This sermon is available for free download from www.graceunlimited.co.za That's www.graceunlimited.co.za There you will also find many other sermons the speaker's blogs, events, pictures, links, web store, e-documents and contact details. Simply follow the links to Grace Unlimited on Sermon Audio. And it's just great to be able to spend this time looking together in God's Word. So if you'll open your Bibles to Luke chapter 11, this is a really big day for us and this is a perfect passage, I think. And it's just good for us to be here. And obviously, as we've been saying, this is an answer to prayer in many ways for our church. And we're thanking God that he's allowed us to be together like this. And thanking God for the way that he's shown us mercy. And thanking God for the way that he's allowed us to have this place to meet. And we're actually looking forward as well with anticipation to the kinds of things that God is going to do in this place in the future. We've got big hopes as a church. We've got big hopes. We're not just passing time here this afternoon. We have big hopes about what God is going to do. And really, we're wanting to see impossible things happen. We are wanting to see things that we can't accomplish happen in this place, here. Like people being saved. For one thing, obviously that is a miracle that we can't accomplish. We do not have the ability to make that happen. And yet, we also have a kind of confidence, even as we're here, this is part of why we're here on Sunday afternoons and why we exist as a church. We're longing to see many people in this place go from a state of spiritual death to spiritual life. From hating Jesus, to loving Him and really for their whole lives to be transformed as a result. And you know, not just their lives, but our lives as well. That's one of the things we're wanting to happen in this place. We're wanting people to be changed here. We're wanting to be changed in this place through the Word of God, which is also actually kind of impossible. We're wanting impossible things to happen in this place, people being saved, people being changed. And that's impossible for people by themselves, because people don't normally change, really, fundamentally. And yet, you know, one of the whole reasons we're getting together week after week is because we're longing and hoping that people with significant problems, people like you and me, will undergo some core, fundamental, radical, root-level, whole-person kind of changes because of what takes place here. And not just in this place here, but in this church. And I'm talking about people with marriage problems who are wanting to be divorced, being helped, and coming to a place where they really have solid, God-honoring marriages. And people who are completely selfish, self-centered people living for this world, for the here and now, becoming self-sacrificing people. And you know, we could go on and on. We're talking about people who are wanting to commit suicide, being filled with hope, people who are depressed, becoming people with inexpressible joy, people who are characterized by anger, becoming known as peaceful people, peacemakers even. And I'm saying this is all a big part of why we're here. We're not just here to do the kinds of things that we can do by ourselves. We're not just here to do something as small as raise money or have a nice little entertaining afternoon or to start a club for people who think alike. No, we're excited about getting together as a church and we're looking forward to the future because we're wanting to see impossible things happen in this place. And honestly, we're actually kind of confident that Impossible things will happen in this place and in the life of this church. And one of the reasons that we're confident is because of what Jesus is teaching us in Luke 11 about prayer. For me, this is just so perfect how God set this up, that we're here today in this passage, because we've been spending a couple of months actually now looking at what Jesus has to say about prayer. And specifically, we've been spending a lot of time looking at what Jesus tells us about what we should pray in Luke 11. In Luke 11, verses 1 through 4, Jesus gives us a model prayer. And Jesus is, we've seen, helping us even know what to ask of God, what we should be praying for as a church. And this is important for us, because we want to be wanting the right kinds of things, obviously, as we go to God in prayer. And this afternoon, we're going to be looking at verses 5 through 13, which is the next section in this passage, where Jesus is taking one more step, and he's helping us understand why we can go to God with these kinds of prayers. Or even better, why we can go to God with an expectation, a confidence that he will answer these kinds of prayers for help. And so it's like, really, over the past few weeks, we've been seeing what we should want as a church as we look to the future, which is for God to be glorified, or in Jesus's words, hallowed be your name. And for God's plan to be accomplished, or as Jesus puts it, for His kingdom to come. And for us to have what we need to serve Him, give us each day our daily bread. And for our sins to be forgiven, and for us to be spiritually protected, as Jesus says, forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who's indebted to us. lead us not into temptation. And now that we know what to ask, God, having looked at this model prayer, is moving