"Teach Us to Pray (Streams of Light #2) - Pastor Doug Batchelor

amazing grace like me like me i once was lost twas grace [Music] is the grace the sun we to see us praise [Music] thank you very much brothers beautiful song that always stirs the heart i want to welcome you one more time to the streams of light revival and again it's a privilege to be here with you in birmingham england i wish it was warmer but they told me that means i have to come back and see that it is true the sun does actually shine at some point during the year here and i want to welcome our friends who are watching on television right now or streaming on the internet greetings this program is a time that we've set aside to seek the lord we've invited our friends who are believers around the world to direct their attention to having a revival in our experience now i felt this was very important because as i look at what is happening in the world the events prophecies being fulfilled even as i speak the signs of the time things that are transpiring even in the church if there was ever a time for us to gather together as a people to seek the lord's face to turn from our sins and ask for a revival of his spirit now is a good time i really believe that friends i think as we look back from eternity on this time we'll see that god was providing a window for us to experience renewal and really growth in our relationship with the lord now i am going to talk tonight specifically about prayer and i hope that you will practice even while i preach i usually tell the preacher to practice what he preaches well i'm going to ask you to practice what i'm preaching while i preach it if you pray for me as i talk about prayer you might get a better sermon so you'll be doing yourself a benefit now i'm sincere i really would like to hear what the lord has to say because i'm in this with you i'm simply the the vehicle right now that god is using to communicate his word but i'm telling you what i need to hear there's a story in the bible that amazes me you turn to luke chapter 11. you can also find a similar passage in matthew 6. luke 11 verse 1 and it came to pass as he jesus was praying in a certain place that when he ceased one of his disciples said to him lord teach us to pray as john also taught his disciples now it doesn't say which disciple said that might have been peter might have been andrew but the very fact that you've got these young people that had grown up surrounded by synagogues and the scriptures and here they are saying lord teach us to pray weren't they church members didn't they know how to pray last night we talked about how the book of god was lost in the house of god and here you've got the story of the apostles who christ had chosen from the sons of israel coming to jesus and saying teach us to pray you know if you read about this story in the book desire of ages it indicates that after observing jesus getting off his knees from this episode of prayer they saw that his face was beaming they could tell that he had been somehow invigorated spiritually by his time with god and they realized that their feeble prayer experience was woefully lacking and after they saw jesus when he finished praying they're looking at all at him with on they're going oh wow lord something happened to you we want that experience teach us to pray and the understood sentiment is teach us to pray like you pray how can we have that experience that relationship with the father that you have now you've probably heard a lot of prayers in your life but my guess is that you can think of a few prayers that you've heard where it stood out in your mind this person really knew the one they were talking to they used to say that when joseph bates would pray that everybody would grow very still nobody would be restless you felt like you were brought into the audience of god because he really had a relationship with the lord and it's like the veil had been pulled aside i want that experience and the prayer of my heart and i hope the prayer of your hearts is lord teach us to pray now is the time if we want to see god face to face then we need to start walking with him now and have that experience of prayer let's face it there's a lot of people that go to church and their prayers are like the prayer of the pharisee they're praying for the benefit of those who are listening lord i thank thee i'm not like other men the prayers are all about themselves i do this and i do that and our prayers really need to be that earnest pleading like that publican who smote on his breast and said lord have mercy on me a sinner his prayer was much shorter but his prayer was answered because no one ever commends a musician because they play long they commend them because they play well and it's not duration or length that makes a prayer powerful with god it's the sincerity it's the the earnestness in our prayers now i believe we desperately need the baptism of the holy spirit i think we need that latter rain experience that the disciples had to prepare us and to pray prepare the world for jesus return what were the disciples doing before the holy spirit was poured out they were there in the upper room praying they spent 10 days in prayer they were putting aside their differences forgiving one another you know there had been some division and animosity part of what we're going to study tonight deals with also forgiving as being a vehicle to having the holy spirit poured out before the latter rain came in the days of elijah the people fell down before the lord and they said the lord he is god the lord he is god there was an earnestness in that prayer and that declaration then god could open the heavens and send the rain but prayer will precede revival now when they said jesus teach us to pray what did the lord do that's when he recited what we commonly call the lord's prayer and that's a little bit of a misnomer of course you've got it here in luke it's worded a little bit differently in matthew i'm going to read it to you right now from matthew jesus said in verse 9 in this manner therefore pray now what does it mean when it says man or did he say repeat this prayer over and over again now what that means is here is an outline for how you should pray it's worth our time to give attention to the lord's prayer