Culture Of Pursuit | Psalm 34:4-7 | Coleton Segars

Over the last few weeks, we've been looking at the vision of our church and the cultures we're seeking to develop in the life of our church.

There's a man named John Barr who did a study with undergraduate students at college in 1996.

It was called Barr's Priming Study.

And it was to see how language and the culture that you surround yourself in, and really just the culture that you place your mind in, how it shapes us and that environment shapes us.

And so the way it worked was students were given a test in this classroom.

Same classroom, same group of students, same test asking the same questions, except one of the tests had language that dealt with speed.

And so words like fast and quickly, and as quickly as you can answer the true or false question, as quickly as you can do this.

And so one of the on this side, all of theirs had to deal with speed.

You know, same question, just as quickly as you can.

Other side was given a test, same test, same questions, just different wording.

Take your time answering this next question.

Take as much time as you need to do the true or false questions, all these different things.

And so they did that and they spent about an hour in this particular space taking this test.

And they wanted to see that if placing even the minds of people in a silent space where all they're doing is reading words and saturating their minds with a culture of words dealing with speed and dealing with slowness, they wanted to see if it affected them in any way.

And so as soon as they finished the test, they like secretly stopwatched them as they finished the test and got up, walked to the front to drop the test off, and then left the room.

And then they just stopwatched them to see if it sped them up or it slowed them down, respectively.

And what they found was it affected them completely.

And so the ones that finished the test on speed got up as fast as they could, like they were hyped on caffeine and were like and set it down and they ran out there and they tested it.

It was like it was very, very fast compared to those who didn't just walk at normal speed, they actually started walking a lot slower.

And they got up, finished their test, passed it off, and timed it.

And again, the point was, and the study showed that without even knowing it, these students didn't even see that it was happening.

But the the language and the environment that they placed, they had their mind in taking the steps, the environment of the mind was in, just shaped everything about their experience.

So the reason I say that is because we're looking at why we want to develop a culture of different things in the life of our church.

And the reason was because it produces something in us.

So to just say that, like, oh, we're a church in the south in Tennessee and Memphis and that kind of thing, that's one thing.

But actually, develop cultures in the life of our church, it does something in us without us even knowing.

And so, whatever culture and environment we place yourself in was shaped by that and become something.

And so for us, we want a culture saturated with the gospel because culture saturated with the gospel.

Next slide here.

Culture saturated with the gospel produces followers of Jesus who have confidence in the height, link, depth, width of God's love for them.

So that they choose to be with Jesus not out of fear of punishment, but because they know He will transform their lives and lead them in the fullness of life.

So if you have a culture that's saturated with that, that's what it produces.

We want a culture of celebration because a culture of celebration produces joyful followers of Jesus who know with confidence that God is the most joyful being in the universe.

And so they live out their faith in a compelling way that other people see and want to be a part of.

So these cultures matter because they actually shape something that matters.

And so today, we want to look at a culture of pursuit, developing and building at Christ's church, culture of pursuit that shapes us as followers of Jesus who seek God the way the scriptures tell us to.

And so, what I want to do today, just with our time, is really just look at one reason why we want that, why I believe that we should develop and build into a culture of pursuit, and then how we're gonna do those things.

So the it's only one point, so you're welcome.

It's just one point.

But don't get too excited.

It's a rather long one point.

But one reason why, and then two ways how we're we're seeking to develop this.

So the first and only point is we want a culture of pursuit at our church to take root in our church because the promise from the scriptures, the promise from the scriptures is that those who pursue God experience more of God's power, presence, and blessing in their lives.

The promise from the scriptures is that if we want to experience more of God's power, more of God's presence, more of God's answered prayers, the the promise of the scriptures is that that comes by seeking Him in no other way.

And so I want to be clear on this specifically.

According to the Scriptures, our salvation, we are saved from our sins, we are justified before God, not by our actions, not by seeking.

We're not saved by that.

That's by grace through faith.

We're saved by Jesus' actions and Jesus seeking of us, not ours, okay?

So as far as salvation goes, it's his actions that matter, not ours, because we are saved by grace through faith.

And those exact same scriptures that testify to that would say that if you want to experience more of God's power, presence, and blessing in your lives, those exact same scriptures say you have to seek him in order to experience those things.

And so the scriptures testify it is by grace you were saved, your salvation is secure, and that's done by Jesus.

But if you want to experience more of what's available to you in a relationship with me, you've got to seek.

