Hey, thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message. Imagine you were diagnosed with such a lethal condition that the doctor told you that you would die within hours unless you took a particular medicine. It's a pill every night before going to sleep. Imagine that you were told that you could never miss it or you would die. Would you forget to take this pill? Would you not get around to it some nights? No, it would be so crucial that you wouldn't forget. You would never miss it. Well, if we don't pray together to God, we're not going to make it because of all that we are facing. I'm certainly not. We have to pray. We can't just let it slip our minds. Now, these words, these wise words and illustration came from a wife, Kathy Keller, to her husband, Tim. Now, here's the context. Tim had just been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. On top of that, his wife had just been diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Add to that, they were leading a church in Manhattan, New York City, and it was 2001, right after 9-11. And so there they are, trying to pick up the pieces of their lives, their health, the city, the community around them, and they hit a breaking point. And Tim shares these wise words, this challenge that came from his wife one night, because he realized that prayer was not an essential anymore to him, and that praying with his wife had not been an essential to him anymore. And I think her words strike true for us today. Without a life of prayer, we're not going to make it. Which is why the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6, in the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and pray long. Now, it's important that, I would say it's probably the most important activity that we engage in because every other part of the Christian life flows from prayer. A day that often begins in prayer ends with living on mission. And so, my thought to you today is that when we put prayer back into the center of the church, we get discipleship in the city. And that's not prayer just for believers, but prayer, when you think about it, is one of the most human, innate things that we long to do. Henry Nauwen said it like this, prayer isn't just the pious declaration of life, but the very breath of human existence. To be human is to long to pray. And what he means by this is something that we see in the world today, which is that while stats continue to decline when it comes to church interest and attendance all across the Western world, at the same time the interest in prayer is moving in the opposite direction. So, for example, in Western Europe, which is generally recognized as one of the most secular parts of the world, 25% of people today who bubble in non-religious on a survey still say they pray once a month. So even in our culture today, which is very anti-authoritarian, institutionally suspicious, spiritually dismissive, and emotionally cold, with people who would laugh off going to church on a random Sunday, they still find themselves talking to God when no one else is listening. Why is that? Because prayer is one of the most human things that we can possibly do. Oftentimes, it just spills out of us and we don't even know it. My friend, Rich Perez, he says it like this, the best kind of prayer, he says, is the one when you don't even notice that you're praying. It just kind of comes out of you, because it's innate. In other words, the soul, your soul, my soul, long to be in a communion with God. We long to communicate. We long to have a connection relationally. It's how we are wired. And so, it's so innate to us, either if it's with words or if it's just us being. We long for prayer. And this is the case whether you have a religious background, no religious background, whatever your upbringing is, whatever your preface is today, however busy your life is today, your soul longs to speak to your maker and to commune with him. Now even with all that said, there is a massive obstacle in the way of you and I sustaining a life of prayer, and it's this, boredom. We get bored. You get bored with prayer. There are some days where I feel like I'm praying very well, like, man, I'm pretty good at prayer. And then other days where I feel like I'm so bored, I'm thinking about food, I'm thinking about the next Star Wars show, I'm thinking about my kids, right? And I feel as if at the same time, I am both decent and bad at prayer. I don't know if any of you guys feel like that too, because of boredom. And that's partly because we're not necessarily regressing in prayer, but it's a sign that we're actually maybe growing in it, honestly. And that's part because we have experienced, especially if you've been following Jesus for a little bit of time, these spiritual mountaintop moments in which prayer maybe felt invigorating to you, like powerful and life-giving and like just on fire. And then those eventually fade. And so that what you experience is just kind of the boredom of ordinary life, wondering like, did this work? God, did you like that? Did I say it right? Nothing seems to be happening right. We can't control prayer, which is our problem with it. It's not efficient, it's not effective, we don't know how well we are doing. And so the condition a lot of us find ourselves in is this, we are spiritually bored, constantly distracted in a state of exhaustion. This is the sole condition of the modern world, people are bored, distracted and tired, and they don't know what to do about it. The other obstacle is this, unanswered