Levi Lusko Passion Update _ To the Brim " Fresh Life " ( Feb 08, 2018 ) TBN

his goal in this day when 50% of their fall apart yet I think God has something even more in store for you than just not failing by God's grace we're gonna thrive and not just survive we're gonna take names out our marriages are gonna be the source of blessing and your freshness and reward and and just a source of strength something you can't wait to come home to [Music] all right well we are so excited to be jumping in now to save the day part for anybody excited to return to the save the day series we're talking about sex we're talking about relationships we're talking about marriage we're talking about love and if that's not exciting enough I brought my wonderful secret weapon this is lust go to help me preach this thing this weekend and so thankful for you opening up your heart and letting letting our church be encouraged as we preach this thing together so we're gonna we're gonna have some fun yeah and in a lot of ways we saved the best for last but but save the day that's what we're talking about yeah in this series has just been so amazing I'm so thankful for my husband pouring just this gold into our hearts of relationships and wherever we're at hopefully as you're taking notes these are and these are things that you're able to look back on and but in the series we've been learning how to protect our future by living carefully right now in Ephesians Paul says to not live foolishly but to live wisely considering the time and so that's exactly what we're doing we're we're knowing that how we live today is gonna soon become our past which will then show up in our future which is so crazy to think about but it's so true as we're living right now it's becoming our past and it's gonna show up into our future so you don't have to get to the future and not like what you're getting because you're in control of what gets put in there right now exactly and so if we're living living carefully today our future selves will thank us what we're doing the things now that our future will be happy about we also learned that that wild living in your single years isn't something that will get out of your system but will stay in your system right and and so the things that you're doing now isn't going to be something that that when you're older and then you get married to one person like we've been learning in the series that we'll all of a sudden just be gone but that's it that is stuff that will be in your trunk that you'll be carrying into your marriage keep the junk out of the trunk yeah exactly and we've been also focusing on this idea this such important idea of not looking for the right one not finding the right one but becoming the right way Jenny yeah it's great yeah we have a friend whose name is Andy Stanley he pastors a church in Atlanta and he has this great soundbite on that subject he says he says instead of looking for that person he says focus on becoming the person that the person you're looking for is looking for we also talked about how to not get divorced and by being married like you mean it right and to guard against the the enemies of infidelity and entropy and excessive individual individuality and I just loved excuse me this the strategy that is both human and divine great I'm fighting for your marriage but then also holding the rod of God over your life and it's just such a wonderful snake bird picture when we're doing everything we can fighting for unity in our marriage fighting for each other not with each other but then also allowing God's grace to to grease the wheels of our relationships it's just so important here's the second component k because anybody think that just not failing is not enough now that's an ambitious goal in this day when 50% of marriages fall apart yet I think God has something even more in store for you than just not failing by God's grace we're gonna thrive and not just survive we're gonna our marriages are gonna be the source of blessing and refreshment and reward and and just a source of strength something you can't wait to come home to it's not gonna be a ball and chain it's gonna be a source of great blessing because the way God set it up you who has a wife and finds a wife has found a good thing and has obtained favor from the Lord we want our marriages to be what they're meant to be a place that God can mainline favor and blessing straight into your life we're not talking about just not failing we're gonna have a marriage that's to be enjoyed not just to be endured by in Jesus here's the thing there is there is a way to be married where we never access the potential for what's in that marriage yeah and I think that this weekend I guess if you had to say what we're saving the date from we would say we're saving the date from unmet potential from from a marriage never never be even if it doesn't fall apart even if you manage to hang together and it can denigrate from being this holy spiritual loving covenant to being just basically a contract and where you basically just don't divorce before the kids are you basically just don't divorce because it would be just such a mess but but but that you make it to the end but never get out of the marriage what God has actually packed inside of it yeah you know the same thing is true in your Christian faith did you know the Bible says that that that years spent doing a thing is no guarantee of progress in it you could be a Christian for 60 years old but still be a spiritual newborn the Bible describes those who should be growing learning exercising judgment but basically are still doing the ABCs of Christian anthill Christianity that you never grow up and in your faith in and the same is true when it comes to marriage you're spent doing a thing is no guarantee of progress in it you can be in a place where you're coexisting basically roommates but not communing in the in the real sense not knowing each other as God intends for us to and so that's what we're gonna talk about this weekend so good and we we're calling this