Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Prayer- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Oh, oh.
- 0:38Speaker 2: Well a few months ago I had the opportunity to
- 0:40Speaker 2: speak at one of our prayer minister banquets and selected
- 0:45Speaker 2: a favorite passage of mine and it's the phrase from
- 0:48Speaker 2: the Lord's Prayer, give us this day our daily bread.
- 0:51Speaker 2: Soon thereafter it became obvious that this weekend was open
- 0:55Speaker 2: and I had the opportunity to sign up to preach
- 0:58Speaker 2: and I said you better believe it and I want
- 1:00Speaker 2: to go back to that passage. I just love it.
- 1:02Speaker 2: It's been a long time since we'd studied it as
- 1:05Speaker 2: a church. So With an indulgence of the people who
- 1:09Speaker 2: are at that banquet, I'm going to go back to
- 1:11Speaker 2: that passage one more time. Give us this day our
- 1:14Speaker 2: daily bread. I just think that no prayer, no sentence,
- 1:18Speaker 2: no phrase more summarizes our relationship with God than that
- 1:24Speaker 2: simple sentence at the heart of the Lord's prayer. Give
- 1:30Speaker 2: us this day our daily bread. It's really a prayer
- 1:34Speaker 2: of trust, isn't it? And God's treatment of fear has
- 1:39Speaker 2: always been trust. And I don't know how much more
- 1:44Speaker 2: fear our planet can take. We're in a fear-filled season.
- 1:51Speaker 2: You can see it on people's faces. You can sense
- 1:54Speaker 2: it in the newscasts. It bubbles up in conversations. We're anxious.
- 2:04Speaker 2: We don't even want to read the paper anymore. We
- 2:06Speaker 2: don't want to watch the news anymore because we're just
- 2:12Speaker 2: stunned at what is happening. So I cannot think of
- 2:17Speaker 2: a more appropriate, more important phrase, be it so simple,
- 2:23Speaker 2: it is so profound, than for us to be equipped
- 2:28Speaker 2: to learn to say, Lord, could we trust you today?
- 2:31Speaker 2: Even today. to the point that the crumbs on our table,
- 2:38Speaker 2: the bread in our pantry, we are absolutely dependent upon you.
- 2:43Speaker 2: Give us today our daily bread. It comes from the
- 2:47Speaker 2: Lord's prayer as the Lord taught us to pray. Why
- 2:49Speaker 2: don't we say the prayer together? The words will appear
- 2:52Speaker 2: on the screen. Would you say them out loud with me?
- 2:55Speaker 2: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
- 2:59Speaker 2: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as
- 3:03Speaker 2: it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
- 3:07Speaker 2: bread and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven
- 3:11Speaker 2: our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
- 3:15Speaker 2: us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the
- 3:19Speaker 2: power and the glory forever. Amen, amen, and amen. If
- 3:26Speaker 2: you ever find yourself in a situation where conversation has
- 3:29Speaker 2: stalled out, try this question. Let's all share a curious
- 3:33Speaker 2: dining practice. Everybody has a curious dining practice. May not
- 3:40Speaker 2: be curious to you, but when you share it, it'll
- 3:42Speaker 2: be curious to someone else. I've been asking that question
- 3:46Speaker 2: for the last few months. Boy, do I get some
- 3:48Speaker 2: funny answers. One man said, I pour syrup on everything
- 3:53Speaker 2: I eat. I said, everything? He said, everything. That's curious.
- 4:00Speaker 2: Another man said, I pour gravy on my cake. Gravy
- 4:06Speaker 2: on your cake? Come on. My dad used to take
- 4:11Speaker 2: cornbread and crumble it up and mix it and stir
- 4:14Speaker 2: it up in buttermilk. I'm learning he's not alone. Look
- 4:18Speaker 2: at you nodding out there. Yeah. Another man gave me
- 4:22Speaker 2: a verse. I eat my peas with honey. I've done
- 4:26Speaker 2: it all my life. It makes them taste funny, but
- 4:30Speaker 2: it keeps them on my knife. Curious dining practices. One
- 4:39Speaker 2: man said that my wife, he said, I'm quoting him.
