20 Prayers (AM)

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Father in heaven. Thank you for bringing us here today. Thank you for this month of celebrating your birth and looking forward to your second coming. Thank you for rescuing us out of darkness. So your death and resurrection, thank you for giving us hope. Even in the times that we don't feel like we have hope Lord, I ask that you would bring peace upon us right now, and that your Holy spirit would comfort our souls and our hearts and the places where we're hurting and give us inspiration, um, to grab hold of what is true today. And I ask that in your Holy name. Amen. So, uh, I'm trying out Rod's voice. He emailed it to me. And so I'm trying to do that. I've had a cold and I don't didn't know if I was going to make it today. Um, and I kind of worked on this message for a while and it's come out a couple of different ways. It's a freebie for me, which means I get to talk about what I want to talk about mostly, and then try to work in our 20 prayers. So we'll see how that works. Uh, and you're like, what are the 20 prayers for those of you are new? Well, I'll explain them, but I wanna start with, um, when I was little and part of me, when I think of myself as little, basically when I was, you know, nine, 10 years old, younger, other than that, like I wanted to be a superhero, right? I, there are pictures of me. I asked maybe I wanted to be a cowboy. There are pictures of me with holsters and guns, you know, standing next to the, you know, the Cowboys that'll Tucson, like, which was the classic picture forever. He grew up in the seventies. I mean, the only place in Tucson you had to go was old Tucson. That was there. Wasn't a lot for us to do. So we all have that picture, but we wanted to, I wanted to be a superhero. And I think at some level, what I wanted was to be noticed, but I also wanted to do something meaningful. Right. I wanted to be important. And I think it's something that gets put in all of our hearts as kids, you know, there's this innocence where we don't think that anything is impossible as a child like children, you know, I was watching these Ted talks on drawing and he was talking about children. Don't think they can't draw. It's just adults who think they can't draw. Right. We, we think we can do anything and we want to be great. Right. And when I was a kid, I was inspired by stories, um, stories of superheroes and one particular story that I read a long time ago. And then I found again and remembered that I'd read it and then I started researching it. And I'm not even sure this is true. I know elements of this story is true, but it's a story at a church history about these men and they're called, they were called, they were in Nero's fighters and they were called emperors wrestlers. And there were 40 of them and they were the greatest warriors of Rome. And they were always on the front lines and out in the boonies. And they were the one who had all the great exploits. Um, and they had a song that went kind of like this, and I'll read it to you. It said, we, the wrestlers wrestling for the emperor to win for the, the victory and from the, the victim there's crown, right? So they were kind of a jolly in this story at jolly a group of people, uh, who killed everybody. Now, at least in the story that I read recently, uh, and this part, I just, anyway, you're going to see parts of this story is true. I'm telling you the legendary story. These people, supposedly one of their jobs was to hunt down Christians and to either capture them or to execute them. But Niro apparently got word when they were out in golf fighting that many of his 40 wrestlers had become Christians. And so he sends, uh, whatever you sent and not an email. He sends a note, which probably took a very long time to get to this Centurion named[inaudible], who was the commander of these 40, it's saying your ranks have begun to follow Christ and you need to eradicate him and deal with this. So best being lucid surprise causes 40 wrestlers for it. And he says, well, any of you who have come to the faith in Christ or have come become Christians step forward, and all 40 of them stepped forward and he kind of shocked by this. So he says, well, I'm going to give you until the end of the, of the day. Same thing happens all 40 step forward. Now he's concerned because these are the greatest warriors of Rome that he doesn't want his other shoulder soldiers to have their blood God on their hands. Like, so they decide to strip them all naked and send them out into the middle of this Lake. That's frozen over until they'll recant their thing. And so what could be heard then them singing? Was we 40 wrestlers wrestling for the Oh Christ to win for the, the victory and from the, the Victor's crown over and over again. And it got phaser and fainter. And then one of them, he crawls to the edge and recount recants Christ, but that's been so overwhelmed by this and by the staunch, like resistance that he strips himself naked and runs out into the middle of the Lake and begins to sing. We 40 wrestlers wrestling for the Christ to win for the, the victory and from the Victor's crown. No, as a kid, I loved those stories. I liked the amazing heroes, the story I wanted to be a hero I wanted to have, meaning I would read those and get excited. People risking their life for Christ. People willing to give up everything.

