What it means to say Our Father in Heaven

alright you know a question great we talked about last week Hanukkah okay the Hanukkah okay Yeshua you're right mining is schewe in Hanukkah even some of the minor traditions and seeing how it all points to him and you know I was thinking I didn't mention it last week but I was thinking about how I Passover there's a lot of similar types of things these traditions that have worked their way in that you know we honestly don't know where it came from originally but you look at it and you say this is pointing to Yeshua how did this find its way into a traditional Jewish Passover Seder like the afikoman you know they take the matzah and they wrap it in the in the cloth and they bury it under a pillow and they say that's the stone and then they removed the stone and they say the stone has been rolled away and they haven't you know they unwrapped the cloth but the the matzah is not in there and they say someone has you know his body's been stolen them the cloth is empty all we found was this empty cloth and you know we look at that we say I mean they're just illustrating the death and resurrection of Yeshua how can they not see that but they do this in their celebration they have no clue that it points to you schewe and it's interesting that that tradition quite possibly may have come from first century Messianic Jews and they had such an influence on Judaism that it just became a tradition in mainstream Judaism the word afikoman is a Greek word by the way it's not a brew and it's it's not something we have any record of prior to the first century that I'm aware of I've not seen anything that indicates that it existed prior to the first century it may have I don't know but I'm not aware of it and so it just makes me wonder if now maybe some of the disciples and apostles started doing that as part of their celebration of Passover and they had such an influence on the Jewish culture that Jews today are still doing it and they don't even know that I'm in a why so you know some people are really against tradition and you know and I I understand you know Yeshua said that not to exalt your traditions above the word of God and so we don't ever want to do that we don't want to exalt traditions about the Word of God but you know there are some traditions that have a lot of beauty in them and a lot of really cool connections and significance to our Messiah and so I'm not opposed to tradition just for the sake of being opposed to tradition I'm opposed to things that contradict the Word of God and I'm opposed to traditions that are exalted above the Word of God just like what you should have said don't exalt your tradition and by the word God but as long as it's not opposing the Word of God or being exalted above the Word of God I don't really see a huge problem with it not I mean so we just need to be I feel like we we need to encourage people you have moderation and to have wisdom and have temperance as they're looking a lot of these things because it seems like there's a lot of extremes people going one extreme to the other and we've just got to be people who deal with these issues approach them with wisdom wrote some of moderation and use some discernment about things and don't just throw everything out the window just because you don't understand it I've heard of people who say you know it Passover they only eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs they don't do anything else like that's their entire passivist unleavened bread and bitter herbs and that's it you don't even have water to wash down the bitter herbs that that doesn't sound like much of a Passover celebration to me I mean the the traditions is what makes Passover a celebration is what makes it enjoyable if all you're doing is gagging down some bitter herbs and dry bread it's not really celebration we're supposed to be celebrating rejoicing the Passover and so tradition is not always a bad thing that was that was the continuation of last week's message you guys remember what I talked about the week before what we talked about the week before Mary Martha okay and what was significant about that Mary issues feet right all right so this week we're in Luke chapter 11 and this is following on the heels of Mary and Martha and Luke chapter 11 starting in verse 1 and you know this is a passage that probably most of you are pretty familiar with why don't you then and read this with me there's only four verses when a different translation that when I've got in my notes now Yeshua was praying in a certain place when he finished one of his disciples said to him master he just to pray just as John taught his disciples then Yeshua said to them when you pray say father sanctified be your name your kingdom come give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone indebted to us and lead us not into temptation all right and that translation is the tree of life that right that's the Tree of Life version it's taken from the critical text I want to read it from the New King James this is from the majority text so you're going to notice there's a slight variation what is in here and this again this is one of the reasons why I like them the New King James because I don't have I don't feel like there's stuff missing from my text so New King James says now 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 as John also taught his disciples so he said to them when you pray say our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one you guys notice a difference between those two translations the majority of your modern translations are going to be like the one we just read first they're based on the critical text and it's based on a couple of manuscripts that have variations from the majority and they say well these these manuscripts of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus specifically are older you guys can sit down you don't have to keep standing they say the Sinaiticus Vaticanus are older and so that must mean they're more reliable and they're missing some of these things so maybe we should take it out even though the majority of the manuscripts we have record of and the majority of manuscripts we have access to contain these verses and these fragments because they're missing in these two older manuscripts they must not have been in the original that's the thinking behind and that's why they they say let's pull it out in my mind I'm thinking well if it's in the majority