- 4:43Speaker 2: He said, my wife's not much of a cook. And
- 4:46Speaker 2: when I say it's time for dinner, our kids go
- 4:48Speaker 2: to the garage. They didn't, I thought it was funny
- 4:52Speaker 2: because they're going out to eat. That's what he was
- 4:54Speaker 2: trying to say. And then there was a joke about
- 4:59Speaker 2: the guy who had nine sons. And his rule in
- 5:03Speaker 2: his house was he, as the father, always gets the
- 5:05Speaker 2: last piece of chicken. And one day at dinnertime, all
- 5:12Speaker 2: eyes were on one final piece of chicken in the
- 5:15Speaker 2: platter in the center of the table when all of
- 5:17Speaker 2: a sudden there was an electrical outlet. And the room
- 5:21Speaker 2: was dark. And then there was a scream. And the
- 5:25Speaker 2: lights came on. And there was the dad's hand on
- 5:27Speaker 2: the platter with nine forks in it. Everybody has a
- 5:33Speaker 2: kitchen story because everybody has a kitchen. I don't care
- 5:37Speaker 2: how humble your house is. Every house has a kitchen
- 5:40Speaker 2: of some sort. I mean, it may just be a
- 5:43Speaker 2: little flip up stove, but there is a kitchen because
- 5:47Speaker 2: you have to have a kitchen to prepare meals. It
- 5:50Speaker 2: might surprise you to know. I hope it doesn't, but
- 5:53Speaker 2: it might surprise you to know that in God's house,
- 5:55Speaker 2: there's a kitchen too. And he's concerned with your daily bread.
- 6:04Speaker 2: And as you step into God's kitchen, the first thing
- 6:07Speaker 2: you realize is that this is a long table. And
- 6:12Speaker 2: a lot of people are seated in here. And that
- 6:16Speaker 2: there are plenty of chairs. And there's room for you.
- 6:22Speaker 2: And he welcomes you into his kitchen. And he invites
- 6:25Speaker 2: you to look up on the wall where there is
- 6:27Speaker 2: a framed Bible verse hanging on the wall of God's kitchen.
- 6:33Speaker 2: And the verse says this, give us this day our
- 6:38Speaker 2: daily bread. Well, immediately upon reading the verse, we have
- 6:45Speaker 2: just a few questions. Can we be that direct? What
- 6:51Speaker 2: about please give us this day? Or if you don't mind,
- 6:55Speaker 2: give us this day. And can we limit the prayer?
- 6:59Speaker 2: Do we have to limit it to this day? What
- 7:02Speaker 2: about this week? This decade or this lifetime? And do
- 7:09Speaker 2: we have to just stick with bread? I like spaghetti.
- 7:14Speaker 2: What do we do with this little phrase that Jesus
- 7:17Speaker 2: put at the heart of the Lord's prayer? I think
- 7:21Speaker 2: we can find a few answers to those questions if
- 7:24Speaker 2: we look beneath the verse that hangs on the wall
- 7:27Speaker 2: and we look at the two rules of the kitchen. Yeah,
- 7:30Speaker 2: every kitchen has rules. My mom's big rule was, boys,
- 7:33Speaker 2: don't put your elbows on the table. I don't know
- 7:36Speaker 2: why that bothered her so much. And we also had
- 7:38Speaker 2: to come to the table with clean hands. I don't
- 7:40Speaker 2: know why that bothered her so much. But that was
- 7:43Speaker 2: a rule. In our house, the rule is Max always
- 7:45Speaker 2: gets two desserts. It's a rule. It has to happen.
- 7:48Speaker 2: It's a rule. And so God's kitchen has a couple
- 7:52Speaker 2: of rules too. Rule number one is don't be shy.
- 7:56Speaker 2: Just ask. Don't be shy. Just ask. You see, the
- 8:04Speaker 2: reason we can say give us this day our daily
- 8:07Speaker 2: bread is because the kitchen is not the first stop
- 8:14Speaker 2: when we enter the great house of God. It would
- 8:18Speaker 2: be rude to just start our prayer by saying, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.
- 8:22Speaker 2: Of course. But as our Lord taught us to pray,
- 8:26Speaker 2: by the time we get to the kitchen, oh, some
- 8:29Speaker 2: wonderful things have happened. We've already stepped into the living
- 8:32Speaker 2: room where we've received the embrace of our Father who
- 8:37Speaker 2: art in heaven. As Jesus taught us to say, our Abba,
- 8:42Speaker 2: his favorite word for God, used over 200 times. The
- 8:46Speaker 2: first time he spoke, he said, did you not know
- 8:48Speaker 2: I must be about my Abba's business? And when he
- 8:52Speaker 2: hung on the cross the last time he spoke, he
- 8:54Speaker 2: cried out, Father, Abba, into your hands I commit my spirit.
