Never give up praying!

G'day, thanks for joining the Heights Church Podcast today. We hope you enjoy our message.

If you're in the Sydney area, be sure to join us at the Heights Church at Gorsham

Road, Hornsley Heights, Sydney, Australia.

We shared about how things that you do too much of and things that now I'm not

going to go and ask for it is.

But one thing is pretty sure is that you're not going to get to the end of your

life and say, I regret praying too much.

I doubt whether you're going to get to that point. There might be a lot of things

in which you will regret.

You might say, I eat too much or I drink too much or I shop too much or there's

too much TV or too much computer.

I mean, there's even some good things that are too much. Things like there's

too much exercise or too much work or too much coffee or too much surfing.

I might not say that, but you might say something like that.

But prayer is not one of those things where you're generally going to turn around

and say, you know what? I pray too much. I don't think anyway.

Here's the thing. I believe that if you grab hold of the text that was read

out by Natalie this morning, that we will pray a whole lot more.

And maybe, as if it was even possible, get to the point where you're saying, I'm praying too much.

Jesus here in our text, after he teaches everybody about the Lord's prayer and

the model for prayer, he invites us to pursue him in prayer.

And of course, the amazing fact of the gospel is that God pursues us.

Christians have been brought into a relationship with God. And through Jesus

Christ, we have that relationship.

And as we see in this morning's text, we're invited to pursue God as good father.

The verbs that Jesus uses have that active pursuit kind of verbs,

verbs going hard after God to ask, to seek, and to knock.

Now, I don't want to get all Greek on you, but these words in the original language

is in the present tense and their imperatives.

Now, if you did your QR code up there, you would have the sermon notes and you

would see all that. If you don't, well, then you're just going to have to listen to Matt.

But it basically means this, that Jesus is really saying when it comes to prayer

and when it comes to pursuing God, to keep on asking, to keep on seeking and to keep on knocking.

And he's telling us, it's not just a suggestion.

He's saying, this is what you are to do all of your days here in this earth,

to ask, to seek and to knock.

Maybe he uses this kind of these words as in a progressive nature.

So like asking and the next thing you know, you've got seeking and the next

thing you go, like the intensity grows along the line.

Maybe he's just talking about different ways for the same thing.

I'm not sure. People are not really sure either.

But either case, what's pictured here is active, intentional and ongoing engagement

of pursuing God, asking, seeking, knocking in prayer.

Now, many people, and frankly, most of us at some time or other,

think about prayer as a way to get what we want.

We've got something that's concerning our heart, something that we're in need

for, whether it's guidance, whether it's wisdom, whether it's direction,

whether it's assurance,

whether it's the things that we need, whether it's the things that someone else

needs, but it's what And the way we think, really, in every way, is not what God thinks.

Because God thinks about prayer as a way to get what he wants, not what we want.

And what God wants is you.

God wants us in daily dependence of him, in loving relationship with him.

And maybe that's why, in part, prayer exists.

Is to increase our dependence on him, to increase our relationship with him.

Because if you think about it, prayer actually doesn't make any sense at all.

If you think about some of the attributes of God, God is omniscient,

right? He knows all things.

Jesus already told us that in Matthew chapter 6. He says, the Father knows what

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

you need before you even ask him.

He knows all things. He knows what you need. So you kind of think to yourself,

why would I go to God and ask him for what I need when he already knows what I need?

You're not giving him any new information. It's not like he's saying,

my God, I'm saying, God, here's my prayer.

And God responds, oh my goodness, I didn't know that. I didn't know that he

needed those things. Because if he did, then I would have given it to him.

No, he's omniscient. He knows what's going on. He's omnipotent.

That means that he's all powerful. He's all sufficient.

God doesn't need anything in any way.

He's also sovereign. And we know that from the Bible, he controls all things.

And he's going to accomplish his will no matter whether I'm involved in it or not.

So we could say then that logically and in many ways theologically,

prayer doesn't make sense, a whole lot of sense.

Since God knows everything, he knows everything already,

he's able to do anything in and of themselves and in himself,

he's able to do it, he's not insufficient and he's going to accomplish what

his purposes are, he's in control. troll.

So while we could say logically and theologically, prayer doesn't make a whole

lot of sense, we would say from our passage that relationally,

it makes a whole lot of sense.

Some people you might know are prayer warriors.