which is really the disciples prayer we always think of it as a you know something that we say repetitively i used to go to catholic uh school two different catholic schools and when a person went to confession i never really went to confession i was a little bit of a i don't know kind of a bipolar religious person because here i was with a jewish mother sort of an agnostic baptist father and they sent me to catholic school so i never went to confession but i know my friends used to always have to repeat the lord's prayer or their hail mary's and and i used to think to myself why would god be benefited by our saying a prayer over and over again did he forget it does he need to hear it again jesus said pray not in vain repetition as the heathen do for they think they'll be heard for their much speaking now there's nothing wrong with saying a prayer more than once how many of you pray for your children have you found yourself praying that same prayer many times that's not what christ is talking about when he said pray not in vain repetition he means you know your prayer should not just be some memorized passage that you keep saying over and over again like you're you know there's buddhists that may turn a wheel and they think every they call it a prayer wheel every time you turn it you get credit for a prayer or you got these beads and i've been on planes before just before takeoff people are all pulling out the rosary and they're they're going through their beads and and that's not what prayer really is prayer is the appeal of your heart with your intelligence to the mind of god god says come now let us reason together and so then jesus shared this very simple prayer now i'm going to read through it and we're going to break it down our father which art 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 slightly different in luke's version and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever now that's the lord's prayer it's very interesting when jesus said pray in this manner how long do you think that took 65 words if you had the word amen 66 that's in the authorized version there might be slight variations in different translations if you're going to pray a long prayer that should be your personal prayer and i frankly think we pray too long in public and not long enough in private i think we need to spend more time on our knees in private that will give earnestness and a certain concentrated brevity to our public prayers i remember martin luther wrote somewhere he said if i don't spend at least three hours a day in prayer i can't get anything done i read that and i think well i don't pray very much and a lot of these great men of god george whitfield hails from your country great revivalist made his way over to america as well he used to read his bible on his knees but prayed earnestly people would weep as they heard him pray but he would spend hours in prayer and we're just not praying very much jesus sometimes spent a whole night in prayer i'll not ask for a show of hands but i'd venture to say not too many people have spent the whole night in prayer now if you've got a child and i see you you'll know what it means to spend a whole night in prayer sometimes we think prayer is like that little glass window that's got the fire extinguisher behind it says in case of emergency take the hammer break the glass and we think that's how we're supposed to use prayer in case of emergency you pray that's not what a christian experience is you're praying without ceasing all the time and think about it if jesus the son of god felt the necessity to spend an entire night in prayer how much more do we sinful feeble mortals need prayer by the way i'd like to recommend a very good passage it's a chapter in the book steps to christ talks about the privilege of prayer i'd like to read you one little quote from there that i've got printed out here in my notes this is step steps to christ page 94. the darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray would you like to have more victory in your experience are you easily overcome pray more it how did jesus fight temptation he said it is written it is written it is written but what was he doing during those 40 days in the wilderness he spent 40 days in prayer he didn't just go out there to get a sunburn he went out there to commune with god and that's why he was able to defeat the devil the combination of having the words stored in his heart and that communion with his father he was ready when the devil pulled out his entire arsenal you will have more victory in your life i was going to read something to you and i got distracted here the darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray the whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin it's all because they do not make use of the privileges that god has given them in the divine appointment of prayer why should the sons and daughters of god be reluctant to pray when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's storehouse where our treasured the boundless resources of omnipotence without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we're in danger of growing careless and of deviating from the right path the adversary seeks continually to obstruct the way to the mercy seat that we may not by earnest supplication and faith obtain grace and power to resist temptation being a christian is following christ he wants us to have lives of victory you can't have that without having a real devotional life time in bible study and prayer that then leads to the third uh discipline which is sharing your faith we'll talk about another time but we talked about the bible last night we talked about prayer the two really go hand in hand i'm going to ask you point blank do you have a real personal devotional life where you are reading your bible and praying regular times of prayer every day i think there needs to be a focused time of prayer you should be praying when you're driving you could be praying when you're working you could be praying doing lots of different things but i think that god is important enough where you give him quality time i don't know if you've ever had your spouse say to you we need to spend time together and you'll say oh we've been together all week well that's not what