Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / Why Does Prayer Feel Boring? - November 9, 2025

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Why Does Prayer Feel Boring? - November 9, 2025 · REZ CHURCH Podcast

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Welcome to resurrection church if you're new here welcome my
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name is Daniel I am the lead pastor here at res church have.
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You ever had a moment where you were you were face?
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To face with someone and you were you were just like burying
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your soul like you. I mean, you like that
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excruciating moment where like you're getting?
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Really vulnerable with someone. And and man there.
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Is a potential that they're not. Going to return.
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That, that, that. It's not going to.
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Be reciprocated I I remember the moment.
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That I. First looked.
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In my wife's eyes when we were dating and said I love you.
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And that pause. Is feels like it's never going
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to end. You know you're going.
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Do they feel the same way? And and and you're.
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Face to face, you're kind of analyzing, you know, like, what
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are they going to do looking at body language?
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And do they feel the same way about me?
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You ever felt that? Nobody.
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Lord, some of y'all got married. I don't even know how.
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You ever feel that? If you've ever felt that, what
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is that? Scenario another one, but.
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Where you're face to face in this conversation that was just
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really. Intimate.
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Really vulnerable. I would, I would.
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And maybe in the moment. There was a possibility.
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That you could be rejected. I I would say if you've ever.
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Experienced that? Then you've experienced one of
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the most primal, one of the most sort of central feelings that
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makes us human, our need. To love and be loved.
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To know and be fully known. In fact, the fear of rejection
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is so great in our current culture that like there are
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people that completely avoid this entire process.
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Like I'm going. To have an online relationship.
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Who's going to do this whole thing via text?
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That way I can like. Because, man, there is a fear of
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of rejection. Right there there is a man or am
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I going to be accepted? I'm I'm looking at someone face
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to face and I'm staring in their eyes and I'm and and it's almost
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terrifying but but we also. Want it so much?
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I do. I want to be.
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Loved and accepted. Here's what I would tell you.
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I would say that this is actually both.
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One of our greatest human needs and one of our deepest, darkest
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fears. It's this.
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Question if someone fully. Knows me, Would they really love
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me? We were created to love.
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And be loved. To be known and be loved.
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That's actually what sets. Humans apart from all of.
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Creation. You know your dog wants.
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To be loved, but if you rub its belly and give it treats, they
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don't care if they know it or not.
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We do we care? Why do we care so much?
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Do you ever wonder? The Bible says that we.
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Care because we were actually created in such a way.
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We were designed in such a way to love and be loved, to know
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and be known. And the reason that it's so?
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Difficult and there's so much angst around it is that we.
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Live in this this fallen. World.
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In which we can never eat like. We live in a distorted world in
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which we. Can never really fully see it
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the way it was intended to be. A Pastor Tim Keller, in his book
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The Meaning of Marriage, actually says it this way.
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He says to be loved. But not fully known is
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comforting, but superficial. It's shallow.
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To be known and not loved is our greatest fear, but to be fully
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known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.
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It is what we need more than anything.
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It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self
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righteousness, and fortifies us for any.
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Difficulty that life can. Throw at us.
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We're starting. Today a three-week series on
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prayer. This series is called Teach Me
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to Pray. And if right now you're thinking
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like, if we're starting something on prayer, why are we
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talking about like? Romance and and being loved.
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I'm glad you're paying attention.
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They're they're related and we're going to look at this.
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So here's what we're going. To do over the next three weeks
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today. We're going to talk about.
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Why we pray like like, what is prayer like?
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What is it really? Why are we doing this?
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Or why are we supposed to be doing this?
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And then next week we're going to actually.
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Talk about how to do it. So kind of the logistics of
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prayer and then in the third. Week of this series we're we're
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going to practice. We're going to come in here and
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we're going to do. Elder LED congregation
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participation, say yay, open mic like we're you're going to be
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part of this. We're going to do a prayer and
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worship service. There's not going to be a
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sermon. Yeah, I know you're you're
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disappointed. I am.
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We're going to pray. We're.
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Going to practice what we preach.
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OK, so let's start today with what is prayer.
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What is prayer? Why?
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Why are we supposed to be doing this and and?
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Maybe maybe you joined us today or you're you're you're.
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Joining us online and you would, you would kind of consider
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yourself maybe a skeptic, A skeptical about Christianity or
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Jesus or, or or faith in general.