I don't know whether you know anyone, probably someone's come to your mind right

now where they pray and pray.

And there's a certain aura about a prayer warrior.

It's kind of like Moses goes up the mountain, comes down pure white.

Once you're meeting with God, once you're connecting with God,

there is a certain glow amongst you.

And maybe there's some people that you know about that. And you kind of wish

that you had that kind of air and glow about meeting with God on a regular basis.

But for me, prayer is hard. And maybe I'm alone with this, but probably not, I would think.

You may be sitting there, prayer

is hard. And it's hard for me because I'm basically results orientated.

I'm this good old radical Western individualist type triple A,

get it done cowboy type of guy.

I'm results orientated and the ends justifies the means.

I'm going to or we're going to get things done. And I'm like so many Australians

are results orientated, but I find that if I look at God, that he's process orientated.

He's not results orientated.

I'm radically goal orientated, but God is radically relationship orientated.

And when I think about it, the goal of prayer is no big deal for God,

right? He owns everything.

I sometimes wonder why he doesn't sell the cattle of a thousand hills or at

least a hundred hills and then give other things.

But the goal of what I'm praying for is not a big deal to God.

He's omnipotent. He's all-knowing. He's sovereign. He's able to accomplish it.

We get caught up on reaching the goal that God is outside of time and space.

So he's already at the place that we were praying about.

And so we find that God is concerned about the process and the process that

takes place in us is that we would seek and we would knock.

And we would ask of God. So prayer or the invitation to pray,

particularly in our text, is not so much an invitation to get what we want.

It's an invitation to experience what God wants.

And what he wants, as I said, is us. He wants intimacy with him.

Let me illustrate this as we go to a favorite verse of many,

Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11.

Jeremiah 29:11

And you might know it, but when I read it, you will know it.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Now, if we pause right there, there's the goal, right?

We read that and we say, let's go, God. I'm all on about prosperity.

I'm all on about security. And I want the hope into the future.

It's on my fridge magnet.

It's on the screensaver. And I actually know somebody had it tattooed on their arm.

It might be your favorite verse, one that you claim often, but look at what God says.

And maybe that person should have had this next verse tattooed on their arm as well.

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.

In other words, God has the goal of our prayer settled.

He says, you will seek me and you will find me me.

When you seek me with all of your heart, I will be found by you." The goal of

those verses and the goal of that most famous verse is not our prosperity or

security or hope for the future. The goal of that verse is God.

God says, here's the goal. I want your.

He has the goal already in hand.

He knows our needs. He even knows our wants.

He knows what's going to bring us his prosperity in this world.

He knows what's going to bring us security in the world. And he knows what he

has to do to bring hope to us in this world.

But he doesn't always have in hand our heart, so to speak.

So let me tell you that I'm good and I hold the future in your hand.

And that's what God says.

Let me invite you, God says, to call on me and to pray to me and I will listen to you, he says.

He says that if you seek me, you will find me.

If you knock, I will open up the door. And what is the next part of the verses?

And I'll come in and I'll have fellowship with you, intimacy with you,

connect with you. you, I am your God, you are my people, you will walk with

me. Do you see where we go wrong?

For we go, the goal of our heart is what?

Quite often it's not what I pray for. It shouldn't be that.

It should be God and my intimacy and walk with him.

Another verse, Psalm 37 verse 4, you might know that, delight yourself in the

Psalms 37:4

Lord and he will give you the That's an attractive verse.

I want the desires of my heart, don't you?

It's great. Well, maybe you don't want the desires of my heart,

but you want God to provide the desires of your heart.

Sounds great, but the actual thrust of the verse is to delight yourself in the Lord.

That's the thrust of the verse, not the desires of my heart.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and you will find this, that as you delight yourself

in the Lord, and as you meet with him, and as you commune with him,

and as your intimacy grows in the Lord,

the desires of your heart will change and the desires of your heart will transform,

to be his desires and not your own.

Seeking and knocking in prayer is meant to be a transformative experience because

it's based on a relationship with him.

And as our relationship grows, our heart will be transformed into be more like him.

It's not getting things from God. It's based on a communion with God and our

experience with God is not merely accomplishing our goals.

So Jesus is inviting us into the process of asking, seeking, and knocking,

not just once, to keep on doing that all of our life because it has more to

do with getting what God wants than what we want.

Prayer is transformative relational experience. But if we look at the Bible,

we can't say that prayer is only a relational experience.

