REWIND: Unceasing Prayer — Chris Muir 24th March 2024 | LOVECHURCH Bournemouth

Summary

In this video script, Chris, a member of the clergy team at Love Church, delivers a sermon focused on the theme of 'rebellious fidelity' in prayer. He discusses the importance of maintaining a rhythm of prayer and the immediate access believers have to God. Drawing from biblical examples and personal anecdotes, Chris encourages the congregation to integrate prayer into their daily lives, emphasizing its transformative power in fostering a deeper relationship with God and living a life that reflects Jesus' teachings.

Takeaways

• 📖 The sermon is part of a series on prayer, focusing on 'rebellious fidelity' and unceasing prayer as a means to deepen the relationship with God.
• 🎤 Chris, a member of the clergy team at Love Church, emphasizes the importance of being faithful in prayer, drawing parallels between fidelity in marriage and faithfulness in prayer.
• 📅 Palm Sunday is highlighted as the starting point of Passion Week, leading to significant Christian events like Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.
• 🕊 The concept of 'rebellious fidelity' is introduced, suggesting that being a Christian rebel involves going against cultural norms and living sacrificially for Christ's cause.
• 🙏 The speaker encourages the congregation to explore different forms of prayer, including adoration, intercession, and moments of silence with God.
• 🕊 The sermon references biblical examples of regular prayer, such as Daniel's three daily prayers and the Psalms' references to morning, noon, and night prayers.
• 🌅 The importance of maintaining prayer rhythms through life's ups and downs is stressed, comparing it to the enduring love in a mature marriage.
• 📱 Chris shares personal anecdotes about integrating prayer into daily life, including using prayer apps and setting alarms for prayer reminders.
• 🏠 The idea of creating 'Houses of Prayer' in homes is introduced, as a way to foster communities centered around prayer and the presence of God.
• 🔑 The sermon concludes with the message that prayer is a means to an end, which is the unhindered union with God, and that God's presence is imminent in all aspects of life.
• 🌟 The speaker envisions a lifestyle where prayer and the awareness of God's presence transform everyday activities, leading to a more Christ-like life.

Q & A

Who is the speaker in the provided script?

The speaker is Chris, a member of the clergy team at Love Church.

What significant day is being discussed at the beginning of the script?

The script begins with a discussion of Palm Sunday, which marks the start of Passion Week leading up to Easter.

What series is the speaker concluding with the final talk?

The speaker is concluding a series on prayer, specifically focusing on 'rebellious fidelity' and 'unceasing prayer'.

What does the speaker suggest is the Christian life according to Carl Bart?

According to Carl Bart, as mentioned in the script, the Christian life is not a religious life but one lived in the world with God, unceasingly before God in the world.

What is the concept of 'rebellious fidelity' as discussed in the script?

Rebellious fidelity, as discussed, is the idea of being faithful and true to God's call while also going against the cultural norms and living sacrificially for God's cause, much like Jesus did.

What does the speaker suggest about the relationship between prayer and fidelity?

The speaker suggests that fidelity in prayer sustains our relationship with Jesus, forming us into a life that is loyal and true to God amidst the highs and lows of our spiritual life.

What biblical examples of prayer rhythms are mentioned in the script?

The script mentions Daniel praying three times a day, the Psalms referring to people crying out to God morning, noon, and night, and Jesus praying both rhythmically and spontaneously.

What is the significance of the torn curtain in the temple according to the script?

The torn curtain in the temple signifies a spiritual reality that humanity now has direct, uninhibited access to God through the saving act of Jesus.

What does the speaker encourage the congregation to do regarding prayer?

The speaker encourages the congregation to build prayer into their daily lives, to seek God's presence in all circumstances, and to consider the possibility of establishing more 'Houses of Prayer' within the community.

What is Brother Lawrence known for in terms of prayer, as mentioned in the script?

Brother Lawrence is known for his practice of the presence of God, where he found peace in Jesus while performing his duties in the monastery kitchen, illustrating the concept of immediate access to God in everyday activities.

What is the final message the speaker conveys about the presence of God?

The final message is that God's presence is imminent, meaning He is with us at all times in all circumstances, and recognizing this can transform our lives, making us more joyful, loving, forgiving, and less worried.