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So first of all, welcome. I'm glad you're here or you're
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watching. I actually am really excited to
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talk about prayer with you particularly.
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Maybe we can clear up some things about this idea of
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prayer. I'm excited you're here.
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I'm excited you're joining us. So there's a really interesting.
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Concept that runs all throughout.
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Scripture. All throughout the Bible, in
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fact. And it's this idea of.
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Seeking God's face and I really want to talk about this idea of
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seeking God's face today, what that means.
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So we're going to start in Second Chronicles 714.
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If you have your Bible, just turn there.
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We're going to read that first. This is kind of our foundational
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verse for the day if. My people.
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Who are called by my name humble themselves and pray.
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And these are the important three words.
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You can underline this. Seek my face and.
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Turn from their wicked. Ways then I will hear from
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heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
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A similar concept in Psalm 27, eight, there's a psalmist, he's
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talking about this command from the Lord to seek his face, and
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he says. This you have said, seek my
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face, and my heart says to you, your face.
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Lord do I seek. Over 100. 50 times in the.
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Bible God tells us to. Seek his face, seek his presence
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to seek. God, it's a proactive.
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Command. We're supposed to seek him and
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and and whenever. The Bible is being specific.
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It says more than just seek God, it says seek my face.
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And so I really wanted to break down.
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What does that mean? What does?
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What does he? Mean seek my face.
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And it's it's actually relatively.
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Simple and yet you're going to find this kind of hard and that
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is this that. Seeking God's face.
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Means that I'm coming to him in. Prayer.
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Not to get something from him, but to get God Himself.
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So I'm not. After what's in his hand, what
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he can give me, I'm after his face, I'm after him.
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There's a Hebrew word that we see.
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Throughout scripture called Panim, it is the Hebrew.
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Word here that we're. Reading for face, but it
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actually is translated two different ways depending on
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where you're reading it. In Scripture, same word.
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So not only does it mean face, it also means presence,
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Presence. And this word, whether
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translated as face or presence, is mentioned 2100 times in the
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Hebrew Bible. So don't think about God's.
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Face as like a physical face with eyes and a nose and a
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mouth. The Bible is telling us to seek.
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Being with God closely, not just wanting God to do something for
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me, but to be with God. And so I want to I want to just
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look through the texts. Today and look at some different
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scriptures and, and I hope what it means is that maybe we
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relearn some things about prayer.
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Maybe we reset some misconceptions about it.
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You know, almost every religion in the world.
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Talks about prayer or. Or meditation or incantation in
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some method or another. But Christian prayer is vastly
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different than almost every other religion.
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And the reason it's so different?
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Is that only Christianity? Is built around an intimate,
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personal God of the universe, a God who knows us, excuse me, a
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God who loves us so much that he would send his son to die for us
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to make it possible for us to seek him and know him
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personally. My earliest memories of prayer
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are with my, my parents. They're, they're, they're
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phenomenal memories. My mom and dad praying with me,
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whether praying before bed or just praying at different times
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and teaching me those things. But my earliest memories of
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prayer at church are horrible because they were the Wednesday.
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Night prayer meeting y'all? Y'all ever been to a small
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Southern Baptist country church and then Wednesday night prayer
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meeting? As a nine year old, I was pretty
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sure it was medically possible to die from boredom.
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I was sure I was at the verge. It's just that no one would show
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up like most prayer meetings in, in conservative churches.
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And there'd be a couple of people sitting around this big
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list of, of people that were sick.
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And then they would just sit and they would mumble over the same
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sets of little words and blah, blah, blah, blah.
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And we we'd be praying for so and so who's in the hospital and
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so and so and Aunt Bertha's bunions, you know, what is this?
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I don't get it. And so I grew up most of my
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life. Even most of my Christian life,
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not really knowing how to pray, not really knowing what to pray,
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not really know why we pray. Like does this even work like?
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Maybe maybe you can relate to that.
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How come every time I sit down to pray?
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My mind starts to wander. Anybody else?
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Oh my gosh. And then I'm.
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Then I start to get all like. Ashamed like this got ashamed of
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me because I can't stay on track because I can't.
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Pray the right way am I even saying the right words man,
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just. Does this even do any good?
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What am I doing? Yet the Bible would tell us to
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pray without ceasing. James, 48, would say to draw
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near to God, and he will draw near.
