To see. But if you would, turn, I don't have a fancy schmancy slideshow for you this morning, but we're going to be in Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. If you would, go ahead and turn there to Luke chapter 11.

When Bobby preached a few weeks ago, he said that he was Curtis without glasses, right? Remember what he said? What Curtis would look like without glasses. I'm what Bobby would look like with hair, I guess is what I'm saying.

Luke chapter 11. And before I forget, I'm going to mention that we are going to have communion at the end of the service.

So as we, as I preach and we look at the word, I ask that you go ahead and start the process of examining yourself to take part in the Lord's suffering. Luke chapter 11. Today's day is on prayer. The focus is on prayer, specifically prayer for the persecuted church.

Luke chapter 11. And that video is on prayer. And that video is just gut-wrenching. I mean, it's one thing to see the guy in the street sweeping the trash, collecting the trash.

But it's another thing to see the guy strip down and get down in the sewer. And then go wash and bathe. I don't know about you, but I couldn't bathe enough.

But to hear them say, we joyfully serve. We joyfully worship. And then, I had to write it down because I didn't want to forget it. It says, but we have a church.

We've got all this going on. We're persecuted. We're second-rate citizens. But we have a church.

Wow, that's powerful. It's powerful. And before I go any further, we do have a lot of announcements.

If you did not grab a bulletin, I'm already excited about preaching, so I'm moving ahead.

But we have a lot of announcements. If you did not get a bulletin, please grab one before you leave.

There's tons of things on here that you need to take part of.

One of the things is the video that we watched, Operation Christmas Child.

There's boxes in the back that have taken out every excuse that you may have not being able to participate in it.

They've got a box. They've got the shipping label, everything that you need to be able to do and participate in Operation Christmas Child.

And you have the opportunity to do it online where you can actually track and see where your box goes.

If you've never participated in Operation Christmas Child, do it this year. Do it this year.

The other thing is, one of our own, Caleb Kavanaugh. What branch of the military is he in?

Air Force.

This weekend, it's a day. Today is the last day.

Tomorrow, today we've got letters in the back.

Already cards in the back. You just grab a card. We've got their stamps in the back.

There's an address label so that you have the opportunity.

You can write Caleb a letter, and it's in the back back there.

If you would, please. I ask you to please take one of those cards and the mail label.

So that you can participate in that as well.

Please take a look at this.

Luke chapter 11. Let's read these verses.

Luke chapter 11, starting in verse 1.

Now, it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, verse 2,

when he sees that one of his disciples said to him,

Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

So he said to them, when you pray, say,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Verse 5.

And he said to them,

Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight, and say to him,

Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey,

and I have nothing to set before him.

And he will answer from within, and say,

Do not trouble me.

The door is now shut.

My children are with me in bed.

I cannot rise and give it to you.

Verse 8.

I say to you, though he will not rise and get to him because he is his friend,

yet because of his persistence,

he will rise and get to him as many as he needs.

Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?

Verse 12.

Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

Finally, verse 13.

If then you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

That is the reading of the word.

Let's pray.

That we praise your name.

That we thank you for the opportunity.

The privilege to call you down.

To come into your presence.

To come into your presence boldly.

Even bothersome thoughts.

And we come before you this morning, place on our hearts a desire to truly pray.

Teach us to pray.

Teach us to pray, Father.

Burden our hearts when we have no words.

Help us open our eyes to see the world around us.

That is being persecuted.

That is accounted as second-rate citizens.

Even in our own nation, Father.

There's so many things.

So many things for us to cry out to you about.

And yet we find so little words.

Oh, God, burden our hearts this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Be with Pastor Curtis this morning and his family.

You continue to lift them up in prayer.

Where, again, they, I can't imagine giving away my daughter in the hand of marriage.

What's going through his head.

The first thing out of, one of the first things out of his mouth that he's severing financial responsibility from this point forward to Taylor.

I jokingly, jokingly said that.

Or maybe he was serious.

I don't know.

We'll pray for them as they rest and they enjoy being with family today.

I pray that you continue to lift up our pastor.

He's a tireless worker.

On this day when he's celebrating with family this wonderful, this occasion, that he will also rest.

It's a hard thing for him to do.