of the manuscripts it probably was most like was supposed to be in there my opinion and you know just because something is older doesn't mean it's always better you know they could have these manuscripts one of them was found in the basement of the Vatican well I was in the basement of the Vatican why wasn't it being used in circulation by the church oh the manuscripts to where the majority the majority manuscripts are the ones that were being used they were being circulated and if it's being circulated news that means that it's the one that everybody knows about if it's one that's hiding in a closet someplace gathering dust and nobody knows about it maybe there's a good reason for that maybe that was a copy that they didn't feel comfortable with Vaticanus and Sinaiticus both contradict each other in a number of places as well it's not like they're in unison with each other and in contradiction only with the rest of the text that they agree but Medic anus assign Atticus don't even agree with each other in most cases so I don't think I would say they're reliable well that's just kind of my thoughts on it why I like the to go with the majority text because I feel like it's more complete I feel like it's got most likely what was in the original text we don't have an original New Testament unfortunately all we have are copies all we have are manuscripts that we copied and many of them are copies of copies but I believe that they are reliable and I believe that we can trust the copies that we do have so just to set the record straight about that so anyway I think it's interesting this is the second time you shoe atados disciples this specific prayer you remember when we were in the Sermon on the Mount months ago and we looked at the same exact prayer in the Sermon on the Mount which is also why I believe that you know this is this is the more accurate version because if you look in Matthew chapter chapter six whenever he's in the sermon of the money he's teaching him this prayer it matches the version and the majority text wears in the critical text missing some pretty key elements and it seems like it's just incomplete it's like a hyper abbreviated version that is missing some pretty significant stuff in my opinion but anyway we were looking at this in the Sermon on the Mount so I don't want to pre pre preached the same message that I preached back in the Sermon on the Mount when I looked at this passage so I'm going to look at it a little bit from a different angle you know some people seem some people think that he is Luke and Matthew were confused about when he gave them this this teaching on prayer and they say well Matthew thought he had happened at the Sermon on the Mount and Luke thought I happened later when they found him praying and they came and asked him about it and I think is it very likely it happened twice you know how many times I get asked the same question will they be my my kids or by Isaac or people online but I mean seriously you know how many times have you been asked the same thing over and over you know because they ask you it and then you know some time passes and they forget your answer so they ask you again I think it's very possible that that's what happened Yushu taught about on the Sermon on the Mount some time passed and his disciples I'm praying they're like I want him to teach me how to pray Lord teach me how to pray he's like okay let me tell you what I told you back on the Sermon on the Mount that's I think a very likely possibility so that it could have happened twice it's possible maybe you know Matthew and Luke had a disagreement about when it happened not I'm not arguing or disputing that but I think it's also very possible he taught it twice and so we have two different contexts for it but so in the first time he was teaching and he talked about a lot of different things but in the context of the first one he says you know when you pray don't be like the Pharisee or don't be like the the pagans with their many words and their repetitions their vain repetitions remember that and this time Yeshua's praying and his disciples were watching and pray and when he's done they say Lord teach us to pray like you and so you see that there's there's some different context to what's going on here and I think it's I think it's interesting that that's the question that they asked him now they've watched him so many different times so many different context healing people reaching rebuking passing out demons all kinds of things but I think it's interesting that they they saw him pray and they said I wanted I want to pray like you and I can't imagine what it'd be like to be one of his disciples and to witness that and to see the Son of God talking to the father can you imagine like what that would that would be like to be in his presence when that took place I just imagine it would be a really powerful experience for them to witness and just to see the the intimacy that he had with the father in prayer and to know you know he's not just saying words he's not just talking to the ceiling which is what you know I think a lot of times we probably feel like we're doing or you know you buy on your head so you're talking to the floor I guess but you know whether you're looking up at the sky or looking down you a lot of times it's like I can't help but wonder you know is is he is he hearing me you know have you guys ever felt that way when you're praying just no no this is God actually hear what I'm saying I know I felt that way at times and then there's other times when you know you pray and you're like I know that that prayer got heard but you know you listening I just can't imagine what it'd be like to be disciples listening to your show pray because that was probably an experience that nobody else has ever been able to witness before that kind of a that kind of a prayer that kind of intimacy that he would have had with his father and so they said Lord teach us to pray and Yeshua said to begin your prayer by calling God our Father our Father which art in heaven our Father in heaven Hallowed he says Oh God our Father so what does it mean the car to call God our Father this is what I want to look at today what does it mean to call God our Father as a father refers to him as the one who arts life okay so my father helped my mother conceive right she bore a child and gave birth but it was because of my father that she was able to have us have a son so he is the one who imparted