Bend the Ear of God: Three Wonders of Christian Prayer

0:17 and remembered of your Holy Spirit to be among us and brood on this gathering of your people and to bring the word home to our hearts. And I pray Father that you would speak to us here in these moments through your living word, by your living spirit, in exalting your living and reigning son. Would you make much of Jesus here as we come to learn and think and praise you for the wonder and power of prayer. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I wonder how you feel when you look in the worship folder or you hear that the preacher is going to preach a sermon about prayer. Is this right? You got two in a row. You preached on prayer last weekend.

1:09 And this is the middle of three. Three in a row. How does it make you feel? Do you feel like, oh no, here we go, and they bring up prayer, so easy to feel guilty. So many of us don't feel like we pray enough. It might be a problem if you feel like you do. We might even pray a good deal, we might even pray very earnestly and biblically, and still have this gnawing sense of guilt when the topic comes up. It's like evangelism. Anybody shared their faith too much? It's like the question, anybody prayed too much? Or even, anybody prayed enough? A few of us feel instinctively like we do enough of either. And then with the topic of prayer, added to that, we live in this pervasively secular society with its assumptions in our modern world.

2:15 We're encountering this all the time that all that matters is what you see and touch and taste and hear. Our world is bent against prayer. That you would stop your actions. That you would get on your knees and close your eyes. The opposite of what our world is seeking to condition in us. The otherworldly, especially the divine, is unwelcome and out of bounds in a secular society. and we are bombarded by this vision all the time. If you have a device and ever check it, or if you know anyone who has a device and ever is influenced by it, or if you know anyone who knows somebody who has a device and is ever influenced by it, the influence is overwhelming.

3:12 It's pervasive. You can't escape it. The question is not whether you are being influenced by secular our assumptions. The question is, is there some greater influence that is getting traction in your soul and keeping traction in your soul? and God is not going to have the prevailing influence in your life if you find his practical means of influence to be obligatory if you just feel the weight and burden of duty related to God's means of influence in your life you will be slowly swallowed up by other things and the good news is God does not mean for his means to be mere obligations they are not means of duty but as we mentioned in Sunday school this morning they are means of his grace now I'm going to rehearse a little line from our from J.C. Ryle from 100 years ago that we made much of in the Sunday school hour she had to bring it back here before we start talking about prayer. He says that God's means of grace, and he's going to tell us what that is. He says by means of grace, such as Bible reading, private prayer, and regularly worshiping God in church.

4:45 So you're doing one of those right now. There you go. Bible reading, private prayer, regularly worshiping God in church. These are God's, he says, appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul. That's what we want. That's how we want to come to prayer. I did not come to Oakhurst this weekend to make you feel guilty. That's an easy thing for a guest preacher to do on the topic of prayer or evangelism. Let's make you feel guilty. It's not the goal. And I didn't just come to visit family, though that's very nice to be here with family. I came because I want you to enjoy fresh supplies of grace to your soul.

5:44 That's the goal. Through hearing God's voice in his word, having his ear, and making the most of it, bending his ear in prayer and through the covenant fellowship of the local church. So this morning we talked about word, hearing his voice. This evening we'll focus on fellowship. And in these moments, we turn our attention now to prayer as the middle message in a series of three on prayer, which I didn't know till right now.

6:19 And my specific prayer this morning is that the spirit of God who is dwelling in you, if you are in Christ, that the Spirit of God might be pleased to begin or renew a shift in your perspective on prayer. Maybe this is new to you. Or maybe this is a good reminder. Or the shift is going to be renewed or deepened or continued. A shift in your mind and a shift in your heart of prayer as obligation to opportunity. That's the shift I'm praying for. Obligation to opportunity. From duty to delight. From prayer as a burden and dread to prayer as a blessing and joy.

7:12 And in that hope, I'd like for us to linger this morning over three wonders of Christian prayer. And then we'll close with a few ideas that kind of get it going in the practical direction. But our main task here in these few moments is three wonders of Christian prayer. Wonder number one.

7:36 Our Father not only speaks, but listens. He not only speaks, but he listens. This is what we spent time, we spent time on his speaking. In the Sunday school hour. Our God is a speaking God. The preamble for Christian prayer is that he speaks first. I remember Dave and I were part of the same college ministry. Campus outreach. Sometimes we'd gather for prayer. Sometimes we'd just say casually, like, who wants to dial up? Who wants to pray first? Who wants to dial up?

