"The Perfect Pattern for Prayer" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

we are going to talk about prayer this morning and that's something I think it's appropriate for us to talk about maybe several times a year in a course of messages but you've got a couple of problems whenever pastor stands before his congregation and says let's talk about prayer one problem is the pastor typically feels guilty because he doesn't pray enough so he thinks what right do I have to talk to the people about prayer but the only way I can get away with it as I know you probably are thinking the same thing we don't pray enough and maybe we don't know how to pray as well as we should hence the name of the message the perfect pattern for prayer heard about some men that during their lunch break were sitting down with their lunchboxes eating their lunch and they got into a religious argument and one said to his friend Billy you shouldn't say anything about religion I bet you don't even know the Lord's Prayer he said I bet I do and he said bill I'll give you $20 if you can tell me the Lord's Prayer he said you're on now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep and if I die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take his partner shook his head and pulled out his wallet and said I had no idea you knew it a lot of people are ignorant of even the Lord's Prayer but there's millions of people in the world that can recite the Lord's Prayer but they don't know how to pray and you know Jesus never really said repeat this prayer he said in this manner pray matter of fact you'll find what we call the Lord's Prayer it's really the disciples prayer if you want to know the Lord's Prayer that's really John 17 the disciples prayer is what we call the Lord's Prayer you find it two places one is going to be Matthew chapter 6 and then that's the one we just recited and also it's a little different if you look in Luke 11 but go with me to the Gospel of Luke please chapter 11 in the first verse I want you to know the context of how Jesus said what he said what was going on and it says it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased that one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray is John John the Baptist also taught his disciples now evidently when Christ came from this episode of Prayer there's just something about the peace the aura the power his face perhaps was glowing there was a serenity a calm but there was something that they saw in his countenance that inspired them that Jesus got something out of prayer they did not get and they were thinking what is he doing in prayer how why are we doing it wrong we're missing something look at how he comes from prayer by the way just so you'll know of the four Gospel writers namely Matthew Mark Luke and John Luke says more about Jesus praying than any of the other writers Luke talks about him praying all night it talks about him praying as he anointed or pointed or ordained the Apostles and so Luke has quite a bit to say about Jesus praying and someone said once that if the son of God felt the need of prayer how much more should we pray so something else you should notice about this verse they said teach us to pray prayer is something that needs to be taught you can learn to pray and then through neglect you may never know how to pray we shouldn't assume that just because a person says I believe in the Lord and I want to follow the Lord and I surrender the Lord these are apostles that have been picked by Jesus they are Jews they have grown up going to the synagogue and yet after that they're saying teach us to pray you know why because in the Jewish culture a lot of the prayers were memorized they were read they weren't really a conversation from the heart the way you see Jesus praying when you look at like John 17 or if you read the prayer of Daniel in Daniel chapter 9 or the prayer of Hanna there's a number of beautiful prayers in the Bible prayer you read of Nehemiah you can tell that they're just there they're speaking to the Lord with their intelligence trying to just address God in conversation and so this had teach us to pray now how many of you enjoy being taught you know often when you're taught something that means you need to practice my mother gave my brother and I guitar lessons I think it lasted two weeks until the guitar teacher said they're not practicing and I thought oh man this just hurts my fingers I don't want to do this I'm never gonna learn to play the guitar I felt so uncoordinated trying to get my fingers to do all these convoluted shapes and forms and strum on rhythm that learning guitar was miserable but I did learn three chords and later in life I found comfort in those three chords and I ended up learning many more and I I didn't really learn to play guitar so much from the teacher as I did later when I was up in the cave and I found my way to a guitar but now that I've learned it I'm so glad I learned to play guitar I find great comfort I was playing guitar last night just for my own entertainment I don't do it for anyone else's entertainment I've tried but they say they're not entertained but I find great joy in it now but I had to learn it when you learn to pray it might be work learning to pray but when you do learn it it'll bring you great comfort like so many things there's a lot of things you could study and learn weave study business you think oh boy this homework is miserable but if you learn to be a good businessperson you'll be glad the rest of your life and so it is worth taking the time to think about learning to pray now the prayer that Jesus gives us there in both in Luke and in Matthew is really a beautiful pattern for prayer by the way if you are gonna learn something about prayer who would you want to learn it from Jeremiah has got some great prayers and it'd be great if you could learn prayer from Moses or from Elijah or from Paul or Peter or John but here Jesus said let me teach you about prayer they said Lord teach us to pray and in response to that request to be taught how to pray he gave them the perfect pattern for prayer now there is certainly nothing wrong with repeating the Lord's Prayer there is nothing wrong it's a good idea to repeat Scripture because in doing that you welded in