Word, Prayer, and People: Three Habits for Enjoying Jesus

0:00 Father in heaven, would you take these few moments and help us to pursue our joy in Jesus. In gathering here, we are coming with at least a small expression of desire to be at the conference, to be in the session. We want to enjoy Jesus Christ in the habits of our lives and in particular, the means of your grace. And so would you provide clarity here for us? Would you not leave our hearts unmoved and unstirred? Would you provide opportunities in our minds and imaginations for steps forward? And would it all be to the greater enjoyment of your son? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. A few years ago, I was speaking to some college students and posed the question to myself, what is the most important truth I learned in college? I racked my brain trying to think all the different details, all the different facts, liberating discoveries I made, not just in political science, which was my major in college, not just in doing pre-dental, I thought I was going to be a dentist,

1:10 but mainly in what I was learning about Jesus and about the Christian faith and about how God impacted my life. Rodney talked about the book Desiring God. That was true for me too. The end of my freshman year in college, my world was turned around through reading with friends the book Desiring God. And so here's how I put that answer to the question a few years ago to these college students. I said, for me, the single most important breakthrough in all my college learning was finding that God is not just the appropriate focus of the verbs believe. trust, fear, obey, worship. But also, he is the most fitting and most satisfying, most worthy focus of the verb enjoy.

2:07 As far as I can tell, the single most important thing God did in those trajectory-shaping, formative years of college, yes, believe God, trust in him, Fear him with holy fear. Obey him. Worship him. But do you enjoy him? And I love that this weekend isn't only about that, and this session isn't only about that, but this church is about that, and that's a beautiful thing. And when we say enjoy, mark this, you can use enjoy in really small ways that seem insignificant and you can use enjoy in big ways that have tremendous life-changing significance so when we're talking enjoy we're not talking about the small enjoyment of chuckling at a clever commercial we're talking about the large enjoyment of basking before an ocean or a mountain or the Grand Canyon. We're not talking about the thin enjoyment of humming along with a pop song, but the thick enjoyment of coming to the long anticipated symphonic climax or of a great novel, The Apex. We're not talking about the shallow enjoyment of acquiring some new gadget, but the deep enjoyment of reconnecting and catching up with some old friend. Not only does God invite us and command us to believe him, trust him, fear him, obey him, worship him, but to enjoy him. You've already quoted in this conference Psalm 34, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

4:04 Enjoy him. And after John's session last night, I couldn't help but think of Isaiah 55. I don't know if anybody else thought Isaiah 55. the apostle John and the prophet Isaiah have some glorious similarities, including the fact that they love talking about drink and hunger, about thirst, and about having bread and rich fare. My mind went here last night as John talked about thirst and hunger from John's gospel to Isaiah chapter 55, which really relates to what we're after here this afternoon where God himself, through Isaiah, is like a street vendor.

4:51 Like somebody walking up and down the aisles of AT&T Stadium offering up their peanuts or whatever. It's a very humbling thing that God himself would posture himself like a street vendor and he would say to us, he would say, Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently and come to me, he says, and delight yourselves in rich food. And so we might say, with the help of the Holy Spirit, yes, I want to eat like that spiritually. I want to drink like that spiritually.

5:49 But how do I eat Jesus? How do I drink Jesus? How do I enjoy Jesus? And so, we as Christians sometimes talk about the spiritual disciplines. It's not my favorite term. I would rather have the S be capital, Holy Spirit, spiritual, and sometimes disciplines. I feel like the language falls on me, first and foremost. What am I going to do? Rather, I like talking about habits of grace. The grace comes first. God's given his grace. He's offering his food. And he's inviting us to posture our lives, have rhythms of life, have habits in our lives that would help us to have the posture of receiving his grace.

6:52 This is not, hey, you do it. You do something spiritual. This is, the God of all grace is streaming his grace in his appointed channels. Will you align aspects of your life with his ongoing grace? That's what we're talking about in this session. I remember as a college student reading spiritual disciplines books, and we do this on the college campus. Hopefully you do this in the church. You talk about reading the Bible and meditating on Scripture and memorizing Scripture and sharing your faith and praying alone, praying with others. We can talk about these disciplines, fasting. After a while, I was like, man, that's a long list. I see why people became monks. Because if I was to do everything in that list, I could not be a student anymore. I wouldn't have a job someday. I may not be a very good father or friend.