It's not the only reason that God comes and tells us to pray is that we'll be

in better relationship with him.

It's not all about us. It's all about him.

Now, I'm going to say something that is theologically important.

I'm going to say that not only because I've studied for five and a half years

and there's got to be some value in it. And it's this, that God in his sovereignty

has established in the world a contingency.

God in his sovereignty has established in the world a contingency.

And in case you haven't got it and you haven't kind of tuned in yet to the message

today, the contingency is prayer.

God in his sovereignty has established in our universe a contingency.

That is the thing of asking and seeking and knocking and coming before him in prayer.

God acts on.

That is to say that there's some things that God will only do in response to prayer.

And there's other things that God may not do because there was no prayer.

And we read that in the Bible. Take, for example, Exodus 32.

You probably know the story. Moses goes up to the mountain.

He meets with God. He comes back down with this glow on.

But he's up there meeting with God. The people of Israel are down at the bottom of the mountain.

So Moses has led his children, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

He comes and meets them, leads them to Mount Sinai.

Israel's all camped down at the mountain

of Sinai where Mo goes up on the mountain and meets with the Lord.

So he's up on the mountain, what seems like forever to them,

and Israel's just down bottom, chilling.

But then what happens, which is an amazing thing for me, the high priest says,

let's build a calf, a golden calf.

How the high priest got to that point, I wouldn't have a clue.

And what we will do with this golden calf is we'll actually worship the golden

calf, which is a pretty amazing thing for a high priest to actually get there.

So naturally God gets a little bit upset with that.

And God says to Moses, while they're there on the mountain and communing together,

God says, Moses, your people, which is usually his people, but he says at this

particular time, Moses is your people. I don't want anything to do with them.

Your people have made for themselves an idol to worship.

He says, as Moses get down from the mountain, I'm going to judge them.

I'm going to wipe them off the face of the earth and I'll make a great nation

from you instead, as he told Abraham.

It's a great story. You should read it from Exodus chapter 32.

Exodus 32 · chapter mention

Now, God is just and he's righteous and he has every reason because of the adultery

that Israel put forward for their worshipping an idol to write them off the

face of the earth. But what does Moses do?

Moses, the intercessor, does this. He asked God and prayed, according to your

character and kindness, according to your covenantal faithfulness,

which is a good way to start prayer, by the way.

It's not just, this is what I want. This is you, God.

I'm asking you to have mercy on this, your people.

And what did God do? He said, okay. Well, he didn't actually say okay.

He said, the text says, God changed his mind.

Now, that should ring every theological bell in your mind because God doesn't change his mind.

It says elsewhere in the Bible, God is not man, that he should change his mind.

But God changing his mind from a deity, from God, is very different than men

and women changing their mind. We change our minds for two reasons.

Either we haven't got all the information, but God's all-knowing,

or we're dead wrong, but God's omniscient, and he's not dead wrong.

We've already established that God has all the information. We've already established

that he's never wrong. He's altogether righteous. So it means something different.

It means this, that God, in response to Moses' prayer, relented from his course of action.

That's what the Hebrew points out, that he relented from his course of action.

God was going to judge Israel. They deserved it because of one person's prayer.

God, I ask you for mercy. And God literally said, I relented from an undesirable

course of action to extend mercy for God is merciful.

Now, if we put this in juxtaposition, what happens is we look back at Ezekiel chapter 22.

Ezekiel 22 · chapter mention

Israel's in trouble once again. They seem to always get to that point,

don't they? They worship God. They bow down to God.

They hold him as the Lord of all creation.

And then next thing you know, they're sin. They go and worship idols and stuff.

They're out there praying the harlot with false gods and they're upset.

And God is upset with them the same as he was back there.

And God's going to judge them and he pronounced judgment upon them.

But at the end of Ezekiel chapter 22, God looked around for a person,

Ezekiel 22 · chapter mention

just one person who would stand in the gap and plead their case.

But there wasn't one. Not one person prayed and God judged them.

There are certain things that God will only do in response to prayer.

And I'm not saying everything.

There's certain things that God will do in response to prayer and God will have

mercy. and God did that and there's other things God won't do because nobody prayed.

There is a contingency that he has put in place, not us.

It's not for us to claim, hey, we're praying and this is going to happen because we're praying.

No, God put the contingency in place and for some things he will act and for

other things he won't according to prayer.