Outlines

00:00

📖 Introduction to the Sermon Series

Chris, a member of the clergy team at Love Church, introduces the sermon's theme, 'Rebellious Fidelity in Prayer,' part of a series on prayer. He discusses the significance of Palm Sunday, marking the beginning of Passion Week leading to Easter, and emphasizes the importance of prayer as highlighted in the New Testament. Chris encourages the congregation to explore different forms of prayer and to read a recommended book on the subject, offering a copy to a volunteer from the audience.

05:02

🛐 The Importance of Prayer Rhythms

Chris delves into the concept of 'rhythms of prayer,' drawing parallels between the consistency in marriage and the regularity needed in prayer life. He cites Deitrich Bonhoeffer's advice on nurturing love through the institution of marriage and applies it to the spiritual life, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a routine of prayer to sustain the relationship with Jesus. Biblical examples of Daniel and the Psalms are given to illustrate the practice of regular prayer throughout the day.

10:05

🌅 Embracing the Rebellious Fidelity in Prayer

Chris discusses the tension between the Western mindset and the practice of set rhythms of prayer, suggesting that even though life gets busy, it's essential to integrate prayer into daily activities. He shares personal anecdotes and practical advice on how to incorporate prayer into various aspects of life, such as praying at specific times, using prayer apps, and even considering fasting as a way to enhance prayer life. The idea is to turn everyday moments into opportunities for prayer, thus living a life of 'rebellious fidelity' in prayer.

15:08

🏠 Cultivating a House of Prayer

Chris introduces the concept of creating 'Houses of Prayer,' where friends gather not just for socializing but to engage in focused prayer sessions. He envisions a community where multiple such houses exist, contributing to a collective prayer effort for the kingdom of God. Chris invites those interested in opening their homes to this practice to speak with him, aiming to expand this initiative across the church community.

20:09

🙏 The Power of Immediate Access to God

Chris explores the believer's immediate access to God, as taught in the Bible, and how this understanding should transform one's prayer life. He discusses the idea that prayer is not an end in itself but a means to achieve a deeper union with God. Using Brother Lawrence's example, he illustrates how integrating prayer into daily tasks can lead to a tranquil and constant awareness of God's presence, regardless of the circumstances.

25:12

🌟 The Transformative Effect of God's Presence

Chris concludes by emphasizing the transformative impact of recognizing God's imminent presence in all aspects of life. He suggests that a lifestyle of prayer and awareness of God's constant presence can lead to a decrease in sin, greater generosity, and less worry. Chris encourages the congregation to imagine a reality where God's glory is visibly present, and to close the sermon with a moment of prayer, inviting the Holy Spirit to meet with them.

Keywords

💡Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is a Christian feast that commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as described in all four canonical Gospels. In the video, it is mentioned as the starting point of Passion Week, leading to Easter, symbolizing humility and the beginning of significant events in Christian theology.

💡Passion Week

Passion Week refers to the final week of Jesus' life, beginning with his entry into Jerusalem and ending with his resurrection. The term is central to the video's theme, as it sets the stage for discussing the significance of prayer during this holy period.

💡Rebellious Fidelity

Rebellious Fidelity is a concept introduced in the video that combines the idea of being a rebel against the worldly system with the fidelity or faithfulness to God's teachings. It is a key theme, illustrating the Christian call to challenge societal norms while remaining loyal to spiritual principles.

💡Prayer

Prayer is a central theme in the video, with various forms and purposes discussed, such as adoration, intercession, and contemplation. It is portrayed as a means to connect with God, seeking guidance, and expressing gratitude.

💡Rhythms of Prayer

Rhythms of Prayer refers to the regular patterns or schedules of prayer that believers follow. In the video, it is suggested as a way to sustain a relationship with God through consistent practice, drawing parallels to the sustaining love in a marriage.

💡Immediate Access to God

Immediate Access to God is a concept that emphasizes the believer's ability to connect with God at any time, without barriers. The video discusses this in the context of prayer, suggesting that true prayer leads to an unmediated experience of God's presence.

💡Fasting

Fasting is mentioned in the video as a spiritual discipline that can be accompanied by prayer. It is presented as a way to focus the mind on God and to use the physical experience of hunger as a prompt for spiritual reflection and communication with God.

💡Prayer Apps

Prayer Apps are digital tools that assist with prayer routines, providing set prayers, scriptures, and meditations. The video mentions them as modern aids for maintaining prayer rhythms and enriching the prayer life of believers.

💡Brother Lawrence

Brother Lawrence is referenced in the video for his teachings on the practice of the presence of God. He is known for advocating a lifestyle of constant awareness of God's presence, which aligns with the video's theme of integrating prayer into all aspects of life.