life you think about all the different things that come from the father it's the father the DNA the father that determines the DNA of the child the chromosomes of the child whether it be a male or female and a lot of different things is very significant what the father brings into this birth and it's it's interesting that we would call God our Father well you sure said you must be born again right one from above were born of the spirit were born from a different father father reminds us that we are his children and he loves us this is important when you're praying you're not talking to somebody who is afar off somebody who doesn't care about you some distant person it's not like hey I think I'm gonna try to call up the president and ask him for something good luck with that I don't think you'll ever get a hold of him because you're gonna have to go through all these different filters and channels and they're gonna reroute you to everybody else and and and keep you from talking to him I mean that's I think sometimes the goal of some of these is these phone circuits that they they have set up for different celebrities and and politicians and whatever you know they they want to put layers of a separation between you and then because they don't want just every crazy person calling them right can you imagine if you know if you had like if the president just gave out his phone number his private phone number to the whole world his phone number probably never stopped ringing right I mean if everybody in the world knew his private phone number he'd probably get phone calls with all kinds of crazy people and his life would probably be a mess so he tries to distance himself intentionally I'm sure hey you said God is your father octa is your father how many of you I feel like that's a more intimate way to talk to him then gonna get old the President or the king of Siberia or whatever right and it's obviously it's a more intimate type of thing it's not even it's it's more intimate than even saying well he's he's your friend he's your coworker he's your neighbor he's your father why is that more intimate because the love that a father has for his child very different than any other kind of love that I've ever experienced and just me being a father has really helped me to understand better the love that God has for me as you know the first time you have a child and you you hold that baby in your arms and you look into his face and you realize I am responsible for this I have to take care of this child I have to feed it and nurture it and love it this child is completely helpless and dependent on me and you look at this child say this child has done absolutely nothing and I love I love this child so much just because it's mine and you see that you see the face this child and you say I can see myself right there that's my eyes my ears my nose I look at my two boys and I just feel like I just made clones of me it's like Lex Lex jr. and like you know Lex Lex - and Lex 3 you know and I just feel like I'm in a clone factory with my kids and then you know Kali is so much like Amanda and but it's you know you look at you look at your kids and you just have so much love for him and it sure said to pray to God our Father that intimacy of love that a father has for his children knowing that when you pray you were calling out to one who loves you one who wants to provide for you one who wants to protect you one who wants to heal you you're not calling stranger you're not calling out to Anatomy only got to one who loves you and so when we pray we can pray confidence knowing that he does love us and he does care for us it doesn't want what's best for us sometimes with what's best first is not what we're asking for right now how many of you guys have kids who want ice cream and Oreos every meal of the day you're like no you cannot have ice cream and Oreos for breakfast lunch and dinner right that's what they want but you know that's not what they need you know that that's bad for them so you you provide them food but you give them the healthy food you don't give them the the sugar that they want calling him father reminds us that we are his children that He loves us but also that he wants to chasten us to discipline us teach us practice elitists in the right direction all those things are tied to him being our Father not he's not the the grandpa with the pocketful of candy you know you go to and he's always giving you sweet treats and and then sending you home spoiled he's your dad he's the one who also as the paddle it was just spanking when you need it other calling him father reminds us that as his children we should be like him as his chil we should be like him and I remember when I was a kid but I I really looked up to my dad and he'll do miss him there was a song when I was a kid that they would play on the radio is all over street is a country song is called seeing my father and me and every time I hear that song I think about my dad and it's just this idea that that we become by a car parents I'm just not just that I look a lot like my dad because I have the same DNA but he raised me he taught me right from wrong I can give a pretty good haircut to he was a barber taught me how to cut hair I can't tell it by my haircut that's just because I don't have a lot of hair up on top anyway but Isaac's chemica haircut a few times you know we learned from our parents we grow from our parents would become like our parents we imitate our parents we imitate their personality imitate their character okay that's why the Bible says that you know that the sins of the fathers are passed on to the children right it's not talking about some kind of like genetic curse that's this following you around it's it's you've been trained by your parents and you just follow their example it's not like I haven't done anything wrong but I'm being held accountable for things in my my dad my grandpa did that's not what it's talking about is in another place it says that the son does not die for the sins of his father and the father does not die for the sins of the son each person is responsible for his own sin so by saying that the sins of the father carried on the next generation it's not saying that I'm being held responsible accountable for my dad said it's saying that I'm it's being passed down to me why because he's taught me I'm imitating him learning from him but we become like our our parents we become so much in so many different