on to tell us why, when we go to God, asking for those kinds of things, we should go to God with confidence. We should go to God with confidence that he really wants to listen to us and that he actually wants to do us good. Quoting Jesus in verses 9 and 10, look at it. Jesus says, and I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be open. And while I know this is in the middle of this passage, and we normally start with the very first verse, verse 5, I'm actually reading verse 9 at the beginning because this is the key to the whole thing. The way this passage works, you'll see Jesus tells two stories in verses five through 13. One of those stories is in verses five through eight, and the other story is in verses 11 through 13. And yet both of those stories hinge on verses nine and 10, where it's like Jesus is putting the application to the stories in the middle, meaning the big idea. He wants us to take away from all of this, which is, and I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. and you will find knock and it will be open to you. And each of those words, ask, seek and knock are obviously referring to prayer. Prayer is asking, it's seeking God. It's like knocking on the door and wanting God to open up. And while Jesus is commanding us to do that here and actually to continually do that, he's also giving us assurance at the same time that God will respond, that God will answer. these impossible kinds of prayer requests. And that's the essence of all of this, really. You see, Jesus doesn't just want us to ask, seek, and knock. He wants us to do all of that with a sure confidence that God is gracious and that God wants to answer our prayers, which is what I want you to be hearing today. This is why we're excited. That's my burden. As we sit here as a church, we're looking forward to the future, and we're wanting great things to happen. And I want us to be motivated to pray for those great things, like for God being glorified. And I want us to be the kind of church that is constantly asking, seeking, knocking for all of these things that Jesus is telling us to be speaking to God about. And to be doing that with the absolute confidence that God wants to do us good. on the basis, really, of the fact that Jesus gives us that assurance here. This passage, Luke 11, 5 through 13, is a call to bold, confident prayer. And we see the way Jesus emphasizes the kind of confidence we can have twice in verse 9 and 10. Ask, he says, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. And as if that's not enough, verse 10, again, for everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will be open. And you know, I think the reason that Jesus has to give us that assurance twice and really devote this whole section to helping us find that assurance as a church is because he knows that having that assurance is kind of shocking, really. It's kind of shocking. That's the thing. We're wanting great things to happen. I said that. And we have confidence that they can happen, not because we're looking at us, but because we're looking at God and we know we can go to God in prayer. And yet the question is, really, why would we ever think that God would want to answer our prayers? Are you hearing me now? We have confidence as a church, as we look forward to the future, not because of us, but because we can pray. And because we can go to God with the very prayer requests He's given us and present them to God. That's why we have confidence as we look forward to the future. But why actually would we ever think that God would want to answer those prayers? Where does that confidence come from? And now we're actually getting a little closer to our text because we're looking at verses 5 through 13 where Jesus tells two stories. And I'm wanting you to understand why Jesus tells these stories. And I think many people have a hard time understanding what's going on here initially, because prayer seems kind of normal to them. And so they're not wondering about God answering prayer, actually. In fact, the opposite. They're more wondering about unanswered prayers. That's what bothers them. They have a problem with unanswered prayers. Why isn't God answering me? And while I can understand that to a certain extent, if you're thinking straight, I'm convinced a much bigger problem than unanswered prayer is the problem of answered prayer. I mean, that's what this text is about. It's the problem of answered prayer. Because, you know, if you think about it kind of generically for a moment, we're talking about talking to God in prayer. The one who holds the universe in the palm of his hand. This is someone who is massive and wise and so important. And it's like we're walking into his throne room in prayer while he's busy governing the universe. And he's got all these angels around him and they're beautiful and they're awesome. And we're just walking past them up to his throne. And in prayer, we're saying, this is what I would like to have happen. And that's, I think, shocking. Like, how could we ever think that we get to do that? That we get to knock on heaven's door and have it open. Where does that kind of confidence come from? And if you have any question about why that's shocking, you can just get on a plane and fly over to the United States and go to the White House and try to walk in on Donald Trump while he's having a meeting to ask him something. And you'll see how important people normally respond to