your heart and so it's very good that we do that but repetitive prayer is something that jesus warned against that's right he says in Matthew 6 in this manner pray here's an outline these are the components of prayer and so it's important to remember because Jesus says in Matthew 6 verse 7 when you pray don't be like the heathen using the vain repetition as the heathen they think they'll be heard for their many words God tells us that we don't need many words in our prayer one thing you're gonna notice about the Lord's Prayer 70 words it's short but it is comprehensive it covers all of the great components of any prayer matter of fact um every conceivable element of true prayer is condensed somehow into this very simple form so that even a child can pray it and yet when you think about the depth of what it covers it challenges the greatest theologians in history it's to the point takes 30 seconds or less to pray the Lord's Prayer but it's not necessarily something he wants us to repeat repetitively you know if you're a good Catholic one of the things they tell you to do too atone for your sins as the priest during confession might say you know say ten Hail Marys and 20 our fathers and one is the Hail Mary prayer that magnificant and the other is the Lord's Prayer or our fathers and there's a lot of people that on their deathbed have repeated this prayer that's not bad but to just do it over and over again it sort of loses its meaning you know one reason we don't think the Lord intended us to just repeat it like that can you find anywhere in the Bible that the disciples repeated it there's no example of them where you know they have the Lord sufferance and then we repeated the Lord's Prayer and so Jesus was saying this is a model for prayer it's a pattern for prayer and so when you think about it the Lord's Prayer is like a love letter to heaven um you know any kind of letter you usually have an a person that you're writing the letter to who is it written to our Father you've got an address where is it going to heaven you got the contents of the prayer the petitions the appeals and then you got the conclusion something else you'll notice when you look at the Lord's Prayer it's divided between the great love for God and love for your fellow man the first three petitions appeal to God the last four petition deal with our relationship with our fellow man it's divided 4060 like the ten commandments first four Commandments deal with our relationship with God the last six Commandments deal with our relationship with our fellow man Lord's Prayer is interestingly enough divided the same way it covers all of the spectrums of relationship think about this for a second our Father talks about the father-child relationship hallowed be thy name the deity worshipper relationship my kingdom come there you have the sovereign subject relationship thy will be done the master-servant relationship give us this day our daily bread you got the benefactor beneficiary receipt relationship forgive us our debts the savior sinner relationship and lead us not into temptation you've got the guide in the pilgrim relationship so just about any relationship that you can think of is somehow addressed in this incredible and yet very concise prayer that Jesus gives us so it's it's short it gets to the point and you know I've often said that public prayers ought to be the shorter prayers the private prayers if you're gonna pray Jesus went into the mountain he prayed all night and there are times where as a group you may want to pray a long time once or twice in my life I pray through the night with somebody some of you have probably had things you prayed about where you prayed through the night it doesn't mean you never fell asleep but you woke up in this prayer is just constantly on your heart but you know when we're praying in public you can pray short prayers when you get up in the morning and you talk to the Lord the Lord's Prayer is a great pattern for you to use in your praying it basically gives you an outline of how to pray we're gonna look at the different components of the prayer and talk about that so first of all you look at the first section our Father which art in heaven it's telling us who we're addressing in this prayer and it's telling us where he is when you call him our Father that's really important because often you know in the Jewish mind they thought of you know el-shaddai and Jehovah and the Almighty is this great sovereign king policeman in the sky and Jesus tells us what right do we have anything to ask anything of God right there in the first two words it's saying just saying a lot first of all it says our it's not just my father he's your father do you know that there's no singular petition anywhere in the Lord's Prayer never does it say give me leave me forgive me it's lead us forgive us our father it's all in the plural form because I don't care as much about your daily bread as I care about my daily bread and I care about your deliverance as I care about my deliverance because that's what love is all about the whole prayer is in the context of loving God and loving others why can we approach him because He loves us why he's our Father and he's not like human fathers that might be indifferent about their children or like some salmon that just spawn and die God is a loving father he loves us so much that he would die to save us he'd lay down his life to save us and so he addresses us are weirder dress him as a father you know what it tells us right there is that there's a family relationship and that he's not too busy to hear you even though it might seem that he's exalted and he's far away as soon as you say our Father it means he wants to hear what I have to say I remember reading about President Lincoln and I think it was Todd Lincoln who later died but the president and he also had Robert Lincoln that survived but Todd when he was in the White House the president would always have just a long line of people stretched because there's a war going on and there was always a line of people that were in his office waiting to see him and he was busy and having meetings but he president lived and he met in the White House and that's where the family lived and they grew up and Todd would come bouncing off into the Oval