- 8:59Speaker 2: And he taught us that we can call God our Father.
- 9:02Speaker 2: It is right for you to call him King. You
- 9:04Speaker 2: are right to call him Maker. It is true for
- 9:06Speaker 2: you to worship him as Sovereign. And the occupier of
- 9:09Speaker 2: the only throne in the universe. But you want to
- 9:12Speaker 2: touch his heart. You talk to him like he's asked
- 9:15Speaker 2: you to talk to him. Oh father. Father. And so
- 9:20Speaker 2: we step into his presence. By virtue of being adopted
- 9:24Speaker 2: into his family. He calls us his sons and daughters.
- 9:30Speaker 2: We call him father. Who art in heaven. There's an
- 9:34Speaker 2: observatory in the great house of God. And we come
- 9:38Speaker 2: out of the living room and we ascend the stairs
- 9:40Speaker 2: and we look and we see the great galaxies, the
- 9:43Speaker 2: endless creation of the universe. And we realize that our
- 9:46Speaker 2: father is in the heavens. He is everywhere. He is omnipresence.
- 9:54Speaker 2: He is as present on the most distant star as
- 9:58Speaker 2: he is in the nearest church our father who is
- 10:05Speaker 2: who art in heaven there's a foundation here he's there
- 10:09Speaker 2: right now it's not something that's going to happen something
- 10:11Speaker 2: that did happen it has changed but forever and ever
- 10:14Speaker 2: he will occupy the heavens hallowed be your name Even
- 10:19Speaker 2: your name is different. There's nothing like your name. So unique,
- 10:24Speaker 2: cut apart, set apart, absolutely unique. You are not like us.
- 10:31Speaker 2: Even the name God is holy. There's something holy about you.
- 10:38Speaker 2: So by the time we get to the part where
- 10:40Speaker 2: we say, now give us this day our daily bread,
- 10:43Speaker 2: we've gone through a transformation. We've been reminded that we
- 10:47Speaker 2: have a father, we have a maker, we have a provider,
- 10:50Speaker 2: and that there is one holy who oversees the affairs
- 10:53Speaker 2: of mankind. And so we now then come into the kitchen,
- 10:58Speaker 2: not with a swagger saying, give me, nor intimidated and
- 11:06Speaker 2: meekly as if looking for crumbs. We come as reverent
- 11:12Speaker 2: children who come at the Father's invitation And with this
- 11:17Speaker 2: prayer of dependence, we say, could I just trust you
- 11:23Speaker 2: to give me today what you want to give me?
- 11:28Speaker 2: I depend on you. This was the prayer of the psalmist, David,
- 11:34Speaker 2: in this beautiful prayer in Psalm 37. He said, trust
- 11:39Speaker 2: the Lord and do good. Live in the land and
- 11:42Speaker 2: feed on truth. Enjoy serving the Lord. He'll give you
- 11:46Speaker 2: what you want. Depend on the Lord, trust him, and
- 11:49Speaker 2: he will take care of you. Isn't that great to know?
- 11:52Speaker 2: Maybe the only reason God brought you to church today
- 11:55Speaker 2: was to hear that. He will take care of you.
- 12:01Speaker 2: He will take care of you. He is committed to
- 12:03Speaker 2: taking care of you. In one of his epistles, the
- 12:07Speaker 2: apostle Paul said, if a father won't take care of
- 12:09Speaker 2: his children, he's worse than an unbeliever. How much more
- 12:13Speaker 2: then would a heavenly father who's holy and perfect Take
- 12:17Speaker 2: care of his children. God wants to take care of
- 12:20Speaker 2: you because he has things he wants you to do.
- 12:24Speaker 2: He has neighbors he wants you to love. He has
- 12:26Speaker 2: discouraged people he wants you to counsel. He has hungry
- 12:30Speaker 2: people he wants you to help. And so he wants
- 12:32Speaker 2: to take care of you because he has things that
- 12:35Speaker 2: he wants you to do. The Hebrew writer says, I
- 12:38Speaker 2: pray that the God of peace will give you every
- 12:41Speaker 2: good thing that you need so you can do what
- 12:42Speaker 2: he wants. Has that prayer been answered in your life?