message this weekend to the brim would you see that with me to do the brand brand do the brand and we're gonna reading in John 2 this weekend that's right so to the brims our title if you're taking notes ahem to the brand-new title as you take notes we're gonna give this aka the message is gonna have a subtitle so to the brim aka the marriage you were born to have it's really marriage you were born to have great john ii starting in verse 1 on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding and when they ran out of wine the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine jesus said to her woman what does your concern have to do with me my hour has not yet come his mother said to his servants whatever he says to you do it now there were set there six waterpots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece so stone pots with twenty to thirty gallons but you know my favorite to read this this is New King James that you're reading out of it my favorite is the King James for that verse because instead of twenty to thirty gallons it says now these stone pots each contain two to three firkins I just think it's funny what the heck's a firkin although part of me wants us to bring back that unit of measurement cuz obviously a firkin is like ten gallons so what if you're like how much could that stone pot hold well I reckon about two to three firkins because that would just be a great sentence right you may proceed that's good SI r ki n i want a quest to bring me some firkin back if miley can't work I confirm I just I just declared it you just declared that I'm married like I mean it go ahead okay every seven I won't distract you anymore okay Jesus I just distracted by you normally I'm just looking at a bunch of people crossing their arms I get a look at about how wide this is amazing jesus said to them fill the waterpots with water and they filled them up to the brand to the brim everyone say to the brim through the brim and he said to them draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast and they took it when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from but the servants who had drawn the water knew wow the master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said to him every man at the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk then the inferior you have kept the good wine until now it's an important story why because it's a statement it's a statement this is the first sign Jesus ever performed you see his earthly miracles were always signs too to tell something to tell a story and and this this one is is the first of them it's the first earthly miracle Jesus ever performed what's interesting about it is that it's at a wedding what's interesting about that is that God the Father chose to begin and end the Bible with weddings the book of Genesis chapter 2 almost straight from creation first thing God does is he sets man up and then performs the first wedding and the Bible ends the book of Revelation with the marriage supper of the lamb so so God begins and ends his book that he gave to us with with with marriage and then Jesus's earthly ministry starts out the same exact way it begins with a wedding now what's interesting about that is that Jesus's last miracle he performed before he died on the cross was what raising Lazarus his friend from the dead Jesus is three and a half years on earth our book ended with what a wedding and a funeral what does that tell us that tells us that from the altar to the grave God cares for every detail of your life with everything you go through every issue he cares about your domestic life nothing so small that he doesn't care nothing so big Dayton can't fix what does this have to do with relationships everyone's wondering because I get it it's a wedding passage but it really whatever how about this God told us to tell you that barely enough is not good enough God told us to tell you that if you want to have the kind of marriage you were born to have help me I'll preach this thing listen to me listen me you gotta fill it up to the brim too often we have this kind of just good enough just scraping by mentality we don't you wouldn't say it but that's what we're living right I feel like God would have us to know some of us treat our marriages that way wow you have date night sweet it says we got it in six mile feel like we're pretty we're alright we're okay right right and that that's the mentality that we we tend to Reza here's the problem we will enjoy our marriages to the level of our exertion in them we will enjoy our marriages to the level and no more of our exertion in the good marriages don't happen on their own sorry Bubba it's just not how it works there's not like an epic husband gene or an awesome wife genome that you can discover in your DNA that just makes some III just think some of us have been handed worse things in life from what's been passed in our baggage by our family is for sure but but you know at the end of the day if your marriage isn't working perhaps it's because you're not yeah we have to draw water to give to Jesus who can turn it into that wine that we're meant to have a man so six pots are you ready to take them down yes we're calling the first pot making time this is a stone pot it's it's its contents are up to you you get to fill it with whatever you want to the making time pot why because time is the most precious gift you will ever give to your spouse time is the most important currency that our relationships operate on time why because communication is the lifeblood of a relationship and for communication to happen there has to be undistracted time you have the same amount of time as every other human being who's ever lived on this earth like I know you're super important you sound awesome but Benjamin Franklin Abraham Lincoln George Washington these people all just like you including the Lord Jesus Christ on earth had 168 hours per week to deal with so so you have stop your struggle is real you just choose to spend it based on your priorities you don't have a time