Prayer

Thanks, Mike. I love a dad joke, so I was all up for the amazing.

But it is lovely to get together.

And I must say it's one of the most thrilling parts of church for me

is just seeing how international it is, isn't it?

And just actually what goes on here on a Sunday

is just a microcosm of what's true for the church of Jesus around the world,

that it is made up of a family of people of every tribe, tongue and nation

who gather together to celebrate the unity and diversity that we have

as we worship King Jesus.

So that day next Saturday is going to be thrilling,

so do make an effort to come along if you can.

And if I haven't said hello to you today, my name is Graeme,

particularly for those who are new this morning.

It is lovely to welcome you here today,

and it's great to gather together as a family.

We do this every Sunday,

and the purpose is really to fix our eyes on the Jesus who unites us together.

So grab Luke 11 if you've got it there,

and we're just going to be in these verses this morning.

But let me tell you what we're doing in this little series

that Archie kind of flagged up top.

Here's a typical Edinburgh scene,

one that we see on a regular basis.

Maybe you met somebody this morning who travelled in on the bus.

Imagine many of us travelled in on the bus.

We love our buses in Edinburgh,

and there's a bus stop that's right outside our front door

where we live in the south of the city.

Three buses pass that bus stop many times every single day.

And every day I look out and I see people queuing up at this bus stop,

and they're gazing at the screen,

trying to make out what is happening.

And every so often I pass and somebody stops me and says,

excuse me, do you know where this bus goes?

For us it's the 7, the 37, the 47.

Do you know where this bus goes?

And of course, how do you find out where a bus is going?

You look at the number that's on the front,

and the number tells you exactly where the bus is going.

And that's what this little series is all about.

It's all about familiarising and realigning ourselves

with the sign that's on the front of the Brunsfield Evangelical bus.

Because the sign will tell you where we're going

and what we're all about.

And for those of us who are members of this church family,

I hope this is a wonderful and a timely reminder

of what it is we're seeking to do here.

Every event that we do, every meeting we attend,

every gathering that we put on and we have,

they all have the same central purpose.

And for maybe some of us are new here today,

maybe we're even exploring the Christian faith,

I hope this introduces you to some of the distinctives

and some of the priorities of this local church.

Now, are you ready for the sign on the front of the bus?

You seem really enthusiastic.

Here's the sign on the front of the bus.

It really says, really simply,

being disciple making disciples of Jesus Christ.

That's the sign on the front of the bus.

What is a disciple?

A disciple is someone who is seeking to follow after,

learn from, and growing to be like Jesus.

If you like, a disciple is someone who has their L plates on

and they're sitting and they're learning

in the Jesus classroom of life.

And in turn, a disciple helps others to do the same.

Now, how do we seek to do that here at the church?

Well, we devote ourselves as a church to three core things.

Firstly, we devote ourselves to God's words.

We're unashamed in our conviction

that when we open the pages of the Bible,

we hear God speak.

Secondly, we devote ourselves to fellowship,

which is our love for and our commitment to one another.

Of course, that's what Jesus said, isn't it, to his disciples.

That's how the world will know you,

by the way that you love one another.

And the word fellowship in the Greek

doesn't just mean playing happy families.

It means coming alongside each other,

linking arms out of love

with a shared ambition of what you want to do.

And thirdly, we devote ourselves to prayer,

which we save to the end

because it's going to be the topic

for the next 20 minutes or so.

And let me ask you,

when was the last time that you prayed?

Now, there's an assumption in that question, isn't there?

And here's why there's an assumption in that question.

There's a famous saying

that I think originated from World War I

that goes like this.

There's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.

Now, a foxhole is just a place

where you'd hide from the enemy fire.

And here's what that means.

It means that everybody,

no matter what you believe,

prays in a crisis.

Now, according to a recent survey,

51% of people in our country

admit to praying on a regular basis.

What's surprising is that our younger generations

say that they're more likely to pray

than an older generation.

