Keep Showing Up

How many of you love Jesus here today? Come on. We want to welcome those that are joining online, Elk River, Maple Grove, Lakeville, and Spring Lake Park. We are so excited to have you here with us here today. As you heard, we are in our series, The Storyteller. Look to your neighbor and say, "I'm glad you're here." Look to the other neighbor that you chose to ignore. Say, "I'm glad you're here as well." Then forget about you. It's gonna be an awesome, awesome Sunday. Hey, we want to do something a little different here to kick off the start of this Sunday as a lot of school and classes have begun or are starting this next week. We want to continue to cover our students and teachers in prayer. As Pastor Nate says, "We are a house of prayer of all nations and we are just so excited with what God is doing in the next generation." If you are a student in one of our locations or here at Spring Lake Park that are stepping back into school or very stepped in middle school, high school, college, can you stand up real quick? And what we just want to do, yeah, there's a lot of students. I'll start calling you out. It's all good. Middle school, high school, college, students. And here's what we want to do.

We want to just cover the next show in prayer. We don't want to just talk about it. We want to be about it. If you have somebody that is standing up by you, if you just want to put a hand on their shoulder or extend a hand to them, we just want to cover them in prayer as they get ready to step into this new year. Heavenly Father God, we are so thankful for the call that you have on each and every one of our lives, Lord, guys, has spoken in Psalms 139. You have knit us together, Lord God. You have a plan and a purpose. And God, I pray as the next generation, whether it's middle school, high school or college, as they are stepping into the classroom, God, we pray that your spirit would continue to go with them and lead them. We pray that you give them a fresh outpouring, Lord God, of peace, love, kindness, understanding, Lord God. We pray for favor in every room that they walk into with teachers and coaches and classmates. We pray for wisdom, Lord God. We pray for health, Lord, as they are stepping in and navigating all the things that God may be, that they don't know is showing up, but God, you know is coming. I pray that you would equip them, Lord God. Continue to surround them as they are being prayed for now. May they sense God.

They are not alone as they take steps for God with where you have planted them. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen, amen, amen. And then the next group here, real quick, if you are a teacher, if you are a teacher or a coach, can you stand up as well? We wanna cover you in prayer as well. I know you guys hear it all the time, but can I just say thank you for all you do behind the scenes. Thank you for the late nights and the preparation. Thank you for all the late conversations you stayed to have with students that just need a little extra attention. Thank you for all that you do. If you have someone stayed at bayou, can you extend your hand to them? And we're just gonna cover our teachers and coaches in prayer here today. Heavenly Father, Lord, you have gifted and wired, Lord God, these individuals for such a time as this. God, as they step into the classroom, the influence that you have given them, Lord God. We pray for wisdom in how to steward, Lord God. We pray in the moments, Lord God, where they feel like they're on E. Holy Spirit, may you fill their tank till it overflows. That God, as students step in their classroom, they might not even be able to name it, but may they sense something different. God, when they step into that huddle, that locker room, that classroom, Lord God.

And we pray that God, may you break these teachers and coaches, again, for what breaks yours? That God, as your sons and daughters are walking into their space, Lord God, we pray that you would open their spiritual eyes, Lord God, to see them as you see them. And God, we pray for words this year, Lord God, to call out the God given talents in these students that you've placed inside of them, Lord God. May they be the crowd of witnesses cheering on the next generation. God, be with them as they step into this year. In your name, we pray. Amen, amen, amen. (congregation applauding) Man, it's gonna be an awesome year. Wanna also echo real quick, as you heard from our campus pastors as well. Our upcoming series, We Is Greater Than Me. And while I wanna highlight this, I'm making sure that we are getting a part of groups. As the world goes more digital, it is that much more important that we become more relational. That the capital C church continues to model this community doing life together. And just want to emphasize that and encourage that if you are not a part of a group, maybe you try to group out and you're like, I'm not really feeling the snack game that they had.