problem you have a value problem first things first let's simplify if I do anything I'm gonna spend time with God today yeah if activated 5:30 so be on the spent time we've got today Elmo spent time with my wife imma spend time with my kids then I'm gonna approach my work right then I'm gonna approach etc etc today I'm gonna put working out as a high priority because my body feels healthy my heart feels healthy I mean I'm gonna leave margin in my life is so important that we understand the power of yes and no right I heard someone put it this way it's a good line listen to this he said if you will grow your know maybe God could bless you yes Wow if you would just grow your know maybe God could bless you yes yeah second pot great and the second one we're calling assuming the best great assuming the best not it's it's so easy to to assume the worst to assume to assign bad motives to actions but we see in first Corinthians 13 7 that love bears all things right it believes all things hopes all things endures all things um in in in this assuming the best I know for us in our relationships not assuming that they're against you or that they want to hurt you but assuming that they love you assuming that they want to help you if they did something maybe they didn't know that it hurt you so assuming oh he didn't know he didn't mean to hurt me so I'm gonna tell him and we're gonna work it out or I was just like all sudden frosty silent treatment and were left wondering like what what did I do right not knowing right because that's an easy thing if if he is seeming harsh oh well he's just meaning to hurt my feelings so I'm just gonna kind of shut him out for a little bit but just that communication and assuming he loves me so we'll work from that and not not working from he doesn't love me but working from he loves me don't expect them to read your mind before husbands and for wives but for wives specifically this is something that I feel like God was teaching me and that I wanted to share with you is that God has given us to our husbands to help them but he's also given us to our husbands to help them help us and to help them love us and so when we have that mentality of well you should we got married you should know how to treat your wife you should know how to love me you should know how to respect me but that's part of that that closeness and and learning and communication is you're helping them love you you're helping them help you just having that that knowledge that you're on the same team and that you have one scorecard we're calling this third stone waterpot role-playing that's the name we're gonna put on it role-playing a good marriage has plenty of role-playing and not even as you're right in that I'm like well that's pretty kinky okay well we're never thought unny we go boys and Indians tonight what do you think huh settle down settle down I'm chasing your wife with the tomahawk you know it's like I'm it's fine it's totally whatever it was with your boat but let me say this when I'm talking about our thing is that man that's like she turns the bass signal on and I not just not true it's inappropriate though if she starts Fanning herself I've done my work my foot on my workplace I'm preaching so ha she's blessing blushing it when I say role-playing what I'm talking about is playing the role God's giving you in your home plant fulfilling that role the Bible says that marriage is actually meant to be an evangelistic tool to help win a world back to him people should look at your marriage and see the gospel being lived out and for that to happen you have to know your part for any production for any stage and it's either in a script they would tell who's the cast of characters and what role are they filling right here's what we have Ephesians chapter 5 verse 21 and this is by the way where we start and further so here's the instruction submit to one another out of reverence for Christ how is the gospel gonna be preached in your home you both submit to one another out of reverence for Christ you both have such a heart of reverence for Jesus that you're both submissive to each other submitting to one another whose job is it to submit and marriage both the husband and the wife to submit to each other out of reverence for a higher leader who's over the home we're submitting mutually because of Jesus for wives this what this submission to one another means submit to your husband here's the key as to the Lord okay for all authorities from God verse 25 for husbands this means love your wives just here we go as Christ just as Christ loved the church he gave how did he love her how did he love the church he gave up his life for her all right well the wife's role model is to live as the church submits to Christ and the husband's role model and the production is to be Jesus in the relationship okay oh that's great I get a ha ha she gets to submit to me yeah you get to die so that's awesome have fun with that because how did Jesus how did Jesus submit to us he laid down his life he submitted two nails for us okay submissive isn't she gets to she gets to do what I say submission is you you get to lay down your life for her on a day-to-day basis to help her to courage encourage her to coach her and and and to lead the family in devotions submission isn't you tell her what you want for dinner so submission her sanity to you is is if you saying let's pray together as a family this is what we're gonna give this year this is how we're gonna serve this year this is our family's gonna make a strategic impact your wife is waiting for you to lead in that way man to rise up get up off that couch turn that freakin TV off and lead your home like Jesus leads the church women are waiting eager to see that day time and so the key is husband submit to each other why submit to each other as the church does as Christ does we're going into the fourth water pot which is going the extra-mile that's a good polling the extra mile I'm in Matthew 541 jesus said and whoever compels you to go one mile go with him two and