You'll hear politicians

in the wake of a tragic event

talking about how their thoughts and prayers

are with the family and friends

of those who have been caught up in a tragedy.

And our friends of other faiths pray as well.

Prayer is something that,

despite our secular leanings as a society,

we still do.

In other words, we are surrounded by prayer.

And if you come to Luke 11,

what we need to understand

is that the disciples too

are living in a world

that's saturated in prayer.

They are accustomed to the religious prayers

of their contemporaries,

who in the Gospels are these people

called the Pharisees,

whose prayers are very public,

whose prayers are full of many long

and many impressive words.

So they get religious prayer.

And they also get

the prayers of the peoples of the nations

round about them

who are praying to all sorts of God

and praying all sorts of things.

And those prayers are noisy.

Those prayers are loud.

Those prayers are powerful.

So the disciples understand prayer.

But notice, if you've got the text there,

what Luke,

who is this first century doctor-come historian,

is telling us at verse 1,

don't skip over it.

What's he telling us?

Look at it there.

That Jesus has been what?

He's been praying.

Now this isn't the first time

in this Gospel of Luke

where Jesus prays.

Where Jesus retreats to a solitary place,

gets up early

for a time of undistracted prayer.

In fact, I counted them,

and if you count them up until chapter 11,

three times Jesus has said

to be praying.

So when Jesus talks about prayer here,

we need to understand

that this is not a spur-of-the-moment

inclination to go to Facebook

and post his thoughts on prayer.

He's living this.

And the disciples think to themselves,

we get religious prayer,

we know what Gentile prayer sounds like,

but Jesus, we see in you

something that's radically

and refreshingly different.

Because the religious people who pray,

the Gentile people who pray,

they do it for the praise of other people.

Particularly the religious people

who are praying in our day.

They want the Instagram snap.

They want the retweets on Twitter.

They live for the praise of men.

But you don't seem to live

for the praise of men.

I must say it's one of the most

endearing things about Jesus

that you read about in the Gospels,

is just how unstrategic he is

when it comes to the people

who he both hangs out with and loves.

There's nothing in it for him.

There really is nothing in it for him

when it comes to the people

that you read about him

hanging out with.

It's one of the most endearing things

about Jesus.

One of the things that drew me to him.

And the disciples think on that.

And they say,

Jesus, you don't want praise of people.

You want God.

And that's what we want.

That is what is attractive to us.

You commune with God

in a way like we've never seen before.

And so do you see what they say to him?

They say, teach us.

And notice they say not teach us how to pray.

They say, teach us to pray.

They don't want a method.

They don't want a technique.

They want to enter into this thing

that Jesus is doing called prayer.

Jesus, we want in on it too.

Show us how.

Teach us how.

And what is verse 9?

As Jesus says,

ask, seek and knock.

But Jesus saying to his disciples

and to his disciples ever since,

I want you in on this as well.

Jesus, teach us to pray.

And so what Jesus gives the disciples firstly,

if you want to think about this,

verses 1 to 4,

is a pattern to follow.

Now, you up for a little nursery rhyme?

It's kind of my life at the minute.

You up for a nursery rhyme?

See, if I sing you the first line,

would someone be brave enough

to tell me the second line?

Yeah?

Don't leave me dying up here, okay?

Here it is.

Pussy cat, pussy cat,

where have you been?

Look to the boomers in the room.

London to visit the Queen.

You up for another line?

Pussy cat, pussy cat,

what did you do there?

Under the chair.

So here's the thing about that nursery rhyme.

The cat is in the presence of the Queen

and chooses to look at the mouse,

not the person on the throne.

Here's the thing about prayer.

Prayer is not about the eloquence of our words.

It's not even really about the affection of our hearts,

because that will dip in and dip out.

What prayer is about

is the magnificence of the one on the throne.

See what Jesus says there,

the first word of the Lord's Prayer.