8:13 Truthfully, you don't ever dial up in prayer. No human dials up. God dials up. Prayer is a response to the speaking God. He initiates. He speaks first. Prayer is a conversation with God that we don't start. We respond to God in light of who he's revealed himself to be to us. He's communicative. He's talkative. He speaks first, and he loves to speak. He speaks in creation. The heavens are telling the glory of God. He speaks climactically in his son, who is the capital W word. And he speaks in the God-breathed words of Holy Scripture. Our God loves to speak. And then, amazingly, the great speaker pauses. And he stops.

9:10 And he stoops, as it were. and he cups his hand to his ear and he motions for us to speak. He says, what do you think, child? What do you feel? What do you need? He wants to hear from his children and he wants us to pray to him in view of what he's told us about who he is in his word. So prayer, in prayer, we, his creatures, we, his children, respond to our father's words in our own words. Prayer is speaking to the God who has spoken first. It's responding to the God who has initiated toward us. And we pray to him, as Jesus taught us, and we just pray together as our Father.

10:18 The true God is not a distant, distracted dad. You don't need cheat codes to get to him. You don't need flailing arms. You don't need repeated phrases that get his attention. Amazingly, God himself loves his people and smiles on his people, and he wants to be gladly attentive to our needs. He wants to hear from his children and make us happy in him forever.

10:50 He wants us to pray to him as father. And when we do that, when we pray to him as father, we're doing an especially Christ-like thing. You know where this comes from, right? The ancient Israelites, they knew God as their covenant Lord. They had his personal name Yahweh. They approached him in worship and prayer in view of his covenant love, his faithfulness. But they did not dare call him Father. Calling God Father is new with the life of Jesus, with his coming among us, with his ministry. Jesus taught his disciples, and he taught us to pray by beginning with our Father.

11:46 Over and over again, Jesus calls God his Father, especially in the Gospel of John. One place that comes to mind that's especially significant, John chapter 17, which relates to where we're going here in this sermon. Jesus is called his high priestly prayer, where we overhear him praying for us, and we hear him address his father again and again as, Father, Father, six times, Father, the hour has come, glorify your son. Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence. Holy Father keep my people which you've given me that they may be one even as we are one just as you Father are in me and I in you Father I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory oh righteous Father even though the world does not know you I know you and these know that you have sent me so again and again Jesus himself teaches us come to God as Father. Jesus calling God Father is not only modeling for us how we should come to God, but it's also an invitation for us to draw near to him as Father, a loving, gracious, generous Father.

13:05 Prayer is to have, for the Christian, a posture of childlike reception, not of pretentious performance. We don't come in prayer to perform. We come in prayer to ask our generous Father. Thank you. However, we are sinners, and we need more than Jesus' example and his invitation. Because being sinners, being rebels, we are undeserving of God's riches, undeserving of his generosity. In fact, we are deserving of his punishments. So how can we, in honesty, and not be utterly naive when we call him Father?

14:02 How can that happen? How can we call him Father? God might indeed listen to sinners. He might indeed speak to sinners and say, go to hell. But will he listen to sinners? And will he listen as a Father to sinners? leads to number two. So wonder number one, our God not only speaks, but he listens. Wonder number two, his son secures and certifies our access to God's ear. His son secures and certifies our access to God's ear. So now we go to our two passages in Hebrews. Chapter 4, verses 14 to 16. Chapter 10, verses 19 to 23. Perhaps you saw these posted, you looked at them this week, or maybe even this morning, and if you did, you might have thought, huh, these sound a lot alike. They look kind of similar. There's some overlapping stuff here.

15:13 and they are. They're very similar. And these two passages are structurally and conceptually central in the book of Hebrews. These are right at the heart of the book of Hebrews. Let me give you a little quick overview of the book of Hebrews. One of these two pillar epistles in the New Testament, Romans and Hebrews. I remember thinking as a college student in campus outreach ministry, he's like, oh, if I could understand Romans a little bit better and Hebrews a little bit better, That would help me so much. I think it's true. Romans and Hebrews are really helpful. Here's Hebrews overview. Chapter 1 to 4, extended introduction. Chapter 11 to 13, extended conclusion. Chapter 5 to 10, that's the heart of the book. That's the very middle. And the heart of the book have made up two sections. 5 to 7 is that Jesus is the great and final priest.

