3 secrets hidden in plain sight in the Lord's Prayer

today we talk about the Lord's Prayer the Lord's Prayer that already knows the Lord's Prayer well I think I think you'll think about it differently after today's episode we talked about three secrets in the Lord's Prayer we talked about the story the structure and the four blessings of the Lord's Prayer hey welcome across the fence every week we gather together around this microphone or I'm around the microphone I suppose you're around a speaker and we talked about theological things because there's nothing better to talk about we don't we forget so easy that there's that that the best stuff is the is this stuff is the Lord's word and the Lord's kindness I'm your host pastor Brian Wolfe either pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora Colorado host of cross defense I got a youtube channel by the way I should mention that I'm supposed to mention that kind of stuff every now and again Wolff Mueller one some of you are watching this segment on the YouTube channel if you're watching on YouTube this is a podcast if you're listening to the podcast there's this on youtube and if you're listening live on the radio YouTube in the podcast is also there today we're gonna talk about three mysteries three mysteries hidden in in the Lord's Prayer I don't know how this we're gonna work you have to tell me after it's done we want to look at the Lord look the the the Lord's Prayer is so common it's so well known and I think it's the probably the best-known Bible passage for almost every Christian if anybody if you have any part of the Bible memorized it's the Lord's Prayer in fact on our catechism memory program that we have here for the children let's hope it's the number one and normally the kids can get it when they're three or four years old they memorized the Lord's Prayer and I think the Lord's Prayer is the last thing that we remember when we're dying and you're forgetting everything the Lord's Prayer is still there at the end our Father who art in heaven you say that people can jump in they know the Lord's Prayer is so well known that it becomes you know that old saying familiarity breeds contempt we we become so familiar with the Lord's Prayer that we miss the Wonder and so I want to try to crack it open today crack open the Lord's Prayer we're gonna come at it from three different angles and see if we can reinvigorate our theological imaginations when it comes to this most precious gift the Lord's Prayer it's given to us in the on the Mount in Matthew the first part of Matthew also in Luke chapter 11 Jesus teaches his disciples and he gives them this prayer introduction the seven petitions and the conclusion now we're gonna spend the third the second secret we're gonna talk about is the well let me just tell you you know in the order the first secret is the story of the Lord's Prayer the second secret is the structure of the Lord's Prayer and then the third secret is the four blessings of the Lord's Prayer so that's our topic we're gonna do it until II n'stuff or breaks and we're gonna keep doing it again until we run out of time today so that's the plan so number one the number one mystery of the Lord's Prayer is the story of the Lord's Prayer we often think of the Lord's Prayer is except we do this all the time I think at least I might just might be me you guys let me know if this is just me or if you do it as well like we look at the Ten Commandments as like 10 like disconnected things don't do this and also this and also do this but when we study and we see that they that they fit together we're talking yesterday in in Bible class about the third article the Apostles Creed I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Christian Church community Saints and so forth and we think of it like six different things that we believe in the Holy Spirit over here then the Holy Christian Church over there and so forth and so on but they they fit together they make a story the Holy Spirit is the one who builds the Holy Christian Church which is nothing other that the communion Saints made holy by the forgiveness of sins and looking forward to the resurrection of the body and eternal life they all they all fit together and the same thing is true with the Lord's Prayer there's a story that's unfolding in the Lord's Prayer and I want you to imagine it this way see if we can see it now this could be told better I'm just on the edge of this so you guys have to be patient come but we'll do this again in five years it'll be a lot better but I want you to imagine that you've did you wake up one day and you've hit your head and you have a coma and you don't remember anything except the Lord's Prayer I mean you don't remember your name you don't remember where you're from you don't remember your faith you don't remember what you do it's like like oh the Bourne movies you know like Jason Bourne you just wake up in the end you don't you have you've got everything is lost about who you are what you do where you're going what's happening everything except for the Lord's Prayer the Lord's Prayer is the only that you have to who you are and let's see if we can figure it out because I think if that's if that was the case that we could learn in fact a lot about what it means to be a Christian so say okay uh I don't know I don't know my name I don't know I don't know my job I don't know my identity I don't know anything else like this but I just know our Father who art in heaven now what do I learn there okay I learned that I'm a child that I have a father that I have siblings right because it's not my father art in heaven it's our Father who art in heaven and that my father is a heavenly father my father's I mean let's divine be in fact a lot is already there in that very first part which our Father who art in heaven so that tells me something about Who I am okay so I've and and my chief identity in life is death is the fact that I have this heavenly father and I've got brothers and sisters that are hanging around okay that's that's part one and then comes this is gonna be exciting because watch what happens next to the here comes the next one it says Hollywood