It's not in his vocabulary.

But, uh, let's get started here.

Today's day is about prayer.

The focus is on prayer.

And we come to Luke chapter 11, looking at verse 1.

It says,

Now it came to pass, as he was praying, who, Jesus, in a certain place, when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him,

Lord, teach us to pray.

Teach us to pray.

I'm going to be honest with you.

I don't know, I don't know, I cannot speak for you, but I can speak for myself.

I am dissatisfied with my attempts to pray.

I am dissatisfied at how routine my prayer life is.

I don't know about you.

I'm dissatisfied at how little I want to pray and how quickly I give up when I finally do decide to pray.

Most of the time, I'm hardly started praying, and I've already stopped.

We're at a loss for words when we try to pray it.

We can go on for hours about politics.

We can go on for hours about sports.

Passionately about sports.

It's passionately about politics.

Or cars.

Or you name your heart.

But when it comes to prayer, where do all the words go?

Where do they go?

You get on Facebook and you can get rents and these long documentaries.

But when we get on Facebook and we talk about prayer, where do all the words, they disappear.

Now, I'm not trying to come down hard on you, but this is what God's dealing with in my life.

I'm dissatisfied where I'm at in my prayer life.

I heard a man this week, Dewey Smith Jr. said,

God hasn't heard from us since Methuselah was a baby.

God hasn't heard from us since Gilligan was on the island.

And God...

You're not alone. If you can answer these questions yes, you are not alone. Now I'm not saying that God wants us to pray for hours and hours and hours and hours and all night long. What I'm saying is that what I'm questioning or what I'm bringing emphasis to this morning is the quality of our prayer life. The time that we are spending with God, that's what I'm questioning.

Our sermon has two parts today. Why should we pray and how should we pray? Why should we pray and how should we pray? Here's some reasons. I have five reasons here that we should pray. Number one, God commands that we pray. God commands that we pray. Verse one, when he was praying in a certain place, when he sees that one of the disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples to pray.

So when he said to them, when you pray, say, our father in heaven, how will be your name? There in many other instances in scripture, God commands that we are to call out his name. We are to pray to him. We are to have a conversation with him.

So you're sitting here and telling me, Joe, God wants to talk to me. Yes. Are you sitting here telling me that I need to talk to him? Yes. Absolutely. Your father knows what you need before you ask him. Right?

So when we talk to him, is he up in heaven with his big steno pad? Because, you know, God's got a big steno pad. And he's sitting there listening to you saying, oh, that's good, Joe. I forgot about that one.

Oh, Joe, I'm glad you mentioned that because that has slipped my mind. No, we're not telling God anything that he does not already know. He already knows what we need. And this causes some people to think, well, what's the point? Why waste my time? God already knows what I need.

And as soon as we ask that question, we're on the verge of an incredible breakthrough in our prayer life. You're just thinking, well, that's a bad question to ask, right? No, that's a good question to ask. And here's the reason why. You're starting to realize, when you ask that question, you're starting to realize that the primary purpose of prayer is not to get something. It's to be with someone.

And when you get that, that changes everything. Let me put it another way, because you're not saying anything. The ultimate purpose of prayer is God and his glory. Not you and your needs. When you get that, that changes everything.

I wish I had some Bible reading people in here. Come on. Prayer is not about the answers you may get to your prayers. Or about you. It's about God. That changes everything.

So, number one, why should we pray? God commands that we pray. Number two, prayer is a privilege.

It's a duty. God commands it. But it's also a privilege at the same time. Only God can make something a duty and a privilege all at the same time.

So, God commands that we pray. Why should we pray? Because he commands it. Because it's a privilege.

Number three is that Jesus prayed himself.

If Jesus, the God-man, the blending of complete deity and humanity, if he prayed, if he felt it necessary to pray, how much more do we need to learn how to pray?

Number four, why should we pray? God answers prayer. Amen?

You're meaning to tell me nobody in here has ever had God answer a prayer for you.

You're not. Nobody's talking back. I have answers from a grandmother who is dead.

Prayers that she prayed before she died, God is still answering those prayers.

Amen?

God answers prayers. My last reason is this.

