Pray Boldly Part 2
AI Transcript
Amen,
Good morning again, redemption Parker. So good to see you guys. last week we began a little mini sermon series called pray boldly and B B B before we jump into a new season in the life of our church. Last week, Mark talked about dangerous prayers. This idea that we see all over scriptures, these, prayers that are not safe. ended last week with that
phrase, your will be done from the Lord's prayer. And then like Mark mentioned, Jesus didn't just tell his disciples how to pray. He modeled it for them. As Jesus was about to be handed over and killed on behalf of sinners, he prayed, Father, take this cup from me.
In other words, if there is any other way that that salvation can happen for your people, I'll take that. Then he says, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Mark challenged us to pray this prayer through different areas of our lives, for our marriages, to our singleness.
kids, our jobs, our finances. Not my will, but yours be done. I hope you accepted that challenge. I'm excited to hear about the fruit in the coming days. Well, this morning we're going to keep at it as we are eager to see what God has in store for our church as we turn to this next chapter in the life of Redemption Parker, which you'll hear more about next week. So make sure you come back.
next Sunday but I couldn't think of a better place to turn to this morning than Psalm 139 especially since Lent starts this week as well as we get into this season so if you would begin making your way to Psalm 139
Earlier this week, I spent some time looking at some powerful moments throughout church history where God's Spirit moved in remarkable ways, where revival had taken place. I was reminded, and we must not forget, that though this church
might be heading into a new season, we're also simply stepping into something ancient. And so I wanted to look at the past so that we could properly dream ahead to the 10th generation and beyond. I wanted to see if there was a bold prayer prayed by our brothers and sisters throughout church history. And who knows, maybe a prayer that could become part of our own story.
here at Redemption Parker, that they'll be telling maybe in our church building 10 generations from now. And I did find something interesting. Throughout church history, whenever God has moved in unusual power, it hasn't begun simply with clever strategy or charismatic leadership. It has begun with prayer. Real.
vulnerable, honest prayer. In seasons of revival from the great awakenings to the Welsh revival to the prayer movements in the 19th and 20th centuries, God's people gathered not to ask him to fix the world first, but to search them. Again and again, awakening followed a simple, dangerous request. God...
Expose what needs to change in me. God, expose what needs to change in us. This is what caught my attention. They were praying an ancient prayer, a prayer that comes a thousand years before the time of Christ. Search me, God.
And so I wonder as we spend some time in this bold prayer from Psalm 139, I wonder what would happen in our lives and in this next chapter at Redemption Parker, if we would allow God to truly search our hearts. So if you're not already there, Psalm 139, we'll pick it up at the very end of the Psalm, verse 23.
Verse 23 and 24, this is the bold prayer we're looking at this morning. Search me, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
And we don't know exactly when David penned this prayer, but let me just say this about King David. David was a man after God's own heart. Full stop. We know this because the Bible tells us so. But we also know David did some things to displease the heart of God. Full stop.
We know this because the Bible tells us so. We know that at one point in his reign as king, he sleeps with the wife of one of his faithful soldiers. And this was not merely adultery, this was exploitation of power. And then to cover it all up, including getting her pregnant, he has her husband killed out in battle.
We also know that because of his pride and self-reliance, trusting his military strength by the amount of men he had instead of trusting the Lord of armies, this led to a plague that killed 70,000 Israelites. If there's anything David knows, friends, he knows from experience what can happen when indwelling sin. Sin.
within is left unchecked. And so this bold prayer from David is a prayer that we need to take heed. David knows our hearts can be fickled. Look at verse 23. Search me God and know my heart.
The heart now, now, now, when we say heart, we, typically mean simply emotions and in modern English, that, that makes sense. have heart charts like this. And when asked, how's your heart, we can pick options like shy, sad, happy, joyful, relaxed, angry, tired.
But in Hebrew thought, the original language of this Psalm, the heart or levav, is much broader and way deeper. The heart actually refers to the inner core of a person, which includes our mind. There it is. Includes our minds with thinking thoughts, reasoning, reflection. It includes our intention.
So our motives, plans, our will, for sure our emotions, so those things like joy and fear and sorrow and love. It also includes our moral compass, right? This is like our conscience, our ability to make decisions. And yes, maybe at the center of the heart lies our desires and loyalties.
When Jonathan Edwards says, will always do what you most want to do, he's speaking of the power of the loyalties and desires of our hearts. That it will win out.
It will win the day. It's the same word heart that we get in first Samuel, where we read man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.
When the Old Testament gets translated into Greek, also known as the Septuagint, or whenever we see the word heart in the Greek New Testament, it's the word cardia, or we get the word cardiovascular. But it has the same meaning. It's the center of our thinking.
This is why Jesus can say, why do you think evil in your hearts? It's the seat of our belief. This is why Paul can say, with the heart one believes. It's our moral core. As we hear Jesus in the Beatitudes say, blessed are the pure in.
Friends, it's the source of all our actions. As Christ says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So yes, our hearts are a big deal. It's the inner operating system of our being.