7:44 So the long list can be intimidating. And what I found helpful a few years ago in trying to teach these disciplines to college students is to think, what's really the heart of it? What's the principle beneath the potential practices? I don't think you need to be doing all the practices at all the times. What are the principles beneath the practices?

8:05 I'll give you my summary in just a minute of those principles. But first, let's hear from an old voice on these means of grace. This is J.C. Ryle, a favorite of mine from over 100 years ago, talking about these means of grace. This may be my favorite means of grace quote outside the Bible. Here's Ryle. Help us, J.C. Ryle, with what are the means of grace. He says, the means of grace are such as Bible reading, private prayer, and regularly worshiping with the church,

8:44 wherein one hears the word taught and participates in the Lord's Supper. So we've got three there. Is that a fourth? Is that a fifth? Somewhere three to five he's mentioning. And here's what he says about it. I lay it down as a simple matter of fact that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress in sanctification, in holiness, in Christian growth. I can find no record of any respectable saint who ever neglected the means of grace. They are appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul. Well, I want that. Anybody here want that? Fresh supplies of grace for your soul from the Holy Spirit.

9:43 Sign me up. and he strengthens the work he has begun in the inner person. Our God is a God who works by means, and he will never bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high and spiritual that he can get on without God's means. so in seeking God's ongoing grace in our Christian lives in seeking ongoing joy in Jesus God would not have us just walk around in the wilderness like to get a little grace here could you drop some grace on me while I walk around rather God tells us where he's going to pour out his grace. He tells us where his waterfalls are. What are the waterfalls of his grace so that we can align our little lives with his ongoing flow of grace. And even better than having appointed channels and fresh supplies of grace for the soul is that's more personal way we're talking in this conference about enjoying Jesus more deeply. I'd rather talk about enjoying Jesus more deeply than the more impersonal way of talking about ongoing grace. That's good. That's true. It is ongoing grace, and it's enjoying Jesus or experiencing more of Jesus. That's what we're after. There's a means. There is an end to the means. When we talk about means, means means there's an end. There's a goal in mind. And what is that? I'll give you three texts I like to go to. One of them's new as of this last week. First is John 17, 3.

11:38 This is eternal life, Jesus says. This is the night before he dies. He's praying out loud that his disciples can hear him. And he says, this is eternal life, that they, my disciples, would know you, Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Oh, this is amazing. This is eternal life. Not just the ability to keep living and do what you want earthly ways. this is the heart, this is the essence of the life he offers, knowing, personally knowing, communing with his Father. And then he's so bold as to say, and Jesus Christ. And me, he says. Here it is, right at the heart. Knowing Jesus is the heart of what Jesus is offering his disciples. Or Philippians 3.8, I hope you know it and love it. Paul says, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

12:44 One of my favorite texts of all time. Here's my new one. I was assigned to preach John 10 at our church this past Sunday on the Good Shepherd. And verses 14 and 15 of John 10 just walloped me. I thought, I can't believe this is here. How have I not lingered over this and appreciated this more? How has this not been one of my end of the means texts for years talking about habits of grace? So here it is, John 10, 14 to 15. Jesus says, I'm the good shepherd. I know my own. Not just know who they are. I know them. I know my own, he says. And my own know me. That is spectacular. I know them. They know me.

13:31 But he's not done. Then he says, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. so jesus compares he puts together he doesn't say it's not a contrast he doesn't say they're different he says they're alike they're similar just as jesus knows his father and the father knows the son so just as he says i know my sheep i know my own and my own know me and what's that knowledge like that that eternal life of knowing jesus the surpassing worth paul calls it of knowing jesus knowing the shepherd what's that like it's not boring it's not blah or meh vanilla it's not something to be indifferent about or apathetic about But the emphasis of this weekend, it is something to profoundly enjoy.