As he gets his disciples not to look at the other things,

but to gaze their eyes at the one on the throne.

What's the word?

It's the word Father.

See how that's the first word that he says?

Father.

Now here's a thought for you.

Whoever you are here today,

whatever you think about this God,

it is only by coming to know this God

that you will truly come to know yourself.

Knowing God as our Father, says Jesus,

is the key to getting started

and keeping going in prayer.

Having an awareness of the Father's commitment to us.

Having an awareness of his love for us.

Having a knowledge that he's for us.

We've been thinking about that in Romans 8

the last few weeks.

Having an appreciation that he knows us

and that he wants us to seek him in prayer.

We'll see more of that in a few moments.

The key to praying

is knowing the one that we're praying to.

And Jesus, from that starting point,

he outlines five things

that he wants his disciples to

go to this Father and ask.

Right?

We can only name them

because of the time constraints this morning.

But just take these in.

If you're a note taker,

just write these five things down.

Here's what Jesus is saying.

You can go to the Father.

And remember, that's a blood-bought privilege

that Jesus has won for his people

on the cross through his resurrection.

He's at the right hand of the Father.

We can pray to the Father

because he's there.

We can know him as Father

because of Christ.

He says, first pray,

Father, would your name be honoured?

Your name be honoured.

In a world that doesn't recognise you,

in a world that doesn't want to know you,

in a world that dishonours your name,

how different then are Jesus' people

who love your name?

Second, pray that his kingdom would come,

that his will would be done on earth

as it is in heaven.

And of course, what have you got

just before Luke 11?

I hadn't seen this before.

You've got the parable that Jesus tells

of the Good Samaritan.

Something of the kingdom

and the values of above

breaking in through the hearts of God's people

to how they love the world.

Third, that this Father would provide

all that we need.

Notice the plural there.

We're going to come back to that.

Fourth, Father, that you would forgive our sins.

And fifth, that you would deliver us

from temptation.

And do you notice in Luke 11,

you can have this for free,

how Luke has put it together

just before in Luke 10.

You've got the parable of the Good Samaritan.

And just in case you came away from that,

thinking it's all about do, do, do.

What's right next?

It is Mary and Martha.

Mary picks the good portion.

When Martha is serving,

Mary is there at Jesus' feet

saying, I want to learn.

And it's both, isn't it?

Both action and devotion.

That is the heart of Christ's people.

How often we can talk about prayer

like it's wishing on a star

or like it's requesting wishes

from a genie in a bottle

or treating God

like he's some kind of fortune cookie.

You know, we had a takeaway last night.

I got mine.

Apparently, I'll receive no parking tickets

in the next year.

But how different does Jesus talk about prayer here?

And when you think about it,

all that we could ever ask

is his people.

All that we could ever need

comes under one of those five headings.

And what struck me this week

is that Jesus could have just easily

left it there

and said,

on you go,

see how you get on.

There's what to pray.

But isn't it interesting

that he doesn't stop there?

But he wants to draw

his disciples' hearts

deeper

into the character

and the heart

of the Father

that they're praying to.

Do you see?

And what follows,

if we consider it,

is truly marvelous.

He moves from this pattern

to follow

verses 5 to 13.

He gives them

a reason to seek.

And Jesus gets them,

and I think this is

a magnificent bit

of first century

genius storytelling.

He gets them

to picture themselves

in a story.

So they're in this story.

They're not watching on.

They're in this story.

Do you see?

I love how Jesus does that.

He lifts us

out of our stories

and our self-absorption

so often

and he places us

in his.

And he says,

imagine that you

have a friend

that turns up

at your door

unannounced at midnight.

Now I'm freaking out

at that.

Are you not?

Those words,

unannounced at midnight,

they do not go together.

I can maybe handle one,

but I cannot handle both.

If my doorbell

goes at midnight,

I've got my phone

in my hand

and I'm dialing

999.

Who turns up

at midnight

at a friend's house?