It's no wonder David's son King Solomon in Proverbs says guard your hearts above all else For it determines the course of your life But but but here's the problem Jeremiah the prophet also says the heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful
a puzzle that no one can figure out.
And so David prays, search me God. Know my heart. But why would David even pray this? Doesn't God already know our hearts? I mean, this is what this Psalm is all about. Look with me at verse one. You have searched me Lord. You know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain." Lofty indeed. This is wild, right? God knows us way better than we know or we think we know ourselves.
And there's not even any place we can escape from God. Look at verse seven. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. And yet since the fall, isn't this what we've been doing? Right? We try to hide.
from God, but what's clear from this bold prayer of David is that though we can for sure fool others, and we can even fool ourselves, we can't fool God. He knows the depth of your.
And so David's prayer for for God to know his heart is ultimately a prayer for God to reveal to David what God already knows about David look back at verse 23 search me God and know my heart test me
Test me and know my anxious thoughts. This bold prayer just got real. This is a dangerous prayer. To the God who knows us better than we know ourselves, David says, test me. Test me. Show me what's in my heart. David's like, I know I got to guard my heart, but I don't know what's going on in my heart.
Man, what a request, right? David is asking God, my deepest loyalties, are my deepest longings and desires, are they aligned with you? Show me.
You see how dangerous this prayer is, right? And though you might say, yeah, be careful what you ask for. I'll put some verse from Psalm 139 on my coffee cup, but I ain't praying that prayer.
But friends, this is the type of prayer that leads to a life that you and I were made for. The life David talks about in this song, the song we love so much. Look at verse 17. How precious to me are your thoughts, God? How vast is the sum of them? Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
life with God, thinking God's thoughts after God himself, abiding in God's love. This is the abundant life that you and I were made for. But, and this is a big but, the enemy comes to steal, to kill, and to...
destroy and often that happens with a little seed, little planted in our hearts. Maybe it's something we're totally unaware of. That's why we need to ask God, reveal this to me. Or maybe sometimes it's something we are aware of, but we can justify it. Hey, we're just keeping up with the Joneses.
Or hey, it's just a little look as I scroll. Not a big deal. Nothing to worry about here. Whatever it is, these little seeds can grow and grow and grow some more until it's something that cannot be tamed. Like the guy who gets attacked and killed by his pet lion. And this still happens every year. Look it up. It happened last year.
At one point it's just a cub, a cozy little cat that loved to snuggle. But then it grew and come to find out apex predators should not be pets. And yet this is what could happen if God doesn't reveal to us what is in our hearts. Yet there's a lot on the line. This is why the author of Hebrews says, that none of you may be hardened.
by sins deception. As a pastor watching Christian leaders fall is hard. Everything I'm not heart charged, angry, sad, confused. And in a world that's already hostile to Christianity makes this even worse. Well, in the last year and a half, two well-known Christian leaders experienced public and painful falls.
Both of them had had a big influence in my life. They both betrayed their marriages. Both were living a complete double life. One built his platform on theological precision. The other on the beauty of grace. Different emphases, different personalities, same neglected hearts.
Yes, this prayer, search me, God, is bold for sure. Could this prayer wreck you? yeah. This is why David pens it. He knows from experience what could happen if your heart is left unchecked. But this is the prayer for the Christian who wants to make it to the end, who doesn't want to be deceived.
And this is the prayer for the local church, the local church that longs to see King Jesus glorified, that desires to be used by Him as a church to advance His kingdom from our neighbors to the nations. This prayer is also asking us some questions. Are your deepest loyalties?
Your deepest longings and desires, are they aligned with God? Or what keeps you up at night?
Or what are you afraid God might take from you? That's a hard one. Is there anything we're doing as a church, God, that you would not approve of?
Real talk, this week wrecked me. All week long I'm praying, search me, God. Know my heart, test me.
preaching is the best and the worst. God typically does a work in you before you get to share anything with anyone else. For instance, there's verses in this psalm that at one point got me fired up about foster care. Look at verse 13. For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful. know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in the book, in your book, before one of them came to be. I mean, how can you read these verses and not?
not care about people created in God's image. From the womb to the tomb, from the fatherless kiddo to the struggling addict.
So yes, this verse can help us see people in God's image, but if we get down to the bold prayer portion, that's where things can get dangerous. This week, God revealed to me in our new foster world, so much control that I am holding onto. That God exposed in frustration, fear, anger.
impatience.
And that's just what's going on under my own roof. What about under the roof at RP where I get to be, I get the privilege to be one of your pastor elders. Well, as I'm praying, search me God, know my heart, test me. There were multiple times this week where, God showed me through my own anxiety, stress, and straight up discouragement that I'm not trusting God with this next season in the life of our church.
And why does God reveal these things to us just to make us sad? No, because he loves us. Because like the theologian Cornelius Plantinga says, sin is the disturbance of shalom. Sin is the disturbance of shalom. Let us not say peace, peace when there is no peace. God wants shalom for us.
He peace in your life. He wants you whole. He wants you in a right and good relationship with him and with one another. I love the next line in this prayer. Look at verse 24. See if there is any offensive way in me. The Westminster Catechism defines sin not only as outward acts, but also the inward thoughts.
