Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you. Get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it. So share this podcast you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward.
[00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you. Enjoy.
[00:00:57] Good morning.
[00:00:59] Welcome. Mosaic. Yeah. 2026, right?
[00:01:03] Yeah. We're here. We made it.
[00:01:05] We made it. And you guys made the first Sunday of the year. It's a big deal. Give yourselves a hand. You did.
[00:01:12] You made it. You made it. Proud of you. So we're kicking off a brand new series called Open Doors, talking about prayer. But here's what's interesting. What's interesting about it is, like, this year, as I was thinking about, like, what should we kick the year off with? I remember back, like, several years ago doing a series called the Word of the Year. So it was like, hey, what is your word? What's your intention for that year? It was 2020 when we started the series. 2020, if you guys remember. 2020. Yeah, 2020. The first Sunday. I was like, hey, listen, my word is courageous. This year, we. We're gonna be courageous. That's my intention. So what's yours? You know what I'm saying? And then that word was not courageous. It was Covid. And so that's what happened that year. And I just kind of gave up on the whole thing. I gotta be honest. I gave up on it. I was like, you know what? Forget intentions. I have good intentions. But you know what? The world just does what it does.
[00:02:05] Does what it does. And so I have a buddy of mine, John Gordon. He's a leadership coach guy, and he does this every year. Every year, he's like, the word of the year. What's your intention? What's your intention? And. And so I was like, you know what? Let me get back into it. Let me get back into it. So this year, I got an intention. I got a word for the year.
[00:02:21] Not Covid. My intention is possibility. My word is possibility. And I just wanna pray that over you guys. In fact, this year, my prayer is that you would find God and see God and hear God in ways that seems impossible. Like, there were areas in your life, you're like, you know, I'm not quite sure if this is ever gonna work out. I. I just pray for possibility in your life. Just pray for that. So I wanna encourage you. What is your word? You might have a word. You're like, it's not possibility. It's impossibility. I don't know. Whatever it is, whatever it is, let's have an intention. And that's why we're starting off the year with the series on prayer called Open Doors. Cause we wanna pray that God would just open doors for you. Let's just ask the question. First of all, how many of you would say you are when it comes to prayer, Right? When it comes to prayer, you're a savant.
[00:03:12] You're like, I have no idea what that word means, so. Probably not. No, you're an expert. You're a pro at it. You're a pro at it. If you are one of those. And we had one person who lied about it for service. Toni did. I'm calling her out, Tony. Yeah, she did.
[00:03:28] See, this series is not for you, okay? If you're a savant and you know everything about prayer and you knock it out, I mean, like, you get stuff done. You know what I'm saying? He hears you. He stops everything. Yes. What do you want?
[00:03:41] If you. If you're. If you're. You know, if you're killing it, this series is not for you, but for the rest of us, this series is very timely. Because I don't know about you, but I feel like sometimes. And you know, I mean, you. You might think, like, hey, you're a pastor, you should have a direct line.
[00:03:57] I don't know if I call myself a prayer savant. I think I. I just have a. I had a rough start in prayer. I'll tell you why. Because I grew up Muslim. So in Islam, you have, like. You pray five times a day. You pray in a particular language, in a particular mat. Particular direction, in a particular language. Okay? Now, here's the good thing about that, okay? The good thing is after you are done, because every prayer is, like, you have to go through a whole cleansing ceremony. Yeah. It's not like Christians, like, whatever. You shoot up a prayer. No, no, no. This is a commitment. You gotta, like, you gotta clean yourself. You gotta do the Whole thing, it's called the Al wadhu. You get to do that. You do all the other things. Then. Then you pray in Arabic, and by the time you're done, you're like, I did it. I knocked it out. I did it. And part of it was like, when after you got done praying in Islam, you're like, I did it. And I did it right. People could say, oh, you're doing it wrong. They'll fix it. You're doing it right now. This is good. You've gotten better, better, better. And as a kid, I got better, better, better. And then as an adult, I was like, okay, this is. I got it down, but I step into Christianity. I don't know.
[00:05:02] Have you ever ended a prayer? You're like, I hope it worked. It's like rolling the dice. You know what I'm saying? It's like.