Have they not heard

about the travel lodge

down the road?

Who does this?

But we've got to understand

in this culture,

not of sprawling

city suburbs,

but of small

rural villages,

a desperate friend

who finds themselves

in your neighborhood

in darkness

has nowhere else to go.

That's the point

of the story, right?

No one else to go.

And you would

welcome them.

You would inconvenience

yourself because

if you fail to do that,

you would,

in this culture,

you would bring shame

on you,

you would bring shame

on your family name,

and you would bring shame

on your village

because you couldn't

provide for someone

who turned up

and needed help.

You couldn't do it.

But given the late

hour of the day

and the days before

fridge freezers

and stockpiling,

your bread for the day

would likely be

all gone.

So you'd have

no other choice

in this moment of need

to go and chap up

your neighbor,

another person

in your village,

and ask them to help you

in this emergency.

You tracking with me?

Yeah?

So picture the scene.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.

Can you help me?

And the way that

Jesus tells the story,

and it's genius really,

isn't it?

You don't get the impression

that this neighbor

is all too impressed.

Right?

It's not,

way good to see you.

It's been way too long.

No, this neighbor

has bolted the door.

The kids are finally

off to bed.

The horlicks

has been drunk.

The jammies are on.

I would be not opening

the door

if I was this neighbor.

And yet,

despite the neighbor

thinking,

you've got to be kidding me,

because he too

doesn't want to bring shame

on himself,

on his family name,

nor on his village,

he will put on

his dressing gown

and go to the cupboards

and rummage through them

to see what he can find.

Now, what is the point of this?

Here is Jesus' point,

I think.

How much more,

and hear this today,

how much more

is your father

willing to listen

and to answer

in his perfect way

your cries

and your petitions

whenever you come

to him in prayer?

It's a how much more

story.

Do you know what

this demonstrates?

It demonstrates

the father's

wonderful

willingness.

Isn't that not amazing

that the God,

when we go to him

in prayer,

doesn't just say,

oh, not them again.

They prayed to me

yesterday

and they're at it again.

Do they not know

that I'm up to my eyeballs

here?

I'm trying to answer

all sorts of other

different people's

prayers.

You ever seen that,

was it Bruce Almighty

or was it Evan Almighty?

I forget what that 90s film,

which one it was,

where you get the thing

where he's answering

all the prayers,

yes,

and he's getting overwhelmed

on his computer

by all these prayers

when he's trying to act

like God.

It's that kind of thing.

The father doesn't

put us on hold

saying,

your call is very

important to me,

you're number 18

in the queue

and while you wait,

here's some lovely

background music.

Here's what you need

to understand.

Here's what we need

to understand.

In Christ,

we have our father's

ear,

no matter what hour

it is

and no matter what state

we come to him

in prayer.

The father's

wonderful

willingness

to listen

and to answer

the cries

of his people.

And what complements

that story so well

in what I think

is a little bit

of first century humour

is Jesus tells

the story

about an earthly

father.

Now,

if you're a parent

here that you'll

get this,

probably not for

reasons that you think.

Honestly,

as a parent

and other parents

in the room,

you tell me this.

We feel our

weakness.

Right?

And we know

the mistakes

that we've made

and yet,

deep down,

despite our failings,

we will only

ever give good

things to our

children.

But Jesus says,

picture the scene,

it's dinner time

and you're feeding

your child who's

opened their mouth

for a bit of fish

or egg.

You wouldn't,

at the last minute,

do a switcheroo

and put into their

mouth a scorpion

or snake in their

mouth instead.

Right?

Can you imagine

the scene on Christmas

Day if you were

to do that?

They opened a gift

thinking it was one

thing and out jumps

a scorpion.

And remember

the scorpions

and snakes

in this day

aren't plastic toys.

These are things

that will kill you.

Again,

what's the logic?

It's a how much

more then?

