Life in His Presence | In His Presence, He Gives Us Petitionary Power: Exodus 32:7-14

Lemanuel Williams: Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heavenly Father. We remain Not confident in ourselves. No, no. We failed you this week. We've even failed ourselves in ways. We cannot remain confident in ourselves in our own will and our own ability. We remain confident in you. Confident that you can continue to change us. Confident that you can continue to transform us. Confident that you will continue to draw us near to you. Lord, Father, I pray this evening. Would you do that through your word? As we open it up and we hear from it, Lord, they need more than a preacher to speak to them. They need the power of your spirit to work in them, Lord, and in our hearts, Lord, and do a work that no man can this evening. And so as we open up your word and we expect and to receive from you, be generous to us, Father. Transform us by your word and be glorified. That you would do through your word what we just sung about. We would be able to leave out of this place, setting our hope on you, the one who is the everlasting God. Jesus name we pray. Amen and Amen. You may ⁓ if you would stand with me for the reading of God's word. ⁓ John, if you wanna turn on my mic there. Exodus chapter 32. That's where the word will be coming from today. Here's the word of the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, Go down, for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves golden calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it's a stiff-necked people. Now therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you. But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people? whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptian say, With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your burning anger and relent from your disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself, and said to them, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised, I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever. Hear this. And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. Truth of the text I want to see this evening is that in his presence. He gives us petitionary power. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. You know, there are many great mysteries in the story of Scripture, and here in our passage there are a few actually presented to us, and they should rightfully so. I I think they should puzzle us. I want you to think of this with me. Here are people who were once enslaved by the greatest empire in the world at the time. No economy in the world was greater. On top of that, no technology in the world was greater. In fact, we're still trying to figure out theory-wise, we got theories out that the aliens probably came down to build the pyramids. That's how great their technology was in the Egyptian Empire. No armies were greater. No ruler inside of the entire world was greater than Pharaoh in his great empire of Egypt. And yet, here comes this eighty plus year old man with his cousin, boldly walking into the courts of Pharaoh, making demands. Not once, not twice, but several times. It is a mystery to me. Why didn't Pharaoh take off their heads the first time they came into that court? Demanding things from him. Especially since Moses was a criminal. He was an outlaw. It's a mystery to me. It's a mystery to me that God would show up and show out for a people in ways that we will never witness inside of the rest of human history. It's a mystery to me how the Nile was turned to blood. How the Red Sea parted it's parted into the greatest army in the world that probably took decades to build was defeated in 12 hours. One night, by daybreak, the entire empire is destroyed. It's a mystery to me. It's a mystery to me that one morning, millions of people who were poor and enslaved, by the next morning they would walk out rich and free. It's a mystery to me. That the same people God would see and he would lead by cloud by day. I want you to imagine that for a second. You wake up one morning, you and your family, you're in your tent, and you say, Hey, hey, we ain't got no time to fix no breakfast. We we gotta go. The cloud is moving. Let's let's get out. Let's go let's go follow the cloud. Then the sun begins to set after a while, after a long day journey. And then in the dark, this pillar of fire just shows up. I don't know how it came up, just boom, it just came right in front of them and leads them a little bit more ways. It's mystery to me that God would literally lead these people through the desert with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire fire by night. It's also a mystery to me. It's a mystery that they had no food to eat in this barren desert, but God would send this dew-like substance, it says in the story, that would be like mist of water on the ground in a misty morning. I want you to imagine that. You wake up one morning out of your tent and you don't have to go to the grocery store. You just walk out of your tent and you see this layer of dew on the patch of grass. And when the dew goes away, the scripture said that there appe appeared a thin flake that that looked like frost on the desert floor. You'd be like, What in the world is what is that? That's what the Israelites said. What is that? That's actually what manna means. That's the word. It's what is this? Would you imagine? You