[00:05:09] I don't know. My first experience, my first experience in prayer. I kid you not. I'm not making this up, okay? My first experience was as a Muslim. I got invited to a prayer meeting.
[00:05:21] Now, it was in college. I had no idea what a prayer meeting was. And they were just like, you know. And my problem in my whole life, and you can ask my wife, is I commit to stuff before I know what I'm doing.
[00:05:32] I do it. People are like, hey, where are you flying to? I'm like, I don't know. Some town somewhere. I know I gotta get on a plane. And I'm terrible at, like, the last minute. I mean, I just look at stuff like. I'm like, I'll figure it out.
[00:05:45] So I did the same thing. I kind of a bit. I'm that guy. So I committed to a prayer meeting as a Muslim.
[00:05:52] Found out, you know, like, 10 minutes before, and I told my brother. I was like, he was a Christian at that time, and I was a Muslim. And I was like, hey, listen, I. I can't go to this thing. This is a Christian prayer meeting. He's like, no, you can go, man. You told him you were gonna be there. Just show up. I'm like, all right, fine. So I show up to this prayer meeting in college with a group called FCA Fellowship for Christian Athletes. And I don't know if, you know, like, maybe you're like, I don't get it. Because in college, the last thing I went to was a prayer meeting. You know what I'm saying? That is not what I did. And some of you guys understand what prayer meeting was, right? So you get in a group and the Christians pray. And this is my first interaction. And maybe you guys can relate because you're like, I'm not quite sure about this Christian faith. And I don't know. I'm stepping into this right now. This is my new reset spiritually. Okay, great. Well, it's complicated in the Christian world. It's complicated because sometimes you have a Red Robin situation. You know what that is? Or I don't know. Like, I don't even know what Red Robin is. But anyways, okay. Then there's a popcorn situation. Popcorn is like, you punch pop up and pray. Like it's not. It's like you pray out loud. That's the other thing. I was like, you pray out loud when you. What's going on? And then sometimes they'll hold hands. What is that all about?
[00:06:58] They're like, if you hold hands, it's circle. Circle of life. I don't know what it is. And you squeeze. If you get. Remember the squeeze? You squeeze. If you get squeezed, you're up.
[00:07:08] And what that means is you're praying. You are praying. You better be. And the problem is that I would always have, like, a savant in there, a prayer person in my group.
[00:07:19] Their prayers were like, homes.
[00:07:21] You're like, that's beautiful.
[00:07:25] And then I get the squeeze and I go, oh, no, no. I can't go after that.
[00:07:33] I can't go after that. I have nothing. Like, I was like, I still have an accent. Like, I just can't even. God won't understand me. I don't know. Whatever. I was like, it was rough for me.
[00:07:44] And then I got introduced to Pentecostalism.
[00:07:47] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Hello.
[00:07:49] Yes, I did. I was like, I'm for this. Started attending a Pentecostal church revival. Oh, man. Got introduced to the Holy Spirit. Got a prayer language.
[00:08:00] If you guys don't know what that is, that's a whole different language.
[00:08:04] Here's what's great about it. I already spoke a couple languages, so it was easy to fake anyways. But I'm not saying it dead.
[00:08:12] Okay, but you could. The other thing. Great thing. If you guys don't know what I'm talking about, those of you who know, here's the cool thing with prayer language. People don't know if you're doing it right.
[00:08:22] So there's no judgment. You can say whatever you want to. And they're like, oh, this sounds good. It's great. It's great. So all that to say, I don't know where your background was, but prayer is tough. It's tough because we all turn. Do these things in prayer. We close our eyes. Why?
[00:08:37] Don't know.
[00:08:39] I don't know why we do that. We close our eyes. We also get really formal.
[00:08:43] We do all kinds of things, and it's really connected to our view of who God is. So when Jesus starts talking about prayer, let me just tell you, he blows their mind. He's reclaiming this message and movement of God, and he's reteaching them how to have a prayer life. And I hope that if in the end of this series, you would pray, move from one place to another place. And what I mean by that is you'd move from. Which we're all in. Move from this awkward insecurity. Okay, Moving from awkward insecurity. That's the title of the message. Awkward, not message, the series. Awkward insecurity to what?