ways we're like them and to call God our Father should remind us that we need to become more and more like him imitate him Owen his footsteps to follow in his character love the things he I hate the things he hates that's why we pray for his will to be done if I'm praying for my will to be done it's gonna come out to be a mess we pray for his will to be done because we want to be more like more like him only God as our Father is an Express of intimacy and relationship it also appeals to the authority of the headship of God as the patriarch ever thought about that and you're praying to the Father you're calling out to the headship calling out to the one in charge the one who is responsible the provider the protector the head it's the patriarch of the family so calling God our Father it's calling on the headship that means you're calling out to authority your understanding of recognizing his authority it indicates that he is a provider and protector it gives him honor and reminds us that we submit to him not the other way around have you ever heard somebody pray and it sounds like their commanding a slave I do this God do that who are you talking to that that gets all over me when I hear that kind of stuff that really it's like fingernails on a chalkboard and that irritates me makes the hair my head stand up what's left right actually it's the hair on my shoulders at this point but like when I hear people commanding God to do something I'm like who in the world do you think you are and then I ducked because I'm afraid lightnings gonna come and strike them because they're being blasphemous don't treat God like he's your property he's your slave like he's your genie in a magic lamp like he's some kind of vending machine you just push the button and pops what you want that's not his job he's not here to serve you you're here to serve Him and so : his father reminds he is when in charge he is the head on me if some honor reminds us that we submit to him not the other way around calling him father reminds us to honor our father one of the commandments write honor your mother and father that it may go well with you in the land honor your father and mother so why do we call him father honor him now like to refer to their priests as father so-and-so right they like to call the Pope the most holy father that's blasphemy both times other Pat is not he's not the father hey Pope whatever his name is he's not the father he's definitely not the most holy father what is his name Francis only God is worthy be called the Most Holy Father only God is worth it be called father Yeshua was even addressing this him at the 23:9 he said do not call anyone on earth your father for one as your father he who is in heaven now the context of this he's talking about religious titles right just don't be called rabbi don't be called master don't be called leader or teacher don't call anybody father or God as your father and then the Catholics come along and they call everybody father they say it's okay they also tell you to come and confess your sins to the priest and that he is the one who can forgive you of your sins that's another blasphemous thing God alone can forgive sins the priest doesn't do that they tell you to pray to Mary and you know right of the saints that they intercede for you well that's blasphemy - they're dead and buried in their graves the only one who can intercede for you is Yahshua is our intercessor who has seated the right hand of the Father he lives eternally to make intercession for us they're replacing a schewe in so many different ways every every turn of the corner they're replacing issue ax they're replacing him in prayer replacing him as our Messiah as our Father as our King has earned intercessor all these different that they're doing is is taking away from your schewe I don't even realize it that's what's so bad about it they're taking away from you schewe the context of you know do not call anyone on earth your father is the context of religious title of a religious authority that's being placed on someone he's not saying you know that guy they got your mom pregnant don't call him father that's not what he's saying I've heard people argue that as that's ridiculous that's not the context what he's saying over and over and over in the Bible we see the guy that got the mom pregnant is called father throughout the Bible there's not a problem with that Yeshua even referred to it okay that's not the issue that's nobody's talking about he's talking about giving a position of honor and respect as a spiritual leader calling that person father say that they're your father spiritually but he's addressing it's like calling someone rabbi aster Lord those title respect that have been given out that's what he's rejecting in this context and so I mean the Bible says honor your father and mother if I was to tell my dad hey Dad I can't call you dad anymore because Jesus said so I'm just gonna say hey you or if I just say hey Mike was my dad's name I just caught it calling my dad Mike you know I think that probably would have bothered him he would have felt like that was disrespectful for me call my father by his first name even though everybody else in the world calls him Mike he wanted me to call him dad that was a respectful term me to call him dad because I showed who he wasn't my life honored him as my father I would have called him Mike that would have been a dishonor to him hey she says it to call God our Father we pray pray our Father in Heaven and all these people are making a fuss about what name you should call him is here all these arguments right but you need to call him Yahweh or you who are yahushua yahuwah hawala who uh Jehovah like all these I mean you go to 50 different things that people are calling in Yeshua said calling father calling father we don't have to fuss about that I don't know how to pronounce it I don't know how to spell it al Nana say it into discussion why are we fussing about this he says not to call any man on earth your father and the Catholics obviously miss that verse I believe that is a very much a blasphemy for them to do that know is interesting that you should have said to pray our Father not my father you ever notice that he didn't say when you pray pray my father in heaven hallowed be your name he said pray our Father have you ever thought about that and am i son of God I can't say my father because I'm not the Son of God have you ever noticed that when you