All right, try another group, all right? But find a group and get plugged in. It is one of the just integral parts of our faith journey, making sure that we are doing life together. So We Is Greater Than Me. That'll be kicking off next week with our fall, kick off and all that. All right, look to your name and say, get ready, get ready, get ready. And it's been an incredible series. If you've missed the last couple of weeks or so, would encourage you to go back. Listen to the messages from those that have shared. We have had the parable of the sower, the parable of the grand banquet, the parable last week, passionate impact, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons. And it was an incredible week. Would encourage you guys to go back and check that out. Our goal here today, if you are kind of new to faith, you have questions about faith, you're like, man, I'm still trying to figure this thing out. We are glad that you are here. We pray that you would feel encouraged to continue to take steps, to continue to ask questions as you navigate your own faith journey. If you are here and you are like, man, I haven't missed a Sunday, God is good, God is good all the time, and you are ready to continue to grow in our own faith, I pray that you would be equipped

to continue to do that all that God has asked you to do. The title of our message here today is keep showing up. Look to your neighbor and say, keep showing up. Keep showing up. As I was preparing for this message, I was reminded of just how persistent kids can be. My parents in the room, you get this, grandparents, this might not even be on your radar 'cause you say yes to everything at this point. But the persistence of kids. Now, my wife and I, we have two boys, they're 11 and nine, and even when they were younger, I would call my mom probably once a month, a couple times a month, and I would just apologize 'cause as I'm discovering things about them, I'm like, ooh, I bet my brothers did this for sure. I didn't do it, but I bet my brothers did this, but no, for sure, I'm like, mom, I am so sorry, especially the potty training era. I was calling my mom like once a week like, I am so sorry for what we put you through. And I was expecting some comfort from my mom, but it was a locked and loaded, you're forgiven. I'm like, wow, you've been carrying that for a minute. But with the persistency of kids, and what's also interesting, they know who to go to. That when they're in a setting, they know which person is most likely to say yes to my request. And yesterday, that happened to be my wife. And we were going to the state fair,

and my youngest son, all he wanted to do was get his face painted. All he wanted to do, our family goal going there, we love going the state fair, and our first stop was going to be the Amish donut stand, 'cause we heard so many great things about it. We knew that was going to be the largest line. So we're like, let's stay in the line first, let's get the donut, and we'll enjoy the rest of the day. But all the way there, my youngest, mom, mom, mom, can we get face painted? Mom, mom, mom, are we gonna go there first? Mom, mom, mom, are you sure? Mom, mom, mom. And I was like, bro, chill, we're gonna get donuts. Like this should be our goal right now, that we're going to get a donut. Like, I'm like, am I really that bad of a dad? Like, I'm like, I'm giving you donuts. This is all permission right now. But all throughout, it's mom, mom, mom, mom. And right before we get to line, my wife looks at me, he's like, you know what, I'm just, so he's not bothering us in line, I'm just gonna go take him to get his face painted. And 45 minutes later, as we're in line, we're getting to the front, and he runs up, he has a wolf paint, like he's like a little wolf, and he's like, ah, he's like so pumped that he got his face painted, I started to realize,

I'm like, I think you and your mom are in collusion to not stand in line, because they're like, just so happened to be in the front of the line when they came back. But it's one of those, and I mean, grandparents, you know, like it's that you walk in, and the grandkids are like, that's who I'm asking, right? Aunty's and uncles, you're not, I mean, you're in the same boat. But it's interesting to look back that the persistency that maybe we had as children to ask, to seek, when that begins to diminish as we get older, that one disappointment after another, one let down, one unmet expectation after the next, and it's interesting to see how our get up and go, if you are our ability to show up just begins to go, you know what, I don't know if it's worth it. I don't know if it's worth the investment or the time. I've tried, I've requested, I've asked, I just don't know if it's worth it. And the scary thing is it begins to seep into our own faith journey. It begins to seep into our prayer life. And I don't know if you've ever wrestled with the honest tension that there's the moment we go, well, God, I don't know if I wanna show up because God, it doesn't feel like you've shown up. God, I don't know if I wanna bring this request to you, again, because it feels like I keep bringing the same requesting, God, do you hear me?