[00:09:20] To shameless persistence in prayer. What does that mean? What does that look like? So let's jump in. If you've got your Bible, if you've got your app, you can follow along. We're gonna be in Matthew first, so we're gonna look at several passages in scripture that Jesus is talking about prayer. We're going to cover a few of them today, but we're probably going to end up covering most of them in this series. So Matthew, chapter six. Matthew, chapter what?
[00:09:44] Six. We jump in, and then Jesus starts talking about prayer. He says, when you pray, do not be like those who. What? Who what? Who pretend to be someone that they are not.
[00:09:58] What?
[00:09:59] What? First of all, stop right here.
[00:10:03] I'm supposed to be the best. Like, no, because when you pray, you're supposed to be the best. Per. The best, nicest person.
[00:10:11] When you start your prayer, you got to get like, this is the best, purest me. It's the purest me. You got to get serious. He goes, hey, don't pretend to be someone you're not.
[00:10:21] What do you. What?
[00:10:23] Right there? It just changes the game. And for them. Just remember, for them, Jesus was a rabbi. He was a rabbi. What that means is, is that he taught in the temple as well. Rabbis would teach formal prayers and recite formal prayers. And now this rabbi in the streets is telling people, hey, hey, hey. When you pray, don't pretend to be holier than you are.
[00:10:46] We're like, well, I thought that was the goal.
[00:10:49] If you can just convince God that I'm super holy, closing your eyes helps. You know, if you're super focused, then that helps. He says, no, no, don't pretend God doesn't want you to be proper. He Wants you to be transparent.
[00:11:01] Then he keeps on going. He says, here's what happens with them. People who pretend that they're to be someone they're not. They love to stand and pray in the places of worship. They love doing that. Or in the streets. So people can what? People can what?
[00:11:15] See them?
[00:11:16] See them?
[00:11:17] He says, for surely I tell you that they have all the reward they're gonna get. Like they're people looking at them and listening to their prayers in awe because they're amazing, that's the full reward. That's all they're gonna get.
[00:11:34] If people look at you and then after you get done praying and you go, oh my gosh, let me tell you, you have a gift of oh my gosh, you're so talented.
[00:11:42] Wow. I can't believe it. Let me just tell you that. Is it that flattery, that compliment is all that prayer was maybe good for if the intention wasn't right? Which is interesting to me because I don't know about you, because I felt that prayer was a gift.
[00:11:58] Like some people have the gift of prayer and others what don't. And you call the people, if you really need help, you call the people who have the gift.
[00:12:09] Or it's a talent. And I didn't really possess that talent. But here he's saying, no, no, prayer is not a talent. It's not something you display or impress people with.
[00:12:21] Which again, guys, right here in this world, right now we're living in, this changes the game here as well. For our so called Christianity. It changes, it should change how we are followers of Jesus.
[00:12:36] Then he says, when you pray. Let me see what you do when you pray. When you pray, you need to go into a. What?
[00:12:46] Go into a room by yourself. Like basically say, go be by yourself after you have shut the door.
[00:12:55] We're talking about privacy here, or privacy, however you want to say it.
[00:12:59] Okay. Pray to your what, Father? Knowledge. There's so much here. First of all, he's saying, God likes privacy.
[00:13:09] God wants to be alone with you, which you're like. And you know, initially I was like, I don't want to be alone with myself. You know what I'm saying? I don't, I don't do that. He says, no, no, God wants to be alone with you. He likes it like, he just likes it. Just, he likes it on the, you know, down low. He just wants, he just wants to keep it private.
[00:13:27] Private conversation. What? Yeah, yeah. Closed group. Closed group. He doesn't want to talk to you. And then he says, and when you do that when it's all private and quiet and all that. I want you to pray, and I don't want you to pray to Yahweh.
[00:13:41] See, Jesus was saying when he said it, speaking the language, he said, I don't want you to pray to Yahweh. And they're like, this is who we pray to. No, I want you to pray to Abba.
[00:13:52] Again.
[00:13:53] Blowing their minds.