you get a certain amount of that, you take it back to your tent, you bake it, you fry it, do whatever you want. I don't know how they whipped it up, but they they ate this, and the scripture says that it tastes like wafers made with honey. Then in the evening, imagine the sun begins to set and go down, and all of a sudden, a flock, huge flock of quail begin to just transcend upon or descend upon the camp. You you don't have to go hunt them, you're just sitting down. Hanging out with your friends in your tent, talking, and all of a sudden you start hearing quails chirp, and you pause the conversation. Hey, I gotta go grab dinner real quick. You walk outside of your tent, you go grab you a quail, and like clockwork, guys. Every single morning for 40 years, you had bread that tasted like good waffles and French toast or whatever it tastes like, delivered from heaven every single morning, and then some good meat for dinner served every single evening. It's a mystery to me. The God who is leading them like this and providing for them like this, they will begin to complain and grumble against. As if he has done them something actually wrong. It's a mystery to me that the same God they grumbled against and complained against said, I want to get closer to them and I want to dwell in their midst. Thus far, only Moses could get as close to him that way, as we know in the story. The pillar of fire would come and the cloud of day would come, but Moses would pitch a tent outside of the camp, and there inside of that tent, this cloud would come and descend right before the tent, and it would talk to Moses inside of the tent. But now this same God that would speak to Moses outside the camp was making plans to come dwell with them inside the camp. It's a mystery to me. That a people who did not appreciate him hardly knew this God, he still wanted to get closer to them. It's a mystery to me that by the time we get to our text, that God has made all these plants to make his dwelling place among them. In fact, God has been in a long meeting with Moses. I I want you to imagine this with me. The presence of God, this is how it paints it in in in Exodus. It descends upon this mountain called Mount Sinai. And it says, thunder and lightning begin to fill the sky. A thick cloud came down and covered the mountain. A trumpet blast out from the mountain. I don't even know what that's about. And in the midst of the storm, it grew increasingly loud. Fire and dense smoke began to rise. And it was like a smoke of a furnace, as the scriptures say. The entire mountain began to shake violently. The people trembled. They remained at a distance. And if you were standing at the base of the mountain watching this, You probably wouldn't just be like, ⁓ you would be afraid as the children of Israel were afraid. Lightning and thunder and fire and all this stuff. Reminds me of my grandmother. She didn't play with no thunder and lightning. When when thunder and lightning came, you had to unplug everything, turn off all the TVs, everything. But imagine you don't got no shelter. You just got a tent with some sticks. It ain't just thunder and lightning that's gonna scare you, especially if you don't have the shelter to protect you. This mountain begins to shake violently like an earthquake, and smoke is coming out, and it looks like a volcano that's about to burst. It's a mystery to me that the scripture said Moses walked right into that. It's no mystery to me for why the children of Israel concluded after a couple of days that after Moses had gone into that that and didn't come back from the mountain, the scripture says that they said, As for this Moses, this man who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what's become of him. In other words, he might be dead. We don't know. He walked into that mess. ⁓ he he might not be here anymore. In other words, ⁓ as we know. Moses might be good as dead. It's a mystery to me that they believe Moses is dead and they no longer have a leader to lead the way. They believe they must recreate a God in a familiar way so they can follow their own way going forward. So they go to this priest Aaron and they say to him, Up, Aaron, get up. Make us gods that will go before us, that will begin to lead us now. And Aaron and the people form a God into a golden calf, the scriptures say, or a golden cow. It's a mystery to me. That though they saw this God manifest himself through a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, they saw this God manifest himself through the thunder and the lightning and the fire and the smoke on the mountain. They never seen this God manifest himself as a cow. And yet, as scholars would say, and they're shaping them into a cow, scholars would say, they would argue, they weren't trying to make a whole other God. They were trying to make the God who rescued them out of Egypt more down to earth. A God that they could be more acquainted with. One that they could be more familiar with. Because, you know, a golden cow isn't as unrelatable as a glory cloud. A golden cow isn't as untouchable as a pillar of fire. A golden cow isn't as awful as a trembling fire and that's just firing on the mountain. No, no, no. A golden cow is down to earth. It's the kind of God we can relate to and get close to on our own terms. They wanted to make the God who rescued them out of Egypt a God they can control when things seem to be out of control. They