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To you, that sounds pretty personal.
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That sounds. Pretty intimate that does not.
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Sound like Wednesday night prayer meeting?
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Do you ever think? About that.
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Most of us talk about prayer more than we actually pray.
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Like, yeah, I'm going to pray about that.
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You know, you get the text from your buddy who's like really
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going through it and you're like, oh, that sounds terrible.
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I'm going to pray for you, brother.
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And like, that was the prayer, the text, and.
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Then we just go on with. Life like you all realize that
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the prayer. Emoji is not the actual.
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Prayer. So so like.
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For me, maybe if we understood prayer a little bit better,
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maybe, maybe it would be. Easier.
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Maybe we'd be more. More motivated to do.
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It you know, a couple years ago I started to really wonder.
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How? How come I say that I believe
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that prayer is this incredibly powerful thing of talking to
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God, bringing things to God, but my life doesn't look like I
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believe that. Like it like if I if if I really
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believed what I said. I believed I I would be praying
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a lot harder and a lot more and I was just really.
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Convicted of like. Gosh, I need to take, I need to
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take a better look at this. And then someone gave me a book.
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Another pastor friend of mine gave me a book.
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It sat on my night stand for like a year.
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And I finally got to reading it. And it was about leading through
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prayer, like leading a church in prayer and, and how all of
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really Christian leadership is dependent on prayer.
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And so as I begin to read that, and I begin to do the things in
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that book, our elder room entirely changed.
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Like like we started to. Build an elder room around
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prayer and when we did the church begin to change, we begin
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to see God move. We start.
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Every Sunday morning, including this morning at 6:30 in the
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morning, sitting around tables just pouring out our heart,
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praying to God, asking for his presence, asking for him to show
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up. We pray for churches
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individually by name, by their pastors name for their kids, for
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their prayer request. We.
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Pray for you, you. Didn't show up here today not
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having been first prayed for by a group of people this morning.
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Going to the throne room of God with your name on their heart,
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praying for you, praying for you.
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And so let's let's dig a little on this idea.
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We're going to jump around into some different scriptures today,
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different quotes, different things to see.
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If we can get a. Better maybe a more holistic
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understanding of prayer, because prayer has been not only
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misunderstood. Now, in 2025, prayer has been
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misunderstood. For a long time we.
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We have some beautiful quotes from historians and church
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fathers throughout the last few thousand years talking about
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trying to understand prayer better.
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Mother Teresa said prayer is not asking.
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Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God at His disposition
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and listening to His voice in the depths of our heart.
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Henry Newman said to pray is to listen to the one who calls you
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beloved child. To pray is to let that voice.
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Speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let
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that voice resound in your whole being, Saint Therese, who was
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born in 1873, said. This prayer is a surge.
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Of the heart. It is a simple look toward
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heaven, is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both
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trial and joy. Been a lot of descriptions
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written about prayer we're going to we're going to use this sort
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of easy definition today and through our series it's also
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going. To be our big idea today.
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So if you don't, if you leave with nothing else, leave with
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this concept. I want you to really wrestle on
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this and chew on this today. Authentic prayer is encountering
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God's astonishing presence. Authentic prayer is encountering
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God's astonishing presence. Authentic meaning there are a
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lot of cheap substitutes encountering because this is
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meant to be a face to face relationship, like me staring
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into my wife's eyes. And astonishing because every
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time we are exposed to the presence of the God of the
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universe, we are changed. And I want to show you.
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What happens if if? You and I will will begin to do
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this, begin to proactively seek God.
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I want to show you what happens when we do that.
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It happens throughout the Bible. We see it over and over again.
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It's happened in my life for many of you, it's happened in
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your life. Here's the first thing we have
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to get an understanding that God actually cherishes our prayer.
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He, he, man, He loves it when we talk to Him.
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It's not just a command, it's not a duty, It's not a check
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box. He actually desires US talking
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with him and we see this. All throughout.
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Scripture as prayer is described to us.
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If if we turn to the story of the tax collector and the
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Pharisee that Jesus tells we would, we would see that we're
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going to look at that one next week.
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If we look at David and Psalm 51 pouring his heart out to God, we
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see this. But I just.
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Want you to hear it? There's a story of Jesus in a
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region called Samaria with a group of marginalized people,
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and he's speaking to a woman who's who's very much the least
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of these, very ostracized, and they're having a conversation.