14:42 The surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. So here's how I'd say the end of the means. I'm going to talk about spiritual disciplines, I promise. But I want to talk about where it's going. What's the end of the means? The end of the means, the goal is knowing and enjoying Jesus. so I love the focus that enjoy brings here's my three-part summary then of the habits of grace if you take our list of 12 or 15 or 20 or 25 potentially helpful spiritual practices here's my summary of the three main principles at work in them number one hear his voice number two have his ear number three belong to his body I think that way of slicing the pie covers the whole field you get this pie the means of grace pie what can we do to be ongoing recipients of God's grace that we might know and enjoy Jesus I think you could cut that pie in 12 pieces if you really wanted that's too confusing for me I'm really helped to cut this thing in three pieces I think Ryle's kind of doing two clear pieces three, maybe third or fourth let's just do three clear pieces you hear God's voice, we hear God's voice in his word, in scripture not just walking around, voices in your head the voices in your head are from you the voice from the book, on the page by the Spirit is from God.

16:23 You hear His voice in His Word. And second, we have His ear in prayer. This is amazing. He doesn't only speak to us, but He pauses and He stoops and He wants to hear back. It's a relationship. He wants to hear from us in light of what He said. And third, we belong to His body in the fellowship of the local church. is not just me and Jesus. He speaks, and he wants me to respond, and he gives me fellows. He gives me a community. He gives me people, not just people that float in and out of my life and happen to love Jesus too, but a commitment in a local church. People saying, I'm gonna be the church to you, you be the church to me, and he has a means of grace for us in the uncomfortable and often wonderful and often uncomfortable lives of the local church.

17:24 Now, a quick question here. You might ask, what about other habits? What about the habit of getting adequate sleep? What about the habit of getting normal human movement with my body that my blood flows and gets oxygen to my brain and neurotransmitters to my brain and I can have a more healthy, normal human life because I'm living less sedentary than our vehicles and screens encourage us in the 21st century. Exercise. Or what about food? We all know you can eat and drink certain things that have effects on the body. Often we ignore them or don't feel them, but there are particular times where you feel the effect. What we do in these physical lives affects our souls. We are soul-body intermingling.

18:18 And what we do in the one affects the other. We're whole persons. And so your sleep and your bodily movement and what you eat does affect the soul. I'd put these, sleep, exercise, daily bread, in the category of assistance to the means of grace. I would not count them as means of grace on their own. The Bible doesn't do that. The Bible has many things to say about these in an important but assistant role.

18:53 And the clear teaching of Scripture throughout is the preciousness, the importance, the prominence of God's word to us, our words back to him in prayer and that we don't do this alone but with others in the community of the Christian life. So let me take it backwards in this session. Just about everywhere I go and do this I always go word, prayer, fellowship. I thought, what if we change it up for Stonegate one time? I'm going to go backwards. I've never done this before. You can tell me afterwards if this worked or not. I'm going to go backwards. Let's start with fellowship. Then we'll come to prayer. And then we'll finish on word. I think we can do it that way. Though there will be a little trick, a little wrinkle there. I'll try to mention that to you when we get to it.

19:46 So number one, I have three main points for you in this session. Number one, enjoy Jesus in his people. Belong to his body. and not just formally belong with your names on the membership roster but functionally belong rhythms of life it's vital in the Christian life to have habitual covenant community Christian faith is fed and it thrives and it's healthy in habitual covenant community and it's often lacking when we don't have others in our lives. It can go south quick. Maybe you remember just a few years ago in the struggles with a global pandemic and not knowing what the effects were going to be and taking various precautions and we should not meet and we should have distances.

20:44 That was not good for a lot of people's Christian faith. We didn't fully appreciate how good it is to have fellows in our lives. I got twin texts here on fellowship for you I think maybe the two most important texts In the New Testament or in the Bible On how other people are a means of God's grace in our lives Come from the book of Hebrews So we got a Bible with you If you want to go to Hebrews with me Hebrews chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 10 Since we're doing stuff backwards today Let's go to Hebrews 10 first This is Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 says, Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.

21:48 There it is, habit. That's the only word translated habit in my ESV New Testament. I don't know if you've got some other translation, you may have more than one habit. There's a word in Greek you could translate habit in other places. Here's the one habit in the ESV, and it says, here's a habit not to have.

22:08 Do not neglect to meet together as some are making a habit, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. A few observations here on Hebrews 10. First, the paradigm here is that the many in the church are watching out for the some. You've got the healthy many, and you've got an eye out for some. Some who are weak. Some who are struggling. Some who are going through some difficulty. Some who are running on empty. and apparently Christians are in each other's lives enough to see that and move toward it and not just wait for the some who are struggling to bring themselves forward and ask for help. But to know the some, know each other enough, see me and say, brother, are you doing okay?

