Well, welcome. If we haven't had the opportunity to meet. My name is Matthew. I'm the biblical counseling pastor here at Veritas Church, and it's exciting to be with you guys here today. Last week, Ian started our rhythms series at Veritas and encouraged us and challenged us to be people of the Word. How are we doing? Day four. How many have been reading the Bible? All right, maybe that was awkward, but nonetheless, I want to encourage you to be people of the Word. And today, as a part of our rhythm series, we get to talk about prayer. When you think about rhythms, rhythms are a repeated action that happen over and over again. And the assumption is that it probably gets easier with time, right? If you have a good rhythm in the music, it sounds good. It just flows. And that's what we want for our people here at Veritas, to be people not just to rhythmically attend church, but to be people who feed on the word. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, come get refilled and then go feed on the word Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and so on. Right? To be people who engage with their God not just as a religious event on a Sunday, but as a lifestyle that permeates their life. It's easier to be in rhythm, okay? And sometimes when you start a new rhythm, it takes time to get involved. And so today, again, like I said, we're going to talk a little bit about prayer. And I'm curious, I wonder how many of us, when Ian said, hey, we're going to pray, we're like, oh, no, I don't. And you're going to have us stand together with people I might not know and pray? I can't do that. And sure, maybe that's some of us, but, like, why is it hard for us to pray? Why is it so hard for us to pray? Why do we, as the people of God, struggle so much to pray? I'm sure there's some of us who are like, I don't pray at all. Okay, I'm glad you're here. And then there are some of us, or probably most of us, who are like, I should pray more. So I hope we can help you with that here today. The disciples who hung out with Jesus are an encouragement to me in their growth when it came to prayer. Now, granted, in the end, they were falling asleep in the garden, but they had the wisdom to ask the Lord. Lord, you pray, we see you go off to pray. But, like, how do we pray? Okay, so if you have your Bible, go with me to Matthew, chapter six. And this is how Jesus answers the question, more so of how we pray. You might be familiar with this text. Okay, Matthew 6, verses 9 through 13 says this pray. Then like this, Jesus says, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And so in their concern, in their discipleship, they asked the question, which is a tremendous way to learn Jesus. How. How do we pray? And Jesus gives them some of these truths. And so today, as a church, I want us to spend some time in prayer. It's the first Sunday of the year 2026. How many things happened in 2025 that you had no idea were going to happen? Probably a significant amount of things, and probably 2026 will be the same way. And so on the first Sunday of the year, I want us as a church to be to spend some time praying together. And so we're going to work through the acronym called ACTS A C T S, Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication, and just discuss these implications that are taught throughout the Bible kind of about prayer. And so what we're going to do is I'm going to teach on the letter, and then we're going to spend a few minutes praying. Okay, Literally three minutes. So you stop and we gotta be done. We gotta go, right? But we're gonna spend some time praying. And I want to hear you pray out loud. What was beautiful as we prayed for the college students is hearing the voices. Like God hears and understands all those voices. And so we're gonna all pray together to the Lord in these, each one of these things. And if you're not sure how to pray, like, I don't want you. I know you're just sweating. You're like, good Lord, this is getting worse. I came to this church, now they're going to have me pray. I suppose you could pray to yourself, but for the most of us, I want to invite each other into a time of prayer where we as a church that claim that God is king, pray to that God who is the king. And lastly, I want to talk to the kids. You guys can pray too. You are not out of this as well. There is a God. He is lord of kids, too. And so I want to encourage you as kids, as we take time to pray, encourage you as adults to let the kids pray. Let's let them in. Let's let them See how we pray. And so when you come to prayer, much like the Bible, prayer ought to start with who God is, hallowed be your name. So the first letter of our acronym is called adoration. All right, are you guys ready to go with those directions? All right, so I'm going to talk about adoration here for a little bit. Adoration is praising God for who he is, okay? It's not just praising God for what he has done. And God has done a lot. If there's anybody else that has done stuff, God's done more and he's done it perfectly and he's orchestrated it and worked through all the things that have happened. And he is worthy of adoring. He is worthy of being excited about. He is worthy of being passionate about. His character and nature are worthy of our praise and adoration. It's not just that he gave us Jesus, though. That is a very big deal. Recognize that even before Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sin, God was worthy of adoration. God is worthy of adoration. Whether we have a house or not, whether we have an apartment or not, whether we have children or not, or whether or not we have a spouse, God is worthy of adoration, and we should give him praise. So the Bible starts