God, do you see me? And friends, as we look at our text here today, I pray that you would find the encouragement that not only has God shown up, to show off in more ways that we can ever think, dream, or imagine. But we got to keep showing up. What's your name? You've got to show up. You've got to show up. All right. So our text here today is we're going to be in Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. We're going to be verses 1 through 8. If you are new to the Bible, if you are new to the Word of God, the Bible's broken up with the two portions, Old Testament and New Testament. Old Testament is before Jesus showed up. New Testament is after Jesus showed up where we are at in the book of Luke. It's one of the first four books of the New Testament known as the Gospels. And what I love about the Gospels are it's four different vantage points of the life and ministry of Jesus. And Luke, the author of the text we're in today, is by most commentators seen as the philosopher or the theologian of the four letters. But within this one, he captures a very interesting dynamic with the story and the parable that Jesus chooses to share. Now, if you have your paper Bibles, you might notice that there is red letters in there. If there is red letters in there, that means this is the words of Jesus. But the first line in Luke 18 is Luke's observation of what Jesus is doing to set the tone for the parable. Parables, as you may know, are stories that help highlight and illustrate a biblical truth utilizing just different elements and within the environment that the audience is there that would help capture their attention and connect them to the truth that Jesus was trying to share. So Luke in verse one highlights this of what Jesus is wanting to accomplish with this parable. Luke 18-1, we're going to go one through eight. It starts off one day. Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. Jesus begins the parable then by saying there was a judge in a certain city who neither feared God nor cared about people. We're going to pause here for a moment. Pastor Nathan in between service highlight, he goes, isn't it interesting that the very thing that Jesus asked like, what are the two most important commands? Love God and love people. That Jesus in this illustration is opening up in the parable that there is a judge that neither feared God or loved people. We're going to continue on in verse three, a widow of that city came to him repeatedly and said, give me justice in this dispute with my enemy. The judge ignored her for a while but finally he said to himself, I do not fear God and I do not care about people but this woman

is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice because she is wearing me out with her request. Verse six, Jesus then said, learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So do you not think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly but when the son of man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have the same faith? Once again, notice in this text leading into the parable, the author of this book, Luke, is highlighting that Jesus is emphasizing to the audience and his disciples to keep praying and to never give up because we recognize that difficulties begin to tempt us of diminishing of returning and seeking God on a matter that as difficulties let down and all these disappointments can begin to creep in and rob us of the resiliency and the response to continue to seek God on a matter, Luke emphasizes, keep praying and do not give up. Now what's interesting in parables is the characters that Jesus chooses to highlight to communicate and illustrate the biblical truth that he is wanting to highlight to that audience. So the first character that steps into the story is the widow. Now in that context with that audience, in that environment to speak of a widow would be to highlight someone who just is lacking of resources, someone that might be overlooked in that community, a widow during that time in that era was seen as and they don't got a lot going on for him. So you could imagine as Jesus is emphasizing or bringing up that there was a widow with a matter, the audience would have gone well how is she even a part of the story? How is she even a character? How does she even get in the room? But what Jesus recognizes and illustrated, he's setting this up so perfectly that what she lacked in resources, she was using the greatest tool that she had access to, and that was her persistence. Then enter in the group chat, the unjust judge. Now recognize it in the text, it is not comparing God to the unjust judge. But as we will get to in a moment, it's recognizing and highlighting that even if this crooked, unjust judge