be thy name let your name be holy now I know that this father that I have is not some sort of obscure father some sort of unknown father but a father who has a reputation a father who has a name and that his name is not only it's not only it's not just a good name or a powerful name it's a holy name so I have a father who has a holy name and so I also have a child with a holy name I also have that name there okay but not only that then I remember the the second petition thy kingdom come now I know that not only does this father have an exalted and holy name and a good reputation maybe he's a famous sort of father but that he is a father with a kingdom in other words my father is a king that makes me a prince or if you're a lady listening a princess and I I'm the son or I'm the daughter of a king who has a kingdom now this is exciting stuff now as I'm learning this about myself I so I'm not just a nobody I'm part of a I'm part of a of a famous royal family now that's quite wonderful I'm I'm part of a kingdom that's great and now I'm looking around trying to figure out well who you know where's the kingdom where is it and I realized that the I kingdom come I realized that his kingdom is a coming Kingdom his kingdom is a is a is a burgeoning Kingdom his kingdom hasn't hasn't fully arrived yet but it's coming along and I go to the next petition the third petition how thy kingdom come Thy will be done and then I realize oh oh oh that his kingdom is opposed I'm praying that that God's Will would be done that his name would be holy that his kingdom would come and that tells me that this is a kingdom under assault that I'm the I'm the sauna or you're the daughter of a king who as a king of a father as a kingdom and that Kingdom is now being attacked from every side that there's a war and we are in the middle of the war I'm a prince at war and no doubt I would be because I'm the son of that particular king that I'm a I'm a soldier in this battle now this is really quite so that you see that that all these things are revealed to us just even in the first part of the Lord's Prayer it's really it's really quite stunning to think about then we get to the next part and things change a little bit because this is not these first three petitions are telling me who I am and who my family is and who my father is and what's the condition of his kingdom but now the last four petitions are gonna start telling me what's my state where am I and we get to the fourth petition give us this day our daily bread and I realized oh I'm not in the kingdom I'm not sitting at the banquet table of the King I'm out sojourning and wandering away from his kingdom such that I need provision even just a little bit of provision to make it through the day that I need his help just to stay alive as I'm as I'm out in this pilgrim life and then the 5th petition forgive us our trespasses I realized that that there's a danger here that the holiness that my that my heavenly father has that his holy name and his holy kingdom that I am NOT for that I am NOT in in concert with that holiness that I because because of my own sinfulness because of my own failure to live according to this holiness that I need forgiveness that I need mercy from him that I need to I need to have the Kings generous thoughts towards me that I'm living in in in risk of angering the king and yet at the same time the king has provided a way to have mercy on me and to be able to forgive me and to welcome me as his child in his kingdom Wow now that that petition there is gonna set me on a quest to figure out how he did that which ends by the way at the gospel that's how that's what Jesus was doing on the cross he was making a way that the king the Father in heaven can forgive sinners and then the last two petitions lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil in a way I'm I'm under I'm in the enemy territory and I need to be guided as I navigate through the enemy territory until finally I'm rescued from there and brought into the father's Kingdom that that that Jesus is gonna come and and rescue me from the kingdom of darkness and transfer me into the kingdom of light the glory of the only begotten Son of God so that so that now I'm I realized that I'm an enemy territory and then I want to live accordingly as I bear the name of my royal Heavenly Father around in this life now that tells me quite a bit about Who I am can you imagine it how wonderful this is that all of this is given to us in the Lord's Prayer I remember I was reading some Luther sermons a couple years ago and he tells this story it's about he says if you could imagine yourself waking up and trapped in a dungeon of a castle and you think oh boy this is really bad I'm in the dungeon of this castle and it's dark and it's there's rats all over it and it stinks you're kind of rotting away there you think wow that's pretty bad but then one day you hear an approaching army and they start to barrage the the castle with catapults and these stones are hitting the castle boo and the walls are shaking and the whole places you think gonna collapse on you and you think oh man if it wasn't bad enough that I was living in this dungeon but now I'm in this dungeon that's about to collapse now this is horrible and this is how Luther pictures this life I mean here we are in this in this life one day after another marching closer and closer to death and if that's not bad enough we have all these assaults of the devil in the world and the flesh blown boom boom it's just falling apart but Luther says this is a miserable picture until you realize that the attacking army is the army of your father who's come to rescue you and then that changes everything because then every time one of the stones hits the side of the castle wall you think I'm one minute closer to deliverance boom one minute closer to rescue mm-hmm one minute closer to being pulled out of the dungeon and brought into safety into my father's Kingdom now this is the picture of the Lord's player prayer deliver us from evil and it's the way that we think about the sufferings of this life I mean what here comes this bad news the death of a friend Oh more the temptation to