Grown-Up Prayers | Part 2

[Applause] [Music] hi everybody thanks for joining us and if this is your first time i certainly hope it is the first of many times a couple of things before we get started first we have reopened our building for live socially distanced in-person worship specifically for those of you who have upstreat kids or transit age kids that is those of you who have elementary age kids or middle school kids so if that's you we would love to see you here next sunday at nine o'clock or 11 a.m but we need to know you're coming and you should receive an email from us this week with a link to register so be on the lookout for that as for everybody else the current plan is to invite everybody back into the building right after easter and speaking of easter you and your entire family along with really anyone you'd like to invite are invited to celebrate easter with us out on the lawn and if you live in the alpharetta johns creek roswell milton or the area you are certainly invited to participate as well for service times and circle reservations for those of you who were here for christmas you'll know what a circle reservation is anyway to make your reservation to let us know you're coming just go to northpoint.org easter that's northpoint.org easter and pick the service and the service time that works best for you now i realize that's a lot to remember but if you're receiving my weekly email you don't have to remember any of it because it will all show up in your inbox so please please please make sure we have your current email address to do that just visit northpoint.org scroll down to where it says stay informed and just fill in the blanks again thanks so much for tuning in and now here's part two of grown-up prayers [Music] [Applause] so uh do you remember learning how to swim i do um it was terrifying which is probably why i remember it i remember teaching or trying to teach my kids how to swim terrifying as well for them i specifically remember andrew my oldest clinging clinging to the arm of his swim instructor screaming at the top of his lungs i want to be on the land i want to be on the land now if you know how to swim it's so natural if you don't nothing could be more unnatural except perhaps flying and the earlier we learned to swim the better and the longer we wait the more difficult it is but regardless learning to swim requires something that we all naturally resist and what we all naturally resist is surrender surrender surrender to an instructor to a parent to an older brother and sister um we resist and when we resist well if we resist we'll never learn to swim in fact if you resisted you may have never even gotten in the water those of us who eventually learned to swim eventually let go of the side of the pool we surrendered to a trusted adult and in doing so and you probably haven't thought about this in doing so we were introduced to a world we would have never known or experienced otherwise a world a world we would have watched other people enjoy from a safe distance wake boarding surfing skiing canoeing white water rafting scuba diving high diving maybe cliff diving not to mention living without the fear of water as long as the child insists on having their way they get in the way of learning to swim and their childhood fear of water has the potential to sense them to a lifetime of fear of the water so good parents when they have the opportunity they insist that their kids learn to swim even when they prefer to be on the land more on that in just a bit today we are in part two of our series grown-up prayers many of us probably most of us grew up praying but our prayers didn't grow up with us we pretty much pray the same way we've always prayed the way we were taught to pray as children some of that's good but some of that as we discovered last time is not so good and speaking of last time in part one of this series we discovered that we are not the first group of grown-ups who never learned to pray grown-up prayers apparently many of jesus closest followers they never learned to pray growing up prayers either something they became acutely aware of when they listened to jesus pray here's how it went if jesus was praying correctly then perhaps they were praying incorrectly if jesus was doing it right they had a lot to learn so they finally mustered up the nerve to ask jesus and so one day they come to him and i guess they appointed a spokesperson who said jesus lord teach us how to pray lord teach us to pray now like most of us they've been praying their entire lives in fact in some cases they've been praying their same prayers their entire lives and watching jesus pray it dawned on them maybe it was time to move on maybe it was time to learn some grown-up prayers or learn how to pray like a grown-up now i would imagine and we talked a little bit about this last time i would imagine this is something that you've never done you've never asked someone to teach you how to pray in fact if someone after hearing you pray suggested that you should learn how to pray you would be offended and rightly so and last time as we began this lesson of learning how to pray from jesus some of us were actually offended by what jesus had to say because it turns out like the disciples some of us have not been praying correctly or to be more specific we haven't been praying the way jesus prayed and the way he instructed his followers to pray now if you're not a jesus follower but you pray you may pick up a few tips from what jesus has to say but if you are a jesus follower then well if you're a jesus follower you really have no choice but to follow jesus instructions regarding prayer and he's very specific he says this but when you pray and then he tells us how to pray and as we discovered last time he also tells us how not to pray he