who literally does not care about God, does not care about people, could render a just decision. How much more could God do for his people? So we see through all of this, that as he's going through and just even as he's processing and apparently he's like, I don't fear God, I don't care about people. But this woman, this widow and her request, it's wearing me down and I'm going to grant her justice because I don't know what else to do. This choice is strategic. If someone is so morally indifferent with this character that Jesus highlights can be moved to grant justice through persistence, how much more readily is a God who is characterized by love and compassion for his people is likely to move on their behalf. Now recognize the audience then with this parable, Jesus knew and recognized within our humanity, our propensity to drift. Our willingness that sometimes to begin to scale back to miss out. He is aware of how easily we can lose heart on Monday morning. How easily we can be distracted by disappointment on a Thursday that we begin to retreat from what we know we should be responding to in prayer. That Jesus sees that we easily lose heart and how quickly we can stop praying.

And it's not a question about God's faithfulness, but it is, we have to wonder God, where am I at in seeking you on behalf of the requests I have? Where am I at in my level of persistence? Now, I wanna ask the question, what is persistent prayer? This is the highlight of the parable. What is persistent prayer? Now, I want to establish a guard or just some guardrails and a base, if you will, of what is prayer for some of our friends that might be newer to the faith conversation. Prayer at the very core is our ability to communicate and have conversation with God. As a follower of Christ, it is one of the greatest pieces of access that we have to talk to the creator of the universe, that we don't have to wait in line to have somebody else talk to him on our behalf that as soon as you get out of service, you can go, God? I got some questions that it's not just meant for before meal conversation, but that God is listening to you, God hears you, God is acting on your behalf, that this is our way, that prayer, our way to connect with God, to access the power that he has through his Holy Spirit, to learn more of his plan and purpose, to stay connected and in step with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is powerful, but what I have to correct, I know not here at a manual that anybody would believe this, but in our culture and environment, there have been those that almost look down as prayer as a response.

Can I encourage you, prayer is not a last resort, it is our first response. And I share this because oftentimes, I don't know about you, my first response is not one of the spirit. Now, recently, I got, we were in a group chat and I caught a stray, I caught a curve ball where I'm like looking at this, I'm going like, like what is this person saying? And my first response was the flesh fill wanting to bring back all the receipts. I'm like, do they forget what happened? And my wife, thank God was there and she goes, Phil, I think you need to talk to God about this. Ah, be fine. Like I just, she's like, no, it feels like you went back to petty fill here, okay, we got a petty fill situation. You need a petty fill needs to take that back to a powerful God, all right? So I took a lap, I took a lap and I began like, God, why is this bothering me? Why is this like just upsetting me the way that it is? And I remember the Holy Spirit just began to illuminate just things that I may have not understood with the person that sent the text in the group chat. And then as I began to craft a response, I can't take any credit for it, it was all the Holy Spirit and my wife responding to the prompting of the spirit. And as I began to respond in a manner that I felt led by the spirit, we began to see the fruit of that the next couple of days

where there was a restored relationship, there was forgiveness, there was grace and all this, which would not have happened if my first response was what was in my heart. Because oftentimes there's more And so when we say prayer is not our last resort, it's our first response that you might have something that's going on. You're saying, God, this upsets me. That God, there's some anger, Lord God, or there's some sorrow. But God, I'm seeking you first. God's to recognize that you know more than I do what's going on behind the scenes. That it is not our last resort, but it is our first response. So if it is our first response, what is persistent prayer? Persistent prayer is the evidence of our faith and trust in God. It is not begging, but it is believing that God is who he says he is. That as we approach him, it's believing that God is who his word says he is. It's believing that God is as strong as the songs that we sing about him say he is. That God is as faithful as we've heard him to be. That when we are approaching him, it's not out of a posture of begging, but it's believing that God, you are good.

