Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/lw/sermons/11967/sermon-the-essence-of-christian-prayer/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] If Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass All right, if you've got your Bible, go to Matthew chapter 6. [0:40] Matthew chapter 6, continuing through the Lord's Prayer, through the Sermon on the Mount. Tonight we're going to look at the Lord's Prayer here in Matthew chapter 6. And we've been each week just going section by section through the greatest sermon ever, the Sermon on the Mount. [0:56] And we come to what's probably like if the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest hits album, this passage is probably the most popular song on the greatest hits album. [1:08] It's the Lord's Prayer. Everybody knows this. Whether you grew up in church or did not grow up in church, you are very familiar with the Lord's Prayer. And last week we kind of looked at the context around the Lord's Prayer, but tonight we're just going to focus specifically on the prayer itself. [1:25] In fact, the Lord's Prayer actually falls in the dead center of the entire Sermon on the Mount. And so this is really getting to the heart of what Jesus is teaching in this sermon. [1:38] And so let's, if you're able to stand, would you please do so? Matthew chapter 6. And every song that we sing tonight was all about praising God and exalting Him. [1:50] And there was a reason for that, because I think that gets us ready for what Jesus wants to teach us in this prayer. Look at Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9. [2:01] Jesus says, This is the Lord's Prayer. [2:31] This is God's Word. Would you pray with me and for me? And let's ask God to teach us how to pray tonight. God, what a privilege it is to look to your Word now, to learn more about you, to stand in awe of who you are, to shape our life around you and your name and your will and your kingdom. [2:56] I pray tonight, God, that we would come before you as the disciples did Jesus saying, Teach us to pray. Help us understand what it means to commune with you in prayer. [3:10] Help us understand as you have taught us what it means to pray in a Christian way. Teach us, Holy Spirit, and guide us into truth, all to the glory of Jesus that we pray. [3:25] And God's people said, Amen. Amen. Please be seated. The story took place in an Italian city named Verona. It was around the high Middle Ages or early Renaissance. [3:37] And it's a story about two people who came from two rival families and they met and they fell in love. It's Shakespeare's classic, Romeo and Juliet. [3:51] You've likely heard the story or you've read the story or watched one of the 150 movies made about the story. And if you remember, Juliet, unbeknown to her, she was given in marriage to a man named Paris. [4:05] It was an arrangement that Paris and Juliet's father had arranged. And their idea was this. They said, We're going to throw a ball. We're going to throw a party. [4:17] And there is when Paris will win the heart of Juliet. And of course, if you know the story, that's not exactly how it works. The plan backfired a little bit because at that ball, Juliet doesn't fall in love with Paris. [4:33] Instead, she meets Romeo. And the two of them immediately fall in love. And it was on that night at that ball that they determined that they would marry. [4:46] And if you read the story, you know what happens is as soon as Romeo and Juliet fall in love, they can't stop praising one another. It's just gross. Right? I mean, here's just some of the lyrics that Shakespeare writes in this famous play. [5:01] For instance, One fairer than my love, The all-seeing sun, Ne'er saw her match Since first the world begun. [5:12] Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright. Or what about this one? See how she leans on her cheek Upon her hand. [5:24] Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand That I might touch that cheek. Or here's the most famous one, Maybe of all in the play, But soft. [5:36] What light through yonder window breaks. It is the east, And Juliet Is The sun. And all God's people said, Disgusting! [5:49] Right? So my daughter would be like, That's so gross, Dad! Now I assure you, That is not how we talk in Tennessee. Okay? It's a little more like, She thinks my tractor's sexy. [6:00] Okay? That's a little more The romance in the south. But anyway, I want to stop for just a moment, And I want you to think about this question. I want you to think about this. I share that story for a reason. [6:12] Is it really all that weird To praise The thing you love? Is it really all that odd To praise and honor The one you love? [6:27] And we would all say, Of course not. That's not strange. That's natural. In fact, It was C.S. Lewis Who was reflecting on a love story Likened to Romeo and Juliet Who wrote this. [6:41] Quote, Is it not out of compliment That lovers keep on telling one another How beautiful they are? The delight is incomplete Till it is expressed. [6:54] It's frustrating to discover a new author And not be able to tell anyone How good he is. To come suddenly upon a mountain