Office where the president was meeting or some boardroom and he'd walk up to his father's knee and he'd tap on his father's knee as he's sitting at one of these board tables and president would say pardon me gentlemen I've got a very important question here and he would always take time to answer the questions of his son even though here he's ruling a country in the midst of a war now if an earthly father loves his son enough to give him attention when he has a request also here that used to happen with JFK and John John when he was little if an earthly president will stop and take time for his son when you say our father has got too busy for you does it I mean is there ever time when God is wringing his hands and saying look I can't talk to you now I have too much on my mind does anything weary the Lord no matter how much is going on in the world or no matter how many crises there are or if all of a sudden you know sometimes if enough people are trading stocks online or if enough people go to a particular website they can crash the server you heard about that all these phone calls come in it can actually crash the computer it locks up it's not made to handle it all can you ever crash God's server so when you address him as a father he is talking to you like you are the only person in the echo of the universe it's the only voice he hears that's wonderful when you think about that that even though he's in heaven he hears our prayer but the fact that we're seeing our Father which is in heaven is telling you something else in that prayer we are separated he's in heaven we're not yet there's a problem so right there in the beginning of the prayer we're recognizing we're separated you can hear our prayers and that's why we're talking to you this way but we're still not where we want to be now we see through a glass dimly but in Revelation it says then face to face and you know one of the great statements in Revelation is God Himself will be with us and the fact that we'll be with him but now he's our Father in heaven and that's why he sent his son from heaven and we have problems in this world because Satan was cast out of heaven so there's some distance our Father which art in heaven you know what else it implies there's an adoption that takes place not everybody that says they know God really knows God jesus said that even some of the religious leaders he said you're of your father the devil they have a father too I don't know whether they pray our Father in Hades or how they do it but there's some people that they think they're serving God and there serving the devil Jesus made it clear Abraham was not your father said if Abraham was your father you wouldn't be trying to kill me you're from a different family so when you say our Father it means there's adoption taking place what did God the Father say to Jesus at his baptism this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased when you're baptized and you consecrate your life to God God looks upon you as a child of his in whom he is well pleased all your sins are forgiven and that means that as his child even though you make mistakes along the way you're his problem you're his child now because you've come to him you surrender to him so you have that parent-child relationship you know Jesus says in Matthew 18 again I say to you that if any two of you agree on earth concerning anything they ask it will be done for them by My Father in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name I'm there and so here that's actually a good segue because he talks about my father and he talks about my name when we pray you can pray individually to your father but you can come together with others as a brother and sister you get even more attention of the Heavenly Father and it says when you pray in my name that leads us to part two our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name let's talk about the Hollywood for say a second a component of your prayer first of all did you we're talking about an outline for prayer what's the first thing you want to remember when you pray you're talking to a loving Heavenly Father to address him and recognize that he's not just your father he's the father of your brothers and sisters and so you say our Father you're in heaven were separated and then you approach him as what kind of father while he's a father he's a king and he's a holy king hallow it sacred reverent is your name now I've seen two extremes in prayer I've made the mistake of both extremes I'm sure one is that you address God in such a buddy the way that you forget the reverence part the other mistake is that you think that he is so austere and mighty that you neglect the family father part and that he is a friend you've probably heard pastors before talk all about Jesus is our friend and the emphasize a friend but there's a risk and I you know and I think it's important we remember he is our friend but there's a risk I see sometimes that they address God in such a such a flippant buddy way that it just lowers our concept of how holy he is Khalu it be thy name let's not forget that he is holy and the reason he's in heaven and we're not is because we're not and he is transforming us so we're addressing someone who has a holy name greater than every other name it says God has given him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow Psalm 111 verse 9 holy and reverend is thy name I go to ministerial meetings sometimes where there's multiple denominations involved and I remember I was at one and they they handed me a badge and it said Reverend bachelor and I thought oh you know I always we don't typically in our church call the pastor's Reverend because of this verse it says holy and Reverend is his name I don't want to be revered and so I took my little paper part out of my badge and I flipped over the back and I took a pin wrote Doug and they stuck it back in here they want to be Reverend bachelor and his name is Reverend and it tells us in Exodus 20 what does that ten commandment thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain what does it mean to take God's name in vain or to take it with vanity or to treat his name disrespectfully yeah there's a quote from a magazine called signs of the times and this is November 18 1886 it said