It's available to all, but it comes through seeking.

And not everybody experiences that because some people just receive the salvation and they're like, I'm all set.

That's like, man, that's that's that's one thing.

If you seek him, you define.

So the scriptures testify that according to them that if you want to experience more with him, it's available.

It's just available in the sea.

And so you I think you see this in this passage here.

If you look at the passage, it says, David says, I sought the Lord and he answered me, he delivered me from all of my fears.

Then it's those who look to him are radiant.

This guy says who never covered him from this poor man called out, sought him, and called out.

He heard my cry and delivered me from all of my troubles.

And the idea is, and the implication is if he hadn't done those things, if he hadn't sought the Lord, if he didn't look to him, if he didn't cry out, his experience would have been completely different.

If it was, I didn't seek the Lord, so he didn't answer me, and he didn't deliver me from all my fears.

Those who don't look to him are not radiant.

Their faces are still covered in shame.

This poor man didn't cry out, and therefore the Lord didn't hear me because there was nothing to hear, and he didn't deliver me from all of my troubles.

The implication is your experience and David's experience would have shifted and would have been different based on his seeking of him.

It doesn't mean that God didn't love him.

Loved him less because he didn't say it's not that.

It's like he's just not gonna move into a space that he's not invited into.

You actually see this take place in David's predecessor in Saul.

Two kings of Israel, the first two, and then two very different experiences.

King Saul's life when he was king was filled with the absence of God's power and blessing presentation.

He just didn't seek God.

He sought other things and he looked for power in other spaces.

But David's life is filled with God's power, presence, and blessing because he's just seeking him.

He's going after him.

I'm seeking the Lord, those who look to him, those who cry out to him, experience it.

Saul's life was not filled with those things, even though the opportunity was there.

And it's like God was holding those things in front of him.

He's like, you know, but if you just pursue me, you'll find these things, and he just didn't do it.

And David had the exact same opportunities and he pursued those things and he found those things to be true.

Because those who pursue God experience more of those present power and blessings in their lives.

Not because he loves them more, but because they're actually seeking it in their finding.

You actually see this promise, it's true all over the scriptures.

It's available in every I'm not only going to give you a handful, but it's available all throughout the scriptures.

In the book of Judges, it's it's the perfect vision of this truth.

We just went through this as a men's group, but you see the people of Israel in the book of Judges in the Old Testament.

Every time they begin seeking something other than the Lord, they start aiming somewhere else, all of a sudden, what they stop experiencing is power, presence, and blessing of God in their lives, and they experience destruction and invasion from armies and things like that because God's power, presence, and blessing isn't what they're seeking.

But then all of a sudden, as soon as they realize, like, oh my goodness, God's power, presence, and blessing isn't on us anymore.

When they turn back to him, God is like kind of just like as soon as they wink the eye, like, hey, we're coming back, he's like, okay, great, I'll move in.

And he raises up a deliverer and he saves the people.

And it's consistent, it happens every single time.

They turn away from him and stop seeking him and they be they stop experiencing what's available.

They turn back to him.

God responds and they start experiencing what's available to them.

God promises this to the people of Israel when they go into exile.

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

Go to the next slide.

You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart.

You will seek me and you will find me.

Even in exile, even in a space where I'm not even in, like in their time, in their moment, they thought, God really only exists in certain nations.

He's like, No, no, no, even here in exile, when you seek me, you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart.

And 2 Chronicles 6, one of the verses that's on mugs and on you know, pieces of plywood in our houses and stuff like that.

2 Chronicles 6, Solomon is praying at the temple of dedication.

He's like, Lord, will you hear our prayers?

Will you hear our prayers in this space?

And the Lord says, Yes.

The answer is yes, I will hear your prayers when you pray to me.

But then in the verse that everybody knows, he gives the caveat.

Yes, I will, he says, yes, if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, if they will seek my face, then absolutely yes, but it comes with this other thing.

It's the if, if they will do those things, if they will turn from their wicked ways, then, if then, then I will hear from heaven, will forget their sin and heal their land.

My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer, but if they don't pray, I'm not gonna step into this thing they're not asking for.

And so the answer is yes.

The Lord says in Psalm 81, this wonderful, very short verse, it says, Open wide your mouth and I will fill them.

Don't come to me and just like, I just need a little bit.

Like, just come with desire and hunger, come with more that you want from me.

Open wide your mouth.