If that's the heart

of an imperfect

yet loving father

towards his children,

how much greater

then is the heart

of the perfect father

towards his children.

Do you know

what that celebrates?

It celebrates

his perfect ability

towards his children

to give us

what is good for us.

So you've got

these two things,

think like a gymnast

holding the bars.

You have the father's

wonderful willingness,

says Jesus,

and you have

his perfect ability.

And together

that is something

that you can hold on to

and run to him with.

If we come to God

with those two things

in mind,

that is an absolute

game changer

for our prayer lives

both personally

and as we'll come on

to see in a minute,

corporately.

And what's surprising

in this passage though

is the what

that Jesus is talking

about here

isn't stuff.

You see that

in the text?

He names

the good thing.

And the good thing

is a person.

The good thing

is the Holy Spirit,

the third person

of the Godhead.

Now you might read that

and you think to yourselves,

well that,

okay I get that

that's not a scorpion,

but I still don't understand

how that's better

than all the stuff

that I think

I need for my life.

And I've been thinking

about that all this week.

First of all,

I think I've been convicted

how often I overrate

my own ability

to know what the best thing

is for my life

and for your life.

But as more

as I've been chewing

on it this week,

the Holy Spirit

sent to dwell

in the heart

of every believer.

What is it

that the Spirit does?

I take it,

if you've got the text there,

that the Spirit

loops us

back round

to the top

and further in

and deeper in

to the heart

of the Lord's

prayer.

and here's

what I mean,

track with me,

the Spirit

helps us

to know God

as our Father.

The Spirit

helps us

to have a heart

for the glory

of God

in the world.

Of course,

that is a missionary cry,

isn't it?

The Spirit

helps us

to know the forgiveness

that is ours

in Christ

when we just

don't think it's true

when the accusations

of the devil

are coming at us.

The Spirit

helps us

forgive

other people.

Friends,

the Spirit

is the greatest gift

that God

could have

possibly given

his people.

And so,

verse 9,

Jesus says,

ask,

seek,

and knock.

And as true

as what Jesus

is saying here

has got so much

to teach us

in terms of

our own prayer lives

and that's

because we live

in this individualistic

culture,

that is where

our minds

will straight away

have gone to.

we need to see

the emphasis

all the way

through the prayer,

did you notice it,

is corporate.

Right?

It's our Father.

It's give us

this day

our daily bread.

Have you thought

about that

when we're praying

that God

would give us

our daily bread?

Actually,

you're praying

for other people

that God

would,

out of his

wonderful willingness

and his perfect ability

would provide

for their needs.

Great thing

to do off the back

of this today,

go towards

someone you love

and say,

how can I pray

for you this week?

What are your,

what is your daily bread

if you like

in this context?

Forgive us

as we forgive

those who sin

against us.

It's a prayer

for God's people

to pray,

not primarily

as isolated Christians,

but as part

of a family

who are journeying

together

through this

pilgrim world?

And so here's

two challenges

just as we begin

to wrap this up

this morning,

as we think about

our corporate life

together.

Here's the first one.

Let's allow this

to affect our diaries.

Will we prioritize

meeting together

to pray?

You know,

our corporate prayer life

is really

very much

on our hearts

as elders

that we would

love to see

it continue

to flourish,

that more people

would join

the corporate

prayer life

of our church.

You know,

we've got two

prayer meetings

that happen

on a regular basis.

We've got one

that happens

on Zoom

every Monday evening

at 8pm

for 30 minutes.

And it's amazing

how that's just,

that actually started

during COVID

and we prayed

every night

since that lockdown

started.

and we went

through the whole

Psalms

and then we went

through,

I think,

John's Gospel

as well.

We did all,

we just,

every night

we were praying

and that still

continued,

that we pray

every single

Monday

for the things

of this church,

for the things

of this world.

And we have

an in-person one

that happens

on the first Sunday

of the month

and we even

throw in pizza

for dinner as well

to get people

to come.