wanted to make him a God, the God that rescued them out of Egypt, a God that they can manipulate and touch when things seem out of touch. They wanted to make the God who rescued them out of Egypt a God who could come close to them without purifying them. In fact, they wanted to fashion him and worship him the way they wanted to worship him, not the way that God commanded them. And that's why our text says this in Exodus 32, verse 6. And they rose up. early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play. At first glance, this sounds like an innocent description of of worship and celebration. They offered sacrifice, shared a meal, they they celebrate, they begin to celebrate. But the phrase they rose up to play, it actually tells us that this was no innocent type of worship service. Commentators debate precisely what play involves, but They all agree that the people had abandoned themselves in idolatrous and morally unrestrained behavior. So their worship had become wild. Their celebration had become corrupt. Their appetites have been given over and into ⁓ they're not controlling themselves anymore. And so some commentators believe that the scene is is ⁓ it's not just indecent dancing, it in indecent dancing, and it'd also be sexual immorality, even to the to the point that it's actually ⁓ thought of by some commentators that they were having pagan orgies. We should not claim more than it's actually tell but the text does tell us enough that this was not harmless fun. It was wickedness, it was lewdness and looseness in the name of worship. They called it a feast of the Lord, but God called it corruption to Moses. What they missed was though they can play before a golden cow, you can't play before a holy God. And little did they know, while they thought Moses was dead up on the mountain. Moses was still meeting with God on top of the mountain. I want you to imagine it with me. They are down at the bottom of the mountain, eating, drinking, celebrating in this lewd and loose ways, a God who created who they created with their human hands. And the text zooms out to the top of the mountain with Moses. And though he isn't dead, he's alive, actually talking with God. And although Moses couldn't see what was happening at the bottom of the mountain, God did. And he says to Moses, Moses, go talk to your people. They're corrupting themselves. I just made a covenant with them, Moses, so I can dwell with them, Moses, and they've already broken it. And the text says, God said, They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. It is a mystery to me. They had not been in a covenant for years. They had not been in a covenant for months. They had hardly been in a covenant or this agreement with God for 40 days before they turned away from the God who turned toward them. And what makes it even more mysterious is what was happening on the top of the mountain. While they were corrupting themselves at the bottom of the mountain. For 40 days and 40 nights, Moses was in the presence of God. He walked into that cloud. He had entered what looked like to everybody else this devouring fire. He was surrounded by thunder and smoke, the shaking and the glory of God. And there God was giving Moses instructions for how he planned to come dwell among his people. God was talking to him about, if you know the story, the Ark of the Covenant. He's talking to them about the mercy seat, all these things that would be to decorate the tabernacle. He's talking to them about the table of the bread of presents, he's talking to them about the golden lanceam, he's talking to them about the altar and the priesthood and the tabernacle. And God was telling Moses, let me make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them. It is a mystery to me that while he, God is on the top of the mountain with Moses, planning to come closer to them, they were at the bottom of the mountain, creating something to actually replace him. While God was designing a tabernacle so he could dwell in their midst, they were designing a calf so they could worship on their own terms. While God was appointing Aaron to be a priest, Aaron was using his hands to fashion an idol. While God was preparing a mercy seat, the people were preparing a feast of corruption. While God was writing his commandments with his own finger, the people were breaking those commandments with their own hands by crafting a God with their own hands. It is a mystery to me. If we're honest. The mystery is not just what Israel did. The mystery is that we still do the same thing. God is working on our behalf in places that we cannot see. And because we cannot see what He's doing, we assume He's not doing anything. God is preparing something for us, but because He's taking longer than we expected, we start creating things for ourselves. God is working in the cloud, but because we cannot control the cloud, we settle for a calf or a cow. Because a calf can be seen, it can be touched, it can be carried, it can be controlled. And whenever you become uncomfortable with a God we cannot control, we are tempted to create a version of God we will never be that will never confront us, that will never correct us, that will never command us to actually change. It is a mystery to me that God says to Moses in verse 9: I've seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. The term stiff-neck comes from the world of farming. When a farmer Placed a