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And he begins to describe to her what is about to happen when he
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goes to the cross, when he makes a way.
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Here's what he says. He says in John 423 and 24.
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But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true
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worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
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For the Father is look at that Word, seeking such people to
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worship Him. God is spirit and those who
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worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
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God desires for you and I to seek His face in intimate
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conversation with Him. That, that, that.
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Means that a lot of the things that you've heard or been taught
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about prayer. Are wrong because if.
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If that's what God's desire. Really is.
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Then prayer. Prayer is not a performance
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because that's not what God's asking for.
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It's not what he cherishes, not what he's looking for.
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You don't have to pray good or pray Gooder.
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I don't know how's that work. You're just talking to God.
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There are no magic words yet You wait too often.
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You've heard somebody pray and you're like, oh, I can't pray.
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I would mess it up like it's some sort of spell from
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Hogwarts. Like man, if you may probably
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not working because I said it wrong.
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It's supposed to be like. Wingardium Leviosa.
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No, you're just talking to the Heavenly Father.
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Let me to get your head around what that means.
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You got to go back to the very beginning of the Bible, the very
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beginning of the whole creation story.
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God has created the first man, the first woman there.
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There's a garden. There's no sin.
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We haven't rebelled against God yet.
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Everything's perfect. The Bible calls that Shalom.
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Shalom, perfect peace. And here's what's happening in
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that garden. Where everything's perfect.
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Just the way it was designed. We're walking through the garden
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with Jesus, just talking side by side, face to face
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conversations. That's.
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Actually how we were created. That's what we were created to
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do. The problem comes shortly after
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when we rebel against God. When that rebellion happens, it
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fractures that relationship, sin and death.
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The the the curse of sin falls upon mankind.
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Now all of a sudden, it's not so easy to just walk through the
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garden with God. We can't.
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And yet, and yet we were still created for that reason.
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We were still created with that desire.
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So so when you look around. And you go, man, something's not
19:35
right. Let me tell you why.
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Because we were created to walk. With him and all.
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Of a sudden, we're apart. From him and so the Bible
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continues to lay out this framework, this instruction of
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seek me, seek my face. Why?
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Because you were designed to need it.
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It's nothing's going to feel right until you find him.
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Seek my presence. Come find me.
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So prayer is this conversation with God that he desires.
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The The primary way that we speak to God is through prayer.
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The primary way that God. Speaks to us is through His
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word, the Bible. We'll talk.
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A lot about that next week, and these aren't different things.
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This is just the conversation. I just want you to consider that
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God has always wanted us to seek His presence.
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He's always wanted us to come and talk to Him.
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He created us with that very need inside of us and so often.
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Your dissatisfaction in life is that there's actually a need to
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talk to him, and you're doing other things with that need and
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wondering why it doesn't satisfy.
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He desires this conversation when we step into that, when we.
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Intentionally. Proactively.
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Begin to do that. Begin to seek his face.
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Begin to talk. To him begin to have.
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Those conversations, Here's what happens.
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This is .2 in there that authentic prayer begins to
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expose my heart. Now here's what I mean by that.
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OK, I should define quickly God's presence.
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So we're talking about seeking God's presence in the Bible.
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There's actually three types of presence.
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God. God is present in three ways in
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the Bible. And, and, and I want to
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articulate some of that difference so that you
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understand which one we're talking about.
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It says that God is omnipresent and all that means is that.
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God is everywhere all the. Time there's nowhere to hide
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from God. Secondly, it says that because
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of Christ, if we've given our life to Christ, we are what's
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called indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
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He's put his spirit inside of us and all the time Spirit doesn't
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come and go, but but there's a third type and this is the type
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we're going to be talking about today.
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And it's this idea of the intimate presence of God that
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the face to face conversations with God.
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Now how? Can there be three types?
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That's a? That's a logical.
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Question. And so I'm going to give you an
22:08
analogy. That I hope is helpful.
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How many of you here have ever babysat a toddler or an infant?
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OK, like literally some of you are parents and not raising your
22:18
hand. I'm just wondering what happens
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with your kids. OK, most of us, yes, Now.
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If you've ever babysat a kid, a. Small kid, you know that they
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they could like sit in the living room floor and you could
22:34
be in the room with. Them kind of watching them.
