WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.500 Matthew chapter 6, and we're going to read the first 18 verses together, and let's hear 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:16.460 God's Word. Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:22.559 If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:27.219 do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:33.439 honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:39.259 to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may 00:00:39.259 --> 00:00:47.219 be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, 00:00:47.879 --> 00:00:53.239 do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street 00:00:53.240 --> 00:01:00.440 corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when 00:01:00.440 --> 00:01:08.359 you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:16.140 who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:21.159 for they think they'll be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:28.399 for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. This then is how you should pray. Our Father 00:01:28.399 --> 00:01:36.439 in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:01:37.179 --> 00:01:44.280 Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:52.019 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they 00:01:52.019 --> 00:01:57.920 sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:04.900 sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, 00:02:05.460 --> 00:02:11.280 for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:17.319 their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:25.080 be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen. And your Father, who sees 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:35.120 what is done in secret, will reward you. Amen. This morning, as we begin to think about what does Jesus 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:41.280 teach about prayer in this section, in verses 5 to 8, we're going to think about lessons that Jesus 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:50.020 gives on how to and how not to pray. So as a church, our next month is going to be given over to 00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:56.180 teaching about prayer. So we're going to work through what Jesus says here, focusing for the 00:02:56.180 --> 00:03:01.439 next few weeks on the Lord's Prayer. In the evenings, we're going to be thinking about learning to pray 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:07.560 using the Psalms, praying the Psalms in Christ. In early September, we're going to have a week 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:15.599 of prayer, where we want to set aside time to pray, to enjoy God, but also as we think about a term 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:24.300 that's coming up, to commit our plans to God. Now why do we do that? Why do we focus on prayer? Well, today, 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:32.260 I hope as we see from the teaching of Jesus, prayer is a wonderful privilege that we enjoy 00:03:32.260 --> 00:03:41.140 as Christians, but it's also a responsibility for us to exercise. Perhaps the greatest privilege 00:03:41.140 --> 00:03:51.220 that we have as human beings is this opportunity to enjoy communion with God, to call the God who made us 00:03:51.219 --> 00:04:01.560 our Father in heaven, to know Him, to enjoy Him. We've been made in God's image, and one of the things 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:09.120 that that brings then is our ability to communicate, and so it's an instinct within each person's heart 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:16.300 to want to communicate with God. In much the same way, when you think about tiny babies, very quickly, 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:23.000 even before they can speak, they want to find ways to communicate with their parents. So prayer is an 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:32.180 instinct for all of us, but it's also a precious gift that God gives to His people. So we're going 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:37.639 to think about that, that privilege of communion, of enjoying fellowship with God, but it's also a 00:04:37.639 --> 00:04:45.040 responsibility. We are talking about the work of prayer, that is kingdom work to be done. Jesus is going 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:52.439 to tell us to pray, your kingdom come, and so we have a responsibility as a church to be praying, 00:04:52.800 --> 00:05:01.020 because we believe that God uses prayer, that God chooses to work through His people's prayer. 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:05.379 And so we come to the start of a new term. At the start of a new term, there's always lots of things 00:05:05.379 --> 00:05:10.360 that are planned out in our church. Anyway, there's lots of things that will be happening, new ministries 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:17.160 beginning, and we want that to be prayed over and prayed through. We want us to do kingdom work so that 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:24.300 all our activity will be for the glory of God and God might use it. So in this little section, 00:05:24.460 --> 00:05:31.800 Jesus is teaching us both how to and how not to pray. He's inviting us to enjoy this great privilege 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:38.639 of prayer, and we're going to hear a call to exercise our responsibility to pray, knowing who we pray to. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:44.219 So the first thing to think about is this word communion. Here's a question for you to think about. 00:05:45.039 --> 00:05:50.259 Do you pray to enjoy God as your Father? 