[00:13:55] Now God has become Father and not the creator of the world. God has moved from Yahweh, which was such a holy name, because when they would write it down, some say that they would break the pencil to rewrite and write the name again. It was such a holy name. Now it moves from. He has just blown. He has changed the game here. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not Yahweh. It's not what abba.
[00:14:23] What?
[00:14:24] What? What?
[00:14:25] This is. This is. This is huge here. And then he goes, he says, then your father, who sees in secret, will reward you when you pray. He says, do not say the what, the what?
[00:14:43] The same thing. What?
[00:14:46] Over and over, over and over again. What are you talking about? That's why we say Hail Marys.
[00:14:53] Like, that's how we do things.
[00:14:56] What are you talking about?
[00:14:57] How do we come so far?
[00:15:00] He says, don't. Just don't repeat. And he's not just talking about Hail Mary. He's talking about stuff that you just kind of say because you think you need to say it and because God just opened. It's like trigger boards for God. Okay, now I'm listening.
[00:15:15] Don't do that.
[00:15:17] And then he says, don't say the things over and over again. Making long prayers like the people who do not know God.
[00:15:24] What? He says, yeah, when you keep doing the same thing, when you keep hitting the right same button. Again, again, again.
[00:15:31] You're pretending like you're acting like people who don't believe truly that God exists because God is a personal God. You make him not God. You make him an it.
[00:15:42] You just have to hit the right buttons and you get whatever you want.
[00:15:46] Says you're acting like God doesn't exist.
[00:15:50] Then he says. He says they think they heard. They're heard because their prayers are long. He says, don't be like them. And then he says this. He says, your what? Your father knows what you need. Before you ask him again three times, he says, father. Father. Abba. Abba. Abba. Abba. So he changed the game. And the reason is Friends. The reason is, is because when it comes to Prayer, it's not like your performance.
[00:16:22] But we end up, like, wanting to make sure our presentation is right. We're closing our eyes. We're doing the things, we're saying the things. We're, like, trying to figure out verses, apply that we can.
[00:16:33] He's like, it's not about performance.
[00:16:36] It's about your posture when it comes to prayer. It's about the posture. And your posture needs to changes when you're talking to your dad versus when you're talking to a huge God out there. That's not personal.
[00:16:53] You know how your vibe changes when you're having a conversation with your dad or someone you know, versus other people. Your conversations on the phone changes everything. And here's what we've done. Have you. I mean, have you thought about this? We have not done any of this. Like, if I say, let's pray, the first thing you're gonna do is, okay. And then you gotta say something reverent. You gotta say something holy. You gotta be like, lord God Almighty.
[00:17:21] And Jesus is like. Or God's like, I thought we were just talking. And what happened? Why are you doing that?
[00:17:28] Why did you change your tone?
[00:17:30] You're like, code switching here. What's going on here? What are you doing? What are you doing?
[00:17:36] So then what are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do? As we reread this, when we read this, and we find out that Jesus, because he introduced this new idea, he was reclaiming what prayer looked like he teaches his disciples. And they got intrigued. They were curious.
[00:17:54] So one day, the disciples are like, you know what? Okay, so you're blowing our minds here. Why don't you teach us how to pray? And so when he.
[00:18:03] When they asked that, Jesus says this, which we know this is a different translation maybe, but you know, and it's called the Lord's Prayer.
[00:18:13] Okay? Some of you guys, like, I grew up reciting this, okay? But this is the NLT translation. It says this. His father, may your name be kept holy. Or in some translations, hallowed be your name. It says, your kingdom come, right?
[00:18:27] And your will be done. In other translations, says, give us each day the food we need. And then he says, and forgive our sins as we've forgiven those who sin against us. And don't let us yield into temptation.
[00:18:42] Now, what is interesting about this is I don't know if you ever stopped and went, considered, why did Jesus say this?
[00:18:49] Like, he was asked, how do you pray? And he goes into this.
[00:18:55] These lines of like. This is like, hallowed be your name. And he's making these statements. Here's why. Cause if you just stop and not just get into like, okay, we just have to remember this prayer. No, you gotta understand the context. The context is when disciples asked Jesus, how do we pray? They meant, how we do, how do we pray?
[00:19:18] Not me pray. How do what?