Alexander McLaren, in his commentary on this particular passage, says this.

He says, This this great saying, this great saying teaches that God's bestowals of blessings and all those things, they are practically measured by our capacity and our desire.

The ultimate limit in each individual is our own receptivity, and the determining factor of our receptivity is our expectancy and desire.

And so he's saying, like, the Lord, the Lord wants to give to you, but he will give you as much as you're able to receive.

And as much as you're able to receive is determined by whether you want it or not.

You actually hunger for those things, your expectancy that it's available by faith, that you actually believe the promise.

And then, secondly, that you actually desire it in any capacity whatsoever.

Jesus carries this exact same thing into the New Testament.

It's not just an Old Testament promise.

He says this in Matthew 6, he says, seek first, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the things that you need will be added to you.

And again, the idea is seek if you don't seek.

All those things that you need won't be added to you.

But if you seek me, you will find what you're looking for.

If you don't seek me, you'll go looking for the things that you need in other spaces, and you won't find them because you can't find them.

They're found in me.

So seek me and all the things that you need will be added to you.

He says this in Matthew 7, ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find it.

It's hard to be more clear than what he's actively doing in this particular text.

Knock and the door will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives.

The one who seeks finds.

The one who knocks, the door will be open.

And again, the implication is if we don't, if you do not ask, you will not receive.

If you do not knock, the door will not be open.

If you do not seek, you will not find.

And so he's placing it in there, not you will only get saved if you ask, seek, or not.

Not that.

Salvation is a gift and it's something he did, not our.

It's his seeking of us, not our seeking of him.

But there's something more available to followers of Jesus if you seek him.

Luke tells us in Luke 18 that Jesus, he says, Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

And then he gives this long parable of the persistent widow, which you know the story, the woman just won't shut up.

She keeps knocking on the door and saying the thing, like, give me this, give me this, give me, give me the go.

And then finally the judge is like, fine, whatever, lady, you're crazy.

Just take it.

It's fine, whatever.

And Jesus tells that parable, but Luke points out the reason Jesus tells that parable is so that the disciples would pray and never give up.

The idea is you should seek me and never give up because your experience will be different.

If you seek me and then do give up, you will experience something from me very different than those who seek me and don't give up.

And he tells the parable to try and communicate to us, you will experience something more from me if you don't give up seeking me.

You'll experience something more that's available to you than those that go, like, I sought and honestly I've retired and I've just stopped.

He's saying there's more available to us to those who actually seek him.

This is carried on to the epistles.

The writer of Hebrews promises anyone who comes to God, if you're coming to him, you've got to believe that he exists, which makes sense.

If you're coming to God, you've got to believe he exists.

But then this wonderful promise that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

When you come to him, the writer of the Hebrews is saying that when you come to him, you must remember and believe.

He rewards those who earnestly seek him.

If there's a reward available, and it's not salvation, because that's a reward that Jesus, it's not a reward, it's a gift that Jesus gives us.

There's a reward available to those who earnestly seek versus something that's not available to those who don't earnestly seek.

James says, you have not because you asked not.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Again, the idea is like when you draw near to him, something different happens in your experience.

When you draw near to him, he draw near draws near to you.

Your experience changes with him based on the seeking.

On and on, I could keep going on, but on and on and on.

The scriptures testify that those who seek the Lord, who seek him, experience something different with his power, presence, and blessing.

It's just true in their lives.

And my point, my point isn't that if you seek him, he will love you more.

That's not that's not biblical, and so that's not my point.

My point also isn't if you if you seek him, you'll get everything you ask for.

Again, that's not biblical.

That's literally, we've been praying for Chris's mom for years, and clearly we didn't get what we asked for in that.

So that can't be the truth.

Well, just seek him and you'll get every prayer you ever wanted.

No, it's not biblical.

We still walk in suffering and we still walk in some of those things.

But inasmuch as I'm not saying those things, that he will he'll love you more if you seek him, not saying that you'll get whatever you want every time you ask.

If you seek him harder, he'll just give it to you.

No, I'm not saying that either.

But it's still true that there is more available to us if we seek him than if we choose not to.

And the testimony of the scriptures is if you want to experience more of God's power, presence, and blessing breaking into your life.

It's available to all of us, but it's available in the seeking.

And those who choose not to seek choose not to find because they choose to actually not walk into that promise that's actually given to us.

And it's not like the seeking generates the blessing.

It's just that it's over there.

Go get it.