angels are displeased in disgusted with the irreverent manner in which the name of God the great Jehovah is sometimes used in prayer when they mention that name when they mentioned that name with greatest awe even veiling their faces speaking of angels when they speak the name of God the name of Christ is also sacred and has spoken with the greatest reverence and those who in their prayers use the name of God in a common and flippant manner have no sense of the exalted character of God of Christ or of heavenly things when angels mention the name they veil their faces you know the story about when Isaiah saw the Lord and the angels were there covering their faces saying holy holy holy is the Lord God and what did Isaiah do he cowered at the picture of God he said Lord I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the king I think that if we could somehow if the the veil that separates the physical world from the spiritual world could be peeled aside right now and we could look up and get a glimpse of the glory that would come from heaven and how mighty and powerful God is or if we could see how big he is on his throne ruling the cosmos it would just bring a different attitude of worship into your heart you know worship is worth ship you would have a comprehension of the worth of God that is much higher than most of us have and so when you come in prayer to God recognize that he is worthy he is holy and take his name on your lips he's your father he loves you but he's your God and he's your king and he's your Creator it's an exalted name and that's really a privilege I mean if you know you have a chance to talk to a king wouldn't that be exciting I mean most of us if I said hey I've got a phone call who is it it's the president regardless of what your political views might be I mean just think about the office for a moment right what do you think for me would you say tell him I'm busy no you two taking that call he wants to talk to me well someone much greater than the president wants to talk to you and for us to not appreciate that while you think about what an insult that is or to be flippant and different disrespectful and so you need that combination knowing is your father and yet he is holy in his name a name in the Bible just didn't mean a particular name pastor Ross and I get phone calls on a pretty regular basis at the radio program asking about the name of God and people get so preoccupied with how you pronounce the name of God and and we have to ask which one because he has many names in the Bible that he goes by he's you know Elohim he's El Shaddai he's God the Almighty is the bread he is the lamb he is the king of kings and the Prince of princes he's the dories a good shepherd I mean you know many names there are it's it's like light hitting a diamond and it fragments into all these different facets and rays comes streaming out so there are many names but when it says the name of God it is the sum total of what his character represents when you say a person's got a good name that doesn't mean that the particular pronunciation of their name is good means a good reputation and in the Bible when it says hollow it is thy name it's not saying just Jehovah or one of the other Hebrew names for God or if you're pronouncing it correctly it's talking about hollow it is your person your character but of course we should address that name with reverence what name do we pray in at the conclusion of most of our prayers what do we we ask the Father to answer our prayers in the name of Jesus now I'm gonna stretch you a little bit when we're saying our Father who art in heaven are we praying to the father are we also praying to the son when it says in Isaiah his name shall be called unto us a child is born unto us a son is given he's that talking about keep reading his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting who created us all things that were made were made by him so in a sense Jesus is not only our friend and our Savior the father created us through Jesus and so in that sense he's our Father too is that confusing your youness too I'm saying we always think in kind of the earthly family terms and so how could you have two fathers let's get a weird I mean aren't we against that as Christians and so we've kind of confounds people a little bit but when you say our Father you're also talking to Jesus your Creator in that as well Paolo would be your name and then the third petition your kingdom comes so you you're getting the author actually it's the second petition the third petition is your will so the first three partitions are your name your kingdom your will and so here we say your kingdom come what was the first thing John the Baptist said when he began his ministry repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and then after the baptism of Jesus when Jesus returned from his wilderness of temptation and he began to preach you know what it says in Matthew what was the first thing jesus said repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand verbatim the exact same thing John the Baptist said is what Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand and especially in the book of Matthew there's great emphasis on the kingdom of heaven why why does it talk so much about the kingdom of heaven do we see the kingdom of heaven in the world today or do we see other kingdoms you know why people need to hear about the kingdom of heaven is because there's another prince in this world that is claiming in this world he told Jesus you bow down worship Me I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world and Jesus said get behind me Satan I'm not gonna take your kingdoms I'm going to establish my kingdom there is a contest between kingdoms in the world today and so when we're saying your kingdom come his kingdom come where we believe in preaching about the advent of Jesus what does that mean the coming of Christ that Jesus is going to return yeah this is a strange were we talking more about the second coming of Christ a hundred years ago than we are today as a people I think so I think churches in general were what didn't you think now that a hundred years or 150 years have gone by that we'd be talking about it more is it closer now or further away but jesus said if