[00:19:21] We pray? This question, the answer, what we got. The Lord's Prayer is used in response to how us, as a collective need to pray.
[00:19:32] Not me, not you, as a collective need to pray. This is a collective prayer. The Lord's Prayer is. And this is not just saying these lines. Let me just tell you the intention behind it.
[00:19:44] First, he says, father again, right? Abba. Not Yahweh. Not Yahweh. He says, he is your father. Secondly, he says, hallowed be your name. Your name.
[00:19:56] May your name be kept holy. You know what he's saying? He says, Jesus saying, first of all, if all of us, the church needs to, number one, understand that the church is relating to a father.
[00:20:09] Secondly, he says, this is a tough one. He says, may your name be kept holy. That means, God help us.
[00:20:17] May we live in such a way that honors your name.
[00:20:22] What?
[00:20:24] Yeah. If the church needs to pray these kind of prayers, may we live in certain way collectively that honors your name. Not like, may we not cuss, no, no, no. May we live in such a way that makes your name holy, that keeps your name, that keeps your credit, keeps you holy. We don't do that. And then it says, give us today our daily bread. He says, give us what you think we need.
[00:20:55] No, you know what I'm saying?
[00:20:57] That's like shopping list for Christmas. No, no, no, no, no. I'll tell you what I want. You know what I'm saying? Give me what I want. He says, no, no, the church needs to pray. Give us what you think we need.
[00:21:08] And the church then says, and forgive those who forgive our sins and we forgive other people. Why is he throwing that in there? You know why? Because what he's really saying is, he says, pray.
[00:21:19] If you're the church, you need to pray.
[00:21:22] God, treat us like we treat other people.
[00:21:30] No, like, I mean, I don't want to pray, that I want to pray. Treat me better than I treat other people.
[00:21:39] Treat me like what?
[00:21:42] And then he says, don't let me yield to temptation. Which means he says, help us be the best versions of who we can be.
[00:21:50] See, that is a collective prayer.
[00:21:53] But when Jesus was explaining that, because the question was, how do we pray?
[00:21:59] You know, you got disciples there, obviously. Now I Just want to say, maybe it was Peter. Maybe it was Luke. He was like, yeah, that's great.
[00:22:07] That's awesome. But how do I get what I want? You know what I'm saying? Like, how do I.
[00:22:12] Like, how can I get.
[00:22:15] How can I pray that the Panthers would actually win? Like, how do I do that?
[00:22:22] Right?
[00:22:23] Right? You're, like, seriously so close. Maybe there's a chance, right? Eagles and the Saints. Maybe that's a. But some of you guys are like, no, I stopped praying about that.
[00:22:34] How do we get what we really want?
[00:22:37] How do we get what we really want? And so right after he says this, he says, let me tell you how. Now you asking from we to me, this is what you need to do. This is what I need you to understand. And what he does is he. He tells us a story. Because Jesus was great at just making up stories to make a point.
[00:22:57] Fictional stories to communicate a universal, unshakable truth about the character of God. He says, let me tell you what happens when you pray. Let me tell you the dynamic. So he says, suppose. Suppose.
[00:23:15] Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight, okay? Think about it. Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. And you say to him, a other friend of mine. A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.
[00:23:34] And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, don't. What?
[00:23:39] Don't bother me.
[00:23:40] Which is hilarious. It just shows the dynamic of this friendship right here, okay? From the window, he's like, no. Nope. Mm. Mm. Don't bother me. Don't bother me. Don't come here again and ask for bread like, you know your friend was coming. I don't even know. You should do better shopping list, like, do that.
[00:23:58] He says that. Then he says this. He says in the story, he says, the door. The guy says, hey, the door is locked for the night, and my family and I are in bed, okay? We're in bed.
[00:24:09] You know how hard it was to get the kids to go to bed? It's not happening, bro. This is not happening. You don't even have kids.
[00:24:18] Get yourself a home. Bed, doordash, that thing. I don't even care. Don't come. And then he says this. He says, what? I what?
[00:24:25] I can't help you. So Jesus says, hey, here's what I want you to think about when it comes to prayer, okay? He's your dad, but he's also. Now, in the story, he's what?