How do I get it?

By seeking him.

He told us and he promised.

He's like, you showing up when Teddy comes to dinner, him coming to dinner and being obedient doesn't like we have food on the table now.

You showed up and food just magically appeared.

It's like, no, I invited you to dinner because the to come and eat because the food is here.

And if you choose to not extend to respond to the invitation, then you won't eat the food because it's sitting here.

It's not over there.

And I think so much of that, he's like, there's so much available to us if we seek him versus those that go, like, I'm I I don't I don't think that this is actually true.

I'm not going to step into that.

And I think if we want to experience more, it's available to us if we want it.

A.W.

Tozer says this wonderful quote in his book, The Pursuit of God, he says, based on all of this, he says, I want to deliberately encourage this mighty longing after God.

The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate in the church.

The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire.

Complacency is a deadly foe for all spiritual growth.

Acute desire must be present, but there will be no manifestation of Christ to his people.

And in this line, he waits to be wanted.

He waits to be wanted.

Tozer looks at all the scriptures that we just looked at of God's desire to bless us.

He looks at all those things, and his conclusion is hey, it's available, but he waits to be wanted.

His whole idea is like there's more power and presence and blessing is available if you want it.

If you want it, it's available.

And if you don't want it, you don't have to experience it.

But if you want it, it's available to you if you do.

He goes on in this book and he says, and I think this actually defines a lot of what's happening in the church.

He says, Why do some people find God in a way that others do not?

Why does God manifest his presence to some and let multitudes of others struggle along in the half-light of imperfect Christian experience?

Certainly, the will of God is the same for all, he has no favorites.

All he has ever done for any of his children, won't he do that for all of his children?

And then he says this, he says, the different lies not with God, but with us.

And his point is it's all available to every single person.

So if you're looking around and your experience is like, that's not been my experience, it's like, man, the issue lies not with God, but with but with the person, with us.

It's in the seeking.

He waits, he waits to be wanted.

This is why the writer of the Hebrews says, Let us then approach God's throne of grace.

Let us approach, you must approach.

Let us approach God's throne of grace.

We receive help and mercy and grace in our time of need.

And it's the idea is he's like, guys, let's go.

Let's move into this.

Jesus has kicked the door down.

Like he has made this way that now we can move into this space and draw near to.

In the Old Testament, God was always saying to people, like, hey, don't get too close.

Don't get too close.

Don't get too close.

In the New Testament, now it's like, get as close as you want.

You can come before the throne room.

Like you can come into this space.

And so he's like, so so let us approach.

But you have to approach if you want to experience these things.

He's like, Jesus has done this miraculous, beautiful thing.

And every time we approach based on his sacrifice, it glorifies the sun.

And that is why God waits to be wanted.

Because he wants to elevate the sun.

And so he's not going to step into your world and do a bunch of stuff when you're not asking.

Because every time you do it based on what Jesus has done, it elevates what the Son has done.

And that's all the Father wants to do.

He wants to give him the name above every name.

Lord of Lords, King of Kings, and all that.

So every time we enter based on what Jesus has done on the cross, it elevates what he's done.

And so he's like, I will wait until you come based on what my son has created and made available to you.

I will wait.

And so I think for us, the promise is hey, it's available if you want it.

But he's going to wait to be wanted.

And so let's approach.

And that's what no matter reasonably like, hey, based on what Jesus has done, let's approach.

So as a church, I believe this so strongly, and my experience has been shaped by this so strongly.

Came into a faith in a fundamentalist Baptist style church.

Okay.

And told basically, just don't sin anymore and make sure you read your Bible and we're going to struggle in prayer.

Okay.

That was like, that's the vision.

I was like, that's a very low vision.

And yet there's this space when as as I begin reading the scriptures and finding myself around other people that are experiencing something different than me.

I'm like, what is the difference?

What's the why?

Why is your experience much different than mine?

And many of them are just like, because I want it.

I'm going after it.

I believe the promises in the scriptures, and I'm going to take those things and utilize them in my life, and I'm going to experience something very different than the modern cultural Christian will experience.

And my life would be filled with the fullness of God.

And I'm like, man, I want that too.

And so to me, this is the secret sauce of every church.

This is the game changer, whatever words you want to do.

Most Christians do not pursue him.

They receive salvation from him.

And then they're like, I'll see you when I die.

And there's a space in there where it's like, man, what a beautiful gift that Jesus still saves those who really don't want anything to do with him.