💡Imminence of God

The imminence of God refers to the belief that God is ever-present and close to humanity. The video uses this concept to encourage believers to recognize God's presence in their daily lives, which can transform their approach to prayer and interaction with the world.

💡Transformation

Transformation is a recurring idea in the video, suggesting that a life of prayer and awareness of God's presence can lead to personal change. It is tied to the video's theme of rebellious fidelity, where transformation is seen as a natural outcome of aligning one's life with spiritual values.

Highlights

Chris introduces the theme of Palm Sunday and its significance in the Christian faith.

The sermon focuses on the concept of 'rebellious fidelity' in prayer, contrasting with cultural norms.

The importance of maintaining rhythms of prayer in Christian life, as exemplified by historical and biblical figures.

The role of prayer in sustaining love in relationships, drawing parallels with the dynamics of a marriage.

Chris shares personal anecdotes to illustrate the integration of prayer into daily life and its transformative effects.

The encouragement to establish prayer routines and the use of technology to assist in maintaining these rhythms.

The idea of immediate access to God and the implications of recognizing God's omnipresence in prayer.

The transformative power of prayer as a means to experience God's grace

Transcripts

[Music]

okay uh grab a seat grab a seat cuz I'm

I'm going to go straight in uh this

morning most of you have sat down uh if

we've not met before my name is Chris on

the clergy team here at love church it's

great to great to be it's great to not

be the service for once actually and to

be preaching instead

um most of you well as as Debbie

mentioned right at the beginning today

is Palm Sunday which is the day that

Jesus uh rode into Jerusalem humbly on a

donkey starting the beginning of that

passion week Easter week uh and from

that from that place we move through to

the Passover meal of moury Thursday uh

then there's the cross and the turn torn

curtain of Good Friday through silent

Saturday and into the Wonder and the joy

of Resurrection Sunday but uh I'm not

preaching on that today please don't

please don't write to me or the bishop

um I probably should be today we are

landing our final talk uh on the series

we've been going through praying like

monks living like fools in the Final

Chapter actually called uh rebellious

fidelity unceasing s prayer that's where

we're going today um do you remember

when we finished Ephesians a few weeks

back uh we were encouraged by Paul St

Paul to put on our Spiritual armor we

had the preach Mania the three guys

preached on that and then there was this

line in the end of of of Ephesians and

it says and pray in the spirit on All

Occasions with all kinds of prayers and

requests and that's why we moved into

this series on

prayer uh elsewhere in the New Testament

Paul the same writer he says in uh one

Thessalonians Rejoice always pray

without ceasing give thanks in all

circumstances so over the last few weeks

we've been uh looking at different ways

and forms of praying adoring God

intercession we've been looking to find

him in life's difficult challenges uh

we've been exploring being silent with

God and we've explored that times when

God is seemingly silent with us if you

have not read this book yet I think

every week we've said go get a copy I'll

repeat it doesn't matter if we're finish

the series grab a copy of this book in

fact does anybody want this book oh

Jenny's hand went up first right come on

Jenny okay I'm going I'll leave it here

that's for

Jenny uh if you not get got copy they do

go and grab a copy of it I genuinely

believe that Bournemouth is coming to

the end of a prayer

famine God's people across this town are

rediscovering the adventure of

rebellious Fidelity in

prayer now the word Fidelity is a bit

bit unusual these days we don't tend to

use it it simply means being faithful

being true being loyal to something

think in 2024 we might be asking

ourselves what on Earth has faithfulness

got to do with being a rebel and that's

what's that got to do with prayer

because a rebel they they go against the

system don't they Rebels buck up against

the trend they kick up against the

Zeitgeist as Jesus's followers as his

disciples we're called to be just that

just as Jesus was killed for being a

rebel we're called to go against the

culture and to live sacrificially for

his

cause around

Fidelity I hope and I pray that my

marriage with Hooch will be and remain

one of fidelity Hooch and I being

faithful to each other for as long as we

shall live because we are in a world

that encourages promiscuity we're in a

world that um normalizes

infidelity regarding Fidelity I hope and

pray that the next prime minister

whoever that will be will be faithful to

a call of serving our country with

integrity and honor we must pray for

them some of you are here sat here today

and you're hoping that the next

Liverpool manager will be as faithful to

the club as Jurgen Club was some of you

don't care I don't care

but we in an age of

infidelity our hearts still yearn for

Fidelity but what's this got to do with

prayer

everything

everything um Carl Bart the uh 20th