And look what happened. The jail cells were open and they were let up. See, the two go together. When you begin to pray, praise automatically starts to happen. Now you're sitting here telling me, Joe, I don't know what to praise God about. I'm here to tell you, when you think about what God has done, is doing, and will do, you can't help but praise Him. You can't help but praise Him. Not only does prayer change things,

but praise changes your atmosphere. That's the reason why you should pray. There's a lot you can do after you pray. But listen to me, church, there's nothing that you can do until you pray. Nothing.

The disciples asked Jesus asked Jesus to teach them to pray after observing Him in prayer. These are praying people. Jewish men who grew up from the very start and taught how to pray. Memorized prayers.

So for me to sit here. So for me to sit here and read this, it doesn't make any sense, logically. Why are these men who have prayers memorized asking Jesus to teach them to pray? Here's the reason why. They ain't never seen anybody pray like Jesus prayed. Never. Ever seen anybody pray like Jesus prayed.

Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed. Amen. And being fully divine, He knows how to answer prayer. Who better else to teach them to pray than Himself? Amen. They watched Him pray, and it looked like prayer actually mattered to Him. He wasn't just going through the motions. He wasn't just reciting something that He heard His mother say.

Or He heard some rabbi say. He was having a conversation with the Father, and it actually mattered. Somehow, for Jesus' prayer, He was feeding His soul like food fed their stomachs, and they said, I want that.

Luke's gospel has more emphasis on prayer than any other gospel. That's why Luke's gospel is called the gospel of prayer.

Because of His emphasis on prayer. Because of His emphasis on prayer, and our need to pray, and on Jesus' prayer life. Luke gives us greater insight into the prayer life of Jesus than any other gospel. Luke is the only one who points out that Jesus was praying at His baptism. He's the only one to point out that Jesus spent the night in prayer before He chose His disciples. He's the only one to point out that at the transfiguration, that Jesus was praying while He was being transfigured.

He's the only one to point out that at the transfiguration, He's the only one to point out that from the cross that Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them.

He's the only one, Luke is, to tell us that Jesus said to Peter in Luke chapter 22,

He said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.

But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.

That's why we should pray, and that's why I chose Luke 11, because of the emphasis.

And I'm here to tell you, until you're afflicted, you will never pray.

Until you are needy, you will never pray.

Until you understand your dependence on God, you will never pray.

So let's get into the second part.

How then, in this world, should we pray?

Jesus gives them a pattern of following.

Not something to recite word for word, this is how you should pray.

No, He gave them a bare bones model.

This is how you pray, guys.

He says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us, day by day, our daily bread.

Verse 4, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

revolutionize their understanding of who they would pray to. Jesus said, when you pray, say, Father. Father. Now, if you read all of the 39 books of the Old Testament, the first two thirds of the Bible, the term Father is used as a title for God only 15 times. Many, many other names for God in the Old Testament. But the term Father is only used 15 times. None of those

used uses are references are references to pray to God in the Old Testament. Not one time was it used as a reference to pray to God as Father. We don't see the term used that way in the Old Testament. But something changes when you turn to the New Testament. You have an entirely new, totally different picture of God the Father. Although God has referred to his Father only 15 times in the entire Old Testament, in the New Testament, he's referred to Father 165 times.

And the gospel accounts alone. The gospel accounts. This title for God burst on the scene in a whole new way, a whole new level. In all but one of those 165 references, Jesus uses that title for God when he's teaching specifically to his disciples. The only exception is in Matthew, where he's teaching his disciples and the crowds are mentioned as well.

In all other instances, Jesus is talking with his disciples about how they're there to call out to God.

My mouth used to get me in trouble with my mom. My mom was here this morning. Some of you know this beautiful, short little lady.

Always has a smile on her face. Always has a smile on her face. Precious. Sweetness. Just sweet lady. Don't let her fool you.

I'm telling you the truth. She fooled you. The looks are deceiving. I'm telling you. There's a lion in there.

My mouth used to get me in trouble with my mom. It did. I'd hear someone talk to their mother a certain way or say something to their mother in a certain way.

So I said, all right, next time I get an opportunity, I'm going to use them words.

And my mom would tell me to do something or say something I didn't like and I'd respond in the way I've been practicing.