people like us making requests. And those important people are nothings to God. They are so small in comparison. And yet Jesus is clearly teaching us to pray here with confidence, expecting that God will be gracious and want to answer our prayers. And if that's shocking in general, it's especially shocking if you've been paying attention to what Jesus has told us to pray in verses two through four. I think coming out of the Lord's prayer in verses two through four helps you understand why Jesus has to add verses five through 13. Because you remember, Jesus told us to start off prayer thinking about God. And we start off prayer by saying, how it would be your name, which is really a reminder of God's holiness, basically. His beauty, His majesty, and how much better He is than us. And so it's like we're looking at God in prayer and we're saying, you deserve to be worshiped, God. You deserve, not just for me to worship you, we want the whole world to worship you, which is why we pray, your kingdom come. How would be your name, your kingdom come? Which is a reminder that it's not all about us. And that there's this massive plan that God's gotten started that we read about in the scriptures in which he's glorifying himself. And that's where this universe is headed actually. And as we're praying these things, we're remembering God's glory, and we're remembering God's sovereignty, and we're remembering God's plan. And it becomes clear, or at least it should, how different God is than us. It's like we look at God, and we see He doesn't have any needs. And then we look at ourselves, and we're one big need. That's all we are, need and sin. That's all we have, that's us. Physically we're needy, we're beggars, Jesus says. And He wants us to remember that, which is why we ask, give us each day our daily bread. Meaning, God, we want to serve you, but we can't even provide for ourselves. And so we come to you asking for a handout. And it's not a handout we deserve either, because as we look at ourselves, not only are we so weak physically, we have sinned against God continually. We're not just beggars, we're debtors as well. We owe God, which is why we come to God over and over and over again saying, God, forgive us our sins. And what's maybe even saddest about it all is that even after we've done all that, even after we've recognized how dependent we are on God physically and how much we need from God spiritually, we still, if we're believers, we still look at ourselves and we know that even if God answers our prayers, and even if God provides for us, and even if God forgives us, if He doesn't go on and protect us, if He doesn't strengthen us, if He doesn't empower us, we know for certain in the days ahead that in spite of all He's done for us, we'll run away from Him. Next chance we get, which is why the Lord's Prayer ends, lead us not into temptation, or basically help God, Help! Which I'm saying is part of what makes us sitting here with confidence, thinking God will really want to answer all these prayer requests we're making so shocking. It's like bold. It's audacious. And obviously in verses nine and 10, as believers, Jesus is saying we're supposed to have that kind of confidence. And yet the question is why? Why would we have that confidence? That's the thing. And to answer that question, Jesus is telling us some stories. That's verses 5 through 13. And the first story begins in verse 5, where Luke tells us, and he said to them, which of you who has a friend? And it's kind of like he's making this personal, actually, as in, put yourself in this position. Which of you? And the way Jesus is expressing that is actually very important because there are some translations that have it. Suppose one of you has a friend and that's not quite the best way to put it because this is a common way we find Jesus speaking throughout the Gospels. Which of you? And every time Jesus begins a question that particular way, it's a big old hint that he's expecting a negative answer. Like, which of you? Okay, obviously none of you. Which means while Jesus is asking a question here in verse five, that actually goes all the way down to verse seven. It's a long question and you have to stick with it. But even with just the way this question begins, we already know the answer at the end is gonna be something like no one, or maybe none of us. We might translate this actually, none of us. If we have a friend and we go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, Lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him. Now, obviously, Jesus is not saying that if this happened, none of us would go and ask our friend for help. That's not the part in people in Jesus's day would have had a hard time understanding because in those days, in that culture, hospitality was a big deal. And so if someone came to you and surprised you on a journey, after a journey, even in the middle of the night, and especially if he was your friend, it was basically a moral duty for you to open up your home and provide for them. It was more like Africa, actually, than where I come from. I think where I come from, this is a harder story to understand. Because in America, where I come from, we could totally refuse this guy. If someone showed up in the middle of the night, we might say, what are you doing? Go get a hotel or something. But that is not at all how it would have worked in Jesus's day. If you showed up at someone's house and they