00:36:28.869 --> 00:36:33.210 control, healing, power, gratitude, provider, 00:36:33.210 --> 00:36:37.630 others, trust. So here's what we're going to 00:36:37.630 --> 00:36:40.349 do. We're going to spend time. We're just going 00:36:40.349 --> 00:36:45.489 to stop. And we're just going to pause to go 00:36:45.489 --> 00:36:50.730 for you to ask, God, what is it in me that you 00:36:50.730 --> 00:36:55.809 want to grow? And then in prayer, you're just 00:36:55.809 --> 00:36:58.090 going to start watering. You're just going to 00:36:58.090 --> 00:37:00.909 start watering. Start talking to him about it. 00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:08.760 Instead, pray. So whatever your natural tendency 00:37:08.760 --> 00:37:13.739 is, instead of that, pray. And so I'd love to 00:37:13.739 --> 00:37:17.500 pray for you. And then you'll have time and space 00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:21.400 just to pray and ask God, what does he have for 00:37:21.400 --> 00:37:28.019 you? And so God, we are grateful today. Thank 00:37:28.019 --> 00:37:30.940 you for being a God who is present in our pain. 00:37:32.429 --> 00:37:35.849 Thank you for being a God who brings peace where 00:37:35.849 --> 00:37:37.969 there is worry and anxiety. Thank you for being 00:37:37.969 --> 00:37:40.550 a God who brings love when we feel alone and 00:37:40.550 --> 00:37:45.409 isolated. Thank you for being a God who is provider. 00:37:47.530 --> 00:37:51.909 God, we ask in this moment with our hands, heart, 00:37:52.050 --> 00:37:55.369 soul, life open to you, God, we ask would you, 00:37:55.489 --> 00:38:03.900 through the power of your spirit, Holy Spirit, 00:38:03.980 --> 00:38:06.420 would you speak to each person in this room, 00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:10.239 each person across the screen today, in living 00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:17.840 rooms and gyms, isolated on a phone. Holy Spirit, 00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:19.880 would you speak and would you tell us, would 00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:27.699 you show us what you desire to see grow? Would 00:38:27.699 --> 00:38:31.940 you protect us from our natural instinct? to 00:38:31.940 --> 00:38:35.000 grow something else. And instead, would we just 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:37.340 pray, would you help us water that ground right 00:38:37.340 --> 00:38:38.980 now? Holy Spirit, speak.