valley Of unexpected grandeur And to have to keep silent Because the people you're with Care for it no more than a tin can in the ditch. [7:11] To hear a good joke And find no one to share it with. Listen, this is so insightful. Lewis says, I think we delight to praise what we enjoy Because the praise not merely expresses But completes the enjoyment. [7:37] What Lewis is saying here is this It is perfectly natural to praise To exalt To honor To adore The thing or the person you love And even if romantic language is not your thing You still do this in all kinds of ways You praise the thing you love For instance, if you go to an amazing restaurant Of really good food What you can't help But to tell people You've got to go eat there When your children are born You can't wait to show people pictures Whether or not they want to see those pictures, right? [8:15] You just cram it in their face You watch a good movie And you can't wait to tell others You've got to see the movie When you became a Christian You couldn't wait to share your faith So that others could have the hope That you have everybody right here Lewis is exactly right Are you listening? [8:39] We delight to praise what we enjoy We delight It is a delight for us to praise what we enjoy Is everybody listening tonight? [8:53] That's the fundamental difference Between Christian prayer and every other kind That is the fundamental difference Between what is Christian prayer And every other kind In fact, I would submit to you That it is the main idea Behind the Lord's prayer Why? [9:17] Because the context Which we looked at last week Is this Jesus is warning in this text Not to do good Just to look good You remember that? [9:29] He's saying Be careful of practicing your righteousness To be seen by others That is Self must never be the motivation for service That's not how it works In the kingdom of God And Jesus then gives examples of prayer Along with fasting and giving But in prayer He gives two examples of people That make themselves the center of prayer Look at verse 5 And when you pray You must not be like the religious leaders The hypocrites For they love to stand and pray in the synagogue And at the street corners Everybody say this next phrase That they may be seen by others Jesus is saying That there are religious people Who use prayer as an expression to exalt self Look how good I am Look at the words that I use [10:30] People are so impressed Even God must be impressed With the way I pray That was one example The second example is in verse 7 He says And when you pray Do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles So these are non-believers do For they think they will be heard For their many words And so Jesus is saying For those that don't worship God They use prayer like a bartering system If I say the right thing If I do the right thing I'll make the God or God's happy And they'll get me what I want And who's at the center of that prayer? [11:08] You Please listen to me tonight Faith family I think this is so important When you pray In either one of those ways Religious prayer or irreligious prayer You're praising What you enjoy the most Which is you The thing that you enjoy The thing that you delight in Isn't God It's yourself Because you either Through religious prayer Want to look good Or through irreligious prayer Just want God to do for you What you want And Jesus is saying That is not How you pray In the kingdom But Now notice an important shift here To the Lord's prayer Notice this on the screen Prayer That originates From a love of God Is centered on God Can I get an amen? [12:06] Please tell me you see the context here There is prayer So called prayer That exalts self Verse 5 Verse 7 And then there is Real prayer Christian prayer That flows from a love of God And because you love God Who do you praise? [12:27] What do you delight to exalt? God This is the shift I love those amens Amen every time If what you enjoy most is you Guess what your prayer is going to focus on? [12:41] Talk to me You But If what you enjoy most is God Guess what your prayer will focus on most? God And it really is as simple as that And faith family If you can remember that one simple thing You now understand the Lord's prayer Because Now before I dive in Let me just give you three general comments Quickly before we unpack the Lord's prayer Number one is this We can learn to pray We can learn to pray Anytime you bring up prayer People get intimidated And they are like I don't know how to pray Like I am uncomfortable praying Listen You can learn to pray In fact In Luke's account Of the Lord's prayer The disciples Actually asked Jesus Lord Teach us to pray Is that encouraging to anybody? [13:30] Like can you help me Know how to pray? And so if you feel like that If you feel inadequate in your prayer life Listen You can learn to pray Secondly Is you can learn to pray The right way What I mean here is Have you ever been told It doesn't really matter how you pray Just pray Well wherever you heard that You didn't hear it from Jesus Because Jesus never You know It really doesn't matter what you do You know Just mumble something That's exactly