this is just a whole new way of thinking a whole new mentality I'm in those days a Roman soldier could come up to any any one citizen yeah any citizen poke them with their spear and make them walk a mile and so with this in your mind with their gear carrying all their stuff with their gear with the soldiers okay so they would they would make them walk a mile holding something and Jesus is saying if someone makes you walk a mile walk too and going that extra mile I think so many times in our society yeah go the extra mile I think so many times in our relationships though we just we just want to meet halfway we'll just we'll just do just the bare minimum to get to the halfway point you got to do your work to get to halfway point and then we'll try to figure something out whereas Jesus is saying no go the extra mile right go out of your way to serve it means sacrificing your own comfort it's preferring your spouse preferring their comfort above your own comfort Philippians 2 3 through 4 says let nothing be done through selfish ambition our conceit but in lowliness of mind let us esteem others better than himself let each of you look out not for his own interests but for also the interests of others and I think having just that humility that loneliness of heart and that willingness to cheerfully give above and beyond is just gonna in your marriage going the extra-mile means you don't look for the miracle you be the mirror come on be the miracle come on somebody be the miracle you wish what happened to you that'll change your marriage work alright that's the fourth water pot the fifth one we're calling identifying victories how much water is in your pot that's labeled identifying victories when was the last time you caught your spouse doing something right we're really good at letting our spouses know pretty good I would say letting our spouse's know our kids know our employees know when they've done something they shouldn't do but how about when you just came in and said hey you know what I really appreciate the way you did that it meant a lot to me when you thank you so much for thinking of right what if you in your marriage made it your goal this week to catch them doing something right to let them know what their wins and not just their losses let me tell you something you will hurt the morale of any relationship you will strain any relationship when the only time they hear from you it's corrective your tone and not congratulatory okay so learn to praise yourselves that number is number five what's number citrate and number six we've labeled naked and unashamed also known as my favorite pot I like the ring of it naked and unashamed this is scandalous let's just end this sermon early and get out of here okay here's here's number six and what it means to us it means build intimacy and vulnerability intimacy and vulnerability great now I know we're talking about this as though it's sex and that's fun it is sex but sex is just the beginning right sex is just the beginning building intimacy and vulnerability of which sex is only the beginning Genesis 2:25 the man and his wife were both naked but they felt no shame question why did they not feel ashamed being naked because in the most important sense they weren't actually naked they were clothed on the inside right they were clothed with the righteousness of God they hadn't fallen yet they weren't susceptible to sin there was no shame there was no insecurity there was no feeling of superiority there was no remorse none of those things that cause us to have to feel like we need to cover ourselves in fig leaves none of those things that that make us hunker down and keep secrets and have things in the in the closet that are skeletons right none of those things existed so they could be completely open and transparent with one another naked on the outside because why they were clothed were counted on the inside but you see there's a world of difference between living with someone and sharing a tube of toothpaste and and really doing life if someone knows you that's why out of having sex with his wife was describing out of knowing his wife there was a commuting of so a mingling of of souls so what have we learned we've learned that we gotta make time you got to assume the best you gotta there's gotta be some role-playing Batman go the extra mile that identify our victories and we got to be naked and unashamed together and if we have all these you'll get to enjoy margin what we won't be barely enough we'll always have enough if we'll just fill these pots up to the brim God will do his magic and work wonders and my mountains we just love the chance that we have to bring God's Word to your home to your life that's right and I love this so much just this example of pouring into our relationships pouring into our marriage and knowing that what we pour is but we'll get out in that picture of the servants just pouring water in pouring water in up to the brim and what they got out of that was wine up to the brim and so for us and how important is it and we can't stress it enough that we need to be pouring into the relationships in our lives knowing that we're going to get out of it what we put into it and so I want to encourage you today the relationships that you're in maybe in your marriage in your family with your parents whatever relationships that you are in that are difficult to go that extra mile to go measure in in to pour encouragement into that relationship and to find something that you're thinking for about that person and you'll just see such a sweetness as you pour in and receive what comes out of it that's such a good word Jenny you know one time someone said that if your wife's not flourishing maybe it's because you're not nourishing her and I love that idea that as a husband or as a wife you could look at your spouse and say they're not doing this and maybe there's some way in which you're not pouring that into them that would then be there to find for you to discover as a source of blessing to you so the idea is just keep pouring like [Music] well we're starting a brand-new series of messages this weekend more than a series of me a journey for us a journey we're calling the series below as in above below as in above just by way of syllabus let me tell you where we're gonna be going on this journey to Easter we're gonna be studying the Lord's Prayer week by week piece by piece it's gonna be powerful the Lord's Prayer let's read it all together off the screens here it is from Matthew's Gospel chapter 6 beginning in verse 9 where we find it it says our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen come on somebody don't you just feel better having said that get it that getting that all up into your into your life is is such a powerful thing just 66 little words it takes hardly 30 seconds to say that out loud 66 words 30 seconds just just just just five short verses and yet that is one of the most powerful one of the most loved one of the the most well known stretches of scripture in the whole Bible I'd like to ask you challenge you to everyone who can hear my voice if you would through the course this series commit to memorize the Lord's Prayer in the New King James Version that's the version we just read it out of so that we can't all say it together each week of the series and I think that'll be really cool and and above and beyond that I'm gonna ask that we all pray it three times every single day I encouragement to use as you pray that you would slow down that you would savor it and not choke it down like a Tyrannosaurus Rex do like your mama said you know huge bite what is it 20 times that's too many eight times 20 minutes before you swim I'm not sure you could swim with the Lord's Prayer I'll be just fine what do I ask you to slow down because I think one of the most dangerous things about the Lord's Prayer is how well-known it is matter of fact as I was thinking about that and praying about it God God led me to title this first message in the series again for the first time again for the first time my prayer is that each of us as we would pray it we would do so each time as though it were the first time they say the familiarity breeds contempt and that's true only if you let it one of the most impactful sermon illustrations as far as ministry is concerned I ever heard came from pastor Andy Stanley at Northpoint Church in Atlanta Georgia he talks about this old couch this old couch he gave a whole talk to a group of pastors I heard a while back called this old couch and he said every church has an old couch and the old couch is something in the church that's been there so long you don't even notice it anymore but it's the first thing your first-time guests come in and see sometimes you go to visit a friend and you walk into their house and you see some old couch that they you notice it right away that it's kind of Harley you don't really want to sit on it but they don't see it anymore they don't see the stains they don't see how Jack did they don't see that it's an imaginary thing because they just see it every day and always have and so they take it for granted in ministry we can have an old couch lying around something and I always encourage our staff to to try in every time they walk into the campus pretend like you've never walked in before how would you know where the kids ministry is I try and always go to our website as though I'd never been to it before what I know how to find the way to the teaching what I know how to find the way to the different campuses you know because the truth is there is a curse to having knowledge once you have it it becomes very different to act as though you don't have it that's why it's so easy to make a bad product because they're in the details so much they're all up in it so they don't understand how the public is gonna first see it and whether they'll ever know what this product does or or what it's actually even even for there's a curse to having any knowledge and I fear that the Lord's Prayer because of how loved it is that's a double edged sword it can become that old couch oh yeah yeah let's pray I know that I know that we can rattle it off without even thinking about it we can say it without being fazed by it but if we're not fazed by it we can't grow in it we can't be blessed by it like God wants to bless us so we have to fight against the curse of knowledge if it's just recited mechanically without stopping to digest what you're saying and the let it sink down into your tastebuds of your soul then it can become what it was given to fix the reason the Lord's Prayer exists is because the disciples were like hey Jesus will you teach us to pray I think that's how they said it actually we will you teach us how to pray that's what they said and and Jesus said yeah I'll teach you how to pray he goes do not pray like everyone you ever see pray in that funny he said he said like the religious people who like the pros at praying don't pray like that he said he said they like with their in fact look at this he said verse chapter 6 verse 7 when you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they will be heard for their many words you know prayer is a funny thing we do so many funny things when were praying apparently in Jesus's day there was like a contest unspoken contest to see how many times you could repeat big flowery theological words O God Most High I think we have a different contest seems like today we pray with a contest that's unspoken how many times can you say God's name while you're praying Oh Godfather gut gut father gut father God O Lord God Father God Romans 8:28 that father God Lord God and he's up in heaven going I know my name get to the point is there ever gonna be a prayer in there in your prayer any where Jesus was like don't do that God already knows what you need before you ask he's kind of a mind reader so so get to the point make make it make it make it quick I think the idea is just from the heart and he said in fact when you pray properly like this and he gave his Lord prayer Lord's Prayer there and and like I said it's only