prayer. What do we do with unanswered prayer? You know, you've probably lived life long enough to know that God doesn't answer your prayer sometimes. You pray for a job. How many of you pray for a job, you didn't get the job? You prayed for a certain relationship, you didn't get it. Turns out they don't like you the way you like them. I pray for the Lakers. Why are you laughing at that? And they got worse. God doesn't always answer our prayers. And listen, that's not necessarily a bad thing. C.S. Lewis once said, we will spend most of eternity thanking God for prayers he didn't answer. It's a word for some of us. But at a deeper level, maybe you did pray for a friend, you prayed for a family member, member and God did not heal them, God did not deliver them, and that has hurt you at a deep level and you're still wondering, why didn't God answer my prayer? And I'm not going to risk offering you as another pastor working for a church a shallow religious answer. Life is too complex and mysterious for me to know why exactly why God didn't answer your prayer. I will not go that route. Life is way too important right now for religious people, including churches, to continue to shovel out shallow answers to people in pain. So I don't have an answer for you, I'm sorry, but what I do know is this. The most important person to ever live life was a man of prayer. Jesus prayed. And he, like you and I, knows what it's like to have a prayer request denied. Jesus knows the obstacle of unanswered prayer. In the Garden of Gethsemane, before he's betrayed, falsely tried, and then crucified. He says, Father, don't let this cup pass. Please take it away. Deny it. And so, if there's anyone worthy enough, I think, to teach you and I today about prayer, and it's an essence in our lives, it's Jesus. And so that's what we're going to do. We're going to hear from Jesus from Matthew chapter 7 on why prayer is so essential. And so with that in mind, would you please stand with me for the reading of God's word? And as we do, I just want us to just take a deep breath in and out, good, exhale. In part because, man, I have said a lot already, but also because anytime you come to church and you hear a message on reading scripture like we did last week or praying this week, there is this heaviness that naturally sets in because if all of us were being honest with each other, we are not good at this. And so there's a temptation to feel like I'm gonna go to church and hear another word of what I'm not good at doing as a Christian. Let that not be the case in our mindset today. Let us breathe in and breathe out and just say, God, would you help me to see why prayer is essential? God, help me to see why prayer is essential. And with that, let's hear these words of Jesus, Matthew 7. He says, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asked for bread, we'll give him a stone. Or if he asked for a fish, we'll give him a snake. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? This is God's word. Let's pray together. Spirit of God, would you now speak to us? And as Jesus said, would you give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and allow us to open up our whole selves so that we might receive from you all that you have to give us today? We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. You may be seated. We're so glad that you're with us today. Before we continue on in our message, want to give you an opportunity to partner with us at Samuels Church. And you can do that by going to donate.sc. But for now, let's get back into the message with Pastor Fredo. Now, Jesus offers this short blurb on prayer as he's finishing up what I think is his most important sermon he ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. In this message, he talks about what life is all like, what life is all about as we follow him, as we live life in his kingdom. And in this sermon, in his greatest sermon, he talks about things like anger, love, forgiveness, sexuality, money, and of course, prayer. And it's at this point that his disciples ask him, would you teach us to pray? Now why I find this so peculiar is because his disciples actually, when you think about it, should have known how to pray. They would have grown up reading and most likely memorizing the first five books of the Bible. That's a lot. Imagine trying to memorize Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. God knows Leviticus ain't got a shot in my life. Numbers, Deuteronomy. They would have memorized this. Not only that they would have grown up seeing their rabbis pray, their rabbis pray, excuse me, they would have seen their parents pray. But then when they got to Jesus though, I think they looked at him and they say, man, when Jesus, when you pray, you have a kind of life in your prayer and a kind of power to the way that you pray. And so in response, Jesus gives them the Lord's prayer, the Our Father prayer, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. Jesus first and responding to them, teaches them the what, this is what you say in prayer. Then in our passage, Matthew 7, what I think Jesus is doing is offering them the how to do this. And this is crucial because Jesus knows we can have the right words and the wrong heart when it comes to prayer. So Matthew 7 I think will offer us a handful of things that show us what prayer is all about. Now, out of everything that can be said about prayer, before it's a duty, before it's a discipline, before it's something you have to do or something that doesn't quite make sense