Century theologian said the Christian

life is not a religious life but one in

the world with God it is lived

unceasingly before God in the world

Jesus was was a rebel he bucked up

against the system and we're going to

explore that this week if you haven't

signed up for the MD Thursday meal why

not you are seriously running out of

time we're probably going to extend

tickets until Tuesday but that will be

it um in that meal we are going to look

at uh the how Jesus Took the Passover

meal this the Jewish Passover meal how

he remembered God's salvation history

for the Jewish Nation as they were taken

out of slavery out of Egypt but

radically interpreted that story through

the lens of his own

life and then we're going to see through

Easter that the saving Act of Jesus

taking our sin upon himself tore the

curtain in the temple that was a

physical sign of a spiritual

reality that Humanity now has direct

uninhibited access to God so this

morning I want to cover off uh two two I

struggle for a word here two expressions

of our faith two modes of being two ways

of I can't quite let's go with

Expressions two expressions of our faith

which should help us to form a life of

rebellious Fidelity in prayer two things

rhythms of prayer and our immediate

access to God I try to come up with some

catchy phrases I couldn't do it that's

what we're going with rhythms of prayer

and our immediate access to God so the

first thing rhythms of Prayer I'll have

quoted him before died Bon Hofer uh say

dedri say Bon

Hofer you can do do better than that he

used to instruct and correct uh young

couples on their wedding days he would

say to them you think you think that

your love is going to sustain your

marriage you're wrong your marriage is

going to sustain your love

what are the most exciting and most um

beautiful parts of a

marriage certainly the beginning part

right that's quite exciting we don't

need me to explain why

surely

sex I said it

intimacy uh excitement youthfulness come

on Church be a bit more

excited and then and then so that's the

explosive like beginning part of our

marriage what's the next most beautiful

thing the old aged couple who sit there

hour after hour they're in silence

because they don't need to talk or say

anything they're drinking tea they're

just as in love it's just a love that's

matured like a fine

wine who's seen the movie The Notebook

what do we what do we see we see the

sort of like explosive amazing part of

young love and then the final scene I'm

going to ruin it is this beautiful scene

of the old couple lying in bed together

at the end of their days we don't see

the boring stuff in the middle the

mundane stuff in the middle because we

all know don't we that life is hard at

the worst and mundane at the best sorry

to say it but life has its ups and downs

it has its Mountaintop Moments wedding

days and babies being born and and uh

new jobs and all that sort of stuff but

it has its valleys the death of a family

member a cancer diagnosis an

affair but those people who take their

marriage vows seriously they take the

institution of their marriage seriously

in sickness and in health for better for

worse for richer for poorer and those

who continually feed faithful acts into

their marriage forsaking all

others those guys

tend to run the race to last the

race because what's the point Fidelity

to the institution of marriage sustains

love Fidelity to the institution of the

Spirit-filled church sustains the people

of

God and sust and Fidelity in

prayer sustains our relationship with

Jesus Through the highs and the lows of

our spiritual life it forms us

metaphorically into that aged couple

looking back at the end of our lives

with a cup of tea looking back with

joy see the church has always prayed

it's always prayed both together

gathered together and

dispersed the church has always from the

very very beginning stuck to rhythms of

prayer but in our individualist consumer

Western mindset we've busy ourselves

with a good Protestant work ethic and we

we especially in the western Evangelical

Church we've grown suspicious of sort of

like set Rhythm rhythms of prayer we've

grown suspicious of set written down

prayers you know we think that therefore

priests and Catholics and monks and nuns

and all those religious types of people

not

us but we only have to look to the life

of Jesus and the and the early church

Church to see that that is a load of

rubbish top tip if Jesus did something

so should

we so let's for a moment consider a few

biblical examples of praying regularly

through the day there was Daniel who

prayed three times a day when exiled in

Babylon he followed the pattern of the

temple whilst he couldn't get to the

temple the Psalms talk about uh people

crying out Morning Noon and night to God

uh they also talk about sometimes people

praying seven times a day crying out to

God of course Jesus was a Jew he

continued the pattern of the temple the

gospels are full of instances of Jesus

set in regular prayer times but he also

went off

peast and he prayed through the night

that wasn't a temple custom but it was a

way of life that maybe we should be

emulating fancy praying through the

night with me here one night

yeah yeah

woo Jesus prayed rhythmically he prayed

