Well… Growing up… in my family…
prayer was only something we did…
before we ate and before we slept.
Like even though my mom has always been a crazy driver…
we never prayed before driving anywhere.
And even though bullies were a legit concern for me at recess,
we never prayed before going to school.
We never randomly prayed…. throughout the day.
Again… we only prayed… before eating and sleeping.
It’s like… is there something that I should know… about the food I’m eating?
Why are we praying?
Like what is wrong with this meatloaf?
And this is meatloaf, right?
And when we’re sleeping…
is someone trying to kill our family at night…
Or maybe monsters are real…
I mean like… is there a reason…. that we only pray…
before we eat and sleep?
And when we prayed… we prayed the same exact words each and every time.
Come Lord Jesus be our guest…
and now I lay me… down to sleep.
Anyone know these prayers?
I recited the words…
having no idea of what was being said…
It’s just what… we did.
And today… I’m gonna share a bit of my story…
more than normal…
But as a kid… before bed each night…
my mom would come into our room to pray with us.
And my two brothers and I… we shared a bedroom…
on the second floor of our old house.
And the three of us were crazy!
Beating on… and trying to kill each other…
typical boys right?
That was until we prayed…
I mean… when we prayed… we knew had to be serious…
And we knew we shouldn’t talk… or even breathe.
Eyes closed… hands folded… and don’t move… anything.
Well... thankfully, our prayers at home… were always short and sweet.
However in church…. though, it was a completely different story…
And my family, the Webers… we never missed church. Ever.
And so we’d come into church… dressed in our Sunday finest.
Shirts tucked in. Hair combed.
My parents knew everyone in our church.
And there was the green hymnals and the red carpet.
And my family always… sat on the right side of the room.
In the same pew every week.
And at our church… we prayed the same exact set of words… each Sunday.
Unfortunately, there were a lot more words… than the prayers…
that we said at home.
And while praying… we were supposed to keep our eyes closed…
but I was a rebel and I kept one eye open… scanning the room.
People were yawning. People were mumbling.
It just seemed like everyone couldn’t wait for the hour to pass.
And I know for myself…
I couldn’t wait to talk again.
I couldn’t wait to run freely again.
Even at five, I knew that life is so short… it’s so precious…
and I couldn’t wait to live again.
But sitting there in church though… I used to just think….
That if there is a God, we have to be boring him out of his mind.
And I wondered if he actually listened to our prayers…
because when we spoke to him, it wasn’t like we expected a response.
We didn’t expect anything to happen.
When we prayed, it just seemed to be more about a box we checked.
A hoop we jumped through to make some far-off being happy with us.
Who or what were we praying to…
Ourselves? The thin air? I didn’t know.
And I don’t know… if any of this connects with you or not…
But from an early age, I just thought that all of it… was so strange.
Praying. Church. God. Baby Jesus. All of it… was so weird!
And as I got older… my questions and my doubts only continued to grow…
I mean… If God was truly amazing…
if he was really awesome
why were we so miserable every time we talked about him?
And why didn’t this supposed… all-powerful God ever seem to do anything?
And other than the one hour on Sunday mornings…
and a few quick prayers before eating and sleeping…
why was he absent from our lives?
Like away from Sundays,
it felt like we were almost embarrassed to even mention God.
Which didn’t make sense to me…
Because I mean… when something was awesome in my life…
an old car… or next week’s football game.
It impacted me… and I couldn’t stop talking about it.
And so by my freshmen year of high school…
I started to become more vocal about my questions.
And I also started what every Lutheran kid does—confirmation.
And I know it’s possible for confirmation to be great and beneficial…
But for me it was 2 years of pure agony…
My clearest memory from confirmation is of having to pick a memory verse.
I picked John 11:35… which is the shortest verse in the Bible—“Jesus wept”—
but I was told by my pastor I couldn’t pick that one.
I had to choose another.
Ironically, I can’t remember the other verse I chose…
but I still remember John 11:35.
And I’ve shared this before…
But the day I got confirmed… I came home… and told my parents…
That it was the biggest lie that I have ever told…
and to so many people at one time….
Because during the service, I had to say that I believed in Jesus…
but I clearly didn’t.
And so my parents…
began looking for a church that would connect with me.
They set aside their own preferences and everything they knew…
And we ended up… checking out a church in Watertown, South Dakota…
A church that was 30 miles away from my home…
And also a church… that was filled…
with nice looking Watertown girls…
And I wasn’t into Jesus, but girls…. was a different story.
And knowing that going to church on Sundays was required
I told my parents we should come back to this church…
And well… after some time… a few of these girls… and a group of guys…
somehow convinced me to go to youth group with them… one night.