16:11 Chapters 8 to 10 is that Jesus is the great and final sacrifice. Right? Here's the heart of Hebrews. Jesus' person is priest. Jesus' work is sacrifice. And amazingly, these two passages, 4.14 to 16, 10.19 to 23, are the entrance and the exit to the very heart of Hebrews. Come in, you go up through that way, and they express the pastoral burden of the book of Hebrews, which is essentially this. Christians, draw near to God. Hold fast to your faith. Don't fall away. Don't coast. Don't drift. Don't stop believing. Journey didn't know that they were summarizing the book of Hebrews. cling to Jesus, draw near to God in him. So let me read you the two passages back to back.

17:15 And as I do, listen for the six things that overlap. These six emphases, all right? There's the mention of a great high priest. His personal name is Jesus. He's mentioned as being Jesus. It's said that he's passed through the heavens. This is what happened when he ascended. Now we hear from the book of Acts, oh, he ascended, there he goes, what happened? Well, he passes through the heavens into the very presence of God.

17:43 Therefore, four, there's the call to hold fast to our faith in Jesus, draw near to God through him, and do so with confidence. Those are the six, all right? A high priest named Jesus, he passed through the heavens, hold fast to faith in him, draw near to God through him, and do so with confidence. Now, to be clear, these two passages relate to more than prayer. The whole Christian life is here. The being in his presence someday, if you die here, if he comes back first, that drawing near to him physically, that's there too. Drawing near to him in his word, drawing near to him with his people, but prayer is a, what might we call it, for this time, for this life, for this age, prayer is a signature expression of our drawing near to him. He draws near to us in his word and we draw near to him in prayer.

18:42 So here's chapter four, 14 to 16. Listen for those six emphases.

19:31 All right? Now Hebrews 10, verses 19 to 23. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence, there it is again, confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, it's like through the heavens, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a And we're going to pick up with verses 24 and 25 tonight as we talk about fellowship.

20:25 Brothers and sisters in Christ, the first note struck here. And this is amazing. This is for you. This is true of you if you're in Jesus. We have a great and final high priest. Have. Right now. He's come. If you're in Christ, you have him right now in heaven. At long last, he has come. This is no longer just a future promise. He died as your great and final sacrifice. He rose in victory over the grave. He ascended and passed through the heavens into the very presence of God. And he sat down with his work finished, as we just sung about, at the right hand of majesty. So we have him.

21:19 Don't miss that. It's one of the main points of Hebrews. It's right here in chapter 4, it's in chapter 10. is you go to the very middle, chapter 8, verse 1, chapter 8, verse 1, he says, now the point of what we're saying is this. We have such a high priest. Don't miss this. If you've heard it before, and it just seems old and tired, don't miss it, Hebrews says. We have him. Hold fast your trust in him and with confidence, with boldness, with surety, draw near in your whole life. Draw near to him in his word, draw near to him with God's people, and draw near to him in a special way in prayer. That's the message of these two passages in summary. Now, you might have wondered, as I read through that second one, you know, there's a lot of overlap.

22:16 We have a lot of six things, a lot of overlap. But there's some new things there, too, in the second passage. I mean, he did go through the heart of the book. From the end of chapter 4 up to almost end of chapter 10, he went through all his main stuff about Jesus' priest, Jesus' work, about that gospel message in Old Testament priestly terms. He's got some stuff to add. That's right. Let me point out just two things here as we linger for a minute in the work Jesus has done for us that we might have access to God in prayer. Because in being clear, in being concrete, in being firm in our knowledge of how Jesus opens for us the way, our prayer life is fed, it's strengthened, it's helped. It grows richer through knowing what Jesus has done for us. So here's the first. these are two additions in the Hebrews 10 passage that aren't in chapter 4 that I think would be helpful to talk about first one verses 19 to 20 we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus by the new and living way that he opened for us you get that new this is new with the coming and the ascending of Jesus. The old way of the temple and its priests and its rituals and the escalating space of the temple where it goes from the court of the Gentiles, the place of the Jews, you got the holy place of just the priest, you got the holy of holies where only the high priest goes and only once a year. There's this escalating space of holiness.

