Amen. Well, have y'all enjoyed the service so far? Amen, I have too. If you would take the Word of God with me and turn to Matthew chapter 6.
We're continuing our series looking at what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer in our series about talking with God.
As a way of reminder, I do believe strongly that God has called our church to a season of prayer.
And I think it's appropriate then to start with the pattern that Jesus laid out for us of how to pray.
So I want to remind you that as we read through Matthew 6 and we've gone so far from verses 5 down through verse 10.
Today we'll be looking at verse 11. Matthew 6 and verse 11.
I want to remind you that this Lord's Prayer that has been repeated by millions of tongues throughout history since Jesus gave it to his disciples.
It's not so much an exact recipe for how to talk to God and get something in return.
That's not what Jesus gave it to us for the purpose of.
Instead, he was giving us a model.
He was giving us a pattern of how to pray.
So I pray that God would teach us to pray and use this passage in Matthew 6 to do it.
Much of the study of my sermon series comes from the Bible Exposition Commentary by Warren Wearsby.
And that's an outstanding commentary series for anyone who would like to dive a little deeper into the scriptures.
And I'll just say this about it before we move on.
If you go back in my office, back in the back of the building back there, there's a little inner kind of large closet area.
And I've got my whole library in there, hundreds of books that God's allowed me to accumulate over the years.
And many of them are very theologically taxing, very in-depth.
And this one is a lot more accessible for those who don't want to spend about five hours on one chapter kind of thing.
So this is a really nice, very practical, lots of life application in this commentary series.
And that's why I like to recommend it to anyone.
It is easily readable for anyone who would like to dive into that.
Matthew 6, 5 through 13, again we say the Lord's Prayer is less of a prescription and more of a pattern.
The first section that we already covered were God-focused petitions.
Our Father in heaven, your name be hallowed or honored as holy.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Now we're in this second section starting today, which is life-focused petitions.
Not necessarily man-focused or self-focused because our focus in prayer should always be on the Lord.
But asking the Lord to intervene in our lives on our behalf for our good and for His glory.
So that's where we are today, Matthew chapter 6 in verse 11.
If you're able and willing, would you join me in standing and let's read this verse together.
I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible.
Give us today our daily bread.
And that's it, folks.
That's all we're doing today.
Is that alright?
Maybe we'll get out of here early, right?
Give us today our daily bread.
I don't want to go much further than that today.
Because we get into the theme of forgiveness.
God recognizing that God shows so much forgiveness to us and then asking Him to help us show forgiveness to others.
But today, it's all about petition.
It's all about God meeting our needs.
And I think this one single solitary verse gives us more than enough lesson and teaching to take away from today.
So let's ask God to speak to us from His Word.
Lord, we do ask you to speak to us through your Holy Spirit.
We believe that many in this room are your children.
They have put their faith in you for the forgiveness of their sins.
They have turned from sin to new life in Christ.
We saw the evidence of that continuing to happen in the lives of some of our younger members here.
Cabry got baptized.
My son got baptized a couple weeks ago.
We've got more children lined up to get baptized in the coming weeks.
What an amazing expression and testimony of life change that you can work within us.
God, I ask that you would speak to us from your Word today.
That you would show us that you are enough.
And that we must turn to you every day for our daily needs.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
I want to point out this picture to you before we go much further in our talk today.
You all know what this is from.
This is post-Korean war.