23:12 Sister, how are you? And in the original here, there's no word how. You may have that word how in your translation. Let us consider how to stir one another up. So you may think like, oh, let me think of different ways here. How might I stir up a fellow human? I'll think of my list. I'll make my practical list of how to stir up to love and good deeds. There's no how here. I see the way that it is in the translation. It's a tough translation, tough word. It would read really strange. It would read like, consider one another unto stirring up. Most people would be like, what does that even mean? Here's what it means. It's not that the actions you're going to take is the object of your considering. It's that other people are. You know other people well enough to consider them. To not just think, all right, how do you motivate general humanity to love and good deeds?

24:11 Now I'll apply that. Rather, how do I know this person? I know him. I know Bob. I know Cecil. And so I'm thinking, given my knowledge of him, my relationship with him, how might I provoke him to love and good? How might I use, here's another observation, words.

24:34 Christian fellowship involves no coercion. I know this is Texas. But no guns are involved. in how we encourage each other to love and good deeds. words have this amazing power if we thought about it enough we would this is like magic that you would have a thought in your head somebody else can't see it and you would verbalize it with your breath you speak it into the air and you can't see it it's just in the air and it could go into this hole in the side of somebody. We have holes in the sides of our heads for these words. And that the word would go through the air into their hole, down into their heart.

25:28 And it might feed their faith. It might keep them afloat when they're struggling. It might be the spiritual food they need and feel too weak to get for themselves. because hearing is so easy. That's why Paul would say faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of Christ. He doesn't say faith comes from reading.

25:56 Reading takes a little more energy, a little more effort. Sometimes you've got a brother and sister not ready to, they just don't feel like they've got it to put in the effort. And you can put a word in their soul through their ear. And feed their faith. This is how we are a means of grace to each other. And the last one here is, he talks about not neglecting to meet together. The meeting together of God's people is essential. This is our single most important habit as a church. That we would meet together. That we would hear God's word together. That we would pray together. Worship together. And then before and after, we talk. and it's so good. That's not small. You might call it small talk, but before and after church, it is not small that God's people interact and hopefully find ways to ask spiritual questions and give spiritual encouragement to know each other, to be able to help each other and be God's means of grace.

27:07 Other text. Hebrews 3. This is Hebrews 3, 12 and 13. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

27:34 All right. So note that language again of any. that there's a big group of healthy Christians in the church. There's some or any or a few that in any given season could fall through the cracks, struggling spiritually. Here, an evil, unbelieving heart is in some, and that leads them to fall away from the living God. It doesn't happen all in one moment. It's incremental. There may be some great fall that happens, but they were incremental. There were degrees leading up to it, day after day of slow hardening that could be interrupted by Christian relationships, by us being a means of grace in each other's lives. That's why there's this daily focus.

28:31 It doesn't have to technically be today. You don't have to be in an accountability relationship where you necessarily check in every single day. but the emphasis here is on this regular vigilance. The hardening of a heart by sin happens in these gradations, these increments day by day, so that we would know each other regularly and be a means of grace to each other is critical in intercepting each other from falling away from the living God. There's an attentiveness in each other's lives. That's a part of it. And then here again, there's this power of words. He says, exhort one another. It's translated encouraging in Hebrews 10 and exhort here, but it's the same word. Basically it means use helping words. Use words that help somebody else.

29:25 If they're in danger and they need a word of warning, help them with a warning. Or if their tank is low and they're in need of strength, encouragement, food, help them that way. These are helping words. In the context of regular relationships, we put grace into the ear through the ear hole.

29:46 We get a chance in fellowship to be God's voice to our brothers and sisters and for them to be God's voice to us. Be not only his hands and feet, but be his voice. There's a mutuality in this means of grace. All right, number two. Enjoy Jesus in prayer.

30:11 Enjoy the gift of having his ear. here's where we got to do a little work because we're putting doing them out of order in a sense logically word comes first or sequentially god's word comes first and then we respond in prayer he's the creator we're creatures he's father we're children he goes first he initiates and people probably don't do this anymore but i remember being in college 25 years ago and sometimes we'd gather in a prayer gathering and we'd say who wants to dial up in other words, who wants to pray first?

