0:11

This is first kings eighteen

0:14

forty one through forty five.

0:16

And Elijah said to

0:18

ahab, go eat and

0:20

drink for there's the sound of a heavy

0:22

rain. So ahab went off to eat and

0:24

drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mount

0:26

Carmel. bent down to the ground

0:28

and put his face between his knees. Going

0:31

looked towards the sea, he told his servants,

0:33

and he went up and looked. There's nothing

0:35

there, he said. Seven times

0:37

Elijah said, go back. The

0:39

seventh time the servant reported. A

0:42

cloud as small as man's hand is rising

0:44

from the sea. So I just said, go

0:46

until ahab, hitch up your cherry

0:48

and go down before the rain stops you.

0:50

Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds

0:53

the wind rose, a heavy rain

0:55

started falling, and ahab rode

0:57

off to Chesreel. This is the word of

0:59

the Lord.

1:00

Thanks, Peter Gal.

1:04

Now, Lord, so each each and every time we

1:06

open your word, we also just open up

1:09

our hearts to you. We

1:11

ask that this ancient story would be

1:13

a living story as you promised

1:15

that it is that we would hear not

1:17

a reflection on something that you did

1:19

thousands of years ago, but an invitation

1:22

to something that you're longing to do.

1:25

maybe even in and through someone like

1:27

me. Would that be how

1:29

we hear your story today? So come holy

1:31

spirit. We need your help with that. Come

1:34

Jesus and show us this

1:36

living picture in a way that we can walk into.

1:38

And father, would you assure us of your love

1:40

and your promises to us that always

1:42

outrun our mistakes, our

1:45

failure, our our pain, our

1:47

past, our wounds, everything. It's

1:50

in your name we pray, Lord Jesus. I'm

1:52

in. Deal

1:54

Moody was born one of nine children

1:56

to a single mother struggling to

1:58

keep food on the table. He had no

2:00

education beyond the fifth grade.

2:03

He made ends meet through becoming a shoe

2:05

salesman as a teenager, and then at seventeen,

2:07

he came to faith. he would go

2:09

on to travel the world drawing crowds as

2:11

large as thirty thousand to hear

2:13

him preach. Many to this day

2:15

consider him to be the greatest evangelist

2:18

of the nineteenth century. Now

2:20

we've grown accustomed these days in the church

2:22

to witnessing swells in

2:24

salvation. Meaning the loss being found,

2:26

the outsider coming in neighbors and

2:28

strangers finding themselves within

2:31

the family of Jesus, there is some type

2:33

of innovation. Right? new

2:35

strategy or technique comes along

2:37

something like the Jesus film or the Alpha

2:40

course or a weekend revival effort

2:42

or church sponsored short term missions

2:44

trip. and that tool then

2:46

spearheads a surge in

2:48

new life. There's usually a

2:51

novel method of some kind

2:54

at the center of why evangelism is

2:56

suddenly working for lack

2:58

of a better term in this place

3:01

or at this time. And Moody's

3:03

life is a compelling contradiction to

3:05

that rule. His entire strategy

3:09

was

3:09

prayer.

3:10

As the story goes, even within his personal

3:13

life outside of his public ministry, he

3:15

carried a list of one hundred names in his pocket

3:17

every day of his adult life, one hundred friends

3:20

that he was in proximate relationship with

3:22

who were outside of that same proximate

3:24

relationship with Jesus. And so he would

3:26

plead daily God would

3:28

you communicate you are pursuing

3:30

love to this person and this person

3:32

and this person and this person in a language that

3:35

they can receive. daily, he

3:37

prayed for salvation for his lost

3:39

friends and family. When he died,

3:41

ninety six of the names on that list had

3:43

to become answered prayers. It's

3:45

not bad. Ninety six percent success rate.

3:48

It gets better than that. At Moody's Funeral,

3:50

the four remaining names were all in attendance.

3:53

All were so moved by their collection of his life

3:55

that at his memorial service all

3:57

four independently, chose

3:59

to leave everything else behind and follow

4:01

Jesus. So just for

4:03

the record, how on earth

4:05

did a shoe salesman with the fifth grade education

4:08

become one of most influential evangelist

4:10

in church history?

4:13

Prare. Everyone

4:15

I know myself included has a low success

4:17

rate in praying for the lost. Everyone

4:20

I know, myself included, has low stamina

4:22

in prayer for the lost, and then we get inspired

4:25

by a story like Moody's, make a list of our

4:27

own carried around in our pocket for a number of

4:29

days, maybe even a number of weeks

4:31

before the ordinary mundane

4:34

and more urgent demands drown that

4:36

out. and the list that we thought

4:38

we'd carry to our memorial service is

4:40

discarded within a matter

4:42

of days. But what Moody's

4:45

Life and Elijah's story both tell us is

4:47

this, there is a kind of prayer

4:50

that gives birth to new life. And

4:52

that is the big idea

4:55

for today.

4:56

So we're in a vision series called

4:59

a House of Prayer for All Nations.

5:01

A biblical phrase joins together

5:04

prayer and justice. And currently,

5:06

we're zeroing in on prayer. And

5:08

we began with a picture, raise up

5:10

the tabernacle of David. and then took

5:12

a quick turn into the very practical

5:15

talking last week about recovering the early

5:17

church daily prayer rhythm. Now if you

5:19

missed last week's teaching, you do need to go

5:21

back and get it, or else the next three weeks aren't

5:24

going to make sense. Because over the next three

5:26

weeks, we're taking those rhythms morning

5:28

midday and evening prayer one at a time.