yoke upon an ox. He tried to redirect it with that yoke. And so a stubborn ox would stiffen its neck. It would refuse to turn. It would resist the direction, the one that was trying to actually lead it. That that's what God says about Israel. I've been trying to lead them, but they keep resisting me. I've been trying to direct them, but they keep turning their own way. I've been trying to form them, but they refuse to be bended and molded. They wanted God's deliverance, but they didn't want God's direction. They wanted God to break Pharaoh's yoke, but they didn't want to submit to God's yoke. They wanted God to lead them out of Egypt, but they did not want God to lead Egypt out of them. Their bodies had been delivered out of Egypt, but Egypt was still shaping their imaginations. They were free geographically geographically, but they were still in bondage spiritually. Before we judge them too harshly, my friends, we ought to ask ourselves. How many times has God tried to turn us, but we stiffened our necks? How many times has God tried to correct us, but we insisted upon our own ways? How many times has God delivered us from something only for us to recreate the very thing in which he has delivered us from? How many times has God been trying to form us while while we've been fighting him? It's a mystery to me. But here is the greatest mystery in the text. Or a greater one. Not that God became angry. But after everything God has done for them, after the covenant he had made, after the corruption they had committed, God's anger is no mystery at all. The mystery is that they're actually still alive. The mystery is that God did not destroy them immediately. The mystery is that even in his anger, God spoke to Moses. The mystery is that God said, Now, therefore, let me alone, Moses. As though God's word were opening a door for Moses to actually stand in the gap. And as Moses stepped into that door to stand in the gap for the people, the people who had actually already given up on Moses as a leader. They said, We don't know what has become of him. But Moses had not given up on them. They were replacing him at the bottom of the mountain, but he was pleading for them at the top of the mountain. They had forgotten Moses, but Moses remembered them. They had broken their covenant, but Moses appealed to the covenant. They were dancing before a calf, but Moses was bowing before God. They were stiffening their necks, but Moses was bending his knees. It is a mystery to me. God says to Moses, Go down for your people, Moses, who you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. And Moses responds, Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people who you brought out of Egypt? You see the argument here that's coming and coming out. With your great power and your mighty hand, it's almost as if God says, Moses, these are your people. And Moses says, No, no, no, no, no, no, Lord, these are your people. Moses refuses to offer to separate himself from the future of the people he's leading. So God says, I will consume them and I'll make a great nation out of you, Moses. But notice, notice what Moses doesn't say. Moses doesn't say, Finally, I could be rid of this difficult people I've been leading. Moses does not say, they never appreciated me, anyways. Moses does not say, Go ahead, start over with me, Lord. That'd be great. We can make a nation. Moses stands between the anger of God and the sin of the people, and he pleads for mercy for these people. He appeals to what God has done. These are the people that you brought out of Egypt. He appeals to God's reputation. What will the Egyptians say about this? You brought them out here to die, God? He appeals to God's promise. Remember the promise you made, Lord, to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Moses had spent 40 days in the presence of God, and apparently being in the presence of God has not made him less concerned about the people, it has made him more concerned about the people. The closer Moses got to God, the more willing he became to send be he became to stand inside of the gap who for those who actually didn't deserve it. And perhaps that's one of the true signs that we've actually been with God. Not that we come down from the mountain feeling superior to everyone else at the bottom. But that we come down carrying enough of God's heart to intercede for them. It's a mystery to me that the Holy God would want to dwell among a stiff-necked people. It is a mystery to me that Moses would plead for people who had already rejected him and casted him away. It's a mystery to me that God would listen to the prayer of one man standing in the gap. But verse 14 says, here's the bigger mystery. And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. That is the greatest mystery of all. It's a mystery to me that though God's mind was set on consuming them and destroying them, he changed his mind and had compassion and mercy on them. But the mystery goes great, it's even greater. Than that. God was so merciful and compassionate towards them, but the greatest mystery is why He actually changed His mind and had compassion on them. The text says it's because Moses petitioned him. God says. Let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I'll consume them. But Moses would not leave God alone. He began to pray, he began to plead, and Moses began to position God on behalf of the very people who had rejected