The BluePrint - Abide in Prayer

The next five weeks what we're going to do is cover five different themes of disciples that actually fall underneath

What I think it means to live right so we start with rest

Move into this segment of live live is a lot broader than what some of us think it is and then we get

To work and so it might be a shock to some of you that there is more to living in Christ than church attendance

It's not just about showing up on a Sunday. There is so much more that God has for us in relationship with him and whether so the next

Five weeks we're going to talk about abiding in prayer about reading the scripture about listening to the spirit

But practicing our faith and about forgiving as we're forgiven and then the the last week we're going to talk about

Working with God. So today we are going to abide in prayer a few weeks ago when I started this

Series off I mentioned that the Bible isn't the first step in our discipleship plan

You know because I said like some people will just tell people to a church and read

Their Bibles and I actually want to slow down and explain a little bit more

Why the Bible isn't the first step and you might be like Greg

I thought we were talking about prayer, but I think that this is a precursor why we have to explain this

Because some people they're not comfortable with the idea that the Bible isn't the very first thing

That you should jump into in this plan

And so I want to explain a little bit more because I love the Bible

I've been reading the Bible my entire life and over the years

I have come to understand it differently more deeply with new kinds of beauty and compassion with more grace

Hope but the Bible doesn't come first in this plan. So why?

We have the option of having the Bible with us

100 versions of it at all times in all places

so

post

enlightenment

Okay, you know a little bit about history post enlightenment the position of prayer in the life of a believer

Has been replaced by the reading of Scripture

Post in line that we've become so focused on what I can know

What can I learn? I think therefore I

Think therefore I am

We go what can I have this now so I should read it all the time

But this has not always been the case because the Bible as we understand it isn't something that even existed until relatively

Recently, I don't mean the books of the Bible the books of the Bible were decided the order of them

Which ones were considered canonical and all that relatively early?

So that's not what I'm talking about the ability to have the whole Bible

Available to us at all times is a relatively new

Concept first Bible in English is only six hundred and thirty eight years old

You may be like, oh, that's that's really old. That's been forever. Well, my grandmother died at 97

Just five of her lifetimes

It's not that long ago

600 that the first Bible in English is only six hundred thirty eight years old and when it got translated into English

You couldn't get it

You couldn't get it because the printing press hadn't been invented yet

That didn't happen for another 71 years after that in

1455 and it's true that when the Gutenberg press was created the first book printed was

The Bible it was they printed between 150 and 180 copies depending on which source you read

And then it took them between three and five years

To print those copies depending on which source you read

This is fascinating. They were printing guys. You ready for how quick this was happening

Between two and a half and five copies of the Bible per month

But they were all in Latin

Anyone speak Latin?

It was the 1520s 500 years ago before a German or an English version of the New Testament

would be printed and

Another ten years after that before the full Bible would be printed in English right now

There are as many as six billion with a B copies of the Bible in the world

It's been translated into over

3,300 languages

There are

There are 100 million copies of the Bible printed every single year

When the printing press was created there was only 430 million people on the earth

Think about it

Right now you can go to a thrift shop to Goodwill Salvation Army and get a copy of the Bible for a quarter

But in the 1500s there was maybe thousands

At most hundreds of thousands of the copy of the Bible in English

German Latin Hebrew Greek they started expanding as they got further into the

1500s and back then because of supply and demand a copy of the Bible could cost as much as

Ready for this ten to twenty thousand dollars in today's money

When the Bible started being translated out of Greek and Hebrew and Latin and into English and German for the first time

Even if you could afford it you'd have to be able to read it

See because the literacy rate when this was happening just guesses

Literally across the board. What was the literacy rate in the 1500s guess?

10%

11.5%

10% 11%

Now now remember different time different era

Among women

The literacy rate was 1%

Because they would not teach women to write or read

So even if you could afford a Bible you had to be able to read it had to be in a language that you could read a

Lot of people were left out of the opportunity to read from the scriptures

Really most people the only place that you could hear the Bible was if it was read at a public service

And that's if you lived close enough to a church

And if that church read the passage in a common language you spoke because many churches up to that point

Read all of the passages in Latin whether you spoke Latin or not. I think you're starting to get get the point

In the absence of access to the scriptures

There's an easy answer to this question. What do you do?