sin mmm or the news of our own sickness or the failures that we are regrets in our shame one after another but we recognize that every single one of these these shattering blows is one step closer to rescuing us from this vale of tears to bringing us into the presence of our Father the heavenly King it's fantastic so that the Lord's Prayer is telling a story it's it's telling a story of who God is for us and who we are in Christ the Lord's Prayer is a it's a it's a narrative it it puts us right ly in I wish I had a better word than relationship but it puts us right ly in relationship with God and with our fellow man it tells us that we're pilgrims in this world that we're wandering far from the father's Kingdom but that we belong to that Kingdom and that by his word and his spirit that Kingdom continues to come to us that's fantastic so that is mystery number one on the Lord's Prayer secret number one that the Lord's Prayer tells a story I hope you'll let me know what you think about that that you'll send me some notes the best way to do that by the way on the website wolf Muller dot Co WOL F mu e ll ER dot Co and they'll be a contact button there that's a but I think that's the best way to get a hold of me those come right to my everything you know email phone su and I see those sources notes and I'd love to hear what you think about this The Lord's Prayer s story the Secord secret to the Lord's Prayer and it looks like we got about four minutes before we go to the break so we'll start in on to this one in fact we might be able to finish this one and leave the last two segments for the big stuff which will come in the third secret the four blessings of the Lord's Prayer but the second secret is the structure to the Lord's Prayer now this has to do it the first but we want to recognize that there is a a particular structure in the commandments we were talking about this yesterday in our bonus Bible class by the way I don't know how you guys do it but at hope we have Bible class from 11:00 to 12:00 and then we have Bible class too from 11:00 or from 12:15 to 1 I'm just I'm bragging about the people here everybody they want bonus so we got that we had a bonus Bible class I saw so because I'm a short-timer I'm only here for the rest of May so so we were talking about this in our bonus bible class the structure of the Lord's Prayer and someone said hey pastor you should write a book about that and I said how about I just talk about it across the fence so that's what we're doing now we often miss this structure to the Lord's Prayer that just like the Ten Commandments have two tables remember the Ten Commandments came down and Moses had two tables and that's always the law has two parts and Jesus says what's the greatest commandment love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself so we have these two tables love for God and love for the neighbor and so we have to see the structure of the Ten Commandments that there's these two parts well the Lord's Prayer has a very very similar structure there's two tables to the Lord's Prayer remember there's seven petitions and the first three we can call the vibe petitions and the last four we can call the US petitions the first three petitions have to do with things of God hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and then the last four petitions have to do with the things of us give us this day our daily bread forgive us our tresspasses lead us not into temptation deliver us from evil so just like the Ten Commandments have the first three towards God in the last seven towards the neighbor so the Lord's Prayer has the first three towards God in the last four towards our life in this fallen world and this is an incredible sort of thing to see that the Lord's Prayer is kind of it's kind of expanding the things that we need and we'll talk about this in in a little bit because I'm getting the brake warnings now but the the the Lord's Prayer is going to be an expansive sort of thing it's gonna expand the way that we think about our lives we're often told the things that keep us alive the things that we need for life is like water and food and sleep and shelter and things like this but the Lord's Prayer is gonna come along and say hey you in fact need a lot more than this to live the full life and here they are here's the three things that have to come to you from God his name is kingdom at his will and here's the four things that you need from God to navigate through this vale of tears so that's the second secret to the Lord's Prayer that there's a structure that's in there and we have the first table and the second table of the Lord's Prayer okay now that's setting the table for the last secret of the Lord's Prayer which is the four blessings of the Lord's Prayer which we're gonna spend the rest of the time talking about after the break you're listening to cross the fence I'm your host pastor Brian Wolfe Muller pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora Colorado stay tuned to the break and we'll be we'll be right back Brownell welcome back to CrossFit's I'm your host pastor Bryan we're talking about the Lord's Prayer three secrets of the Lord's Prayer secret number one the story of the Lord's Prayer I don't know if that blew your mind it blew my mind when I talked about it if it didn't blow your mind it's not the fault of the Lord's Prayer it's my own fault for not being able to get you there in your own imagination but the Lord's Prayer tells a story who God is and who we are then the second is the structure of the Lord's Prayer we wanted we can dig into the Lord's Prayer and see that it has parts that the seven that there are seven and remember that petition doesn't mean like just thing that we asked for we think we should probably think about petition like we think about it in the context of the government that we you know you see all these guys like the Greenpeace guys wandering around downtown and they want you to sign their petition if it has so many signatures it can be presented and so for that the Lord is actually giving us access to his throne and his and his presence to be able to ask him things we're gonna talk about that in