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:57.779 The context for what we just read is that this is part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus giving some 00:05:57.779 --> 00:06:04.519 extended teaching to His disciples with the crowds around. In chapter 5 and then into this section, 00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:12.740 there's been a focus on heart attitude and motivation for a follower of Jesus. Here in chapter 6 in 00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:22.299 particular, heart attitude and motivation as we go about our religious lives, as we give to the needy, 00:06:22.339 --> 00:06:30.279 as we pray, as we fast. How do we do that? So we're thinking about prayer in particular here in verse 5. 00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:40.619 Notice the way the verse begins, and when you pray, Jesus expects that the people of God will pray. 00:06:41.419 --> 00:06:48.439 That's been true all the time. To have a relationship with God involves God speaking to us from His Word, 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:54.159 and we respond in prayer. So there's an expectation, but there's also in a sense in which it's a command, 00:06:54.160 --> 00:07:02.900 it's a duty, but it's a privilege that we have. Jesus draws a caricature for us to show us how we 00:07:02.900 --> 00:07:08.760 shouldn't pray. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. So we need to just stop and think, 00:07:08.840 --> 00:07:15.379 what's a hypocrite? Well, in Jesus' day, that word was used of somebody that performed in a play, 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:21.500 somebody who used a mask as a second face. You know, when we think about hypocrite, we think about 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:26.879 someone who says one thing and does another, somebody who's two-faced comes from that, 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:32.379 somebody who puts on a show, putting on a performance here in particular, a religious 00:07:32.379 --> 00:07:39.259 performance. And so what's the hypocrite like? How should we not pray? Well, let's read about them 00:07:39.259 --> 00:07:48.319 in verse 5. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:53.719 Now, it'd be wonderful if the sentence stopped, for they love to pray. That's a wonderful quality. 00:07:54.199 --> 00:08:01.519 But for this hypocrite, he is deliberately arranging his schedule. So the Jewish people had set times to 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:07.639 pray, and this man was very carefully making sure that when it was the time to pray, he was in a very 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:12.360 public place. So either in the synagogue or in the street corners, he could pray long, he could pray loud, 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:21.080 so everyone could hear him, and everybody could see him. His audience is not God. His audience is 00:08:21.080 --> 00:08:30.259 his peers, the crowds. He wants to give a performance of religious good. We're told that at the end of 00:08:30.259 --> 00:08:39.019 verse 5, I tell you the truth, the hypocrites, they've received their rewards in full. Praying simply to have 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:44.500 the applause of people to have someone say, well done, you're very religious, motivated by pride, 00:08:44.939 --> 00:08:51.879 is not true praying according to Jesus. Now, the problem isn't with public praying. That's always 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:59.000 been a part of worship. The problem is not with praying in a public location. In fact, you could say 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:04.860 it's a good thing to have people who pray in church, but who also pray in the streets, who don't just think 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:12.279 prayer is confined to special places. But the problem, the danger for us as well today, is that 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:21.460 you can have that outer shell of religion while there's a heart that's empty. Boys and girls, I don't 00:09:21.460 --> 00:09:26.860 know if you spent any time at the beach over the summer. I know some of you did. This summer, we spent 00:09:26.860 --> 00:09:32.340 a fair bit of time doing some rock pooling, which you may or may not enjoy. So I had that experience of 00:09:32.340 --> 00:09:36.639 trying to grab hermit crabs. That's one of my favorite things to do in the summer, trying to 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:40.920 grab hermit crabs. I don't know if you've had this, where you see one scuttling along and you get your 00:09:40.920 --> 00:09:45.420 hand in the water nice and slowly and you know what shell it is. And then you try and move really 00:09:45.420 --> 00:09:50.040 quickly to grab it. You think you've got that good looking shell, you turn it over, you come up empty. 00:09:50.700 --> 00:09:58.100 The disappointment of rock pooling. It is true for some people that they can look very good, 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:06.639 religiously have that shell, but have hearts that are empty. Jesus is warning us, maybe especially 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:13.879 people that come to church. We can go through all the motions of religion, but have no love 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:24.519 in our hearts, no joy as we pray. Perhaps we pray at our set times. We don't have set times in the day, 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:29.740 like a clock, but maybe we have set times where we pray at meal times. And that's a good thing, 00:10:30.419 --> 00:10:34.699 but it can also become just a ritual and a routine that we do in a mindless way. 