the opposite Of what Jesus says He's like Pray like this In other words There is a right way to pray You can learn to pray And you can learn to play The right way And what matters most Is motivation We learned that last week What matters most in prayer Is what What's your heart What's your motivation In prayer And then thirdly Is that we Can And I would argue Should Use the Lord's prayer As a guide Now isn't it interesting That the very thing Jesus teaches [14:31] To break Religious rituals Has become A religious ritual I mean How many of you Know the Lord It's what you say Before a basketball game Or you hear it At a wedding Or churches Will use the Lord's prayer Ritualistically That's the exact opposite Of what Jesus is doing Jesus is giving you A model An example To teach you How To pray So you should Pray the Lord's prayer And you should Use the Lord's prayer As a guide In your prayer life Is everybody with me? [15:06] So let's unpack This prayer Over the next couple hours Four aspects Four aspects Alright Everybody's good with that Four aspects Of Christian prayer From the Lord's prayer And I hope That this will Encourage Convict Us And teach us How to pray Number one Is that Christian prayer Adores God's name Christian prayer Adores God's Name And honestly I should probably Just camp here All night Because I think This is You gotta get This right Or you don't Get the rest Of the prayer Look at verse 9 Pray then Like this Our Father In heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Hallowed Be Your Name So it's Clear At the very Beginning of The Lord's prayer The contrast Between The religious Type of praying That Jesus Gives in verse 5 And the Irreligious Type of praying In verse 7 That puts [16:06] Self at the Center Christian prayer Starts With God It starts With God At the center The word Hallowed Or hallowed It's not a word We use all that much But it means To honor To adore To treat As sacred This is where Christian prayer Begins And notice That it's not a Declarative statement It's not God you are holy God you are majestic God you are It's not that God is those things And it's perfectly fine To pray those things But this is actually A request That is God whatever I ask I want the answer To be done In such a way Where your name Is honored Your name Is set apart When the dust Settles At the answer Of this prayer May it be Your name And not mine That's left standing [17:06] That's a way To start a prayer And how many of us Are quick to get To our name Rather than Starting with God's name Notice this On the screen Christian prayer Is always Thy Before I It's always God before me That my mindset Going in Because he's The one I love Not self I love God More than self And therefore I exalt in my Prayer God Over self Larry King Was asked one time Why he did Such a good job In his vocation And here's his reply Larry King said Quote I'm sincere I'm curious I care about What people think I listen to People's answers And I leave My ego at the door And I don't use The word I Except every other Word Larry Right I mean there's Something a little Ironic of a man Describing himself Not being the Center of things [18:06] By focusing Everything on himself And that's a real Danger in prayer Listen I would Submit to you This is going to be Super practical Tonight Listen to me I would submit To you that The biggest change That you and I Could make In our prayer life Is simply Not like You should use Better words Or you should be More sophisticated Or you know You should have A right posture It simply is this Focus more on God And less on you That's a great place For an amen You missed that But that's okay The biggest change The big And by the way If you're uncomfortable With that And you're sitting There like But what about me Therein lies Your problem The biggest change That most of us Could make In our prayer life Is focusing more On God And less on self Because Christian prayer Is less about Getting more From God I hope you're listening And more about Getting more of God [19:07] Let me say that again Christian prayer Is less about Getting more from God And more about Getting more of God That's what we want In prayer Not our agenda We want God We need God More than bread Which is why We don't start with Give us bread Which tends to be Where we start I have a need And I'm going to Go to God And the first thing I'm going to do Is tell him what I need Doesn't he know What I need Give me Listen You need something Far greater than bread And that's God And his name To be hallowed In your life This is so Convicting Faith family This is so convicting Look at this on the screen Where your prayer starts Likely reflects What your prayer seeks Can I get an amen Where your prayer starts Often reflects [20:07] What your prayer seeks And so Jesus says If you want to learn How to pray Don't be like the hypocrites And don't be like the Gentiles They're ultimately Delighting in self That's why they praise self Through prayer I want you to pray like this Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be your name Very different starting place With the name of God And now once we spend time Adoring God And