24:03 that whole temple cultus was not the real thing. It was symbolic, Hebrews 9.9 says. It anticipated the real thing, which didn't come until Jesus came and rose and went into heaven as our pioneer that we might follow him. In Jesus, we have a new and living way into the presence of God that Moses did not have. Abraham did not have. David did not have. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, they did not have this. It is new with Jesus. It is new. It is a new opportunity, not mainly an obligation, a new opportunity for those who are in Christ. That's the first detail, that newness. Second detail, verse 22. This is complicated, right? It's strange.

25:10 I'll try my best to make it simple. If you follow along with me, here's a little kind of a call for thinking cap, verse 22. This is foreign to us as 21st century Americans, but it's in the Bible and is good. Verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. And here's the strange part with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Like what? Where did that come from? Like just give us the, what about the, give us familiar your stuff about prayer? What is this sprinkling of hearts? Sprinkling? And what is this washing of our bodies with pure water? What does Hebrews mean by that? And here's the question, how does that lead to us being confident in prayer? There's practical payoff for this theologically.

26:12 It's theological stuff and you got the practical payoff in our prayer, praying with confidence. the mention of sprinkling goes back to Moses in Exodus chapter 24 Hebrews has mentioned this in Hebrews chapter 9 it's made that gesture back to Exodus 24 this is a time when the people have come out of slavery in Egypt they're at Mount Sinai and God's making a covenant with his people And in making that covenant, the people sacrifice animals, and Moses takes the blood of those sacrifices and does this very strange thing. Everybody remember this from Exodus chapter 24? He takes half the blood, and he throws it on the altar. And that symbolizes God. The altar is to God.

27:03 The altar represents him. It's a way of saying half this blood goes on God. Then he takes the other half of the blood, and what he got tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands, right? Tens of thousands of people. And he doesn't just throw it on them. It's like, it's like hit like four people in the front. Like that, that would not, that wouldn't do it. He sprinkles it on them. All right. See what you get, like some kind of reed, you get something, you dip it in, you can dilute it with water and you sprinkle, you sprinkle, you walk through the crowd, you sprinkle, you sprinkle. The whole crowd gets to sprinkle.

27:43 And so a lot of people get blood on their shirt. They get sprinkled. And this is a way of making this entrance into the covenant memorable. The people are making a covenant with God. Animals are being sacrificed. The blood's being thrown on God. That's his part. He's going to keep his covenant. And it's being sprinkled on the people that they might remember this occasion. We entered into covenant with God. And if you were to ask an Israelite a few weeks later, say, hey, remember that Sinai thing? Like the thunder, the lightning. Like, was that a dream? Like, did that really happen? The whole Sinai thing?

28:26 One Israelite might say, yeah, I got blood on my shirt. I remember. I was sprinkled. The blood ritual left a memory for me. That really happened. No matter how late it is, weeks, months later, are you in covenant with God? Are you in covenant with him? Yes, I remember the blood. I remember the sprinkling. It was real. And I can assure you that I'm part of the people that are in covenant with God because it had blood on me. But now, come back to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews takes this to a new level.

29:09 Hebrews says in verse 22 that our hearts are sprinkled clean. How do you have your heart sprinkled? How did that happen? His answer is through faith. Faith is the action of the heart, the motion of the heart, the reception of the heart that trusts that when Jesus died on the cross, when he shed his blood, which is public, objective, obvious, unquestionable, indisputable. That happened as a public event. Changed history. The question is not whether that happened. The question is, does it relate to me? Do I benefit from it? Does its meaning connect to me? Does his life stand in for mine so that the death he died that I deserve counted?

30:10 but here's the thing for christians in the new covenant faith faith is not as cut and dry as whether blood got sprinkled on my shirt because it's an act of the heart and our hearts are fickle our hearts are subjective our hearts can feel great confidence our hearts can fail us Thank you. and so Jesus sacrifice which is objective needs to be connected to our hearts we need to it helps to have something by which to remember it when we're struggling when we need confidence and so Hebrews now draws in this new covenant ritual called baptism that's what we do in the new covenant. We baptize. That's that last part there. And our bodies washed with pure water.