in your modern life because you're so busy and so sophisticated, listen, first and foremost, prayer is ultimately about love. Prayer is about love. Prayer is about loving communion and intimacy with God. Notice Jesus' choice words here from the passage when he's saying, if you are somewhat decent parents and you know how to give what your child asks for, how much more, he says, how much more will your Father in heaven? Notice the way he chooses to identify the Creator, the Sovereign One. The God who hears prayers is a Father, is your Father. The entire enterprise of prayer is built on a loving relationship. It is all about love. St. Augustine said this, true whole prayer is nothing but love. Think about that. True whole prayer is nothing but love. Every prayer of confession, every prayer of repentance, every prayer of petition, when you're celebrating, when you're crying, when you're going on behalf of somebody else, when you're begging God for life, all of it is ultimately about love or it wouldn't be anything. And so here's my thought to you. If you can't love, then you can't pray either because praying is loving and learning to pray to God is learning to love God. More importantly, praying is learning to let God love you. The real you. C.S. Lewis said, the prayer that precedes all prayers is the prayer. When you say, let the real me talk to the real you Prayer is about you allowing God to love you as you actually are not what you think you should say Not you convincing yourself. You really believe in your prayers this time or you're saying all the right things This is crucial. We get this because for me for a man for the first decade of my life trying to follow Jesus I viewed prayer primarily as a transaction with God. And so he was more like a boss than a father to me. And so I would show up and I'm like, man, I haven't been to work in three weeks. But I'm going to go in, I'm probably going to get fired, but I'm going to go in, I'm going to ask this boss for a raise. So I go, I knock, you know, oh, doors open while you're here. Okay, I didn't think you'd be here. So I go in, I sit down, oh, sovereign one, creator of all things. I know I haven't been here a few weeks, but I need a raise." And the boss says, the sovereign one says, well, listen, I've seen you around the office, and I've tried to actually say some things, but you're kind of like, you're on the go. I try to stop you for a second, you keep it moving. I'm like, I know, I know, I'm busy, don't you understand? I'm busy doing work. And then I started to think about what if instead of asking for the raise, the boss says, instead of taking my resources, how about you just take me? And you get my strength and you get my presence and you actually allow me to do what you're trying to do on your own. Prayer is all about love. Jesus wants us to undoubtedly understand this so much so that any time you see him praying in the Gospels or teaching others how to pray, he uses the word Father, the same word he's using in Luke 11. It says, one day, Jesus was praying in a certain place. He's praying in a certain place. His disciples watched this. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, because what I just saw you have, I want that too. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name. Jesus never forgets to remind us who we are talking to. Prayer is first and foremost, all about love. Now here's the thing about love. You and I know a little something about love, don't we? The romantic love in the beginning that is so intoxicating, so new, so fresh, it gets you up in the morning, you are excited. Romantic love is powerful. It will make some of you do some dumb things, right? But then you fast forward to the end of life and you see like two people who have loved each other for decades and their love feels so effortless. And you're like, man, I would love to have that. We know a little bit about love, but how about all the ordinary days in between that come after the romance and before you're about to die with each other? This is the beauty and the brokenness of a movie that I watched when I was a young kid called The Notebook. Anyone seen The Notebook? Not gonna front, Nicholas Sparks did something with this film. And I remember sitting in the theater, I will have no shame admitting that, watching this movie, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams love each other, and then Ryan gets old and wrinkly, he still looks good. And I found myself watching that movie saying, that is better than anything I got, and I want it. And I think when the disciples saw Jesus praying, they said that same thing. That is better than anything I got, and I want it. But here's the problem with that movie. Nicholas Sparks fast-forwards all the ordinary days in between. Those are the days that require you embracing the fact that this is all about love. So Jesus says start by praying to God more intimately than you think you're allowed to do because this whole thing is about what? Prayer is about love. And until we understand this y'all, we will never fully see why prayer is so essential. Secondly, prayer is about simplicity, everyday simplicity. Notice the words from our passage. Jesus says, ask, seek, knock. Now here's why I kind of love Jesus and still get a little bit bothered because he's kind of ambiguous. Ask what, Jesus? Whatever. Well, that's not helpful. I'm asking for the Lakers to win. Seek, seek where? Where am I going? Knock. Knock on what? What am I doing? Ask, seek, knock. Here's what I want you to see