In the absence of an access to the scriptures. What do you do?

Will you do what every believer of every generation has ever done?

You pray

Because prayer is timeless

Prayer is limitless

It's remarkable prayer is priceless yet accessible to everyone the rich and the poor

Every social class to the illiterate and the elitist alike

Prayer knows no borders or boundaries and draws no linguistic lines

Because God is fluent in every language we speak

In a couple weeks on

November 1st on All Saints Day

It will have been 22 years since my grandpa buddy died

And uh to to have known my grandpa buddy was to have known like kind of a

God-like event

He was not boring

Yeah

He had personality

And he wasn't in my understanding. He wasn't always a great person

He was not as far as I know a religious person

but

In his life he was a religious person

but

In his last months when his dementia had gotten really bad when he could barely speak a sentence

For years and years and years

He had smoked pipes and and cigars and when he got dementia when he started development

He forgot that and so he stopped but it damaged had already been done to his mouth

So when by the time he was put into a care facility, uh, he had always had these big mutton chops

And they they shaved his face and they pulled his teeth and they they buzzed his head

And so in a way he didn't look like himself

At all there was all of his personality all the external personality that my grandpa had had kind of been stripped away from him

as dementia

Just wreaked havoc, right

But we went to see him in this care facility and I was concerned about oh, does he about his knowledge of god?

I

Remember taking my guitar and sitting in his room and playing him a song. I don't remember which one

And then I asked him

I said grandpa, do you

Know god

Oh god, which is such a funny question for me to ask my grandpa if you knew my grandpa

Um

And he taught me something that i'll never forget

I said grandpa, do you know god?

And him being barely able to speak in full sentences. He says oh he says oh, yeah

I talk to god every day

He says we don't speak the same language, but I understand every word he says

As when you read the book of john

John uses this word abide 21 times across this 21

Chapters, but 11 of those are found within six verses

When jesus is teaching about what it will mean to stay connected to him

This word abide in the greek means to remain

To settle to take up lodging to rest to continue to stay

To abide so listen in this plan

prayer comes before reading the scriptures because none of us

Were born with the ability to read

And some of us will die having lost some of our faculties

And yet jesus will still understand

every word

And somehow

We'll know how to communicate with us in a way that we understand the language that he speaks

Prayer is something

that truly holds no boundaries

Truly holds no boundaries

Truly has no borders

Because we don't just learn how to pray guys

We settle

We dwell

We remain

We abide

In prayer

So no matter how much of the bible that you've read you will always be able to pray from cradle to grave

So let's keep that in mind as we move forward

As we move forward with the time that we have left

If you'd like to open your bibles, i'm going to read verses from four different places

from first thessalonians 5

from ephesians 6

Philippians 4 and john 15 you can pick one of those if you'd like

um if you're a true uh

Bible sword warrior you'll find all four right now

Some of you know what that means

Sword drills I grew up in a church where they called it sword drills where you'd hold up your bible and they'd say here's a verse

And then you had to find it as quick as you could and whoever won was the best christian

All right, so uh we have a tradition, uh, if if if you'd like to join us

Uh of standing as we read the scriptures as we are are able and so i'm gonna read from first thessalonians 5

Ephesians 6 philippians 4 and john 15 first thessalonians 5 16 and 17

Says this plainly and simply rejoice at all times

pray

without

ceasing

Ephesians 6 18

And praying the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind be alert

And always keep on praying for all the lord's people philippians 4 5 and 7

Let your gentleness be apparent to all the lord is near be anxious for nothing

But in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to god and the peace of god

Which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus and john 15 9

As the father has loved me so have I loved you now remain

In my love or abide in

In my love or abide in my love let us pray

Father we thank you for the scriptures that we have them that we can hold them

We thank you that even if we did not have this available in our hands that we could still pray to you

I pray that whatever you have

For us to learn today to remember today to be impressed upon us today that it would become a part of the framework of our faith

That our faith would become stronger that we would become more like your son jesus

Amen, thanks joe can I have a seat?