weren't expecting you, they still had an absolute responsibility to care for you. It was a matter of honor, really. And so I think you can imagine the scene better than I can, most of you. Because here, someone's come from a long way and he's tired. And he's shown up unexpectedly at your house and you have nothing to feed him. And so you're feeling terrible about that. And yet it's not like there are grocery stores open for you to get something for him quickly. And so what do you do? If you're living in a village back in Jesus's day, even though it's late, it's the middle of the night. And he emphasizes that because he wants you to feel this is a very inconvenient time. And yet in spite of that, he knows you would pretty much feel like you had to go over to your friend's house and ask for help, for maybe some bread. Which of course we know is gonna make this friend's life a little more difficult as well, the one you're waking up. It's like you're taking your problem and you're making it his problem. And Jesus gives us some of the excuses a person in that situation might be tempted to give in verse seven. And he will answer from within. Jesus says it, and I know that makes it sound a little like he's saying this is how he will respond. He will answer from within. But I don't think that's the right way to hear this story. I don't think that's actually Jesus's intention. Instead, this is the part of the question that's connected to the which of you at the beginning. Like, which of you would ever expect a friend to respond like this? The answer being none of us. in terms of how this story goes here. Verse 7 is not the actual answer the friend gives. Verse 8 is what he does. But verse 7 is kind of setting the scene by reminding us of some of the reasons he might be feeling inside as to why he wouldn't want to respond this way. Like, first of all, it's late. Don't bother me. While maybe we're friends, I don't like waking up in the middle of the night, and this is your problem, not mine. Besides, the door is now shut. And I guess many people in those days had some sort of bar over the front door, which seems like it would have been a hassle to undo, like us, with all our gates, you know, messing with those keys. And on top of that, he says, my children are with me in bed. And he's able to answer the door from bed, because it's just a one-room house that they're living in. That would have been common. And so it's like he's thinking, listen, Man, do you know what you're asking? The kind of trouble that this is going to put me through. If I get up, I'm going to have to wake up all my children. And if you have children, you know you never want to wake a baby up. That's like a rule in our house. We used to say to our children, whoever wakes the baby up, gets to stay up with the baby. Because once you wake a baby up, it sometimes takes forever for them to get back to sleep. And yet, back to the story here, the whole point is, that even with all of those possible excuses a person might be feeling for not wanting to get out of bed and answer his friend's request, as Jesus is asking this question, he knows that every single person listening to him can never imagine a friend responding like that. It's like out of the realm of possibility for them. I mean, which of you, if you have a friend and you go to him in the middle of the night because you have a real problem, you're not just asking him to play cards or something. This is an issue that would have mattered to all of them, hospitality. And actually the whole community would have been shamed if someone came and you didn't treat them right. And so the only reason you're waking your friend up is because you need his help. Which of you, Jesus is asking, can ever imagine that your friend is going to respond and say, sorry, man, I can't help you. It's too much trouble. I don't want to wake my children up. I mean, I think everyone in Jesus's day hearing that would almost be laughing. Because there's no one. That would never happen. In America, yes, we can imagine that. It's too late. That's an excuse that works. But in Jesus's day, in the Middle East, with hospitality as important as it was, And you can just read through the Old Testament and you'll see that. Or even a couple of chapters back, you remember when Jesus sends the disciples into that Samaritan village, asking for food and a place to stay in Luke 9, when the village turned them away, what did the disciples say? They said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Which means obviously this was a big deal, hospitality. They were like the disciples. Yeah, it makes sense. God should damn them. because they didn't show us hospitality. And so this would have been absolutely outrageous for someone to say, which is why Jesus adds in verse eight, I tell you, and that's like, you know this, I tell you, though he will not get up. And it's actually equally possible to translate that if he will not get up. which I think is probably better here. Like, even if, worst case, this is just a bad guy, your neighbor, and even if he doesn't care about his relationship with you, and so even if he wouldn't get up because he's your friend, and most people would, I know, but even if he wouldn't, in the end, you know, he's still gonna get up, in Jesus's words, because of his impudence. He will rise and give him whatever he needs. Now, that's the key there, and it's a hard little word, actually, impudence. is