30:54 That wasn't a great way of doing it because nobody really dials up God in prayer. He always dials up. He speaks first. He made the world first. He created you first. Whenever you come and pray to him, you are praying in view of some conception you have of him, whether it's just pagan or whether it's informed by the Bible. Prayer is a response to God's revelation of himself or at least our sense of who he is and our praying to him. So prayer is responsive. And it's part of this relationship where he speaks first and we respond.

31:36 So prayer goes well after hearing from God. in my devotion times in the morning. I may pray a brief word. God, help me. Help me here as I read. Help me here as I linger in your presence. But I'm mostly saving my prayer for after I've heard from him. I want to hear from him and then let his word to me then inform my prayers. I want to pray in the sweet of what he's saying in his word. I want to hear his word and then go, oh, that was good, whatever. Pivot. Now I'm going to pray my list. Just totally ignore what you said, God. I'm just going to pray my list. Get them on the table. Check that box and go. Rather, prayer is, yes, Father, I hear what you say. And now I want to speak back to you.

32:29 I want to respond to you in light of what you are saying. This morning, in your word, to me, by the power of your spirit, having heard from God, I want to turn his promises. his warnings into prayer for myself, for my wife, my kids, my church, my friends, roommates, younger believers, non-believers, co-workers, neighbors, the nations. Prayer is a relational response to God's voice.

33:05 I'm sure many have heard this before, if not everybody. A way of thinking through the various aspects of prayer is this acronym ACTS, A-C-T-S. I know it's well known. I'm not sure how well practiced it is. because we have this instinct of prayer is asking, I'm going to come and I'm going to ask God. He wants to hear from us. He does want to hear from us. And it's so important to remember the other dynamics in prayer. So Acts goes like this. A is adoration.

33:43 And especially when we come talking about enjoying God, this is, this should be, this can be the most enjoyable aspect of prayer, to adore him, to praise him. before rushing to what we want to ask him for. Give me this, give me that, give me that. Before rushing there to say, Father, you are majestic. You are sovereign. You're holy to praise him for what you see in his word. You have been gracious to us in Jesus Christ. You gave your own son. You've promised to give us all things in him to adore him, to linger in your adoring. Your soul was made to adore. There is something deeply satisfying in admiration of the living God. The rarest of pleasures, admiration. And adoring is a chance to linger in that, enjoy Him in adoring Him. And then, naturally flowing from adoring Him is confession.

34:40 Confession of my sin. Confession that I don't measure up. Confessing my need for His help. That lowliness of confession is a fitting counterpart to appreciating and adoring Him and His Highness. Then there's Thanksgiving. That's the T. A-C-T. Thanksgiving. Thank Him for His many provisions in our lives. In the speed of modern life, we pause to be grateful so little. and hear in Christian prayer is a chance to practice that over and over. Some have the practice nowadays of start the day with things you're thankful for. Christians have had that for 2,000 years. It's called prayer. It's an aspect of our prayer.

35:30 Rehearsing gratitude, thanking God, and not just thinking of things I'm glad I have in my secular mind. I'm thanking God for them, the one who actually gave them. And then finally, now supplication. You open the floodgates. It's easy to ask. We're inclined to ask. Ask for myself, for my family, neighbors, for work, move out in concentric circles, ACTS. Let me give you briefly four counsels here for pursuing enjoyment in prayer. One is come with focus and clarity. you don't have to earn God's ear with a long prayer. Like, I've got to have a certain amount of time. I've got to put in my time that God will hear me. That's not how it works with a father.

36:26 Matthew 6, right before he gives us the Lord's Prayer, which is only 50 words, we very rarely hear prayers that short, 50 words. Right before he says, when you pray, Do not heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles do, for they think they'll be heard for their many words. Don't be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. You've got to earn His ear.

36:54 Second, seek to pray spiritual prayers. In our tendencies to ask for the next dollar, the next meal, the next tangible thing, which He wants to hear, our tangible needs. Sometimes we can forget to pray spiritual prayers. Like the Apostle Paul prays in Ephesians 1, 16 to 19. He prays that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he's called you. prayers like Philippians 1 9 to 11 Colossians 1 9 to 12 2 Thessalonians 1 11 spiritual prayers for spiritual good in our own lives and others third pray out loud or in writing it really helps to form and finish thoughts not just let it be amorphous here in the head but somebody else is in the house whisper them on your lips you can write them down form and finish your prayers finally pray with others maybe one of my favorite quotes here from Tim Keller's book on prayer has to do with praying with others he says by praying with friends you will be able to hear and see facets of Jesus that you have not yet perceived.