i'm talking about i'm talking about quality time i don't know if any of you ever had these conversations in your family well don't ask me where i got that idea and when you're busy like i am frequently mrs batchelor says we need to do something together i said i've been home all day what number this time just you and me together you know what i'm talking about and so sure you can be saying i'm sending up little prayers to god through the day but do you have a regular time is he important enough in your life to say when i get up in the morning by the way i emphasize the morning because that's when the manna fell and if they waited too long to go get the manna it would evaporate and who was it john bunyan that said if you don't make time for god first thing in your day chances are you won't have much time later on the devil is going to try and get you so preoccupied i read another quote by c.s lewis where he said that there is going to be pressure as soon as your feet hit the ground i'm paraphrasing to have a menagerie of things flooding upon you and unless you make a disciplined effort to say i am going to carve out this time for god because i need it you're not doing god a favor it's really because it draws you up to him prayer doesn't bring him down he's everywhere but prayer will bring you up it helps calibrate your compass all through the day when you start that time with god so you begin your day with prayer find a passage in the bible you might there's a lot of bible reading programs you know what i do and i'm certainly not the example for everybody but there's so much bible software now that if you really want to study the word how many of you i'm just curious how many of you have a computer in your home let me see your hands i'd say that's more than 80 percent there's a lot of free software you can download i personally use something called e sword e dash sword.net i don't think they mind my sharing that it's free bible software all these different versions many different languages e-sword.net and it goes through all the commentaries and one of the most precious times of my days i get up early enough before the kids get up before karen gets up i have my regular bible reading has nothing to do with my sermon preparation time i'm always reading through the bible somewhere along the way today i started the book of hosea i just finished daniel chapter 12 went into the book of hosea i'm always for just doug and jesus i'm always reading through the bible all the time then whatever i read in sermon preparation that's completely separate but you need to have some structure in your time with god and if at first you feel like it's awkward or you might say well i didn't get anything out of it do it anyway you're getting more out of it than you think you're getting the lord will bless you the devil will try to distract you he'll try to discourage you sometimes you think but i'm so tired pastor doug and i for me to wake up a little earlier and have that regular time with god i'm so exhausted as it is i'm afraid i'll be even more tired i can't prove this scientifically but my experience has been that when i wake up a little earlier to have time with god somehow the lord compensates with spiritual vitamins and he energizes you you remember when jesus was hungry and the disciples went to get him food he had low blood sugar or something and they went to get food and they went off to the town of samaria while they were gone he was talking to the woman at the well i don't know that she ever even gave him a drink or anything to eat she ran off after he revealed he was the messiah and he had a little bible study with her the disciples came they said we've got some food he said i've got food that you don't even know about he was energized by doing his father's will i do believe that the holy spirit gives us spiritual strength that will translate into physical strength when you have time with god when elijah was fed by an angel and he drank the water that an angel gave him it says he went in the strength of that nourishment 40 days and 40 nights we all need that angel food don't we so if you'll take that time for prayer with god and i know we're in a busy world and everyone is stressed and tired and strained you take that time for god and again i can't prove it scientifically but my experience has been has been god will find a way to give you other rest or additional energy because he knows how important it is for you to have that time so take that time spend some time in the word structure your bible study if jesus needed to do it we need to do it now when you look at the lord's prayer i want you to notice how it begins he starts out talking about our relationship with god our father isn't it wonderful that the lord's prayer is designed very much like the ten commandments ten commandments deals with the first uh forty percent your relationship with god the last sixty percent your relationship with each other the ten commandments is divided in seven petitions the first three petitions or forty percent roughly deal with your relationship with god the last 60 deal with feed us lead us deliver us our relationship with each other but it begins with a relationship our father and not just any relationship but among the most precious relationships when god wanted to show us that he loved us god the father so loved us he sent god the son what more could he give and so he's saying you know what he's my father but you get to approach him as father too does it make a difference that you can talk to god as your father you know president abraham lincoln was a very busy man because he was president in the midst of the civil war but uh whenever his son todd wanted to see his father he somehow was able to get right past all the secretaries and all the security and he would walk right up into his father's presence whatever lincoln was doing he'd stop to find out what the question was that his son had for him you know one reason lincoln was so sensitive to that he had lost two sons and so when his son todd came to him and wanted to talk to him he had an audience with the president do you think your heavenly father has less love for you when he gave his son that you might be redeemed if you say lord and you tug on his robe he's going to shoe you away