honoring him Expressing praise And love for him Now we're ready To shift To the next part Of the Lord's prayer Verse 10 Your kingdom come Your will be done On earth As it is in heaven Here's the second thing We learn about Christian prayer Is that Christian prayer Accepts God's will Christian prayer Accepts God's will And I spent all this time Setting up the context Because context matters In the Bible right You don't just jump in [21:08] And most of us Just kind of study The Lord's prayer Without the surrounding context And the surrounding context Is self-exalting prayer Versus God-exalting prayer So Jesus is making the point here That you're ultimately concerned Not about your will When you pray You're concerned about Talk to me Whose will? [21:29] God's will God I want your will To be done I want your kingdom To come So now that we've spent time Adoring God Our heart should be In a right condition To seek his will So we don't just jump in Do this God Solve that God I want this God Because that's honoring Our name Not God's name And so what we want to do After we adore him Is come to the place Where we're genuinely Pursuing and seeking His will Now a technical note I would say It's interesting Is this two petitions In verse 10 Or is it one? [22:08] Is it your kingdom come? That's one And your will be done? That's two Or are they both the same? I act And we wouldn't Have a big debate over this I actually think They're the same I think it's likely That your will be done Is an extension of Or a parallel statement To your kingdom come And here's why I think that Because in God's kingdom God's will Is the most important thing In the kingdom of God The will of God Is ultimate And it always comes to pass So here's what I think The prayer is God I want your will To be done in my life Like it is in your kingdom In other words In the same way That in your kingdom Your will Is always primary I want in my life Your will To be primary Do you see how that goes? [23:03] And in that sense Your kingdom Is coming to pass In my life Three things That I think this means That praying Your kingdom come Means Three things And we'll hit them quickly Number one Is personal surrender Personal surrender When you pray Your kingdom come And your will be done You are saying I don't want to be king Or I don't want to be queen I don't want to be In control You are waving The surrender flag Over your life God I can't rule my money I can't make decisions I can't lead a church I can't run a business I can't love my kids I can't do any of this In my power That's Christian prayer God I can't I'm done I'm done with my will I've been king And I've made a mess Your will be done [24:03] Your kingdom come On earth as it is in heaven In my life as it is In heaven Listen faith family You can't be prideful And prayerful At the same time You can't be prideful And prayerful At the same time Notice this on the screen And I've actually said this Many times before Pride is what you have When you are the king Prayer is what you do When you need a king Prayer is what you do When you've come to the end Of yourself And said I'm done I'm done Driving this ship God I surrender And you're able to do that Because you've spent time Adoring his name And now you listen Now you know who you're Dealing with You're the God Of creation The sovereign one Over all things Probably a better idea To let you be in control And so I surrender [25:05] To your will This is a hard thing For Americans But it's very Very Christian So personal surrender Number two Is parental trust In other words Not only are you saying I don't want to be king But when you say Your will be done What you're saying is I believe that you Know better than I Again the absence Of pride here God I'm acknowledging That you know better For my life Than I know So before I even Tell you what I think I need Before I even ask For a thing Before I even Make a request I just want this To be known You know better Than I do So if I ask For something That isn't the best For me According to your will So be it Because look at What Jesus says In verse 8 Verse 8 Chapter 6 Verse 8 He says Do not be like them That is like the Gentiles For your father Knows what you need Before you ask [26:05] Isn't that encouraging? God's like Yeah I know In fact I know A whole lot more Than you know I get it Now before you Misapply this Listen Knowing that God Knows Is not something That should keep you From praying It's something That should give you Assurance In your praying In other words The wrong approach Would be like Well if God already Knows what I need I'm not even Going to ask Hello Num num Jesus says Ask But ask With the assurance That he knows Better than you Which is why You're saying Your will Not Mine Do you see? [26:49] Notice this on the screen You would ask For the very thing God gives you If you knew All he knew Now just chew on that Mentally for a while You would have asked For the exact thing He gave you If you knew Everything he knew But the reason why You thought the outcome Should have been different Is because you don't know What he knows He knows best And so that's why We pray Your will Not mine And part