that evil servant says in his heart my lord delays his coming and just before the bridegroom comes the ten virgins are sleeping and that's what I think is happening now now is the time for us to be saying thy kingdom come and not only are we wanting his literal kingdom to come to this world but when we talk about the kingdom of heaven is at hand what Kingdom is that the kingdom of God is within you when we say thy kingdom come we're not just saying we want your kingdom to come to the world we're saying we want your kingdom to come so you're my king that you rule in my life and so part of your prayer is ought to be saying Lord we want you to reign in our hearts today you know Paul makes a couple of statements he says in Romans 6:12 do not let sin reign in your mortal body why because we have a different king the Lord is sitting on the throne in our heart Luke 12:32 little flock do not fear it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom God wants us to have that Kingdom and so even the Bible ends even so come Lord Jesus so when we're praying thy kingdom come part of prayers should be talking about Lord this isn't gonna last forever and we want you to reign in our hearts we want you to reign in the world this is temporary what we see right now both your temporary battling with the carnal nature and what's happening with the battles that go on in the world today the next petition your will be done on earth as it is in heaven what is the supreme desire for God how many of you would like to get to the place where we could say his will is done in our lives every day what was the biggest battle that Jesus fought in the Garden of Gethsemane the struggle was so intense that our Savior perspired blood and there's a medical term for that I don't remember what it is but a person could be under such distress that the capillaries and the extremities break and they can appear to be perspiring blood Jesus went through this agony in the garden and you know what the if he was to summarize what it was he said not my will they will be done there's a quote from the book steps to Christ that says that the greatest battle that you're gonna fight is the battle with self I already know that in my life the greatest battle that I fight is the battle with self I don't know how you are but I don't think I can go 60 seconds without thinking a selfish thought it's pretty hard that doesn't mean not every thought about yourself is bad I'm thinking about lunch because I can smell it already that's not bad you wouldn't survive if you had no selfish thoughts but the question is whose will are you preoccupied with because there's often a conflict between what we want and what God wants and Jesus is exhibit a for us when he said not my will thy will be done we have to pray that prayer all the time part of all of our prayers ought to be that component Lord Here I am new day I have plans Lord these are the things I would like to get done these are my priorities but have you learned that as the day goes on your priorities may not be God's priorities and then there's the other problem when we're talking about priorities uh is I know what God's priorities are but I eclipsed them with my priorities you know I even have that problem working on a sermon I sit down at the computer I said this is my study time not working doing your Bible study on a computer is a great thing I have so many wonderful commentaries and resources and I sometimes get so deep in my Bible study chasing the nuances of words and things it's just I really enjoy studying my Bible on the computer but that same computer is where I get my mail and every now and then I'm tempted because the computer will would be an email wonder who it is wonder what it unless someone wants to talk to me there's a message from someone out there for me I don't know who it is I've got to find out you know how that is you do you have it on your phones I'll send your people what is it and you know they're trying to sell you some printer ink or something is it there's nothing that you really need but you think someone wants my attention and I when I'm studying I have to say Lord not my will why we'll be done this is my study time and it means that you you have to pray part of your prayer everyday is say lord help me to align my priorities with your will shouldn't that be part of every prayer lay your plans at his feet when you figure out what his priorities are say lord help me to make your priorities my priority sometimes as a pastor I'll be perfectly honest with you being a pastor means you need to care about the sheep and I do but I told you I'm selfish didn't I just mention that a minute ago and sometimes there'll be a person who has a need or a phone call or whatever and I'll think Oh now I'm interested and then I'll hear the Holy Spirit's made ugh you prayed not my wealth I will be done and God's will is his sheep and I have to set aside my selfish priorities for what Christ's priorities be every day yeah we have those struggles to face to pray about God's will is for him to rule on the inside of us with the same perfect submission as Jesus hand to the Father now have you ever struggled about knowing God's will in any particular area of your life you say you know I got these several good choices I don't know what to do Lord I've got to make a decision I don't know you know Karen and I I don't know it's okay to announce this but we're thinking of buying a different house and moving now that we're here at Granite Bay not so necessary for us to be down by the school where we were kids are in college and we're looking around we're we're saying Lord where do you want us it's not like all of a sudden you're gonna look in the paper one day and say all these houses are from the devil but this one houses from the Lord they all look like they're good well not all of them and we have to say Lord where do you want us you know what the biggest battle is if you're trying to determine God's will for your life we got kids in college you're trying to figure out what they're gonna do with their lives you know ideas but they're still not sure some of you have kids that are much older they're still not sure once they convince me with their lives how do you know what God's will is you know what the single most