impudence. And I think Jesus is talking about the impudence of the person asking, not the person getting up. But what does impudence mean? That's the thing. What is Jesus telling us? Because I think it's easy to assume here that you know what the story is about. And it's easy to assume that what Jesus is talking about is persistence. Like the friend keeps on asking. That's why he finally gets up. And that's what people often think impudence means. So he doesn't get up because he's a friend, but because the friend won't stop asking for bread, he gets up. And that's pretty much how this story has often been interpreted throughout the ages. And it is the point of a very similar story Jesus tells in Luke 18. And it's initially what I thought was the point of the story here. And yet, that's not really what the word impudence means. That's the problem. Anywhere else, ever. She used 258 times in ancient texts, impudence, outside the Bible. And it's amazing that people know that stuff, but they do. And apparently scholars say there's no example anywhere, except where people were struggling with what Jesus might possibly have meant here, where anyone else ever used the word impudence that way. Because it doesn't mean perseverance or persistence. In fact, as one scholar puts it, The point can be stated categorically that the traditional translation as persistence is incorrect and should be assigned once and for all to a short paragraph among the historical oddities of biblical mistranslation. Because instead, the word impudence, you know what it means? Not persistence. It means without shame, literally. It's, you could say, a lack of sensitivity to what is proper. Or another definition I found was recklessness or even rudeness. It's a disregard of consideration by the one making the request. In other words, it's being bold. That's what Jesus is talking about here, but more in the negative sense, actually, like being rude. It's like this friend, you know, who's not embarrassed by what should embarrass him. And so he just does stuff where you're like, ah, man, again, you should be embarrassed. Why? Why would you do that? Like actually kind of the person in this parable, even though we can see why he feels he has to do what he's doing. Normally, it's rude in the middle of the night to wake your friends up. And his friend is sleeping and he has children and he's going to wake everyone up. And that's normally something people might consider inconsiderate. And even the friend in verse 7 is kind of thinking that, obviously, we saw. This is crazy. The children are with me. Why don't you go to somewhere else? The door's locked. This is a whole bunch of trouble. And yet even knowing all that doesn't stop the man. It doesn't stop him from asking. He's bold. He doesn't let the possibility of his friend being upset stop him. And so he just goes. And he knows his friend is going to help him even if he doesn't want him to. Even if he doesn't want to, he's still going to help him. If for nothing else, just because of the fact that he was bold enough to come. in the middle of the night knocking. And the point is, that's how we should be with God in prayer. Bold, bold, impudent. That's what Jesus is saying. God wants us to pray boldly. And that's something we see illustrated throughout the scripture. I think of those men who had that paralyzed friend and they brought him to Jesus while Jesus was teaching and they literally break through the roof. Imagine. This is Jesus teaching, interrupting Jesus's message to lower their friend down. And that's bold. Interrupting Jesus in the middle of a sermon. Or that woman, you know, who had the discharge of blood for all those years. And it was considered unclean by everyone else. And yet she was willing to rest everything just to touch the hem of Jesus's garment. And that's bold. It was a trembling bold, but it's bold. Most religious leaders would have thrown stones at her. or the blind man who was sitting by the road begging later in Luke. And he hears the crowd going by and he asked, what does it mean? And he finds out it's Jesus. And so he just starts crying out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And he's crying so loudly that all of his, all the people near him say, stop, man, stop, man. Everyone else wants him to be quiet and they rebuke him. And yet he only cries out the more, son of David, Have mercy on me, and that's bold. That's bold. Or maybe even one of the best specific illustrations is all the way back in the Old Testament. Abraham is told by God that God's going to destroy Sodom, the text says. And Abraham drew near, that's praying. And he says, will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? He's talking to God. God, Will you do this? Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you sweep, then sweep away the place? Far be it from you to do such a thing. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And that's bold. And you know what God says? God says, if I find at Sodom 50 righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. And you know Abraham? He's like, okay, but what about 45? That's bold. And God says, I will not destroy it for the sake of 45. And Abraham, you know, Abraham's not stopping there. 