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As a church we make it a point to teach the people the Bible, not just topics, but we want to help you through the Scriptures. So in our church we are on this journey in the Song of Solomon and we come to sermon number five and this is a beautiful song, because it teaches us about love and romance.

I like to begin by asking you men here a very simple question, all the married men here, how many of you men who are married, are still opening the doors of the car for your wife. Someone said it this way, there are only two times a man would open the door of a car for his wife, first when the car is new and two when the wife is new. We laugh at something like this, but it speaks of a reality, the reality is that there is a great danger and tendency after marriage to take our spouse for granted. Somehow the romance, passion, fades and we tend to be complacent when it deals with things about our spouse.

0:01:22.1

I've been married for 16 years. This is our picture 16 years ago and it happens that this Friday was our 16th anniversary, wedding anniversary. I'm thankful to God for sustaining us in our marriage, happy marriage for the past 16 years, there are many many wonderful moments, times, shared together, but I must say that in these 16 years there are many times, where I've taken my wife for granted, many times where I have disappointed her, many times I've grieved her and hurt her and failed her- many times.

And I think that is the story of marriages today because we live in a fallen world and we are very fallen people, we try our best, but there are times we still fail and so when we come to the story of love and romance in Song of Solomon, we see a reality check. Remember that this song can be broken up into five glorious scenes.

The first scene is about being mesmerised by you, the Shulamite says, I'm absolutely head over heels, over you, Solomon, she's in love passionately in love with him. Then we saw a special meeting where he asked for her hand of marriage, so it's a betrothal process and after that, it's sealed, she has a deep longing to be with Solomon forevermore.

Then we saw two weeks ago, the glorious scene of marriage, where she says I am marrying you. So there is a beautiful scene where he goes to receive his bride, they consummate their marriage, and then they have a beautiful celebration after that. So everything is nice, it’s rosy they're probably going on a honeymoon and you think everything will be happily ever after, but there is a reality check, when in this scene, today, we're going to study she says I'm missing you. Something went wrong and instead of an happily ever after scenario, they have a kind of a strain and tension and frustration and grief in their relationship.

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So let's go straight into this story. It begins in verse two of chapter 5 where he says, I slept but my heart was awake, a sound my beloved is knocking so that there is this a knocking on the door that woke this Shulamite up. Now whether she's really awake, as in this is all real events, as it was depicted or is this something that she's dreaming about, we cannot be dogmatic nor very sure, but certainly in this poetry, in this segment here, there's a certain dreamlike quality to it.

So Solomon is writing this story, with such a dreamlike quality, but he's bringing across a point. So let's see what it is. So she was woken up by this, knocking on the door and it was Solomon. Solomon who is saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. Now, he's heaping terms of endearment after another, I mean the greatest concentration in the book of Song, four times, she says, he says, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. So he is expressing his love and desire for the Shulamite, for his wife.

He says, my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night, I've been traveling the whole night. It's out there and now I arrive here, I want to be with you, I want to draw near to you. Solomon is probably writing about a time of intimacy and joy that they would share together or he's looking forward to share together.

Now you would have imagined after marriage, the glorious scene in chapter 4 and 5, now maybe early parts of their marriage, when she hears him knock on the door, she would leap and say, hey my husband is back, welcome home! He would probably expect a more enthusiastic response, but what follows after is rather shocking, considering the context, how much she is in love with him, how much they had joy, because she said, I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet, how could I soil them?

0:05:53.1

So basically she's saying hey, don't disturb me lah, I'm already asleep, I have already bathed, I'm so comfortable, I don't want to move, it's not convenient to get up, essentially says that's what she saying, so it's rather surprising. So Solomon reached out again and he puts his hand to the latch, hoping to open the door, but alas, it is locked, he could not go in, the Shulamite has locked the door.

Now something happens to the Shulamite, she realised her mistake, she realised that she had rejected her, her loved one, her Solomon, her spouse, her husband. So she said and something awoke in me, my heart was thrilled within me and now I got up to open to my beloved and my hands dripped with myrrh. This kind of a ointment, spice, herb, as she touched the door, she could feel that myrrh, you say what is this myrrh about. In those days, it is a token of love and affection, in today's day and age, if you want to show love and affection to someone you love, you bring a bouquet of flowers, maybe. But in those days you anoint the door with myrrh, with this aromatic fragrance and this is a sign that I love you, I cherish you, I long to be with you. So as she held the door, she she could know that her Solomon has left a token of love.