says don't pray to impress other people because well god's not impressed and don't keep repeating the same thing over and over and over as if the volume of your words will somehow move god to action besides he says in fact what he says next assures us that he knew why we think prayer is so perplexing to begin with he said you don't need to go on and on and on about what you need or want or wish for because your father knows what you need before you ask to which we respond well if that's the case well then why pray and now jesus has us right where he wants us asking the question he wants us to ask his disciples his disciples wanted to know how to pray jesus wanted them to understand why we should pray and isn't it true come on isn't it true that for the most part we reduce prayer to basically informing god of our needs wants and wishes or perhaps the needs wants and wishes of someone we care deeply for right that's why we pray that's why we were taught to pray but maybe maybe we've been doing it wrong and maybe we've been praying for all the wrong reasons jesus gets very specific he says but when you pray go into your room and close the door in other words find a place and isolate yourself this was very difficult for first century followers to do homes were small if they had doors at all they were generally made out of leather or even cloth we have bedrooms and closets with wooden doors we don't find it difficult to pray because we don't have room we find it difficult to pray because we're so busy we're so distracted and then he said this and pray to your father who is unseen again we talked about this last week and this this was this was a little offensive jesus says don't pray to me in other words we don't begin our prayers dear jesus he says i want you to pray to your father in heaven we begin our prayers heavenly father and then last time we briefly discussed the tension that this creates for some of us the tension of trying to view god as a father and that's a legitimate tension and if that's something you struggle with you're not alone and if it's attention you're struggling with here's the amazing thing you are invited to take that tension to your heavenly father in fact peter who knew jesus intimately said this you can cast your cares on him because you can rest assured that he cares for you then jesus gets down to business and gives us the specifics he told us exactly how to pray and he told us what to pray here's what he said he said this then is how you should pray our father in heaven hallowed be your name that is we're to pause and recognize who it is we're addressing the great god who has no equal no rival the uncreated creator who is both infinite and intimate when we pause to reflect on who god is what happens we gain a better understanding of who we are and why we're here and what's going on around us this is this is the part of prayer where we we regain our bearings we remember the context of our lives as we said last time if you rush by that if you rush by that you will resist what follows and what follows is why we pray what follows is the purpose of prayer here it is your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven your kingdom come your will be done right here right now in my life in my relationships with my resources with my plans with my schedule at which point we're all tempted to join with andrew and say i want to be on the land i want to be on the land because i want to be in control that is that is just too open-ended i mean i want god to do my bidding i'm honestly i'm afraid of what he might require of me if i just let go of the side of the pool and trust myself fully to him i may drown but here's the thing peter you know peter like the peter the fisherman who followed jesus james the brother of jesus john mary martha the apostle paul perhaps some folks you know they would assure you they would assure you that embracing thy will be done will introduce you to a world that you will never know and never experience otherwise this is the part we skip but according to jesus this is why we pray come on let me ask you this if you're a christian do you do you want to be deep i mean we talk about being a deep christian do you want to experience deep faith did you know that deep has very little to do with what you know it has everything to do with letting go of the side of the pool and praying before i even know what it is thy will be done right here right now in my life and let's be honest that rarely shows up in our prayers because it stands in contrast to why most of us pray we don't come to god to surrender we usually come to god to be rescued often from something we would have avoided if we had in fact surrendered so the purpose of prayer the purpose of prayer we talked about this last time is to align our wills with god's will the purpose of prayer is to surrender our will not impose it and this this becomes even more evident in what follows so in part one i challenge you to begin your prayers this week this way i said begin by declaring his greatness and then surrender your will declare his greatness hallowed be your name and surrender your will and and this is important and if there is something in you if there's something in you that fears or hesitates to pray your will be done if you're afraid to let go of the side of the pool which is understandable pay attention to that honestly honestly there's no point in continuing with jesus lesson on how to pray until we're willing to prioritize his will over our own his kingdom over our own and the reason i say that is everything that follows assumes surrender jesus is doing more than simply teaching us how to pray properly he's actually inviting us to experience the world in a way that we will never experience it unless we surrender then from there jesus pivots um