spontaneously he prayed by himself and

he prayed with others and the apostles

were no different after Jesus's

resurrection uh an Ascension they

continued to do exactly the same they

regularly went to the temple to pray

they prayed alone they prayed together

they went onto the rooftop to pray and

the early church and actually the church

right up to today in different

denominations still continue to stop and

pray three five 7 times a day this

practice is not novel it's an anchor of

our

faith but I can see every single pair of

eyes is looking back at me and saying

Chris I know the book's called praying

like monks but we're not

monks you know we've got busy lives

haven't we 10hour shifts busy homes

newborn babies long commutes to work

essays projects

deadlines I get it I once actually had a

real life monk as a spiritual

director that was cool I mean he was

actually a frier I don't know what the

difference is uh but he was a real life

Monk and I I had a spiritual Direction

session with him one day and I said

brother

Clark I want to I want to be more

disciplined in my prayer life I want to

pray more and I remember what he said to

me me really clearly he said Chris um

who do you who do you admire whose

prayer life do you admire and I was like

um

yours and he was like but you're not a

monk I was like yeah he said you're

you're a student you've got a wife

you've got kids you do school

runs you your life is nothing like mine

and he's right I don't live on a fry

where a prayer Bell goes off five times

a

day but what he said was he he

encouraged me to pray in different forms

of prayer and this is this example he

gave me he said when your son Ben comes

home from school and like you're excited

each other and you have a little wrestle

cuz dads and Sons they do that pray over

him out loud or in your head pray give

thanks God for that very moment that

you're

in at the time I was into running he

said when you go out for a run thank God

for your trainers you wear in as you

running through creation pray for

creation he said when you go and fix

your car engine he had no idea that I

have no idea about car engines but he

said imagine how God loves to fix you up

and find tune your life turn your things

into prayers and so yeah I do have a

regular prayer spot every morning I try

to do 40 minutes in my prayer chair I

let you into a secret this morning I did

it whil I was lying in

bed but Lord the Lord L me but now

throughout the day I I try to regularly

invite God into different moments there

have been times where I've set an alarm

on my phone I have done that and I've

prayed like the Lord's pray at midday or

maybe done like a little closing prayer

at 5:00 um there have been times and

seasons in my life when I fasted and I

think as a church we should probably

look at fasting more and I've used those

hunger pangs throughout the day as

moments to stop and pray there's been

times where I've used prayer apps on my

phone like Leo 365 um I don't do it at

the moment but there are a gazillion

ways we can stop and pray Hooch and I

have now uh begun to open up a house

once a week for a House of Prayer elain

Baker I'm not sure if she's here she's

done exactly the same thing I hope that

over the next few months across BCP we

might have a few more of these House of

prayers popping up they're not a connect

group it's simpler than that we have a

coffee we chat but we go and for one

hour we read a Psalm we'll pray through

a Psalm we'll ask the Holy Spirit to

lead us in prayer and for one hour we'll

do nothing but listen to God and pray uh

and then we usually close with the

Lord's Prayer don't we it's super simple

purposely coming together with friends

to pray if you've got a home and you

would be interested in doing this come

speak to me I would love it if we had if

we went from 2 to 20 houses of prayer

across

BCP uh and in my in my mind there

sometimes dream like what if you know

what if this you know God's really in

this and other churches got involved and

we went from 20 to 200 houses of prayer

across BCP praying every single day of

the week for his kingdom to come in

Bournemouth wouldn't that be amazing

wouldn't do you imagine what would

happen do you imagine I love this quote

from the book

from CH from Tyler Staten he said the

early Christians placed a higher value

on Gathering to pray than we commonly to

do uh do today and they possessed a

higher concentration of the spirit's

power than we commonly do today when we

pray expressing our love to God the

power of God more or less just

inadvertently gets thrown in there is

power when we pray

together there really is

and if you just want to dip your toe in

uh this Wednesday as Hooch mentioned in

the shore Sweep All every week all the

way through from Easter to Pentecost

6:30 in the shore suite for 1 hour we're

going to pray same format we're going to

read a Psalm we're going to invite the

Holy Spirit we're going to pray and

we're going to just let God do it we're

going to be be um keeping it simple

keeping it real and keeping it

up look the devil we don't talk about

him much but he doesn't want he doesn't

want us to have the Abundant Life which

Jesus promises and makes available he

keeps us distracted he keeps us lied to