I open to my beloved, but alas he had turned and gone, it's too late, I rejected him, he left and now that I seek after him, he's gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but now I find him not,  I called him, but he gave no answer, it's too late. Now we see this dreamlike scene, where she says I'm so sad he had gone that she describes it in this way, the watchmen found me as they went about the city and they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.

Now, whether this is literal, an actual event or not we cannot tell, but certainly it sounds quite dreamlike. She's probably in poetry, describing the agony, the remorse, the regret, she is experiencing, the pain of rejecting her loved one and now she says I adjure you O, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him that I am so sorry. Tell him, I miss him, tell him I am sick with love.

It's as if her thoughts are now the alter ego speaking to her when she says, that the daughters of Jerusalem would ask her, what is your beloved more than another beloved, tell me what's so special about your beloved, O, most beautiful among women. What is your beloved more than another beloved that you thus adjure us so, why, why would you want us to find, what's so special about him.

She goes on to describe once again, the beauty, the marvel of her husband. So she describes it in such a way, beautiful descriptions, probably even more than when she  first knew him, not that he got more handsome, I think, but maybe in marriage, she got to appreciate him even more and so now as she is thinking about it aiyoh, it was such a wrong thing for me to reject my husband, he is so lovely, he's so beautiful,  I'm so sorry, I'm so sad that I did this to him and now they ask her, so where has your beloved gone, do you know where he went, you miss him but do you know where to look for him. O, most beautiful among women, where has your beloved turned that we may seek Him with you.

Now something clicks, aah, she says I remember, I know where, where he is, my beloved, he must, he has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies. I know where he's gone, he's gone back to where we were, where we first met, he'll be right there waiting for me, the scene of our first meeting and there where we had our first love, I could say and we could say together, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, he grazes among the lilies.

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So this is the scene where she missed him. Why? Because she rejected him, this is the crisis, this is the  turning point in this chapter, in this story, when she said I am too comfortable to get out of out of bed, it's not convenient, I'm too tired. You say pastor, what is Solomon describing in this story. I believe Solomon in this story is teaching us, the importance not to neglect, this is a warning that in any relationship, there's a real threat, danger and it is neglect.

Let me ask you, what do you think is the number one danger in your marriage? And I don't think your answer would be very far from this- neglect. What makes husbands and wives behave like this, no money, probably not, a lot of problems in life, probably not, if there are many  problems in life, they probably are forced to work together even more. So what makes marriages fail, what is the number one killer in your home. I believe it would be neglect, it's the number one killer of love, it's the number one destroyer maybe of the family.  When you take one another for granted, you, you know, you think to yourself, before we are married, I'll court her with all my heart, in case she run with someone else aah.  But now that we are married, got certificate and you know, christians cannot divorce what, cannot run out already, bao jiak (Hokkien: confirmed, certain) you say, it's guaranteed.

So there is this subtle danger for us to then take our wives, our husbands for granted. Maybe it's because we're too busy with life, you are so busy with your work, especially in Singapore, where everyone is almost always busy, project here, fly there, got this business deal to close, my boss asked me to do this, so you, you invest yourself, you won't dare to neglect your job, but you would choose to then neglect your wife.

Maybe you're just complacent, maybe just lazy, but that's how it all starts, you become indifferent to each other, you don't bother about each other and you start to drift, you start to drift and you wonder why marriages break up, you wonder why even in the church, I have been in this church I say for maybe close to 20, 21 years and I've seen Christian marriages break up, I've seen affairs, I hear of affairs, you say why, why did they end up this way, aren't they churchgoers, don't they worship together with us? Yes, but do you know what happens at home or what doesn't happen at home. Neglect are like the termites that have eaten into their marriage.

0:13:52.0

You know, we can get so busy about so many things, including children. You say pastor, I'm not a work workaholic but do you realise your children can be a reason why you neglect your husband or it may be a reason why you neglect your wife. You invest all your energies on your kids and then your husband or wife is peripheral. So for many years, your attention is given to your kids and you don't have a meaningful relationship with your spouse and the time comes when your, your kids grow up, 25, 26, says mum, dad I'm going away, I'm going overseas and you're left with the empty nest. Now, suddenly you're forced to live with a stranger, you say, who's the stranger, your spouse, whom you have neglected for the past 25 years. So what had, what happens? You argue, you fight, and your marriage breaks up at 60, 70,years still can break down, yah, because the reason why you stayed together is gone, your kids are gone. Now your marriage begins to show up all the fractures.