he pivots to the place where we generally begin our prayers he says and now pray this when you pray pray and give us today to which we say finally it is our turn but jesus is not taking prayer requests he's actually requesting that we pray three things in particular in fact all three things no surprise assume surrender now when i begin praying this prayer i summarize the three things jesus asked us to pray with three words that help me remember what they are and they all begin with a p provision pardon and protection provision pardon and protection the provision part of the prayer you're familiar with jesus says and when you pray pray and give us today our daily bread something that most of us really don't worry too much about right in fact some of us eat more than our daily bread but when jesus first century audience heard him say this is what we're to pray what they thought of immediately was their ancestors hundreds of years before crawling out of their tents every morning in the middle of the desert and collecting just enough bread for the day and during that season in the life of the nation of israel god was teaching the nation to the people of israel to recognize their dependence on him and then he warned them he said this look the day will come the day will come when you will have more than your daily bread in fact you're going to have so much bread he said to the nation of israel that other nations will come to you to buy bread but don't be deceived even when you have plenty you are no less dependent on me than you are this very day when you're crawling out of your tent collecting your daily bread and the same is true for you the same the same is true for us this is the part of our prayer when we remind ourselves that god is our ultimate provider not just what we eat everything in fact when you think about it when you think about it many of the things that we depend on most we have little to no control over in fact some of us have faced seasons you may be in one right now or maybe circumstances where we're reminded of just how dependent we really are on god and if that day has not come for you yet i assure you it will come whether it's your health your income food physical or mental health maybe the physical or mental health of someone you love suddenly you will be reminded you will be reminded of just how dependent you are on your heavenly father how little control you have over the things that are most valuable most important to you and jesus says when we pray we are to pause and we are to declare our dependence on him for every day every single thing lest we forget now this is such a big deal in a culture where we get in trouble because of our excess rather than our privation right i mean in a culture of excess which is the culture we live in we just take things for granted right um we expect things we feel entitled to things consequently we become ungrateful for things so years ago when sandra and i were learning to pray through the lord's prayer and kind of extrapolating out some of the insights i've shared we memorized an additional prayer from the book of proverbs that we use to supplement this portion of the lord's prayer so as not to rush by it too quickly and before i share it with you i want to go ahead and dare you to pray this prayer and the reason i want to dare you to pray it is because like it did for me it will confront you with the side of you that perhaps needs some confrontation you you pray this prayer and you will feel your fingers being pried away from the side of the pool here's what the writer of proverbs says i love this keep falsehood and lies far from me this is like a prayer keep falsehooding lies far from me give me neither poverty which we like that part nor riches but give me only my daily bread heavenly father i don't give me more than i can handle and don't give me so little that i'm tempted to send or to steal or to cheat give me don't give me more than you know i can handle that is not a very american or western prayer is it but he continues and he explains why this is such an important prayer otherwise otherwise i might have too much i may have too much and i may disown you and say who is the lord or is there even a lord i i don't think i need god anymore i don't think i need faith anymore or i might become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my god i dare you to memorize this and i dare you to pray a heavenly father keep falsehood and lies from far from me i declare my dependence on you give me neither poverty nor riches but give me only what you know i can handle otherwise otherwise i might have too much and i might disown you and say who is the lord who needs the lord i don't have time for faith i don't have time for god or i might have such need that i would be tempted to steal and just as i'm not above abandoning god because i have too much i'm not above stealing if i have too little give me neither poverty nor riches but only my daily bread otherwise i might disown you and say who is the lord or i might become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my god i love this prayer because it slows me down and it reminds me of my dependence on god for everything that comes my way and it reminds me of my propensity my propensity to allow god's blessing in my life to lead me astray and you know this is possible right i mean certainly you've met someone or you've heard about someone who became so successful that they no longer needed faith they no longer needed god they got too busy for church because they had so many options they no longer needed to trust god because well they were able to take care of things themselves right i have the potential for that so do you keep falsehood and lies far from me don't allow me to be deceived into thinking that i don't need you every day