him. And verse 14 says, And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken to bringing on the people. That, my friends, is the power of petitionary prayer. Within that power is actually the mystery of prayer. That the sovereign God of the universe is. Chooses to use our prayers to advance his purposes inside of the world. It's a mystery to me. God did not need Moses to inform him about what was happening. God saw the golden cap before Moses saw the golden calf. God heard their celebration before Moses heard the celebration. God knew their corruption before Moses knew anything about it. Moses did not pray because God lacked information. Moses prayed because God invited him into the situation. When God said, Let me alone, God was revealing what his justice demanded, but he was also giving Moses an opportunity to stand in the gap. God was giving Moses room to pray. And Moses stepped into that room and he stood before a holy God, a sinful people, and he asked God for mercy. It is a mystery to me. God already had the power to accomplish his purposes without Moses. Yet he chooses to involve Moses through prayer. God already knew what he intended to do, yet he allowed Moses to petition to become a part of the real things that God is actually about to do. God could have acted without Moses, but God chose to act through the prayers of Moses. That means prayer is more than just reporting your problems to God, guys. Prayer is more than just telling God what he already knows. Prayer is more than just a spiritual exercise to change how we feel. According to the text, prayer can become one of the means through which God changes what happens before us. Moses prayed, destruction was withheld. Moses petitioned, mercy was extended. Moses stood in the gap and the people were spared. The prayer did not change God from being cruel to being becoming compassionate. Mercy was already in the character of God. The prayer did not make God forget his holiness. God's judgment would have been righteous had he had unleashed his wrath on their sin. But Moses appealed to what was already true about God. He appealed to God's saving work. These are your people whom you brought out of Egypt. He appealed to his reputation. What will the Egyptians say about you, Lord? Moses, he appealed to his promises. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Moses did not ask God to become someone he was not. Moses asked God to act according to who he was and who he revealed himself to be. And God allowed the prayer of Moses to become the means through which his mercy entered into that moment. That is the mystery of prayer, friends. That God's purposes are settled. Yet your prayers actually matter. God is sovereign and in absolute control, yet your petitions participate in what he does. Yes, he knows the end from the beginning, yet he commands us to seek and ask and knock. God does not need our prayers, yet there are things he's chosen to accomplish through our prayers. There are doors God has opened because somebody prayed. There are people God preserves because somebody prayed. There are disaster God withheld because somebody prayed. There are hearts God has softened because somebody prayed. There are prodigals who have come back home because somebody prayed. There are communities that God has transformed because somebody prayed. And there are people sitting in this room who are only here because they refuse to leave God alone about you. Your mother kept praying for you. Your grandmother kept praying for you. Your father kept praying for you. Your church kept praying for you. Somebody stood in the gap and said for you, Lord. Have mercy on them. Somebody called your name before God where you were too lost to call them for yourself. Somebody believed that your corruption did not have to be the conclusion of your story, and perhaps the reason the judgment did not have a final word over your life is because somebody petitioned God for mercy for you. My friends, never underestimate the power of petitionary prayer. Your prayers may be part of what God has chosen to use to rescue your family. Your prayers may be part of what God has chosen to use to save your child. Your prayers may be part of what God has chosen to restore your marriage. Your prayers may be part of what God has chosen to transform your church, to increase it, to to transform your neighborhood and to transform this city. We may not understand how unchanging God responds to actually our human prayers. We may not be able to explain how divine sovereignty and human petition fit together. We may not know why God has chosen to make our prayers matter. It is a mystery. But the text does not ask us to solve the mystery. The text invites us to pray. Not just intercessory prayer as we learned last week, as we focused on last week, and partially what Moses does here, but petitionary prayer. Let me define the two so you understand it better. Intercessory prayer is prayer on the behalf of others. That's what we talked about last week. Petitionary prayer is prayer for your personal needs. Where Jesus doesn't, He doesn't just teach us to pray, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, but he also says right in the middle of the prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. You know what this tells us about God our Father in heaven? He's not just concerned about world hunger. He's also concerned about whether you have food