Speaker 2: 6:07

Well,

Speaker 1: 6:09

One of the advantages I had, and maybe not all of you have had, this is that I grew up in the church. And as a little kid in my culture, in the church, we did a lot of old Testament. Like we learned all about the old Testament stories. Um, sometimes I wonder why we learned about all the old Testament stories. Cause now I don't know. Some of them are interesting. Um, but the one that I would read over and over again, when I could read, um, was about David's mighty men, right? Men of courage, because I wanted to be like them. And it's funny in boys and even girls do this, like when you send people out into the backyard immediately, they find sticks and begin to battle and begin to like show their, you know, here on this, their, their, their courage, their bravery, they're building forts, they're throwing rocks, they're billing swords. That's what they do. And you know, making house while the war is happening. Um, but in second, Samuel chapter 23, starting in verse eight, there's a list of David's men. And they would probably kill me cause I'm going to butcher their names and their great warriors. Um, these are the names of David's mighty men. Jassa Bahasa Beth, a tackle him and I was the chief of the three. He raised his spear against 800 men whom he killed in one encounter. Which if you think about space-wise, hopefully had a lot of space because that's a lot of people. Um, but they continues next to him was the laser son of Dodo, the Al height as one of the three mighty men, he was with David. When they taunted the Philistines gathered at past them for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day, the troops return to Elizar, but only to strip the dead next to him was smart. Son of Aggie the hair, right? When the Philistines abandoned together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel's troops fled from them, but Tamar took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down. And the Lord brought about

Speaker 2: 8:33

A great victory.

Speaker 1: 8:35

It goes on and there's even some more crazy stories in there. But I like these two men because they do something very interesting in the faith of something terrifying, an oncoming army. When everybody else runs away, it says they took their stand or they stood their ground. There's something about that. That for me, it gets me excited, but I remember being a kid imagining that this man standing in a lentil field while everyone is running around holding his sword, waiting as the Philistines come. I got excited about that as an adult. It's interesting, as I think about being a kid, like the whole idea of being a hero has disappeared at some level, right? The idea of having courage has gotten kind of mundane. I mean, mostly I got to pay my bills and there's mortgage and I get to deal with all these complex relationships with my family and my church. And like, it kind of almost feels like there isn't any real adventure in those kinds of things. Like I've, I've kind of pushed that longing to have courage. Like, I don't know where the places are to stand my ground. Like I'm not that aren't the epics in my life. Like I'm not standing in a lentil field waiting for the Philistines. Like this is not my story at this point. And yet there's something in me even now, if I'm honest, that says I want to be great, not great in the sense that everybody looks at me though. I would like that. I'll be honest, but great in the sense that I like him have meaning like that. I leave this world with some kind of impact. Like the people are changed because of the choices that I make. Right. I want that. And I think all of us actually want that. If we can just take a moment, we want to have meaning, right. We want it. We want to do something great. And yet everything seems so dark. A lot of times everything seems so hard or just kinda mundane or ordinary. Right. Well, I want to look at, you heard the passage read at Isaiah 50, and I just want to look at it really quickly Because this is, if you don't know Isaiah old Testament prophet, and there are three songs within Isaiah that are talking about Jesus as in a prophetic sense. And they are singing, they're kind of songs about what the Messiah is going to be like and who he's going to be. And this is the third one. And I just wanted to re reread that chunk that Chris read for you. Um, it says the servant is speaking and he says this, the sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen. Like one being taught. The sovereign Lord opened my ears and I have not been rebellious. I have not drawn back. I offered my back to those

Speaker 2: 12:02

Who beat

Speaker 1: 12:03

Me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting because the sovereign Lord helps me. I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like Flint. And I know I will not be put to shame now in verse seven, that little part where it's like one of my favorite parts of Isaiah, it says he set his face like Flint is referring to a passage in Luke chapter nine, verse 51, where Jesus is at the place where he is ready and knows. It's his time to ascend into heaven and he's going to have to face being crucified.