And most of the time she wouldn't say anything. She'd just give me the, use them laser beam in my eyes on her.

And bite her lips. She always did her lip.

And I knew it was over.

My mom did not have to touch me. She did not have to spank me.

She could put me down, cut me down, knock me over, put me out with a look, okay, in my words.

And she, you know what, she'd normally come out of her mouth when I would do whatever I was doing.

She'd say, do you know who you're talking to?

Do you know who you're talking to?

But what so-and-so said to their mom is, I ain't their mama.

I'm your mom.

I'm your mom.

Now I want us to get this right because Jesus says, when you cry out to your father, when you pray, you say, our father in heaven.

I'm here to tell you that God is not the man upstairs.

He's not the genie up there waiting to hear from you to rub his belly.

He's not.

It's the God who spoke everything into existence with his own voice.

That's who we're talking to.

Amen.

It's the God who sent the earth spinning on its axis just far away from the sun.

So we wouldn't burn up, right?

That's who we're talking to.

It's God who flung the stars in the sky.

That's who we're talking to.

It's the God who flung not only the stars, but those beautiful clouds in the blue sky.

Amen?

Amen.

Come on, y'all talk to me.

I'm not like Curtis.

I like hearing you.

it's the God who sent His Son

to die on the cross for our sins.

Amen?

That's the Father that we're talking to.

So we're to pray with reverence.

We're to pray directly to God.

We're to pray about things

that will bring glory to God,

just like the Scripture says.

We're to pray as if everything depends on God.

Guess what?

Because it does.

Now I'm not sitting here telling you all this

so that you need to approach trembling our Father.

You shouldn't fear God.

You should fear God.

But I'm not saying that you need to be scared to talk to Him.

I'm not saying that.

You're to talk to Him like your dad.

Because that's who He is.

Dependence upon God is not a license

to be slothful in our lives.

Unrepentant in our sins

or carefree in our lifestyle.

Amen?

God feeds the birds,

but He don't put the worms up in the nest for them, right?

They have to fly down.

They have to scratch the ground.

They have to get the worm themselves.

And that's the same way we are to do.

You cannot do it without God,

but God won't do it without you.

You must work as if everything depends on you,

but you must pray as if everything depends on God.

The two equal each other out.

So we're to pray with reverence to God.

I've got to hurry up.

We're to pray with dependence upon God.

So God,

Jesus moves from a pattern of prayer,

model of prayer,

and then He gets into a posture of prayer.

And this is terrible.

This is probably one of my favorite parables in Scripture.

A friend that comes at midnight,

starting at verse 5.

Read with me, please.

And He said to them,

Which of you shall have a friend?

And go to him at midnight and say to him,

Friend, lend me three loaves,

for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey,

and I have nothing to set before him.

And he will answer from within and say,

Do not trouble me.

The door is now shut.

My children are with me in bed.

I cannot rise and give it to you.

I love this story.

So,

a friend comes at midnight.

He has nothing to feed him.

Right?

And what does he naturally do?

He goes to somebody else's house.

And I want us to pay attention to this story.

But I want to frame it for you for a second.

Because sometimes we read it and we misunderstand it.

Sometimes we read it and we don't understand the true meaning behind it.

We will only understand this parable rightly

if we look at it

from the lens of the guy that's standing on the outside in need.

Jesus tells the whole story from that guy's perspective.

So keep that in mind.

Resist the temptation to compare God to the friend

that's on the inside of the house.

Put yourself in the shoes of the guy who's outside

banging on the door.

So let's read it again.

Which of you shall have a friend that go to him at midnight

and say to him,

Friend,

lend me three loaves.

Alright?

So it's midnight.

Now,

Scripture

commentaries are

in a disagreement

if it's actually twelve midnight

like we're talking about

or if it's later,

it really doesn't matter.

It's an inconvenient time.

It's a time when everybody's asleep.

They don't want to be bothered.

Okay?

But this man has a friend

who comes at midnight

and he has nothing to set before him.

So he goes to his friend's house

and he starts knocking.

And he starts to speak to the inside of the house.

Friend,

I'm in need.

Right?

And in these times,

most of the time,

the house would have one room.

And they would put everybody in that room.