[00:24:36] A friend He's a friend. Now again, friends for the Jewish mind.
[00:24:41] This was like borderline heresy.
[00:24:46] Borderline heresy. What are you saying, Rabbi?
[00:24:50] What are you talking about? This is Adonai that we're talking about. This is Yahweh. This is Jehovah, not your Bro Joe. Like, this is. No, what are you talking about? And Jesus goes, hey, suppose, suppose.
[00:25:08] And then he actually says, I can't help you. Which actually doesn't mean I can't help you. I what?
[00:25:15] I won't help you. I don't want to get up. I don't want to do this.
[00:25:21] This is about prayer. The story is about prayer.
[00:25:24] And then he says. He says, but I tell you this, though. He won't do it. For what friendship sake? He is not BFF anymore. He does not care. He won't do it because you're his friend.
[00:25:37] I'll tell you what he would do it for. If you keep what?
[00:25:42] Long. What?
[00:25:44] Let's say it with me. Long enough.
[00:25:48] Long enough. If you keep.
[00:25:50] If you keep on longing long enough, he will what?
[00:25:54] He will get his.
[00:25:56] He will get up.
[00:25:58] He'll get up and he'll give you, what?
[00:26:02] Whatever you need just to shut you up.
[00:26:06] Why? Because you are. What? Because of your. What?
[00:26:10] Shameless persistence. He's like, just stop it. You're going to wake up. Everybody.
[00:26:15] Just stop it. He won't do it out of love. He'll do it because he really thinks you're serious about this. It's really, really important to you.
[00:26:27] And then he ends the story. He says, so here's what I want you to know when it comes to prayer. Here's what I want you to know about prayer. I want you to help me out. So I tell you. Keep on what?
[00:26:37] Asking. If you keep on. If you keep on not ask one time.
[00:26:42] Not like, hey, can you help me out? No, no, no. Keep on asking. Okay? You will receive what you ask for. Then he keeps on going. He says, hey, if you keep on what?
[00:26:51] Seeking. You will not one time. But if you keep on doing it, if you keep on seeking.
[00:26:59] And then he says, if you keep on what?
[00:27:02] Knocking. You're getting just shameless about this. You're getting obnoxious about this, Audacious about this. You're like, keep on knocking. I'm not going to leave.
[00:27:16] If you keep on knocking, what will happen?
[00:27:24] What happens if you knock once?
[00:27:29] Have you ever gone to a door and you're like. You can tell how badly you want to get into the house by the way people knock.
[00:27:36] Do you notice that you're like, like, knock the door. I don't know if I want to go in, but if you want to get in the door, you're banging the door down.
[00:27:47] You're like, hey, let me in.
[00:27:49] So Jesus leaves us with this kind of an example about prayer. It blows my mind again.
[00:28:00] Not just the Jewish people to me, because I'm like, When I pray and things don't work out, which has happened a lot, I get my feelings hurt. Anybody else, I get low key, offended.
[00:28:18] And then I get in my head, I'm like, yeah, but, Naeem, if you were just a better pastor, you know what I'm saying? If you just read more Bible, if you actually prayed more, you know what I'm saying? Then this time around, you would get what you want. You know what I'm saying? If you just worship, if you just.
[00:28:38] There's something wrong with you. If you were just a better person, you would get your prayers answered. Do we not believe this in our heads? And in this story, Jesus is like, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:28:50] It's not like if you were a better friend, he would open the door. The story is turned around. He's like, no. If you were just a persistent friend, what would happen?
[00:29:04] The door would be open.
[00:29:07] See, I don't know about you, but with my kids growing up, I would use this excuse, maybe phrase. It was not really an excuse because I didn't know. Because, you know, kids talk a lot. People talk a lot. They say all kinds of things. They want all kinds of things. And sometimes I'll be like, I didn't know if you really meant that.
[00:29:22] You know what I'm saying? Like, have you ever said. I didn't know you were serious.
[00:29:26] Have you ever said that? We say to adults, too. Why? Because people say all kinds of things. Have you ever said something you don't mean?
[00:29:34] Yeah. Have you ever wanted something and then later found out, oh, my gosh, I'm so thankful God did not answer that prayer.
