Messages

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” From those words and many others, we realize that God places a high priority on the harmony of the relationships in which we’re involved. Is there anyone from who you’re estranged right now? How much have you done to be at peace with that person, and how recently did you do it? Pastor Rick looks at Romans 12:18 and the simple instruction that God gives us for pursuing peace.

A message from the series “Seven Words That Will Change Your Life.” We are wrapping up our series called Seven Words That Can Change Your Life. And in this series we’ve seen the power of one word. . . And how one simple little word like “NO” or “YES” or “ENOUGH” or “SORRY” or “HELP” can make a big, big difference.

We began with the word “NO” because if you’re going to be able to fulfill God’s plan for your life, then you have to continuously say no to those things that are standing between you and what God’s best is for you. Being able to say “NO” can be the thing that makes room for a bigger “YES”. We looked at the counter-cultural word “ENOUGH”. And we realized that we need to work hard to not just go along with what our culture is telling us, and instead, to live with the open hand, and say, “I’ve got enough,” “God, you are enough.” And that that requires a lot of work.

We saw that it’s God’s will, that those of us in Christ Jesus give THANKS in all circumstances. And so THANKS is a word that should be a frequent part of our vocabulary. And then last week, we learned that there will be times that we need “HELP” And part of help, is teaching us humility so that we can ask for the help that we need. The only way to experience God’s grace is by being willing to say “Help” and acknowledging our need for His grace. If we never see our need for His help, then we’re not going to be interested in the solution for our sin that he offers.

All of which brings us to the last word of the series, which is the word – WOW

Read through the record of our Lord’s birth, and his life and his death, and his resurrection, and you will see that there were people who over and over, saw who he was, and what he had done, and their reaction was. . . WOW.

You begin with the birth of our Lord and the first ones who received the announcement of that birth. Do you remember who they were? They were the shepherds who were out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, when suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them with the announcement of this child’s birth. And the response of the shepherds was “WOW”. And they quickly hurried to the manger in Bethlehem. And arriving there, they told everyone what had happened and what the angel had told them about this child. And all who heard the shepherd’s story said, “WOW”. They were astonished!

When he began his ministry there were many times when others were WOWED by Jesus. They were WOWED by his teaching, because He spoke with authority. They were WOWED by his miracles. . . Turning water into wine, Healing the sick, Raising the dead. Do you remember the time that He was with his disciples out on the sea, and he was asleep in the boat? And a storm came upon them and they thought they were going to die. And they woke him up and he calmed the storm… And the reaction of his disciples was “WOW!” Who is this man that even the winds and the waves obey Him?

There are two times that I can think of when Jesus was WOWED, and both of those times had to do with the faith of different individuals. The first was a Roman officer, you can read about it in Luke 7. His servant was sick and near death, and he sent a request to Jesus for help. And Jesus was going to grant that request, and come to his home and heal his servant. But as he was on his way, that officer sent word to Jesus and said, “Lord you don’t need to come, but if you just say the word, my servant will be healed.” And we’re told that Jesus was WOWed – – that he was amazed by that man’s faith.

The second time we see him amazed was in his home town, in the Synagogue in Nazareth. He taught there, and some of those who heard him said “WOW”. Some were amazed. But others scoffed, they said “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” And upon hearing that Jesus said, “Wow” as he was amazed at their unbelief.

Today, as we think about this word WOW, I want us to think specifically about what it was about Jesus, what it still is about Jesus, that continues to WOW the world. If the movement that Jesus started, with the calling of His TWELVE disciples, was something that was simply of man, then by all rights it should have died out, not long after JESUS death. And yet the reality is, the movement that Jesus started grew from just a few people, to hundreds of people, to thousands of people, to a worldwide phenomenon in just 30 years. And the reason that I choose that number. . . just 30 years is because in the year 64 AD there was a fire that destroyed the city of Rome.