5:30

So next week, Pete Greg is gonna be with

5:32

us teaching on morning prayer. He

5:34

wrote a whole book on praying the Lord's prayer, so

5:36

it seemed fitting that we would go out of order

5:38

so that he could take that one. And by

5:40

the way, those of you who are parents in the

5:43

room, he's just releasing

5:45

an updated version of his book how to

5:47

pray for kids specifically targeting

5:50

kids ages eight to eleven. So we're gonna

5:52

be doing workshop for parents and kids ages

5:54

seven and up After our eleven AM

5:56

worship gathering next week, where

5:59

Pete will speak to both kids and parents

6:01

about the topic of prayer, I

6:04

can't wait as a father, so just wanna

6:06

invite you as well so that you know that's coming. So

6:08

anyway, that's next week. The following

6:10

Sunday after that, we'll teach on praying gratitude

6:12

in the evening and that means that up for

6:14

today is the midday rhythm

6:17

of praying for the lost. But

6:19

if we're gonna get anywhere

6:20

today together, we're gonna have to

6:22

define a couple of terms first. So

6:24

first, I know that it is

6:26

horrifically out of style to

6:28

speak of anyone as lost.

6:32

To some, that's got the ring of superiority to

6:34

it. Maybe even of some type of savior complex,

6:37

but I think it's language that's worth

6:39

redeeming. And the reason for that

6:41

is because there's words that are common today

6:43

in the church like evangelism that

6:45

send the chill down the spine of some

6:47

believers. And that's because we live in

6:49

a culture that is very suspicious

6:52

of salesmanship and very thirsty for authenticity.

6:55

And so we hear a word like that

6:57

and it rings of sales tactics. So

6:59

if if a word like evangelism is

7:02

a difficult speed bump for you,

7:04

then just throw it out and pick different word. It's a word

7:06

that never appears anywhere on the pages of scripture,

7:08

but it just come about throughout church history. Choose

7:11

a different word and keep going. Lost

7:13

though is in a different category. Lost

7:17

is not church language. It's

7:19

Jesus language. And therefore,

7:21

I think it's worth redeeming. I mean, personally, I find

7:23

it really helpful that Jesus uses the word

7:25

lost as his preferred term to describe

7:28

those who are outside of relationship with him.

7:30

Lost, meaning searching for home,

7:32

for safety, for rest, but

7:34

not sure where to go. Lost

7:37

is that frantic feeling that runs around in

7:39

your gut when you thought for sure you knew where you

7:41

were going and then suddenly you realize

7:43

you don't know where you're going. and you don't

7:45

know the way back to where you came from to start

7:47

over and you don't know whether the way forward to

7:49

comfort and safety and rest either lost

7:51

is a word of compassion. not one of categorization

7:54

or condemnation or superiority. And

7:57

that is how Jesus describe life

7:59

outside of relationship to him

8:01

lost. not at

8:03

fault, just looking

8:05

for home and

8:06

not sure which direction leads there.

8:10

And

8:10

I also know how terribly un

8:12

fashionable

8:12

it is to speak

8:14

of salvation through the metaphor of new

8:16

birth. or new life.

8:19

Some guy with a bullhorn

8:21

downtown has made that a bad look for every

8:23

last one of us. Right? But again,

8:25

this is Jesus language taken right off

8:27

his lips in John chapter three, and it's a central

8:30

biblical metaphor for what it means

8:32

to begin the life and

8:34

life to the full that Jesus promised us.

8:36

And in Elijah's story, it's imagery

8:39

for the kind of prayer that invites

8:41

the good shepherd to go seeking and saving

8:43

those who are lost that they might taste this

8:45

life. There is a kind of prayer.

8:47

that gives birth to new life. That's where we're

8:49

headed. But to get there, we're gonna retrace

8:52

Elijah's steps. So I'm gonna give you his story

8:54

in three scenes, scene one, the

8:56

church on fire. Now,

8:59

for context, Israel has forgotten God.