this is a collection of orphans that were displaced and many of their families
killed or lost no idea where they would be as a result of the brutal korean conflict many years ago
and so rescue workers would come in to these collection of orphan children from korea
and they would try to provide food for them shelter for them do their best to try to find if their
families were still alive or if there was someone they could be placed with or find a proper home for
them at the close of the war so you see this happening what i didn't know is oftentimes this
will happen at the end of a war or a conflict war is a terrible thing unfortunately sometimes it's
been necessary in the history of our civilization but we all know that it's a terrible undesirable
thing with a lot of collateral damage as you see pictured here but what i didn't realize
was what these particular rescue workers started doing
was when they would put these precious children to bed they would give each one a piece of bread
to hold in their hand not so much to eat that the children had already had their dinner
but it was to hold that piece of bread because they realized the children were in deep consternation
and anxiety over whether there would be safety and food and sustenance the next day their lives have
been so disrupted their families gone their entire world shattered that holding
that piece of bread in their hands throughout the night would allow them to go to sleep relax
and trust that they were going to have food and provision the next day i think that's a beautiful
picture of what god offers to his children we always know through the presence of the holy spirit
in our lives that goes with us wherever we go goes to bed with us is there when we wake up he never
leaves us we have that presence of god always with us that that asserts assures us gives us that
certainty that no matter what happens no matter what satan throws at us no matter how often our flesh
may fail no matter how many arrows keep coming at us god's protection will always be there and god's provision
will always be there and we understand that principle from the word of god would you take me to the next
slide please
here's the question that i want us to ask kind of our takeaway from today do my prayers come from my
immediate need or from daily dependence on god i think that's the principle that this verse is teaching us
when jesus instructs his disciples and by including it in the word of god all christians to follow
he says give us this day our daily bread give us today what we need for today
how many times do we find ourselves praying god
establish my future tell me what i need to do 10 years from now five years from now
fix my retirement needs etc etc and there's nothing wrong necessarily with praying for the future
but i think jesus doesn't want us to forget about the right now the present saying god give me grace
for today give me food for today give me my needs for today because god has the future in control
god has the future wrapped up in his hands he knows exactly where he wants to take us he knows the grand
whole picture from his point of view of our lives but he wants us to trust him for the right now
the today so number one prayer is dependence on god if you're filling out your bulletin this morning
and there's a pen in front of you if you need one prayer is dependence on god would you look at
matthew chapter 7 and verse 1 i want to read this from the new living translation so if you sinful people
know how to get good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts
to those who ask him you understand the point he's trying to make if we as sinful and imperfect as we
are as parents talking to the parents in the room right now we love to give good gifts to our children
we love to meet their needs and we love to go above and beyond that and as much as we can and should
we love to we love to give gifts to our kids right don't you love giving gifts to your kids
i enjoy that i love seeing the smiles on their faces i love surprising them with things
we took austin down to six flags for his birthday recently and the idea was it was going to be a
surprise but holly couldn't hold the secret so at some point along the way he uh and the the little
rascal i got in the car after a wednesday night we had our wednesday night activities up here for
kids and teens and all that and i grabbed them after they got done and put them in the car taking
them home and they teamed up together and they're like so we really want you to tell us what we're
going to do for austin's birthday said well you'll you'll find out we're going to go to a fun place
well where is it it's in dallas okay what what's the name of it well i'm not going to tell you is
it six flags what mommy already told us we love giving good gifts to our kids and we had a blast
down there it was a lot of fun i used to go there growing up when i was a kid and now i got to take my
kids there for the first time we love seeing those smiles we will probably spend more money than we
should trying to make that happen sometimes and sometimes we got to rein it in and not spoil our
kids right but we love doing that how much more does our heavenly father who loves us more than we
could ever even be capable of loving how much more does he want to give good gifts to those who ask him
look in philembians chapter 4 and verse 6 i've got it on the screen don't worry about anything
boys you want to say that with me we've been learning this one in devotions
bow and austin why don't you say this with me ready philippians 4 6 don't worry about
that's right good job guys we've been working on that trying to teach them some memory verses at
night man if you hide god's word in your heart that those scriptures come back later in life in those
moments when you really need them so as parents i'm encouraging you to try to do that if possible
in your home family devotional times in the evenings as well in everything through prayer and petition with
thanksgiving present your request to god y'all we don't need to worry about anything but how many
things do we worry about we worry about a little bit don't we so are we in direct disobedience to god's
command to us yes we are now god knows that he's not up there shaking his fist i told you not to
worry he knows we're gonna worry but he's reminding us you don't have to worry i've got this under control