- 12:49Speaker 2: Could you say that God has provided for you? I
- 12:54Speaker 2: know that there are some of you who have gone
- 12:57Speaker 2: through times of hunger. And there are some of you
- 13:02Speaker 2: who have gone through times of want. And most of
- 13:05Speaker 2: us have gone through a season when, well, it was
- 13:08Speaker 2: more pork and beans than it was filet mignon. But
- 13:12Speaker 2: even then, didn't God take care of us Didn't he?
- 13:19Speaker 2: He may not have given us the delicacies, but didn't
- 13:22Speaker 2: he provide the necessities of life? Can you raise your
- 13:26Speaker 2: hand if you can say that? Is that true in
- 13:28Speaker 2: your life? Just look at that. It's like a wheat
- 13:31Speaker 2: field of gratitude. If we confess that God has taken
- 13:35Speaker 2: care of us and he'll continue to take care of you.
- 13:38Speaker 2: Isn't it affirming to know that God has given himself
- 13:42Speaker 2: the assignment to Of taking care of his children. That
- 13:48Speaker 2: the same one who put the glitter in the stars.
- 13:50Speaker 2: Will put food on your table. That the same one
- 13:53Speaker 2: who saved your soul. Will care for your body. That
- 13:58Speaker 2: the same one who guides the universe. Is guiding the
- 14:01Speaker 2: employment situation. That he will take care of you. Depend
- 14:06Speaker 2: on him. So don't be shy. Ask. Just ask him.
- 14:12Speaker 2: Every day. Let every day. Begin with that prayer. Lord,
- 14:15Speaker 2: just give me today my daily bread. I trust you.
- 14:22Speaker 2: I trust you. In fact, that's really the second rule
- 14:26Speaker 2: of the kitchen. And that is you got to trust
- 14:27Speaker 2: the cook. You got to trust the cook. You got
- 14:32Speaker 2: to trust him to give you what you need because
- 14:35Speaker 2: you and I both know we don't know what we need. Amen.
- 14:38Speaker 2: I know you don't want to amen that, but amen.
- 14:41Speaker 2: We really don't know what we think we do. If
- 14:45Speaker 2: left up to us, we'd eat nothing but sweets all
- 14:47Speaker 2: day long, right? But every so often, he has to
- 14:51Speaker 2: give us some broccoli to keep us healthy. I remember
- 14:55Speaker 2: as a kid, my mom used to make chocolate chip cookies.
- 15:00Speaker 2: And as she was finished with them and had them
- 15:03Speaker 2: on the pan ready to put in the oven, she
- 15:05Speaker 2: would let me eat the leftover cookie dough in the
- 15:09Speaker 2: plastic bowl. Oh, that was good stuff. Had those little
- 15:13Speaker 2: Hershey chocolate kisses. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
- 15:18Speaker 2: And I can remember telling her, I can remember thinking,
- 15:21Speaker 2: that's all I want. All I want is cookie dough.
- 15:25Speaker 2: I can make a life out of just eating cookie dough.
- 15:28Speaker 2: In fact, couldn't I just have a bowl of cookie dough, mom?
- 15:31Speaker 2: She'd say, no, no, no, no. And I thought to myself, someday. Well,
- 15:36Speaker 2: that someday came true in college. When I was finally...
- 15:41Speaker 2: liberated from her tyrannical hand. I remember a weekend, either
- 15:47Speaker 2: my freshman or sophomore year, I can't remember, but four
- 15:50Speaker 2: of us went to this fishing cabin, four guys. We
- 15:53Speaker 2: were going to spend the weekend on a lake. We
- 15:56Speaker 2: stopped at the grocery store on the way out of town. Boy,
- 15:59Speaker 2: we were going to fill the basket. And so we did.
- 16:02Speaker 2: We got groceries for the weekend and we got lots
- 16:05Speaker 2: of vegetables and lots of healthy food and No, we
- 16:11Speaker 2: didn't do that. We got everything our hearts desired. And
- 16:16Speaker 2: what I purchased was one of those Pillsbury dough tubes.
- 16:23Speaker 2: You know what I'm talking about? I was just going
- 16:25Speaker 2: to make a meal. I was going to let that
- 16:27Speaker 2: dream come true. I couldn't wait until we got there.
- 16:30Speaker 2: And at dinner time, while they were fixing whatever they
- 16:32Speaker 2: were preparing, I just pulled out my Pillsbury dough tube.
- 16:36Speaker 2: And I unpeeled that thing like it was a banana. Yeah.
- 16:41Speaker 2: And I just sat there at the table, took a
- 16:43Speaker 2: bite of that. That was good, man. I took a
- 16:47Speaker 2: second bite. That's good stuff. I took a third bite.