about these verbs. Two things. Number one, these verbs in the Greek convey a kind of simplicity to prayer. In other words, everybody can do this. And one of the reasons why I think Jesus is doing this is because in his day he would have seen the pagans pray, who typically pray with superstition. In other words, they think if I say the right words, perform the right dance, then I can manipulate the gods to give me what I need from them in the act of prayer. He also sees very religious people pray, devout people pray, who pray with a kind of super spirituality, who aren't necessarily trying to manipulate Yahweh, they know they can't do that but they can manipulate people into thinking because they pray so well and they're so loved by God, they can keep power. Jesus says avoid superstition, avoid super spirituality, embrace simplicity. Prayer is just asking. Anyone can ask for anything. Anyone can seek. Anyone can knock. We all can do this. Second thing about these verbs, these verbs are in the present tense. In other words, they're in the present continual tense. So what Jesus is saying is ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. This is an ongoing thing, right? Which is no wonder why Paul seeing this vision that Jesus originally taught, later on in Thessalonians, when he says this in 1 Thessalonians 5, that we are to pray continually. Another translation says pray without ceasing. In other words, for Paul, the Christian life, we view prayer not just as an essential activity, but we view prayer as essential to life. Living is about praying. Everywhere you go, you are in communion with God, either being with him in conversation or just being with him all of life is prayer And it's simple and it's every day Like you would with a friend like you would with a spouse Whether you have something plan. What are we doing? I don't know. We're just sitting around on tick-tock Or you're just there in each other's presence all of life is prayer, which is why he says be joyful and hope patient in affliction, faithful in prayer, consistent in prayer. Now even with all that said, I suspect, now listen, that most of our prayers are unprayed, are they not? How many things in your life are you carrying right now that you have refused to offer in prayer? James 4 says it bluntly, he was Jesus' brother, so he gets right to the point. He grew up with God, so he's not missing words. You have not because you ask not. In other words, God is saying, I have a life for you, but you have never asked for this life, because most of our prayers are unprayed prayers. One of the reasons why I think that is, is because all of us, to some degree, still love and worship self-reliance and productivity. You see, the best kept secret of my life, and I'll take a risk and say the best kept secret of the modern church today, is that we believe in productivity, not prayer. We have a formula for success. It's basically this. Create a solid program, give above average teaching, hello, and good worship. And boom, you'll make Christians and church after church believe in productivity and not prayer and As a confession the hidden atheism of my own personal life is that I would rather busy myself with anything but prayer Now what's helpful in this moment is that this is not a modern problem. This is not a new problem This is actually a very old ancient one Jesus himself dealt with it. As you remember in his life as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday people there actually announcing this king and he's okay with it. You might remember the scene he comes in riding on a donkey of all things which is pretty silly and foolish when you think about it. You're a king but you're on a donkey. A donkey fit for a child. So imagine Jesus full-grown 33 year old a man Jesus carpenter he's strong on a donkey fit for a kid. He's probably dragging his feet through the dust. And he enters Jerusalem, and where does he go first? Matthew 21 says he goes into the temple. A lot of people know the story of Jesus if they don't know the full story of Jesus. Why? Because in this scene you see him so angry, you see him emotional, and this is what Matthew 21 says, He said to them, the Scriptures declare, my temple will be called the house of prayer. A house of prayer. But you have turned it into a den of thieves. In other words, you have allowed religious, corruptible productivity to get in the way of people doing what they were meant to do when they come into the house of God, which is to commune with Him, which is to pray. This is an old one. Now what's kind of unique about this story is that it's not the first time this happened. You might think Jesus is kind of doing something original, because Jesus did a lot of things that were original, but he's actually doing something that his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather did first, King David. Second Samuel, chapter 6, stay with me, story time with Fredo, so put your seatbelt on. Second Samuel, chapter 6, some of us might know this story, David comes into Jerusalem for the first time and announces king too, much like Jesus did on Palm Sunday. But what's interesting about David is that he comes in, the text says, in a priestly ephod. That's a nice, sophisticated way to say he came in wearing underwear. And what was he doing? He wasn't riding in the back of the parade float on the throne as king, he was dancing up front. So much so that his wife at the time is embarrassed by what she sees. And we think, oh, this is about the joy of the Lord, because David