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:41.279 Perhaps our other set time is certainly, I think it's true in wider culture, that when there is 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:47.600 an emergency, when we have need, people will often pray then. And that's a good thing, 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:58.899 but I wonder, do we pray simply to enjoy being in God's presence? Do we pray simply because we are 00:10:58.899 --> 00:11:04.300 overwhelmed by this amazing fact that we are the children of God and we are invited to talk to Him 00:11:04.300 --> 00:11:14.080 as our loving Father in heaven? Do we pray to Him simply to enjoy Him? Let's look at, if that's the 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:20.060 picture of the kind of prayer that God isn't pleased with and how not to pray, let's look at how Jesus 00:11:20.060 --> 00:11:30.440 teaches how we should pray in verse 6. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:40.340 your Father who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. So notice here, 00:11:40.340 --> 00:11:45.540 this is a different person praying, but they too arrange their schedule, but they arrange it very 00:11:45.540 --> 00:11:53.500 differently. They're arranging time where they can go into their room and they can close the door, 00:11:53.600 --> 00:12:02.180 they can find a quiet time to spend with God, avoiding distraction, avoiding the eyes of others, 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:08.759 to enjoy quality time with God their Father. That's a very different way to arrange a schedule. 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:18.679 This person praying also has a very different audience. Jesus calls us to pray to our Father. 00:12:21.179 --> 00:12:28.000 Somebody has said that adoption into the family of God is the high point of Christian privilege. 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:33.539 And if that's the case, then surely prayer is part of that great privilege. 00:12:33.539 --> 00:12:41.759 That Jesus has come to transform us from being God's enemies, where we had this sin that was a 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:47.240 great barrier that's stopping us from knowing God. Jesus has come and He's paid the price for that. 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:51.719 If our faith is in Him, we've been forgiven, we've been brought into the family of God, we're children 00:12:51.719 --> 00:12:59.860 of God, so that we can pray our Father in heaven, just as Jesus prayed to His Father. 00:12:59.860 --> 00:13:06.159 When you look at the life of Jesus, when you read the Gospels, you discover that Jesus enjoyed 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:14.440 communion with His Father. He often spent time alone in prayer. He'd find a quiet place away from all 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:22.340 the busyness, away from the distraction in order to enjoy time with His Father. Mike Reeves has said, 00:13:22.340 --> 00:13:30.019 prayer is learning to enjoy what Jesus always enjoyed. That's a wonderful gift of the Christian 00:13:30.019 --> 00:13:36.000 life, to enjoy what Jesus always enjoyed. And here Jesus is reminding us of the great reward 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:42.759 of true prayer, that when we pray with a heart motivation that is right, desiring to meet with 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:50.019 God, then God meets with us in that secret place. Ultimately, God Himself, knowing more of God, 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:58.779 is the reward as we spend time in prayer, as we enjoy this communion with our Creator and our Savior. 00:13:59.960 --> 00:14:09.899 So two questions before we leave this. Do you have a secret place? Do you have that place where you can 00:14:09.899 --> 00:14:17.340 go and seek out quality time with God? A place where you can be free of distraction, perhaps especially 00:14:17.340 --> 00:14:25.740 free of digital distraction for many of us. A location, a space that's quiet, where we can be with God, where 00:14:25.740 --> 00:14:35.120 we've got time to read God's Word, to think about it, to turn it into prayer. Jesus is saying that's 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:44.040 something that we should have, to enjoy the privilege of prayer that we're given. Are you on speaking terms 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:52.059 with God today, at this phase in your life? We understand, don't we, as people, that all relationships 00:14:52.059 --> 00:15:03.319 grow and develop largely through communication, the sharing of hearts and thoughts. God speaks to us. 00:15:03.899 --> 00:15:10.539 God speaks to us through His Son, and God speaks to us in the Spirit through the Bible. 00:15:10.539 --> 00:15:20.539 Are you enjoying a growing relationship with God in your prayer life? Are you hearing God regularly in His Word, 00:15:20.599 --> 00:15:30.980 and are you responding in prayer? Why did Jesus come? Jesus came to reconcile us to the Father, 00:15:31.539 --> 00:15:38.759 so we could enjoy talking to our Father in heaven. Prayer is about communion. It's about learning to enjoy 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:47.819 more of God. But it's not just about communion. It's also about kingdom. Here's another question 00:15:47.819 --> 00:15:57.939 before we move on to verse 7. It's this one. Do you pray, trusting God as your good Father? Do you know 00:15:57.939 --> 00:16:06.580 who you are talking to? Do you know what He is like? Again, Jesus draws another caricature for us in verse 7. 00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:15.920 Not a hypocrite this time, but a pagan. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, 00:16:16.460 --> 00:16:24.620 for they think they'll be heard because of their many words. Now, pagans were people who worshipped 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:31.580 false gods and idols in Jesus' day, and they had a particular way of praying because they thought of their gods 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:39.060 in a particular way. For them, the gods were distant and far away. For them, their gods were unpredictable. 