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And they could be. Oblivious to the fact that
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you're there because there's some amazing thing that has
22:40
caught their attention like a. Cardboard box and they could
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just be enthralled with that. Thing for like hours and have no
22:48
idea you were there and then but there's a moment right where
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they turn and they see you and they make eye contact and
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they're like and there's a spark of.
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Recognition and they're like mom, y'all know what I'm talking
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about right? For me, it's it's, that's not
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mom, you know what I mean? Yes, everybody with me.
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It wasn't that you weren't there the whole time, but something
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different happens when they turn face.
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To face and make eye contact with you, yes, that's.
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The type of. Presence we're talking about so.
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It's not that. God's missing.
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It's that there's this moment we begin to turn and look.
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For God. 'S face that everything changes.
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I'll give you another example. How many people here are
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married? OK.
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That was not a hard question for some of you.
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I hope you're not in trouble later anyways.
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Now, men. Y'all know you're still
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technically? Married when you're at work,
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Yes. OK, yes, it's a weird crowd
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today. You're still married.
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When you're at work, if you're at home and you're doing the
24:00
dishes and your spouse is in the other room, you know, cleaning
24:03
some floors, you're still married.
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OK. Thank you.
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But but don't but aren't. Everyone like a good date night?
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Come on. Yeah.
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Everyone like a good date? Night Yes, trying to grow this
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shirts the old fashioned way. It wasn't that you weren't
24:25
married and you are married. But there's something about
24:28
intentional time. We put our phones down, put the
24:30
distractions down. Some of you have.
24:31
Young kids. Are like, what's that like?
24:35
We turn toward one another, we're face to face.
24:38
I'm actually spending time in intimate conversation with my
24:42
spouse. Connecting, talking, listening,
24:45
enjoying. I'm looking at those beautiful
24:47
brown eyes. What's different?
24:55
What's different? I'm face to face, man.
24:59
I'm I'm intentionally seeking the presence of that person into
25:04
an intimate conversation. Authentic prayer is seeking
25:07
God's manifest presence. In my life now, news flash,
25:13
buckle in, we're not in the Garden of Eden.
25:18
I know Bakersfield in the fall tricks some people as soon we
25:22
take all the photos as we invite all of our friends and they
25:25
think Bakersfield's amazing because they haven't been here
25:26
in August. We're not we're not in the we're
25:30
not in the Garden of Eden. And here's what I.
25:31
I mean by that like. Because we're not in the Garden
25:34
of Eden. We're not just walking with.
25:37
God, through the cool of the evening anymore.
25:39
And so to to to seek God. One means we have to be
25:44
intentional. 2 It means that. As we draw close to God, as we.
25:48
Begin to to turn. Face to face, we get to
25:51
experience his presence. Here's what's going to happen.
25:54
In the garden. It was perfection.
25:56
I could walk. With him with no big deal but
25:58
right now? We live in a fallen, distorted
26:00
world, so as I get close to a holy God every time I'm.
26:06
Going to go, oh, I'm not like that.
26:14
It's like the illumination of. Holiness on our life and every.
26:20
Time that happens, we're going to begin to.
26:22
See. A gap between God's character
26:25
and my. Character between.
26:26
God's attitude and my attitude between God.
26:29
'S power and my weakness between his humility and my.
26:32
Pride and there's going to be a gap.
26:35
Amen. And it'll.
26:38
Be that moment, no matter where you're at.
26:39
When you get close to holy God, you go.
26:41
Oh, he's not like me. It exposes my heart when I begin
26:50
to interact with the perfection of God and so So what will
26:57
happen is your heart. You know your.
26:59
Circumstances. Your attitude like all.
27:02
Those things you're just going to all of a sudden you're going
27:03
to go, oh God, is so different than I am.
27:08
Now here's the thing. Not, not in shame.
27:14
Shame is not from God. Adam and Eve used to walk.
27:18
With God naked that. Shame is not from God.
27:21
We we did that. So as we draw close to God, we
27:24
don't we don't get. Shame because we're not perfect.
27:27
Actually, there's this this gentle correction that is the
27:32
beauty of Christ, the standard of holiness where we go.
27:35
Oh, and the and the third. Thing will happen.
27:39
Which is that that exposing my heart to God in humility allows
27:44
him to work on it. Now I say in humility why?