Historians tell us that in all likelihood, it was the Roman emperor Nero himself, who started that fire, so that he could use it as an excuse to rebuild the city, but Nero couldn’t admit that he started the fire.He needed someone to blame, and so he blamed the Christians, and as a result of that, a widespread persecution was unleashed against the followers of Jesus.

What’s interesting is, that in order for Nero, to use those Christians, as his scapegoat, there had to have been enough of them – – – Enough followers of Jesus, living in Rome 30 years after Jesus death, to be able to blame the destruction of an entire city on. Remember, Rome is about 1500 miles from Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, and now 30 years later, there were enough Christians living in Rome to blame for the destruction of an entire city. Fast-forward, another 250 years, to about 300AD, and another Roman Emperor by the name of Constantine, declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire. You look at that and you wonder, how? How did Christianity go in just 300 years from a religion with zero followers, to the most well-known religion on the planet? I believe that you can find the answer to that by looking back to the way that this movement began. And it began in heaven, not on earth.

And you can read about that in Philippians chapter 2. Here is what the Apostle Paul writes beginning with verse 5 . . “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.”

What does Paul mean there? He means that although Jesus Christ possessed total equality with God, he didn’t regard that equality with God, as something to grasp tightly and cling to… “Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Philippians 2:7-8

Paul is telling us that you and I need to be imitators, we need to have the same attitude as the one that he has just told us about in those words. We need to imitate Jesus. Clearly we can’t imitate his divinity, but we can imitate his humility. And Jesus modeled that humility again and again throughout his time among his disciples. On the night before he went to the cross, he gathered his disciples together for a final meal. We call it the Last Supper And at that meal, in an incredible act of humility he got up from the table and he washed their feet. And then he explained why . . . He told them . . “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” He continued and told them . . . “I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.”

Jesus told them, do these things and people will stop and say WOW! Jesus said if you want to experience my blessing and my power, that will happen when you do the things for others that I have done for you. Not when you BELIEVE them. Not when you TEACH about them. Not when you TALK about them. But when you actually DO them.

Jesus said when we love other people the way that he loved us, it’s then that they will see His love alive in us.

The Apostle John in his first letter described it this way. He wrote . . .“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. No one has ever seen God???? Why? Because He’s invisible. But here’s the thing. . . John says . . “But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

Again. . . “his love is brought to full expression in us.”

When we love the way that Jesus loved, suddenly the invisible God becomes visible through us.

Let me give you what you might call the BIG IDEA for today. The Big Idea Is . .. BE LOVE So That Others Will BELIEVE.

There is a whole community . . A whole world around us who will never believe unless they first experience His love And I think we’ve got it backwards. . . We’re trying to drag people, shame people, guilt people in an attempt to bring them to God, but it doesn’t work that way. You need to BE LOVE. You need to BE JESUS to people, then they will believe.

When Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment was, out of all the commandments in the O.T. he didn’t have to think long before giving an answer. He said that the greatest commandment was LOVE. ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” And yet Jesus as he spoke to His disciples at that Last Supper, gave them another commandment, and it’s our MEMORY VERSE for this weekend . . .

After he had washed their feet, and had given them an example. After he told them . . . I have given you an example to follow… now do as I’ve done to you. After he told them “Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” He then told them . . . “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Jesus says, the standard is no longer to love others as you love yourself. He raised the bar and said it’s to love one another as I have loved you. He said, this is what is going to prove to the world that we are his followers. So, if that’s the standard, then it begs the question, of how did Jesus love. Let me suggest to you three ways.

First. . . Jesus Loved Those Who Could DO NOTHING FOR HIM

Toward the end of Matthew’s gospel, in Matthew 25, Jesus shared a parable to help us understand what the final judgment would be like. The picture that he paints, through that parable that he shared, is of a coming day when all the people of the earth would be gathered before Him, and he would separate them, like a shepherd separates his animals, with the sheep on one side and the goats on the other. In this parable. . . The shepherd is separating them, not on the basis of what they believed, but rather, on the basis of what they had done. Some people find the parable a little confusing. . . They read it and say, “Wait a second . . . is this saying you can earn your way into heaven?” The answer to that question is “No” The only way to get to heaven is to trust in what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, to pay the penalty for our sins. That’s the ONLY way to get to heaven. There is no other way. We are saved by faith alone.