Hence,

what it says in the verse,

My children are with me in bed.

Everybody was only sleeping together

and a lot of times

they would have animals

that could not stay outside at night.

The animals would be in the house.

They would barricade the door.

It was not an easy thing

to just get up.

Okay?

You're going to wake everybody up.

Not only the kids,

but the animals as well.

So this was a bothersome thing to do

to get up in the middle of the night.

And listen

to what this guy says.

Friend,

let's listen.

door and says,

give me some bread.

I'm sitting here

scratching my head. I'm thinking, what?

You come to my house

at midnight wanting bread

and you wake up the whole house?

We're going to have words.

You come to me at midnight,

bang on my door and say, Joe,

my wife has fallen and she's

bleeding out of her eyes.

I'm going to get up and help you.

But that's not

what it says. It says,

friend, give me some

bread.

Give me some

bread. And what's

the man from the inside say?

He says, no, go away.

Don't bother me.

And any sensible person

would say, okay, man, I'm sorry.

Didn't mean to bother you. I can hear the

tone of your voice. You want to hurt me?

I'm out of here, right?

But not you.

Not the guy on the front step.

What does he do?

Hey, man, I ain't going nowhere.

I need the bread.

Right?

I ain't going nowhere.

I need

the bread.

And the guy on the inside

is saying, get off my lawn,

dude.

Go

away.

This seems so weird to me.

So what does Luke 11

teach us about prayer?

Is it teaching us that

if we want something

from God,

that you just got to keep

banging on the door

and eventually

he will get up

and do something

for you?

Is that what this

scripture is teaching us?

Not because

he loved you,

but because you

bothered him

to death.

Is that the point

of the story?

No.

God is the

opposite of the

sleepy, grumpy,

old friend.

God is the

opposite

of the unjust

judge

in Luke 18.

Another parable.

The point of the story

comes back to the man

on the outside

knocking on the door.

And the scripture

says,

says,

For a friend of mine

has come to me

on this journey.

I have nothing

to set before him.

And he will answer

from within and say,

Do not trouble me.

The door is now shut.

My children are being

bent.

I cannot rise and give

to you.

I say to you,

though you will not

rise and give to him

because he is his

friend.

He's not coming

to the friends.

Yet because of his

persistence,

his,

the way it should be

translated,

his shameless

boldness,

that he will rise

and give him

as many

as he needs.

Man,

just go away.

Right?

Leave me alone.

Get out of here.

You're waking up

the house,

you're waking up

the neighborhood.

Go away.

Some other

translations

translate it

impudence,

or importunity,

or barefacedness,

or shameless

persistence,

or shameless

boldness,

or even

audacity

to stand there

and continue

to knock

and knock

and knock.

And I'm here

to tell you

today

that effective

prayer requires

steadfast boldness

and steadfast

persistence.

This parable

raises two

important questions

about your prayer line.

Do you pray?

Do you pray?

Read the parable

and focus on

the need

of the knocker

here.

He says,

do not trouble

me.

He says,

but he won't

give up.

He just keeps

knocking.

And listen to

what Jesus says.

Jesus says in

verse 9,

So I say to you,

ask,

and it will be

given to you.

Seek,

and you will

find knock,

and it will be

open to you.

When you have

a problem you

cannot solve,

do you pray

about it?

When your friends

come to you

with a need,

do you pray

about it?

When it's the

midnight hour

in your life,

do you pray

about it?

Or do you

try to fix it

on your own?

So the key

is when you,

how do we pray?

We pray with

reverence to God

and we pray

with dependence

upon God.

Dependence

upon God.

You can pray

like this

or you have

to pray.

You have to.

You have to pray

with that type

of boy.

A manner that will not give up easily. A dad with a three-year-old son has his bedtime routine. Do you have, any of you that have kids, do you have a bedtime routine? Okay. With little kids, especially sometimes kids that don't like to go to sleep easily, they try to stall. Right? You ever had a child stall on your parents? Right? Dad's

Can you please read me a story? Yes, I'll read you a story. Right? Can you read me another one? That's right. Dad, Dad, can you listen to me while I pray? Yeah, I'll listen to you while I pray. Dad, can you get in the bed with me before you go to sleep? Okay, yeah. Give me a hug, Dad. Can you give me a hug? Yeah, I'll give you a hug. Tell me goodnight again, Dad. Okay, I'll do that. Finally, you go, whatever your routine is, you go through your routine, you go get in your chair and you finally say yes.