- 16:56Speaker 2: I took a fourth bite. And I realized my mom
- 17:01Speaker 2: was right. That we got to trust someone else. with
- 17:09Speaker 2: our spiritual diet as well now some of you are
- 17:15Speaker 2: on a diet of broccoli and vegetables you've been handed
- 17:21Speaker 2: a plate of affliction and challenge and it's a hard
- 17:26Speaker 2: season for you i'm sorry i really am it's just
- 17:31Speaker 2: it can be tough there are many seasons in our
- 17:35Speaker 2: life when we just get one great meal after another.
- 17:37Speaker 2: I mean, there's too many blessings to count. We can
- 17:40Speaker 2: relate to, again, King David, who said this. He said
- 17:43Speaker 2: that you serve me a six-course dinner right in front
- 17:47Speaker 2: of my enemies. You revive my drooping head. My cup
- 17:50Speaker 2: brims with blessing. And some of you are there right now.
- 17:54Speaker 2: You could say my cup just overflows with blessing. But
- 17:58Speaker 2: then there are those times in which we have, it seems...
- 18:02Speaker 2: an unusual, inordinate amount of broccoli and asparagus, health food, affliction, challenge, adversity, transfer, complications, change,
- 18:20Speaker 2: broken hearts, confusion, insomnia, anxiety. It's one thing to thank
- 18:30Speaker 2: God for those meals of blessing and bounty and kindness
- 18:34Speaker 2: and goodness and happiness. It's another thing entirely to still
- 18:39Speaker 2: be thankful when God serves you up a plate of broccoli.
- 18:48Speaker 2: It is in those times, though, when you and I
- 18:50Speaker 2: just have to trust the cook. You notice in a kitchen,
- 18:55Speaker 2: you're not given a menu specifically We didn't step into
- 19:00Speaker 2: the restaurant of God where we get to pick what
- 19:06Speaker 2: we get to eat. That's true in restaurants, but in kitchens,
- 19:10Speaker 2: it's not true in our kitchen. I've got a wonderful wife.
- 19:14Speaker 2: I cannot remember ever in what's going to be this
- 19:16Speaker 2: next August the 8th, 35 years. There's never been one
- 19:20Speaker 2: time she came to the table and said, here, Max,
- 19:23Speaker 2: here's a menu of what we're offering today. I trust
- 19:29Speaker 2: the cook and she's a great cook. The way kitchens
- 19:35Speaker 2: work is you trust the cook to provide you what
- 19:39Speaker 2: you need. The way God's kitchen works is you trust him.
- 19:45Speaker 2: You trust him that he knows exactly what you're going
- 19:47Speaker 2: to need to give you nutrition, today, spiritual nutrition today,
- 19:52Speaker 2: so that you'll have strength to face tomorrow. You may
- 19:58Speaker 2: lack the plate. You may not. But can you not
- 20:03Speaker 2: trust him? Can you? Maybe that's the reason God brought
- 20:07Speaker 2: you to church today. Because you've been complaining at what
- 20:11Speaker 2: he's been serving. I'm not saying it's easy. And I'm
- 20:14Speaker 2: not saying I wouldn't complain too. But I am saying
- 20:18Speaker 2: that it's one thing to be thankful for the blessings.
- 20:22Speaker 2: But I think it's a special level of spiritual depth.
- 20:26Speaker 2: When we can learn just to be grateful for everything.
- 20:29Speaker 2: And just trust him. I think that's what the world
- 20:32Speaker 2: needs right now. God always treats fear with trust. And
- 20:41Speaker 2: there's a lot of fear in this world. Ferguson, Baltimore, Orlando,
- 20:54Speaker 2: Baton Rouge, Dallas, San Diego, early this morning in Austin.
- 21:05Speaker 2: I mean, how much can we take? One story after another.
- 21:10Speaker 2: More bloodshed. More conflict. More anger. More strife. It's as
- 21:20Speaker 2: if there's a deep wound in our nation. A deep wound.
- 21:30Speaker 2: That some affliction has happened in our history. And we're
- 21:35Speaker 2: just walking wounded. And we react woundedly. with anger more
- 21:42Speaker 2: than react with kindness and understanding. And we polarize and
- 21:49Speaker 2: climb into racial silos so quickly and offer surface solutions
- 21:55Speaker 2: to what are some very deeply rooted ancestral issues that
- 22:02Speaker 2: have never been completely healed. And on top of that
- 22:08Speaker 2: we have the issues in How do we explain what
- 22:14Speaker 2: we saw in Nice, France? How do we explain what
- 22:18Speaker 2: we see in Brussels, in Turkey? How do we explain
- 22:28Speaker 2: the slaughter of a priest in a French Catholic church?