9:01

They tend to do that. The old testament

9:03

pattern is that of an Israel who looks

9:05

to yahweh in terms of desperation, and

9:07

then he hears and responds when

9:09

their prayer is answered though, that desperation

9:12

is often replaced by comfort. and

9:14

they tend to put their trust in something more tangible

9:16

and more predictable, something that requires less

9:18

faith. In Elijah's time, trust

9:21

is vested in a king named Ahab and

9:23

his wife Jezebel who led Israel

9:25

away from Yahoo and into

9:27

idol worship of a false God named

9:29

Ball. And in a moment of extraordinary

9:32

courage Elijah says, not on

9:34

my watch. So he approaches

9:36

King Ahab with this challenge. Look, I'm one prophet

9:38

of yahweh. There's four hundred and fifty prophets

9:40

of Ball. So let's set up a sacrifice

9:43

with two altars, one altar to yahweh,

9:45

the other to Ball. Put a bowl on each

9:47

altar so that if they're ready for worship,

9:49

this was a common expression of worship

9:51

to a of worship of all

9:54

sorts of gods in the ancient near eastern

9:56

world. But let's not set fire

9:58

to the south sacrifice. Instead,

9:59

let's pray and

10:01

see who's gone miraculously sends

10:03

fire from heaven. That God is

10:06

the one true god. Now, historically,

10:08

this isn't quite as random as it might seem when

10:10

we read it today. In ancient Mesopotamia,

10:13

but always considered the god of the skies and

10:15

was often portrayed as a bull

10:18

or with a lightning bolt in

10:20

his hands. So calling

10:21

down fire from heaven

10:23

should have been in the bag for him. And

10:26

since he was portrayed as a bull, Elijah

10:28

is telling the people to let their god of

10:30

the skies with the power to send

10:32

fire to defend his own image,

10:34

which is lying here on the altar. At

10:36

the same time, he is setting up another

10:38

altar and saying, and I'm going to

10:40

give opportunity for Yahweh to that he

10:42

is still today the God of the Exodus who

10:45

delivers and leads his people to

10:47

safety, rest, and promise.

10:49

Now you have to admit,

10:50

this does sound intriguing. I

10:53

mean

10:53

regardless of which side of the equation you're

10:55

on here, and people rarely just put themselves

10:57

out there like this.

10:59

So, AHAM says, sure.

11:01

Let's go for it. The

11:03

sacrifices are then set up, where it spreads

11:05

and massive crowd gathers, the four hundred

11:07

and fifty prophets of Ball go first. They pray,

11:10

nothing happens. So

11:12

they grow more intense in their prayers, shouting,

11:14

dancing, screaming, nothing

11:17

happens.

11:18

So they begin to mutilate

11:19

their bodies, harming themselves

11:21

and prayer

11:21

to try to get their god's attention, nothing

11:24

happens. They go on like this. for

11:26

hours, much of the afternoon and nothing

11:28

happens. These prophets exhaust

11:30

themselves. And

11:32

then it's Elijah's turn. Then

11:34

Elijah said to all the people, this is first

11:36

kings eighteen. Come here to me.

11:39

They came to him and he repaired the altar

11:41

of the Lord which had been torn down. So

11:44

before praying Elijah walks

11:46

over to the old altar of Yahweh, the one that was

11:48

torn down in the name of worship to a false

11:50

god and repairs it as it

11:52

used to be. That's significant.

11:56

Then he said to them fill four large jars

11:58

with water and pour it on the offering

12:00

and on the wood. Now on the surface, this

12:02

seems impressive because wet wood is obviously

12:05

more difficult to burn. Right? If you're

12:07

planning on praying something would catch on

12:09

fire, soaking it first

12:11

is a bold move. But

12:15

that's not the point of what he's doing. Elijah's

12:18

not Houdini setting up a magic trick. He's

12:20

a worshiper preparing to

12:22

pray. Here's the point. Israel

12:24

is in the midst of a three year drought.

12:28

It is not reigned in the nation of Israel

12:30

for a thousand days.

12:33

Now that would be limiting today. That that would

12:35

limit agriculture. It would encourage wildfires.

12:37

It would alter our ecosystem in a way that was

12:39

troubling. but in an agrarian society

12:41

without a sophisticated trade system between

12:43

nations, this

12:46

is economically devastating. The

12:48

people are starving to death

12:51

and the those in political power or

12:53

change in policy can't do anything about

12:56

it. Now in the midst

12:57

of a drought, What is the most prized

12:59

possession?

13:01

Water nailed it. You people are going places.

13:03

I love it. They

13:05

need water In the meantime,

13:08

conventional wisdom would dictate conserve as much

13:10

water as possible, limit bathing, drink only

13:12

what you have to save it for the crops. Water

13:15

is the most limited resource and the most

13:17

prized possession during a drought, and that means

13:19

that water is the most costly offering

13:22

Elijah could possibly bring. So

13:24

he places not only his own reputation before

13:26

god and these crowds, he places

13:28

his livelihood, the security of his

13:30

future, before god

13:33

and these crowds. The

13:35

most profound act of worship occurred before

13:37

Elijah uttered a single word of prayer

13:39

when he brought the most precious national

13:42

commodity and poured it out on the

13:44

wood that he was about to pray that God would like.

13:46

The words of David echo over the

13:48

scene I will not sacrifice to

13:50

the lord my god burnt offerings that cost

13:53

me nothing. And then

13:55

Elijah says, now do it again.

13:58

and just for good measure poor third sister

13:59

and over the water. He's offering to

14:02

god the most lavish sacrifice possible.

14:05

and that's significant.

14:07

Finally, he prays. Answer

14:09

me, Lord, answer

14:10

me. So these people will know that you Lord

14:12

our God and that you are turning their hearts back

14:14

again, then the fire of the Lord fell and

14:17

burned up the sacrifice. The wood,

14:19

the stones, and the soil, and also licked

14:21

up water from the trench. when all the

14:23

people saw this, they felt prostrated, cried,

14:25

the Lord He is God. The Lord

14:27

He is God. Now taking all

14:29

this just happened, Lijah prepared

14:31

the altar here. So worship is restored. People

14:34

that were worshiping all sorts of things a few minutes

14:36

ago, a money, success, their

14:39

body, someone else's body, they

14:41

now turn their worship back

14:43

to yahweh. Elijah poured

14:45

out water, which was not just precious to him, but

14:47

precious to everyone who has gathered in the

14:50

crowd. If you read this story closely, you'll notice

14:52

that it was not Elijah who picked up

14:54

the cisterns and poured the water he instructed people

14:56

in the crowd to do it. What that means

14:58

is that people who gather as spectators Elijah

15:01

made participants in

15:03

the worship.