she was talking he would often say my father my father in heaven he would either say my father or the father and he was talking about God or to God he would say my father but when he told us to pray he said pray our Father why is he's the son of God and I'm not this is it this is significant this is this is theologically significant a lot of people don't even realize it so Yeshua is the only begotten Son of God the Bible tells us but it says that we have been adopted through Yeshua as of Yeshua and because of him we become children of God through him we become children of God he is the true son the only begotten son of a father but we have the ability to cry out to God as our Father because of Yeshua this is important John chapter 1 verses 11 through 13 it says he came to his own and his own did not receive him but as many as who received him to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believed in his name who were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God hey this is significant why can we call him father because of his show because we come through Yeshua all speaks about this adoption in Galatians 4 it says Galatians 4 or 4 through 7 it says but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons and because her son's got a sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father therefore you don't no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ Hey he sent is the spirit of his son into our hearts crying out Abba Father this that is just amazing to me it is only through a sure that we can cry Abba Father nobody else has the ability for the right say our Father in Heaven every religion praise I you you goat look around go to a Buddhist temple what are they doing they're praying go to the Hindus what are they doing they're praying go to that you know watch yoga what are they doing they're praying everywhere you go Muslims pray Jews pray they'll pray everybody prays we're the only ones who who have the right to pray our Father in Heaven as we are the ones who are the sons the children because of what your show has done because of our faith in Him we have the right to be called sons of God this significant people who say that all religions the same they're all worshipping the same God and they're all going the same place that's not true there's a lot of different guys that are being worshipped and they're not the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but even those who claim to be worshiping the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob can't call God our Father as they reject Yeshua they reject son it's only in Yeshua that God becomes our Father only in Yeshua that God becomes our Father this is why you sure says no one comes to the Father except through me this is how we come to the Father as because of you sure through Yeshua we are adopted children not begotten children Yeshua is the only begotten but God has many adopted children the Bible says two children are joint heirs with christ romans chapter 8 14 through 17 says for as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but I've received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba Father the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together it is only as I be sure that we are able to say Abba Father our Father in heaven only way we're able to call out to his father if someone rejects Yahshua and doesn't believe any sure they have no right to call God their father the Jewish the Jewish rabbis they can't call God our Father because they reject the Sun the Muslims can't call God our Father as they reject the Sun anyone who rejects Yeshua cannot say our Father in heaven because they are not children of God according to the Scriptures you become children of God because of Yeshua as of your adoption because of what he has done because of faith in Him but listen listen what you should have said to some Pharisees on this topic John 8 I'm gonna just highlight a few verses I'm gonna read the whole thing verse 1938 41 through 44 then they said to him where's your father jesus answered you know neither me nor my father if you had known me you would have known my father also then verse 38 I speak what I have seen with my father and you do what you have seen with your father you do the deeds of your father then they said to him we were not born of fornication we have one father God see they're claiming that God is their father and I listened to his response jesus said to them if god were your father you would love me I proceeded forth and came from God nor have I come of myself but he sent me why do you not understand my speech because you were not able to listen to my word you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it they said our fathers God he said nope you reject me you reject the Son of God therefore God is not your father that was his response you see he went on and said no your father is the devil how can you make these kinds of statements because it's true for one if you reject the son you reject the father that's what the Bible says and we see this that that's actually the definition of an antichrist is to reject son is to reject the father but first John talks about the Shura calls them sons of the devil because they reject him they were the spirit of the Antichrist because they rejected the Son of God which makes them the children the devil but those who receive your show are called the children of God that's why we can call each other brothers and sisters have you ever thought about that why are we brothers and sisters well because we're all children of God through Yeshua or my brother or my sister but you know what I don't call anybody outside of the faith a brother or a sister if there's somebody in my life who I know does not believe in Yeshua I don't refer to them as brother or sister I had a guy at work a few years ago and I was working at as a web designer to place this guy was I mean he was an atheist like he wanted nothing to do with God very secular very worldly but he always walked up to me as a brother I was going I refused to call him brother yes he's not sure my fate he's not a child of God and I think it's be careful about who we call a brother and his sister just like we need to be careful about who we call father Luke 11 back to our main text we looked at the parable we looked at the the prayer the Lord's Prayer our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name he said to call him our Father now