has recovered the Ark of the Covenant. We'll get to that in a second, but the full context is more than just that. Because, listen, seven years to that date, David was anointed king, but he couldn't go into Israel and rule as king. Why not? Because Saul was still alive. And Saul was jealous of David, we know this, and was hunting him down. So when Saul finally dies, you might think it's time for David, no, because Saul's son, Ish-bosheth, has forcefully occupied the throne. He surrounded it with his military. The nation of Israel doesn't even want Ish-bosheth, he's got a terrible name anyways, he can't be their king, but he's forcefully occupied it. So by the time he finally gets out, David's able to come in. Imagine, you were told you're going to have your dream job, but then you've got to wait seven years before you even take your first day in office. That's a lot of time for you and I to dream about what we would do on our very first day in. And this is David's grand idea? He's going to walk down Jerusalem's main streets? He's going to two-step down Broadway in his chonies? This is his grand idea, y'all. Now much like being at Disneyland where you hear the parade coming first before you see it, that's what Israel would have done. Oh, David's finally coming! The king is arriving! But what's so jaw-dropping is that he's not at the back of the float, he's at the front of the float. He comes in first, reciting what many believe is Psalm 24. Open the gates. Let the king of glory come in. Who is this king? Oh, it's you, David. This is your royal parade. No the king of glory Lord God Almighty who saves That's the king. This is so subversive, right? David is intentionally I think symbolically symbolically saying to Israel I'm not just a king, but I'm a priest who's come to usher you into God's presence Because there was a back float to this parade and it wasn't a castle with Mickey and Minnie The Ark of the Covenant was back there And what David does is he walks this parade not to his throne room that he's been waiting seven years to sit on He goes to the center of the city. Why would he go to the center of the city? Here's why because David his grand idea in his first day of office has pitched a tent He's pitched a tent Here's what you need to know he recreated Moses's tent of meeting which was said to be this is the very place where Moses saw God face to face. And in this tent, David ushers in the Ark of the Covenant. It is beautiful, and he says, you know what we're gonna do my first day? We're going to pray. We're gonna pray. Now, what you have to keep in mind is that they are in tribal conflict with neighboring nations still. Philistines are literally in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. So David's first order of business as a general, as a warrior king, sits down with his advisors. Can you imagine how this meeting goes? He's like, guys, I got a grand idea. And they're like, yeah, David, we know. We saw what you did. He's like, I know, but let's pray. He's like, but there's a war outside. He's like, I don't care. We're gonna blow the entire budget on worship and prayer. So 1 Chronicles 25 says David hired over 292 worship leaders, prophets, and elders to simply minister in this tent. And this was not a nice tent. You could have found this at REI. You most likely found a tent like this at Walmart, right? There's nothing special about it but that the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred box that before Indiana Jones was looking for, King Saul lost in a moment in which his life was comfortable in a foreign land, which is typically what we tend to do with God in prayer. We lose him when life is comfortable because we forget we need him. David recovers this ark, is so excited to bring it in, and his first day in his office, he says, we're all going to pray and meet with God. His political strategy, one scholar says, was God's presence. David's grand vision is this. If we put prayer back at the center of God's people, you get discipleship in the city. Put prayer in the center, you get discipleship in the world. This is the formula. This is how it always has worked. Any way you slice it, the kingdom of David's reign was the greatest Israel ever saw. So this prayer tent was not just an overly emotionally hyped Pentecostal service where people are dancing around, swinging flags, jumping right. And no offense if that's your background. This was a beautiful thing. Many of our Psalms from the Old Testament come from this very tent. You want to know the book that Jesus quoted the most from the Old Testament? It was the Psalter. He quoted Psalms constantly describing who he was and what he's come to do. Something profound happened in this tent. So much so that scholars say it's a mystery because for three decades people without restriction, anyone, you and I, can go in and encounter God in prayer. So Jesus winks at us in Matthew 21 and says, I'm just doing what my great-great-grandfather did, but finally and fully. And we know this because on the cross, the temple curtain tore in two, symbolizing not just that we had access to God, but that everybody had access to God. He was right. His house will be called a house of prayer. This is what we need Put prayer back in the center of your life in the center of the church and we get discipleship in the city Now that's a cute story Some of you Bible nerds might be happy to hear that But what does this all mean? Here's how I think we can actually embrace the practice of prayer That is both about love and