Disfections and desires that are contrary to God David says search me God Is is there anything in me in my heart in the core of who I am that? offends you Where we were called to to please God We just learned in our revelation series that you are the bride of Christ
And well, healthy marriages work through offenses instead of walking away from them or throwing them under the rug. Some of you guys who don't like conflicts are like, no, that's not how it works. Yes, it is. And so is there anything in your life?
God. Pastor, friend of mine who we share a rule of life, we started working through the seven deadly sins with each other. What a blessing this has been. Church, we are part of an ancient story. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. Christians throughout church history have created things from scripture to help us look in the mirror.
So as you hopefully begin praying this prayer, search my heart, God, here are some things that you might want to be looking for among other things. Start with pride. Seven deadly sins, pride. Are you living as if the world revolves around you?
And so the church fathers would give us a remedy and they would say, fight pride with humility. Or next greed. What do you believe you must have in order to feel secure? Or does God get your first and your best or your leftovers? Church history says we literally fight greed with generosity. What they would call
almsgiving we, we, we give as those who have been given so much next lust. All right. Are you, are you treating people like fellow image bearers fearfully and wonderfully made or as objects for your gratification? Had to be war against this chastity.
Namely, rightly ordered sexual desires controlled by love and holiness. Next, envy. Does somebody else's blessing secretly bother you inside?
We combat this with kindness or charity. We treat others like Jesus said, the way we want to be treated. Next, gluttony. What appetite in your life is quietly ruling?
Here we need the fruit of the Spirit, self-control. This is why throughout church history, fasting has been such a big deal. So by Jesus says, when you fast, not if you'll fast. Next, wrath. Is your anger righteous? Or is your ego wounded? Again, another fruit of the Spirit we need here, patience.
We must learn to be a people like our savior long suffering. Lastly, sloth. This is more than, than being lazy. Although if you spend all your free time playing video games, do think wisdom would say stop. But the sloth is getting at this idea of being spiritually apathetic. Where have you stopped caring about what God.
cares about the remedy to this diligence. We do our best imperfectly, but Paul says we do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed. See how, how bold this prayer is becoming. God search our.
See if there is any offensive way in me. And then I love how this Psalm ends. Look at the end of verse 24. lead me in the way everlasting. Last week as a church, we recited the Lord's Prayer. I love when we do things like this. And as we did, we got to that phrase, Lord, lead us not into
temptation. This morning in Psalm 139 we have the prayer for where we do want God to lead us. lead us in the way everlasting.
As God shows us our hearts, as he exposes some things to us in his kindness and mercy, we get to respond. Will we disregard his conviction in our lives or will we walk in his way? Realizing that as Christians, we've been given new hearts. The Holy Spirit now lives in us. We can walk in the way.
everlasting. You can walk in the way everlasting.
My favorite part of being a pastor is I get to be brought into some amazing moments in y'all's life. The good and the not so good. And in the last two weeks, I've had two meetings with a brother in this church and FYI, he told me I could share the story. But one of those meetings was spent hearing this brother share how God has been searching him.
God's been exposing some things and one of those things that got exposed was a cult forgive his dad. And let me tell you even to have this conviction because of what my brother has experienced as a son is a miracle. the second meeting was celebratory hearing from my dude as if he came back from his visit.
with his dad as he went home where he face to face forgave his dad. He even repented of hating him for two decades. The way everlasting is not easy friends, but it is totally worth it.
Maybe you know you're holding on to bitterness or unforgiveness or you've avoided reconciliation, but David's prayer might be leading you to the way everlasting. I promise you it's totally worth it. I love how as a church we care about doctrine.
That at RP doctrine matters. We have our own Institute for crying out loud, but I also love that we understand doctrine is not everything. How we live our lives matters. This is why when, when Paul's encouraging the young pastor, Timothy, he says, guard your life and your doctrine in that order. Or why in first Corinthians is the only time Paul ever says, I taught this everywhere to every church. And that was his way.
of life. Oh, lead us in the way everlasting. Before we end our time with some prayer here in a second, look with me at verse 19. I love this and I don't have too much time to go into details here, but verse 19, David says, if only you God would slay the wicked. The crazy part of this prayer is that if God were to slay the wicked, we'd all be toast.
that there is none who is righteous, no not one. We just recited that in the New City Catechism. And yet the penalty of our sin is death. God will slay the wicked. This is what justice looks like when perfect love responds to treason, to sin.
But in God's love for the wicked, for the rebels, for those who have sinned and missed his mark, namely all of us, he sent his perfect, sinless son, Jesus of Nazareth, to be slain in our place. For God so loved the world.
that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have ever lasting life. And so now we pray as those with everlasting life, Lord lead us in the way everlasting. I want to invite back up Tricia.
And before we respond in the ways we typically do, the Lord's Supper, I just want to spend a couple minutes, even now, in prayer between you and your Father. I'm going to put verses 23 and 24 up on the screen. Let's just spend a couple minutes here praying this prayer.
individually laying ourselves bare before the God who knows you fully, that He would search us. In a couple of minutes, I'll close and I'll pray this prayer for us collectively as a church.