important thing is that you need to settle if you want to know God's will are you willing to do his will that's where Jesus said John 7:17 if anyone wants to do his will he will know concerning the doctrine whether it's from God or whether I speak on my own authority now that's the most important part is if anyone wants to do his will if you're willing to do his will he will know if you're willing to do his will you're gonna know what God's will is let me simplify that for you if you're willing to do what God wants god becomes responsible then to reveal his will now you might want to seek you need to know knock you need to ask but if you're willing that is the biggest battle in knowing the will of God sometimes you'll make a list and say you know I'm gonna put I don't know who to marry I'll put these guys on this list and put the pros and the cons and and then you pray you can do all your research but most important thing is you have to say Lord I am NOT gonna marry someone you don't want me to marry I want your will no matter how I feel God will reveal his will if you're willing to do his will that's the biggest struggle and then give us this day our daily bread you know what that tells us about the Lord's Prayer all about prayer daily it's something daily you're not saying lord give me my monthly bread not saying give me my weekly or my yearly bread you're saying give me my daily bread meaning that we depend on God we communicate with God on a daily basis and this of course is not just talking about the practical needs you know why Jesus said daily bread in that one statement give us this day our daily bread that bread represents any practical need your body has it doesn't mean we don't pray about water it's not only just food you might need something to drink it's not just drink its clothes it's not just that it's shelter in the daily bread that phrase encompasses all of the practical needs a human body will have Lord you know one of the most basic ones you need food so Jesus put it that way but he used the word bread for a reason because bread is much bigger than just grain or a loaf of bread bread was a core so it was the basic element you would have at every meal you might have some fish but you had some bread there could have been meat but there was some bread and I've often said that there's almost no culture you can go to in the world where bread doesn't find its way on the table if you're in Mexico it'll be a tortilla but it's bread you know what I'm saying and if you're in China it's called rice it's bread it's grain if you you ever have pizza without the bread let's cause tomato sauce and it just seems like wherever you go I mean you could even go to baskin-robbins and get a cone and it's just like everywhere nice to have this commercial Burger King put out called where's the beef day anyone remember that and it was a runaway success as far as advertising is concern but they said it's all bun and there's a no beef but what if is it a hamburger or hotdog without the bun you know and so it's like bread is such a basic element it doesn't matter if you're in the poorest hovel or if you're in a mansion it seems like there's gonna be some form of bread and so bread is like its it's the staff of life Jesus used that word because it signifies also your spiritual needs Matthew chapter 4 Jesus said man does not live by bread alone but by every word so when you say give us this day our daily bread you know it's included in that you're saying in the Lord's Prayer I need daily bread matter of fact if you need it to focus on what dimension of that part of the prayer is more important making sure there's something in the refrigerator every day are making sure that you are feasting on the Word of God every day I would think this would be the priority because you might miss a meal and you'll be hungry if you don't have the Word of God to fight temptation you may be fallen and lost and so when you're saying give us this day our daily bread God might put food in your refrigerator you still got to go to the market you still got to take it out you just look at a shop you've got to process that food God puts Bibles in your homes but you've got to read it right you got to put it to your mouth you got to eat it it doesn't save you by being on your nightstand or in your drawer on the coffee table it makes a difference by your taking it in give us this day our daily bread we don't need it just once a week at church we need it every day and forgive us you know it's telling us in the Lord's Prayer it's assuming not only do I need forgiveness that's assuming you need forgiveness forgive us it's telling us that we have a debt forgive us our debts sometimes it says forgive us our sins forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and I remember reading about this little girl they asked her father on her way home from Sunday school she said what did the pastor mean forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets he said well that's the point really our trespass forgive us our sins you know the Lord makes one commentary look at Matthew Matthew's rendition in Chapter 6 of The Lord's Prayer you're gonna find it there from verses 9 through 13 he says forgive us in verse 12 forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors now the Lord's Prayer is over with the word amen in verse 13 but notice Jesus makes one comment he has a footnote to the Lord's Prayer you know the only footnote is for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your father and heaven forgive your trespasses the one point on the Lord's Prayer he especially wanted to emphasize was if you're going to come with your petitions to God and you're saying Lord forgive me the Lord is gonna say now are you forgiving each other you know a father might do that child might come and say dad I need this and that and he could say well I'm happy to help you but you and your brother or your sister you're having this argument you need to settle that and then we'll talk now God is not saying I will not forgive you unless you first forgive each other God is saying I will forgive you first but then you need to pass that forgiving a song if you've ever read the parable in Matthew chapter 18 it talks about the unmerciful debtor there the Lord makes