he keeps us busy and these

things they're a pretty major cause of

my own

distraction they distract us but they

don't need to be they can be a help you

can set an alarm on these did you know

that you can set an alarm and it can go

off whenever you want you can set it a

couple of times a day and you can stop

and you can just fire up a prayer there

are a whole bunch of apps uh available

there's a few of them are going to

scroll through on the screen Leto 365

praise as you go these are excellent and

I have times I've used them and

sometimes I still do and these apps are

full of set prayers scriptures

meditations which you can listen to or

read along

with and guys I just want to say there

is absolutely nothing wrong with set

prayers that someone else has

written when other Godly inspired people

have written down their prayers we

should let them guide us and we should

let them nurture us Jesus himself was

utterly soaked in the prayers of others

do you know how frequently he he he

quoted The Book of Psalms which were

other people's

prayers and I'll let you into a secret

The Lord's Prayer wasn't entirely

original

Jesus Took an ancient Hebrew prayer

which he would have learned as a kid and

he reinterpreted

it you see scriptures and the prayers of

others they can form a

Bedrock of prayers for ourselves when we

can't find the words ourselves a little

bit like when a a football team

practices its set pieces or a pist does

their scales it provides a repertoire

for us to be able to fall into K Bart

said the rich the richness of God's word

the scriptures ought to determine our

prayer not the poverty of our heart

sometimes we come and we're

empty so what I'm trying to say is build

prayer into your day guys meet with

Jesus let him form you we're all being

formed by something all the time don't

let Instagram and Tik Tok and Facebook

and Netflix form you and I'm not

slamming those places I'm not I'm just

saying we should all be asking ourselves

if we prayed as much as the time we

spent in those apps and in those spaces

how much more might Our Lives become

like

Jesus I think we'd be really

surprised so build prayer into your day

that's part one part

two uh we have immediate access to God

I'm excited about this part I was

excited about the first part but I'm

more excited about this part the writer

of Hebrews in 4:16 says let us approach

God's throne of grace with confidence so

that we may receive mercy and find Grace

to help us in our time of need in

Ephesians 2:6 Paul

says uh we are

seated in the

heavenlies look around you really just

have a little look around you what do

you say

see do you see his

throne do you see

Angels do you see God's glory shining

all around

us if you're like me no the answer is no

I don't see them around you but they're

there it's there it's there and we're

there that's truth that is the truth so

if are praying in the morning in the

evening on apps with our kids lying in

our beds on our knees if our fasting if

all of that becomes the ends we're going

to completely miss the spot it will be

an utter waste of our time if that's the

end because prayer is not the end it's a

means to the end and the end is UNH

uninhibited Union with God did you know

that he in us us in him as he is in the

father and the father is in him this is

straight out of the scriptures

folks the curtain is torn the dividing

wall has come down with the spirit in us

and a lifestyle of prayer we are opened

up to A Whole New World this is praying

without

ceasing have anyone heard of brother

Lawrence brother Lawrence uh the monk in

a famous book get a copy of it the

practice of the presence of God he tells

us how he began to actually shed the

sort of set formularies of prayer here I

am one hand saying go and pray regularly

he started to shed it because he found

it a

distraction he became so immersed in

prayer and I'm going to quote him he

said this the times of business does not

differ from me from the time of prayer

and in the noise and the clatter of the

kitchen that was his job in the

monastery worked in the kitchen while

several persons are at the same time

calling for different things I possess

God in a great Tranquility as if I were

on my knees at the Blessed

Sacrament it's

phenomenal it's

phenomenal the other

day uh Hooch and I were having we were

going to have Tim and Debbie over for

for dinner um just for hang out bit of

social bit of fun however some friends

of ours um who who you guys know Nick

and joy uh they've had a rough time of

it recently Joy's recently been

diagnosed with um with bowel cancer and

on this exact day uh they were finding

out how bad it was and we were like gosh

we can't just hang out and we having fun

and the our friends some of our closest

friends are going through this time so

we sacked off dinner hours uh I cooked a

bit extra we went over to go and see

Nick and joy and we sat at their table

and we ate and we cried and we laughed

and we anointed our friends with oil we

prayed for them and we took communion

together look what's the why am I

telling you

this what if all of our Hangouts with

our friends were like

that not just waiting for difficult

circumstances in life to make us do it

but what if every time we hung out we