31:12 But all the commentators agree that this has to do with baptism in some way, right? There's clearly, there's a meaning to baptism. Baptism is not a random ritual, but there's a meaning to it. There's a washing that's been done of the soul of the heart from sin. It's being now represented in the ritual of baptism. It represents the washing away of our sins in the inner person. But baptism is also, I mean, what do you say about baptism? It's memorable. It's objective. It's wet.

31:50 You didn't get just a drop on your shirt. If you did it right, you got soaked. You were immersed in the baptism. it should be even more memorable than if you had a drop sprinkled on you. And if you were baptized as a believer in a faithful church that reasonably did some due diligence, had some discerning Christians, and they were saying, in effect, as you were baptized, we believe you truly believe. We believe that Jesus's blood covers you. based on your credible profession of faith. If you have a baptism like that, Hebrews wants us to remember that. Remember that baptism. That's not the grounds of your assurance. It is support to remember the grounds of your assurance and to pray with confidence.

32:49 He wants confidence to come out because a heart has been sprinkled clean. That's confirmed because you remember the washing of your body. And that leads to a sense of, Jesus counts for me. I'm identified with him. Other people supported that. I'm identified with him. And I want to pray in confidence because I have him as my high priest. So, a believer baptism is a precious thing. It didn't save you. But God means for it to help assure you that you are saved and to come confidently in prayer. All right, so Father and Son. The Father not only speaks but listens, and the Son secures and certifies, that's the certification, certifies our access to God's ear in prayer, and that's it, right?

33:46 We're done. That's all that needs to happen for us. God listens, the Son makes it happen, Thank you. Well, not so fast. Life's not that simple for us as Christians. If only our lives are so simple. But we have our ups and downs. We have our seasons of dullness and of doubt. We have our struggles. We got our indwelling sins. We got our weaknesses. We got so many weaknesses. And we try to project these strengths so much because we've got so many weaknesses and we know it. and so there's one more critical wonder of prayer for us to celebrate this morning and that's the holy spirit's indwelling and intercession for us so wonder number three put it like this wonder number three the spirit helps us in our weakness father not only speaks but listens The Son secures and certifies our access to God, and the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

35:01 If I can here, in this last point, let me jump over from Hebrews pillar to Romans pillar. And there's no greater chapter. Maybe there's equals. There's no greater chapter than the great eight. Anybody here ever memorize the great eight? Put on your list, the great eight. Romans chapter 8. Two verses from Romans chapter 8 on how the Spirit helps us in our weakness. And actually the language of the Spirit helps us in our weakness is just stolen from Romans 8, 26 and 27. It's Romans 8, 26 and 27. This is a wonder, brothers and sisters, for weak people like us.

35:47 Romans 8, 26. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we ought. How many times have you felt that? Do I pray, God save me from the pain? Or do I pray, God help me endure the pain? How often do we not know how to pray as we ought? the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

36:31 It's such an amazing reality. When you don't know what to pray, you have God himself in you who knows what to pray. Brothers and sisters, when you pray as a Christian, you pray as one who has the Spirit of God dwelling in you. God himself has taken up residence in you. This is almost too good to be true. This is something distinctive of the new covenant that was not part and parcel of God's dealing with his people in the first covenant, with Israel.

37:11 With the coming of Jesus, with his death, with his rising, with his passing through the heavens to be at God's right hand, he poured out and he gave his spirit to his people. Remarkable. And so now, our having the spirit, it does not mean that we own him, that we have him. We don't own him. We don't control him. He has us too. He's in us. We're in him. and he has been here's some of the ways let me summarize some of the ways the New Testament talks about the spirit coming to us he is sent into our hearts he is given to us he is supplied to us not just once but ongoingly supplied to us through faith we receive him and so as the New Testament makes plain in several places not just Romans 8 but also 1 Corinthians 3 2 Timothy 1 The Spirit dwells in us, and he prompts our prayers and empowers our prayers and guides our prayers.

