In Case You Missed It: July 27 Sermon
Trust That Speaks
Series: What Moves You?
Gospel Reading: Luke 11:1–13
1. Series Connection – The Fourth Movement
This summer, we have been walking together, holding one question close:
What moves you?
In the first three weeks, we saw:
Love move our feet to bear burdens,
Mercy stretch our hands across boundaries,
Hospitality teach us to pause and welcome with presence.
And today, the movement turns inward:
From the steps we take in the world to the trust that reaches for God.
From hands and feet, to the voice of a heart leaning fully into relationship.
Today we ask: What is prayer?
2. A Birthday Conversation
Today is my son Jason’s birthday—a day he has been waiting for with bright anticipation.
For months he dreamed of an e‑bike. He showed me models, reviews—even safety data—trying to make his case. Looking at his hopeful face, I said gently,
“Jason, you’re strong, and you already have a good bike.”
His disappointment was real—and I understood. That moment wasn’t about a bike. It was about daring to ask. Being heard. Learning to trust the response, even when it isn’t what you hoped for.
That is prayer. Not a wish list. Not a vending machine.
Prayer is relationship rooted in trust.
Perhaps that’s why the disciples once said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
3. The Disciple’s Request – “Lord, teach us”
The disciples had seen Jesus pray.
Not ritual, but relationship.
Not performance, but trust.
So they asked, “Lord, we want to pray like that.”
In response, Jesus told a story.
4. A Knock at Midnight
A traveler arrives late at night—tired, hungry, vulnerable.
The host wants to help but has empty hands.
So he goes and knocks on his neighbor’s door.
And Jesus says,
“The neighbor doesn’t get up just because of friendship.
But because of shameless persistence,
he will rise and give whatever is needed.”
In Jesus’ world, midnight knocking broke social convention.
Yet love—the warm-hearted hospitality—made him shameless.
That is where prayer begins.
Need. Empty hands. Bold knocking in the night.
Trust that the door will open.
5. Three Perspectives
This small story carries three perspectives:
Traveler: sudden, vulnerable need. We have all been there—on the night road of life, longing for a door to open.
Host: the ache of empty hands. Wanting to help but lacking enough. We know this weight too.
Neighbor: rising in the night, opening the door not out of duty but because of bold, unashamed asking. God honors this shameless persistence.
Prayer holds all three: need, limitation, and relationship.
It is born right there—in the space between them.
6. The Answer Is the Spirit
We often hear Jesus’ words—“Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open”—as if they were a blank check for our desires.
But Jesus points deeper.
Prayer is not a formula to get what we want.
It is trust leaning into relationship.
And then comes the promise:
“If you, flawed as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your perfect, loving Parent
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?”
This is the heart of prayer: to seek the Spirit who knows the mind of God.
When the Spirit dwells within us, our prayers begin to echo God’s own heart.
They are no longer only our words,
but God’s longing moving through our voice.
The deepest answer to prayer is not what we receive,
but being drawn into God’s life,
until every prayer becomes a step with the Spirit,
walking in the very breath of God.
7. Trust That Speaks
Prayer is not technique.
Prayer is trust finding its voice.
The courage to knock at midnight, unashamed.
The love to hold others even with empty hands.
The confidence that God hears.
May our prayers today rise with that same shameless persistence.
And in that knocking, may the Spirit already be opening the door within us.
From Compassion to Mercy, from Hospitality to Prayer—
each movement drawing us closer to the heart of God.
And may every prayer we speak become a journey,
walking in step with the Spirit who leads us into God’s own life.
Amen.
Reflection Questions
As the fourth movement in the What Moves You series, prayer shifts us from moving feet and working hands to “the voice of trust.”
Where in your life do you sense the need for that turn—from action to trusting relationship?Just as the disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray,”
what do you most long to learn in your prayer life? What kind of trust and relationship does that longing reveal?The courage to knock at midnight and the ache of empty hands reveal the heart of prayer.
What is your “midnight prayer”? When have you come to God with nothing but the bold knock of need?Jesus connects “Ask, Seek, Knock” to the gift of the Holy Spirit.
How would your prayers change if the deepest answer you sought was not a response, but the Spirit’s presence itself? How much of God’s breath do your prayers carry today?Prayer is “trust finding its voice” in relationship.
Whom is your prayer speaking trust to right now—God, yourself, your neighbor? And how might that voice turn into movement in your life?