Grace beyond compares.

That's who he is.

He loves us and is like, I'll take even the ones that don't really care.

But to the church that pursues him holistically, like as a group, and not just one person seeking the Lord, the church that pursues him, they will experience something different from him.

More power, more presence, more blessing.

It's available if you want it.

It just takes the belief to believe that it's actually there.

And I think we live in a culture.

I'm going to skip to the end and then come back.

We live in a culture where many people and many churches do not, many Christians do not regularly experience the power and presence of God in their time.

And so we've lived in that for so long that it's become normal to us.

And so we think that, like, well, the the the rule is I don't really, I just, I just don't experience a lot of God's, I'm the rule.

I don't experience a lot of God's power or presence in my life.

And we see the exception as being every now and then God speaks to me, every now and then God answers a prayer, every now and then God breaks in and does something.

We have switched them.

Because if you look back through church history, if you read the scriptures, you will notice that we are not the rule.

We are the exception.

We're the anomaly.

A church not experiencing Christians, not experiencing the power, presence, and blessing of God in their time, answered prayer, God speaking to them, a people not experiencing that, we're the anomaly.

We're the outlier.

We're the ones that the heroes of the faith would come to us and be like, you know, there's more, right?

Like you guys know that there's more available than than just living this Christian.

Well, I don't even know what you guys are doing.

This is nothing like what we had.

There's so much more available to you.

And I think so often, like.

We have lived so long not experiencing those things that that became the normal thing.

And it's like that was never normal.

We are actually abnormal.

We're the anomaly.

We're the one, we're the exception in church history.

We're the Christians and the churches in our time that are experiencing something far different than what the scriptures promise and what church history historically has told us.

Because they have this.

We're the ones that are actually not experiencing the real thing.

And so for us to have this space where it's like, man, I want us to get back to this.

I want us to move back into this.

And it's not like just this church.

I want the church all over the place to go like, if you seek him, you will find him.

If you want more, it's available to you.

But it comes in the seeking.

Salvation is a gift.

It feels like what happened was salvation is a gift and you can't work for it.

So we stopped doing anything.

And it was like, I'll just, I'm, I want salvation.

I can't work for it.

So thank you, Jesus, for the work you did.

I'm going to sit here and do nothing until I die.

And it's like, what a it's and then no one wants to be Christian.

It's like, why would you?

Like, I don't, that's there's nothing there.

And we were meant to be defined by his presence.

We were meant to be defined by his power.

We are meant to live with something beyond ourselves.

And I think for us, the reason why I want a culture of pursuit here is because the biblical promises are still true.

And if you want to experience more of what's available for you, want to experience more of his power, presence, blessing, more of those things.

I promise you, based on the scriptures, those things are directly correlated to how often and how much you pursue him.

Your salvation is a gift and you can't earn it, and how much you try and earn it doesn't make you earn it anymore.

But experiencing him and what's available is directly connected to how often we pursue him.

So how we doing?

You okay?

Am I good?

I'm not yelling at you.

I'm just getting passionate.

Okay?

Just so you know.

Two ways that we're gonna pursue this.

To seek to build a culture pursuit.

One, I want to teach you ways to pray so that you'll learn to love prayer.

I want to teach you ways to pray, teach you how to pray so that you love this thing.

For many people, prayer is this thing that they're like, uh, it's so hard, I don't enjoy it.

You know what you never see in the New Testament?

That idea.

None of the early Christians hate this.

Like, none of there's not a passage in the Bible that's like, look, man, I know it's hard, but just figure it out.

Good Lord, it's so difficult.

No one says that.

Paul's saying, do it unceasingly.

This thing that you're always on in Acts, they're like, what are they doing most of the time?

They're on their way to prayer, or they're leaving prayer, or they're in the middle of prayer.

Like, it's like they love this thing, but now in the church, somehow we've gotten to this space where it's like, ugh, I still want to grind through this prayer time.

It's like it was never that way.

And so, for us, I want to teach you ways to pray so that you'll learn to love this gift that Jesus has made available to us.

Charles Spurgeon.

So he's a Baptist too.

And so even Baptists believe this stuff, y'all.

I'm glad y'all laughed because I meant it as a joke.

All right.

Look, prayers of puny, which he called us puny, but that's okay.

Prayers of puny, but believing people have power to move the almighty arm of God.

And he says something along the lines of this all the time.