and say i'm busy now when you pray to your father in heaven you might have to separate in your mind your relationship that you may have had with your earthly father now i don't know if you've even knew your father i don't know if you had a good relationship or bad relationship but whatever that was remember your heavenly father is unique some people have struggled in prayer and identifying with god as their father because maybe their earthly father was a problem you got to start fresh in your mind find out what a real loving father is as he describes it in his word like that father when the prodigal son comes home he runs to meet him opens his arm kisses him adopts him back into the family you know whenever you're baptized you are adopted the bible says when christ was baptized what god said to him it's really intended for all of us he came out of the water he said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and when you accept jesus you are now a son and a daughter of god that gives you special access to your father but you notice he's not just your father he's not just my father he's our father that means we're family so right there in the opening passage of the lord's where uh prayer he's telling us about that relationship that we have and then it goes on to say hallowed be thy name now sometimes we struggle with how is it when we pray that we can talk to him as a loving father and yet he's also our king it's kind of tough you know it's tough being a preacher's kid because here i am the senior pastor of a church and so i baptized my son well all my boys actually and i am their pastor and i am their father you know what i'm saying god is your loving father but he's also your king and your creator and so when you approach him as father it's also something that's done with awe and reverence what does it mean to be god fearing is it the fear will you run from god or you're in awe of his strength but you know that he loves you and so you're drawn to him so you approach god with reverence hallowed be thy name and just a little a little pet issue with me when you use the lord's name in prayer do it with a great deal of reverence sometimes i hear people praying because they prayed it's so mechanical they slur his name you're talking to the god of the universe and sometimes i'll hear people pray and they say deadly father you know what definitely father and think about it you know sometimes you'll notice that when you pray you're in the habit of just repeating something from memory and all your prayers start sounding the same think about what you're saying if you're having a conversation with your spouse and they keep going uh-huh yeah uh-huh pretty soon you're going to think they're not listening are they and sometimes i think that god is going why are you praying you're just saying the same thing you always say from memory think about what you're saying be creative say something new it's like kids when they are told they have to write home from summer camp and every letter they write says dear mom and dad i'm enjoying camp things are fine i love you goodbye and it's like they were told they had to write a letter remember in military school they told us time to write your parents all my letters my mother could line them all up they all look the same does that communicate uh the kind of love that a parent wants you want to know what's going on what's new today tell me something let's communicate make it interesting and god is wanting you to think when you communicate don't bore god wouldn't that be a sin come on isn't that right friends hallowed be thy name psalm 111 verse 9 holy and reverend is his name exodus 20 verse 7 thou shalt not take the name of the lord in vain sometimes when you get married and someone gets married it used to be anyway that the the wife would take the name of the husband my wife can say she got married and became a bachelor not too many people can say that but when you become a christian you take his name and so when you take his name you want to also pray in his name with his spirit with his mind ask the lord to help you to be christ-like in the book the value of prayer it's actually an article e.g white says even many within the church may have no concept of how offensive it is to heaven when we employ the name of god carelessly one author put it this way angels are displeased and disgusted with the irreverent manner in which the god the great jehovah is sometimes used in prayer they angels mention the name with the greatest awe even veiling their faces when they speak the name of god and the name of christ it's so sacred and it's spoken with a greatest reverence and those who in their prayer use the name of god in a common or a flippant manner have no sense of the exalted character of god of christ or of heavenly things hallowed be thy name why does god put that at the beginning of a prayer why is that part of our pattern of prayer because it helps us first of all realize not only does he love us as a heavenly father but also remember that he is god and so when he says this is my will for you it prioritizes all of your prayers based on his authority he is holy he's calling us the holiness what is the thing the lord wants more than anything from us that we might be like his son that we reflect his holiness so we identify the reverence of god right there at the beginning of the prayer then he goes on with the next petition your kingdom come why do we pray about god's kingdom coming is the lord going to come you know i like the way it's written in the king james version there it talks about your kingdom come your will be done in earth and i'll get to the will part in just a moment in earth what are we made out of what did god make man out of so we're not only saying your will be done in your kingdom come on the planet we're saying we want your will to be done in your kingdom to come in earth as it is in heaven we want it to be done in our lives there's two aspects to the kingdom of god that we need to think about you've got the literal kingdom and that's certainly going to happen you've got a lot of verses in the bible talk about that you can read of course in the book of revelation where jesus says in chapter 11 verse 15 the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ and of