He's asleep, right? He's asleep, right? It worked, right? You're reading your paper, reading your book, watching dudes, doing whatever you do, and all of a sudden from the door, the room, Dad! Dad! Can you bring me a drink of water? No, son, go to sleep. I'm not bringing you a drink of water. You already have water. I already hugged you. I already hugged you. I'm going to come to get out and go to sleep. So it works for a little bit, right?

And all of a sudden you hear it. It's louder the next time. Dad! Dad! I really need a drink of water. Can you bring me a drink of water?

So I said, no. Go to sleep. If I hear another word from you, I'm coming up there and I'm going to spank you. Right?

You say it loud and ferocious, right? And it's quiet for like a minute then, right? It's like, yeah, that took me scared of me.

And then all of a sudden, louder than ever before. Dad! When you come over here to spank me, will you bring me a drink of water, please?

The little boy is shameless, boldness, persistent. Why? Because he was thirsty. He needed a drink of water.

So how do you pray? How do you pray? Do you pray persistently? Do you pray boldly?

Do you pray boldly enough to bother God? Or do you give up way too easy?

My birthday was back in August. And during that week, Aretha Franklin died.

And also it was the anniversary of the Temptations song coming out, one of the greatest songs.

And beautiful song, wonderful song. Yeah, I had to watch it on video.

The other day, them dudes could move, they could dance, their voices of gold, right?

And the song was, Ain't Too Proud to Bec.

That was the birthday of that song, okay?

That's how we need to be. Ain't too proud to be.

Sinful pride murders effective prayer.

We've got to be, we can't be too proud to beg.

Okay, so we've got to pray with dependence on God, reverence for God, and we've got to pray with confidence in God.

I've got to hurry up, I know.

You're going to have to hurry this back, it'll go clear.

Verse 9.

So Jesus says in verse 9,

So I say to you,

That's powerful words there.

After this wonderful, amusing parable about persistent, about bold prayer,

Jesus turns to his disciples and to us, and he says,

I say to you,

Ask, and it will be given to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks will cease, and he who seeks finds it, and him who knocks, it will be opened.

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?

No.

I love what it says there in verse 13.

If you then, being evil, know how much to give good gifts to your children,

how much more would your heavenly Father give those who ask him?

So we need to pray with confidence in God.

The point of the parable is,

You give up. Our Father delights in those who are bold enough to bother Him. Here's the reason why. It brings Him glory. It brings Him glory. I have the privilege of being married to a beautiful woman named Casey. And she calls me on a daily basis and talks to me sometimes. Sometimes she says just to hear from me.

I don't know how true that is. But that's what she says. No, I believe it. And she says, I always say, how are you doing? Doing good. I'll ask her, how are you doing? She says, well, I'm doing all right. She's had back problems, this and that. And she'll say, well, today's not been a good day. But I, you know, sometimes I don't want to bother you. I don't want to bother you. I know you're busy. You're working. You've got a lot going on in the summertime. So I don't want to bother you what's going on. I just want to talk to you.

I want to tell you not once have I ever said, well, you know, I don't want to hear, you know, I don't want to be bothered about what's going on right now. You know, with your trivial things in your life, you know, bring me down, you know, slow me down. I don't want to hear that right now. Is there anything else you want to talk about before we do get off the phone, right? Not once. There's many reasons why I have never said that.

I'm proud to know. I'm thankful. I'm blessed to know that she, that I am the one she runs to, to bother with the things going on in her life. Something would be wrong if she was going anywhere else but me.

The same principle, the same premise is with God. Our Father delights in those who are bold enough to bother Him. To bother Him with what's going on in their life. God delights in being the one that we come running to.

Matter of fact, He's inviting us to come bother Him. Jesus Christ on the cross paid the price, paid our way in. And that's why Scripture says that we should boldly come into the throne room of grace in our time of need.