And that's next

Sunday evening.

And listen,

if you come to

the Vision evening

tonight,

a good 20 minutes

of that time together

is given over

to us praying.

And that really

is one of the

highlights of the year.

Let's meet together

to pray.

Let's pray big prayers

for our world.

Let's pray big prayers

for our city.

Let's pray big prayers

for our community.

Let's pray big prayers

for each other.

To this God

who is able to do

way more

than we ask

or even imagine

is possible.

Let's allow

what Jesus is saying

there to affect

our diaries.

And second,

let's allow this

to impact

our community.

I mean,

wouldn't it be great

to recreate

a culture

where asking

how we can pray

for each other

and then maybe

on the spur

praying for each other

was just a normal

thing that we did.

Praying together

should be the most

natural thing

that we do together

as Christians.

And so here's

a challenge for you.

Why not ask

one person today?

Just ask one person.

If you can manage

more than that,

go for it.

But ask one person

how you can pray

for them this week.

And then maybe

if you feel like it,

if you feel comfortable,

why not pray together

on the spot?

You know,

just as we close,

let me tell you

how this has impacted

me this week.

And then we're done.

When we first moved

to Edinburgh,

we lived in the

part of the city

known as the Newtown,

beautiful part of the city.

One of the things

about that part

of the city

is that there's

cobbled streets

everywhere.

So every time

I used to take our car,

our little car,

it was a wee

silver VW Fox,

I don't even know

if they're still going,

this tiny little

tin machine.

Every time I used

to take it for an MOT,

they said the same thing.

They said,

you need to have

your wheels realigned.

And the thing was

that all the knocks,

all the bumps,

all the cobbles,

all the potholes

in the roads,

as they collectively

took their toll

in the car,

had totally knocked

this thing out of sync.

So you weren't driving

the steering wheel

like that,

you were driving

at it like that

to get it to go straight,

the kind of thing.

And every time

they would say

the same thing.

Do you want us

to realign this car?

You need to realign

this car.

Now thinking about

that this week,

because so often

in my life,

I know that it's true

that all the worries,

the concerns,

the people,

all these things

come along.

The bills that need paid,

the things that need done,

the trash needs taken,

all these things

that come along in life,

they can knock us.

They can knock us

from remembering

the thing

that Jesus has called us to.

What does this prayer do?

It realigns us.

It realigns us.

It lifts us

out of our world

of self-absorption

and it throws us

by God's grace

on the priorities

and the heart

of the Father.

And so listen,

I'd love us to finish

and I hope I've got

this slide right.

Yeah.

Just by saying

the words of the Lord's Prayer

together,

it's really short,

just those words

on the screen

on my cue

and then we're just

going to pray

to close.

And listen,

we don't do this token,

this is never token,

this is a commitment

that we're making

to make Jesus' priorities

in the heart of the Father

the thing that we're seeking.

So you ready for this?

If you feel comfortable

on my cue.

I can't even read that right.

Father,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day

our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

for we also forgive

everyone who sins against us

and lead us not into temptation.

And so Father,

we do pray this morning.

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us today

our daily bread.

Would you forgive our sins?

Would you help us

to forgive those

who have sinned against us?

And Lord,

would you guide us?

Heavenly Father,

we thank you

for the privilege today

that we can call you Father.

And I ask that maybe

for some of us here today,

maybe we're doubting that.

Maybe we don't know

what that means.

Lord,

may today be the day

by your spirit

where we come to appreciate

your love for us

and sending your son for us

just that little bit more.

Would you fill us afresh

with a passion

to see your name

hallowed in our land

and in our lives?

Father,

we long to see your name

put in lights.

Help us,

Father,

to be a people

who come together

to seek your face

in prayer.

And Lord,

we thank you

that you hear us,

not because we pray

eloquent words

or because of any righteousness

that we have,

but we come to you

knowing that you hear us

confidently

because we pray

in the precious

and in the loving name

of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.