course a central theme in the book of daniel is how all the kingdoms of the world will ultimately be crushed and that stone will grow and becomes a great mountain it fills the whole earth someday god's kingdom is going to completely cover the earth as the waters cover the sea right it's going to be universal but when jesus began to preach and he said the kingdom of god is at hand did he go knock caesar off his throne that day what kingdom was he talking about christ said the kingdom of god does not come by observation saying lo here or lo there for the kingdom of god is within you when jesus and john the baptist they began to preach and the disciples the kingdom of heaven is at hand two thousand years ago that means the internal kingdom that is available right now in your life what does that mean when you accept jesus as lord you've got a throne somewhere in your mind something is on the throne of your mind you've either got self on the throne and that would be the same as the devil if you don't know that you're either putting yourself your selfish desires on the throne or christ is on the throne no man can serve two masters how do we gain the victory you put jesus on the throne look for instance in oh by the way what did christ say should be our priority seek ye first the kingdom of god romans chapter 6 verse 12 and verse 14 therefore do not let sin reign what does a reign mean it means don't let it be enthroned in your mortal body that you might obey it in its lusts and then he goes on and says sin shall not have dominion over you so when jesus is talking about the kingdom of god thy kingdom come you should be praying for that every day praying that god's kingdom will exist in your life now you're part of the united kingdom many of you are assuming you've got your citizenship but if you're a christian you've got dual citizenship you're sort of here in the world but your citizenship is primarily in heaven you are ambassadors in this world from another kingdom and every time you pray thy kingdom come you're remembering what kingdom you're really a part of sometimes we become so preoccupied with our treasure our kingdom down here we forget where the real kingdom is don't you want to be part of that government that's going to last forever let's face it these earthly governments they all got big problems and the earthly politicians are not going to solve it they're desperately right now trying to put a band-aid on a bullet hole the only thing that's going to solve the problems of these earthly kingdoms is that other kingdom it exists right now but we're praying that that kingdom will come here in our hearts and ultimately when christ comes in the world your kingdom come both the spiritual and the physical kingdom you know one time there was a um actually it was someone from england came to visit uh a mega church in california and the christian lady said it seems like you christians in america and she was right are so preoccupied about god making us happy as though the objective of christianity is our happiness here but really what should be the core of our prayer his kingdom and his will which is is the next point i especially want to focus on here your kingdom come your will be done in earth as it is in heaven nothing is more important than the will of god and nothing is more important or more difficult sometimes to pray for than the will of god when was it that jesus was perspiring blood when he was in the garden of gethsemane and he was praying not my will thy will be done i don't know about you friends but pastor doug's biggest struggle is i often eclipse the will of god with my will and every single day many times a day i need to say lord what do you want and sometimes i don't even want to ask god what he wants because i don't want what he wants i want what i want and sometimes i try and convince the lord what he wants is really what i want and i get those two wills that are struggling for the dominance confused and if you're not careful uh it's really easy to be self deceiving and think that what you want is god's will you know at the core of so many of our prayers it's a list of our desires matter of fact if we'd be honest and it's natural i do it when we kneel before the lord it's lord i want this and i want that and i want this and i want that and do this and that and give me this and that and oh yes help that person and this person i think most of it's sort of natural to pray for our children but when you really think about it at the core of so many of our prayers it's all the arrows pointing back the wrong way one of the things god is telling us in the lord's prayer it starts with the right priority our father your kingdom your will it's pointing this way you know it's not about you and me it's about god the purpose of prayer this big battle with good and evil we always think about that the universe revolves around us but it's not all about us and our happiness you find your happiness when you realize it's about god you know when jesus said it's more blessed to give than receive that's a principle for life and it's a principle for prayer you will receive the most when you give your life away you will receive the most when you say not my will thy will be done that's when you really start to receive christ said if you seek to save your life you're going to be bankrupt you'll lose everything but if you lay your life on the altar and say lord not my will your will be done that's when god then pours his blessings out on the world and others through you so you become a channel of those blessings if i were to be honest one reason i'm involved in ministry is because i get a big blessing from god as i allow him to share the bible with others you don't think i get some of it as it goes through me to you and so it's a blessing for me to share god with others i am enriched people always say oh thank you so much pastor doug for coming i'm thinking if they only knew what would i do if i couldn't preach christ and it's that way in living for christ if you make up your mind to say lord i'm not going to live for myself i want to live for you not my will thy will be done you'll receive the greatest blessing but it's a struggle and you know we need to fight that battle every day first part of our prayer ought to be said lord