So that we can find the help of need. Amen? So we are to pray with confidence in God. Pray until you get an answer. Yes, I'm almost done. Pray until you get an answer. That's why Jesus says keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking.

And one of my favorite preachers says this, Terry Henderson. He says, I'm preaching on this sermon. He says, God, you got it. I need it. And I ain't going nowhere until I get it. That's where our attitude should be. And we should pray simple prayers. You can pray for anything.

Jesus was praying at a certain place. And He gave them a model prayer about many different things. You can pray for forgiveness like David. It wasn't lofty words, but it was a broken man. He was honest. You can pray for wisdom like Solomon. He was a humble man. He couldn't ask God anything. But he asked for wisdom. You can pray for healing like Hezekiah. He was broken and desperate. And that's exactly what we need to be.

You can pray for healing. You can pray for healing like Hannah. You can pray for a child like Hannah who the priest thought she was drunk. And she said, priest, I'm not drunk. I'm desperate. I'm broken. I'm totally dependent upon you. You can pray for deliverance like Jonah. He finally got to the point where he was helpless. You can pray like Jacob who would not let go until you bless me, God.

You can pray for mercy like you. You can pray for mercy like the ten lepers. Lord, help us. There's nowhere else we can go.

Now, not many of them came back, but their prayer was still correct.

As I close,

I heard some of you say amen.

As I close, the worship team comes up as we're going to participate in communion.

These altars are open, church.

Chapter 11 of Luke starts with Jesus teaching them the people.

He's not your dad. And my prayer to you today is that the Holy Spirit has not drawn you yet to the body of Christ, that today would be that day. And you would come at the Spirit's meeting to this altar and pray and ask for the Father to become your Father. To be truly born again. We have people here that would help you along that process that desire, I'm telling you, desire to pray with you.

Would you come and make today for that day. Maybe you're here today and you say, Church, I'm a believer, but man, my prayer life is not existing. Maybe that's you. You come today. These altars are open. You come. You examine not only your life to get it right for this table, but you examine your heart to get it right and say, Father, I've been calling on you.

I don't even, I don't even, I don't even, for our relationships in the government. Forgive me. Forgive me. I want to pray with reverence to you. I want to pray with confidence in you. I want to pray with dependence upon you.

Would you come today if the Spirit is leading you in any way. Let's pray.

Dad, we thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace. Father, I thank you for your word that you placed on my heart.

God, I pray with you. God, I pray with you. God, that's why, that's why I've rambled some this morning because I've been lazy, God.

God, there's things that haven't happened because I've refused to pray. There's things that I should have been praying for, and I hadn't been.

Forgive me, Father. Forgive me, Lord. I pray for your people, Father. I pray for their hearts.

I pray for your Spirit to move in their lives and draw them to you together so they can cry out, I'll follow you.

I pray for your word. I pray for your word this morning.

I pray for your Spirit to move in your life and make sure that you can cry out, I'll follow you.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

I couldn't have the elders come forward.

Church, if you're visiting, or folks, if you're visiting with us today, we participate in an open self.

And what I mean by that is, if you're a part of the body of Christ, not necessarily this body, but if you're a part of the body of Christ,

we invite you, we welcome you, we'd love to have you participate today with us.

Please, please, please.

Please, please, please.

Please do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until we come.

Before we go further, I'd ask you to take this opportunity, if you haven't already done, so examine your heart.

Before you take the elements, examine your heart.

The scripture warns us to not take this lightly, and we shouldn't.

And if you do come this morning, I ask that you can come straight down the middle, and off to the sides, and then back to your seats.

And if you would like to break your own bread, just hold out your hand, which means, whoa, I want to do it myself.

And we'll allow you to do it yourself.

And that night he took the bread. And after he'd given thanks, he broke it. He said, this is my body, which is broken for you. So by and try it, it's broken for you, my brother.

Abide in Christ, it's broken for you, my mother. Abide in Christ.

And after he'd distributed the bread, he took the thought, it's a new covenant. And after he'd given thanks, he said, this is faith for you.

This is my blood that is poured out in your shed for you.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.

Why is the blood of Christ coming out?

The blood of Christ coming out to you.

The blood of Christ coming out to you.

The blood of Christ coming out to you.

The blood of Christ coming out to you.