The number one threat to love and to a happy home, I think is simply, it's not a high-class theologically complex thought, it's simply neglect. Let me ask you men, women, would that be true for your family today, because you have taken it for granted, you think everything is alright, but how about your relationship.

0:15:36.2

So how do you fight neglect. Well, this week I learned or I read about this man, Ajith Fernando, you say, who is Ajith Fernando. Well, he is a he's the President of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, for the past 35 years. He had his seminary training in the States, he studied under Robert Coleman, one of the good authors today who wrote a brilliant book, Master plan of Evangelism. But he is said or made or someone calls him the Asian version of John Stott, a well-known theologian.

So I read about Ajith Fernando and he has a very simple statement that I thought is very helpful for us. He has this thing, he wrote about the, what does it mean to have Christian husbanding, what does it mean to be a Christian husband, he says it, in essence, it is this, "make it your ambition to make your wife happy", that's a good husband, he says, make it your ambition to make your wife happy.

So what do you mean? Well I rather you listen to him. So, I'll give you a one minute or so clip of Ajith Fernando's, a short interview he has explaining what does it mean to make your wife happy as an ambition. Take a look:

Video plays.

You know, one of the things that has really helped me was when I was a student in seminary, my teacher Robert Coleman, he, he told us, I was one of the people he discipled, so he told us, boys remember, when you get married, keep your wife happy and then he said that, if the  wife is not happy the children will know that she's not happy because daddy is in the ministry and so they end up getting upset with God and the, that's something that really impressed me.

Later as I began to study love, you know,  1 Corinthians 14:1 says, make love your aim, follow after love. So if you make love our aim and if our wife is the most important person in our lives, then one of our great ambitions in life should be making, loving our wives, doing whatever we can to help them, to be a blessing to them. So that becomes an ambition in life, an ambition is just to make your wife happy. You know and so I think that, that's one of the things that I think we need to look at, not as a big burden but as an ambition.

0:18:33.8

So he says, what is being a good Christian husband? It means doing whatever you can to make your wife happy, he says this is not a burden. This is to be an ambition, you know what an ambition. Ambition is something you really want to do, it's not even a concession, what's a  concession? Concession is, I'll do this for you only if you do that for me.

He says, this is ambition. This is what we strive, this is what we should be dreaming about. Reality check, you're probably seated with your spouse today. Now, I think this goes both ways alright. So the wives shouldn't go back home and keep poking the husband, eh, you don't make me happy leh, you don't make me happy leh, now it is also true the other way, alright, that the wife should also make it her ambition to make his, her husband happy. Reality check is, do you seek to make yourself happy or do you seek to make your spouse happy.

0:19:52.6

One of the best ways, therefore to fight neglect and termites in your marriage is to proactively seek ways to make your wife happy. How are you doing today, in this, if your wife or your husband is the most important human being on earth, how are you treating your spouse, how are you displaying the love of Jesus. You say pastor, I really do not know how to make my wife happy. For all men here, I understand after 16 years of marriage, making your making your wife happy is not always easy, I understand that, but it may be something simple like washing the dishes, just helping out. It may be simple like sitting down and listening to her, putting down your computer, putting down your hand phone, we are all guilty of that, as she talks you're still doing your stuff, it maybe simple things like doing something you all enjoy, both enjoy, have creative date nights together, late at night go drive out, jiak (Hokkien: eat) bak chor mee, Bugis, it can be simple things like taking a nice walk or a movie or doing some hobby together.

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You see, it's important because often in marriage, you have kids and when you have kids you say, I've no time for my spouse, but the reality is you need to proactively make the spouse happy, spend time together.

So how many of you have had the last- when was the last date with your spouse, that's very telling thing you know, when was the last time you and your husband went out together, without your kids, bugging you. I think this is applying the truth through our own lives in a very simple way.

Maybe for some of us making our wives happy involves making or giving them gifts. My wife celebrated her birthday recently, it was in August, she celebrated her 25th birthday, stay there alright, just 25th, don't say anymore, we celebrated her 25th birthday and I thought I wanted to do something special for her. We I wanted to give her something but you know buying gifts today is, is er challenging, because there's nothing I could get that she couldn't get herself, but if she wanted it she could have just bought it, by herself, so what's so special about me giving her gifts.

So I decided, okay, let me do something different, something she can't buy, something I will make. So I recalled, 24 years ago, I give her my very first present to her was a, a glass jar full of stars. Corny lah, I know, but you know when you are young, you do not know what to do right, so just get some coloured paper, fold, fold, fold, fold into stars lah, put it into the jar and give to her lah.