thy will be done in earth in me as it is in heaven in the world by the way is god's will always done in this world i don't want to get too distracted with this but you should have been able to ask the answer that quickly no his will is not always done why would you ask for his will to be done if it was all automatically done do you think sin is god's will you think it's his will that any should perish god is not willing that any should perish do people perish a lot of things happen in this world that's been kidnapped by an enemy that are not god's will this planet rebelled and rejected god 6 000 years ago and we are still suffering the consequences from our first parents doubting the word of god the devil said hath god said when you start to question the word of god that's when everything goes downhill and so his will isn't always done he's inviting us to entreat him that his will will be done in this world because this world right now there's so many things that are not god's will what's the most common question you hear especially in a secular society if there's a god then why does he allow all of this and amazing facts we just completed i didn't mean to plug a commercial in here but we just completed a first segment of a project called cosmic conflict and it talks about if there's a loving god why is there sin in the world and it explains the rebellion of lucifer most people don't understand that there there's another king in this world jesus said the ruler of this world there's a prince of this world who is contesting god's kingdom and his will there's a battle going on and so every time you pray the lord's prayer you recognize this great controversy between these kingdoms and these wills thy will be done why did jesus come john 6 38 for i have come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him that sent me maybe that ought to be our prayer why are we existing not to do our will but the will of the one who gives us life that's when you'll find your greatest blessing and fulfillment by the way jesus said not everyone that says unto me lord lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven who's going those that do the will of my father in heaven amen it's really easy for us to sometimes forget that point and now we move on to the petitions that deal with our relationship with each other give us this day our daily bread you know one thing you learn about the lord's prayer right here the very fact it says give us this day tells us it's something that should be done at least daily it doesn't say give me this week it'd be called a weekly prayer then but it says give us this day our daily bread not only are we saying lord please provide the natural necessities that we need to maintain life i think jesus was thinking much bigger than that christ said don't worry about what you eat or what you drink or what you're going to wear after all these things the heathens seek you seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness he'll add all of those things so when we say give us this day our daily bread we talked about last night what is that nourishment that bread we especially need every day it's the manna of christ the bread of life every day before you read your bible i didn't say this last night but that was criminal i should have mentioned pray spiritual things are spiritually discerned ask god to help you understand say lord give me spiritual nourishment this day ask and you'll receive if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more will your father in heaven give the holy spirit to those that ask him you know i remember one time i was talking about prayer i was hitchhiking and baby christian stuck all night long in a restaurant and i was with a girlfriend and i just kind of accepted lord had a little bible couldn't go out on the road and hitchhike there's no traffic and it wasn't safe where i was in los angeles waiting for the sun to come up had no food i stood at the door of this restaurant it's just a coffee shop at all night coffee shop and i played the flute for a few minutes and panhandled i begged we got 20 cents believe it or not you could get a cup of coffee back then for 10 cents that dates me doesn't it went in just to have a warm place drank coffee all night long and while i'm sitting there we just read the bible back and forth tried to stay awake because they won't let you sleep in the restaurant and i read that passage in the bible where it says if your son says can i have a loaf of bread would you give him a stone if he asks for a fish would you give him a serpent if he asked for an egg would you give him a scorpion that's what luke adds that one if you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more will your father in heaven give to those that ask and i thought you know sitting there we were reading this and i i said to my girlfriend maybe we ought to try this we're hungry we had nothing to eat all day nothing but about 15 cups of coffee and so i went into the restroom which you do a lot after 15 cups of coffee and i got on my knees the whole place is empty the restaurant's empty and i said lord you say here in your word if you pray for food that you'll give us something to eat i said lord we're hungry we need some food will you please provide something for us to eat i walked back out my girlfriend was smiling i said what's up she said well while you were in the bathroom the waitress came over and asked if we wanted to order anything to eat and i said no and she said but i'm buying your dinner tonight what do you want what do you think that did for my faith i've got a friend i picked up a hitchhiker one time he was out on the road in phoenix in the middle of the desert and just by a miracle i pulled over because i was trying to stay awake and i pulled over to just sleep out there in the desert and wake up and i saw him hitchhiking i thought well if i'm talking to someone it'll keep me awake so i picked him up and he thought that was a miracle because he had been waiting for hours for a ride never thought anyone would stop as soon as he gets in he sees my bible up on the counter and he said you're a christian i said yes he said you know i just accepted christ i was in jail and he said i ran i found a book in jail called bible readings for the home and i