everyday simplicity. Remember the words of Jesus, ask, seek, knock. How much more will your Father in heaven, remember these words, because Jesus is saying, here's the secret to prayer. Pray with the heart of a lover because this whole thing is about relational love. And pray with the discipline of an athlete, ask, seek, knock. In other words, love, like marriage, needs to be protected in a covenant, a structure and rhythm, so that that romantic love can deepen and grow and transform over the years. And so prayer cannot just be motivated and fueled in your life by simply fluttery feelings and difficult moments. It needs structure and rhythm to grow. And so here's what I'm offering to you guys. Take a deep breath. Here's my thought. Structure your day around a three-part daily prayer rhythm. And this isn't a new idea. This is not Sandals trying to be revolutionary. We're done with that. That ended after 2020. This is what the church has been doing from the very beginning. This has always been the drum that God's people have been beating. Psalm 55. Listen to the psalmist. As for me, I call to God and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon, I cry out in distress and he hears my voice. You think back to the book of Daniel, the entire plot of that story was him in a Babylonian culture with other allegiances to foreign gods and he is told, don't you bow down and pray to Yahweh. What does he do? Three times a day he faces Jerusalem and he prays. That's how he gets in the den. In the New Testament, every gospel highlights the prayer rhythms of Jesus and the overwhelming historical evidence is that Jesus attended the temple three times a day to pray. Yes, he prayed spontaneously and also in structured rhythm. Jesus prayed alone all the time, but he also prayed with people. He prayed pouring out his emotions before God so much so that people thought he might die and he also went to the temple and recited written prayers that would be regularly said over and over and over by people. If you turn to the book of Acts, you see this in the early church community as well. Acts chapter 3, for example, listen. One day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer, at three in the afternoon. Another one, Acts 10, about noon, the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. Here's a question we can all ask. How is it possible that when you read through Acts, the apostles seem to get everyone together, day of an event. You and I, we need three weeks before we invite someone to a party. But they're able to get everyone together, day of an event, in a massive city with no iPhones. How do they get everyone together all the time? One of the best historical points is that they were already planning to gather around a three-part daily prayer rhythm. The early church document referred to as the Didache highlights for us additional things the church would do that we don't always see in the book of Acts and one of them is their three-part daily prayer rhythm gathering. They join together morning, midday, and evening to pray. You see this with Peter, Acts chapter 3. They pray. Someone approaches them, heal me, I need money, silver and gold I have none, but in the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk. That's the first miracle post-resurrection. Acts chapter 10, when Peter goes up to pray, what happens? He gets a vision that the gospel is not just for Jews, but for Gentiles, right? Might there be a connection? Just listen with me. This is kind of a reaching thought, but might there be a connection between the power of the Spirit in the book of Acts and the prayer rhythm of the church in the book of Acts? I think so. And so when we pray expressing our love for God, listen now, the power of God is not far behind in your life. And so if intimacy with Jesus is what you long for, plant yourself in a rhythm structure. If the power of the Spirit is what you want to see in your life, plant yourself in a rhythm of structure. Some of you right now are facing problems that are too great for you. Problems at work, illnesses that you're dealing with, relational conflict in your marriage, trying to disciple your friends and children. That's an impossible task and you are doing it in your own power. Why not consider the power of God enter and overwhelm and transform your life. But even as I say that, here's a major issue. Modern believers, modern Christians like you and I, we're so, you know, we got podcasts, we got books, there's a conference for this, I don't need a prayer rhythm, right? There's a new book coming out by someone, this will be the trick, right? We seem to have this aversion to set prayers at set times. Why? Because we confuse rhythm with ritual and with structure as being against spontaneity. But listen, free spontaneous prayer can be born out of rhythmically structured prayer. Case in point, come to dinner with me just once. Come over to my house, we sit down to eat. Ash and I play a game with the kids. It's called high-low what do you know? The kids love it. High-low what do you know? They can't wait to play. So as we sit down and eat, we ask them, can you share a hi from your day, a lo from your day, something that you know, and Ella loves it. She goes first. She takes most of the time, so that by the time it's Eli's turn, our dinner is done, because I eat fast, y'all, like a hobbit, I'm on the move. But what I have found is that out of this structured time together with my children has come spontaneous moments. Moments of laughter, stories from there. Like