of praying This is saying to God God I promise To accept your will Whether I understand It or not If this makes sense To me Or it doesn't Make sense to me I want Sincerely your will Not my own And then lastly Of what it means To pray this Part of the Lord's Prayer Is a patient longing A patient longing That is I'm ready for this kingdom To pass away I'm ready for the fullness Of your kingdom God I want Your kingdom [27:50] Now Anybody ever felt That in prayer? Many of the things That we pray about Ought to remind us That this life Is not how it's supposed to be Now just think about that I think that's really helpful So stop for just a moment Many of the things That you bring to God And request Are coming out of a place Of brokenness They're coming out of This world is not The way it's supposed to be Which is why you're seeking For healing In that thing Just take that as an example God would you heal me Of this disease Okay well why does disease exist In the first place? [28:30] Because we live in a fallen world So part of what you're I hope you're seeing the connection Part of what you're bringing to God Often in your request Is an acknowledgement That you're ready For this kingdom to be over And for his kingdom to come Because then there'll be no more tears And then there'll be no more disease And then there'll be no need For you to ask For most of what you ask for Because life will be How it is supposed to be Under King Jesus And all God's people said Amen So it's a patient longing That is I can't wait For a day when things are made right Most of you have heard of the importance Of REM sleep Rapid eye movement It's throughout the different stages of sleep This is where rest really happens And I would argue that it's this section Of the Lord's prayer That's like the REM sleep When you get to this point [29:32] Where you can say God it's your will Not my will It's your way Not my way It's your kingdom Not my kingdom You're in control I'm not in control That's when you actually Get to the point of rest That's when you actually Enter to the REM peace So now that you move forward And make your request to God You're doing it Not in a sense of It's got to be this It's got to be that It's got to happen this way Now after adoring His name And accepting His will You're finally At peace Before you've requested anything Have you noticed That we are halfway Through the prayer And you haven't even requested Anything about yourself yet That's telling isn't it You've spent time Adoring Him Which helps you accept The fact that His will [30:32] Is greater than yours And now that you've spent time Adoring and accepting You can move on To this final section Verse 11 Give us this day Our daily bread Forgive us our debts As we also have forgiven Our debtors Lead us not into temptation But deliver us From evil The third section here Is that Christian prayer Asks for God's help Right It adores God's name It accepts God's will And then it asks For God's help Jesus is not opposed For you to make requests He's opposed Of you making requests As though your life Is the center Of the universe Do you see that? [31:16] Do you see that In the Lord's Prayer? God wants you To make requests The Bible teaches you To make requests It's all over the Bible But Jesus is saying But you're not praying Like the religious And you're not praying Like the irreligious You're praying Like a Christian Someone who's known The love of God And that's why Before you ever Make a request You praise Him And you accept That He knows Better than you And then Rest in this reality You are praying To a Father Who loves To take care of you Like He can't wait For you To express to Him How much you need Him And if you're like That just sounds weird Go back to the Lewis quote No We delight to praise What we enjoy All of that For Lewis Came out of us Struggling with God Calling us To be focused on God And Lewis is like Actually that's not strange At all Because you ought to [32:16] Want to delight And praise The thing you enjoy The most Which is what it means To be a Christian Amen Look at what Jesus Is going to say Later on In the Sermon on the Mount Verse 7 of chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Verse 7 Says this Ask And it will be given to you Seek and you will find Knock and it will be open to you For everyone who asks Receives And the one who seeks Finds And the one who knocks It will be open For which one of you If his son Ask him for bread Will give him a stone Or if he asks For a fish Will give him a serpent Oh Verse 11 Is amazing If you then Who are evil How's that for Politically correct? [33:02] Jesus is like If you By the way Who are evil Know how to give Good gifts To your children How much more Will your father Who is in heaven Give good things To those Who ask him I don't know about you But I love Spoiling my kids I probably spoil them Too much And sometimes Like in Christmas Or whatever I love To take care Of my kids I love To get them things And do things For them And I know Some of you Resonate with that With me Like I find So much joy In that And here's what I need to remember If that's true Of me Who apart From God Is