read this and what are the odds of seventh-day adventists driving through the desert picking up a guy who just read bible readings for the home in prison and he told me this story he said i was out here on the road i've been stuck out here in the middle of this desert and he said i accepted the lord and i said lord i have nothing to eat would you please give me something to eat i'm out in the desert and i don't know how you're going to do it but if you could feed the people of israel in the wilderness you can feed me he said right after i prayed that prayer a truck went by from california to phoenix loaded with oranges it hit a bump and three oranges fell out now i could go on all night and tell you stories like this you all have stories like this don't you and so if it's true that god will miraculously supply our physical needs as we ask him very fact you're all here is evidence that he has supplied your needs will he supply the spiritual bread if we ask and we seek give us this day our daily bread and he will feed you and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors well we could break that up in two parts forgive us our debts now some of you would like to think that the lord has a uh you know a credit agency or something and forgive us our debts is really where you go file chapter 11 or chapter i don't know what chapters you file here in great britain but bankruptcy and we all struggle sometimes with financial problems but that's not the real debt that he's talking about jesus tells us in that parable matthew chapter 18 of the unmerciful debtor brought before the king he owes equivalent of 52 million dollars that he can't pay but he and he's going to face judgment but he asks for forgiveness and the king wipes out that debt that's a big debt but then he goes and he finds a fellow servant that owes him like 25 pounds and he takes him by the throat and says pay me what you owe me he says be patient with me and i will but he wouldn't have any mercy on him takes his fellow servant puts him in prison to be tortured for forty two dollars thirty pounds and jesus closes that parable the same way he closes the lord's prayer see that wicked servant was brought before the king and he said i forgave you all that debt just because you asked me we asked god to forgive us a mountain of sins don't we and you would not forgive your fellow servant that measly some he says you're going to the debtor's prison now and you're going to be tormented according to what you owe that's a pretty sobering parable isn't it i don't want to go into eternity having to pay my debt i want to accept the payment that jesus has offered for my debt he closes that parable by saying so shall my heavenly father do unto each of you if you from your hearts do not forgive each man his brother their trespasses robert louis stevenson was praying one time the lord's prayer with his family they kind of did it at the end of every prayer and he hesitated at the end his wife put her hand on him she said what's what's the matter honey she said he said i don't want god to forgive me the way i forgive others i'm having trouble praying that one of the obstacles i think in our relationship with god can be traced back to are we forgiving each other you know christ said if you've got all with your brother and you're bringing your gift to the altar that means you're going to worship god you're going to make your sacrifice you're going to pray your prayers you said leave your gift go be reconciled to your brother your sister then bring your gift if we're asking god you look at jesus on the cross and you think about what he's gone through that you might have your debts forgiven and we're not willing to forgive each other 30 pounds we really should first be reconciled to each other now i'm not saying that god is saying to you i'm not going to forgive you until you forgive other people if you read that parable carefully who does the first forgiving i'm talking about matthew 18. that parable of the unmerciful debtor first the king forgives the man who has a debt he cannot pay you come to jesus just like you are he promises to freely forgive that's in the blood of jesus wipes out that whole debt but then you should go from that experience so grateful that you're willing then in the light of the cross and what jesus has suffered for you you're willing to forgive the measly debts no matter what anyone may have done to you it's nothing compared to what we've all done to jesus and you think oh but pastor doug you haven't heard my story oh believe me i've heard all kinds of stories i've got something i can tell you about what people have done to me but i know the lord says doug do you want me to forgive you so lord okay i'll forgive sometimes i still remember and then god said dog i said okay okay okay lord help me and take supernatural strength sometimes to forgive each other doesn't but when you've got the holy spirit you think about how much jesus has forgiven you you can pray that prayer lord forgive me as i am willing by your grace to forgive others forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors if you are living a vengeful life he who practices vengeance really digs two graves one the person you're trying to hurt and one for yourself you never get ahead by doing that he who rolls a stone on someone else will have it roll back on them and so you just gotta let it go and forget about it and move on you know the wonderful thing about being a christian is you get to be born again not just once but every day i mean at least the way that i read the bible this is kind of caveman theology but if paul said i die daily doesn't paul say that and then the bible talks about the new birth if you die daily but you're not born again every day you'll end up being more dead than alive so my theory is you got to be born again every day also you renew that covenant with the lord in prayer every day you accept the mercy and the blood of jesus fresh his mercies are new every morning isn't that wonderful god will give you a new beginning every day and you can roll away that guilt and invite the holy spirit to fill your life every day that's what it means when you say our daily bread also and do not lead us into temptation now that sometimes troubles people it almost makes it