27:49
Because the moment we begin to see a gap between God and.
27:51
Us, we have. To have a recognition I'm the
27:57
one that's wrong. We're not going God.
28:01
Come down here, get in line. We're going, oh, oh, I have some
28:07
things that are not right. There's there's a, there's a a.
28:12
Theological concept that we get from scripture called
28:15
immutability, immutability, say immutability, immutability, it
28:19
means that God does not change. There's no variation.
28:25
And and we get that from Malachi 36, from James 117, from a lot
28:28
of other verses. God does not change, but I do
28:32
Amen. You do.
28:34
Amen. You ever had a bad day?
28:38
God hasn't. You ever been wrong?
28:42
God in God doesn't change. So what happens is I take my.
28:48
Broken, warped, Emotional. Self and I seek the face of God,
28:54
and as I get closer and closer to a perfect.
28:57
God, I go, whoa, I'm not like that.
29:07
And that recognition allows him to begin to change me, to begin
29:13
to transform my heart, to begin to refine my character moment by
29:18
moment, minute by minute, degree by degree, little bit by little
29:22
bit. Just like when you're doing
29:27
something with a little kid and they get to watch Dad do it.
29:29
They try to be like Dad. That's what's happening, right?
29:31
You're going, oh, I need to be more like Dad.
29:38
And that can be in conviction, that can be in encouragement.
29:44
That can be all kinds of different correction.
29:46
Let me give you an example. Wednesday night I had a
29:52
particularly rough night and and it's just been tough.
29:56
And statistically, pastors have one of the loneliest jobs in the
30:04
world. 43% of all pastors who consider quitting sight,
30:09
loneliness, isolation is the reason they quit.
30:12
And I remember Pastor Ray Johnson said he was talking to a
30:15
group of pastors and he said be careful pastor because a a
30:18
church will use you up and throw you out like a Kleenex and move
30:21
on to the next pastor. And I and I thought at the
30:23
moment, like, man, that's awfully cynical.
30:25
You know, like, and, and I actually, I think I know what he
30:29
was trying to say in that moment.
30:31
I think what he was saying is like, the churches aren't
30:33
malicious. It's just that they rarely
30:35
realize the burden that they're putting, you know?
30:38
Pastors sit in the spot. Where everyone in their trauma,
30:40
in their hurt, in their pain, run to the pastor and when, when
30:43
you know when your nose is running, you're not thinking
30:45
about it right? You're grabbing the.
30:46
Kleenex or your sleeve if you're my kids or whatever, right?
30:49
And you just, you just use it. And so inherently pastors end up
30:55
with, with a lot of that. And I was just laying in bed
30:58
Wednesday night, like really kind of struggling with
31:01
isolation, loneliness and talking to God, just talking to
31:04
God in the middle of the night, just talking and talking and,
31:06
and just pouring out my heart and, and I, I just, I could feel
31:08
the Lord talk to me through that and just say, man, you're not
31:13
alone. I'm right here.
31:19
I have not hidden my face from you.
31:24
There are days for a pasture where no human is safe to relate
31:27
to. But he is.
31:32
He is. And so he's he's.
31:35
We're just in the middle of the night.
31:36
God is ministering to it. He's just reminding me.
31:38
Like, you know, Daniel, you might, you might be a little
31:40
emotional. Right now.
31:43
And as I draw close to the goodness of God, I'm like, oh,
31:45
yeah, I think I'm a little emotional right now.
31:48
Not in the shameful way. In a way.
31:49
Oh man, God now can correct some of those things in my heart in
31:54
the middle of the night, just in a conversation.
31:57
Why? Because God, without any,
32:00
without any magic words or formal incantations, God can
32:07
change me simply by me drawing near and seeking His face and
32:12
getting closer to Him and realizing He's so good.
32:17
You can encounter God's presence face to face and that that
32:22
changes me every single time. That's what it does in this
32:27
life. You know all the circumstances
32:30
we're going to go through our, our emotions and, and our
32:32
reactions and our perspective. They're going to change wildly.
32:35
You're just going to go through some stuff.
32:37
And here's the thing, we have a heavenly Father who says he has
32:42
he Jesus came down and suffered so that he would have
32:45
experienced everything that we've experienced, suffered,
32:50
struggled, lived, died so that we could have confidence that
32:55
when we draw close to him, he's gone through.