it very clear the king freely forgives the servant and then he expects the serving to pass it on if he doesn't pass it on the King revokes his forgiveness you get that God is not saying I will not forgive you unless you first forgive others he says I will forgive you first but now you must forgive others as I have forgiven you love you and I've got this list but you need to hear your father say how are you doing with your brothers and your sisters nothing makes the Lord happier than when we choose to settle differences in a Christian way with others so that we showed the Spirit of Christ did Jesus love and forgive others they nailed him to the cross he says Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing we've never been through anything quite like that and if Jesus says love your enemies the prayer is implying that we should have love in the family as well as a starting place for even those who are around us in our neighbors and and beyond then it's a part of the Lord's Prayer forgive us our debts as we forgive those I remember reading one time where Robert Louis Stevenson the famous author was a believer he was having prayer with his family and as we just did a moment ago at the conclusion of their prayer they were reciting the Lord's Prayer he's kneeling with his wife and his children and when they got to the part where it says forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors he stopped and he and say it and the families going on and wife afterward put her hand on her husband's arm and said Robert white yeah I notice you paused and he said I had trouble praying that part of the prayer because I don't want God to forgive me like I forgive my neighbors do you want God to forgive you the way that we sometimes forgive others people do us wrong we talk about all they do wrong or we can't stop thinking about what they've done wrong or we try to get even or pray bad things will happen to them or some calamity upon them because of what they've done how you want God to forgive you we should pass that on to others forgive us our debts as we forgive those and mark 11:25 Jesus says when you stand praying if you have anything against anyone forgive him that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your trespasses but if you do not forgive neither will your father and heaven forgive you your trespasses so part of every prayer when we're coming we're asking for mercy we're acknowledging in the Lord's Prayer that we've sinned we're saying forgive us our sins now by the way I know the Lord's Prayer says forgive us our sins and we've all sinned but I think it's important for us to also remember you need to be specific in confessing and repenting of your particular sins don't take this as an excuse because it says forgive us our debts that you never need to be specific with the Lord say forgive me my particular sins you should be confessing those to the Lord as well so the Lord's Prayer is about devotion dependence and danger there's an enemy out there and he's tempting us to fall forgive us as we forgive and then got two points left here do not lead us into temptation or are the King James has lead us not into temptation I got to stop here and and just make something very clear are we needing to beg God not to tempt us the way that's worded confuses people lead us not into temptation and you'll see as a picture on the screen there Potiphar's wife trying to tug Joseph into or forbidden relationship and he's running the other way what it's saying is lead us away from our natural bent towards temptation because you can read in the book of James 1:13 when tempted no one should say God is tempting me for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone god never attempts anyone sometimes the Bible will say the Lord tempted Israel and the word there is actually translates tested sometimes God's people were tested but God never wants to encourage us to sin sometimes a person's faith will be tested and tried and strengthened by the Lord but he doesn't tempt us with evil we don't have to beg the Lord not to tempt us what we're doing is begging him to leave to lead us away from temptation proverbs 3 6 in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths we're asking God to direct us away from temptation we're always sort of leaning towards temptation and we need to pray that God will guide us the other way and you know what I've found is when I pray that I'm gonna be very honest but they'll be very vulnerable with you and I just always assume messages like this that it's I have to issue a disclaimer and say I'm talking to myself but I think you sort of knew that I prayed Lord you know save me from sin save me from temptation and then later that day I'll be tempted and I'll want to I'll even try to and all these terrible roadblocks come up that just stopped me and it's like God is not gonna bless me in my sin and God makes it very difficult and he interrupts you and it's because you asked me to lead you away from temptation here I'm creating a broad block I'm giving you a way of escape and I can just tell God through Providence and through the things that are happening he's saying I am trying to save you you asked for help here it is question is do we accept it when he sends it don't you want the Lord to make it difficult for you to sin you sure he's good at it he will you pray and say Lord lead me from temptation and he will and then it says in Jeremiah 42 verse 3 that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing which we should do and then he says but here's the final petition deliver us from the evil one it's telling us that there's a battle this is a great controversy going on the devil has come down with great wrath he knows that his time is short he wants to destroy us and we're asking God for not only deliverance but ultimate deliverance from the evil one Luke 21:36 Jesus said 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 much of the world is going to be to deceive Jesus said if we're possible even the very elect would be deceived we need to always be praying that God is going to deliver us and then you've got the great proclamation at the end for yours as a kingdom as opposed to the evil one who's causing all these problems in his forces yours is the kingdom and