Maybe you've had time when people have interceded for you. and God has acted in his mercy.

Maybe you have prayed for somebody else in intercession for them and God has acted in his mercy.

It's up to God on whether he extends his mercy or not, but we have the privilege

of working in contingency with him.

Prayer actually changes things.

And if we really grab hold of that, wouldn't we pray more?

Maybe even too much. But we have a problem with prayer, and maybe you do,

and I find it hard, and I struggle with it, and it's because of this,

because of unanswered prayer.

When God doesn't seem to be listening and responsive,

when God doesn't act in ways that seem to make his goodness and his sovereignty

apparent to me, And I'm sure if I asked for a show of hands,

everyone would raise their hand.

That you find it hard when heaven seems silent.

I think it's a common experience, or at least the perception of it.

And it's not biblically abnormal to kind of see that happen.

I often feel, and maybe like the psalmist in Psalm 102, so you look at the way he talks.

He says, hear my prayer, O God, and let my cry for help come to you.

Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. dress,

incline your ear to hear me.

In the day when I call, answer quickly and give me your attention.

That's the prayer of the psalmist. Listen to me, God. I want mercy from you. I want you to hear me.

And we get that kind of sense as we read that he's praying and he's praying from the heart.

But what happens is he says, his prayers are bouncing off the ceiling and it's like heaven is silence.

He says this, God, for my days disappeared like smoke and my bones burned like red hot coals.

My heart is sick and withered like grass.

I have lost my appetite because of my groaning. I'm reduced to skin and bones.

I'm like an owl in the desert, like a little owl in a far -off wilderness.

I lay awake, lonely as a solitude bird on a roof.

I, and like so many people, know what that feels like.

To be up all night asking God, are you hearing me?

Is your ear attentive to me? Like a pelican on top of a lamppost in an outback town.

No lake, no food, sitting on a lamppost.

There's the usual explanations, of course, that some of you have thought of

right now and maybe have been told in the past.

God did answer your prayer, just not the way that you expected. Well, thanks for that.

God's always answered prayer. He answers either yes, no, or wait.

Becomes like my parents were. Yes, no, or wait.

Well, seriously, you have this one where you know if only you prayed more more,

or if only you had more faith, or if only you had better motives, that's your problem.

I've shared with this before about a church down in the Southern Highlands where

the pastor got fired because his wife died of cancer.

And they said, you didn't have enough faith in your prayer and didn't pray as

often as you should. So they fired him.

Or maybe you've heard this. Well, you know, really, prayer is just adjusting to God's will.

And I believe in some ways all of those things have some degree of truth within

them, but I'm just saying that in the day of distress, in the day of your heartache,

they will not satisfy your soul.

Some authors call it the dark night of unanswered prayer or the dark night of the soul.

And there have been times in my life and I'm sure there's been times in your

life or there will be times in your life where you experienced that and maybe

you've heard all of these,

in the dark night of unanswered prayer and they didn't help and I totally agree

with what one pastor said for unanswered prayer,

I have no answer.

There's none but I think Jesus suggests

in our passage an answer to us

right here when he says your father who is in heaven is good and wants to give

you good gifts which is both a non-answer and the best answer and sometimes

maybe the only answer that we have,

but at times it's a really hard answer.

As we struggle and suffer through unanswered prayer,

we know though, don't we, that we keep company with the greatest day of distress

and hard night of the soul when Jesus himself in Matthew 26 reminds us that at Gethsemane,

He prays in so earnest prayer that he prays like drops of blood.

Three times we're told that he prayed. Father, if it's possible, let the cup pass from me.

Speaking of the cross and yet not my will, but your will be done.

And it's not some make-believe prayer of Jesus Christ.

We're told those three times he is absolutely alone praying those prayers.

He's like the pelican sitting on the post where not even his friends,

his disciples that walk with him will be there with him to pray with him in this.

He didn't call this synagogue prayer team that came around, that prayed as he

was going towards the cross.

We're told that prayer was real.

And as I said, so real that he sweated like drops of blood from the pores of his skin.

In the face of horror of the cross, the reality and the weight of it all, the sins of this world.

Your sin was so heavy upon him.

Jesus prayed, Father, please, if there's any other option, if it's possible,

then let this cup pass from me and let me not go through all of this.

And I believe the only reason that Jesus could say that was because of what

he shared with us right in this passage, that his heavenly father was good and

would give him good gifts.