a minute because that's amazing and in these seven petitions we have the three things that belong to the Lord and the four things that belong to this troubled life I think there's a relationship between the 10 commandments and the Lord's Prayer and probably what's very interesting is that the first table of the Ten Commandments has to do with the first three and the last three petitions and the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer has to do with the last table of the law it's like I embedded fractal but maybe I need to draw a picture for that so we'll do that a different way but the third secret of the Lord's Prayer is that there are four blessings in the Lord's Prayer and we want to dig into those guys in the rest of the show now the first of the four blessings the first blessing is the command to pray now this is amazing to think about because we often we often don't think about it in fact a lot of times and this will be presented like in movies and in drama that you'll see someone like come to the end of their rope and they'll just kind of throw up a prayer to heaven like and they'll look like look up at the sky and say if anybody's up there if you--if you can hear me that that prayer is this act of what I don't know that like we like like God wants us to pray he's like up there waiting for us to pray and he's sort of upset that we don't pray as often as we ought to pray he's like um he's like uh he's like your mom when you've gone off to college my poor mom when I went off the car I would never call I mean I I remember I was trying to travel down to Australia this is I was so obnoxious and I was I was like 17 I was wandering around the outback my poor mom was at home worrying sick about me I knew she wanted here but I would just I'd call like once every ten days does oh hey mom still alive you know once I had to call and the and the phone call started don't worry mom everyone's okay just don't you wanna you could imagine hearing that Oh and so we picture God in heaven it's like we're supposed to pray and he's up there waiting for us to pray like I wonder when Brian's gonna come and pray but he never prays like you ought to he never you know you never call this is not this is not the picture of prayer that God is on the throne of the universe and it's not like you just can waltz into that place and ask for anything you want to at least that's not the that's not what we ought to think about it I mean you know even if you have a military structure again we were talking about this yesterday if you have a military structure and you are down lower on the ranks and you want to talk to someone who's above you on the ranks you have to ask for permission permission to speak at least I think you do that's what they show in the movies and if you have something that you really I mean like something could get you in trouble you have to say permission to speak freely right you just can't can't talk to the person above you you just walk into their room and walk into their desk and ask for anything and I mean imagine that for a king we have the picture of it in Esther remember there here is Esther and the King Xerxes er has you swear a has you eros and he's gonna kill all the Jews and so there they have to send Esther in to beg for the safety of the Jews and she says well the King hasn't asked for me and there's a law if you go into the King's presence without being invited into the King's presence the rule is you are to be killed is the guards there with a sword and flew off goes your head roll it on the ground and there's the you know there's the guys coming in with a bucket to mop up your blood from your dead body because you walked in where you are not permitted to walk where you are not invited to walk Esther says there's only one exception if the King raises the golden scepter and points you then you have then you can go and ask something of them but that hardly happens the law is you die you go to the King's presence without being invited you die if it's that way for an earthly King which reminds me of the story of like wasn't there like a there's like a postman who like built this little helicopter and landed on the White House lawn I gotta like that guy and his gusto but you can't just walk into the White House without being invited you can't just land your little homemade helicopter on the lawn of the White House you'll have the Secret Service all over you you're gonna be in prison in other words you can't you you cannot go into the presence of someone even on earth who has that kind of authority you can just go into their presence unless you're invited into their presence and how if that's how it is on earth how much more should it be for God we would never dare to go into the presence of God without being invited to try to just stand before the Lord and to offer him a single petition without being invited I mean imagine if we didn't have the command to pray I think that we'd have to do it this way every Church would probably say okay well look we we need to pray because we need the Lord's help for this thing or that thing but we are it's a frightful sort of thing I saw you you'd have a you'd get the whole church together and say okay what do we want to pray for and you'd have a you'd make a list of like 10 things you want to pray for and say okay we're gonna risk praying for one of them which is the most important the most essential thing for us to ask for and you'd vote on it here's number one we're gonna ask the Lord's help for this to help our persecuted brothers throughout the world or whatever it is there's your number one prayer and then you're gonna say okay now who's gonna pray that prayer and then you you're gonna vote for one guy to go into the Lord's presence the guy that you think has the has the cleanest hand the most upright heart who's gonna carry that petition who has the best chance of surviving the act of offering a prayer and you're gonna send that guy to pray and you're all gonna be hoping that the Lord doesn't just compile with lightning and justice how dare you come and stand before me how dare you presume to come and present yourself in front of my throne and to ask