for everything and once again we find ourselves back you know open-handed can't touch bottom that place of surrender so that's provision provision pardon and protection provision pardon and protection this is the pardon part of the prayer you'll remember this you probably memorized this as a child in fact this is the part of the prayer that probably all of us pray the most and forgive us our debts i mean i would imagine if you grew up praying somebody taught you to pray to ask god to forgive you of your sin and forgive us our debts but we perhaps were not told or taught to pray the second half as we also have forgiven our debtors this is a prayer request with a catch forgive me here's what jesus is teaching heavenly father forgive me in the same way and to the same degree that i have forgiven the people who have wronged me and again the assumption is surrender it's like god says you need forgiveness from me yes i need forgiveness from you so does that mean you're surrendered to me what do you mean i mean are you asking something from me that you're unwilling to extend to others as jesus followers we are required this isn't we don't have an option we are required to do unto others as god through christ has done unto us we forgive because we've been forgiven the apostle paul comes along later and he reverses the order of things here's what he writes he says to christians first century christians be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other why you don't even know my story you don't know what she said about me you don't know what he did to me forgiving each other just as in christ god forgave you paul was saying what jesus was saying what jesus was alluding to we don't forgive because other people deserve to be forgiven we forgive because we've been forgiven and jesus is when you pray you forgive other people just as you have been forgiven when you pray ask for forgiveness as a reminder to forgive other people declare your need for forgiveness before you do before you move on you do a quick 360 in your mind and you ask the question am i withholding from someone the very thing i expect god to grant to me forgiveness you know this to ask god to forgive you while refusing to forgive your brother-in-law your ex-husband or wife your manager your neighbor to to ask god to do for you what you were unwilling to do for someone else reduces god to well it kind of reduces god to a cleaning product right it reduces god to a conscience cleanser i come to god and i pray and i ask him to forgive me in my sin and he forgives me my sin he cancels my debt in fact if you raise the way i was and then he forgets all about my sin and i feel so much better about me because i want to feel good about me but i'm not willing to forgive you now contrary contrary to what you may have been told prayer isn't a conscience cleanse the reason we confess our sin is to restore and maintain fellowship with god our heavenly father and the reason we forgive others is to ensure this is important is to ensure the door is open to those who have sinned against us in case and i know as unlikely as it might be in case they come to their senses they realize what they've done and they ask for forgiveness not necessarily a return to the way things were that may be impossible it may not even be safe but by forgiving ahead of time and this is what jesus is asking us to do by forgiving ahead of time you release them from the debt they may never be able to pay anyway when you forgive come on when you forgive you are doing for them what your father in heaven did for you as philip yancey famously wrote god announced forgiveness ahead of time and we should do the same to refuse to forgive while asking to be forgiven do you know what it makes us it it makes us one of those folks that jesus talked about at the beginning of this little lesson it makes us a hypocrite a pretender a user a consumer the invitation to forgive this is part of a posture of surrender heavenly father you cancelled my debt so of course i'll cancel hers so of course i'll cancel his so we shouldn't be surprised we shouldn't be surprised that jesus connects our forgiveness by god to forgiving others after all by this and by this all people will know that you're my disciples if you ask for forgiveness no by this all people know that you're my followers if you love one another if you love as in forgive as in serve as in give as in put others first so to refuse to forgive to refuse to forgive is to refuse to follow and suddenly we're not so sure we really want to know how to pray right it just requires too much it requires that we let go of our well-rehearsed stories that justify our anger our prejudice our resentment we want we want to go back to the land and jesus wants to introduce us to a world that we will never know or experience until we forgive because because because because surrendering to jesus in this way do you know what it does it protects us from allowing those who've hurt us it protects us from allowing those who hurt us to become from becoming our lord surrendering to jesus in this way it ensures that we don't surrender to bitterness resentment anger revenge those are not good masters those are not good lords they do not deserve your loyalty they'll extend the reach and of your enemy right into your future right into future generations right now again you know people this isn't this isn't new for us you know people who had every reason in the world to hang on to their hurt to embrace their resentment to hold a grudge to extract revenge right but they decided to let go of the side of the pool and to be taken out into the terrifying somewhat irrational deep waters of forgiveness you know people like this right you know people whose countenance doesn't reflect their past whose countenance actually reflects