in your refrigerator so you don't go hungry. He's not just concerned about the world's economy. He's also concerned about whether you have enough money to pay the rent or your your utility bills this this week. He's not just concerned about nations of the world. He's also concerned about the condition of your family. He's not just concerned about great injustices of our time. He's also concerned about the injustice you experience that nobody else seems to understand. He's not just concerned about millions of people looking for work. He's also concerned about the application you submitted and the interview you're still waiting to hear back for. He's not just concerned about the troubles happening around the world. He's also concerned about the worries that are weighing on your heart day by day. He is not just concerned about wars breaking out between nations, but he's just as concerned about conflict breaking out inside of your own home and your relationships. God is concerned about the large problems of the world, but he's not so preoccupied with them that what's happening around the world that he overlooks what's actually happening inside of your world. He's concerned about your utility bills today. Amen in Rocky Mount. He's concerned about your groceries. He's concerned about your money. He's concerned about your relationship, your job, your family, your health, your worries. That is why Jesus taught us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. Because the God who holds tomorrow in his hand is concerned about your needs for today. There's nothing too large for God's power, and there's nothing too small for God's attention. He will pay attention to your needs today, friend. On the flip side of this, He knows what you need before you even ask for it tomorrow. He knows what you need today. One common question we often ask one another is how is your day? And if someone had a good day, we typically answer in this way, you know, man, it's pretty good day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Everything was smooth, right? But in contrast to that, and somebody had a bad day, we typically speak about all the unexpected, unwanted interruptions and ⁓ disruptions to our day. But I want you to begin thinking like this as a Christian. What if we begin looking at those unwanted circumstances not as merely the enemy creating unwanted chaos in our daily lives, but rather as God orchestrating things in these unwanted circumstances as opportunities for us to pray for what we need in our daily lives? That contributes to us deepening our trust in our daily lives in Him. That is what petitionary prayer is meant to do. And the reality is, you would cease to pray if every need was always met without you praying. There are three things petitionary prayer does for us, and I'm gonna run through these quickly. First, it wages war against our illusion of control in our lives by teaching us day after day to ask, give us what we need in our lives. One author put it this way. Many have a subconscious internal monologue that goes something like this I wanna live a fruitful, meaningful life, but I just no I'm just not sure I can trust God. I can trust him as my answer to the big theological questions, but I'm not sure I can trust him with my dreams, my hopes, my plans. I can trust him ultimately, but I doubt I can trust him immediately. So I'm white knuckling my life with everything I've got, micromanaging my surroundings, my preoccupation, my next step. When we trust God with our worldview, but not our current experience in the world, we're failing, we're failing, falling victim to the lure of control. How many of us are exhausted? overwhelmed and chronically anxious because we're trying to satisfy good desires by the wrong means. Petitionary prayer, it wages war against our illusion of control in our lives by teaching us to ask every day of our life, give us what we need, Lord. We don't have control over this. Second, petitionary prayer, it builds our relationship with God through asking. So that's not foreign to us, right? We have we build human relationships and we learn about our good friends by asking them about things, right? We we we ask them questions about themselves, right? We we ask them about their opinion or why they believe certain things. That's what we do to build relationships with one another. But we also to grow a relationship with our friends, we ask them for favors. We ask you to do something for me, right? And do something for God wants us not just to ask things about him and learn more about him, but to ask things from him. No matter what those things are, this is the point I want to exercise here. Is no matter what those things are, they can be embarrassing or shameful. Just believe that you can ask those things anytime. For instance, you're having a headache that feels like it's gonna take you, it's gonna take you out today. Maybe because you didn't drink enough water. That's all right. Ask him for him to relieve your pain. It's all right. He wants that type of prayer. You got a bill that's due. But maybe, maybe you, you know, you you spent your money the wrong way. That's okay. Ask. Father, would you provide for me and give me wisdom to manage my money to provide? ⁓ Your marriage is struggling, and some of it may be your fault. Maybe because you've been too prideful to apologize. That's okay. Ask to the Lord, Father, would you soften my