me for something how dare you this is this this should be our approach to prayer it should be one of fear one of trepidation one of great hesitancy to do something so bold as to stand before the Lord and ask him for what we need except that we have the command to pray when the Lord says you shall not misuse my name do not misuse the name of the Lord your God he's commanding us to use his name rightly to pray praise and give things thanks in other words the Lord is telling us that I want you to pray I want to hear from you I am giving you an invitation anytime and anyplace to ask anything to come and stand before me and to present your petitions with me with this with boldness and with confidence do you realize what kind of access that is can you imagine if if President Trump sent you a phone Goldin phone like a trump on it with one button he says this is a phone anything you need call me any time the golden phone you couldn't I mean that's the value of that sort of and he's a man God has said I want you to ask me something so that we have this great confidence in the command to pray now we normally think that the command will show us our sin and it does and this is one way because we we don't even his half most of the time we don't even recognize what a great gift it is that the Lord has given us in this command to pray we don't even see it we were like blind to the great gift of the thing but this is the thing that the Lord wants to give to us in the command so when Jesus says when you pray say our Father who art in heaven telling us that we have access to God the Father in fact that's what he gives us in the name of God when you call upon my name I'll hear you and I'll answer you we know that we know that name is access way I mean just kind of practically like if you imagine you're walking in a crowd and you drop your you drop your I don't know what you're gonna drop your wallet you drop your K FUO hat I hope you guys uh we did share it on last week but I'm sure it's not too late if you want to support k fu o radio k fu org you drop your k if you o hat or something like that and and someone picks it up but they don't know your name so that k hey you you there and you know turn around because they don't know your name but say they know your name Brian you turn around immediately if you know somebody's name you've got access to them and this is what the Lord does he says call upon my name I'm giving you access to me the command to pray then gives us this boldness to go and stand in this heavenly throne room and ask the thing the Lord for the things for the things that we need so that's number one on the blessing of the Lord's Prayer is the command to pray and blessing number two I'm trying to open up the thing here so I can see how much time he ins given me okay we still got them blessing number two is the promise of Prayer not only has the Lord given us the command to pray which gives us this great boldness and confidence it gives us the vocation of preyere of one who offers petitions but the outlet of intercessor we have that we have by the command the institution of the office of intercessor in which we stand to pray for ourselves and for others but we also have the promise and that promise is that the Lord hears our prayers and that he answers them call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear you and I will deliver you God says in Psalm 50 remember how Jesus says it and the sermon of the mount he says ask and you will receive seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you so that the Lord has prom to hear our prayers and to answer them I remember this old CS Lewis on I don't know if this is I could probably think about it again I don't know if this is right or not but CS Lewis had this line where he says it gives us more comfort knowing that the Lord hears our prayers than that he answers our prayers in other words the first level of comfort is the fact that the Lord listens ah there's something to that it might not be the whole truth but there it's a partial truth at least because because I have people come to me all the time i pastor a pastor pastor pressure it feels like my prayers are bouncing off the ceiling it just seems like God's ears are closed that he can't even hear what I'm saying and we know we have the promise that that's not the case that the Lord does hear us because of Jesus that the Lord does the list that his ears are open to the Christians prayer so that's the first part of the promise and then the second part of the promise is that the Lord will answer our prayer now when it comes to the answered prayers we have all these promises in the scripture would say like ask anything in my name and I will give it to you ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be given to you we have these kind of weather some kind of times called the blank checks of Prayer these anything petitions but we want to recognize that the Lord is answering our prayers in accord with what he knows is best for us now this is it's not it's not too complicated but maybe it's a little bit complicated to think about but but so here's the maybe the way into this because we see examples in the scriptures of people asking for things for very specific things and the Lord not giving it to them I mean then one of the chief examples is st. Paul who says let this thorn be taken from me three times he praised that the thorn in his side would be taken from him and the Lord says to him no keep the thorn I want you to have the thorn my strength the Lord says that remember this my strength is made perfect in your weakness hoof my grace is sufficient for you keep the thorn so Paul prayed specifically for the thorn to be taken away and the Lord said no no I want you to have it or even Jesus in the garden if it's possible let this cup pass from me but not my will but your will be done in fact the fact that we pray in the third petition thy will be done proves that oftentimes our will is at conflict with God's will and so we want to be praying in concert with the will of God we want to be asking for the things that God wants to give and that's what it means to pray in the name of Jesus that's what