so in those moments that's why those verses are so important to internalize remind yourself when that
fear that anxiety that stress pops back up and thinking i can't handle this i don't know what to do
i don't know if they're gonna do the right thing i don't know if he's gonna do what he said he would
do i don't know if i'm gonna do what i said i would do there's so much stress and care and anxiety that
life is bringing me in this moment and god says don't worry about it
through prayer and petition with thanksgiving that we have that access to god and that we know that god
will answer according to what is right and what is best present bring those requests to god
so here's the question do we take our requests to god first last or ever
in those moments when the struggles of life blindside us
when fears or uncertainty or disappointments attack us start to undermine our confidence our sense of
security do we take those requests to god first or do we take them last
y'all remember the name winston churchill the great leader of england prime minister of england
he made a very accurate and somewhat damning accusation against the united states wasn't really an
accusation it was an observation he said after exhausting every other possibility
america can always be counted on to do the right thing
there's probably little truth to that
we were kind of the last ones i think to come into world war ii and then when we finally did
we won it
so it was good
but oftentimes
our nation our people will
go through a laundry list of other things
before we end up making the right decision
y'all we're no different
you and i oftentimes will try everything humanly possible to fix a problem before we bring it to god
so do we bring our requests to him first
do we bring them last
or do we ever bring them to god there may be things going on in your heart and your mind in your life
right now that you've never brought to god
now is god aware of that problem of course he is
but once again we are not robots that god mechanically controls
he allows us to have the free will
to bring things to him
or not
he allows us to have the free will
to walk in his steps
or follow our own path
and suffer the consequences of it
so do we take our requests to god
first
last
or at all
alistair beg
great pastor up in the midwest
written a lot of books
he's had a tv and radio program for quite some time
outstanding
theologian and pastor
he says erase the two words
that shut down our prayers the most
be with
what do we mean by that
when we bring our requests to god
james teaches us the idea of asking inappropriately for something
asking for something that we don't need to ask for
the old king james version that i grew up with says
calls it asking amiss
here's one of the most common ways that i believe
our prayers
might even be categorized as pointless
how many of you
my
both my hands are up
how many of you are guilty of saying
the prayer god be with
so and so
y'all don't like to raise your hand do you
because i know so many more of you do this
all right i do it too
we do it all the time
what are we actually asking god to do
are we asking him to do this
joshua 1 9
have i not commanded you
be strong and courageous
do not be afraid
and do not be discouraged
for the lord your god
will
be
with
you
wherever you go
throughout the bible this is just one example
throughout the bible
god said i will be with you
jesus said
in matthew 28
the verses that the verse that follows the great commission for the church
where he tells us to go out
and take the good news of jesus to the nations
he says i will be with you
always
god is with us
but how many of our prayers
end up being this
god
be with uncle john
god's with him
be with the firefighters
out in the panhandle
god's with them
he's there
god is there already
we've got to look at the requests
we're making to god
and say god
teach me to pray
like you want me to pray
god your will be done
provide protection
for those firefighters
your will be done
in this terrible tragedy
that we're all praying for
god be with my loved one
who's struggling
does that make any sense
he's there
he's already there
god
heal her
if that's your will
god heal him
if you'll be glorified from that
but whatever happens
we're going to trust you
we must pray
how jesus
taught us to pray
otherwise
our words start to become meaningless
we're not thinking about what we're actually saying
we're not thinking about what we're actually asking
the god of the universe to do
now that doesn't mean that when we pray on wednesday night or some other time that
you know
we're going to start pointing fingers at each other if somebody says be with
okay
let's not do that
let's have grace toward one another
there's probably going to be times in my life from here until the day god calls me home that i say be with somebody
all right
but i'm going to work on it
i'm going to work on breaking that habit
and pray more meaningful intentional prayers
for myself for my family for others
to our heavenly father
so number two
prayer keeps our perspective
centered on god
that's a great bridge to go into this
what are we actually saying
who are we actually talking to
we've got to remember that jesus
god himself is listening
he is listening
we have access
by the sacrifice of jesus christ
on the cross
by his death
that paid for our sin
and broke down the barrier
between you and god
broke down the barrier
between me
and god
we now have access
to our heavenly father
so our prayer
when we talk to him
that attention
that prayer
all of that should be centered
on him
jeremiah
chapter 9
this is what the lord says
let not the wise
boast of their wisdom
let not the strong
boast of their strength
or the rich
boast of their riches
but that's what we do
isn't it
if you're wise
if you're smart
sometimes that's going to come out
you're going to want everybody
to know about it
if you're strong or rich
sometimes we can't help
but let everybody else
know about it
that's what human nature
wants to do
but god says
don't do that
instead
let the one who boasts
boast about this
that they have understanding
to know me
god
that i am the lord
and i exercise kindness
and justice
and righteousness
on the earth
for in these
i delight
declares the lord
this is why we pray
god is the lord
he is jehovah god
he is the creator
of all that is
he holds it all
in his hand
he is all powerful