sound like god is wanting to drag us into temptation we're begging him please don't lead me into temptation lord what does the bible say about that james 1 13 when you're tempted no one should say god is tempting me for god cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone you're not begging god not to tempt you this would be more accurately translated lead me away from my natural tendency to go towards temptation we're all inclined to go towards what's what makes temptation temptation it's attracting you and so when you say lead us not into temptation it really means lead us away from our natural bent towards sin now think about that god isn't wanting to force you he's saying do you want me to help you with temptation you need to ask me you see you can't if god forced us it's not love if it's if it's love we're asking for it we're recognizing that we need his supernatural intervention and will he if we pray and ask him to keep us from temptation first corinthians 10 13 no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man but god is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able isn't that good news what that means is any temptation that the devil brings god puts restrictions and restraints on what he will allow the devil to do if god removed the hedge of angels that protects us the devil would seek to destroy us right now if our eyes could be opened and we could see the spiritual realms raging around us it would terrify us to think how the devil would love to destroy us god is always protecting us and so any temptation that does come when the devil wanted to bring temptation and trials to job it was measured god told him what the limits were god is not going to allow you to be tempted above what you are able to overcome and resist with his help if you ask him you know what my problem is when i'm tempted it's the last time i want to ask for help that's the whole idea of being tempted isn't it you find some attraction i mean the last thing you feel like doing is saying uh lord help me not want what i want that's really what you're doing when you don't want to pray is usually when you need it the most when you don't feel like praying is usually when you need prayer the most so we need to ask our heavenly father lead me lord away from my natural tendency towards sin we all have it amen we're all tempted if you say pastor doug i don't i'm not tempted that's probably because you're so thoroughly lost you're just going down the stream you don't even feel the current the only time you feel the current is when you try and swim against it right and so if who was it billy sunday famous preacher one time someone said pastor sunday you're always rubbing the cat's fur the wrong way and he said no he said i'm rubbing the cat's fur the right way he said the cat's going the wrong direction he needs to turn around and so we need to ask the lord to turn our hearts around like that we need to pray friends and ultimately we pray for that final deliverance but deliver us from the evil one luke 21 36 jesus said pray always how often should we pray walking with god without ceasing pray always that you might be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the son of man we're looking forward to the ultimate deliverance in this great controversy between good and evil and then it closes with that great crescendo for yours is the kingdom we're back to the kingdom christ's kingship has been challenged by an enemy and the power and the glory forever he provides the power to us to give him the glory it all belongs to him the life that you live the breath that you breathe it all belongs to him we've all sung that song before sweet hour of prayer but how often can you sing that in sincerity how is your prayer life you know where does it begin it begins by opening the door of your heart and inviting jesus in right where you are you might be saying pastor doug i've been going through the motions for years but i don't really have a relationship with jesus but i want to i'd like to invite geraldine to come up and she's going to sing a verse of a familiar song and while she's singing i want you to do something i want you to be praying i'd like to invite you and those who are watching to say right now lord i want to have a change in my experience i want to invite jesus into my heart and have a new relationship commit to a new devotional experience will you pray right now the savior is waiting [Music] why don't you let him [Laughter] is [Music] [Music] your answer to your [Music] time after time has waited before and now he is waiting again to see if you're willing to open the door [Music] do you know that jesus loves you friends he is yearning to have a close relationship with you christianity and salvation is all about having a personal relationship with a god who is very alive he he's here right now when we close this meeting he will be with you wherever you go you can't run from his presence but you can neglect him how much better if you had a relationship where you could say lord i want to walk with you like enoch you know enoch he walked with god and he was ready for translation when that time come jesus is coming again we want to have that relationship if ever there was a time when people need to pray more friends it's now do you think we need to pray less now than the apostles did the same amount that they prayed or maybe more we need to ask god to give us that faith that was once delivered unto the saints would you like to pray that you can have a new revival in your relationship with jesus is that your desire let's ask him together dear loving father our father we're so thankful that you love us so much you've adopted us into the family that you want to be with us every moment of the day we're inviting jesus into our hearts forgive our sins in a moment lord we're going to use the word amen but i pray that we'll never really end the prayer help us to recognize you want to walk with us and even after this broadcast is complete help us to sense your presence wherever we go pour out your spirit now on your people we ask in christ's name amen [Music]

Channel: Aaron

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Id: JioUrN8xtTw

Length: 61min 58sec (3718 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021