it means to pray in Jesus name to ask for the things that God wants to give to us now but but but it's not but it's not like it's God says okay now here's what you want and here's what I want and you have to ask for the things that I want and not for the things that you want what when we when we are when we are in the name of Jesus when when we are Christian when we are baptized when we are in the Holy Spirit the Lord starts to change our own will so that our will becomes a reflection of his will so that our desires become a reflection of his desires so that the things we want are the things that he wants to give to us so when we pray in Jesus name this is what we're praying for it's not like we say well Lord this is what I want but you want this so I'm gonna pray for this sort of thing no we did we recognized that the Lord starts to to work in us so that the things that we want are exactly the things that he wants remember how this psalm says I can't remember what Psalm the part in my in my brain that remembers this Psalm doesn't work laughter so I have to look it up every time but it says delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart now what does that mean I mean says we delight in the Lord as we desire the things of God as we take pleasure in the gifts of of Jesus and his presence and his promises then he gives us the very things that we want so our prayer arises out of the sanctified heart our prayer comes from the from the from from our from our true desires that are brought about by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God and when we pray these things then the Lord has promised to answer them now sometimes we can't quite tell if the things that we want are the same things that God wants and in those cases we pray thy will be done like for example I'd like not to die tomorrow but I'm not sure if that's what the Lord wants or not so that I will be done things like that but normally we're praying for these things that arise out of the of the Lord's work of sanctification for us I had a maybe I'll tell you this story the see Fijians oh he's timing me up this I got a three minute this is a three minute story I remember I was living in the Fiji in the highlands of Fiji and this by myself we were taking groups through but I had this little tent to myself and and I was praying and I had this book that just it was talking about the blank cheques of prayer and and it said just ask the Lord whatever you want doesn't matter and he'll give it to you answer so so I had been praying that the Lord would give me the capacity to understand the Fijian language so I could go to church and and I could understand the preaching there I was suppose that that it's fine you know the Lord normally gives that gift through actually working to learn the language but I said well it's a good desire anyways but I had been convinced this one particular night I was convinced that the Lord had come to me and told me Brian you'll understand the preaching tomorrow and so I went to bed with this great joy and I woke up with this great joy and I went to church with this great joy and confidence that I was gonna be able to supernaturally understand the things that were preached that I would have the gift of the interpretation of tongues and I went to church that day and I didn't understand a word not a word and to make it worse they were doing some sort of rally so like 15 guys preached in the service lasted six hours and I didn't understand a single word of it and I plunged into this deep deep despair I mean it was dark spiritually very very because I had thought that the Lord had given me this promise and an answer to prayer and I just made it up she's made up this promise it wasn't from the Lord it was from my own whatever may be from the demons may be from my own belly or something like this but it wasn't a promise that the Lord gives so we want to be we want to we want to have this part down that the Lord promises to hear our prayers and to answer our prayers in accord with his will all right so this is the - that's - right we talked about that we're talking about the for blessing this is the third secret the four blessings and the first two are the command to pray and the promise to pray we're going to go to the break and we're gonna come back with the third blessing is our new you guys are gonna like this one our need for prayer and the things that we need the Lord's Prayer gives us a list of our own needs we're gonna talk about that after the break stay tuned you're listening to crossroads [Music] hey we're back trust Fitz I'm your host pastor Brian will feel a pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in rural Colorado and talk her to you about prayer we're talking about three secrets of the Lord's Prayer the first is the story the second is the structure and the third is the fourth blessing and so now it's like the trumpets of Revelation you get to the last one it opens up but there's all these other ones so we're talking about the four blessings of the Lord's Prayer the first one is the command to pray the second one is the promise of prayer the third one is our need the Lord before okay here's how this goes before the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are actually words that we are asking God they are first God's Word to us and the thing that it teaches us is the things that we need in this life now this is important because we if we're left to our own if you just go to the biologist and you say what do you need to live they have this very short list you need water food shelter that's it that's what you need to live that's a now that is not the life that the Lord intends for us I mean you might need those things to keep your heart beating but we in fact need a lot more than that and we don't know that we need all that much we see left to ourselves we think that we need a little bit of daily bread in other words those things water food and shelter those are covered in the fourth petition give us this day our daily bread but in the Lord's Prayer Jesus is saying you actually need a lot more than just a little bit to eat now I think that I did this trick it was like kind