And that first night I went… out of all things…
that night… the youth pastor…. he began to talk about prayer.
And at the time… the very idea of prayer… made me want to fall asleep.
I mean… I had been closing my eyes and mumbling prayers… my whole life…
Like before I was born…
what else did I need to know about it?
Like I grew up in the church and rarely missed…
what else did I need to know about prayer?
But what he shared about prayer that night…
was different from anything that I had ever heard before.
He said, “When talking with God…”
Wait! What?
When talking with God…?
Again… what? Like a conversation….
I thought this talk was about prayer….
about saying the same thing…
that I had said my entire life before eating or sleeping…
I thought this was a talk on rambling through…
the same old words each Sunday while trying not to fall asleep.
But once more… he said… when talking with God?
there are different ways to pray….
And he said… sometimes you have to sing…
because you’re so excited and thankful for what God has done.
Because God’s love… and his peace…
what’s inside you… is so wonderful…
That you can’t hold it in… instead you have to sing it.
And sometimes when you pray…
you need to get on your knees.
Because you’ve made a mistake…
and you’re saying you’re sorry
You’ve screwed up… or you’re pouring out your heart to him.
And then other times… he said…
we can pray and talk with God just like we do with a friend.
We can talk with God… as if he’s sitting right next to us.
That night… it was the last thing I heard the youth pastor say…
I just couldn’t get over it…
We can talk with God?
Like a friend? Really?
The God who supposedly set the stars in place?
The One who supposedly created you… and me?
We can talk with him?
And this is what prayer is?
And maybe this is common sense for you…
but to me it was completely foreign….
And the moment I heard it… it was like my heart leapt within me.
Like I had found something…
that I had unknowingly been searching for my whole life.
Now at one point in the book of John…
Jesus was with a group of his followers…
and he began to share with them…
some different things about who He is.
And Jesus said… that He is the way, and the truth, and the life.
And He shared… that He is the vine… and we are the branches.
And then in chapter 15…
Jesus told them… listen to this… He said… (pink)
“If you do what I command you…
Again… if you do what I command
Now just to be clear… God is still God…
In Isaiah… God is so holy…
that angels cover their eyes when in his presence.
Like He is clearly different than us…
Again… God is still God…
He’s not our homeboy… instead He is holy…
and yet… here is Jesus is telling us…
He’s saying… approach me.
Come near to me.
Talk with me… as a friend.
Again… I don’t call you servants… instead I call you friends…
And then in the very next verse… Jesus says….
And you didn’t choose me… but I chose you.
Crazy right?
A wise Canadian… the great J.I. Packer once said…
“We do not make friends with God…
God makes friends with us.
And so to boil this down for us… hear this:
we’re not only able to talk with God…
but we can speak with Him… like we do with a friend.
And we’re not only able to be His friend…
but He initiates that friendship with us.
He initiates that friendship…
with you… and with me.
And once again… maybe this is common sense for you…
And maybe it’s no big deal to you.
I mean… maybe you’re completely secure…
in who you are as a human being…
that you haven’t ever struggled to fit in… or belong.
Maybe you’ve never felt like an outsider…
And friends just come easy for you.
But I know for myself… and I’ve shared this before…
For myself… even as an adult…
I’ve always struggled with wondering whether or not… I do fit in.
And do I belong? And am I liked?
And beyond that, am I loved by others?
and do other people want to be my friend?
And I know for myself… instead of having to impress others…
And instead of wondering if a person approves of me…
and enjoys hanging out with me... as much as I do with them…
Few things feel better than hearing someone else say…
That they want to be… my friend.
Few things are better… than when someone…
initiates and says it first.
And if you missed it… today we’re not talking about another person here…
Instead we’re talking about God…
the one who set the stars in place…
we’re talking about Him.
And I mean… have you ever questioned… or wondered…
if God loves you?
Like have you ever felt like you’re an outsider…
when it comes to God.
And have you ever felt like you’ve made too many mistakes…
Like you’re too broken… or unlovable.
Ever felt like you’re just not good enough… or spiritual enough…
Have you ever felt like you don’t belong…
when it comes to Him?
**Last week… I was talking with a younger lady…
and randomly in the middle of our conversation… she told me…
that she’s made a lot of poor decisions in life…
And that even right now…
she’s doing things that she just knows… that God wouldn’t want her doing…
And she basically just asked me…
if God would still want to talk with her…
and she just wanted to hear my thoughts?
And I said… well… it’s not my thoughts…
Instead it’s in the Bible…
That time and time again…
Jesus went… and was drawn to the broken.
That He sat with the outsider…
That He was a friend of sinners.
Once more… instead of having to say it first….
God… He initiates the friendship with us.
He speaks first… “I call you friend.”