15:04

Next God's presence becomes obvious.

15:06

There's fire a minute ago, there was

15:08

nothing but wet wood and red meat. And

15:10

then the people turned to God. People who helped

15:13

tear down the altar of Yahoo! are

15:15

now faced down crying out. The Lord

15:17

he is God. The Lord he is

15:20

God. This

15:21

is that friend or coworker

15:23

or family member you perceive to be

15:25

earnest from god. The

15:28

one you don't even bother praying

15:30

for or consider inviting. The

15:32

one before whom you actively avoid

15:34

the faith subject altogether. This

15:36

is that person standing next to you on an

15:38

otherwise sleepy Sunday morning. And as

15:40

we begin to sing, they fall face down and

15:42

begin to crowd. The Lord is God.

15:45

The Lord he is God, can you imagine

15:47

beholding something like that?

15:49

A visible manifestation of God's presence

15:52

followed by those who are utterly disinterested

15:54

in him calling out to him in

15:56

desperation by name. If that

15:58

happened today in this church

15:59

service, I imagine you would leave pleasantly

16:02

surprised by your church experience.

16:06

It does seem fair to say

16:09

that the church just caught fire.

16:13

but

16:13

that's not the end. It's

16:15

the beginning. And now

16:17

I'm gonna say something that will probably surprise

16:20

you at first. God

16:22

does not dream of the church on fire.

16:25

And this is not the

16:27

climactic moment in

16:29

Elijah's story. It'll

16:31

make more sense if you know the end, so I'm just gonna

16:33

skip right to the to scene three and then we'll come

16:36

back for the middle part. Let's skip to the

16:38

end, scene three, the city reborn. look

16:40

with me back at your bibles. First kings eighteen,

16:43

I'm gonna begin in verse forty one exactly

16:45

where we began reading our teaching texts. And

16:48

Elijah said to ahab, go eat and

16:50

drink for there is the sound of heavy

16:52

rain. Now, it's worth keeping in mind

16:54

here that Elijah is a prophet speaking

16:56

to a political leader, the national leader

16:58

of a starving people. The economies

17:01

collapse, the people have suffered, and criticism

17:03

has certainly come knocking at the palace

17:05

door. And then Elijah locks eyes with

17:07

that king and says confidently in

17:09

the midst of that drought, go home and

17:11

celebrate. slaughter the fat

17:14

and calf, fire up the grill, uncork

17:16

that bottle you've been saving because God's about

17:18

to give you reason for celebration. the God

17:20

you saw just light up the altar is about

17:22

to send the downpour of rain on the whole

17:25

city. Back to the text,

17:27

So ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah

17:29

climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, but down to

17:31

the ground to put his face between his knees.

17:34

Go look toward the sea, he told servant, and

17:36

he went up and looked, there's nothing there, he

17:38

said. Seven times Elijah

17:40

said, go back. The seventh time the servant

17:42

reported a cloud as small as man's

17:44

hand is rising from the sea. So

17:46

Elijah said, go until Ihab,

17:48

hitch up your chariot and go down before the

17:50

rain stops you. Meanwhile, the sky

17:52

grew black with clouds, the wind rose, and a

17:54

heavy rain started falling and ahab

17:57

rode off to just real. So

17:59

three years into

17:59

a drought, there's a massive downpour on

18:02

whole city. There's celebration

18:02

in the streets. There's new life

18:05

given to a depressed place. That

18:07

is the climactic moment

18:09

in

18:09

Elijah's story because

18:12

god does not dream of the church on fire.

18:16

God dreams of the city reborn. God's

18:21

dream for Portland is

18:23

not that Bridgetown would become an

18:25

awesome church with packed out Sunday

18:27

gatherings and and above average midweek

18:29

programming. God

18:31

dreams of pouring out his presence on the entire

18:34

city.

18:35

Hey, God is jealous. He's jealous for relationship.

18:37

He is longing for intimate,

18:40

relational, eternal connection with every

18:42

last soul because he knit everyone together

18:44

uniquely.

18:45

And God is jealously longing

18:47

for the whole of the city. Abraham, Kuiper says,

18:50

There is not one square inch in the whole

18:52

domain of our human existence over which

18:54

Christ to his sovereign overall does

18:56

not cry mine.

18:59

God dreams of the city reborn. And

19:02

what Elijah's story tells us is that that

19:04

starts with a church on

19:07

fire. But

19:08

that's the beginning of the story, not the destination.

19:11

The destination is a city reborn. And

19:13

every journey worth taking begins with an

19:15

origin point and a destination and we can't

19:17

confuse the two. Church

19:19

on fire is the vehicle that

19:22

gets us to god's true longing.

19:25

God does not dream of a select group

19:27

of people within his creation that really,

19:29

really, really, really like him.

19:32

He dreams

19:32

of pouring out his presence on the whole city.

19:36

And there is an inseparable connection between

19:38

a church on fire and a city reborn.

19:41

But one does not just lead seamlessly

19:44

to the other. There's quite a

19:46

big detour between the two. I

19:48

skipped a scene. Remember? So

19:51

let's now go back to the middle to

19:53

seem to the mountain of

19:55

prayer. Elijah sends the king

19:57

off to pray for reign and then he does what?

20:00

Look with me back at our teaching textbook one more time.