00:16:40.020 --> 00:16:48.080 For them, their gods were harsh and could be vindictive. And so it was really important for a pagan 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:55.700 to pile up a big heap of words and to try and earn merit before this distant and harsh God. 00:16:55.700 --> 00:17:02.600 And maybe one good place to see it in the Bible is in the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:09.240 Perhaps, boys and girls, you know that story where there's this challenge to see whose god is the true 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:16.240 god, the god of the Bible or Baal, the false god. And Elijah goes up and the prophets of Baal go up and 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:22.200 they both build altars. And there's this challenge, which god will answer by fire? Well, as the pagan 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:29.059 prophets pray, we hear them shouting and screaming and dancing and cutting themselves out, and they're 00:17:29.059 --> 00:17:33.600 praying for hours and they're hoping they'll pile up enough good words that their god will answer. 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:38.640 Of course, their god is no god at all. And you compare that with Elijah, he simply prays to the 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:47.019 god he knows and god answers by fire. That story and this teaching of Jesus reminds us how I think about 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:54.180 God affects how I pray about God, how I pray to God rather. It's really important to know the character 00:17:54.180 --> 00:18:02.839 of the god that we are talking to. Otherwise, we are in danger of being like the pagans, of also thinking 00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:09.119 God is distant and disconnected and uninterested in us, and perhaps harsh and vindictive. That's not the god 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:13.180 of the Bible. But unless we're reading the Bible, we might think that's what God is like. 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:23.080 The key truth from verse 8, I think, is this. God is not like the god, the false god that pagans imagine. 00:18:23.500 --> 00:18:34.840 God is more than you or me. Verse 8, do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:18:35.700 --> 00:18:42.840 Jesus reminds us we come to a God who is wise, a God who is powerful, a God who is kind, 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:48.779 a God who is generous, a God who is good. We can trust him and we can trust his intentions. 00:18:49.699 --> 00:18:56.079 Also in the Sermon on the Mount, there's that verse that we read with the children. Let me read it again. 00:18:56.159 --> 00:19:01.819 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 00:19:02.539 --> 00:19:06.399 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:13.640 how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:21.640 We pray to a good God who gives good gifts, who's way more generous often than we imagine. 00:19:22.840 --> 00:19:30.960 And prayer, in a sense, is an act of faith, trusting that because of Jesus, because of what Jesus has done 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:39.720 for us, God is for us, God is for us. God is for us as our open-armed father. Arms that are open both to 00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:49.160 welcome us, and arms that are open to give gifts freely to us, for our good and for his glory. 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:58.039 It's really important that our praying must connect with the real God. One of the reasons why we're going 00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:02.599 to spend a month in the evenings looking at some of the Psalms and thinking how to pray the Psalms is 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:10.399 because they remind us so clearly the character of the God that we pray to. And when we remember the 00:20:10.399 --> 00:20:18.579 character of God, it gives us confidence to trust him and to pray with expectation. So connecting Bible 00:20:18.579 --> 00:20:26.480 reading and praying is really important for our Christian lives. Do we pray trusting God as our good 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:35.620 Father? Let me apply this practically to one particular type of prayer, to the kind of prayer that we find in 00:20:35.620 --> 00:20:45.860 chapter 6 and verse 10, the Your Kingdom Come prayers. When we read in the Bible, we discover a God who wants 00:20:45.860 --> 00:20:54.460 people to be saved. And we discover a God who loves to reveal himself to surprising people in surprising 00:20:54.460 --> 00:21:02.620 places to amaze us with grace. We read in the Bible of a God who has grace that's greater than our sin. 00:21:03.180 --> 00:21:10.279 We read of a God who shows his love for the world at the cross and a salvation that's freely available 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:17.420 to anyone who will put their faith and trust in Jesus. I wonder when you and I pray, 00:21:17.420 --> 00:21:26.980 do we really trust that God is more than us? That he's more wise than us? That he's more generous and 00:21:26.980 --> 00:21:36.539 good than us? Do we trust that he's a good Father, that his intentions and his plans for us and for his 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:44.259 world are good? Understanding that we come to a God who is both powerful and loving and good 00:21:44.259 --> 00:21:51.640 should help us to pray those big kingdom prayers with confidence in our good God. 00:21:52.420 --> 00:22:00.140 To pray for our family members. To pray that they would come to faith. To keep praying, persevering, 00:22:00.299 --> 00:22:07.220 believing that God can change people's hearts. To pray for our children, perhaps, that they would 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:16.019 persevere in their faith despite obstacles. Understanding the character of God and his desire 00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:22.660 for people's salvation helps us to pray for conversions. That our community would be changed, 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:27.440 that the people around us would be changed, that more and more people would see their sin and their 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:34.180 need of a Savior. That we'd hear more and more stories of people turning from sin and trusting in Jesus. 