38:22 And what's so significant about this is there is this special relationship for the Christian between the Holy Spirit in us and prayer. So Ephesians 6 talks about praying at all times in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit. and in the book of Jude talks about keeping yourselves in love of God, praying in the spirit. This connection between our spirit who's now indwelt by the Holy Spirit, making expression to God in prayer, being prompted by God himself in us to pray to God the father through Jesus the son and the spirit interceding for us and groans too deep for words when we don't know what to pray as we ought, he gives us his own spirit to prompt our hearts to pray and enable us to pray and pray for us when we need help in our weakness.

39:21 So, as men and women of the gospel who claim Jesus Christ, fed by God's word, flanked by Christian fellows, like in this church, we cultivate habits of prayer in our lives. We read earlier the text about praying in secret, your father who sees in secret rewards you. As Christians, we pray in secret. That's one aspect of prayer. It's not all. We also pray together in the life of the church, in our families, in small groups, in smaller gatherings. We pray with company. We pray together, which is one of the richest blessings of the Christian life, to pray together with fellow Christians. We'll mention that tonight when we talk about fellowship. There's also what you might call constant prayer or prayer on the go. We have those texts about being constant in prayer, praying without ceasing, which means don't stop praying for things, but also keep praying and cultivate a temperament of prayer that is ready to go to God for help. Express need, express weakness, come to him at various seams in our day. So praying over meals is a good habit that many Christians have developed. There's no biblical text that says, thou must pray before the meal.

40:41 This is a habit, a habit of grace we've developed that you can put in practice in your own life, little seams in your day. Maybe when you get into the car, when you get up, when you're going to bed, seams in your day that would prompt you as reminders for prayer, for expressing your need. So we punctuate our lives with prayer. We turn general intentions into specific plans. When you have specific plans for when you will pray, when your family will pray, when your group will gather and pray, I love that this church has the corporate habit of a prayer meeting twice a month, a remarkable thing, then prayer begins to take practical route in our lives. So we find our regular times and places. Our prayers are both scheduled and spontaneous. In the car, at the table, in bed.

41:36 We pray through scripture and respond to God's word. An excellent way to pray is be guided by God's word in scripture. Read a little bit, pause, pray a little bit. We adore him in our prayers. Confess our sins before him. Give thanks. Petition him. Maybe you've heard the acts of prayer. A-C-T-S. Often our instinct is ask, ask, ask. And pray means ask. That's a big part of prayer. That's an important part of prayer. But we might forget about the adoring him, expressing worship toward him in our prayer, confessing our sin in prayer, thanking him for his grace, and yes, asking him for his help. Let me end on this note.

42:20 Lest that you think prayer is mainly asking for things, let's clarify what the great purpose of prayer is. Here's how I'd put it. That God himself would be our joy. That our joy wouldn't come mainly from the stuff he gives because we asked him prayer and he gave it. But that the giver himself would be our joy. C.S. Lewis has this memorable quote about prayer that gets at this reality. He says, prayer in the sense of petition, that is asking God for things, is a small part of prayer. You get that?

43:06 Asking God for things, that's a small part of prayer. Confession and penitence are its threshold. Adoration at sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God, it's bread and wine. this is the great purpose of prayer is not to get things from god but to get god himself in jesus christ so brothers and sisters in light of the father's listening ear and the son's securing and certifying our access through his achievement at the cross and resurrection and the spirit's amazing indwelling and prompting and helping us interceding for us in our weakness. I hope that you would not leave here this morning mainly burdened by the obligation, but freed to the opportunity of prayer. That a shift would begin or continue or deepen in your own soul from obligation to opportunity. Prayer is an opportunity to enjoy fresh supplies of grace to your soul.

44:25 And the best of which is the enjoyment of God himself. Let's pray. So Father in heaven, we praise you for your speaking grace that directs our lives and supplies strength. and we praise you for your listening grace and the achievement of your son that secured our access and certifies our access and the remarkable indwelling of your spirit who prompts our prayers, who helps us in prayer, who knows our weaknesses and in all our weaknesses covers any gaps in our knowledge, in our ways of praying. Father we praise you that you have moved so near to us. You have drawn near to us and you've even put your spirit in us to bring us to draw near to you. And so would you make this, would you make Oakhurst Baptist a praying people? Not because they're living under this great weight of obligation.

45:30 I pray this would be a people who love the opportunity, take advantage, make the most of the opportunity to access your ear through your Son by the power of your Spirit in their lives individually and here together as a congregation. In Jesus' name we pray.