All right, so

so far

This morning we've already prayed in numerous ways in at least four different ways. Have you noticed?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, saint augustine said the one who sings

prays twice

So we've prayed already through each of the songs that we sing with different focuses with with different ideas with different

Hopes we have prayed through those songs. We prayed

Congregationally we do this every single week either through the prayer for rest or live or work. We we say that our father the lord's prayer

Monthly together, so we've prayed congregationally audibly and in unison

Together we've prayed interceding on behalf of our neighborhood

and then we've prayed for understanding

through

the scriptures

We've only been here for 45 minutes and we have prayed in at least

four different ways

But what do we do?

When we leave this building?

Right when when when you don't show up for a service that has structure and someone going

Okay, these are the exact things that we're going to do. What do you do when you're off on your own because prayer?

Is something that we're meant to be bathed in but prayer isn't a bathtub that you get in at a place

Does that make sense?

Like prayer is like an atmosphere that's meant to move with you

Jesus said abide in me

That jesus is not in one place dwell in me settle continue in

me

And so when we leave this place the opportunity to pray is meant to continue

Not meant to be confined to a prayer that we pray after the songs that we sing and pray

Hmm

So paul said that we can pray at all times on all occasions without ceasing

But I also know that that can sound intimidating

Like some of us think that we have no clue how to pray

Um, so at the time that we have left that I want to get real practical. Okay

Um, this is not something i'm i'm not like the practical guy sometimes in my sermons. I understand so i'm going to try to be

Practical, um because I could preach and I could break down words and cultures and contexts and I could exegete and offer

hermeneutical ideas, but I don't think that a sermon on what prayer is

Will actually do much for us as much as us practicing what prayer is

Because in addition to that I don't i'd be surprised if many of us actually have to be convinced that prayer is important

I think for most of it is it's it is just getting past the line of thinking about prayer

It is just getting past the line of thinking that we can do it

So today

Uh, we're going to be full on practical. So at the time we have left i'm going to teach you three

prayer practices that you can use

almost anywhere

And almost any time and I say almost because you'll see

All right. So here we go. Richard fostered

In his book on prayer said this

Today the heart of god is inviting you and me to come home

To come home to where we belong to come home to that for which we were created his arms are stretched out

wide to receive us

His heart is enlarged to take us in he invites us into the living room of his heart

Where we can put on old slippers and share freely he invites us into the kitchen of his friendship

That we're chatter and batter mix in good fun

He invites us into the dining room

Of his strength

So here we go. Our first practice is called hands up

hands down

So the first step of this

Is to sit in your chair in a way that will help you in particular pay attention

So for some of us that's going to be leaning back for some of us. It's going to be sitting forward on our chair

And we're all going to start getting settled into that now. So sit in a way

That you feel this is the way that I best

pay

Attention, let's take a moment

And just give everybody a chance

To move around

wiggle a little bit

Okay

The next thing

is to place

Your hands comfortably on your knees

with your palms

down

And ideally if you're comfortable, I would encourage you to go ahead and close your eyes

Because some of this includes

your imagination

So thinking back to what richard foster said and you don't always have to do this, but I think it would be helpful

To think about what you're going to do in your life

And I think that's what we're going to do today

So I'm going to ask you to imagine yourself in a living room of god's heart

Or imagine yourself sitting in the kitchen of his friendship

Or in the dining room of his strength

Let's take a moment just to let ourselves

Imagine ourselves

In the living room of friendship kitchen of friendship

Dining room of his strength

And now what we do is with your palms facing

down on your knees

We begin to imagine ourselves letting go

Of any and everything that god's heart is asking us to let go of

Understand that your hands are an extension of your hearts

We hold on to things with our hearts maybe more tightly than we do with our hands