38:30 Praying with others is an amazing way to pursue our enjoyment of Jesus, to know him better, hear of glories that we haven't been inclined to see, hear how they approach him, what they ask of him, a chance to know him. Now I've got to finish quick with number three. Enjoy Jesus in his word. hear his voice in scripture enjoy jesus in his word I'll give you some quick counsels for approaching his word number one have some modest reading plan it is good to have a plan and not just open up to a random place or just re-read Titus re-read Philemon again because I got no plan you can find so many Bible reading plans online Google Bible reading plan so that when you're up early in the morning, you don't have to think through that.

39:35 You've got a plan. You've got a place you're going to go. And you take that assignment as, this is where the living God means to speak to me this morning. Here's the assignment. Here's what he's coming to me with. Number two, pace. Find a pace that is worthy of his word. This may be the most important thing I have to say about personal Bible intake. Our world is in a hurry. Screens teach us to read in a hurry. Our lives are so full of stuff that even when we're not consciously hurrying, we are hurrying down below subconsciously. and when you open the Bible and come before God, this is the most important place to not be in a hurry, to engage His Word even leisurely, slowly. Let the Word itself dictate the pace at which you should be receiving it and enjoying it, not just rushing through to check the box and move on.

40:40 and third here create enough margin to really linger to check the context reread explore related text use those cross references down the middle the main thing here is to lose track of time and i'd put the phone away i'd try to not sit with a clock in view but find a way to set yourself up with enough margin to lose track of time. We don't have the best conversations with spouse, with friends, with anybody when we're watching the clock the whole time. If you really want to enjoy communion with another person, you need to lose track of time, which is what we so badly need when we open our Bibles in modern life. I could say so much here about meditation. had some great conversation this weekend with Justin Jackson about meditation Rodney talked about you guys have already mentioned meditation in a sermon series or something he's planning there will be more to come from your pastors on meditation I'd love to say more but we need to move on finish up here I got some Puritan quotes on meditation.

42:02 They knew how to meditate. Some final things here before we're done. How often? These are regular questions I get. How often? I think God's word rewards daily access. When? Ideally, first thing in the morning. let God's voice be the one that sets the trajectory of your day instead of letting other voices oh please don't let the voices of the news and of social media be the first voices you hear in the morning let his voice be first you can handle the other voices so much better if you've heard his voice first. How long? I don't think there's an easy answer for this. I'm not going to give you minutes. I think the main thing is to find a space where you can lose track of time. That could happen in 10 minutes. It could happen in half an hour. It could happen in longer. But to set aside enough margin that you can linger unhurried in God's presence through His Word.

43:13 so my main charge here has been enjoy Jesus that's what we're looking to do in the word in prayer in fellowship to feast our souls on him come to him thirsty wanting to drink from him come to him hungry wanting to eat commune with Jesus through feeding on his self-giving word and then you yourself giving yourself to him in return in prayer and then doing that in the life of the regular, regular life of the local church.

43:47 Jesus is supremely enjoyable. We'll talk more about that this evening and tomorrow morning, I'm sure. And Jesus himself speaks to us in his word. And Jesus wants to hear from us in prayer. And Christ himself helps us and gives himself to us in the covenant life of the local church. Let me pray together. So, Father in heaven, we want to be among those. We want to say from the heart that we truly know Jesus and enjoy him. And we know that knowledge is not perfect. And we know our enjoyment of him is not perfect. It's dynamic. That vine and branch connection John talked about last time, it's dynamic.

44:42 There are ups and downs in the Christian life. And yet, Father, you have revealed to us the places where your grace is passing. You have not left it to our guessing or our speculation as to how to walk with you and how to know and enjoy Jesus. and so would you work in us postures of heart and habits of life for enjoying the grace of knowing jesus in your word and communing with him in prayer and that in the context of the mutually upbuilding mutually encouraging life of the local church in jesus name we pray amen