their freedom from their past they learn to swim learning to pray the way that jesus wants us to pray it's an invitation to follow it's an invitation to surrender it's an invitation to a better way of living in this way following jesus will in fact make your life better and it will make you better at life because forgiving makes you a better husband forgiving makes you a better wife a better friend a better employer a better employee now this was a really really big deal to jesus in fact what i'm about to read next you may have never read before or heard before um here's how big a deal it was do you know how jesus concludes his lesson on prayer not the way it ends at weddings you know for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever you know and the soprano holds that note out forever amen i mean that was added later by a scribe perhaps because the way jesus ends his prayer is not very eloquent honestly it's not the way we would like for him to end it which is evidence of the fact that this is actually what he said he wasn't writing song lyrics he was teaching us how to pray and we're going to come back to the lead this night into temptation part in a minute but at the end at the end of his lesson on prayer here's what happens to underscore how important it is to jesus that we forgive this is how he ends his lesson on prayer and i'll just tell you up front this is going to create some tension for you and since jesus doesn't resolve the tension i won't either here's what he says four if you forgive other people when they sin against you your heavenly father will also forgive you so far so good but if you do not forgive others their sins your father will not forgive your sins it's like wait a minute nobody ever told me that before right that's not what they taught us in sunday school but quick question come on you're smart what do you call someone who expects other people to do something they're not willing to do for themselves yeah we just covered that right we call those people hypocrites here's jesus point don't be a hypocrite you you expect to be forgiven so come on forgive not not not not only does he know what you need before you ask he knows what's in your heart blessed are the pure in heart because according to jesus they will see god blessed are the pure in heart they will recognize what god is up to they will be more attuned to what god is up to in the world to what god wants us to participate in so before we go any further before you can go any further with your prayers come on is there anyone you have refused to forgive and i know i know if i were to hear your story you you have every reason in the world not to forgive it feels like i understand this it feels like you're rewarding the person who hurt you i get that it's like you're letting them off the hook in fact if i heard your story i might be tempted to give you a pass but jesus wouldn't jesus wouldn't because he knows like you know what a lack of forgiveness does to the human heart so because he loves you because he's a perfect heavenly father he coaxes you he coaches you he invites you to forgive is there anyone you have refused to forgive if so would you be willing maybe not now but soon would you be willing to decide to cancel their debt as you expect your heavenly father to cancel yours would you be willing to decide that they just don't owe you any more if you're not willing to do that and if jesus is correct and i just always assume jesus is correct that's as far as prayer will take you you should get stuck right there every morning every evening until you forgive don't move on don't attempt to go around that stay right there stay right there until you have surrendered your anger your hurt your resentment until you say yes and forgive and when you do when you do you know this you've seen this in other people when you do you will be introduced to a world to a peace to a freedom you will be introduced to a world you will never know otherwise so back to the question we asked last week does prayer work well the jesus way of praying works it works on us it works in us it works to free us but at times yeah it's just so uncomfortable we will feel so accountable we feel too accountable right we will be tempted to respond with andrew i want to be on the land i don't like this i don't feel so i don't like feeling so accountable to god i want god to be accountable to me i don't like thy will be done i like my will be done and my will my will is that things would be good between god and me whether they're good between me and you or not by the way there's a name for that that whole thing of i'm good i'm good with god but i don't have to be good with you do you know what the word for that is it's called religion this is why this may solve a mystery for you this is why so many overtly religious people turn out to be hypocrites because religion is simply an attempt oftentimes an attempt to use god a religion reduces faith to magic and a good luck charm but in the end religion will leave you empty and unchanged safe but shallow you will confuse knowledge with death you'll you'll confuse correct belief with you know correct belief will become a substitute for loving other people you will run the risk of missing god and here's something i had to learn the hard way i had to learn the hard way that when i focus when i focus on the work that god has yet to complete in me i am far less concerned with the work he has yet to complete in you in other words if i allow myself or i should say when i allow myself to get stuck in my prayers of god i'm not sure i can let this go god i'm not sure i can cancel that debt in that moment i'm reminded that i have focused more of my attention on what they have done and where they stand with me than where i stand with my heavenly father and when i'm