He's like, You have a great work ahead of you, Christian, because you have to move the arm that moves the world.

And it's not that God is indifferent towards us or apathetic towards us, he just waits to be wanted.

And so in prayer, we can move the arm that moves the world.

So if you want to experience more of his power, presence, blessing in your life, prayer moves the arm of God.

One of my favorite stories about the power to change things by seeking God in prayer is about a missionary named James Fraser.

And I quoted this back in, I mean, it was years ago at the other church I was at back in COVID.

But this is what Philip Moore writes.

It's a rather long quote, but it's a wonderful story.

He writes this, he says, The great missionary James Fraser began to preach the gospel to the pagan Chinese villagers in Lisu land in the first half of the 20th century.

However, Lisu land lies in the foothills of the Himalayas, so Fraser very often found himself unable to reach his converts in the most mountainous areas because winter snowfalls made it too dangerous for him to gather them together in the church services.

At first, he was frustrated and even angry with God, who could easily have held back the snowfall to enable his church services to go ahead.

But as he prayed, Fraser became convicted that it was a challenge of the Lord's own making.

The Lord wanted him to conduct an experiment on behalf of the body of Christ.

It says Fraser worked out that it would take him three to five days to conduct church services in the highland villages of Lisi Land.

One or two days of travel up into the mountains, a day of gathering together, and then one or two days traveling back down.

He therefore decided to find out what would happen if I decided to spend the time that I would have spent gathering with these Lisi people, praying for them instead.

What would happen if I just prayed for them instead?

So Fraser gave himself to his experiment completely and he prayed for three to five days for each of the Highland villages instead of visiting them.

Then, once the spring sun melted the snow, he climbed the mountains to discover what had happened.

And Fraser discovered that his converts in the highland villages had prospered during the winter months in which he had found himself unable to gather them together.

In fact, as he met with them to hear about their winter Bible reading and their isolated prayer times, he came to the remarkable conclusion that his converts in the highlands of Lisu Land had grown far more during the winter than his converts he had been able to gather with all winter long.

Thereafter he was determined to never fret when he could not gather people, but always to seize it as a God-given invitation to pray for people instead.

And he says this in this next slide here.

I love that.

Moore continues in his article on this, and he says, Fraser never knew the results of his prayer experiment.

But many missiologists trace back the enormous revival that swept through China in the past 50 years to the revival that began amongst the Highlanders of Lisu land during the winters when Fraser stayed at home and prayed.

I love that.

I think there's so much truth to that.

I think if we add more prayer, we will see more things.

Alfredo asked me when, like, why do you pray so much?

I was like, because I see more stuff happen when I do.

Like, I just want to, when you start seeing those things happen, you just want to, like, well, I might as well continue doing this because this is stuff that I can't do in my own strength.

It makes prayer more fun.

This is why Paul says, pray unceasingly, devote yourselves to prayer.

Devote yourselves to prayer.

Pray continually without stopping.

And it's not like, oh, because I said so and you need to, and God's mad if you don't, it's like because there's so much more available to you.

It's such a gift for us to walk into this space.

Again, it doesn't mean Paul who said, pray unceasingly.

Paul who said, devote yourself to prayer.

He's not saying, and then you'll get everything you ever wanted.

Paul himself prayed and did not receive the thing that he prayed for.

But still, even in the midst of it, he was like, But I still believe that there is more available to you if you seek him versus if you don't.

So more available is more is available to you.

It's just seeking.

So I want us to learn to pray in ways that lead us to loving prayer, delighting in it.

Because we we spend time in the things that we delight to do and love to do those things.

So I want us to love it the way that they love them.

So ways that we're pursuing this.

One next slide here.

Ways that we're gonna do this prayer room.

Rainey talks about this, but it really is a sweet time.

I want to teach you how to pray the scriptures.

You don't know how to pray the scriptures.

It is one of the best ways to pray.

We should pray from the riches of God's word, not the poverty of our own hearts.

This is always we're also always, I'm looking for establishing more times of prayer all the time.

We just started today.

Actually, it was wonderful.

Pre-service prayer at 9 30, right through that.

What is that?

A wall?

That wall right there.

I was like, hall, wall, door.

That wall right there in the in the little classroom or the little office.

I don't even know if we're supposed to be in there, but we're in there praying.

So join us.

Please come 9 30 to 10, 30 minutes.

We have a little sheet that teaches you how to pray the scriptures.

It's wonderful.