with God. Do we, as his followers start with God? When we think about our day, and it's easy in church, let's think about God, okay? Pretty easy context to think about God. But do we think about God on Sunday afternoon? Do we think about God on Monday? Do we think about God on Wednesday? Do we think about God on Friday? Right when we're being hit with all the different things that go on in our life now as we get used to life back after vacation, it'll get so busy. Where is God in our life, our daily life? Where is our prayer life when it comes to God? And more than that, do we trust God? Throughout the week, it's easy to trust God. At church, we're hearing about Him. But do we trust God on our own? Do we trust God enough to adore God, to give him exaltation or to give him praise? Because when it comes to God, we recognize that he knows everything. He knows the future. So he is a good God to go to in prayer. More than just time and the future. God knows every heart. I can't change one of your hearts. God knows every story in this room. He knows every hair of your head, and he can change your heart. God knows the hearts of all the people that we interact with day in and day out. And then God knows every fiber of our being. He knit us together in our mother's womb. He intimately knows who we are. If we're going to pray, it seems like a good thing to go to God because He is worthy of our praise and he is worthy our adoration. And so prayer begins with re centering our hearts on God's greatness and his nature. We adore our God. Turn with me to Psalm chapter 33, and I want to go to verses 6 through 11. This is a psalm of adoration. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made like. Hear that? By the word of the Lord the heavens were made. And by the breath of his mouth all their hosts. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap. He puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear Yahweh. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For he spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm. The Lord brings the council of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever the plans of his heart to all generation. That is our God. He is worthy of our adoration. So let's take a few moments, turn our attention away from ourselves and turn it to adoring God. So if you would grab a group that you have been a part of, maybe the last prayer, and let's spend some time praying aloud as a church, adoring God for who he is. Go. And that. Father who is man, that you are mindful of him. God, you are awesome. You are so far beyond our comprehension and understanding. God, you are magnificent. God, you are holy and just, sovereign over all things, loving, gracious, kind God, I pray that we would be a people who adore you for who you are. In Jesus name we ask these things. Amen. The second letter in our acronym is the letter C and C stands for confession. It's not difficult, I don't think, to enter into a time of confession after adoring the Lord when you consider who he is and maybe take a glimpse at your life. He is awesome and I am not. He is pure and holy and I am not. I'm broken, I'm fallen. I'm far from him, though he calls me to imitate him as a dearly loved child. In Ephesians 5:1, I. I'm not there yet. And so adoration fuels our confession. And when it comes to thinking about righteousness and holiness, like again, it's important that we think about God. Okay? Our Comparison ought not to be grandma or bad people in the news. Our comparison ought to be God and his awesome holiness, his supremacy over all things. And the result of that is I need forgiveness. So confession matters because sin always displays itself in our actions and attitudes that result from not trusting God. Just like Eve in the garden wasn't sure if God was holding something back from them, we often feel like God might be holding back from us. We steal because we think that God maybe won't provide. We get angry and desire control because maybe God isn't in control. We fret and worry about things in our life because maybe we aren't in the center of God's hand. And for this we need to confess. It's important to know that we confess not to earn belonging with God. In fact, we as Christians, if you say, tonight, if you were to perish, I will be with Christ. We confess because we belong to Christ. It is through conviction in our hearts we recognize that I am acting or behaving in a way that isn't showing that I trust God. Oh God, forgive me this he who fuels our conviction. So adoration of God, praise produces in us honest confession to God. If you have a Bible, turn with me to First John, chapter one. I'm excited to study this book up next at Veritas. Hope you are as well. First John is short and punchy and he doesn't hold back from the beginning. First John, chapter one. I'm going to start. In verse five, it says this. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. God's holiness exposes our sin and God's mercy invites us into confession. Let's spend the next few minutes confessing as a church. Go to confession. This. I know I'm gonna do. Then I. And I pray. He will come and to them have he. And have done by departure thy love. Father, I pray for us As a church, I pray God and ask for your forgiveness for areas in our life where we don't trust you. God, that you're sufficient, that you're sovereign, that you're you love. God, that you are faithful. God. I think of times where we don't think you've called us to something, so we sit in laziness. God, forgive us of laziness. God, forgive us, Lord, of bitterness, where we want to punish because we don't trust that you will take care of it. Forgive us of anxiously worrying about things that we have no control over. God, I pray that we, as veritas church, would be a church that practices confession because we adore you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The third letter in our acronym is T, and T is the word Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving is kind of the idea of fighting entitlement. That I have done something or that I have the right to something, because what have I received that I. That I have not been given? What have I done that I have not been given? I think we go back to this thought of creation. Like, did I ask my mom, hey, mom, make me two legs or did I make me two legs? No. Did I say I want to speak? Did I say I want to think? No. These are gifts from God. God is the giver. Right? I can't say that I have done this on my own. So Thanksgiving helps us fight entitlement, and Thanksgiving helps us fight anxiety. The weight that I feel that I have to control all the things right past holidays, all the family I need to control, all the family I need to control all the gifts I need to control all the year. No, God has merely given you as a steward over those things. He's in control. You can relax. Thanksgiving helps us not be anxious because everything we've received is a gift from God so that we can be stewards of God. And I want us to see this Thanksgiving as gratitude and not as a demand that you must be grateful people, but as a response to the loving kindness of our God. He's been generous with us. He's been so kind to us. And that is fueled by the reality that we did nothing. You've done nothing. You didn't choose the era you were to be born in. You didn't choose the nation you were to be born in. You didn't choose the family you were to be born in. Nothing. You did nothing. It's a gift. And some of you struggle with, like, well, maybe it was a curse. And the Lord says, well, maybe it's Sanctification it's not accidental, and it fuels our thankfulness. So do we trust and believe that God has given us the things? Do we trust that he's given us the brain? Do we trust that he's given the abilities that we do have, though we may not have them all? Do we trust that he's given us the gift of speech or the ability to walk or see or hear? Do we trust Him? Do we trust him enough to give him thanks for these things? If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me or maybe just go to the screen for this one. Exodus, chapter 4, verse 11 says this. This is Moses. He's been called by God to go into Pharaoh. And he's like, I'm scared. Okay? And the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth, who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind, is it not I, the Lord God made those things. God gave Moses that gift, and therefore God has given it to us as well. That's on the physical end. If you grab your Bibles, go to Ephesians chapter one. I want to talk about what God did for us spiritually. Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 3 through 6 says this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy, set apart, and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption to him as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has, which with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Okay, Two very different Bible verses. Two very different Bible verses that tell one point. God is a king giver. God is a giver very practically, and God is a giver very spiritually. It is God who has given us from breath to speech to sight, to salvation. God has been giving and he is a generous God. So let's take a moment as we think about those things to give thanks to God for what he has given. Let's pray together. Sa. Called one. It. Father. It's a wonderful thing just to hear a room of people giving thanks to you for who you are. God, you are very kind and gracious God. You cause the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous God, you. You give and you take away. Blessed be your name. God again, who is man that you're mindful of him. Lord, I pray that your character and nature, God, your forgiveness would fuel Our thankfulness to you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The fourth and final letter of our acronym is the word supplication. Okay? Supplication is asking the Lord, making a request to the Lord. And honestly, when I look at my prayer life, a lot of it starts with supplication and ends with supplication. God bless this meal. God, I'm sliding through the four way stop. I don't want to talk to my insurance guy. God, help, right? I mean, just like quick, help, fix, heal, go do, do fix. I'm uncomfortable. Rescue me. Rescue, rescue, right? Okay. Now I'm not laying out a law for you that you must pray the ACTS acronym, but I'm encouraging you to consider ways to pray. When was the last time you adored God? Honestly, Christian, when was the last time you confessed your sin? It should be frequent. Okay? When was the last time you were thankful to God, not just for stuff, but for Him? Right? And so when we come to supplication, there is room for supplication. There is time to pray at the four way stop. When you're sliding through, there is time to pray for the bills because those things do happen, right? But supplication ought to flow out of a rightly ordered prayer. We recognize God for His character. We recognize how awesome he is. In fact, so much about God fuels the fact that we can go to him and ask, because if anyone's going to change my family's heart, it's God. If anyone's going to change my circumstances, it's God. And so his character, nature rightly fuels that. He is at the center. And because of who he is and what he has done, we can boldly, not selfishly, ask for protection. We can ask our God for provisions. And we can ask that his will would be done. And maybe more so, we can ask that we would submit to his will. Because that's often where I wrestle in supplication. We submit our requests to God's will. And so if you have a Bible, turn with me to the book of Hebrews. I want to look at Hebrews, chapter 4, verses 14 through 16. The Scriptures say this. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of of need. God invites us to ask Christ intercedes for us. His will be done. Let's spend some time asking God. Sam. And again I say rejoice, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord has made be careful conducting but every minute by prayer and supplication, thanksgiving, let the request unto God and let in the goodness of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds which in Christ Jesus Christ. Father, Hear the prayers of your saints. God. It's so awesome that you can hear all these prayers and then you understand them and you know them. God. And more than knowing us, God, you know exactly what we need. God. So I pray for the prayers for families, I pray for the prayers for marriages. God. I pray for the prayers for healing. I pray for the prayers of busyness and the chaos of life, God and I pray that you would hear their prayers, God. I pray that your will would be done, Lord. And I pray that as a people of God, we would submit to the will of God knowing that it is the best thing for us do this work in us. May we be a people, God, that ask you boldly because of the work you have done. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Folks, as I've studied prayer the last few weeks, the thing that I come back to time and time again and the thing that I want us to remember is that our prayer life reveals who what we actually trust. Whether we go to our calendar to figure out our stressors, or whether we go to some alcohol to figure out our stressors, or whether we go to sex to figure out our stressors, those are all secondary, temporary solutions. God has invited us to come and pray and a small view of God will prevent us from doing that. A small view of God will prevent us from adoring him because is he even a big deal? A small view of God is going to prevent us from confessing our sin to him, because is it worth it? Like, does he really call us to these things? A small view of God is going to prevent us from thanking him. And a small view of God is going to prevent us from asking him for things. If he's not a big deal, can he even provide anyway? And I would guess that most of us in this room would never say that. I mean, he's God and I'm at church, but do we live that way? When we look back, literally at our prayer life this last week, does it say I trust you or does it say I trust in a lot of Things, and I hope they all work out. Now, I don't want you to get mad at me. I guess if you want to, you can. I'm not saying you have no faith. I'm saying perhaps this is an area that's been revealed to you that you need to grow in. We're all growing in our walk with Christ. Where are you at with prayer? Where are you at with trusting God enough to communicate with him, to talk to him? Where are you at? And some things I want to encourage you to do, to grow in your trust of God so that prayer becomes more natural. Is 1. Read your. Your Bible. It ties in to what Ian said last week. Read your Bible. In the Gospels, it tells how God comes to earth. And he lives with a bunch of people like us and God through Jesus. Disciples. Disciples. And he's patient and he's loving. He gets angry over holy things. He sees people in need. He. He points people to his father. Okay, we see him in there. And then in the Old Testament, that crazy big section of the first part of the Bible, we see how powerful he is. He creates everything by the voice of his mouth, by his breath. And then he sustains this crazy group of people, the descendants of Abraham, the people of Israel. And he's patient and he's kind. So we see his character on display. And that character, that hope in him will fuel our prayers. But also, some of you have a testimony. Now, you don't get to write your testimony in the Bible, but you have a testimony of God preserving you, even though you might not be saved. You have survived some things. And you say, I can't believe I made it right. All of us made it out of middle school, right? And some of you are still in middle school. You can make it right. We made it. Was it our own doing that we survived the car wreck, that we survived that trial, that our marriage is still going? No, it was God. And we see his character in our life. And friends, let that character fuel your prayer life. He is trustworthy. He is good. Talk to him. And when possible, consider praying through this ACTS acronym to help you do that process. Veritas. Let's be a church that prays earnestly. Right, members, we have a first Sunday coming up this afternoon. And as part of our church, we want to gather and we want to pray. We want to pray for our hearts. We want to pray for our families. We want to pray for our church. We want to pray for our city. Be there. And Veritas is a regular attender as you come. We want to be a church that prays. Let's humble ourselves adoring God, confessing sin, thanking him for the things that he has done and who he is. And then let's boldly approach with confidence the throne and let's plead for our sanctification. Let's plead for our families. Let's plead for our city and our nation. Sound good? Let's trust God and ask. Let's pray. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and lengths and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you, being filled with all the fullness of God, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.