I learn and discover parts of my children that I would have never discovered anywhere else. Why? Because I have a structure, a rhythm. Am I great at it? No! God knows I'm not great at it. But when it's there, something beautiful comes out of it. Last night I was laughing. I had tears coming out of my eyes because of what my son was saying. It was too much. I can't share it. It was hilarious. And it's not the first time my kids have made me cry. There's been plenty of times my children give me tears, but these last night were tears of joy, right? And I loved it. And it was birthed out of a structure. High, low, what do you know? Like any good jazz musician you know, they can have that ability to break out into a spontaneous, symphonic, magical moment of tunes, but they also know the structured notes to play. It's both. And what I'm learning about my own life right now is that the passion I'm seeking for with God, the moments that I want to recover that I seem to have in my early 20s, that I don't have at 37 because life is ordinary and I literally do the same thing every day, I'm learning that a structure is breathing new life. Morning, midday, evening. That intimacy, that spontaneous, goes hand in hand with structure. When you think about Jesus, just for a second, he prayed on this structure, and this is how he measured time. Think about it. How do you think they measured time without clocks? Some might say, you're wise. Well, the sun, dude. You did things before the sun rose, you did things while the sun was up, and then you did things after the sun went down. That's how time was measured. Think about your life right now. How do you measure the passing of time in your life? I know how I do it. Food. I wake up, it's ready. I can't wait. Overnight oats is what I have. And then while I'm at breakfast, no lie, I'm thinking about lunch. There's a lunch meeting. I'm gonna go to work today. And then at lunch, I'm thinking about dinner. I can't wait to get home. Three hours till dinner. I've told you before, I'm a hobbit. I truly am a hobbit. I structure my life in days around food. When's my next meal? How do you structure, or I'm sorry, how do you measure the passing of time in your life right now? Is it through notifications, email, the to-do list? Is it your kids waking up, going to sleep? Is it when you're going to go on that date? Is it when you're counting down the days of the work week until you get to the weekend because you swear that new brunch spot is going to change your life and the next three-day weekend is coming? Now, this is the real thing. You know, people are still very religious. It's just instead of going to church, they go to brunch, y'all. Food culture – I'm not lying. Food culture has transformed transcendency, right? We don't believe in heaven, but we believe in good chili-kilis that will transform your life. But how do you measure the passing of time? How do you measure it? Consider measuring time around an encounter with a God who loves you, who personifies love. Because you, like, honestly, you owe it to yourself to discover how you measure time right now. Because whatever it is, I guarantee you it has your affections and it's shaping you into its image. And it may not be Jesus. And so adopting a three-part daily prayer rhythm is a way for you to reorient your whole life. This is not just an activity, this is a way of life. Praying is a way of life. And so here's how I think you can do prayer. You pray scripture. You can pray scripture. Think about Pastor Matt's message last week. Remember his three questions? What does the past, come on, what does the passage say? What does it mean? How do I apply it to my life? Some of y'all probably should go back and watch the message. What if you took that last question, what does it mean? Or how do I apply it? I messed it up now. How do I apply this to my life? And you just prayed that in. God, I heard today from the Psalms that you are a rock and that you are worthy of my trust. Help me to live like that today. I find stability in my job. I find stability in this. Help me to find stability in you. Pray scripture as you wake up. For me, I often pray the Lord's Prayer. I pray that our Father in heaven, oh that's right, Fredo, you are a son today. Before you do anything or say anything, you are loved today. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Oh, that's right, Fredo, you're not just trying to build your cool little kingdom where you're in control. Jesus, your kingdom is coming. May your will be done through my body today because I have desires that I can't control on my own. I need your will to be done. Give us today our daily bread. That's right, God, I got needs today. I have needs in my life. I have needs in my family's life. The world has needs. Would you meet these needs? Forgive us of our sins as we forgive those. Oh gosh. Yeah, Lord. I got sin this morning Here we go. I Allow the Lord's Prayer praying scripture to catapult me into a conversation with God Midday pray for the lost midday pray for the lost Imagine just for a moment like I want you to zoom in. Where are you at midday normally? Hey driving a truck Are your kids driving you? Are you delivering something? Are you helping patients? Are you making food? Wherever you're at midday, imagine just for a moment, breaking away out of that stream, releasing your hands from work, because you know a secret, and the secret is this. While everyone else is hustling in the middle of the day, trying to build a kingdom that won't last, you know a kingdom that is coming that will last. And so you take a moment to pray for the lost. Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd. You leave 99 to go after the one. The same way you came after me, would you go after my co-workers? They need your love, and the same way I need your love. Name them. Midday, write their names down. How do you think that would transform the way you work? You are all in ministry. You have all been commissioned to be pastors wherever you go. Act like one in your workplace. Pray midday. Pray for the lost. In an evening time, you pray a prayer of gratitude. Now if you're anything like me, by the end of the day, I'm cooked. I'm told I can't do a math problem. I can't watch another show. I can't read another verse. I'm done. I'm well done meat at that point. I gotta lay down, try to shut my eyes, not look at Bleacher Report. And I just, if you're like me, you start to rehearse the day, and you think about all the ways you failed. Here's what I didn't get to. Here's the kind of person I'm not yet for Ashley. Here's what I still need to do tomorrow. I'm about to quit. But what if you, with a prayer of gratitude, instead of rehearsing guilt, you just started to rehearse gratitude? You said, God, thank you for breakfast. Thank you for my kids. Thank you for this moment. Thank you for that conversation. Thank you. Like, what would it do to your life that as you were knocking yourself out to sleep, your eyes were not looking at a screen, but your lips were just saying, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. A prayer of gratitude. Now, I have said a lot, and here's our aim as a church. We're not lying when we say these are the essentials. And so our desire as a church is to help serve you well on this journey of adopting some kind of a three-part daily prayer rhythm. In the coming days, there'll be some ways, tools that we have available to help you stay reminded every day. Some of you can set a reminder right now. Siri, tell me to pray morning, midday, evening. But we're going to have some things coming to you that will help you join with your church family as you adopt this structure. Because listen, if we can get prayer back at the center of the church, we get discipleship in the city. That's the vision. Now here's how I wanna close. The gospel, Jesus coming on our behalf, not just modeling for us prayer, but he himself lived his prayers. Because we all know the strongest prayer is the incarnated prayer. We ask God to do something, He says, I'm ready to do it through you. Let me see you. Trust me and obey me. And so where does it take Jesus? Jesus' prayer is taken to the cross. And on the cross, you see Him dying as He's praying. The last thing Jesus did as He was losing His life was pray. And he said this, Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit. I entrust my spirit. At the root of why all of your prayers and my prayers struggle to feel like they're what they should be is because deep down inside we all have an idol of control, especially in the Western world, which is why the unanswered prayers I mentioned in the beginning hurt so much. I couldn't control this situation. God, I thought you could. Why didn't you do this? Life, maturing in life, the people who you see who have like a lightness about them, they are those who have learned to pray as Jesus did on the cross, Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit. And they release the idol of control. They release their life to them. So often, in the last few weeks, I have found myself praying, Jesus, this is too much for me, but it is not too much for you. Can you take this? And listen, before anyone thinks that's a prayer of a resignation, nine on the Enneagram, because he doesn't want to deal with it, you're wrong. The first step to dealing with it is releasing it. How do you think Jesus was able to die? He released it. That's how he was able to sacrifice his life for you because he knew at the end of this something beautiful was coming. David's tabernacle was coming where God would be with his people forever. Release it. You want to grow. You want to see the beauty of prayer as an essence. You've got to know how to yield yourself to God every day, every day, yield yourself. God, I entrust myself to you. And you can see something profound happen in the way that you pray. Let's do that now as we go to Jesus. Father, we as a church, we entrust ourselves to you. We thank you, Jesus, in the way that you modeled this for us, but you also lived it for us. Your prayers took you to the cross so that you might live, die, and rise for us. We pray, God, that our prayers would take us to you, they would take us to people, they would take us to mission, they would take us to the kingdom. And so we pray now that you would help us become people of prayer, and that in this moment, God, you might lead some of us to surrender everything, to yield themselves to you, and declare you Jesus as Lord. We pray these things in your name. Amen. We hope your summer holds a lot of restful opportunities and room for a nice break from the norm. We at Sandals Church want you to know that you can be a part of us from wherever you go and however your rhythms look different in this season. We'll continue releasing weekly sermons and content on all podcast platforms, as well as on YouTube. You can also give to Sandals Church at any time by going to donate.sc. Thanks for being a part of this place. Thanks for being a part of this place. We hope you have a great summer.
Transcribed with Cockatoo