0:22:59.4

But that jar was, is no more because, somehow she put it on the table, her mum was sweeping the floor and she knocked it off, that jar, it was smashed into pieces on the floor and she threw the whole thing away, the mom. So, okay, Winnie was of course very upset in those days, but it's too bad, it's gone. So I thought, after so many years together on her 25th birthday, I would, I would do something a little bit special, something that reminds her of that in the past, but more high class.

So don't want to do stars already, try to do some nice origami. OK, don't laugh, origami, quite, quite cool one. I've never done origami in my life, but I thought it's fascinating to be able to do something very simple, using a ordinary piece of paper that doesn't cost very much and fashioning something personal out of it.  I thought it's not something money we would buy with, but just from the heart.

So I decided to learn origami. I spent many hours in front of YouTube, because I can't read the origami instructions, it's generally in Japanese or at least the models, I thought will be nice they are in Japanese, can't figure out, so I got to search YouTube, watch YouTube, practice, I practiced hours you know. I,I did I think 20 times, most of them fail, 90% of them failed. I did it over and over each one, each folding takes at least half an hour. When I first started, each one is one hour to fold. So I spent hours because I wanted to perfect this little gift for my wife.

So there are many times where I locked myself in the door, er in the room and she said, what are you doing aah, what are you doing aah, and when times that I didn't lock the doors, she opened I quickly said, what are you doing, I said nothing. So anyway, it was all in secret operation for several months, trying to learn it, getting the right piece of paper. Finally, I'm so proud to show it to you today, dada, it is supposed to be a bunny, just from this small piece of paper and when it's folded it's about the size, small little thing, so it takes a lot of folding and so on and so I made two of these. I did like 20 of them, because some faults here and there, it's never easy to fold and I did two of them, I placed them in a garden like this.

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I was excited to show this to my wife, I was waiting for her birthday to show it, er, I just wanted her to be happy. Of course I was very happy doing it, it was hours, it seems like a waste of time, but I thought this is what I can do, to show that I appreciate her and love her.

You said did this work, was she really happy?  Well, I do not know, she says she was happy. But today, if you go to my house you will see the two rabbits on the floor and it doesn't matter to her, she just passes by. So anyway just a little something from her husband and maybe that's something you can do, if you want to learn origami, come look for me now, ha, ha, ha, I can give you tuition on it, yeah it, it takes something simple, doesn't cost you a lot of money, but it's, it's the posture and attitude of the heart that-

Now, let me say this I am far from what I'm preaching today, there are many times I failed my wife, I think I disappoint her, far more than I try to please her. But I'm by the grace of God, hoping to get better and better at this. So this is something that you can think about because the termite of neglect is devastating in the home.

Now this passage, in the context of Song of Solomon, talks about neglect, but let me say this, I think I should also not miss the application of neglect even on the marriage bed.  Now, I know it's awkward when you talk about sexual intimacy, but we, we touched on it last time around and we say there's nothing shameful about it, it is a godly good gift from our Lord Himself and so let me say this, neglect can even happen on the marriage bed and this is specifically spoken against in 1Corinthians, where Paul urges the husband to give to his wife her conjugal rights and vice versa and he goes on to say you should not deprive one another. Again, this is of course on the marriage bed context, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time that you may then devote yourselves to prayer, but then you do come back together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self control.

0:27:53.6

But the general point I think is well received, make it your ambition to make your wife happy. Again, make it your ambition to make your husband happy, of course within the confines of Scripture, within the confines of holiness and godliness, do whatever you can to please your spouse, I think that's a godly thing to do. In fact, that is a needful thing to do, if your marriage is heading towards the rocks. It's not too late for you to be covered.

So this is a warning not to neglect, but I think Solomon when he wrote this, is not just teaching us about husbands and wives, I think Solomon in the context of the entire biblical Scripture is teaching us not to neglect our God.

You see, we are I think typified or seen in the Shulamite and there are many times in our lives where our groom calls out to us and we say no it's not convenient, we are too comfortable and we will not open the door to you and there is a danger, therefore, for you and I to neglect our Saviour, to neglect our Lord and maybe some of you are already experiencing that.

You say, I remember those days where I was passionate and I was having joy, I was delighting in my Saviour, but I seem to have lost that today. Why, maybe because you have neglected your spouse, you have neglected your groom, you have neglected the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, maybe you're so busy, you have no time for Him, you are so busy in your work, you are so busy with your children, you're so busy even in your hobbies or ministry, that you have no time for God or maybe you've taken God for granted.