20:02

I'm gonna start in verse forty two. So

20:05

Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah

20:08

climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, but down

20:10

to the ground and put his face between

20:12

his knees.

20:13

Elijah sends the

20:15

king off to prepare for rain And

20:16

then he does what? He climbs a mountain and

20:18

begins to pray.

20:20

He hikes to the peak. He's overlooking

20:22

a city that is an absolute desperation,

20:24

and then he prays like this.

20:26

bent down to the ground and

20:28

put his face between his

20:30

knees.

20:32

That's an odd posture for prayer. Right.

20:34

Frequently in the Hebrew scriptures, we

20:37

we see people falling down, prostrate

20:39

on their faces in prayer. Often, we're

20:41

instructed to stand and raise our

20:43

hands in prayer sometimes people

20:45

even kneeled down to pray to

20:47

god, but Elijah, but down to

20:49

the ground, and put his face between

20:51

his knees. not

20:54

as young as I used to be. I

20:57

tweaked something in the most public way possible.

21:02

Here's

21:02

just a tip for reading the scripture.

21:04

Whenever you come across a detail that

21:06

seems superfluous, superfluous, like,

21:09

it doesn't have to be there. pay

21:11

close attention because in my experience,

21:14

the Bible is a book that has no unnecessary

21:16

details.

21:17

It's a book that doesn't tell me

21:19

as much as I would like to most of the time.

21:21

It's written like someone's trying to keep up

21:24

rather than like someone is revising and

21:26

revising and revising to get

21:28

to a final draft like a novelist would.

21:31

Like for instance, the scripture says here,

21:33

then God sent fire down from heaven.

21:35

There's a lot

21:35

there I'd like to know.

21:37

Right? Like, what if Hemingway

21:39

wrote that? Wouldn't it sound something more like,

21:41

then the flames danced across the sponged

21:44

oak? Like, someone had just turned

21:46

on the Chachi slide at a wedding reception filled

21:48

with white people.

21:49

You know, something like that.

21:51

I'm sorry. That was off the cuff.

21:56

man, sticks in script. Alright.

21:59

So

21:59

Elijah bent

22:02

down and

22:04

put his face between his knees. That

22:07

should get our attention.

22:09

And scholars will point out that to pray for

22:11

the city Elijah metaphorically gets into

22:13

the a woman in labor

22:17

beginning to push.

22:20

I know. It's

22:21

graphic.

22:23

Later in the new testament, the new testament writer

22:25

James will refer to this very prayer in this very

22:27

event, calling it fervent or

22:29

effectual prayer. within

22:31

the black church throughout America where this kind

22:34

of prayer has been central for generation

22:36

that's often referred to as travail, a

22:39

longsuffering kind

22:41

of prayer that always has its eyes firmly

22:43

fixed on a hope that is yet to come.

22:46

Among other traditions, it's often called contending

22:48

prayer. whatever you call it, here's

22:50

the point. There is a kind of prayer that gives

22:52

birth to new life. And

22:55

this is the kind of prayer that God loves to

22:57

answer prayers for new life. prayers

22:59

for the father to draw the loss to himself,

23:01

pray for the good shepherd to go seek and save

23:03

the loss, prayers for the spirit to give rebirth

23:05

into the fullest kind of life, to to those

23:07

who are at the end of their rope and those who think they've

23:10

already found this kind of life, an old

23:12

man who have looked forward everywhere else and still

23:14

not found it. and those who are just

23:16

aimlessly wandering distracted along

23:18

a journey without a clear destination. God

23:21

loves to answer prayers. for

23:23

the lost to be found. And

23:26

I've been thinking so much about my grandfather

23:29

these last couple of weeks. because

23:31

he is right at the end

23:34

hanging by a threat. And

23:37

a combination of age and

23:39

dementia and a recent brain bleed

23:42

has him in state where it could be any day.

23:46

and he is a generational hinge point

23:48

in my family. He

23:51

chose to follow Jesus and that changed

23:54

my family's story. And so I'm

23:56

constantly aware that every time

23:58

I stand and talk about

23:59

Jesus, it's his shoulders that I'm standing

24:02

on.

24:04

And

24:04

this weekend, I couldn't help but think about

24:06

him and think there's so many moments

24:08

I can go back to that I shared with him

24:10

but there's also so many moments I've never seen,

24:12

so many hidden prayers that he must have prayed

24:15

for me over the years. And

24:17

one day I'll be with him in eternity and

24:19

I'll behold all those hidden moments that

24:21

I never saw that somehow collectively

24:24

gave me this life that

24:25

I would trade everything for. that I would say

24:27

like David, your love o lord is better

24:29

than life. It's

24:31

almost like I'm living

24:34

in the wake of his prayers.

24:38

whose

24:38

prayers are you living in the wake

24:40

of? And

24:43

who might live in the wake of yours?

24:47

God doesn't only dream of the church on fire,

24:49

god dreams of the city reborn, a mountain

24:51

of prayers the only way from one to the other.

24:54

But if you choose to ascend this mountain

24:56

of prayer that Elijah Klein proceed

24:58

with caution, because now I'm gonna tell you couple of

25:00

things that you probably already know by experience

25:03

and it's this, Prare for the lost is slow

25:05

and unglamorous. Alright.

25:08

Prare for the lost is slow. go

25:11

and look toward the sea, he told a servant, and

25:13

he went and looked. There's nothing there. He said,

25:16

seven

25:17

times Elijah said, go back.