Speaker 2: 12:43

And it

Speaker 1: 12:44

Says that he faced towards Jerusalem and he went resolutely, right? He and Isaiah is kind of alluding to that. He set his face like Flint, like a hardened towards a certain direction. You're not going to turn him. You're not going to push him. You're not going to knock him out of the way he was headed in this direction. All of the things that I've been thinking about when it comes to being a hero and wanting to be great, is that the person that we're offered in the church, who is the greatest is Jesus, right? The hero that you and I are invited to imitate. And the one who is the greatest is Jesus. Like a guy who stands on a field and killed 800 men, has nothing

Speaker 2: 13:28

To Jesus. And so this

Speaker 1: 13:31

Statement actually gives me some sense of what it might require for you and I to take our stand in certain areas of our life for you and I to be heroes, what does it actually look like? How do you, you and I determine to move in a certain direction.

Speaker 2: 13:47

What does that look like? Well, the first,

Speaker 1: 13:51

I just want to make out of the story of the Samuel and here is that it seems that both of them, all those heroes and Jesus, the servant and Isaiah are available, they're there, right? They show up. So part of being a hero, part of being courageous, whatever it is, is actually showing up, being in the place that you need to be.

Speaker 2: 14:14

But there's a clue.

Speaker 1: 14:17

This text is to how you end up having the courage to do that. How do you stay in the lentil field and not run away from the things that you're afraid of and that you have to face? How do you become a hero, a mighty warrior of the kingdom of God? Well, all of these different things that it talks about your tongue, but it comes from instruction with God, your ears, because you hear something from God