And Jesus would say to us, these two things, keep on asking,

keep on seeking, keep on knocking.

Because you know the danger is not doubting whether things are going to happen,

because the doubting actually produces greater faith.

It's been said that doubt is

not the death of faith. Doubt is the fertile ground on which faith grows.

When I say, God, this is what I'm experiencing.

It hasn't been good. I felt as though you've abandoned me. Like the psalmist,

I'll keep on asking. I'll keep on seeking.

I'll keep on knocking. and that faith is a faith that will give birth to greater faith.

Just the faith that God hears, that faith that the Father is good,

the faith that the Father will give you good gifts. Listen to the psalmist in Psalm 55.

He says this, Listen to my prayer, O God, and do not ignore my plea.

Hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught. Lord.

Then the psalmist goes on and complains about a whole lot of stuff that's going

on and complaining that God seems to have abandoned him.

He says, because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked,

for they bring down suffering on me and they assail me in their anger.

My heart is in anguish within me. My terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling have beset me.

Horror has overwhelmed me. You get the point of the psalmist.

Fear and trembling has come upon me. Horror has overwhelmed me.

And then he says this, and we've all been there, I think, one time or the other.

I said, oh Lord, if I had wings of a dove, I would fly away and rest.

I would flee far away and stay in the desert.

I would hurry to my place of shelter, far away from the tempest and the storm.

That's a heavy place that the psalmists have got to.

And then he turns a corner and he does exactly what Jesus tells us to do and

exactly what he did in the garden of Gethsemane.

He keeps on asking, he keeps on seeking, He keeps on knocking,

and he says this in verse 16 of Psalm 55, but as for me, I'll call upon the Lord.

Is what he believes. God is good. The Lord will save me.

Evening, morning, and noon, I'll keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.

And after his complaint, he says, cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.

He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken.

Shaken, he gives this faith statement, faith in a faithful God that he is good

and he wants to give you good gifts.

When everything else in life seems bad and we look to the cross,

we need to look at this is that the good that God gave may not have been the benefit of Jesus.

It's to our benefit the good came. The good gift is God's good gift to you through

Jesus who went to the cross.

So what God accomplishes through my life and through the things that I go through

and the things that you go through may not be for your own personal benefit at all.

It might be for the benefit of somebody else. As Jesus went to the cross,

the benefit that he gave, although evil.

Kind of gives this comparison, doesn't he, of a parent.

Look, I tell you what, if a parent, even in their evil, will give good gifts

to people, God, who is altogether just and altogether righteous, will give you good.

He will, as the psalmist said, make it so that you're not shaken.

Sometimes what shaken means to us and what shaken means to God is different.

But we will not fail in our faith if we ask, seek, and knock.

Perhaps some are here, are in a place where it's too much to ask, seek, and knock.

And if you've ever been in pastoral care, if you've ever been with people walking

through the difficult times of their life, and I have been there, I have been there.

I've been in a place where a young father carried a coffin this big three times

down the front to bury their child.

Three times. what do I say to him what do I say to the mum what do I say to

the family I have no answers,

but I know that God is good I know that

he gives good gifts and although he might not be able to knock to ask seek or

knock I can do that on his behalf and maybe you're at a point where you just

cannot do that you might be thinking it didn't work and God didn't come through

and nothing has changed.

But the good news is, is that God is good.

And we are told to keep on seeking and keep on knocking.

And the reason why is because Jesus came to seek and to save.

He stands at our hearts and knocks.

So while we may not be able to go there, God comes and does that for us.

Remember what I said right back at the beginning of the message,

that God himself, the amazing fact about the gospel is that God pursues us.

So while we may not have the heart or the inclination or the strength to seek

and ask and knock, he will do that for us.

And he will do that in us. so

here's my prayer as I close for those

who do not have the energy to knock and to

ask and to seek Lord you

know what we need so please come and find us let us be found by you in our dark

place and in our hard place you are the God who seeks Jesus you are the one who knocks knocks,

and for those who have strength,

Lord, help us to keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking and

keep on pressing into you.

For we believe that by faith you are good and you give good things.

But for those of us who don't appear to have the grace right now to do that.

Thank you that you'll come and find us.

And we trust your goodness above our own. And we trust your seeking above our own.

And in Jesus' name, we pray this. Amen.

Music.