40, 30, 20, 10. God, bold, bold, bold, shameless even. That's impudent prayer. And obviously there are all kinds of reasons why we might be able to say that's not appropriate. for people to talk like that, or for people to ask God things like that. And yet back in Luke 11, Jesus is encouraging us not to let those feelings of shame or inadequacy stop us from pleading with God and going to God and asking. And the first way he encourages us is by reminding us that they all know, they all know. If a sinful human being is going to get out in the bed of the middle of the night, in the middle of the night to grant the request of a friend, he kind of thinks is rude. God is so much better than that. Are you hearing me? And if you're making requests according to his will, he's not going to be thinking, this is so much trouble. He's going to be taking those requests seriously. And that's verses nine and 10. And I tell you, God's better than your sinful neighbor. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be open. For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be open. That's the application of the story. Obviously, some people, when they pray, they have problems because they're selfish. And when they're praying, they're not even asking God for things that matter. And this promise, ask, seek, knock, isn't for stuff like that. It's not for stuff like, God, you know, I want that Lamborghini or something. Instead, this is an encouragement to go to God confidently about the stuff He said matters, because you know that He's not like that sleeping friend in any way. He's not reluctant. You can ask confidently, you can ask even impudently, because he's not just some sinful human next door neighbor. He is your perfect heavenly father. And that's story number two, verse 11. What father among you, Jesus says, which is similar, of course, in that Jesus is expecting a negative answer again as well. What father out there, and there's none, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion. And that would obviously be a seriously twisted father if he did that. Because even pagan fathers tend to have compassion for their children. And even if it's not a lot of compassion, at least most fathers aren't going to intentionally harm their children. when they're asking for help. And God's our father. Remember, that's the nature of our relationship as Christians. That's how we started the Lord's prayer back in verse two, father. And so, yes, it's true. He's this great and glorious God. And yes, it's true. We're needy and we're full of sin. And we need to think about all of that. But as we do, we can't lose track. That's the point. We can't lose track of this new, amazing relationship we have with him as believers because we're his children because of Jesus. And so we go to God in prayer. And of course, as we go to God in prayer, we remember we're in the presence of someone who is mighty. We are in the presence of someone who is eternal. We are in the presence of someone who is majestic. We are in the presence of someone who is like a consuming fire in his holiness. When we pray, we're in the presence of someone who has all these angels around him, covering their eyes and their feet, and they're crying out, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. And that's frightening. And that's awesome. And we have to remember that. And yet, at the very same time, we also have to be remembering that this holy God is our Father. Not naturally. but through salvation and through adoption, which means, as Jesus explains, that we can be confident. We can be confident. Because if sinful human fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? And that, for me, is so kind of, that, for me, is so convicting. Not kind of, that's just so convicted. This is a how much more kind of argument. He's saying, if you're not afraid to be rude with a sinful neighbor because you know he's going to help you, and if you expect sinful human fathers to show you compassion, how much more should you think God's going to be gracious and good? And for me, that's convicting because I think a big problem I've had with prayer is that I don't always believe God wants my best. And that's sad. Like, I'm afraid to ask because I've got this question mark in my mind that the problem is God doesn't want to answer my prayer. And that's not just sad, actually, that's wicked. That's the thing. How could I ever think that? How could we ever think that? It's like we have more confidence in our sinful neighbors than God. It's like we have more confidence in human fathers than God. What do we think, God is worse than our next door neighbor? What do we think, God is worse than a human father? He's so much better than that. And I just think how our lives and our prayers would change if we could only realize deep down in our hearts that this holy, glorious God with this amazing, eternal plan is now truly for us. If we could only realize that when we pray now as believers, it's like a child going to his father. As Martin Lloyd-Jones, a great preacher, once put it, as the father cares for the child and looks at the child and is concerned about the child and anticipates the needs of the child, so it is with God in respect to all of those who are in Christ Jesus. Now listen to this, he says, he desires to bless us very much more than we desire to be blessed. He's good, our father. He's a good, good father. And he has a view of us. He has a plan and a program for us. He has an ambition for us. I say it with reverence, which transcends our highest thought and imagination. He's a father. And what a father, a perfect father, a holy father, an all-powerful father. And