heart, heal what I've damaged, teach me how to love my spouse well. Jesus even tells his disciples, he tells them a story that illustrates his kind of irreverent sense of asking for things. Look at Luke chapter 11, verse 5 through 8. It says, Then Jesus said to them, Suppose you have a friend and you go out to him at midnight and you say, friend, Lend me three loaves of bread. So he's knocking on his friend's door. ⁓ a fri a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him. They're huge on hospitality in Jesus' time. And suppose one inside answer is Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you, listen what Jesus says. This irreverent ass. I tell you, even though he will not give get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity. He will surely get up and give you as much as you need. The point is simple. God is not embarrassed by your needs, so don't be embarrassed to ask. Bring him everything. Friends, bring him everything boldly, honestly, without shame. Because every request, this is what it does it draws you deeper into a relationship with the Father. Now, asking is not about treating God like a genie in a bottle who exists to grant our wishes. But it is about developing a habit of bringing everything to him because he cares about you deeply and he wants to know you more intimately. You know what this asking does. This is what it does. It makes us vulnerable. We feel it when we ask like this. Even in our own relationships, we don't like asking because it makes us vulnerable. Well, here's what I mean by this. God may surprise you and answer your request. He may disappoint you with your expectations. He may answer it differently than you hoped. But through it, what we do is we learn to trust his heart for us. We don't ask to control God, we ask because we want a real relationship with our Father. But also, petitionary prayer teaches us that the Father delights in giving us good gifts. In other words, prayer is not always about just meeting our needs. Sometimes he wants to give us what we want. He takes pleasure in doing so. Jesus says it about the Father here in Matthew 7, 9 through 11. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, we'll give him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, we'll give him a snake. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? One author describes this text this way He says, In illustration, this is an illustration from God's heart towards us in asking. Jesus offers the image of a father who likes to give his kids what they need and want. In a world of such obvious brokenness and need, God enjoys not only redeeming wrongs, but also giving us good gifts. I'm a father and I know what it is. To give my children what they need when they need it, but I also want to give them what they want. It feels good sometimes, man. If you're if you're a parent in here, sometimes just give them what they want. I love doing it. I remember one time my daughter was begging me, Daddy, you build a fort. Build a fort with me. I mean day after day after day. Well, after one long, hard day at work. ⁓ I'm almost like in despair at all the things that happen in job and work and on the city and all that type of stuff. ⁓ I'm I'm about to break down mentally. I walk into the door and there's my daughter Rosalind pulling up. Daddy, home and then Ella's right there and Langston's in tow as well. And she she remembered, Daddy, you wanna build a fort? Let's build a fort. Without a second thought. I thought to myself, Let's build this fort. Everything in the world behind me, this is what I want you to grab, was still wrong. All the problems were still there. I'll continue to work towards bringing healing where there was hurt in the midst of all the brokenness that I was experiencing my circumstances outside of my home. But I enjoyed in the midst of all that, giving my kids what they asked, building a fort for my children, delighting in giving them good gifts. I'd love to give them that. I want to give them what they want. Our Father in heaven, hear this. He's working to redeem or restore a broken world. It's real messed up. He's got a lot of problems on his mind and on his hands, more than I ever will or any of us ever will. But in the midst of all of that, he delights in giving his children good gifts, what they want. He wants to give them what he wants to give us what we ask. So two things we need to learn to practice petitionary prayer. I'll run through this quick, practically, so we can practice this this week. First, take time each day to ask for specific needs and wants. Here's the challenge I have for you. Ask for things that seem too small to ask God for. So a parking spot that you want to get. Right? I don't want to bother God with that. No, ask. Job application you submitted. Shift you need to change. ⁓ landlord still hasn't repaired something. ⁓ grocery money that that you gotta stretch till till till ⁓ till payday. The rent that ain't gonna be able to cover enough. Ask him for those things. Second, be vulnerable in your asking. When you ask for things, we, like I said, we're putting ourselves out there for God to let us down or disappoint us. So pray is specific enough that God has the opportunity to either disappoint you or surprise you. The end goal of prayer and petitionary prayer, we get scared to pray that because we we know that might come. So we hold back certain prayers, don't we? The end