the power all the power belongs to God greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world and the glory a prayer ought to be a prayer of acknowledging the power of God to answer our prayer do you have faith in his power do you Revere his glory that he deserves the glory every knee will bow to Jesus and for how long will it last forever that's why I especially like the the clothes here of Matthew's Prayer you don't find this in Luke's version for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for how long forever what is Jesus offering us he wants us in the Lord's Prayer keep the eternal perspective in the battle between good and evil we're talking about eternal issues he wants us to live forever this is the main dispute on the great controversy Satan wants the kingdom and the power and the glory but it belongs to God Satan wants to be glorified he in his pride is wanting the prerogatives of God now Jesus comes from the heart of the father to live out the Lord's Prayer if you want to know what is the essence of the Lord's Prayer Christ in his life is Exhibit A of the Lord's Prayer and you can find all of the components of the Lord's Prayer in Jesus prayer in John chapter 17 this that's another message but Jesus lived out what the Lord's Prayer is all about it's a pattern you might try some time taking the Lord's Prayer break it up sort of like we did here today just put it on an outline and when you kneel wherever you do and you have your prayer just use it as an outline and say our Father put it in your own words you know have you ever discovered sometimes you get in a rut of your vocabulary when you pray you keep saying the same words I tease I tease pastor Ross and and Debbie and others and do Sabbath school because they always get up and say from you know here in the church and cross the street and around the world we say the same thing I say let's find another way to say that it's still true but if we say the same thing there's got to be so many different ways to save some of these things when you pray over your food you find yourself saying just pretty much the same thing I remember hearing another lady she prayed the most beautiful prayer over the meal I thought I'm gonna borrow her word so I'm so tired of mine say the way she said it and you've all heard someone say and Lord bless the hands that prepared it you heard that one so after I get tired of the things I think up I start plagiarizing your prayers when you pray good things but part of good prayer I mean why don't you get bored talking to a person who said everything the same way the same time whenever I call pastor oz hi John how you doing this is Doug hi I'm fine how are you I thought why we even say that anymore we always say why don't just cut right to the point like when you text somebody when you're talking to God pray that God will give you eloquence and that you can speak from your heart and when you run out of words the Holy Spirit will take your prayers and make them beautiful you probably heard this story before about a father was walking by his little girl's bedroom and he overheard her prayed she said dear Lord and then he listened it's not that sweet she's praying and she said abcdefg and then she said and dear Lord abcdefg and she went through the whole alphabet I'm like do it all 26 letters and he was so curious he tapped on the door he came in he said honey I sorry you overheard you praying it seemed to me like you're praying the alphabet what's going on she's up dad she's I just can't find the words and I'm just giving God the letters I know he'll put the right words in there this is what the Holy Spirit does not not recommending that because I think that as we get older the Lord will give us the words so we need to say lord help us to pray and you know that's my prayer is if the disciples could come to Jesus and say Jesus teach us to pray and this is something that we have to work at all the time but you know like learning an instrument the better you get through practice the more you're going to enjoy prayer it'll be a blessing to you and it'll be a blessing to others how many of you believe in you want to be drawn closer to the Lord why don't you turn with me we're gonna sing 306 you draw me nearer Oh Lord like to invite the singers to come out and we'll sing this and the words of this song are a prayer we'd like you to sing it and pray it at the same time stand together with me as we sing 306 and it should be on the screen [Music] [Music] Father in heaven Lord as we think back and remember that day when the disciples cause saw Jesus coming from his intercession with his face and countenance glowing and odd they said Lord teach us to pray that's our prayer today Lord we have this wonderful privilege you've given us to commune with the greatest mind in eternity and lord I just pray that you'll teach us how to do then teach us Lord to really connect with you to know what it means to be in an attitude of worship and reverence and yet to address you as a loving father I pray Lord you'll forgive us for the neglect of prayer we're all guilty off I believe when we get to heaven Lord we're gonna see just file cabinets full of answered prayers our prayers you wanted to answer that you did not because we never asked and help us to take that opportunity and to make the most of this privilege we have right now in prayer if there's practical things we can do on our schedule and our priorities to make better use of that time help us to know that Lord we want to be a praying people seeking first your kingdom looking forward to your coming knowing you as father trusts in you as the one who will supply all of our needs and surrendering as your servants to your will believing that your kingdom will soon come and that your power and your glory and your kingdom will be an everlasting one and so lord I pray that these truths that we've explored today you'll plant them in our hearts and then teach us to apply them in our lives we thank you for the Sabbath day we pray all these things in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Aaron

Views: 130,871

Rating: 4.7345972 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: B_6f-xDgvgw

Length: 60min 35sec (3635 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 24 2018