listen to what he says next verse 5 and he said to them which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him and he will answer from with NSA do not trouble me the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed I cannot rise to give to you I say to you though he will not rise to give to him because he's a friend yeah because of his persistence he will rising up to him as much as he needs so I say to you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who seeks everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds in him who knocks it will be open if a son asked for bread from any father among you will he give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent instead of a fish or if he asks for an egg will he offer him a scorpion if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him so the theme here again is asking our Father asking our Father for something in prayer and so you're sure tells us this parable about a man annoying his neighbor until he gets what he wants and I've heard people say well see we need to just continue to pester God until we get what we're supposed what we're asking for that's not the point of this parable at all issue is is contrasting this neighbor with God he's not comparing this neighbor to God he's not saying God is like this neighbor who's refusing to get our bed to give you something saying that you can you compare sir your neighbor until he finally gives you what you need but God is not like that because you know he goes on says ask the father what you needed he will give it he's not like you evil people does you evil people your son asks you for something and you're not gonna give him something evil so your heavenly father isn't gonna you know isn't gonna be even close to that right our Father in Heaven is way better than we are as fathers he's a better dad than any of us could be and we being evil give good gifts to our children God is even greater even better his children that we are to ours and you know you think about you want to do for your kids you want to do good to your kids right you want them to be better than you I want my son's to be more honourable than me I want my son's to be smarter than me I want them to be stronger than me I want them to be more intelligent and more handsome and I mean I want the best for my kids and I'm an evil dad in comparison to God and what he wants for his kids I want to for my kids I want them to have everything they need I don't want them to ever go without and I'm an evil dad in comparison our Heavenly Father that's that's what he's showing us here you father's are doing your absolute best to take care of your family that's evil in comparison to how much God wants to do for you and take care of you and provide for you is a better dad than you are that's the point of this better than you are now so he's not saying that God is like this annoyed neighbor annoyed with your prayers and saying go away I'm trying to sleep you know the Bible says that God never sleeps so I'm 121 verses 1 through 4 says I lift I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from my help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth he will not let your foot slip he who watches over you will not slumber indeed he who watches over Israel net will neither sleep nor slumber so obviously you she was not comparing this lazy neighbor who wants to go back to bed he's annoyed with your request to God it's not who he's describing here he's saying even though you can you can pester your neighbor a guy who is annoyed with you a guy who doesn't like you you can ask him enough times long enough and you get what you're asking for what it would it we see about the prayers of the pagans he says whether they do these mindless repetitions that's that's kind of what this guy's doing to his neighbor this mindless repetition knocking on the door hey I need some bread don't go to sleep and he's a bread I got a friend here I don't have any bread give me some bread I'm not going to wait till you give me some bread is that the way God wants us to pray to him no not what you she was trying to teach us he's not saying pray like that guy annoy God until he finally gives you what you want that's not what he's saying he's saying when you ask guys just gonna give it to you why because he's your father so if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give to those who ask him that's the conclusion right if you being evil you have good things much more will you have any Father give good things so God is not annoyed by your prayers he is attentive to our prayers first Peter 3:12 yeah Peter first Peter 3:12 says for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears open to their prayers but the faith that the face of the Lord is against those who do evil his eyes are open his children those are open to the righteous those who are doing what is right in his eyes proverbs twenty-nine it says the Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous so when we pray we're not talking to our sleepy neighbor who wants us to go away talking to our Heavenly Father who loves us we don't have to annoy him by constant repetition as he hears us when we ask that's why you schewe said you know you don't need to be like the Pharisees the hypocrites who like to make long-winded prayers in public I think that they'll be heard for their many words you don't need to be like that his prayer is abbreviated is very short they say teach us to pray and he said our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as is give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom the power the glory forever amen and people have said well that's that's a lot like the veenu prayer in Hebrew have you looked at that prayer and it is it's a long prayer they our Father it's a long prayer and your shoes is like condensed and shortened and abbreviated right and you could say well it's roughly the same content yeah really is very similar content and so you sure simplified it and made it a lot more concise and to the point you didn't puff it up with a bunch of fluff we don't need to puff up our prayers with a bunch of fluff when you talk to your your earthly dad you do puff them up with a bunch of fluff now know when when you talk to me you fill your words with a bunch of fluff no when we talk to God do we need to fill our words with a bunch of love what's interesting about this prayer there's some some really interesting things about