But as Martin Luther once said . . . “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone” In other words . . . Genuine faith, real faith will always result in life-change And that life change brings with it corresponding actions. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said . . . “Anyone who listens to my teaching and Does what?? “Anyone who listens to my teaching and FOLLOWS IT is wise…”

He could have said, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and BELIEVES it… He could have said “Anyone who listens to my teaching and STUDIES it… But he didn’t And I believe the reason that he didn’t was because he knew that if we’re not FOLLOWING what he taught, then we don’t really BELIEVE it, no matter HOW MUCH WE SAY we believe it or HOW LONG WE STUDY IT.

In this parable, look at what Jesus said to those on his right He said . . .“‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’”

You look at those he talks about in that parable. The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned. What do they all share in common? What they all share in common is their desperate need, and the fact that they have no way to do anything in return for the kindness that you show toward them. They were the least of the least. They were the most vulnerable. And Jesus said, as you love them, you are loving me.

It’s easy to love those who love us. Jesus said . . . “If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? . . . If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?” The love that Jesus showed that WOWED the world, was the love that was directed toward those who do nothing for Him.

In addition to that, Jesus loved those Who Others HAD WRITTEN OFF

Whether you’re talking about . . . the woman caught in adultery… Or the the woman who had five failed marriages and was living with someone else… Or the tax collector named Matthew. . . These were all people whom others had written off.

In Matthew 9 we read about the day that Jesus called Matthew to follow Him and Matthew threw a party And we’re told that . . . “Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with such scum?’”

Jesus critics could not understand WHY Jesus would hang around with people like that. I mean, THEY wouldn’t waste their time with people like that, so why would Jesus? He told them why. . . “When Jesus heard this, he said, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.’ …For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus may have come for that person who you like the least? That person who doesn’t share your values? Who doesn’t share your lifestyle? Who doesn’t share your political persuasion? Who doesn’t watch the same cable news network as you? What if Jesus came for them? And what if Jesus is saying to you, the person that you love the least – whoever that is, that just came into your mind. That is the person I love the most? If we’re gonna love like Jesus, If we’re going to BE LOVE so others will BELIEVE then WE NEED TO LOVE THEM because those were the ones that Jesus loved.

The third thing we see about those who Jesus loved is that . . . Jesus loved perfectly those Who Loved Him IMPERFECTEDLY

And when it comes to those who loved Jesus imperfectly. . . I don’t believe you can find a better example of someone who loved Jesus imperfectly, than his disciple, Simon Peter. You remember Simon Peter. He was the first one of Jesus disciples to guarantee that he would stand with Jesus till the very end. He said . . .“Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” I say he was the first, because as soon as he said that, all the other disciples made the same promise. And you know what happened. When push came to shove When it came to crunch time. . . Peter bailed. . . He swore that he didn’t even know who Jesus was. And he deserted him.

Fast-forward. . .to a point following the resurrection of Jesus. Simon Peter and the other disciples had gone fishing. They had fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus appears on the shore, but they don’t know that it’s Jesus. He tells them to give it one more try. He tells them to “Throw their net out on the right-hand side of the boat,” And they did, and they caught a catch so big they couldn’t haul it in. And suddenly they recognize that it is Jesus. And Simon Peter is so anxious to see him, that he jumps out of the boat and swims to shore. And when he arrived there, he found that Jesus had prepared breakfast. And Jesus engaged Peter in a conversation.

We’re told that . . .“After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ Peter replied, ‘you know I love you.’ ‘Then feed my lambs,’ Jesus told him. “Jesus repeated the question: ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Yes, Lord,’ Peter said, ‘you know I love you.’ ‘Then take care of my sheep,’ Jesus said.” “A third time he asked him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, ‘Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Then feed my sheep’”

What was Jesus doing here? Some refer to this as the re-commissioning of Peter
I’m not sure that’s the best way to think of it because I don’t know that Jesus ever de-commissioned Peter. I don’t think he ever said to Peter, “I had a plan for you, but you blew it, so I’m done with you.” You’re history.