Going back to youth group…. that night…
halfway through the 30 minute drive back home…
I pulled my 1966 Ford Falcon to the side of the road.
Dear Jesus… I miss my hair.
Again… I pulled over thought… and I opened my car door, got out…
and I just stood there on the side of the road…
as the other cars passed.
And that night… even the skeptic in me… couldn’t deny… what I was feeling inside.
Something was happening within me.
And my heart and mind were racing with questions.
I just couldn’t stop thinking…
We can talk with God? Like a friend? Really?
And so… standing outside of my car that night…
out in the middle of nowhere South Dakota…
the stars were so bright… I felt like I could reach out and touch them.
And I wanted to talk with God… but wasn’t sure where to start.
And my entire life… I had never prayed a prayer….
that wasn’t written out or memorized.
And with so many things bouncing around within me.
The only thing I was able to say…
the only thing I was able to get out…
“Lord, I just wanna know if you’re for real.”
Looking back, honestly… it was the first time I ever truly prayed.
It was the first time…. I had ever really talked with God.
And in that moment…
I just wanted to know it was all true…
I just wanted to know… If God existed.
If He was real…
I just wanted to know…
if I could really talk with Him.
That night… my first time at youth group…
I was hoping to talk with some girls…
Instead… little did I know…
I would end up meeting Jesus.
Now at all of our campuses today…
as you came in… you should have been given one of these cards here.
And if you’d just wanna take that out… right now…
I would just love to have you write on it… as we speak…
and just answer the question:
What do you say… when you talk with God?
Like when you pray… what do you say to Him?
Or what do you want to say to God… that you haven’t…
I mean… if we can talk with Jesus…
like we do… with a friend…
What would you say to Him?
What’s inside of you… that you haven’t told Him yet?
Or maybe for those of us…
who have been following Jesus… for years…
but we’ve gotten stuck in a rut…
and we’re just going through the motions…
Is there something that we need to say to God?
Again… at all of our campuses….
I’d just encourage us… to just to take a second right now…
and write it down…
(Stack of CARDS!)
And maybe for you…
Today… you just need to write down the words… Thank you.
Jesus… I’m just so thankful for you…
Or Jesus thank you… for rescuing me…
Thank you for finding me… when I was lost.
Thank you for carrying me…
when I couldn’t walk myself.
Thank you for my family…
Thank you for all the good things in my life… that I often overlook.
Or maybe you need to write down… I’m sorry… or please forgive me…
Forgive me for my mistakes…
My one mistake… my affair… lying… and cheating…
Forgive me… for my years in college…
Forgive me of my past…
Forgive me of my sin…
Or please forgive me…
for not spending more time with you.
Or maybe… it’s: Jesus… I surrender to…
I give you control…
Help me to trust you…
Please be near me…
Or similar to myself… years ago…
Maybe you need to write down… a question…
God… are you real?
Are you really with me?
Do you have plan for my life?
Do you really care about me?
Or Jesus… I believe in you… help my unbelief…
Jesus… I have doubts…
Or I don’t know you… but I want to.
Or maybe it’s writing down… the words…
I need you.
I need your strength…
I need your joy…
I need your peace…
Or… Jesus, please help me…
I’m broken.
I’m lost.
I’m hurting.
I’m addicted.
I’m so empty.
I’m lonely.
Or maybe it’s writing down the words… God, please use me.
Please guide my life.
Or maybe… you need to ask God something today…
And so you need to write down…
God… please fix my marriage… it’s falling apart…
Jesus… help me make good decisions….
I keep making the wrongs ones…
Lord, help us get pregnant… we so badly wanna have a baby.
Jesus… will I ever get married?
God… please be with my sister… she’s battling cancer.
Father… please heal my heart… I’m so jaded.
Or maybe it’s simply declaring… your love for God…
And so it’s simply writing the love… I love you.
I want to know you more.
I want to love you… with my whole heart.
Or maybe it’s saying… thank you… for loving me…
Imperfections and all…
Jesus… thank you for being my friend…
Once again… what is prayer?
Prayer isn’t reciting…a bunch of words… without thinking…
It’s not checking a box…
It’s not trying to stay awake in church…
Instead… prayer is talking with God…
The creator of heaven & earth…
and hear this… we’re not only able to talk with God…
but we can speak with Him… like we do with a friend.
And we’re not only able to be His friend…
but He initiates that friendship with us.
He speaks first… I call you friend.
And so… to pray today…
instead of me just praying…
Across our campuses…
I just wanna give us each like 20 or so seconds of time…
to talk with God right now…
and really… just to share with Him… what we wrote down...
on our cards.
And so again… just take a few seconds to silently pray…
And tell Him… what’s on our heart…
and I’ll wrap it up!