sat and we prayed and we talked about

life and we took communion

together for a

moment just consider this what if our

lifestyles were no longer God church

prayer being good over here and work

friends drinking money fun over here

but the two were the

same consider for a moment why Paul was

encouraging his listeners his readers to

pray without

ceasing because it's got to be

achievable

right and some of us you would have you

would have heard people saying that God

is imminent or referred to the imminence

of God I've always wondered what that

menant I even went to theal college

couldn't work it out I had to Google it

I Googled it and what it basically means

is that God is right here right now God

is here with us God isn't hidden away it

means that the whole of creation is shut

through with the glory and presence of

God everywhere it means as Tim said a

few weeks back ago God is

God God is God and in God's goodness he

makes room for us in himself we can't

get away from

him because the curtain is torn he's

accessible not fully not concretely

obviously that time is coming

though but for now the promise is if we

seek him if we knock we will find him

and the door will be open because

faithful prayer is a pathway to his

presence

why did Paul sing songs of praise when

he was banged up in

prison why did the Apostle John have

visions of God when he was banished on

the island of

Patmos why sometimes in this room when

we're in

worship can we just sense him a little

bit

more you know people have seen angels in

this

room do you know that I've not but

people who I know and trust who aren't

mad have seen angels in this

room why is it sometimes when I'm doing

my gardening and my mind drifts to Jesus

I can actually sense him next to me

pulling up

weeds why did Brother Lawrence find uh

the Peace of Jesus when doing the

washing up in the fry

kitchen because prayer and seeking and

knocking they open the door to

heaven we have got all access VIP

backstage passes guys God is

here wherever you are wherever your here

is he's there whether you're driving to

work whether you watching your first

child being delivered or you're

delivering your first child different

circumstances

um whether it's walking onto an oncology

Ward with your heart in your hands he is

closer than the air you

breathe I sometimes imagine now this is

Just My Imagination Running Away with me

but I sometimes imagine that I could

kind of like put my put my hands through

like an an unseeable Untouchable

non-membrane because it doesn't really

exist go with me and I going to like

poke my head

through and in that place I can see like

augmented reality over the wherever I am

the glory of God angels the

heavens but actually that's my

imagination the reality is it is there

it is

there he is here all the time we are

being held in the Eternal now of God and

sometimes sometimes we Glimpse

it I wonder what would happen to our

sinful

self if we pushed and pushed onto this

truth that God is with us at all times

in all circumstances I'm pretty sure our

sin would shift I'm pretty sure we'd be

less tempted to click on things we

shouldn't click on I'm pretty sure we'd

we wouldn't get so angry and we wouldn't

hold on to our resentment for people

when we know that the person who bled

and died and hands were pierced is in

the room next to

us and I'm pretty sure we'd be more

generous too not out of guilt or

compulsion but because we are in the

imminent presence of Love himself pure

selflessness and I know I know that we

would erupt with laughter

at just the sheer sort of feeling of Joy

coming over

us I'm sure we would sing more wouldn't

we we would dance more we would love

more we would forgive more and we would

worry so much

less because when we push into a life of

rebellious Fidelity in prayer and we

will still find ourselves in the

crucibles of hardship

we will find God's unwavering

peace and in the drudgery and monotony

of Life his Beauty will sustain us and

in the moments of Joy his company his

spirit will dance with us

amen um where's Louie Louie jump up

Ma'am why if you're able why don't you

stand with me

just trying to work out what to do

next do we believe he's his presence is

imminent why don't you uh why don't we

close our eyes

we got a little bit of

time I was going to invite Bruce did a

brilliant before the service he did a

brilliant imaginative contemplation

exercise if you don't know what that is

it's great it's you you you walk through

a a Biblical scene and you picture

yourself you immers in it you let your

imagination run wild and it's a

beautiful thing I don't think we're

going to do it now

but let's engage our

imaginations just for a

moment Come Holy

Spirit Come Holy

Spirit meet with us

we used to sing a song with a refrain so

let your glory shine around do you

remember

that your glory shine

around let your glory shine

around and in your mind's eye

see his

glory see his Beauty

maybe you maybe you can see his

face maybe as your eyes are shut you can

see his

face and he's

smiling he's smiling at you and his eyes

are big and

wide what's he saying to

you is it that he's proud of

you cuz he

is is he that he would lay down his life

for

you CU he did

is it that he wants you to follow

him because he does