Speaker 2: 14:44

And all

Speaker 1: 14:45

Of these things point towards the fact that heroes are people who have intimacy with God. Heroes are people who actually have an intimate relationship with God. The only way that you and I can be great to be some have meaning and impact is that we have to have a relationship with God. But what I love about Isaiah seven is that it says verse seven 57. It says that, um, he will help me. I think that that's really key. There are a lot of times when I think about the hard things in my life, the risks I want to take, maybe they're, maybe they're just things in my marriage. Maybe they're ways that I would really like to change the way I do things here at the church say, or how I operate with my kids or some discipline, all those things. Like a lot of times, I believe it requires me, right? Because when I say you have to show up, you think, Oh, it's all me. No, when you and I have an intimate relationship with God and we stand in the lentil field, the metaphorical lentil field, whatever that is for you, it's very clear in verse seven. When we do that, the sovereign Lord will help us and we will not be put to disgrace. Now what, uh, what I guess I'm trying to encourage all of us towards this year is to maybe think about where God is asking you to be courageous. Where is God asking you to do something different? Whereas God asking you to take a risk, whereas God asking you to stand in places where when you look around everybody else's running away, where is he asking you to step into places that might feel super empty and uncomfortable for you? And all you want to do is run away. Like where, where are those places? The invitation I think from, from Isaiah, from looking at these heroes from Jesus, is that when we show up, when we step into those places, God will help us. And we won't be disgraced. Now on the other hand, when we think about being great, a lot of times as Christians, we're like, Oh, well, our job is not to be great. Right? We're all supposed to be humble, right? Not call attention to ourselves. Well, because the reason that is, is we've brought into the worldly, greatness me. I would like to be greater than all of you, right? That we compare ourselves to one another, but God, Jesus never says greatness is wrong. He actually calls all of us to be great because he created you and designed you in such a way where it's not, you're not like a throwaway thing, but you're not like, Oh yeah, well, I created like 10 of those. So, you know, there are, there are 10 Eric's. I don't need to worry about it. Like we just pump those models out all the time, right? No, no. There's a uniqueness that God created in you and his calling and greatness is for you to be everything that he created you to be. And the world pounds against that and the enemy pounds against that and your own wanting to be selfish and just kind of be safe pounds against that. Your sin, your fear, your anxiety, right? And yet there's a story in Matthew chapter 20. Um, whether these two guys who are called the sons of thunder, and this is kind of, this is where Jesus lays out what great is. But I just want to walk through the story because these guys are known as the sons of thunder, they wanted the poor fire down on, on towns that rejected them. Right? These guys are, these guys are like the first century heroes, or at least they want to be. And then look how the story kind of begins. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons, kneeling down and asking him for a favor. I love the system. I'm assuming every mom is like this, but it seems like Jewish moms might be more like this. They're like, my sons are the best, right. I can. And she's dragging them along. And they're like, come on mom, like stop, stop. And Jesus says, what do you want? And she said, grant, the one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom. And he replies, you don't know what you're asking. Jesus said to them, it's interesting. He looks around mom at them and says, can you drink this cup? I am going to drink. And the text says we can, I don't know if they set it that way. I think they're like, Oh mom. Yes. Okay. Yeah, we'll do it. They answered. And Jesus said to them, you will indeed drink from my cup. But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those with whom they have been prepared by my father. When the 10 heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers, Jesus called them together and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their high officials, exercise authority over them. Not so with you instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be your slave. Just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So Jesus gives us the route to being a hero and the kingdom of God, because there's only one man, right? Who is the greatest all. And that was Jesus. And he says that I didn't come to be served, but to be, to serve and to be a ransom for many, like I came as the most powerful man ever. The one who created and spoke everything in existence. And I came to pour out my life, you know, in theology at the word we use is, uh, is kenosis, it's the outpouring of everything just to complete outpouring. Jesus poured his life out for us. The invitation then to being great is not for you for me to do all the cool things, standing on lentil, field, kill a bunch of people, get it into the book of Sam, but that's not it. What it is is that for me to be great for me to be a hero in the kingdom of God, a hero at the village is to be someone who has poured out my life for you. Everything that I possess, all the gifts, the strengths, everything poured out for you. That makes me a hero. When I pour out me for you and for the community, then I'm a hero because I'm following in the footsteps of a hero, right? The hero, the one who answers the question of who can beat Superman in one punch, man, right? For those of you and others reference, right. Jesus. Okay. No, I think that's important because that changes the way you do work. That changes the way you use your talents and skills that changes the way you understand who you are as a person. Because the invitation, when you step into the kingdom of God, is to put on your costume and go serve to take everything that you are good at and give it to me and take the people around you all your time, your money, your energy, everything is to lay it out, not to hold it tightly, but to pour it out for people. Because what