25:19

The seventh time the serpent

25:21

reported cloud as small as a man's hand

25:23

is rising from the sea. So

25:26

Elijah prayed for fire once. You

25:29

pray for rain seven times. The

25:33

sort of prayer that gives birth to new life is slow.

25:36

This

25:36

is that friend that that you've been

25:38

longing to see come into the faith and then you had

25:40

that one conversation where it seemed like there was an

25:42

opening and and you got excited and and

25:45

you prayed, but nothing. And prayed,

25:47

nothing. Prayed,

25:49

nothing. Prayed, nothing. Prayed,

25:52

nothing. Something

25:55

small, but it's something. And

25:57

that's assuming that you have the same sort of power

25:59

and prayer as a prophet who just ripped fire

26:01

out of the clouds.

26:03

My

26:06

oldest son Hank was born in a hospital

26:08

house birthing center in Lower Manhattan. if

26:10

you're unfamiliar, a birth center is essentially

26:13

like an average hotel room that they've

26:15

placed right into the middle of a hospital, where

26:17

instead of the medical jargon and the Frank

26:19

nurses and the busy labor and delivery

26:21

doctors that often associated with hospital

26:23

birth, birthing centers you get to interact

26:26

with midwives.

26:27

Typically, the

26:29

baggy hemp wearing, chamomile t

26:31

sipping, whispering variety just to paint

26:33

a picture. Eight

26:37

hours into labor, there was some slight discomfort

26:39

that it set in. Kirsten was absolutely

26:41

agonizing. I was growing hungry, slight discomfort.

26:46

It was at this precise moment in the labor

26:48

that I

26:50

walked across the room to the mini fridge where I strategically

26:53

stashed footlong Italian sub eight hours

26:55

prior. Genius. Remove

26:57

it from the fridge, unwrapped it, went

27:00

to take the first bite. And when I heard

27:02

what sounded like the voice of a Pixar

27:04

animated dragon, calling to me from

27:06

the other side of the room, what

27:08

is that smell

27:15

It

27:15

was at that precise moment. I knew my discomfort

27:17

was here to stay. ten

27:20

hours into the labor, the midwife says,

27:22

Kirsten, you ready to have this baby? She

27:25

was encouraged. I was ecstatic. I knew the

27:27

bread would be soggy by now, but the sandwich was still

27:29

salvaged

27:29

it. It

27:34

would be eight more hours before

27:36

we met Hank.

27:38

she labored and labored and

27:40

labored and labored. And

27:42

during those long hours, Kirsten experienced

27:44

more pain than she ever has before. that

27:46

there is no human feat that compares

27:49

with the courage of a mother to be in labor.

27:51

And

27:51

Kirsten had moments where she thought it was

27:53

time, but there was still a long way to go.

27:56

She had points where she thought that she would give

27:58

up, but kept on going anyway. More

28:00

than once, she said to anyone who might be

28:02

listening, I am never doing

28:04

this again. And

28:06

then we met Hank. And

28:09

a week after that eighteen hour birth, no exaggeration

28:11

on this timeline. She said Tyler, I think I wanna have

28:13

another baby. It

28:17

was like all the worst moments from that labor

28:19

were washed away in the joy of this new life.

28:21

because whatever she had went through this guy, this

28:24

little guy who so far had only

28:26

caused her excruciating, incomparable pain,

28:28

greatly disrupted her sleep patterns and promise

28:31

to be wildly dependent on her potentially

28:33

forever. This little guy was

28:35

so worth

28:37

it. And

28:39

Jesus said that's what the kingdom is like.

28:44

A

28:44

woman giving birth to a child has pain

28:46

because her time has come. But when her baby is

28:48

born, she forgets the anguish because

28:50

of her joy that a child has brought

28:52

into the world. See

28:54

Jesus said that new life, it often requires

28:57

labor, laboring in prayer,

28:59

but the joy of salvation so far

29:01

outweighs the labor. that

29:03

you can't even compare the two. Plenty

29:06

of people have been inspired by Moody's

29:08

list of one hundred.

29:11

far fewer people have still been praying

29:13

when the inspiration wore off.

29:15

And if you want that kind of legacy, you

29:18

have to labor with that

29:20

kind of life. So

29:22

pray for the lost is slow and then pray for

29:24

the lost is unglamorous. I mean,

29:26

calling down fire from heaven, that was

29:28

a spectacle. Praying

29:30

down poor on the city though, that was

29:32

hidden

29:34

and secret, and

29:35

won no public praise or admiration.

29:38

and it is the secret labor of prayer,

29:40

not the public spectacle of fire

29:43

that Jesus tells us to imitate. There

29:45

is this one moment, one moment in the gospels

29:48

where the disciples seem interested in

29:50

reenacting Elijah's fire

29:52

spectacle. It's in Luke chapter nine.

29:54

When the disciples

29:55

James and John saw this, they asked Lord,

29:57

do you want us to call down fire

29:58

from heaven to destroy

29:59

them? But Jesus turned and rebuked them,

30:02

then he and his disciples went to another village.

30:05

It's like a firm and straightforward. Nope.

30:10

John wants Elijah's spectacle.