32:57
He knows exactly what you're going through and his word says
33:03
bring that to me. Seek my face, seek me with all
33:08
of your heart. Bring that to me and I will give
33:10
you rest it in in the Bible, every time we see God, God speak
33:21
about his face, it's every time he blesses someone, it says he
33:24
shines his face upon them. Where where God's face where his
33:27
presence is his joy and satisfaction and peace and
33:32
comfort. And when like really horrible
33:33
stuff happens, it you'll see it says God hid his face from them
33:39
and he turns and and and and all of the evil and ills of the
33:42
world flood in and we actually have the choice to seek his face
33:52
again and again and again. He says, come talk to me, come
33:55
spend time with me. Come worship me.
33:58
Come and join me. Won't you come?
34:04
That's prayer. That's prayer above and beyond
34:13
anything else you understand about prayer.
34:14
That's what it is in any fashion.
34:19
It's seeking the face of God. And in those moments, in the
34:24
authentic, proactive, seeking God's face, He begins to
34:31
illuminate our life and our heart, our situation, our
34:35
circumstances, and change us in the process.
34:41
This is what's happening when we really pray, when we genuinely
34:44
seek God's presence, because authentic prayer is encountering
34:48
God's astonishing presence. And every time this happens, it
34:52
changes us and and the. Ability.
34:56
To do this, to just come to God at any moment, it is only
35:01
possible because Jesus came and went to the cross and broke down
35:07
this barrier between US and God that was fractured, and now we
35:11
can freely do this. In the Old Testament, when this
35:15
relationship was fractured, God's presence was in this one
35:19
little spot in the temple, in this one little place.
35:21
And nobody else could go. The high priest could go.
35:23
There's a big veil that. That, that, that that was.
35:26
A barrier no one could get in and one person once a year.
35:29
Could go in, but not anymore. Now you and I have access at any
35:37
time in the middle of the night, driving in your car on a walk,
35:41
at any point and listen, it doesn't.
35:44
Prayer is any moment from a short thought to dedicated hours
35:48
of intentionally trying to seek and experience God any moment
35:52
when you're seeking God's presence.
35:54
And so that might be. Conversational.
35:56
I talk to God all the time. That might be angry.
35:59
You can. You can be angry and yell at
36:01
God. He's a big boy.
36:02
He can handle it. It could be a cry of
36:07
desperation. It can be a list of Thanksgiving
36:13
and things you're grateful for. He could be just worshipping and
36:15
appreciating his good. It's all prayer because it's
36:19
seeking his presence. And so, you know, I always, I
36:25
always want to give you something to do with with the
36:27
truths that come out of. Scripture as we.
36:29
Preach on a Sunday morning and so here's my my my number one
36:32
goal today is actually that you would you would take this
36:35
concept, this idea and then it would reshape and refashion how
36:39
you consider and think about prayer.
36:43
Then it would change your perspective about what it is to
36:46
talk to God to seek God to look for his presence.
36:48
But let me give you something to do like.
36:51
Next week. We're going to actually spend
36:53
some real time on, on doing things right?
36:54
Like like here's some here's some concrete examples of, of
36:57
ways to pray and how to pray. But let me give you give me one,
37:01
one challenge for this week as we move into next week here, let
37:04
me just ask you this question. What would it look like to seek
37:08
God's face instead of his hand and any?
37:12
And what I mean by that is this, to seek God's hand is to say.
37:16
God, I need you to do something for me.
37:19
To seek God's face is. To say, man, I just want to be
37:21
near you and. The interesting part is that you
37:24
can seek God's hand and miss his face entirely.
37:29
We we, we can get into this thing where we treat God like a
37:32
like a genie in a bottle. And we do we.
37:34
Figure if we rub it and we say the right things, we might get 3
37:36
wishes, but if you seek God's face you get the whole thing.
37:42
What would it look like in our life if our prayer life begin to
37:46
start with? And maybe at some point.
37:48
Centre around just wanting to experience.
37:50
The presence of God in our life. And, and here's the the crazy.
37:55
Thing we were designed. For it, we were designed for it.
38:03
You're not actually going to feel real satisfaction until
38:06
you. Begin to do it.
38:10
What would it look like if every day this week?