sixty-six words it's only only a couple tweets really and and so that leads us to this echo a truth it's faith not length that will give a prayer strength it's not a contest to impress anybody you know I've been with people and hey why don't you pray I don't know how I think actually you'd be probably more qualified than any of us because the less you know how to do it the better you'll probably be added because it's meant to be a conversation not a contest it's not something where you you're doing it right there's Nick is there a right way to drown and call out for a lifeguard help that's probably like the best prayer you could pray and I think when we look at it that way as a conversation from the gut it will change this prayer as we pray it three times a day throughout this whole series and make it a part of our lives it will change it from being just a poem you memorize as a kid on the same level like mary had a little lamb or anything else you could recite without thinking about it into a soul building life-giving destiny altering experience because you're gonna allow God to impart the grace to you that he wants to from the interaction from that that chance to speak to him and that's what we're after because please know this it's not praying the Lord's Prayer where after it's living the Lord's Prayer now this weekend where we're gonna look only it's the first two lines it's verse 9 and 10 you don't have to read it out loud jesus said our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven I've broken this first piece of it up into into four categories designation celebration then anticipation and finally consecration those are the four categories that we'll put it in first let's talk about the designation that's a title that's a name designation is is is is the way that you're told to refer to somebody how to address somebody I'm told that if you go visit royalty there will be those that will prep you before you walk in how to speak to them how do how to talk to them what title to use Jesus here gives a shocking and revolutionary permission to speak to God who created the heavens and the earth who's gonna judge us when we die just to speak to how we supposed to talk to that guy Jesus says here's how you could just say our Father in Heaven now here's the question well then what happened from the old to the new why is all of a sudden God now our daddy before he wasn't did he changed no oh we changed it's us to change in the New Testament why because of Jesus is coming the kingdom of God was ushered in and a whole new way of relating to God was possible he put adoption on the table Jesus did the only way we can become sons and daughters was God sending his son to the world so we could join the family first words out of Jesus's mouth recorded in the entire Bible what were they well it was Luke 2:49 when he got lost as a kid in the temple did you not know that I would be about my father's business first thing he ever said were the last words off his lips before he died well they were in Matthew or Luke 2346 father into your hands I commit my spirit first statement father last statement father I dare you read the whole New Testament you will only find one time in all of Scripture that Jesus referred to his dad as anything but father and it was when he cried out just before he died my God my God why have you forsaken me that is to say in that moment as he was hanging there most theologians call that the crucifixion within the crucifixion where all of the sins of the world were laid upon him Isaiah 53 says in that moment as he was being made an offering for sin God the Father turned his face away and for the first time in all of eternity or human history Jesus and his father were separated so that is to say he experienced the distance that should be ours looking to the Almighty God so that we could have the nearness and intimacy so we could have the love and familiarity so we could have the ability to draw near the right to become sons of God adoption heirs joint heirs with Christ if he has that we have it sonship being a daughter he called his father my god so you could call his Godfather we make mistakes we backslide we we have bad days and good days and and and some days we don't feel worthy of it but deal that the prodigal son is he came to the Father saying I'm not worthy because your son the father smothered him with hugs and kisses wouldn't hear of it it brought him into the home gave him the the Rope gave him the ring gave him the party now do you think it would have honored the father if a couple days into it the son had a bad day maybe he says something rude or talk bad about his dad behind his back do you think if the son felt so bad about that he went out to the backyard and covered himself in mud again you think that would make the father feel honored God takes no joy in us paying penance for things Jesus already paid for he wants us to rush into his presence not referring to him as the mighty one though we do want to worship and exalt him but to come in with a familiarity of a child and I want to give you a picture of what your prayer life should be lest you show me what it's supposed to be like to pray come on you're supposed to be like this come on come on come on come on it's supposed to be like this that's what prayer is hyung clover let's show him what prayer is again okay okay go back go back let's get a big white shot so we're gonna say our Father who art in heaven here we go our Father go we're praying we're praying we're praying we're praying we're praying we're in his arms run in two as I've said into his arms feigning tears run into his arms come on Hebrews four puts it this way it says let us therefore here we go Hebrews four says let us therefore come boldly say boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need you see God wants you just to run in in prayer to run into his arms to come boldly into his presence just as welcome as clover is in my arms so every one of us are welcome in the throne room of grace so you can have help so you can give mercy