This wasn’t Jesus recommissioning Peter, this was Jesus REMINDING Peter. “Yeah, you blew it. You blew it big-time. But I knew that was going to happen when I called you, and what you need to know right now is that I love you anyway. I love you in spite of your failure.”

Maybe you’re here today, or maybe you’re watching online and you need to hear this message. You need to hear the message that you will never be able to out-sin God’s grace. If you’re new to church. . . I know it can be kind of intimidating. You see these church people, and you think “I could never be like them.”

Two things I want to remind you of. Two things. When it comes to the people you see, remember. . . .

#1 – Every saint has a past

You may not see it, but trust me it’s there. Every saint has a past. And the second thing to remember is that…

#2 – Every sinner has a future.

If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you need to know that every time you fail, Jesus will give you – just like He did Peter – an opportunity to reaffirm your love for him. An opportunity to turn back to Him and say, “Lord you know all things, you know that I love you.” And because that’s the way that He loves us, that is the way that He calls us to love others. It’s to those people we need to BE LOVE so that they can BELIEVE.

Would you pray with me toward that end. . .

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Judy Mandl reflects on Hebrews 4:12-13 and reminds us that God is speaking to us through His Word. Are we cooperating with, or resisting what He’s saying to us.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Pastor Rick reflects on Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow from Luke 18 as a reminder of why we should persist in prayer.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Raquel continues her look at the beatitudes of Jesus and challenges us to look for opportunities to show mercy all around us.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Pastor Andrew reflects on Acts 2 and the event that we remember on Pentecost Sunday and challenges us to think about why we don’t pay as much attention to the Holy Spirit as we do to the other members of the trinity.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Praying to God in the morning is a great habit to develop. Judy Mandl reflects on Psalm 5:1-3 in which David encourages us to take that great habit a step further.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Pastor Rick reminds us that “Just Say No” may be a slogan that had some effect when it came to the war on drugs, but when it comes to the believer’s war against sin, we need to not just be able to say “No” to sin, but also to say “Yes” to God.

A message from the series “Seven Words That Will Change Your Life.” Hi church, it’s so good to be with you. My name is Andrew, I’m one of the Pastor’s here. Today we’re going to continue our series Seven Words to Change Your Life. Our word for today is Help.

There have been a lot of scientific studies done on this, on the differences between the kinds of people who ask for help and those who don’t. And they’ve come up with a pretty simple label for the people who refuse to ask for help – they call them – men.

Seriously, guys don’t deny it. We hate asking for help. Back before my wife and I were married, I was moving into the apartment that she would also move once we were married. When we were moving everything in, we left the refrigerator in a corner of the apartment, kind of, out of the way – but not where we were ultimately intending on putting it. Well, I was in the apartment by myself, unpacking some boxes, and decided the refrigerator was now in the way. So, I decided to move it from the front room to kitchen, by myself without a dolly. I couldn’t push it, couldn’t drag it either, so I decided to pivot it back and forth from corner to corner all the way into place. The problem was the corners of the fridge were sharp and the kitchen floor was this cheap vinyl flooring. As you could imagine. It shredded the floor.

Kristen showed up a little later, and she was mortified. “What happened?” She asked. And I had to be honest. I told her “I think the painters must have dragged their ladders through the kitchen.” To which she responded, “Andrew you need help.” She was right.

All kidding aside, how often do we find ourselves in a position where we need help, and we don’t want to admit it, much less ask for it? Or we need help, but we don’t even know it. We think like I did, “I can handle this.”

Pre-pandemic, if you would have gone to a conference of church leaders – and they were talking about indicators of church health – some of them probably would have said numbers. A growing church is a healthy church. They would argue as we see in Acts that the numbers being added daily was a sign of the Spirit. Others might say giving is a sign of a healthy church. After all Jesus says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, so percentage giving is a sign of hearts surrendered to Jesus (i.e a healthy church). Others would say baptisms. New believers turning away from their sinful ways and surrendering their lives to Jesus is a sign of a healthy church.