30:13

Jesus wants Elijah's prayer. It

30:16

is the secret unglamorous part of Elijah's

30:18

life that we are biblically instructed to imitate

30:20

and make our own, James chapter five,

30:22

The prayer of a righteous person is

30:25

powerful and effective. Elijah

30:27

was a human being even as we are. He

30:29

prayed earnestly that it would not reign

30:31

and it did not rain on land for three and a half years.

30:33

Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain

30:35

and the earth produced its crops. See, we've

30:37

got an appetite for spectacle. God has

30:39

an appetite for new life. We can't

30:41

resist public spectacle. God can't

30:43

resist hidden laborious prayer. plenty

30:46

of people would say, I wanna be there when

30:48

the fire falls. I wanna see revival

30:51

bring on the signs and wonders far

30:53

fewer people.

30:55

will be found in the hidden labor

30:57

of prayer because

30:59

it's not glamorous, but

31:01

it is powerful and effective. So

31:05

can I just speak honestly into this

31:07

moment in this community?

31:10

I see the early signs of renewal

31:12

here.

31:16

I mean, there's a growing expression of worship.

31:18

We're repairing the altar. And

31:22

and I I see costly sacrifice

31:25

to to say no to other things

31:27

to come before god. Like, like

31:29

pouring water over the sacrifice.

31:31

And and it's such that it's not being

31:33

led by a few. We're all

31:36

participants, not spectators. It's

31:38

sparks all over the place.

31:39

This church is alive. In the language

31:42

of Elijah, the church is on

31:44

fire,

31:44

and all of those sparks just mean

31:46

this. It is time. It

31:49

is time to ascend the mountain

31:51

of prayer. It is time to be found

31:54

in the secret place It is time

31:56

for the real work of the kingdom to

31:58

be done in the hidden place, not

32:00

the the public place. and

32:02

the unglamorous work not in

32:04

the spectacle, it's time. God

32:08

dreams of the church on fire because

32:12

god dreams of the city reborn. So

32:14

here is the pattern that you see

32:16

biblically and historically every

32:19

time there's a renewal in a place in the

32:21

name of Jesus The church catches

32:23

fire followed by an increased priority

32:26

of prayer, which is followed by an outpouring

32:28

of the spirits' presence and power on a whole

32:30

city. You

32:32

do not get to jump from scene one to

32:34

scene three. We must walk

32:36

through scene two, and we must do

32:39

it together. What stands between

32:41

a church that's alive and a down

32:43

pouring city. It's a mountain of prayer.

32:47

So is there a practice to get that

32:49

into my life as a stay at home parent or

32:51

as a traveling executive or as a student

32:53

or as someone who works three hourly

32:55

jobs, no predictable rhythm to my life at all

32:57

or as a single mom who's just trying to piece things

33:00

and hold things together. Yes.

33:02

Written into the Bridgetown Daily prayer rhythm

33:05

is our practice. paused to pray at

33:07

midday for the lost. And when I

33:09

say that, don't mean pause to pray for the abstract

33:11

idea of people. I mean to pray for specific

33:13

people. for names and faces

33:15

that you're immersed in relationship with.

33:18

Pause to pray for them every day at midday,

33:20

for thirty seconds or for few minutes,

33:22

or for an hour. It's not about duration.

33:25

It is about rhythm. This

33:27

is about cultivating a sustainable rhythm

33:29

where the blur of our everyday is interrupt

33:32

and interrupted and interrupted by communion

33:34

with Jesus until communion with Jesus begins

33:36

to order the blur of our day.

33:39

So it's not about duration. It doesn't

33:41

matter how long you pause to pray. What matters

33:43

that you develop a rhythm of pausing

33:45

to pray. And that was the practice

33:47

in our communities last week. And

33:50

remember, it's an ongoing practice.

33:52

This ancient new daily prayer of them that

33:54

we hope will guard our hearts and guide our lives

33:56

for the days to come. And as a

33:58

tool to help you, as

33:59

you attempt to cultivate that new habit

34:02

or rhythm and work it into your life, We've

34:04

partnered with twenty four seven prayer for this app

34:06

called inner room, which you can download right now

34:08

wherever it is that you get your apps. But

34:11

why midday?

34:13

Why stop right in the middle of the day

34:15

for the contending,prevailing, birthing

34:17

sort of prayer? Is there anything significant about

34:20

that? In

34:22

John chapter four, we meet Jesus at that

34:24

precise point in the day. Jesus as tired

34:26

as he was from the journey, sat down by

34:28

a well. It was about noon. John

34:30

four six. In

34:32

the morning, good intentions and positive

34:34

willpower are at their absolute height. But

34:36

by midday, I

34:38

mean, you're zoning out of your desk, mindlessly

34:41

scrolling devices. We set our

34:43

sights on the evening's rest. We began to scheme

34:45

and plan friends will meet up for

34:47

tonight's happy hour, or what we'll have

34:50

for dinner, or the show will watch while

34:52

we veg out on the couch. Yeah. At the midpoint

34:54

of each day, is the human

34:56

propensity to escape is

34:59

at its highest. We will escape

35:01

the present for almost any distraction

35:05

the human tendency to spiral into

35:07

the self to turn inward to focus

35:09

on myself is at its highest.

35:12

all the way back in the fourth century of

35:14

Agrias, who was one of the

35:16

most well known of the church desert

35:18

fathers. named this tendency at

35:21

the midpoint of the day, the noonday demon.

35:24

And so here sits, the alpha and the omega

35:27

himself.