- 22:36Speaker 2: What in the world happened? Am I the only one
- 22:39Speaker 2: who's asking what in the world is going on? How
- 22:44Speaker 2: can this be solved? And then on top of this,
- 22:47Speaker 2: we have this wacky presidential election. It's just wacky. I
- 22:55Speaker 2: don't even want to ask anybody anymore who you're voting
- 22:59Speaker 2: for or what you think. Because everybody's ticked off at everybody. Touchy, touchy, touchy.
- 23:08Speaker 2: I've been traveling a lot lately. I learned you don't
- 23:12Speaker 2: ask the person in the seat next to you. Excuse me.
- 23:20Speaker 2: Come on. It's like there's so many hot buttons. There's
- 23:25Speaker 2: more hot buttons than there are normal buttons. And you
- 23:30Speaker 2: can't not touch one. What in the world is going on?
- 23:36Speaker 2: And in the very time in which we really need
- 23:40Speaker 2: a leader who can be pastoral, who can unify and
- 23:47Speaker 2: harmonize and bring together, we seem to have more animosity
- 23:53Speaker 2: and conflict. So what are we going to do? What
- 24:00Speaker 2: are we going to do? I've been with a friend
- 24:05Speaker 2: over the last few weeks traveling to some events and
- 24:08Speaker 2: sharing the teaching responsibility with a guy named Louie Giglio.
- 24:12Speaker 2: He pastors in Atlanta, Georgia. Louie has a great phrase
- 24:16Speaker 2: for this, for what we need to do. He says,
- 24:19Speaker 2: you know, we're really just 20 inches from mercy. We're
- 24:24Speaker 2: just 20 inches from mercy. I don't know where you
- 24:28Speaker 2: look for help. Many people look to Washington for help.
- 24:35Speaker 2: You're thinking, if the administration or if the politicians can
- 24:39Speaker 2: just create new policies, that's really going to fit. Well,
- 24:42Speaker 2: if you're looking to Washington, you're not 20 inches. You're 1,608
- 24:47Speaker 2: miles from hell. Or maybe you've given up on this
- 24:51Speaker 2: administration and you're looking to Donald Trump as the answer.
- 24:55Speaker 2: From what I can tell you, you're about 1,582 miles
- 24:58Speaker 2: from Trump Towers. Or perhaps you're setting your heart on Hillary. Hillary.
- 25:03Speaker 2: And if that's the case, her house in Chappaqua, New
- 25:07Speaker 2: York is about 1600 miles from right here. Then again,
- 25:11Speaker 2: maybe you haven't given up on Bernie. Maybe there's a
- 25:16Speaker 2: bumper sticker on your car that says Bernie. If so,
- 25:18Speaker 2: you're about 1700 miles from Burlington, Vermont. Some people act
- 25:24Speaker 2: like the answer is found in the right economy. You're
- 25:27Speaker 2: a little over 1600 miles from Wall Street if you're
- 25:30Speaker 2: counting on a robust economy. to solve all our problems.
- 25:33Speaker 2: Others think, no, it's Hollywood. If we can just get
- 25:36Speaker 2: Hollywood to get their act together. Once the entertainment industry
- 25:39Speaker 2: generates a new narrative, then things are going to be better. Well,
- 25:43Speaker 2: you're about 1,200 miles from that big sign that says Hollywood.
- 25:47Speaker 2: That's a long way. That's a long way. Then again,
- 25:51Speaker 2: you can do what God urges us to do. You
- 25:56Speaker 2: can take that 20-inch journey. Because Louie's right. We're only
- 26:02Speaker 2: 20 inches from help. You see, 20 inches, that's the
- 26:06Speaker 2: distance between the knee and the floor. The psalmist said,
- 26:17Speaker 2: I lift up my eyes unto the mountains. Where does
- 26:23Speaker 2: my help come from? And then he declares, my help
- 26:26Speaker 2: comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
- 26:32Speaker 2: My help doesn't come from a president, doesn't come from
- 26:34Speaker 2: a politician, doesn't come from a new policy. But my
- 26:37Speaker 2: help comes from the Lord. He's the maker of heaven
- 26:41Speaker 2: and earth. And he just happens to be my Abba,
- 26:44Speaker 2: my father. And he has given us this promise, the
- 26:48Speaker 2: same promise that he gave years, centuries, millennia ago to
- 26:53Speaker 2: a new King Solomon. He said, if my people who
- 26:59Speaker 2: are called by my name will humble themselves and pray
- 27:03Speaker 2: And seek my face. And turn from their wicked ways.