All these are great and they’re all true in their own way. But as I was thinking through this message, it really struck me – that our prayers or lack thereof are an indicator of our health. Think about it. While prayer is many things – often at its most basic it’s asking for help. When you don’t ask for help, often it is on the assumption, “I can handle this. I’ve got this.” There is nothing more antithetical to the Christian life, unhealthier, than the fully self-reliant attitude “I’ve got this.” And the more we live that way the more our lives look like my shredded vinyl floor.

Asking God for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of spiritual health.

As one of your Pastors, it is of grave concern to us that many of you never share prayer requests. That’s not a sign that everything is going well. It can actually be a sign to us that the most important thing in your life is not.

I hope this hits you where it’s supposed to. My hope and purpose for this message is not to get all of you to fill out a connection card every week, with some perfunctory request. Rather it’s to challenge you. Poke the bear as it were and awaken you to the incredible difference praying “help” can make in your life. To do so, we’re going to look at an admittedly weird passage from the Old Testament, found in the book of 2 Kings, chapter six. Verse one begins this way:

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.” And he said, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied. And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!” The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

As a prophet, Elisha’s primary role would have been to serve as God’s mouthpiece. Yet we have no significant collection of the things he said. Not like Jeremiah, Isaiah or others. What we have is a collection of stories, like the one we just read. What that tells us, is that at least with this prophet, God was more concerned with communicating something about himself through Elisha’s actions than through his words. Elisha was leader of a school of prophets – which was apparently growing, so much so that they had to expand their base of operations. That’s pretty impressive considering it wasn’t long before that the prophet Elijah had complained to God in 1 Kings, “I’m the only one left.”

The story is a pretty practical one. Building a house for the prophets required lumber. So they set off to fell some trees around the Jordan river. Apparently that’s where the good wood was or they wanted a waterfront property. It’s hard to say. Either way, the iron axehead from the one iron axe they possessed went flying off into the Jordan river. Which to us sounds kind of comedic, but of course you couldn’t just go to Home Depot and buy a new axe.

This meant the project would have ground to a stop. Maybe more significant was the fact the axe was borrowed. How familiar does this sound to you? You borrow your neighbors’ belt sander or circular saw for a project around the house and something happens. It catches a nail, or you lose the battery. Oh no, it was borrowed! But this is bigger than a belt sander. Iron was rare and expensive in those days, particularly in Israel of all places.

One scholar suggested that losing a borrowed axe head back then would be like wrecking a borrowed car in our day. And it’s not as if this prophet had disposable income lying around. To repay the debt, the borrower more than likely would have had to sell himself as an indentured servant until the debt was repaid. And so, without hesitation he goes to the man of God.

There are those who rationalize this text and say, what Elisha, the Man of God really did was get a long stick, poke around in the mud until he found it and lifted it out. Or he pushed it through the mud into shallow water where it could be reached and taken out by hand. Those are clever, but that’s clearly not what the story claims. He cut a stick, threw it in and the axe floated up. It’s a great story. Iron floating is pretty cool. But what’s it doing taking up space in scripture? Is this that remarkable? I mean, John the gospel writer tells us

“if every one of the things Jesus did were written down, the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” There surely has to be something more than telling the story of a miracle, doesn’t there?

Here’s where it gets interesting. In the story just before this, Elisha heals an individual named Naaman. Naaman, just so happened to be the commander of the army of Aram. Even meeting with Naaman was an action filled with political consequence. Right after the floating axe, we’re told that Israel was at war with Aram, Elisha struck the army of Aram with blindness, and delivered them into the hands of the Israelites. Sandwiched right between these stories filled with profound geopolitical consequences, National stage kind of stuff…is this story of a floating axe head? What in the world?