in time of need God wants to smother you with kisses he wants to put a furry vest on you he wants to put temporary tattoos on your arms oh look at that one that's snow-white who you little tight shot that look at that we love you clover thanks for being a part of the sermon when we say in heaven didn't know this he's not only in heaven the Bible says this the Bible says that there's no work out isn't he's on me present hashtag fourth wall series so when we say he's heaven that doesn't mean he's not here it's just this that here here's the mom Laura he is where we are but is also where we aren't he is where we are we're calling him father in heaven because he's also where we aren't he is where we're going to be he rules above us and because of that he has perspective he's outside of time and so knows how things are gonna work out as far as I read the Bible it all works out in the end so if it hasn't worked out in your life yet that just means it's not the end he's still working he's still got a plan so when you remember he's in heaven you you can take a little more comfort in what's going on not be rattled because it ain't over till he says it's over he always gets the last word I'll talk about this plural pronoun our Father first word of the Lord's Prayer is and father it's our Father what I love about this is the fact that there is no personal pronoun in the entire Lord's Prayer everything's everything's plural and I think that's intentional for us to remember that our relationship with him brings us into relationship with each other are looking up should impact how we look around and the schisms and the problems and the fights that so often we would come to him in prayer with anyway when we remember our Father we can't go away from prayer and not show grace to someone who's also in the family because if he's my dad and he's your death then we got to figure out a way to make this work because we're family and that's I think the power of remembering he's your dad - he's my dad - let's now talk about a celebration that's our second category in verse 9 we see it says hallowed be your name hallowed be your name he's telling us to pray to celebrate God's name for our prayers to include a celebration of who he is I like how the JB Phillips puts it it puts it this way God may your name be honored may your name be honored and the honor something is to lift it up to honor something is to celebrate it to honor something is to designate it as special to designate it as in its own category completely and we honor God because he is worthy of our honor he's worthy of our praise his name is worthy of praise as we speak a life over his name as we exalt his name as we lift it up and make it famous as we recognize that it's majestic in all the earth what are we doing we're remembering all that his name has done for us his name is the only name in heaven or earth that can save us it's his name that's the name above all names it's his name that causes every knee to bow tongue to confess unclean spirit to go out that causes the the mountains to shake as we lift up his name everything else in life is put into perspective it gives the separation and elevation over our problems are we living in such a way that people might see our good works and glorify our father's name in heaven are we dragging the name of Jesus through the mud or are we living in such a way that people like I don't even believe what you believe but I like how you live I like what you do I want what you have I want the hope I want the peace I want that joy you don't seem to be rattled by troubles your marriage seems to be so so selfless I sure want what you got even if I don't know it let's now move on to our third category which is anticipation anticipation which is what will build in your heart if you live versus aying your kingdom come it's it's a prayer for the return of Christ it's a prayer for for him to to rule and reign it's a desire for Christmas 2.0 to happen it's a prayer for every single body of every single believer to rise from the ground and be transformed it got buried as a seed and dishonor it gets raised immortal and power it's a prayer for for him to rule and reign with a rod of iron it's a it's a prayer for that White Horse to come and the one who rides on it whose name is faithful and true to establish his reign where there's no more crying and no more dying work these former things have passed away it's the desire of our heart for there to be no cancer for there to be no more shame and divorce for there for the devii no more car accident or text in the night to take your breath away no more being summoned to the hospital of someone we love who's in danger of and as you look forward to that that one far-off divine event towards which all creation moves to quote Tennyson it will cause there to be anticipation in your heart and to the degree that we look forward to that we will find traction momentum and fuel to do his will here below thinking of above is going to give us strength on earth below in fact Philippians 3:20 puts it this way for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ I was in the dentist getting some work done I had had a crown break off and so I had all this work done if you follow me on snapchat you've seen high on nitrous oxide deranged snaps anyhow I was I was I was there and they told me we got to put a temporary crown on this was down for a couple weeks and and you got to really watch what you eat I was like oh great I'm only speaking around the country probably a tooth break off mid-sentence and anyhow so she goes then we'll put the new one on the dentist comes in they started doing all this and and I can't feel anything so I'm you know but they're there like I feel my whole body just being jolted around so I was being rough I'm like I can't feel anything but I know horrible things are happening to me even though I can't feel them I know I'm gonna be bruised and and batter for a couple days because of this and and so it all finishes the temporary crown gets put on the orders get sent