38:13
You stopped. Before, you just rushed off into
38:15
the busyness of life and. You just said for 60 seconds,
38:18
sit still in silence. Say God, will you show yourself
38:22
to me today? Will you show me more of you
38:26
today? Maybe.
38:28
Maybe you're. So new to this that it all seems
38:30
intimidating. You could literally set an alarm
38:32
on your phone and when it goes off, just say God, will you?
38:35
Will you show yourself to me today?
38:38
Will you show me more of your presence today?
38:41
Will you help me to enjoy you more today?
38:45
I I just tell you from my own life, it will change everything
38:48
about. The way you see God about the
38:50
way you approach life, if you will simply slow down and
38:54
attempt or just ask for God to show himself to you more deeply,
38:58
He will. He's not embarrassed, you're
39:00
asking, he's actually. Waiting for you to ask.
39:03
He wants to be wanted. Here's the crazy thing.
39:10
I. Think you already want to let?
39:12
Let me ask this question. How many?
39:13
People, if I just asked you if I.
39:14
Just came to you after service said hey would you like to
39:17
experience God more deeply in your life?
39:19
How many people would raise your hand?
39:20
Man, like logically we're like, well, yeah, of.
39:22
Course. OK, cool.
39:24
Let's ask for it every day this week.
39:27
Let's just say, hey guy, will you?
39:28
Will you help me to experience you more deeply this week?
39:31
Just ask now for some of you, maybe, maybe online, maybe you
39:39
just kind of got him hanging out listening, what have you.
39:42
You're hearing this and. And here's the thing to to ask
39:45
God for that to to ask a God to to show himself.
39:48
More deeply, to experience His presence you actually have to
39:50
know God and and for some. Of you, you've.
39:57
You don't know Him, You know about him, you know of Him, you
39:59
know somebody that knows him, but you don't know him.
40:04
As you see, we only come to God in relationship.
40:08
Through belief in Jesus Christ. Without Christ we have no
40:12
access, we have no relationship. We have no Heavenly Father.
40:16
It takes a surrendered heart. To Jesus.
40:19
So if you've if. You've never.
40:21
Done that the Bible actually lays out an instruction.
40:23
Of what that looks like. In Romans 10/9 and 10, it says
40:27
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, I believe in
40:32
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
40:34
saved. For with the heart 1 believes
40:35
and is justified, and with the mouth 1 confesses and is saved.
40:41
And so if you've not done this before, but you're willing to
40:43
surrender your life to God today, I want to give you an
40:45
opportunity to do that. I want to invite you to do that.
40:48
Will you please bow your heads and close your eyes as we wrap
40:51
up our service? Just a moment, for just a moment
40:56
God is calling to you and if you're willing to ask him for
41:00
forgiveness and salvation. As we close our eyes and bow our
41:03
head, I just want you to repeat this prayer after me.
41:08
Jesus, I know I'm lost and I need you to save me.
41:18
I'm not satisfied and I need relationship with you, so I
41:24
surrender everything to you and I receive your promise of
41:30
forgiveness, of adoption, of eternal life.
41:38
Be my Lord. Please Jesus, if you prayed that
41:46
prayer moments ago, would you be brave and raise your hand for me
41:50
to see? Thank you, thank you.
41:56
You put your hands down in Jesus name, Amen.
42:01
Real quick, whether a moment ago or or maybe sometime in the last
42:07
couple weeks, if you surrendered your heart to Christ to call him
42:12
Lord. Welcome to the family in in just
42:20
a moment. We're going to we're going to
42:21
respond to this sermon. We're going to sing a song to
42:25
close our service. And in the back there are
42:27
tables. The banners say I raised my
42:29
hand. Whether you raise your.
42:29
Hand or not, if you've. Made a decision to follow
42:33
Christ, to surrender to Christ. I want you to go back there
42:35
during the song, and I want you to.
42:36
Tell someone what happened. We want to celebrate with you.
42:39
We're going to give you a Bible and a gift and follow up with
42:42
you. We're going to talk about what
42:44
it looks like to follow Christ. The rest of you, where you
42:47
stand. We're going to sing a song.
42:50
Our prayer team is going to come up.
42:51
We, we, we love Fran with you and for you for all sorts of
42:54
things. What a great time to.
42:55
Be prayed for during a series on prayer.
43:03
So don't miss an opportunity to have someone pray for you today.
43:07
You move as the Lord leads you. We love you.