But right now you are surrounded by the heart of god god's presence is all about you

Every time you pray god's presence is all about you

Just imagine the things that you're letting go maybe you're placing those things on the coffee table in the living room maybe

You're putting them on the kitchen table

Or in the sink or on the dining table

Whatever you need to let go

Let it be released from your heart down off of your hands

Maybe some of us feel like we have sticky hands

Maybe some of us feel like we have sticky hands maybe some of us feel like we have velcro

Imagine the stickiness being washed off

Imagine the velcro losing its effectiveness like it always does

Remember you are in the living room of god's heart you're in the kitchen of his friendship you're in the dining room of his strength what you let go of is not lost

The fear that we have of losing things

They are not lost

They are not lost

They are not lost

The fear that we have of losing things they are not lost

But they are finally being found in god's heart and god will know exactly what to do with the things that you are letting go of

Now when you're ready

Turn your palms up

And in your mind and your heart tell jesus my hands are empty

My hands are open to what you have for me

My hands are empty

My heart is open to what you have for me

And just see what god asks for you

This is a conversation

A conversation of openness

Settle in

Just rest

Receive

Abide

Open your eyes and let go

Okay, so i'll take a deep breath exhale and open our eyes that's one

For some of us that's worth the price of admission

You're gonna go home and be like oh my gosh. I can't believe i've never done that before

But you can do this anywhere

You can be driving in your car and you can have one hand on your knee

You can be at work hands open typing on a keyboard thinking about what you're letting go of

All right

That was hands up or hands down hands up or palms down palms up now. We're going to do a breathing prayer

Uh

This has words involved. Um, so whereas the first one is just thinking and being present

Through prayer to what god wants you to love this one actually involves words

We don't say them out loud because we're breathing at the same time becomes difficult to say words while you're breathing in

But they are phrases that that we will think with our mind

When we breathe in we think a short sentence and as we breathe out what we do is we think

and pray a response

to that

sentence we breathe in

breathe out

and um

As some of you may have noticed

We're always praying or we're always breathing so we can always be praying

Okay

So with this kind of prayer what we want to do is we want to keep it simple

We want that first sentence to be shorter than the second

Uh, what's recommended historically this this kind of prayer goes back centuries and centuries

But what's recommended and i'm not completely sure why some people think that has to do with um your heart rate

Some people have to do with just what um how long our breath in is compared to out

But we're aiming for about five syllables in and eight syllables out

And so something like this could pray on the way in saying you are my true friend

You are my true friend

And on the way out I will trust in you fully

In you are my true friend

I will trust in you fully

So let's um, let's do that that one together a few times and then i'm going to encourage you to write your own

And then we'll practice that okay

So i'll say you are my true friend and as i'm saying that you breathe in

And think that sentence

Hold it and then i'll say and I will trust in you fully and we'll breathe out together. Okay ready

You are my true friend

And I will trust in you fully

You are my true friend

And I will trust in you fully

You are my true friend

And I will trust in you fully

And that passage in john where jesus is teaching them about abiding

He tells them I no longer call you servants, but I call you friends

Now let's take a moment on your own wherever you are and think of your own prayer they don't have to be five and eight

You could say

You could say I can feel afraid but I will trust in you jesus

Say

You feel far away

That you are closer than I know

You could say I didn't sleep well last night

I will receive rest from your heart today

In a way let the second sentence be a response or fulfillment of the first sentence

Okay

Say take some time you think of your own and you breathe in and out on your own pace

This will just take a couple minutes here to practice this

So

So

Mine was on the way in saying I fall in old habits on the way out saying you make me a new creation

Anyone have a prayer the in and out that you'd like to share be helpful to someone else

So you are my comfort I will rest in you

You are my comfort

I will rest

in you

We have two practices now two practices that we can do pretty much anywhere almost anytime

Hands down hands up palms down palms up and a breathing prayer, okay

This last exercise

Dates back to the four or five hundreds and ironically in latin it means sacred readings