off to the lab they're gonna make the new tooth and and and and right before they all leave they take the mask off take the glasses off and the dentist he stops and he puts his hand on my shoulder he says I know that was rough and I know you gotta wait it's gonna be hard it's gonna be difficult life's not gonna be the same for a couple weeks you'll have some things to get used to but I just want you to know it's all gonna be worth it when your crown gets here and I'm like your kingdom come it's all I know it's hard I know sometimes it's difficult but your king is coming we gotta believe for the day when Christ when Christ returns I'm like my dentist is preaching but but God's kingdom is not just a place it's a relationship fact jesus said in luke 17:21 the kingdom of God is within you it's within you so the kingdom of Jesus is experienced every single time someone boughs their knee to him embracing him as their Savior and Lord so by us praying your kingdom come it's essentially an evangelistic prayer may your kingdom come into people's hearts may your kingdom come into people's lives may I do what I can now to alleviate suffering to touch hurting people to bring hope to the hopeless to pray healing for the sick to bring medicine to those who don't have it to bring food for those who are hungry the last of our categories today consecration or as we've put it here or as Jesus put it your will be done on earth as it is in heaven praying for is king become eventually will motivate us to do things that we can do initially we're being a part of the the solution to what's going wrong here now yeah I've heard it put this way the purpose of prayer then is not us getting our will done in heaven it leaves us no other conclusion that our prayer is meant to bring about his will here on earth below I want to end with with two thoughts the first thought is I want to tell you how to pray this prayer as it comes out at least one of the three times a day I want you to really slow down and pray it like this with each line I want you to pull it to the back of your heart and then let it unroll I wonder if as you pull our Father in heaven you don't let the pairing would that be thank you for what it cost to make me your son thank you for what it took to make me your daughter let pair it with with gratitude then pull the next line-in load it back up at the back of your heart and it let it unroll Father in heaven Hallowed be your name thank you that it was the name of Jesus I call for salvation thank you that in this situation your name is greater than cancer thank you that in this situation your name is greater than my shame and then all in the next line no I'm asking you to hit what I'm saying is use them as categories not just a carbon copy use that as a category to put different prayers and not just a carbon copy of the exact prayer as it goes the second thing I want just to put on your radar as we wind this down is understanding that everything we've just read is praise My Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done that's praise agreed praising his kingdom his will his name and his dwelling place but then the Lord's Prayer ends with praise we'll get there on Easter Sunday but tell me if thine is the kingdom and power and glory for ever and ever amen is that not just does that not just crescendo does that not just climax in the most beautiful way so listen to me the Lord's Prayer begins and ends with praise when God makes a prayer sandwich he uses praise as bread and in fact if his actual prayer the bread is in the middle so weird sandwich ever prays on the outside bread on the inside half of the prayers worship I wonder if we don't sometimes skip worship in prayer because of a feeling of urgency with what we're praying for because of what we're worried about so badly that would cause us to go to God in prayer but more time in worship would be less occasion for worry because praise lifts your heart up and causes you to realize you don't need to worry at all we feel like we can't praise because we got to pray because we're so worried but if we would just stop to praise we'd have less to be worried about because he would lift us up to a higher place and give us more and give us more strength he'd give us more power he'd give us more glory and so that's the way to get God's glory into your story it's to lift him up higher and and I think that prayer is built to be a transfer of power like plugging your iPhone in and I god wants his you to draw out to him to call out to him for him to cause power to flow into your heart my goodness thank you so much for tuning in we just love the chance that we have to bring messages from God's Word to you and it's such a crazy honor to get a broadcast that out and have it there in your television so thanks for watching we are really excited about the series of messages you're watching this idea of living below as it is above and learning to not only pray the Lord's Prayer frequently but to learn to live out of it to live out of the power of God being your father to live out of the power of him living in heaven and so we're just excited to go on this journey with you that's right and I would encourage you to to make me memorize this Lord's Prayer with us as we're going through as we're learning me to eat there's just something about knowingness and happiness just in our hearts ready to pray maybe getting our kids involved and you're praying our kids know it and love it and everyone's robble say let's pray the Lord's Prayer together and it's just something really special as a family as we're learning to pray it and live it like you said exactly and just like I said in the message you know the way that you pair wine with chocolate or cheese with espresso I think the Lord's Prayer is best paired

Channel: Levi Lusko Sermons

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Rating: 4.8095236 out of 5

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Id: xwFqUrvaI4o

Length: 52min 25sec (3145 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 08 2018