evil How much More will God do For me Who is perfect He's all For your request And he wants To take care Of you And he wants [34:03] To give you What you need It might Just be Different Than what You think You need Do you see So let's Unpack This last Piece Real quick I think We got An hour And a half Left Of the Two hours I told you We'd take There's so much And I debated Should I do Multiple weeks On this But I wanted To do all Of it Together So let's Unpack What does It mean In this Asking For God's Help There are Three things Here That we're Asking for I don't Think This is An exclusive List Jesus Is just Teaching us He's giving Us a model These are the Kinds of things That you would Request First Daily provision Daily provision The phrase Literally means Give us The bread We need For the day Give us Our daily Bread And as many Of you know Jesus is speaking To people Who had no Guarantees Of food Few Countries In history Have had The abundance Of food That we do And we Tonight Can go into Costco's Or Sam's Or we can Go to Byerly's And we can Buy food For the Entire [35:03] Week Or month We can Go to A buffet After service Tonight And we can Eat till We can't Walk But that's Not how Most cultures And most Civilizations Have been And so In the ancient Near east This idea Is I don't Know if I'm going To eat Tomorrow I don't Know Necessarily How I Will feed My family Next week And so There's a There's a Daily need From God God I need You to feed Me I need You to Provide For what I'm Desperate For Without You I don't Eat Because God You're the one That controls The crops You control The weather That controls The crops Like all Of this Is under Your sovereign Hands So feed Me Or I Starve And maybe For you It's not Food But I Would ask You this What is It in Your life That causes You to Daily live By faith What is It in Your life That causes You to [36:03] Daily live By faith That makes You desperate Is it a Financial Situation Is it a Relational Situation Because I Would argue This Listen Faith Family If you Don't Have Any area In your Life Where you Are having To exercise Desperate Faith And desperate Prayer You are not Relating To God As father But Christian Prayer Comes to God And says God I need You And if You don't Act To take Care of Me I don't Survive Daily Provision Second Is faithful Practice Faithful Practice The phrase Is Forgive Us As We Forgive Others The phrase Literally Means This Help Me Forgive Others As I've Been For! [36:50] That's The idea Here In this Prayer In other Words It's Not A Transactional Relationship With God That You'll Forgive Me If I Forgive Others And It's Just Kind Of Back And Forth That's Not The Heart Of The Prayer And I'll Give You An Example To Prove That In Just A moment The Idea Is This As I Have Experienced These Things In You Like Forgiveness Help Me Express These Things To Others Are You With Me As I Have Experienced Your Forgiveness Help Me Forgive Others In The Same Way As I Have Been Loved By You Help Me Love Others! [37:24] In The Same Way As You Have Been So Generous To Me Help Me Be Generous To Others In The Same Way That's The Idea And You Say Prove It Okay What do You Remember In Matthew 18 When Jesus Tells The Story About Forgiveness Remember We Talked About This Earlier In The Sermon On The Mount Of A Man That Was Forgiven Of All Of It And Then What Happens He Goes Out To Another Servant Who Owes Him Just A Little Bit And Refuses To Forgive And The Whole Point Of That Parable Is To Teach Us That We Are To Practice Towards Others What We Have Experienced From God And Can I Like I Was Kind Of Transparent Last Week With Motivation Can I Just Be Transparent Again Here Help Me Do That There Is No Chance That Happens In My [38:24] Life I Don't Have A Chance At Forgiving You The Way God Has Forgiven Me If He Doesn't Help Me Do That Are You Kidding Me There Is No Way There Is No Way I I Am Loving You The Way God Has Loved Me If God Doesn't Help Me Do That Anybody! [38:51] God Forgive Me As I Forgive Others God As You Have Loved Me Help Me Do What I Can't Do And Love The Way You Loved Me Here's The Point We Need God's Help To Live Out Our Faith And Daily We Ought To Be Asking God's Help To Live Out And To Faithfully Practice The Faith We Have In Christ Thirdly And Finally Is Spiritual Protection Daily Provision Faithful Practice And Spiritual Protection Lead Us Not Into Temptation But Deliver Us From The Evil One The idea Here Of Temptation Can Mean Tempting Or Testing The Phrase Here The Evil One Can Mean Deliver Us From Evil Or Deliver Us From The Evil One Here Here Is Let Me Just Quickly! [39:48] Summarize Because I Need To Wrap This Up We Do Actually Have Another Service Tonight So I Wish We Had The Two Hours But Here's The Idea In Every Temptation There's A Testing If whereby we can follow that desire, follow that way, and then that's what gives into sin. [40:34] Because James talks about God is not the one who leads you to sin. God may test you, but it's the evil one that brings the temptation through your desires in that time of testing to try to lead you away. [40:49] Is that not what he did to Jesus? Jesus is being tested, and in that