as we pray, Jesus is saying in verses 5 through 13, We need to have confidence that our Father is good and that our Father is gracious and that our Father wants our best. As Lloyd-Jones says again, you have to get rid of this thought that God is standing between you and your desires and that which is best for you. Which is how a lot of people view prayer actually. It's like me versus God. And so it's how do I move God out of the way so I can get to what I want? When instead, the reality is, if you're a believer, God's more committed to your long-term good than you are. It's like a father with his child. And so it's not God who is the obstacle to your long-term good as a believer. If anything, it's more you who are the obstacle, actually. You're the one who keeps getting in the way of what's really good for you. And so in prayer, we're not moving God out of the way so we can get what we want, as much as He is moving us. so we can want what we're supposed to want, and so he can give us what's best. And that's one thing. We don't know a lot about the future, but if you're a Christian, that's one thing you can be so confident about. It's done. In fact, God's already purchased your ultimate good in Christ. And so if he was willing to do that, you can be sure he's He's gonna be happy to give you the spiritual blessings you need. Or I guess in the words of Jesus here, Luke 11, 13, that he's gonna be happy to give you the Holy Spirit. Who here I think is a pointer to everything we want most right now as a church. Because we're sitting here in this new place, wanting things to happen, impossible things to happen. We're not just here to spend a few hours every Sunday afternoon getting hot, listening to some guy talk. We're wanting impossible things to happen, things that I can't accomplish, that you can't accomplish. We've got big hopes. that are totally impossible for us, because they're not hopes like getting a super nice building or having a really fancy church, the kind of stuff we could do. They're hopes that have to do with the stuff we can't do, like God saving people and changing people. And yet, even though we know we can't do all that, we're confident and we're bold because God's given us this privilege called prayer. And even though it seems so shocking that people like us so small and sinful, can go to God and ask for awesome things like the Spirit, like His Spirit working in us, we know we can. Actually, we know we must. Because while there are many things we don't have specific promises about in the Bible, in terms of our future as a local church, one thing we do have a promise about, one thing we can count on, is that God's happy when we come to Him asking. and seeking, and knocking. Not because we're anything special, or even because we're all that great at praying, but because He's good. Our God is good. He's a good, good Father. He's much better than our neighbors, that's for sure. And He's even better than sinful human fathers. And so we never, never, as a church, need to fear whether God really wants our best. If we're in Christ, if we are believers, He's got all kinds of spiritual blessings in store for us. Only He wants us to learn to be bold, and He wants us to learn to ask, to trust Him and to trust His goodness more than we do our friends, and to trust His goodness even more than we do our fathers. And so as a church, We want to spend even a few minutes now praying big prayers, not just for our church, but for that church, and praying specifically that God would glorify himself in stunning, impossible ways. And we want to be even a little impudent, a little bold, a little shameless, not because we come to God trusting our own works or efforts, but because we come to God on the basis of His promises, and God's told us to be bold. So we honor God by being bold. And I think Andre actually handed out a sheet. Does everybody, if you could just look, I want to see you actually grab that sheet. Oh, good job. Thanks, Pastor Doug. He knows what he's doing. Some people, if you don't have it, raise it so I can see if most people have it. Andre can see if most people have it. What we've done is we've wanted to try to help you a little by giving you some biblical prayers that we would like you to pray for this church in your own words and pray confidently, pray expectantly, pray hopefully, knowing that God is a good, good father. And I know we've set the church up so nicely now, and this feels a little more formal even than where we used to be, but it's okay. What I'd like you to do is just find two or three people next to you, kind of move your chairs so you can see each other, pray in a group of three or four. Now, if you don't like to pray out loud, Just say to the person, we all love each other, you can say, I'm a little embarrassed to pray out loud, or I don't like to pray out loud, would you pray for me? In a group of three or four, there's gonna be somebody in this church who will pray. And so why don't all three of you look through, read through those prayer requests, maybe have one person read it out loud, a couple of the prayer requests, and then go to God and pray those prayers in your own words. So please now, that means you kinda gotta move, I gotta hear a little bit of noise, be friendly, smile, look at each other, say let's pray, read the sheet to help you pray, and then in about five minutes, ten minutes, five minutes or so, Hamilton will come up and finish us in singing.