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:40.940 That we'd pray for more and more opportunities to be able to share something of our faith with others, 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:44.240 believing that God can use our words and our witness for his glory. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:53.560 If we understand the character and the nature of God and his desire for his own glory through saving 00:22:53.560 --> 00:22:58.019 sinners, then we'll pray for the ministries that we have in this church. 00:22:58.019 --> 00:23:09.400 That we pray that Becclew, small though we are, would have a lasting impact on our city as we gather and as we scatter. 00:23:10.940 --> 00:23:18.160 That when we pray our kingdom come for ourselves, we would believe that God really can change our hearts. 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:20.799 That he can change our desires. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:26.019 That we don't have to be stuck in these patterns of sin that perhaps we find ourselves in. 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:29.720 That God's grace is bigger than our sin. 00:23:30.139 --> 00:23:33.019 And he is at work in us to make us more like Jesus. 00:23:33.159 --> 00:23:39.859 Do we believe just how good and how generous and how powerful our God really is? 00:23:39.859 --> 00:23:43.899 Jesus said, don't be like the pagans. 00:23:44.419 --> 00:23:48.740 For your father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:51.919 What we need most of all is to know him and to know him better. 00:23:52.719 --> 00:23:56.839 To know him at work in our life and in the lives of others. 00:23:56.839 --> 00:24:06.079 So just as we come to an end, can I encourage you if you're a Christian here and you belong to this church, 00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:11.439 will you join in working for God's kingdom by praying? 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:13.779 Lots of chances to do that. 00:24:14.639 --> 00:24:18.899 We gather on Sundays at 10.30 before church starts. 00:24:19.459 --> 00:24:23.500 Great chance to commit the day to God to pray that he'd use our gathering. 00:24:23.500 --> 00:24:29.000 And once community groups start up again on Wednesdays, we have a chance to pray in small groups together. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:34.440 But in our personal times, in our family devotions, will we pray your kingdom come? 00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:37.839 Trusting in the goodness and the generosity of God. 00:24:38.339 --> 00:24:42.799 Will we pray for ourselves and for the people that we know, for our work and our witness? 00:24:43.500 --> 00:24:49.640 Whatever sphere that we are in, whatever opportunities that we have and the people that we know have, 00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:53.200 will we pray that God will be at work through us? 00:24:53.500 --> 00:24:54.619 Through our witness. 00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:59.920 Will we gather to pray your kingdom come for our city? 00:25:00.539 --> 00:25:06.720 That needs our prayers, for a nation that needs our prayers, for a world that needs to know the gospel. 00:25:08.279 --> 00:25:14.660 We do so knowing the God who is good, the God who can be trusted. 00:25:14.660 --> 00:25:20.019 So Jesus reminds us, prayer is our greatest privilege. 00:25:20.500 --> 00:25:22.080 We call God Father. 00:25:22.600 --> 00:25:25.340 And it's also our great responsibility. 00:25:26.300 --> 00:25:32.279 So let's ask God to make prayer our heartbeat as individuals and as a church. 00:25:32.340 --> 00:25:34.519 And let's do that now, briefly. 00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:35.559 Let's pray. 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:35.639 Thank you. 00:25:35.639 --> 00:25:36.200 We're going to give Christ. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:40.519 Thank you. 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:41.940 Many crucifixions to forgive us. 00:25:41.940 --> 00:25:43.500 We are top 100,000. 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:44.539 We're going to give Christ to or half an ace a year. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:45.460 We are on to stage a Lord. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:46.319 Basically, we are on our phones. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:47.000 We're going toん. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:48.379 We're going to give Christ to the Lord. 00:25:48.379 --> 00:25:49.079 We're going to give Christ to the Lord. 00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:53.319 Whether we ever do that, desire to give Christ to the Lord. 00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:55.299 But if we're today, let's say that we're on our Tuesday. 00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:56.259 We are on our conse angel. 00:25:56.259 --> 00:26:01.200 And now, we do it right for you.