- 27:07Speaker 2: Then I will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin.
- 27:11Speaker 2: And look at this. I will heal. I will heal
- 27:16Speaker 2: their land. If my people. You see the healing of
- 27:22Speaker 2: the land. Begins with the prayers of God's people. He
- 27:27Speaker 2: doesn't say if that government. if that organization, if that industry,
- 27:35Speaker 2: he says, if my people, could it be that the
- 27:38Speaker 2: only thing separating our land from healing are the prayers
- 27:43Speaker 2: of God's people? Remember, you're a son of God. You're
- 27:46Speaker 2: a daughter of God. You've been bought by the blood
- 27:49Speaker 2: of Christ. You've been adopted into the family of God.
- 27:53Speaker 2: And God says to you, ask and you shall receive.
- 27:57Speaker 2: Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will
- 28:00Speaker 2: be open. He says to you, if Anything that you
- 28:02Speaker 2: ask according to the will of my father, that will
- 28:05Speaker 2: be done in heaven. He says to you, child of God,
- 28:08Speaker 2: whatever you bind up on earth will be bound up
- 28:11Speaker 2: in heaven. Whatever you release or loosen on earth, that
- 28:14Speaker 2: will be loosed in heaven. You have a unique role
- 28:17Speaker 2: in this culture. If you're a child of God, you
- 28:21Speaker 2: have a unique role in this culture. And that is
- 28:24Speaker 2: you lead with prayer, not politics. You lead with prayer.
- 28:30Speaker 2: That's the job of the church during uncertain times. We
- 28:34Speaker 2: are the people who pursue God. We seek His face.
- 28:38Speaker 2: If my people who are called by my name will
- 28:40Speaker 2: seek my face, we continue to seek God. We seek Him.
- 28:44Speaker 2: And we're quick to take that 20-inch journey from knee
- 28:49Speaker 2: to floor. Now I realize some of you cannot take
- 28:53Speaker 2: this journey because of physical limitations. But if you can,
- 29:00Speaker 2: could I invite you to take this journey with me today?
- 29:04Speaker 2: And I realize if you're sitting up in the bleachers,
- 29:06Speaker 2: there's not much room. Those bleachers weren't built for kneeling,
- 29:09Speaker 2: but could you give it a try? Just pretend there's
- 29:14Speaker 2: a thousand dollar bill taped beneath the seat. And if
- 29:19Speaker 2: you're physically able, would you spend a few moments on
- 29:24Speaker 2: your knees with me in the presence of God? If not,
- 29:29Speaker 2: don't be embarrassed or Just bow what you can bow.
- 29:32Speaker 2: And let's do what God has invited us to do. Holy, holy,
- 29:46Speaker 2: holy is your name. Holy, holy, holy is your name. Holy, righteous, true, splendid, perfect, holy,
- 30:03Speaker 2: holy is your name. Holy is your name. Your name
- 30:08Speaker 2: is above every name that's ever been spoken. Your name
- 30:12Speaker 2: is so far higher than the name of any person,
- 30:17Speaker 2: any king, any emperor, any nation, any dictator. Holy is
- 30:23Speaker 2: your name. Your name is higher than the name of
- 30:27Speaker 2: this church, higher than the name of this state, higher
- 30:32Speaker 2: than any party, higher than any race. You're high above us.
- 30:42Speaker 2: So you can do what we cannot. You can speak
- 30:45Speaker 2: a word and healing will happen. You can speak the word.
- 30:50Speaker 2: And so we ask you, Lord, please, just speak the word.
- 30:55Speaker 2: Speak words of healing. We're a wounded people. We have
- 31:09Speaker 2: tragedy on our family tree. Forgive us for shedding each
- 31:17Speaker 2: other's blood. Forgive us for slave ships and buying and
- 31:25Speaker 2: selling of human beings. Forgive us for pillaging the land
- 31:34Speaker 2: Forgive us for hurting one another, raping one another, stealing
- 31:43Speaker 2: from one another. Forgive us. Forgive us for, as a nation,
- 31:51Speaker 2: turning from you, just turning from you, for refusing to
- 31:59Speaker 2: make you our king. Forgive us. And forgive us as
- 32:04Speaker 2: your church. The bride of Christ. Because we have not
- 32:09Speaker 2: behaved like a bride. We have squabbled with other churches.