goal of prayer and petitionary prayer is to build our relationship with God. But how he gets us there is actually what I want to close with, is by empowering us through this kind of prayer. So finally, petitionary prayer empowers us to ask boldly as Moses asked boldly, as we saw at the beginning. The type of bold ask that it seems risky to be asking God in this way. I don't know how my mic is getting louder, but it is. Yeah. ⁓ so spare me but a moment as I as I rush to close here. Aristotle, the great ancient philosopher, he called God the unmove mover. I would dare say that most of us understand God as more grounded in the philosophy of Aristotle than in the theology of the Bible. Because the God Moses prayed to wasn't an unmoved mover, but he was a moved mover. He heard his prayers, he cared about his prayers, and the mystery that we hold in this teaching is he moved according to his prayers. So, yes. God says to Malachi in the Old Testament, I am the Lord God, I do not change. And yet at the same time, he says to Hosea, My heart is changed within me. All my compassion is around. It's a mystery to me. But you know what this mystery teaches me? Our God is a relational being you must grow to know. He's not a mathematical formula you can mat you can master and completely actually no, no. As one author said, God is more than a friend, he he God is more of a friend than he is a formula. And here's what the scripture teaches us about God as our friend. It's a mystery as to why our prayers move him, but he is moved by our prayers. So much so as Richard Foster said, one author, he said, we are not locked into a ⁓ preset determinist future. Ours is an open, not a closed universe. We are co-laborers with God, working with God to determine the outcome of events. That's huge. My friends, that is the power of prayer, and that is how he empowers us through prayer. By inviting us in the midst of our circumstances that seem impossible to change, to boldly pray to God that doesn't change, and yet he makes a change. To move where it seems like he will not move. Because it's not only Moses who teaches us to pray this way, it's Jesus our Lord that teaches us to pray this way. For it is not is is it not his prayer that calls the Father in heaven to relent from sending his wrath on you? As his son was being mocked and scorned because you wanted to go your own way instead of God's way? As his son was being beaten and betrayed because you wanted to fashion and form God in your own way instead of being fashioned and formed in God's way? As his son carried across the Golgotha because you were stiff-necked and didn't want to take on his yoke to follow, you wanted to form your own yoke to follow? As his son hung naked and mutilated because you didn't want to live a cruciform life, instead you chased the comfortable life? God the Father saw that what he had done, what y'all had done, what we had done to his son, and he should have wiped us out. But as Moses stood on the top of the mountain praying to God to relent from wiping the people out at the bottom of the mountain, Jesus hung from the top of the mountain of Calvary and he prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. So he wouldn't wipe us out at the bottom of the mountain. And if this God plans to save the world through petitionary prayer and intercessory prayers of the Son, and his son says to us, Pray the same way. Then, in some way, not with the same cosmic significance, my friends, we may be able to change things on earth as it is in heaven when we pray. I want to encourage you this week, pray. Pray the silly prayers, pray the big prayers, pray them all. And as you do that, the Lord is not only growing you in intimacy, he will grow you in power. Power to be a part of co-laboring with him in the world. to see change in the world. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we do not ⁓ deserve to hear from you. So we see inside of the story, Moses went to the mountain and sometimes he'd go out to the tent and he would hear from you. But Lord, in some way, it's a mystery to us. You desire to be near us and to speak to us. To have compassion on us, to be merciful towards us over and over again, every single day. Your mercies are new. We thank you for it, Lord. Lord, I pray that your people would hear from your word this evening an invitation to pray more, to pray everything to you, even the silly things that don't sound like you want to draw your attention to that. Lord, Lord, I pray, encourage your people, allow them to see as your word says you incline your ear to us. You are ready to hear from us. I just pray, Lord, as your people continue practicing in prayer. Casting their anxieties to you, learning how to be an intercessory people and a petitionary people inside of prayer. Lord, that you would just build them up. Build them up in strength and power and boldness. Lord, to walk into your throne as sons and daughters and boldly ask over and over and over again. I pray you would use your people also, Father, through their prayer life to begin to see your goodness. Your hand move as you answer their prayer and their joy to continue to increase as they see you answer their prayer. All this I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We turn now to a time of response. Amen. We do that in a couple different ways here at the city of Shalom. One moment.

Exodus 32 · chapter mention Exodus 32:6 Luke 11:5–8