And as we bring these requests, it's reminding our heart and our soul of just how good God is. Now, it may not always happen in your timing. It might not always happen the way that we think it should look like. I was reminded of this recently, had a friend in town and he wanted to take our family out just to a nice steak dinner. We are more of a Taco Bell family. If you know my youngest son would have Taco Bell every day, every meal, every day of the week. So he is used to a fast food timeline, if you will. And so we get to this steakhouse. I wanna be honest, I didn't think we were gonna make it through the front doors. We're in the lobby and I look over, our kids are running up the opposite way on an escalator. I'm like, they are not gonna see us. There is no way they're gonna let us in. And we get in and so our son, he orders steak and his look, he starts arguing with the waiter. He goes, where's my steak? He goes, it's gonna take some time. He goes, Taco Bell would have had my food already. I'm like, dude, what is going on? And my friend who's at the other end of the tale, he's just laughing. So every couple of minutes,

it was almost a level like another version of, are we there? He goes, where's my food? Why is it taking so long? Taco Bell would have had my food. Taco Bell would have had my food. I'm like, we are not at Taco Bell. Stop waving your steak knife everywhere, all right? Like, so about 15 minutes later then, after all these requests, my son hears the sizzle of the steak on a plate with butter and also his eyes get big. And they put the plate down in front of him. And as we pray, I opened my eyes seriously. I felt like I opened, like we got done praying. I opened my eyes, the steak was gone. I think he ate it in faith that it was gonna be prayed over in that moment. But I share that because as my son and my friend were having this conversation and my son's like, how'd you know, how'd you know? My friend just kind of leaned back and grin. He goes, I trust the chef. And what my son did not know that my friend knew that food like that, that took time. That there was a preparation. There was something that was happening in the kitchen that my son did not realize was taking place to prepare what was gonna be brought out. That oftentimes when it comes to persistent prayer,

there could be this level of a human mentality saying, "God, why isn't it happening now? "God, why isn't it happening in this way?" But the encouragement when it comes to persistent prayer as my friend reminded my son is we have to trust the chef. We have to trust God that what he's doing, what he's up to is greater than anything we could think or imagine. Now, there is an example or a parallel I wanna draw from here before we close today. And what is the difference between passive prayer and persistent prayer? What is the difference between passive prayer and persistent prayer? Passive prayer just plainly put is prayer without pursuit. It is prayer without pursuit. It is prayer with merely a mention and not a pursuit, a seeking God. And what is scary to look back on in life is maybe just dry spots of your faith journey. What tends to happen might be seasons of expectation where you step out of an event, you step out of a series of meetings or a service and your faith is out of love where you're like, "God, I expect the impossible." And you begin to pray for the impossible, but then the disappointment comes Thursday. The bad news comes Tuesday. The impossible that you've been praying for for the last several weeks seems less and less likely.

So we move from expectation to seasonal mentions. We move from seasonal mentions to, And if we're not careful, it would go from obligation to silence. Because we think to ourselves, "Well, God, why do I keep showing up if I feel like you have not shown up?" And rather than being persistent, we begin to lean passive. That rather than praying for our communities, praying for the change we want to see in the world that God has planted us, we just begin to go, "Well, Lord, somebody better do something about that." Well, I'll wait for Pastor Nate to mention it on a Sunday, and we can pray about it on a Sunday. But Lord, man, you should really send somebody to do something about that. Rather than fully stepping in with expectations saying, "God, as you've done it before, I know you can do it again." That even though I might be waiting, I've seen this done in someone else's life, God, and I'm holding on to God, what you've done for them, God, you can do in this situation. So a passive prayer is prayer without pursuit, persistent prayer is prayer with pursuit. It's saying, "God, I'm coming back after you. I'm carrying my request back before you, that as we saw with the example of the persistent widow that she came to that judge each day, "Hey, judge, guess who? I got my request, and we're going to deal with this again until I get justice." And as Jesus was highlighting that how much more would your heavenly Father, who loves you, who desires for you to have all that these things that He's called and asked and wired you to step into? How much more would God want to step in? But what we have to recognize is persistent prayers, the evidence of faith and trust that. Even though I might not fully understand God, what you are doing, I trust you. I trust that what you are doing is greater than anything I can manufacture within my own humanity. Persistent prayer carries it, but here's a question that I've asked myself, I'm not