happens when you do that, is that pushes you to the front lines and all the areas of your life. Think about it when it happens in your marriage, right? When you say this isn't about me, I'm going to pour out everything I have for you. All my kindness, all my skill, all my gifts, everything, it's yours. I'm going to pour those out for you. Well, all of a sudden that puts you in an extremely vulnerable place in any kind of relationship in any kind of place, because that person can reject it. That person can use it. That cares and then abuse it. Right? And you're back into that Isaiah 50 passage where you offer your cheek, where your beard was pulled, where you're abused, like the hero is abused. There's no guarantee that you get deliverance or the cake, right. You know, you get down. Half the guy standing in the lentils didn't know he was gonna live or die, but he stood his ground to defend what he thought was good. So how do I transition all of that to 20? Well, if you've been around as a Rose for very long, then you've heard this word tossed around monastic. And you're like, how on earth is the world? The church, the village church. Monastically there are no monks. There are no nuns. Like there really aren't very high church. So how are they like monastic? Well, you'll notice that in different areas of our church, we do things that are practices together. We practice something and with an assuredness that other people alongside us are practicing them. So one of the things we do is at the beginning of every year, we write out 20 prayers as a community for each one of us. And what we, what you're asked to do is sometime in the first week of January is to sit down for a couple hours and write out for 20 minutes, however long it takes you. But to write out five prayers for yourself, five prayers for your family, five prayers for this church and five prayers for the community Tucson or the larger world, depending on how you're connected and things. And then we ask that you pray those all year, knowing that everyone else is praying those and that you update them. So this happened and then what's one of them is answered and you can publicly say it, then offer it to people. This is what I had been praying. And this is what's happened. Now there's approximately a hundred people at the village, a hundred adults give or take plus or minus three, depending on the cold vacation and whatever football game is on. I'm like, but if you, if all a hundred people wrote 20 prayers, that's 2000 prayers being prayed right. All year together that we're saying, this is what we want to see God do. So we do it together. So part of what I'm inviting you into is an opportunity to be part of the village justice league, right. To do it together. Um, but I'm also asking you to take these prayers and allow them to maybe give you a moment of being a hero, being great, being an, being somebody who's a village hero. And this is how it is when you pray and you pray for yourself for instance, and you say, God, you know, help me lose weight. You can't pray, help me lose weight and then keep going to fries and getting ice cream, right? You have to show up in your prayer, right? You cannot pray, help me reconcile this relationship and then avoid the person you need to be reconciled with. Right? When you write the prayer down, praying is an invitation at some level for you to show up, to stand your ground in whatever that prayer is to be available for it to happen. Right? Because though I do believe that God is sovereign and in control of all things. If you're picking a basketball team and you don't show up to the basketball court, you're not going to get to be on the basketball team, right. When they're picking the team. If you're not there, no one's picking you, right? It's a part of when you're praying and asking God to do things you need to show up to be picked, right? You have, there's an element of your action that has to happen. Your engagement. I'm not guaranteeing that it'll all come through. God may say, no, you might be, you know, you may be used and abused in those things or things may not come through the way you want them to, but it says that God will help you and you will not be disgraced. So that's, that's one of the invitations, this is a practice. This is part of the monastic village, right there, 20 prayer, all of us writing them together and praying. But I would invite you one more. I want to up to Annie, for those of you who play poker's poker, or, you know, raise the stakes or I dunno, I couldn't think of any other idea to bring it up a little bit here, but I want you think about what God's calling you to. Um, and this sense is like, as it comes to the village, you know, we say sign up five or six times, sign up five or six times, sign up 10 or 12 times, you know, look around this church and say, Oh, do something with someone you don't normally do, but become friends with somebody. You aren't friends with. You see something broken, fix it. You want to engage the neighborhood, engage it. You want to be creative. Don't go help us transform our kids' ministry. I could go on and on. You want to see your neighbor become a Christian, start inviting them over to dinner, go risk. I'm not saying that any kind of risk will succeed. I'm just saying risk. And you will see God show up. I guess the invitation I want to offer all of you this year, 2019. Cause I think God's doing crazy things and not just at the village. I think in the next few years, the world is changing and what God is going to do. And the way his spirit is going to fall is different. Not saying that he's coming back, I'm just saying it's going to be different. And I want to be part of that. And I think the village has something good to offer into the story of what Jesus is doing. So I want to invite all of you to step up into that. And I want to step up into that. So that's my kind of my end of the year, William Wallace charged speech. It's for all of you, um, that I'm inviting you all into. I really can't talk anymore. So I'm going to pray, thank you for my community and for the opportunity for me to talk to them. And I just ask that your Holy spirit would use the words that I've spoken to encourage them into the directions you're calling them and give them the courage and the places in our life where fear exists, where they are running away. Um, give them hope, encourage em, help them to write their 20 prayers. Ask that in your name. Jesus. Amen.