I’ll tell you what. This is God’s word, and by His word, God is trying to communicate something to us about himself, using these stories, and even their very arrangement. The lesson for us, at least the first one, is God’s not too busy to help and our cares are not too small. We might not be Elisha, but every one of us can identify with the servant with the borrowed axe. We’ve all got things in our lives that we’ve seen sink into the mud and we can’t do anything about it. But we’ve got a God who can and does.

So many of us have been deceived into believing that our prayers are not important enough. We hear the prayer requests of others around and we think well, He’s got bigger fish to fry than listen to me, I can’t bring this to God. Nothing could be further from the truth.

1 Peter 5:7 tells us to “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Like Elisha threw the stick into the water, we are commanded to throw our anxiety, our cares on God. Not to hold onto it, but give it to him. Notice it doesn’t say “cast your big anxieties, or cast your legitimate anxiety or your spiritual anxiety.” There is no qualification. In your Bible, circle the word all. If you feel it, and it weighs you down – give it to him. May we be like the servant in this story, who did not hesitate, before the axe-head hit the muddy bottom of the Jordan, he was pleading for the man of God to intercede with God, to do only what God can do. If only we would have such readiness to cry “Oh Lord, help.”

The very purpose of this passage is to give us permission to bring our borrowed but lost axe heads to God. He hears and delights in answering our genuine needs because he cares for us. If this is you and you find yourself sitting on the bank of the Jordan today, staring down into the deep, wondering what am I going to do? What you need to do is bring it to God. Bring it to the one who cares and has the power to act. Our God made iron float like a feather. Does he raise every axe-head? No. But he hears every cry. His no’s have a reason, and His word invites us to bring our requests to Him in faith.

If the first reason we don’t cry help is because we don’t think our prayers are big enough, I think the second reason is because we don’t think that our prayers are spiritual enough or good enough. Maybe we’ve never been taught to pray so we just don’t know how to do it. Or because we do it so infrequently it always kind of feels like doing something with your non-dominant hand. It feels awkward. And so you don’t because you don’t feel comfortable or don’t think you’re very good at it. If you don’t know this, you need to: God doesn’t answer our prayers because of how long they are, how eloquent they are, or how many Christian words we can jam into them. He answers them because He is good and He is gracious and He is loving.

The second lesson we’re taught here is God invites us to pray what you’ve got.

Whatever is burdening you, whatever is dominating your thoughts or weighs on your heart, keeping you up at night, pray that. Let this prayer be a model for you: “Oh no, my lord! It was borrowed.” I know you can pray that way. Whatever it is: Oh no my Lord, I’m not sure where rent’s coming from this month. Oh no my Lord, did you hear the Doctor’s diagnosis? On no my Lord, we just can’t seem to get along. Don’t over think it. God delights in our honesty and simplicity. Let the simplicity of your prayers drive the frequency of your prayers.

How many of us would pray more if we spent less energy trying to think of the right stained glass words to say – and just spoke honestly with God about what’s on our hearts? There’s nothing more beautiful to God. On the way to work: Oh no my Lord, I didn’t get much sleep last night, I need you today. When you get home from work – Oh no my Lord, I am tired, but my kids and spouse haven’t seen me all day and I don’t know what I’ve got left in the tank. There is nothing wrong with a one sentence prayer. Maybe some of us need to simplify.

I want to qualify this: prayer is more than sharing our grocery list with God. It’s more than just running down a list of needs. God is not Santa Clause. The company of prophets wanted to have their Master with them. In case they got into trouble it’s nice to have him there. But there’s also a relational aspect to this. One of the servants asked “Master, won’t you come with us,” in other words, we want to be with you. We see the flip side of this in Jesus’ ministry, in Mark 3:14 we’re told “He (Jesus) appointed twelve that they might be with him.”

Yes, he had a job for them: that they could preach and cast out demons. But pay attention to the order. It starts not with them being sent out, but just being with Him. Because God cares for us, as we just in 1 Peter, He’s actually interested in being with us. Our designed dependence on God, is relational at its core. Let me say it this way: Asking for help is more than getting what we want it’s connecting with who we’re talking to.