sure if you've wrestled with this one, and I share this question. Not as conviction or to cast blame, but this is one just an insight in my own faith journey that I've had to wrestle with and the question has been to the lack of my own persistence in my prayers, reveal how little I may actually expect prayer to accomplish. How telling in my own personal faith is that my persistence and prayers reveal about what I believe that prayer could actually accomplish. Friends prayer moves mountains. We have seen prayer do some incredible things. We have heard testimonies in the 60-plus years of our church's history of miracle after miracle but what we can get that we recognize, there are those moments where you're like, "God, I don't know if I haven't left in me. God I've been praying for my lost kid. And Lord, the things I see them posting, Lord, do you hear me? God I've been praying for breakthrough at my job. I've been praying for restoration with my family. I've been praying for healing for this friend, but God, I'm tired. Friends, the encouragement is that God is not absent. He is more present than we realize, but that's in our persistence. It's a reminder. It's not in our hands that God so that it doesn't break me down so that I'm not overcome with worry and trust. I'm leaving it in your hands because God, you're good and I choose to trust you with the very thing I'm bringing before you. So what does it look like for us to apply this to our everyday life? See persistence is not God, doesn't care so I need to convince him. Persistence is God cares so I can carry it and bring it to him. It's believing that God is good, God desires to hold those things, to walk with you through that. So how do we apply this to our everyday life? Jesus earlier on in one of the Gospels in the book of Matthew 7 that a lot of commentaries

will connect this passage of Scripture as a precursor or prelude to just the encouragement to keep praying, to remain, to stay faithful, to be persistent and in Matthew 7, Jesus encourages the audience with these words. He says, "Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives and everyone who seeks fine and everyone who knocks, the door will be open." Now once again context, this is as it is with the will of God. Lord, I'm seeking you." So, my brother would ask me for forgiveness and I wouldn't have to apologize to him. No, it's asking and as we ask and seek and as we knock, it's, "Lord, let your will be done." It's within accordance to your will. So, here's our action steps. Write out the Word of God, not from cloth or chat to BBT, but write from Matthew 7 here. And the first one is ask, keep bringing it to God. A question I would encourage you to write down. Is there an area, a concern or a request in your life that you've stopped bringing to God? And why? What has caused you to stop bringing the request before God. Don't let the fact that you prayed about it before keep you from praying about it today. Past the prayer, as I mentioned, persistent prayer, it carries and brings the request before God. Don't let the fact that you prayed about it before, keep you from praying about it today. The widow kept bringing the same need before the judge. It's bringing the same request back to God. If it still matters, keep asking. If it matters, if it still matters, keep asking.

The second one is to seek, seek, find or keep looking for God in it. And as you seek God in bringing these requests before him, you're asking God, I don't understand. But Lord, I want to see you in this. I don't know why I'm in this valley. I don't know why my family is still walking through this. God, I don't know why I've got to continue to bring this request, that they got their prayer answered. It seems like God every time they pray for something that God, they get to answer right away. I don't understand. But God, I trust you. And I want to see God. God, I want to recognize. God, is there something you're wanting to grow in me in this? God, is there something you're wanting me to release? Is there something you're wanting me to let go? Is there something you're wanting me to discover? God, as I seek you, as I bring this request, God, I want to see you in this. Because as you seek God in it, when you see that God is in it, it builds your faith. It builds your trust and you're like, all right, God, you're not done? So I'm not finished bringing the requests. And I can draw from this faith, I can draw from a deep well of trust, because of God, I've seen, I trust the chef. He is the good shepherd. And Lord, as you are still in it, and I see that you are in it, I know I can keep bringing the requests you as I seek you in it. Even though I might not understand, God, I trust you. I trust you. Sometimes God's answer doesn't look like what we expected, but it might be praying with your spiritual eyes open, that as you pray, you're keeping your spiritual eyes open to