35:28

feeling the pull of the escape. That

35:32

subtle pull to zone out,

35:35

to be distracted, to plan some

35:37

preferred future that's better than the present

35:39

moment. How did

35:41

Jesus combat that poll?

35:45

He

35:45

struck up a conversation with the Samaritan woman.

35:49

You

35:49

see when the flesh pulls inward toward the self,

35:51

the spirit pushes outward in compassion.

35:54

And at the midpoint of each day, we have the opportunity

35:56

to train ourselves to turn

35:58

inward to the self or

35:59

to counter intuitively push

36:02

outward in compassion.

36:03

So maybe you imagine this woman

36:05

at the well moment is just the overflow of

36:08

the unconscious compassion of Jesus'

36:10

heart. And it really could be that. There's no way for us

36:12

to know for sure. Some writers

36:14

though imagine that Jesus is taking

36:16

action of compassion in

36:18

spite of his worn down resolve

36:21

and his low emotional bandwidth. that this

36:23

is less the unconscious overflow

36:26

and it is more a conscious counterintuitive

36:28

choice that he's making. Again, there's no way to know

36:30

for sure. but the picture that the Apostle

36:32

John paints does seem to lean

36:34

more toward that interpretation. And

36:36

what is the result? The result is new life.

36:39

New life in the unlike the candidate, the existing

36:42

American

36:42

woman, and the new life in the entire village, she

36:44

calls home a city

36:45

who's reborn.

36:47

Jesus disciples then come back with his takeout

36:50

order, the

36:51

one that he was too tired to walk with them

36:54

to go and get. And Jesus

36:56

says something confusing. He he says,

36:58

I'm not hungry anymore. He

37:01

says it this way, actually, I have food to

37:03

eat. You know nothing about my food

37:05

said Jesus is to do the will of him who sent

37:07

me and to finish his work. So Jesus

37:10

is renewed at a sole

37:13

level by the counterintuitive compassion

37:15

chosen at midday. Prare

37:18

for the lost at midday does two things. It offers

37:20

the bread of life to those who are hungry and

37:22

don't even know it. and it satisfies my

37:25

soul on the bread of life that I'm

37:27

most hungry for masked underneath

37:29

the temptation to distract and escape.

37:32

So what stands between a church on

37:34

fire and a downpour of living water on a city?

37:37

It's a mountain of prayer and the way to

37:39

to engage that is as simple

37:41

as an intentional interruption to the midpoint

37:43

of your day to labor in prayer alongside

37:46

the groaning of the spirit for

37:48

the lost.

37:49

Now I wanna end today with a picture.

37:53

In

37:53

the book of Israel,

37:55

after seventy years of slavery in

37:57

a foreign land, Israel is finally

37:59

released to go

37:59

back to Jerusalem.

38:01

The city's been ransacked. It's nothing

38:03

but ashes and rubble. And so they began to

38:05

rebuild their home and just like

38:07

Elijah, they start with the altar. So

38:10

they

38:10

began to rebuild the temple and they lay the foundation.

38:12

And before they put pews in,

38:15

or set up the inner room or even raise the

38:17

walls. There's nothing but a bare concrete slab

38:19

foundation. The entire nation gathers

38:21

there for worship. to commemorate

38:24

the new foundation for worship they've set.

38:26

And what comes out of them is the

38:28

worship of those who have waited seventy

38:30

years a lifetime or two

38:33

for this moment to worship this god

38:35

in this way back in this place.

38:37

Ezra describes the worship like this.

38:39

and all the people gave a great shout of

38:41

praise to the Lord because the foundation of

38:44

the House of the Lord had been laid, but

38:46

many of the older priests and levites family

38:48

heads who had seen the former temple

38:50

wept aloud when they saw the foundation

38:53

of this temple being laid. While many others shouted

38:55

for joy, No one could distinguish

38:57

the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of

38:59

weeping because the people had made so much

39:01

noise and the sound was heard far

39:04

away. The shouts of

39:06

joy, that's obvious. Right? Of

39:08

course, there's joy. They've waited so long for

39:10

this moment, but why the weeping? Why

39:14

is the older generation weeping?

39:18

Scholars pause at number of reasons, but they

39:20

seem to be anointed on this one. They're weeping over

39:23

who is missing.

39:26

The weeping over those who didn't live long enough

39:28

to see this day or those who didn't want it bad

39:30

enough to make track back from Babylon to

39:32

be with them at this moment. They're weeping

39:34

over who should be here, but who is not.

39:36

They're weeping because this moment of

39:38

worship is incomplete without

39:41

his voice or her voice joining

39:43

with mine in my ear.

39:46

We gather to worship every Sunday. and

39:49

a shout of joy goes up from this

39:51

place, but do we weep?

39:54

Do

39:54

we weep over who's missing?

39:58

Do

39:58

we weep over the coworker that

39:59

you've never thought to invite? Do

40:02

we weep over the family member that would have been interested

40:05

by now if they were gonna be at all. Do we

40:07

weep over the neighbor who's an acquaintance

40:09

to us and nothing more and we never consider that

40:11

the spirit might be as active there as in the moment

40:13

of response at the front of the stage. do

40:15

we weep over the voice who's missing?

40:23

I hear the sound of every ring.

40:28

I hear the sound of every ring.

40:31

and it's the sound of joy and

40:33

weeping, mixing together in

40:36

a course of love. loud

40:40

and indistinguishable. That's

40:43

the sound of an outpouring on old city.