I’ve been learning this lesson with my four-year-old daughter. So often she’ll ask me to help her with something. It doesn’t matter what it is, if she’s building something, drawing something, even eating a meal at the table. She’ll ask, Daddy, will you help me? It is not that she is incapable. It has nothing to do with her capacity or incapacity. It has to do with our relationship. She asks for help not as a way of saying I can’t do this or will you do it for me. It’s more often I can do this, but will you do this with me. I want to be near you. I want to be with you. That’s how God, our heavenly Father set up the world.

I think this is an aspect of prayer and reliance that so many of us miss. Of course we don’t need God to help us in the mundane things: the drive to and from work, as we do our grocery shopping, or fold the laundry. Yet, God delights in helping us in those things because it creates connection. It’s not so much God I need you to step in because I can’t, it’s I want you to step in because life is better when you do.

I shared that the passage that we’ve been looking at is book ended by miracles, in fact – we could point to a whole series of miracles that Elisha performed leading up to this: He provided for a poor widow with olive oil that didn’t run out, he raised the Shunammite women’s son from the dead, even saved the company of prophets from the worst stew ever made. But of all the stories the most significant request is not for healing, or provision, resurrection, or a floating axehead. And it’s not even made to Elisha, it’s made by Elisha.

In 2 Kings 2, the Prophet Elijah was about to hand over the mantle to Elisha, maybe you know the story: The prophet Elijah had had it. He was burned out and done. And God had communicated son, I’m bringing you home. I’m bringing in a reliever. Before he caught a whirlwind uber back to heaven Elijah asked Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.”

That’s the request. That’s asking for help. All the stories we see in succession in Elisha’s life are the outcome, the outpouring from this one request. They’re like a big flashing sign that Elisha’s prayer had been answered. That’s the kind of help that you and I need to be asking for. Not just for needs to be met, as urgent as they may be. But to be indwelt with power, by the very one who is capable to meets those needs.

In Luke 11, Jesus talks about prayer and needs. He tells us “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

What could be clearer? What words could give us greater confidence or boldness? But Jesus isn’t just talking about meeting physical or emotional needs. He’s talking about prayers like Elisha’s he says “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Help isn’t just about praying our lives and needs back up to baseline. Most of us are satisfied just praying our needs back to normal. Help, is praying and asking for the “hard thing” according to Elijah, the “how much more” prayer of Jesus.

In Ephesians, Paul prays “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

That’s a prayer. Oh Lord that’s a prayer. The bottom line is that Help isn’t just seeing needs fulfilled, but being filled full with the Spirit of God.

God wants to do so much more in our lives than we ever seem to ask or imagine. Are you filled to the measure of all the fulness of God? If not, when you say I’m good, I’ve got this. I don’t have any prayer requests. That’s what you’re leaving on the table. I believe that’s the kind of double portioned Spirit Elisha wanted in his life, and all that we read is the fruit of that request. May God burden us with a hunger and yearning for that, to ask the hard thing, the how much more kind of thing, to receive that Spirit in all fullness and bear that kind of fruit in our lives for God’s honor and glory. Oh Lord help us.

Let’s pray
Oh Lord help – the hurting, broken and hungry in our community. For those who’s axe heads have sunk and they don’t know what to do next.
Oh Lord help, those here in our church and in our community, that have never known you as the kind of Father that we can ask, seek and knock. Open their eyes and move in their hearts.
Oh Lord help those of us, who’s relationship with you is limited to just getting us back to baseline.
By your help may we become a community, that bear the marks of your Spirt, centered on the Life of your Son, shaped by the Word of your mouth.
And from our hearts flow stream rivers of living water.
For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” What do you do when you have prayed and prayed about something and yet it doesn’t seem as if anything is changing? Judy Mandl reflects on Psalm 13 and encourages us to do what David did and remind ourselves of those things we know to be true about God whether we are feeling them or not.