see what God is wanting to do in your life. The last one, knock, keep taking the next step. In this passage in Matthew 7, to knock on a door is assuming that you've walked up to the door. Walking on a door implies that you've taken the steps to walk up to the door to knock on it. Sometimes in Midwest culture we might be standing at the end of the sidewalk like, is this the right house? God, are you sure this is the door? God, oh, man, this door looks kind of dingy. This door looks like really redone, like chip gains who worked on this house over here. Like, I might need a step over here, like, God, are you sure this is the door? So knock on a door implies that you've stepped up to the door and you've knocked on it, as keep taking the next step. Knocky or there are things that we're praying for where God might actually invite you to participate in the answer. You might be praying for reconciliation with the family member. God might be using you to make the first call, to lead with the apology. You might be praying for that lost person, a family member, and God might be asking you like, hey, invite them to lunch one more time, invite them to dinner again, invite them to fall kick off next week, invite them what God they've said no so many times. You might be asking to do it one more time to keep knocking. You might be praying for community. You've heard today that and maybe just joining the group, whoa, I don't know what if this what happens when my last experience and my last experience. Disappointment begins to sneak in and whisper. But what if the answer to the very thing you're praying for is that you're a part of the solution? And as you knock, it's also walking through the doors that God opens.

So knock, keep taking the next step. There is a-- as I close you today, there is a hero of the faith of man who's a life mentor for a while, Rich Vargasen. Rich Vargasen was a member of a manual for a long, long time. He passed away a few years ago. But Rich, I remember when I first came to a manual, Rich, he was a substitute teacher in the area and had just a faithful business leader. It had been part of different parts of a manual, different eras, and as well. He goes, "Pastor, I can serve. I can't stay up late, though. So I can show up for check-in, and I can greet students." I'm like, "All right, man." I'm like, "We love-- I love people who are excited to welcome students into Rich. We've got a spot for you. It'll be good." So he shows up, but Rich, he played a trick on me. Like, Rich was probably one of the best greeters I've ever met. These kids walked in, Rich knew every one of their names. I'm standing there and all of a sudden, "Hey, Bella, what's going on? How's that test going on? I know you got that teacher. I'm praying for you. I pray-- hey, Demarion, how was basketball? I heard you killed it. "Hey, Ted, what's going on, dude?

Oh, how is cross-country going? It's going good. Oh, dude, let's go. Let me know your next meet. We'd love to show up every week." I'm like, "Dude, I'm out here trying to memorize kids' names, and you're just-- you got him." And kids would stop, and they would talk with Rich, nonstop. Because here's a person who knew their name. He knew what matters to him. He's sitting there laughing, joking. But Rich, in that same manner, would-- he'd recognize when someone wasn't there. And remember, a student will call the student Sean. And Sean, in eighth grade, had an incredible just moment with God. Life was flipped upside down, was on fire for Christ. But then ninth grade came, and Sean got in with a wrong friend group, stopped coming to youth group. And I remember Rich would come up to me and go, "Hey, have you seen Sean? I don't know, I have him." 10th grade year, "Hey, have you seen Sean? I've tried calling, and we have to." Like, Sean's not responding to calls, message. How rich will it will keep following up? He goes, "Well, if you see Sean, let Sean know I'm praying. I'm praying for that." 11th grade year, the end of Sean's 11th grade year. We're at camp last night of summer camp.