- 32:17Speaker 2: We pastors have used the pulpit for self-promotion. Instead of
- 32:22Speaker 2: God proclamation. We have done that. I have done that.
- 32:31Speaker 2: We have distorted the gospel. We're sorry. Lord, we don't
- 32:38Speaker 2: have anywhere to go but to you. We don't. We
- 32:44Speaker 2: beg you. We beg the restraining power of the Holy
- 32:47Speaker 2: Spirit to keep evil at bay. We beg you to
- 32:51Speaker 2: speak to the devil and tell him to lay off,
- 32:54Speaker 2: to stand back, to walk away. We reclaim the human
- 32:59Speaker 2: beings born on all parts of the planet. We stand
- 33:03Speaker 2: against the evil that is called ISIS. We stand against
- 33:06Speaker 2: the evil that is called ISIS in the name of
- 33:09Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. We stand against the demon, whatever principality, whatever
- 33:14Speaker 2: power hovers over and stirs up the hate and infectious,
- 33:20Speaker 2: cancerous arrogance that he deposits. Lies, lies, lies. We stand
- 33:28Speaker 2: against those. We're just one church, but we are your church.
- 33:38Speaker 2: We are your children. And we're just telling you, Lord,
- 33:44Speaker 2: we don't have any solution, but you do. Please bless
- 33:50Speaker 2: Barack Obama. Please. Please find him and his family today
- 33:56Speaker 2: and encircle them with love and kindness. Activate hope, strength,
- 34:04Speaker 2: and wisdom in the hearts of all who serve, all
- 34:08Speaker 2: who serve in elected office. Protect our first responders, our policemen,
- 34:15Speaker 2: our firemen, all of those who place themselves between us
- 34:19Speaker 2: and death. Please, please heal this racial divide. Please. And
- 34:27Speaker 2: begin with us. Forgive any lingering prejudice or bias in
- 34:32Speaker 2: our hearts, Lord. Forgive us. Let there be peace on earth.
- 34:40Speaker 2: Let there be goodwill among all men. Let it begin
- 34:45Speaker 2: with us. Through Christ we pray. And all who agreed
- 34:51Speaker 2: with the prayer said....
- 35:09Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.
- 36:36Speaker 3: So so.
- 37:44Speaker 4: Everything I used to live for Faded slowly out of
- 37:49Speaker 4: sight Now my days just circle around you Like I'm
- 37:55Speaker 4: lost without a.
- 37:56Speaker 3: Light All the noise just turns to silence when your
- 38:01Speaker 3: memory comes through. And the world I once was chasing
- 38:07Speaker 3: now feels small.
- 38:10Speaker 2: And shaped like you.
- 38:13Speaker 5: My whole world is only you Every thought keeps breaking
- 38:19Speaker 5: through You're so close inside my mind But so far
- 38:25Speaker 5: in real.
- 38:26Speaker 6: Life I can feel you everywhere In the things we
- 38:31Speaker 6: never shared All.
- 38:34Speaker 5: This love I'm going through Never reaches.
- 38:38Speaker 7: You Every image feels so real now, like you're standing
- 38:49Speaker 7: next to me. But the truth is in the silence,
- 38:54Speaker 7: you were never.
- 38:57Speaker 3: Meant to see.
- 38:58Speaker 5: My whole world is only you.
- 39:04Speaker 4: Every thought keeps breaking.
- 39:05Speaker 6: Through You're so close inside my mind But so far
- 39:12Speaker 6: in real life I can feel you everywhere In the
- 39:17Speaker 6: things we never shared All.
- 39:21Speaker 5: This love I'm going through Never reaches you.
- 39:28Speaker 2: If you felt it for a moment Would it change
- 39:32Speaker 2: the way you stay Or.
- 39:34Speaker 4: Would I still be the shadow That just fades away.
- 39:53Speaker 1: My whole world is only you.
- 39:56Speaker 5: But your world's a different view. I'm just someone passing
- 40:03Speaker 5: by in your open sky.
- 40:07Speaker 6: Still I hold on to what's true.
- 40:10Speaker 5: Every heartbeat calls for you. All this love I always
- 40:16Speaker 5: knew will never reach you.
- 40:22Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.