of a I I think this was kind of mean I did we had a gathering of pastors here at Hope a few years ago and I said okay we're gonna take some prayer requests and I'm gonna take one request for each petition of the Lord's Prayer I did this on purpose I mean again it's kind of a punk thing to do but hope you don't hold it against me because the illustration is helpful because someone said okay I want to pray for so on so ask answer I hope they get better okay that's fourth petition give us this day our daily bread prayer for physical deeds does anyone have any other petitions for the other any other prayers for the other petitions and all of a sudden the guys realize that all the things that they would add to the prayer list our fourth petition prayers this person's sick this person suffering this may be a delivers from evil because this person is dying but there but our prayers revolve around the fourth petition if left to ourselves and you just made a list here's my prayer list I'll bet you that 90% of those things that are on your list maybe even more all are concluded in the fourth petition give us this day our daily bread it's because we feel it we feel our physical needs when we're hungry our stomach preaches to us you know it's not very elegant just kind of growls ah and and your stomach is teaching you that you need food now Jesus comes along and says what you need is God to give you daily bread and so he clarifies Jesus in the fourth petition clarifies the preaching of your stomach your conscience also preaches by the way and this has to do with the fifth commandment forgive us our trespasses your conscience tells you tells you that you've done something wrong that you are not living in harmony with the right and wrong of the world that things are bad out there and in here the things that I've done it wrong and the things that are done to me are wrong and so your conscience cries out for some relief now your conscience like your stomach just kind of preaches in a groan ah and and every world religion is an answer to the consciences inarticulate prayer ah here's some good works ah say this meditation pray to the saints or whatever so that every world religion is an attempt to kind of calm down the crying conscience but Jesus comes along and gives clarity to the preaching of the conscience and says you know what you need you need the forgiveness of sins you need the blood of Jesus you need my death on the cross to make your conscience feel better so just like the Lord clarifies the inarticulate preaching of the stomach with give a daily bread and Rob the conscience forgive us our trespasses and so we pray those two prayers give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as the things that we feel that we need in this life but that's not all that we need we need so much more even than daily bread and a good conscience in fact we need the Lord's name and his kingdom as will and deliverance and a leading we need all of the set the seven petitions are outlining the things that we need and in this way the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer defined for us what a full life is remember when Jesus says I came to give you life and life to the fullest well what is that full life it's a life with the Lord's name and his kingdom and his will and a bit of bread and forgiveness of sins and God's leading and deliverance that's what the full life that Jesus came to bring us and so God says this is the things that you need but we don't feel it we don't know it by nature we don't have a stomach for God's Word I oftentimes wonder what if we did I think I wrote about this and has American Christianity fail there's something but having a stomach for the word of God can you imagine this like like you have a little you have a little stomach there behind your ear so every time you hear preaching you know you're like ah so good I was fantastic I'm so happy and then if you hadn't if you hadn't done your devotions you'd be like oh man I'm starving you're listening to cross the fence you're like I can't have another bite I'm so full or whatever and if you listen to some false teacher like you're watching TV in or listen to Joel Osteen and you get like word stomach poisoning and you're up at night puking words out of your never going to that place again I'm gonna review him on yelp I can't believe I mean this is how can you imagine that if we had a natural desire for the pure spiritual milk of the word how different things will be I mean people would be lined up outside church like this was the Texas Roadhouse calling in for reservation just give me a little sermon I'm so starving but we don't have it we don't have a natural indication that we need God's name and his kingdom and his will that we need his word in his spirit we don't have anything in us according to net that was lost in the fall so that Jesus has to come and teach us about the things that we really truly need he has to come and say hey you know what you need the most the most of all in the world you need my kingdom my name my word my spirit my will my goodness my mercy my kindness you need that you need my word man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father and yet and yet we have our stomachs saying no I need bread and we don't have an alternative stomach saying no I need the word it has to be taught to us by the Lord through the Holy Spirit so the Lord Jesus is teaching us in the petitions of the Lord's Prayer the things that we need and this this cannot cannot cannot be underestimated the the helpfulness of this particular secret to the Lord's Prayer that we and this is how the context of the Lord's Prayer Jesus the disciples come to Jesus to say Lord teach us to pray like John the Baptist teaches his disciples to pray because we don't know what we need our need indicators are broken if left to ourself we would be like like children like you again I mean the stomach is the example it just tells you that you're hungry but it doesn't tell you that you need that you need broccoli and not Twinkies if your stomach just says put something inside of me to make this pain go away but it doesn't tell us the kind of thing so we