And I look up, and I see Sean at summer camp, responding to an invitation from the speaker to rededicate their life to Christ. Sean goes up, falls to their knees, and begins to weep. And I'm watching as Sean has no idea the people that have been in their corner. Sean doesn't come from a faith-filled home. It was a battle, and so Sean's there, and people are surrounding Sean, and they're the celebration, and I'm like, I can't wait to tell Rich. I get back later that summer, and Rich and I are sitting at our go-to restaurant, La Casita, that we would not go to unless he had a coupon. True Midwesterner, I said, "Rich, you'll never guess who came to summer camp." Sean came to summer camp, and Rich's biggest grin on his face, but I go, "But Rich, it gets better." Sean met Jesus again, and Sean rededicated their life. Rich pushes his plate back as tears begin to stream down his face. His hands come over the table and he leans forward. And he looks up, and he's like, "Phil, I have prayed for years for Sean. I have spent nights weeping over Sean. To God be the glory." And I share this story because friends, you you might be the only person that is standing in the gap for them. For those of you that are working in the business and education and all these different,

you might be the only person of faith that knows the answer to the very problem that they keep bringing to you. Oh, I'm not about the religious stuff, I'm not about it. You might be the only person standing in their gap, bringing their name before the throne room. And you're like, well, pastor, it's been months. It's been weeks, friends, literally in first service, there was a testimony of one of our greetings, one of our first impression greetings said, after 15 years of praying for my brother to become sober, there was a miracle we saw God heal him and deliver him and now he hasn't touched alcohol in months. 15 years he continued to lean in prayer. (congregation applauding) Friends, you gotta keep showing up. You gotta keep showing up that as this widow, day after day, just continue to bring her request before an unjust judge who did not fear God, who did not love man, how much more would your heavenly Father, the creator of the universe, the God that nicks you together, how much more is God present in your request that as you bring them to Him, as you ask and seek and knock that God who's already shown up is going to show off in more ways that you can think, dream or imagine. But friends, do not grow weary in doing good. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. (congregation applauding)

'Cause what I believe, the persistent prayers of those who continue to seek God, the miracles, you might not get named, drop or have the name words like, "Well, it's because of this person's prayer." But literally as you are stepping in with those requests, whether personal or for family, persistent prayer is believing and trusting that God is who He says He is. It is not prayer without pursuit, it is prayer in full pursuit in the direction of God of asking and seeking and knocking. So here's how we're gonna close them and have everybody stand up as we get ready to close. We're gonna close in a moment of worship before our location pastors begin to offer our next steps. And here's just what I want to do. I just asked it right now, would you like to send your hands in the air? It's a sign of surrender. (gentle music) I'm gonna pray a prayer over us here today as we get ready to step into a time of worship and the song that we chose is one that I believe is gonna encourage your faith as we just declare that we will trust in God. But I wanna pray a prayer over you. There are those in this room here today. You're tired. And we're just gonna come alongside you as the church family. We are sort of believe that the Holy Spirit's gonna begin

to fill you, to equip you, to continue to strengthen you. Heavenly Father, God, we thank you. Thank you for what you've already done. As I've spoken of in Philippians 4, we lead with thanks so that God, even though there may be the requests we've continued to bring before you God, we lead with thanks and gratitude for God, how you've already shown up in our lives. God, may we not forget, God, or forget that we are found people that get to find people, that God, you've already saved us, that God, you've already done the work, but God, I lift up, God, several groups of people here today, God, I lift up those that are praying for the prodigal. God, I pray that even in this moment, that God, you would remind them, you love them even more than they do. That God, that this prodigal is not lost to you. You see them, and God, I pray God for strengthening God to continue to seek you on behalf of the prodigal. And we pray that God this year, this fall, we will see a revival of prodigals at a manual. God, that this would be a place for that Lord, the prodigals would return to see that the light is still on, that they would find that God, there is not a God, that is unjust, pointing a finger at them, waiting for them, but a God who's waiting for them with open arms. God, we pray for those that have been believing

for healing, Lord God. We pray that God, that they would continue to seek you, Lord God, for those that are believing for breakthrough with work and family, Lord God, I pray, that they would continue to pray without ceasing, Lord God, that they would continue God, that even now, their faith would be multiplied. faith would be and would rise, God our trust would deepen, God as we're reminded of who you are and all that you've done in the name of Jesus we pray Amen Amen Amen