willing to focus on the work that god has yet to do in me i find it so much easier to forgive you and to forgive others for the work that god has yet to do in them jesus was he was more direct here's here's how he said it first first first before you go any further first take the plank you've heard this take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly do you want to see clearly well then embrace the way jesus prayed and you will see clearly to what end to feel superior to those who don't see clearly no you'll see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers i when when i see me as i truly am i am better positioned to love you in spite of our differences and in spite of what you've done to me i won't judge you i'll just serve you i'll pray more like a tax collector than a religious leader god have mercy on me a sinner that's the prayer and that's the posture that jesus commended this this this is where the jesus prayer takes us and leaves us surrendered dependent forgiven so i want you to find a place i want you to choose a time i want you to get a loan and i recommend that you choose the same place in the same time i want you to make this a priority and i want you to begin your day this way pray your way to surrender pray well pray like this because this then is how you should pray my father in heaven hallowed be your name you're the great god who is infinite and because you've allowed me to call you father you're intimate your kingdom come your agenda is the priority your will be done on earth as it is in heaven right here right now in my world this then this then is how you should pray declare your dependence on god for your provision lest you forget give us give me today my daily bread even though i have more bread than i need and more bread than i should eat i am not going to forget that every single morsel of food every beat of my heart is a gift from you give me neither poverty nor riches but only give me what you know i can handle otherwise i might have too much and i might say who is the lord or i might become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my god this then is how you should pray declare your dependence on god for your pardon for forgiveness of sin and forgive us and forgive us our debts as we also as we also have forgiven our debtors provision pardon and the third part of the prayer is protection protection from what from temptation here's what jesus says we're to pray and lead us not into temptation because we are more we are more than capable of finding it all by ourselves of course he didn't say that now temptation is a really big topic in fact it is so big we're gonna save it for next time so don't miss next time not because temptation is an issue for you but i don't know maybe you'll pick up some tips to share with a friend either way don't miss part three of grown-up prayers but as always before you go here are three questions to keep the conversation going or maybe to get the conversation started question number one have you ever had a season where you had to do without um steady income maybe a job maybe you dealt with food scarcity maybe something else and during that season of lack during that season when you had to go without how did you pray and then when things turned around when your fortune changed did your prayers change and if so how and if so why question number two would you be hesitant or will you be hesitant to pray and forgive me of my sins as i also have forgiven everyone else of their sins against me will you hesitate to pray that is there someone you need to forgive and then question number three and here's the big challenge would you be willing would you be willing not to memorize okay but would you be willing at least to pray proverbs 38 through 9 every day this week maybe write it out type it out put it on your mirror somewhere keep falsehood and lies far from me give me only my daily bread otherwise i might have too much and disown you and say who is the lord or i might become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my god would you be willing to pray that every single day this week again put it somewhere where you can see it and just just make it a prayer the truth is many of us probably most of us by international standards for sure many of us run the risk of losing our faith or losing an active sense of dependence on god because we have so much we are actually set up to fall into the ditch of who is the lord is there even a lord do i even need god i think i'm fine no you're not and i'm not but it's tempting to think so so let's pray like jesus taught us to pray let's pray our way let's pray our way to hands and heart open surrender and if we do if we do like when we learn to swim we will be introduced to a world that we would never understand and never experience otherwise i'd love to pray for us heavenly father for many of us this is a healthy and helpful review for others of us this is so challenging we really do want to be back on the land so father would you give us the courage to get stuck and stay stuck in our prayers until we are willing and able to pray our way to hands open surrender to you because you are the heavenly father we can trust and i pray all of this in the matchless name of jesus who modeled all of this for us in his name [Applause] amen [Music] [Applause] give me vision to see things cause you know just [Music] [Applause] give me vision [Music] to see [Music] [Applause] [Music] me things [Music] you know just [Applause] and i will love my you [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] forever [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: North Point Community Church

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Length: 43min 28sec (2608 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 14 2021