this so he said when you pray say our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come hey we're honoring him our father father in heaven we are acknowledging he is the king that he is sovereign your kingdom come and we are seeking to do his will at our own your will be done Lord heard pursuing him in prayer right honoring him expecting him paying for his will and then says give us this day our daily bread we're looking to him as a provider saying God you are my provider trust in you I lean on you to provide for me for my home forgive us our sins knowing that we all sin and mess up and knowing that he is only one who can forgive us do not lead us into deliver us from evil relying on him again to protect us to lead us this is the type of Prayer that we need to be praying she was not saying you need to say these exact words every time you pray as long as this is how how to pray not what to pray we honor God we exalt him we seek his will we ask for his forgiveness as for his provisions in her life acknowledging that he is our provider and we ask him to lead us in the right paths not into the wrong paths this is how you pray it starts with our Father recognizing and knowing who we're talking to so we keep that in mind when we pray that we are praying to our loving father wants to give us good gifts we're not talking to a stranger we mean on straight return acquaintance or even to a friend or neighbor you know if I if I was to go up to one of you and say hey I need you to provide for me you're going to be my provider my protector some of you might be like well I can I can help you out with a 20 but I don't think I can provide for all of what you need right I'm gonna happen God as God is our provider but we're not talking to a friend or neighbor and acquaintance or a stranger we're talking to a loving father loving father who wants to do right in our life wants to protect us wants to provide for us wants to make us better I was to become mature adults that he wants us to be spoiled brats sometimes I mean saying no a lot of times see my kids ask for stuff and I say no a lot why because I love them and I want them to be spoiled brats right because I know what's best for them what they're wanting is not what's best for them that's what it means to call on your father it's to trust in him and know that he is going to do what's right so you pray for his will not your own because you know his will is better for you than yours is John 15 cent abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you see the prerequisite there as we abide in Christ we abide in yeshua if you abide if you remain if you stand firm in yeshua rounded in yeshua believing and trusting in yeshua then what the prayers are heard if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what your desire and it should be done for you the problem is we're not great at doing that are we not graded just abiding in him walking it in a lot of times do it on our own it's it's kind of like Peter on the water right he was keeping his focus on your shoe he was walking on water but when he got distracted by the wind the waves he started to sink I think that's a beautiful picture of what happens in our life so often when we're focused on your shoe everything's great the storm is crashing all around us and we don't even notice because our focus is on you schewe but when we get our focus off your shoe and we start looking at the storm then we realize hey wait a minute I'm in a storm we don't think about your shoe at that point we're looking at a storm eopns our life falls apart at that moment it's only when we keep our focus on you're sure that everything's okay and it doesn't matter what you do what happens to you what's going on all around you the world can be in complete and utter chaos if you're focused on you sure you're fine that's how that's how we see the the apostles being martyred in gruesome horrible ways and them going out with joy singing songs rejoicing how can you do that when I mean you're being burned alive nailed to a stake and you're singing songs of praise how does that happen cuz their eyes were on Yeshua not on the fire their eyes are on your shoe and not on their pain not on their torture they could they could stand in that fire and sing praises to God because they kept their eyes on him we've got to abide abide in Yeshua is the firm foundation he's a solid rock on Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand right you guys heard that song you know when when years ago whenever first started talking to my wife about keeping the Sabbath and the feasts and all this stuff one thing we had a conversation that she said you know I'm not sure about all stuff I'm not sure what if we should be doing this or not but I'm gonna follow you she said but tell me one thing never reject Joshua and I said I I will never reject Joshua that is the firm foundation and we made that solid foundation said this is one thing we are standing firm on I everything else I'm willing to throw up in the air and say you know let's let's reevaluate let's let's see if this is if this is okay or not and even regularly reevaluate and say you know I used to think that I evaluated it before let's reevaluate again just in case but Yeshua's one of those non-negotiable things he is the solid rock is our foundation of our faith without him what's the point of anything honestly and is through him that we're able to call God our Father because of him so we come to our Father through Yeshua he is the only way to the Father is the way the truth in the life no one comes to the Father except through him and it's because of you sure that we're able to pray our Father in heaven this makes prayer an intimate event this is an intimate thing to pray you're spending time with your father just like what we talked about a couple weeks ago with Mary and Martha right what did Mary want to do she wanted to sit at your shoes feet in time with him her is intimate it's not a duty it's not something we we have to do I got to check it off my list oh I said my prayer today that shouldn't be the way prayer is in our life there should be something that we slipped way to go do intentionally we we look for ways to find time to pray it's what I said yushua did that he would slip away stuff would be going on he'd be in a crowd they be wanting him to teach her to heal or to perform some kind of miracle and he'd slip away and go up into a mountain someplace and hide just to pray