You can pray with us, or you can just sit there in silence and then just enjoy the space.

I want to host a prayer conference.

We don't have a church building that we can host this in, but I'm talking with two other churches.

I've led a prayer conference before at one of the churches.

I want to do it for all of us so that we can actually spend time together learning different avenues of praying.

But y'all, I want y'all to hear my vision on this.

I I want a permanent space one day, but we have a 24-hour prayer room always.

Like I just want to carve out a space in the permanent space that we have, the building we inevitably have by faith, Lord, the building that we have at some point.

I want to have a prayer chapel prayer room that we just 24-7 prayers happening in that space.

That is my vision, citizen.

I promised Jesus.

I said, if you will ever give me spiritual influence over a congregation, because I just thought it was never going to happen.

If you will ever give me spiritual influence, I will do the thing that you wanted, make your house a house of prayer.

I promise.

I will seek to build a house of prayer.

And so he did that thing.

He gave me spiritual influence over a congregation.

We're going to build a house of prayer.

We're going to have this space and we're seeking him in prayer.

I don't just want one hour a day.

I want all the hours of the day that we're praying that people get to experience that thing and get to draw near to him.

Because if you seek him, you will find him and he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

So I want us to love pursuing God in prayer.

That's the second thing.

I want to teach us and teachings on ways to practice the way of Jesus.

Teachings on the way, ways to practice the way of Jesus.

One of the best ways to seek God is by walking with him and putting his words into our lives.

Jesus says this in Matthew 7.

He's like, Your experience will be completely different than those who don't put my word into practice.

If you will follow after me, put my words into and you and my words become your steps, you will experience far more than those who hear my words but don't put it into practice.

One of the best ways that we can seek him is by putting his words into practice.

He says, practices, the practices of Jesus are the nuclear reactors of the Christian faith.

Arenas where the gospel and human life come together in energizing and explosive ways.

Practices create openings in our lives where the grace, mercy, and presence of God may be made known to us.

I love that idea.

Practices become portals through which God can pour out his presence, blessing, and power into our lives.

These things that we're doing, reading the scriptures and praying and that kind of stuff.

It's not just, hey, we're supposed to, and that's what like it's supposed to be the space where we're communing with God and experiencing more, where his word actually is transforming our hearts and guiding us and transforming our lives, and then praying with him and being with him ultimately shapes who we are as a whole.

Jesus said that there are certain kinds of darkness and brokenness and evils that we will face in this world that only come about and only come out by prayer and fasting.

And so the idea is that there is more available to us in practicing prayer and fasting.

Like there's just some things that aren't going to, you're not going to experience some of his power, presence, blessing, unless you pray and fast.

And it's not because he doesn't love you, it's because he's placed this promise in this thing.

And so if you want to experience more of him, he's saying, this kind, some of the stuff you're brushing up against in our world in your own life, and your own family, this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting.

One of the pastors that I love in New York, a pagan from until he's about 18, and he tells a story of his dad praying for him.

He wasn't in the room, he was off partying somewhere, but uh he came home and he found his clothes laid out in like as if a person, as if a person was like in those clothes and then got raptured.

You all ever seen those things where like it looks like that?

And he found his clothes like that, and he was like, Dad, what are you doing?

And his dad had like taken his the clothes of his son out of uh his closet, laid them on the floor to make it look like he was wearing them, and then began praying over them with like hands lifted, like, Lord, do this, you know, just praying for his son while he's out partying.

And it's a weird thing in the name of Jesus, but now that man's a pastor, he's shaped my life and this whole thing.

And it's like, man, what a gift.

Some kind only come out by prayer and fasting.

And he's like, let me snag some clothes and throw them on the floor and pray over my kids' clothes.

Like, I think we need to do some more weird stuff in the name of Jesus.

But what is the we'll aim at practicing these things?

I want to build a practice library on our website.

Uh so go to the next slide here.

Uh, there are more of more than these, but I I we're gonna go in in this in Sunday services and on Wednesday nights, we're gonna teach through practices here and then just to help us practice the way of Jesus and what it looks like to actually hear a word of Jesus and go, how do we actually put that into practice?

Not to make him love us more or anything like that, but actually how to put his word into our lives.

Um, we're gonna build this there so that we can actually have those things and you can look at them and just you get to, like James Fraser, experiment with the goodness of God and just try practicing these things and see what shapes out in your heart and life.

Um, that's one of the things.