[00:29:42] Just saw them on Facebook. Whoo. Hello.
[00:29:45] No, no.
[00:29:47] Yeah, yeah. Because sometimes we just say stuff. And I wonder if God's like, hey, I'm like, your dad.
[00:29:55] I don't know if you really mean it. I don't know if you really want it. You say a lot of things. You pray for a parking space and you pray for healing. I don't know extremes here. You pray. You pray. This pie does not give you the calories. I don't even know how you can pray that, but you pray all kinds of.
[00:30:13] You say all kinds of things.
[00:30:15] Then you pray things like, God, I'll tell you what, let's make a deal. If you do this, I promise I will do this.
[00:30:22] It'll happen. It'll happen. And it's usually in the shower. God, I just.
[00:30:28] And God's like, are you serious right now?
[00:30:30] I don't know if you were serious. I'm sorry, I couldn't tell if you were serious while you were drying off. Like, I didn't know because you're not consistent or you're not persistent.
[00:30:45] I wonder how many of us have gotten offended. And so we've stopped praying for something that could be a possibility in our life because we just got offended and depressed and disappointed because it didn't show up. And I'm with you. I get it. I get it. But if you're gonna ask, if you're gonna keep on asking, then if you're gonna keep on seeking, and then you can keep on knocking, then you're gonna get all the things. In fact, the series was gonna be just ask because it says, ask, seek and knock. That was it. Basically, the whole teachings of Jesus, Basically that, like, I just want you to keep on doing the things. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. And so today, if we just go, okay, so what does that mean? That means you gotta figure out if you really mean what you're asking for. Like. Like, is it big enough for an ask? Like, is it a big ask?
[00:31:36] What's a big ask? What's a big ask? Prayer.
[00:31:40] Okay, what is it?
[00:31:42] Some of you guys, you're like, ah, no, no. Middle schoolers. Anyway, so, okay, so what is it? I think what a big ask prayer is not.
[00:31:51] It's not something you could do by yourself.
[00:31:54] It's something that requires God to show up.
[00:31:57] Like, my big prayers are complicated. They don't have a timeline.
[00:32:02] They're like, God, would you just protect my kids?
[00:32:08] That's big to me.
[00:32:10] Would you speak to them? Would you cover them? Would you?
[00:32:16] There's not an end date. You know what I'm saying? It's like, okay, now we're good this month, but next month they're on their own.
[00:32:22] No, it's like, keeps on going.
[00:32:24] See, things that are connected to our souls are just big prayers.
[00:32:28] So what is a prayer that maybe you need to start praying for and saying, God, I just.
[00:32:35] Yeah, yeah. You know, it's been a couple of years now, and you still haven't figured that out, and I'm still where I am.
[00:32:44] So maybe this year, maybe this year, maybe you just Knocked and knocked. And you're like, you know what? He's not home.
[00:32:53] It doesn't matter. It's the wrong door, I don't know. And I just leave. I can guarantee you it's because you got your feelings hurt.
[00:33:02] I've been there. I get it. And then you just leave. You don't pray about it for years, but Jesus is, like, redefining what prayer looks like. He says, just keep.
[00:33:13] Keep on. It's not your. It's how persistent you are.
[00:33:17] Be shameless about it.
[00:33:19] Don't be proper. Don't try to. No, just be who you are.
[00:33:24] Just be who you are. So what could be you asking, Big, is it connected to.
[00:33:31] Yeah, is it connected to maybe a relationship or reconciliation in a relationship? And your prayer, the big one is, God, restore what feels beyond repair.
[00:33:42] God, would you do that? Could you do that? God, could you restore what feels beyond repair?
[00:33:49] Maybe it's connected to, like, fear and anxiety, this constant worry in your life.
[00:33:54] And maybe your big prayer is, God, teach me to trust people again.
[00:34:00] Man, that's tough.
[00:34:02] That's tough. God, teach me to trust you again.
[00:34:07] How about this one? Maybe it's God, let my life matter.
[00:34:14] God, let my life matter. Please don't, don't. I mean, I'm making them.