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You say, aah, I know I'm a child of God, I'm saved by grace, I will not lose my salvation, so I'm going to take Him for granted. He can wait, my job can't or maybe we are just plain lazy, because there are times in our lives where God calls out to you that says, read my Word. You say no, I have no time. So your Bibles is covered with dust, I've no time for you God, our relationship will go on, it's okay, I will neglect this for a while because when I'm 30, when I'm 40, my emphasis should be on my career, when I'm 50 and 60, my emphasis should be on my children and grandchildren. Is that so? the Bible says, our God calls out to us, open to Me, My dove, My love, My sister, My beloved and we may look at the Shulamite, aiyoh, how can she do this, but isn't that the picture for many Christians today, we neglect our Savior and it kills our Christianity.

It's that termite that eats away your spiritual life and we grieve our God and we suffer ourselves. We will go through what the Shulamite would describe, the watchmen would beat me, we would feel that pain and loss and sorrow and shame, because we have chosen not to meet with God.

You know that the Scriptures and prayer are means by which we, we can commune with Him. I'm not speaking about some mystical experience where you just wait and somehow God zaps you. No, the Bible is very clear, we encounter God in the Scriptures, we commune with Him in the place of prayer and so, God calls you regularly to come to this garden. Maybe you have missed this communion with God for a long while now, but you know where to find Him right, the Bible says return to your first works. If you have left your first love then come back to your first works, come back to the place of prayer, come back to the place of Scriptures.

Paul Washer says, All my weak days have a common cause, I have neglected communion with God through my neglect of the Scriptures and prayer, when will I learn?

Many of us today, if we were to ask you, would you want intimacy with God, you say, yes, of course, but then why would then we neglect the place of Scripture and prayer in our lives, when will I learn? Now please understand, I'm preaching this not because I have got this right in my life. I have failed many times in neglecting my wife, I have also failed many times in neglecting my God but this is my prayer, that we would be aware of this problem and by the grace of God will endeavour to do better.

Oswald Chambers says, spend plenty of time with God. Again, not in some mystical way but in a very simple, but time honoured and biblical way, in the Word and in prayer; let other things go but don't neglect Him, we are not here to do work for God, we are here to be workers with Him, those through whom he can do his work.

The temptation and tendency especially when we are going to Punggol, is to say, I'm going to so much, I'm going to be so busy, God, you can be in the corner of my life today, because Punggol is urgent. Now, let me say this Punggol is urgent, but it's not more important than your communion with God, spend time, lots of time with Him.

Of all things guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer, William Wilberforce, guard against neglect, when do we neglect God? When we do not go to the secret place of prayer, when we do not pray. I mean it's so easy, in modern day living to go through every day without prayer, it's real, it's possible and right here in our church, it can be in my life.

Neglect of private prayer is a locust which devours the strength of the church, Spurgeon.

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So Pastor, what are you saying.  I'm saying what Ajith Fernando is saying, make it your ambition to make God happy. I say this again make it your ambition to make God happy. You say, what do you do to make God happy. What do you do to please God. Very simple, spend time with God, hearing from Him, endeavouring to obey Him and praying and depending upon Him, make it your ambition to make your God happy.

Now let me be clear, I'm not saying do these things so that God will love you. No, no, no, no, no, you're not doing these things to earn his love, that legalism. Do these things because you are already loved, loved maximally in Jesus Christ, but you do these things because you want to please Him, entire world of difference.

So pursue intimacy with God through discipline. Discipline is not a dirty word, today people say, aiyah, Christian living so much discipline, so many do's and don'ts, very legalistic. It's not legalism, if you're not doing it to earn God's favor, discipline is necessary condition of the heart, if you desire intimacy with God.

Throughout the Scriptures, exercise yourself unto godliness, Paul says, I keep my body under, lest I myself will be a castaway. So the Bible tells us to strive like an athlete in the Scriptures, in prayer, in intimacy with God.

0:36:30.6

So this morning I just want to leave you with this. There's a warning not to neglect, not to neglect your family and not to neglect your God, but if there's a priority, it's God, hands down. If you get your first relationship right, your second relationship will also be right. So let me ask you today, do you have a discipline of pursuing intimacy with God. You say, I have every Sunday I come to church, okay, good start. But that's not enough, right, you know it, do you have a time every day in your life. Pastor, that's so disciplined, yah, yah, absolutely, discipline, do you have a time every day in your life, do you have a place every day in your life and do you have a plan for your life.