need to be taught what is good for us well the same thing is true spiritually we don't we don't even have the indicator that we need something much less the indicator of what it is but this is what the Lord's word is is is it that it satisfies us so we have these scriptures taste and see that the Lord is good or Hebrews were warns about those who have tasted the goodness of the Lord that the Lord opened your mouth wide and I will fill it so that the Lord satisfies us with his word and and here's another mystery this is the bonus mystery that spiritual satisfaction works differently than material satisfaction one of the one of the things so for example you know we Thanksgiving is the best realization of this is that you go from being hungry to being sick of food at least I do you go from being starved like man I could eat a whole turkey too man I should not have eaten a whole turkey that that's that that desire is a say like this in this physical life desire and satisfaction are the opposite of each other to want is not to have and to have is not to want that's just how it works like with food or other physical things I'm cold so I need to warm up but when I'm more and now I'm not cold or I'm thirsty but now I'm I'm parched and then I'm satisfied the two are opposites to each other but spiritually they're not opposites they actually go together they're bound up to one another so that says to desire the Lord's word is to also be satisfied with the Lord's word the more we study and hear and rejoice in the Lord's word the more we want more and more and more and this gives us hope for the resurrection because we think in the resurrection that we will be satisfied and we will lose the pleasure of desiring and seeking but spiritually those two go together that to have and to seek are bound up to want and to rejoice are the same and so as the Lord gives us his word and his kindness we want more and more and more of it so that the more satisfied we are with the Lord's word the more we desire the Lord's word this is also true the Lord's Supper one of the dangers people make is they think of the Lord's Supper like Thanksgiving if you had a Thanksgiving meal every day then Thanksgiving wouldn't be special and they say the same if you have the Lord's Supper too often it wouldn't be special but but spiritual realities work different than physical realities is that as to have it is to want it it it the satisfaction produces its own desire this is how it is with the Lord's word so that the the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are coming along and they're showing us what we need what will you say what is what should I pray for in this life and Jesus says well here's the it's like Jesus gives us like a packing list this trip he gives us a he gives us the list of the things that that we need for this for this life and there they are who you need my name Kingdom we'll cetera cetera and then the last thing because I can't believe it I've got the warning that this thing is coming doing it the last of the benefits is that Jesus gives us the words themselves you know here we are walking before the before the throne of God into the into the throne room of the universe to petition the creator of the universe for the things that we need and and we we might be tempted to stutter we Knight might not be sure of ourselves that we're gonna ask the right thing so Jesus says here's the words here are the words to use when you pray say our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and so forth in other words we can pray with great confidence because the Lord has given us the words now we're used to be I remember the old days people say we can't just pray the Lord the words of the Lord's Prayer cuz they're rote you won't be thinking about it you're the same over and over again well I suppose that's true you could just say the words without your imagination or your heart or your mind or will or anything being engaged in it hopefully this time on the radio helps with that but we but we know that the Lord has given us the treasure of these very words so we don't have to pray hallowed be thy name if it's your will because we know it's his will we don't have to pray thy kingdom come if it's your will because we know it's as its as will we don't have to pray deliver us from evil lead us not into temptation if it is your will because we know in fact that that is the Lord's will so that the very things that we need are the very things that the Lord wants to give to us his children exiled away from the kingdom but being treasure being being lavished with his gifts while he brings us through this vale of tears back to himself in heaven we got two minutes so I'm gonna give you one more thing to think about on the Lord's Prayer people always ask me pastor this is especially when they're tired of life pastor is it okay to pray that the Lord would take me home is it okay to pray that I would die and my answer to them is that's what you pray every time you pray the Lord's Prayer when we pray deliver us from evil we're praying that the Lord would at the last take us from this vale of tears to be with himself in heaven so that the Lord's Prayer extends from our baptism until our Christian death and includes everything between in this great mystery of the Christian life he shows us he gives us the command to pray the promise to pray the needs of prayer and the words to pray and he knits us together in his story as we stand before him and ask him for the things that we need so there you go three secrets about the Lord's Prayer the story the structure and the blessings I hope you'll remember this tonight when you pray with your family these words that our Lord taught us to pray and thanks for listened to cross the fence I'm your host pastor Bryan walk the other pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora Colorado I talked to you about the Lord's word his joy and his peace write again next week God's peace be with you there are daily vocations and maybe some fresh dark roast the coffee our weekdays [Music]

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Length: 50min 26sec (3026 seconds)

Published: Wed May 01 2019