testing, the evil one came and tempted Jesus. But Jesus didn't follow those desires. [41:01] So here's what this request is, and then we'll land the plane. Here's the prayer. You ready? God, in the test, don't let me fall into the evil one's temptation. [41:17] In the testing, which is daily, weekly, okay? It could be somebody cuts you off in road rage, hypothetically, right? And in that moment of testing, your desire is what? [41:32] We won't say that on camera, right? But it's to say things that maybe you shouldn't say. And the prayer is, God, help me, because in that moment, do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to give in to that desire. [41:44] I'm going to follow that path, okay? I'm going to be led away by that desire so, God, in the testing, don't let me fall into the evil one's temptation. [41:55] Are you getting the Lord's Prayer? We're adoring God's name. And then, because of that, we accept God's will because He knows better than we do. And then, we make our request. Things like daily provision that we need. [42:08] Help to live out our faith and practice to others what God has done for us. And to walk in victory protected by His grace. [42:19] One final point I want to make, and then we'll close, is that Christian prayer is motivated by God's grace. Christian prayer is motivated by God's grace. [42:30] I say that because we cannot pull out the Lord's Prayer of its context, okay? Jesus is not teaching along in the Sermon on the Mount and then like, hey, stop for just a minute. [42:42] You know, there's this whole merchandise thing, and people are going to want to make t-shirts and coffee cups. So, I need to kind of say this prayer because it's going to be a big seller, okay? So, let me say this because people are going to want to repeat this before basketball games. [42:55] And then, just continues on with the sermon. No, the Lord's Prayer is a part of the point that Jesus is making in the Sermon on the Mount. And what is the point that Jesus is making in the Sermon on the Mount? [43:06] The only way you get into the kingdom is by the grace of God. You don't become a disciple of Jesus by your own righteousness, but by your poverty of spirit. [43:20] Acknowledging that you are penniless. And it is only by God's grace that you get the kingdom of heaven beatitudes. [43:30] And then later on, as we've looked at in chapter 5, do you want to enter in the kingdom? Sure, that's fine. You just have to be perfect. You've got to be better than the best. You have to be as perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. [43:41] And what is Jesus doing? He's raising the bar so high that you see, there's no way I could jump that. My righteousness could never on my own be greater than that. But there is one chapter 5, verse 17, who has fulfilled the law. [43:56] And he's the only way to get the kingdom. Which means what? Which means what, faith family? The reason we approach God. [44:07] The way in which we approach God. And some of you are like, you left a section out in the Lord's Prayer. That's because I saved it for this. It's because of the grace of God. [44:18] That you are not approaching Him as boss. As dictator. Or as distant deity. But you are approaching Him as, say it, Father. [44:31] Father. Because you have experienced His grace. You've experienced the love of the Heavenly Father. [44:42] And because this relationship that makes this prayer possible has been based on grace. You are coming to Him in love. [44:54] And that's why you're happy to make the prayer about Him. Because you delight to praise the one you love. [45:06] Because you enjoy to exalt the one your heart loves most. Because you are His child and He is your Abba. [45:19] And that's true only because of your faith in the Son, Jesus Christ. [45:30] The one who not only taught us to pray the Lord's Prayer. The one who actually lived the Lord's Prayer. [45:40] Remember? Remember? When He was tempted by the evil one in the desert. And what was He tempted with? [45:52] Bread. And Jesus prayed, Man shall not live by bread alone. And Jesus was delivered from the evil one. [46:03] And that night in the Garden of Gethsemane. Where the agony of God's will became absolutely clear. And Jesus prayed what? Not my will, but yours. [46:19] And when Jesus was faced with the reality of the cross. Jesus prayed this. My soul is troubled and what I shall say. Father, save me from this hour. [46:31] No, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Why? Why did Jesus come to that hour? Listen. Father, glorify Your name. [46:46] Show Your name to be hallowed to the ends of the earth. Jesus didn't just teach the Lord's Prayer. He lived the Lord's Prayer. [46:58] And why did Jesus live this prayer? And pray this prayer throughout His life. Because His greatest joy in life was not pleasing Himself. It was praising His Father. [47:09] C.S. Lewis is exactly right. We delight to praise what we enjoy. And that's the key to Christian prayer. We delight to hallow His name. [47:21] We delight for His will to be done. We delight to receive His care. Because He is our Father. The one we truly love. [47:35] Amen? Amen. Amen. Amen.