[00:34:18] I'm paying the bills, I'm making the things, I'm doing the stuff. And I got the da, da, da, da, da. But at the end of the day, I just feel so. Just empty. I just. I have no direction in life. I feel like. I just don't know. I'm just doing a lot of important stuff.
[00:34:33] I don't know if it really matters.
[00:34:36] Maybe that's your big prayer. God, let my life matter.
[00:34:39] Maybe it's connected to healing.
[00:34:42] Maybe it's connected to, like, identity, you know?
[00:34:45] And the prayer is, God, can you change me?
[00:34:50] Like, could you change me?
[00:34:53] Is that even possible for you to just. Just change me?
[00:34:58] Maybe that is connected to the prayer of, like, God, I'm going to give you my life.
[00:35:05] Maybe that's it for you.
[00:35:07] Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews, Paul, talks about this idea of shameless persistence. You know, Jesus gets crucified, gets resurrected, leaves. And Paul shows up on the scene. The early church started, and Paul writes this letter, and he's addressing it to two people who are Hebrews. Like, some letters are, like. To other churches that are mixed with people. This particular book is like two Hebrews, okay? To the people who grew up in a Hebrew tradition, people who. When Jesus was talking about this whole idea for moving from Yahweh to Abba. And he says this. He says, hey, hey, since we have a high. A great high priest, he's using that language to. Because they understand who high priest is, okay? We wouldn't, but they did.
[00:36:00] See who has gone to heaven. Jesus, the Son of God. Let us live our lives consistent with our faith, with our confession of faith. He says basically, hey, you know what Jesus did, right? You know what he's done. You know all about this, so let's live according to that. He says, cause you know this. We don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weakness. We don't have that kind of high priest.
[00:36:32] Instead, we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet never sinned.
[00:36:40] He says, so can I remind you. He says, can I remind you it's not about who you are, it's about what he is and what he's done.
[00:36:51] That's why you have, like, this direct line to God. You have a direct line to God. You're like, I don't know. I mean, sometimes you have shoddy, you know, signals, obviously, but you have a direct line to God. He says, so let us.
[00:37:10] What does he say? So let us what?
[00:37:13] Keep on what?
[00:37:16] Coming boldly to the throne of grace so we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
[00:37:28] He says, can I remind you of who God is?
[00:37:32] So today, as you think about your big, big prayer, right, it's complicated prayer.
[00:37:39] I don't want you to believe so you can have the faith to believe that. I want you to remember.
[00:37:46] I want you to remember, like Paul's saying, remember who God is. Remember he's your dad. Remember who Jesus is. Remember what he's already done in your life. Remember how you even got here. Remember all the things that worked out for you to be here. Just remember those things and just. I know all the things that did not happen, but just look at the things that have happened and how God has provided and based on just remembrance, pray that prayer. And go boldly and start asking, start seeking and start knocking.
[00:38:20] Because whoever asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And whoever knocks what, the door will be opened.
[00:38:31] So let's do that.
[00:38:33] This morning I want to pray for you. And you know, usually what we do is we have one more song and people go and receive communion. They'll go to the stations, they'll go light a candle.
[00:38:44] And we do one more song. And this particular song, though, I would love for it to, like, maybe Take a minute and listen to the lyrics because I believe it'll prompt you to remember that God's been constant in your life.
[00:38:59] And then you would be bold enough to really pray big.
[00:39:03] So let's pray together. Let's do that.
[00:39:06] Lord, God, thank you so much for this morning. Thank you for this weekend, for what it signifies.
[00:39:16] God, for some of us, we find ourselves in a place where we're.
[00:39:21] Well, we're.
[00:39:24] We're trying to do a reset. We're to trying. Trying to figure out God, if you.
[00:39:31] If you really truly love us, God, sometimes it's reconnected to that. Our. Our view of ourselves is so connected to our view of who you are.
[00:39:46] So, God, I pray that we would see you as big as you are, and then we would see how much worth you've given us.
[00:40:03] Father, I pray for these big prayers, these complicated prayers. God, I pray that you would speak to us next couple of weeks.
[00:40:13] God, do what only you can do. I pray, and I just thank you for that, God. I thank you.
[00:40:22] I pray you remind us that you're constant. God.
[00:40:26] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:40:32] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