everybody else was in the garden asleep and he was up all night praying and he said can't you just they'd wake a little longer and she just pray with me the longer not done yet is that the way we are do we want to slip away and find time to pray with him or we just I said my prayers we're just like a a habit that you gotten into I say my prayers before I eat and I say my prayers before I go to bed and that's just my habit that's my ritual that's my routine it's easy to do really is it's easy to form a habit like that to form a routine and to forget you're talking to the father you're having a conversation with God not just saying a ritual prayer but it's easy to slip into that routine and I'm reminding you don't let yourself slip into that routine intention with your prayer let your prayers be intimate let your prayers be intimate with your Father in heaven one thing I want to point out it just real quickly before we dismiss Acts chapter 2 verse 42 it says and they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and Affairs they devoted the selves to the Apostles teaching the fellowship and a prayer those three things summarize the first century church they were devoted to the Apostles teaching to fellowship into prayer like if I was going to lay out a church model that would be it this is the model for church what we should be like this is what all church everywhere should look like devoted to the Apostles teaching to fellowship into prayer and now you look around and you see that there's some congregations who are not devoted to the Apostles teaching right seems like they avoid the Apostles teaching in a lot of places especially in the Torah circles now they they tend to think that the Apostolic writings are somehow second-class to the Torah and so all they do is look at the Torah and they completely forget about the Apostolic writings that's an error we need to be devoted to the Apostles teaching why because the Apostles teaching helped bring clarity to the Torah it helped bring clarity to the prophets oopss to have a better fuller understanding of what's being said every well-sewn the scriptures okay we have some congregations you go to they are not developed devoted to fellowship you know it's the idea is let's let's get in late and leave early so nobody has to actually talk to me and when people are here let's be as superficial as possible and not actually get to know them and not become their friend and not talk to them outside of church and if we do have people that we talk to outside the church let's keep it really cliquish and closed group so that nobody else can penetrate our close-knit family of friends like that's what you find in a lot of places right that's not what we found in first century yeah the first century church they were not that way they were devoted to fellowship they wanted and loved people he said you will know them by their love for one another as how you know a disciple of you showed by their love for one another and how they treat each other and that be said about us are we devoted to the Apostles teaching are we devoted to fellowship these are these are things that I feel like we should be if we're not let's work on it that's why we have a potluck every week by the way because I feel like it's important it's not just so that everybody can have food for dinner it's fellowship so that we can spend time together and not just look at the back of each other's heads so that we can get to know each other and share a meal together I have fellowship together it's important they're all so devoted to prayer and this of the I feel like this is the one that I think we need the most work so when I feel like I personally need the most work on honestly I I don't think I could say I'm devoted to prayer at least not the way I think they were I'm looking through the New Testament I'm looking through what you sure did and what His disciples did and looking through the book of Acts looking through the things that Paul wrote about and all the different times they talk about prayer and all the ways they talk about prayer and I and I think I don't know how to pray I don't know very like Paul did I don't know how to pray like Peter did I don't know how to pray like church and acts did I'm not devoted to prayer like they are and I'm being very honest with you this is something I personally I'm trying to work on in my life okay for me to be honest with you so can this be said about us we are devoted to prayer and we look at and well that's one of the things that's appealing to a lot of people about Judaism and Islam as they say wow they're really devoted in prayer now they have three times a day they go and they fall on their face and they they bow to Mecca the Islamist Muslims do it right and they look at the Jews and they say three times a day they go to the wall and they they stick their nose in the wall and they Bob back and forth and pray these people are devoted prayer they can't talk their father can you imagine if people who can call God as our Father would be that devoted in prayer we we have such a privilege such an honor and we neglected that's a shame you have people who don't even know him as father who don't have intimacy with him we're pouring out their life devoted in prayer they don't even know him they don't know schewe they don't know the way to salvation they are trying really hard to reach out to God and we we have issuer we have the way to the Father and we'd rather watch TV okay we're busy working on I'm project sometimes we're just distracted because we had a lot going on got three sick kids at home this week I've been really distracted forget it we've got to be intentional intimate our prayer be devoted the prayer knowing who we're talking to by edge with me actually you know what let's let's pray issues we're together and with me our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil yours is the kingdom our the glory forever Lord Yeshua teach us to pray

Channel: The Grafted Church

Views: 908

Rating: 4.942029 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, church online, sabbath service, live sabbath service, preacher, bible teaching, Lex Meyer, Grafted Church, Torah Portion, Yeshua, Jesus, Bible, what it means to say our father in heaven, our father in heaven, praying our father, children of God, what it means to be children of God

Id: PKXO76hS4KQ

Length: 72min 0sec (4320 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 04 2020