But I promise it's not just reading scripture. It is a prayer exercise that's connected back to scripture

Which I think is a good bridge as we

Leave the idea of abiding prayer next week. We begin to talk about reading scripture. It's called

lectio divina

This practice includes

Praying and scripture at the same time and I want to explain how it's going to work

What's going to happen is i'm going to read a passage of scripture if you were to do this at home

You could print out or write out something a passage and then you would read through it once and then there's four times. There's four

phases of lectio

Divina, okay first time that I read it we just listen

Just listen to the scripture being

Read but even more listen for what god might be

Saying in your heart. It doesn't have to be a word from the scripture

It doesn't have to be a phrase it can be god might just want to say something to you in your heart

Maybe feels unrelated but

Listen to the scripture

And let god just be present

In your heart the second time

I read it listen for a word or a phrase from the scripture

That stick that sticks out specifically

Especially if it connects to what god was saying in your heart the first time

Yeah

And then what you do is we'll give time for you to just pray that word or that phrase

back to god

Repeat it to yourself as you pray that phrase

Begin to think what is god bringing to your heart and mind because of that phrase because of that word

How is god speaking as you pray the third time through?

Reading the passage expand on what god has been showing you and begin a conversation

back and forth

What do you want to say to god?

Because of what has been sticking out. What do you feel like god is saying in response and the last time

I read the passage

Just settle

Abide in prayer

Abide in prayer

Let whatever the lord has been having a conversation with you about

Be refined down

Into quiet rest

Into a peaceful mind

Okay

So this is lectio divina the first time just listen

See what god says

In your heart

Matthew 6

Starting in verse 9 says this

This then is how you should pray

Our father in heaven

Hallow would be your name

Your kingdom come your will be done on earth

as it is

in heaven

Give us today our daily bread

Forgive us our debts as we

Also have forgiven our debtors

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us

From the evil one

So just be aware of what god might be saying in your heart as a result of that passage

Now as I read the same passage again what word or phrase sticks out

That you want to stop and rest with repeat that word or phrase to yourself

As you pray

This then is how you should pray

Our father in heaven

Hallow would be your name

Our father in heaven

Hallow would be your name

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

Give us today our daily bread

And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us

From the evil one

Meditate on what stuck out

Repeat it, pray it

What do you feel like god is bringing to your heart to your mind because of that phrase because of that part of scripture

As I read it a third time expand on what god has been showing you

And go deeper into a conversation with god

About what is sticking out

This then is how you should pray

Our father in heaven

Hallow would be your name

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

Give us today our daily bread

And forgive us our debts

As we also forgive our debtors

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us

From the evil one

Continue your conversation with god

This last time I read the passage again just settle in abide rest quietly calm your mind and heart sit prayerful peace

This then is how you should pray

Our father in heaven

Hallow would be your name

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

Give us today our daily bread

Forgive us our debtors

That's as we also have forgiven our debtors

Lead us not into temptation

Deliver us from the evil one

Say with me amen amen

So three practices

Turn our hands down let go

Turn our palms up and recite

We can breathe in breathe out response

And then we can take scripture

And we can pray through that scripture

And what sticks out god is speaking to us

How we can have a conversation with god

Because of that passage and then let it

Bring us to a place

Peace and rest

So what do we do with this

We have to pray

We have to take these ideas

And we remind ourselves

I know how to pray

Prayer is not something that only happens in one place

But his presence goes with us wherever we go

Conversation is always available

Because we do not abide in prayer or in god in a building

We abide in his presence at all times

Amen amen let's pray

Father I thank you for these practices

I pray that we would be brave

We'll be brave about how we practice our prayer

The way that we dive in

The way that we sink into the couch of prayer with you

The way that we belly up to the bar

So we can take conversation with you in

The way we stand side by side and wash the dishes with you

The way that we partake of a meal

The way that you did on the night that you were betrayed

Remind us that you are always present to us

That we can remain, we can settle, we can stay, we can lodge, we can rest

We can abide in prayer with you

In the name of Jesus we pray

Amen