And then again, we'll teach on practices here on Wednesday night.

As soon as we finish Matthew, we're gonna start teaching on a practice, and we're gonna do that as a community together.

And on Wednesday nights, if you're there, we're gonna learn a practice.

We might talk about fasting or something like that, and then we're gonna practice that together and what it looks like, and then share about our experiences and share about our testimonies and what's happening in that particular space.

And so we're just gonna learn how to do this together.

And I'm gonna give 30 years of my life or as long as I live to in this particular community, hopefully it's 30 years, um, to like aiming at this thing.

I want us to learn to practice the way of Jesus.

So I want us to learn in that particular way how to earnestly seek him by putting his word into practice.

That is what I have for you today.

I believe in my heart more than I'm probably able to communicate that the promises of scriptures are true, that there's more available to those who want it.

That he genuinely does wait to be wanted.

And so if you're longing to experience more of him, it's available to those who seek.

It's available to those who, as David did, I sought the Lord and he answered me.

Again, I think we live in a time in history where people think it's normal and it's not to not experience him.

We are the anomaly, we are the outlier, and I think there's more available to us.

And so I want a cultural pursuit because of what it will do in the life of our church.

Oh, last slide here.

Um, or second to last slide, Colin.

Thanks.

Paul says this we're filled with the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, so we should be experiencing some power there.

The kingdom of God is not about words, but about power.

There's incomparable power available to those who believe.

Just a couple of thoughts from Paul.

Just like, hey, just to remind you, there's a lot available.

Jesus said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

There is just more available.

And all it's it's so hard to like pick what verse should I choose?

I'm like, most of them testify to all of this.

And yet the church has forgotten.

And so we walk around with less than what's available to us, and it's not because God doesn't love us.

I think he's beckoning us.

I've told you, come to me, and you will experience what your hearts are longing for.

Come to me, and I will give you the rest that you're actually longing for.

But you must come to me.

And I think for us, there's such a gift to be receiving salvation as a pure gift.

There's nothing we can do, and Jesus is overcome by what he did on the cross.

And then there's also a gift that he says, now, based on what I've done, kicking the door down, tearing the temple curtain, come in.

And then you'll find what your hearts are longing for.

So I want a culture of pursuit because a culture of pursuit produces followers of Jesus.

I genuinely believe this.

Last slide.

Culture of pursuit produces followers of Jesus who experience the power and presence of God so regularly that they develop a confident expectation to see and experience his power and presence in their day-to-day lives.

We live on the alternate side of this.

We experience it so irregularly that when it happens, we're like, it's a miracle.

And it's like, I think we're supposed to just be walking in that.

I think we're supposed to be experiencing those things.

And so a culture of pursuit creates this environment and a culture where people become more confident in their expectation.

Like, he has done it and he will do it again.

He has promised and he is faithful and we will experience those things.

That's what I want as a church.

Let me pray.

Oh Jesus, would you set faith in our hearts?

Talking about some of this stuff and preaching these words, and um I just want it.

I want it to sink deep into our hearts.

I want those who used to believe that don't believe anymore because they've just been battered by life.

I want them to believe again.

I want those who have experienced, who prayed so hard, so earnestly for someone in their lives to live and they died, to have their hearts stirred once again by faith that, like, even though I walked in unanswered prayer, he still answers prayer.

I want you to relight and rekindle things that have grown dim, where there's just embers, I want you to blow on those things and make them actually alive with fire.

God, Jesus, you yourself live in unanswered prayer.

You prayed for a unified church, and the church is anything but unified.

Jesus, you prayed, would this cut pass from me?

And the answer was no.

And so we know that you still, the same person who said ask, seek, and knock, is the same person who didn't receive everything they asked for.

And it is not a reason to give up on prayer.

It's just a reason to trust you even in the midst of the hard things.

And so, God, I pray for us as we walk through this world and experience less of your presence, that it wouldn't make us think that it's normal, that we would just long to go like Habakkuk, Lord, I have heard what you've done, like Gideon, like where are the mighty deeds of the Lord?

Where are those things?

Where are those things our forefathers talked about?

Where are the things that I've heard about?

God, that we would be those people pursuing you and saying, I still believe it's true, I still believe it's possible, I still believe you answer when we call, you hear us and respond.

That we still, as Spurgeon said, that we can move the arm that holds the world.

God, I pray that you would set it in our hearts, build faith in us in Jesus' name.

Amen.