Have you ever asked God for something or for someone?

A teenager who is having her 5th open heart surgery?

A young mom whose husband left her?

A young man fighting cancer?

Your dad when he is fighting for his life?

A young couple who want a child but don’t seem to be able to get or others who can seem to sustain pregnancy.

Maybe none of those are prayers you’ve prayed,  but they are all prayers I have asked God,  “Please.” “Please”, that You will hear us God and “Please” that You will attend to my needs and the needs of others. And let me add this, none of those were one off prayers. There were times I was literally on my knees and prayed the same thing for days, weeks, months. Have you been there?

Notice the nearness of the words “please” and “plead.” What do “Please” prayers teach us about ourselves and about God?

Over the last few weeks we have been talking about One Word Prayers that, my guess is, we’ve all prayed at least one of these. And maybe it wasn’t a literal one word prayer, but it might have been.

This Sunday we are going to look at: Yes. And many of us at MCC have prayed this prayer. So what does it look like to say Yes to Jesus? Again, many of us here have done that. But there are some who, for a variety of reasons, have not. And maybe some are wondering, how do I say Yes to Jesus? This week we will see how to pray this prayer, what it means, and what happens when we do.

There will be a time in your life if it hasn’t happened already when you will need help. Thankfully, we have a father in heaven who loves to write stories of redemption. It is the fact that all of us will need help that we should also look for ways to serve those around us, because when we participate in God’s kingdom of restoration it becomes stronger and everyone is served better.

Charles Spurgeon says this, “It is ours, not to speculate, but to perform acts of mercy and love, according to the tenor of the gospel. Let us then be less inquisitive and more practical, less for cracking doctrinal nuts, and more for bringing forth the bread of life to the starving multitudes.”

We see the person begging for cash at an intersection and we wonder what they did in their life to end them up there. Or we end up so calloused by stories of scam artists that we don’t even notice the person begging.

We all have blinders thrown onto us by expectations, calendars, fears, and doubts, but God is in the business of giving sight to the blind.

Charles Spurgeon also says this, “Whenever you see a man in sorrow and trouble, the way to look at it is, not to blame him and inquire how he came there, but to say, ‘Here is an opening for God’s almighty love. Here is an occasion for the display of the grace and goodness of the Lord.’”

This week we are going to look at the one-word prayer, “Help” and see how we can change the way we look at life to bring more help to the world around us.

Thanks almost seems like the easiest of prayers. It rolls off our tongues.

It is what we say to someone who holds the door for us - even if we never look up from checking our texts on our phones.

It is what we say to the grocery clerk absent-mindedly after we have purchased our groceries that were a bit more than we had budgeted.

It is what we say to Fedex delivery.

We even say thank you when the officer has given us our ticket - at least that’s what I hear - and which I think is the oddest thing.

Remember, when your kids would receive a little gift? - “What do you say?”  You are looking for… thank you…!  We are being intentional about molding gratitude into a child's life.

Remember how sweet your mom could say that? That sweet little question had some very pointed intentions. If there was no response… that sweet thing is over. As a kid you learn really fast this is not really a question. She’s giving you a second chance to do the right thing.

Giving thanks to God is much more than obligatory manners. Thanking God may be as simple as a quick thanks, but it has the potential to be so much more.

Anne Lamott says it this way - “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides. It means that you are willing to stop being such a jerk. When you are aware of all that has been given to you,  in your lifetime and the past few days, it is hard not to be humbled, and pleased to give back.”

Today we are going to look at a word that God considers a 4-letter word.  The problem is, not many people, even Christians, seem to view it the same way.

According to HireRight's 2017 employment screening benchmark report, 85% of employers caught applicants fibbing on their résumés or applications, up from just 66% five years ago.

A new study co-authored by a UW-La Crosse faculty member shows that most people average fewer than 2 lies a day. Lying comprised 7% of total communication and almost 90% of all lies were little white lies.

Here’s our question: “Do grown-ups sometimes need to lie?”

Occasionally the phrase "four-letter word" is humorously used to describe common words composed of four letters. Typical examples include the word work, implying that work can be unpleasant, or the game of golf, jokingly referred to as a four-letter word when a player's pastime becomes an exercise in frustration. Charlotte Observer journalist Doug Robarchek noted in 1993 how many politicians have names with four letters, "Ever notice how many U.S. politicians have names that are also four-letter words? Ford, Dole, Duke, Bush, Gore ... and how many make us think of four-letter words?"

In a dictionary, you might read that four Letter Words are words written with 4 letters that are considered profane or coarse. The “four-letter” claim refers to the fact that many (but not all) English “swear words” are incidentally four-character monosyllables. The term was used in this sense as early as 1886 in the United States. So we took the idea and applied it to words that - as followers of Jesus - we might find as offensive as a 4 letter word. This week that word is Love. How in the world is love a word that Jesus' followers might find offensive?

The answer is found in what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48. You might read ahead to see what He said. And this week we’ll see what it means to you and me.

We all learned growing up that 4 Letter Words are words you’re not supposed to say. In preparing for this weekend I actually searched for the phrase “4 Letter Words” online. I read, “Four Letter Words are words written with 4 letters which are considered profane or coarse.” I’m hoping certain words are not popping into your head now.

So we took the idea and applied it to words that, as followers of Jesus, we might find as offensive as a 4 letter word. This week we start with “Wait.”

I was reading an article about “Things I Hate” and the list included:

My guess is that everybody’s list would include “waiting.” For almost anything. And yet, waiting has always been part of our story. It’s almost as if God is using it to teach us something. This Sunday we’ll be reminded of what that something is.”

This month we have been looking at What If… In other words, What if those who call themselves followers of Jesus actually did what Jesus did? What would happen? How would our lives be different? How would our marriages or families be different? What difference would it make in our neighborhoods? How would MCC be different? How would our community be different?

What if we make disciples who make disciples?

What if we actually served like Jesus?

And this Sunday, what if we prayed?

What if we prayed as “If the Church of Jesus Christ is ever to march forward victoriously, she must march forward on her knees.”

What is something that someone has done to serve you that has impacted your life?

I remember serving as a counselor at a high school week of camp and we reenacted the stages of the cross which includes scenes from the night before Jesus was crucified. The scene where I portrayed Jesus was where He washed the disciples’ feet. I wasn’t sure how they would respond. I wasn’t sure how I would respond. But as I moved from student to student to wash their feet, most were nervous. But as I spoke the words of Jesus to them while I washed their feet, a change began to occur. And not just in them. Serving changes not just those being served, but those serving.

Steve Sjogren said, “God's love must be communicated from person to person, not just from page to person…Deeds of love allow us to sneak into the hearts of those we serve.”  This week we are going to be looking at how to live that out in real life.