You know, don't need to be so precise, my relationship with God is good one. No, no, no, no, if you don't have a place, you don't have a time, you don't have a plan, you have no way to pursue intimacy with God. So this is where the rubber meets the road in your life, do you have a time.

Pastor, I don't have so much time, I say five minutes. I don't need you to spend five hours, you can, if you want to, great. But if you have never done so, I say to start with maybe five minutes, five minutes, can? You just check a few less Facebook posts, you have five minutes, five minutes, start there, now, I'm not saying you end there, but start there. Spend a few minutes reading, reading and then asking God to speak to you, that you may obey Him in His Word, spend that time.

You say pastor, I don't have a place, my house very small, studio apartment, five people stay there, where got place to be quiet and spend time with God. I say, you got toilet or not, just lock the toilet, no one disturb you, what. Spend that time consistently and your life will be different because it's when you spend those times that you go back to the garden where there's a bed of spices where you could hear those words, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.

Maybe some of you want something more, great, study the Bible, be part of the Bible study group, programs, pursue intimacy with God, even in community groups, that's what it is all for, that we may have intimacy with God, we may draw near to Him.

So I pray this will be practical steps you do, you know your kids need to see you do this. One thing that kills your kids, spiritually, is when the parents talk a lot about God, but they don't see intimacy with God in the parents’ lives. It kills them spiritually, in fact I think it's probably better if you don't tell them that you're a believer because they can’t, they can't reconcile if you say you love God and this is the kind of life you live, why would I want to love God, because I don't want to be like this. But if you're someone who regularly goes to the garden and rejoices with the one who graces the fields and the lilies, when you are someone who has that cheer and the shine upon your face, the children say I want that, I want God, would that be for your family.

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Let's bow for a word of prayer together. The Song of Solomon describes a beautiful life with our Saviour in the garden, full of spice and aroma and beauty and splendour and you know where to find Him. My friends, this morning, perhaps, God is calling you back to intimacy with Him, you have been cruising along in your Christian life. Actually a better word is, you have been simply neglecting your Christian life. Maybe this morning, God is saying, my child, my son, come back, read my Word, read it aloud if you may, because when you read it aloud you know I'm speaking to you. Pray, speak with Me, I'm not far away, you don't have to be afraid of Me, as in fearing condemnation. Jesus has died for you and I want and I invite you and I command you to come to My presence, to the throne of grace, come and even with this gracious command, we can take God for granted, we can be complacent, we can be lazy, we can be busy.

Perhaps this morning, God is calling you back, would you, would you even right here in your seat, in the silence of your heart, you say, Lord, I'm not exactly clear how this is going to look like, I'm not sure when or how I can start this, but help me this week to pray, to pray about a place, to pray about a time, to pray about a plan that I can deliberately, intentionally, pursue intimacy with you through discipline and you know what, if you pray that, I believe God will hear that and answer that. And this might be the new dawn of a wonderful pilgrimage in your Christian life with Him.

My friend Sunday is great, it's wonderful that the church would gather and hear God's Word and praise His Name, but you know it is not enough. You need a personal closet time with your Lord, may God help you to make that good choice. Come to the garden, come to the garden. Father this morning, we thank You for Your Word, You tell us blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. I pray this morning you will evoke and create in us that deep thirst and hunger for You. I pray then, that You will put hands to our hearts, feet to our desires, that we would know the steps we are to take, the actions we are to perform, not that they in and of themselves are of anything, but as we apply ourselves to the means of grace in the Scripture, in prayer, in care groups,  in Bible studies, Lord, that we would meet with You and we would be joyous in You, we will be satisfied with a glimpse of Your glory, each time. I pray for myself and I pray for my brothers and sisters here that there will be genuine intimacy, not a fake, put on hypocrisy, but a real love and life that flows from the communion at the garden. O Lord, call us back there to meet with You. I want to pray today for our families, for our marriages, because so it is so easy for us to neglect our spouse, so easy to be bogged by a thousand and one things but didn't You tell us to love our wives, didn't You tell us to revere our husbands, because this is a depiction and the reflection of the Gospel, so may we not fail You here, may we joyfully make it our ambition to love our spouses.

Father this morning I want to pray for friends, guests who are here, who do not know Jesus, may they realise this is not some rules and regulations we perform to get to heaven, but may they realise this is all about the grace and the gift of God through Jesus, who is not here just to save us out of hell, but to bring us to a loving relationship with You. May they see their sin, may they see the beauty and the sacrifice of Jesus, Your Son and may they turn to faith in Jesus. So bless each one here today, change us and our church, for Your glory. We pray in Jesus Name, Amen.

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