we call that omnipotent
he is all knowing
we call that omniscient
and he is everywhere
at all times
we call that
omnipresent
god is sovereign
god rules
over it all
and he says
i can exercise
kindness
justice
and righteousness
on the earth
what more do we pray for
but kindness
justice
and righteousness
god is the only one
who can make those things happen
and you can depend on politicians
but that's a losing battle
and i'm not against politicians
i thank god
for the ones of integrity
and especially those
who try to follow
god's leading in their life
who are serving us
at the local
state
national level
we need them
in those
in those offices
but you can't depend
on human politics
to always exercise
kindness
justice
and righteousness
can you
but god can
that's why we bring
our requests
to him
i love this quote
by the one who wrote
that commentary series
he says
prayer prepares us
for the proper use
of the answer
what do we mean by that
prayer prepares us
for the proper use
of the answer
we mean that
if we are asking god
to move
are we ready
for when he answers
what are we going to do
when he answers
well
again
we're not robots
if we had a need
and god just immediately
met that need
without us
going to him
first
how grateful
would we be
and how likely
would we be
to misuse
his provision
for our own desires
our own fleshly lust
instead of god's will
so if i have a need
and i don't
go to god
and say god
please meet this need
and then he meets
the need
but i never went
to him
i never brought
that request
to him
do i give him
any glory for it
do i give him
any credit
does he get any
honor at all
no
i just think
hey i'm a lucky guy
my need got met
good for me
that's karma man
clean living
no
when we take
our request
to god
it prepares
our hearts
to use the answer
according to god's will
because we know
where it came from
we know
that man
we were facing
a financial disaster
and we had no way out
and god
intervened
because we
we took it to him
so then he gets the glory
and then we say
god what do you want me
to do now
with this provision
that you've given to me
how can i
bless you
by blessing others
with what you've given me
so prayer
prepares us
for the proper use
of the answer
would you go to
first john 5
and verse 14
with me
i'm going to turn over there
i don't have it on the screen
because i wanted us to look
at the words
in the scripture
if possible
first john chapter 5
and verse 14
give you a minute
to get over there
everybody doing all right
this morning
y'all glad to be in church
amen
me too
all right
first john 5
14
i'm going to read
from the new international version
down through
verse 15
this is the confidence
we have
in approaching god
okay you ready for what follows
here's why we have the confidence
this is what we know to be true
this is the confidence we have
we're confident in this
that if we ask anything
according to god's will
he hears us
that right there
just don't even go on to 15 yet
that right there
is a powerful promise
that right there
sets god's children apart
from everyone else in the world
you understand
that people
who don't know god
people who have not
repented from their sin
and turn to jesus
and place all their faith
in him
for the forgiveness
and the cleansing
of their sin
to start a new life
with him as their child
those kinds of people
who have never done that
they're still praying
they don't even know
to whom
but god doesn't hear
the prayers
of those who are not
his children
unless they are turning
to him
when he's been drawing
them for the forgiveness
of their sins
but we know
that as his children
the father
hears his children
so we know
we are confident
that if we ask
anything
according to his will
he hears us
and
if we know
that he hears us
then whatever we ask
now
jump back up
to verse 14
according to his will
we know
that we have
what we ask
of him
do you realize
the power
in that promise
if you are asking
according
to god's will
god will give it
to you
god will
give it to you
but it's got to be
according to his will
i can ask him
for a million dollars
tomorrow
and if
for some reason
it's his will
for me to have it
then i'll have it
but
knowing myself
i don't think
it's his will
for me to have it
i'm not going to ask
for that
because i don't see
anywhere in the scriptures
that it's god's will
for me to have a million dollars
but i know
that it's god's will
for me
to be
to love my wife
well
i know it's god's will
for me to
be a good dad
to my kids
i know it's god's will
for me to work hard
i know it's god's will
for me to read his word
i know it's god's will
for me to treat
my neighbor correctly
i know it's god's will
for me to have integrity
you understand
these are the things
that really matter
in life
the things that really
make a difference
in who we are
and a blessing
to our families
to those
who we interact with
god will answer
those prayers
if it's in accordance
with his will
god i'm worried
about my sister
i don't know
if she's
a christian
i don't know
if she follows jesus
god i'm worried
about my
son
i'm afraid
for the choices
that he's making
in his life
god i'm worried
about my wife
her health
is failing
and i'm gonna trust
whatever your will is
but if it is your will
please heal her
if we pray
in accordance
with god's
will
he hears us
and we will have
what we ask
what a powerful promise
so again our takeaway
is this
do my prayers
come
from immediate need
or daily dependence
i want to flesh that out
just a minute longer
before we close
how many times
do we pray
reactionary prayers
you know what i mean
something bad happens
so we go to god
right
because we're not
already in the habit
of daily depending
on god
how weird would it be
if my kids
never talked to me
unless they really
needed something
some of you are saying
i got teenagers
and that's about
what it sounds like
it's not a great
relationship
is it
but when we are
in daily communication
not just for god
to give us
our bread
or our provision
or our sustenance
food wise
for that day
but if we are
in daily communication
for god
to give us
everything that we need
patience
how many of you
pray for patience
or avoid praying
for patience
because then
you know how it works
how many times
do we actually
go to god
every day
and say god
i need you
to get through
this today
when the good things
happen
when the blessings
come
when the times
of plenty
are here
and we're loving it
we're rocking
on top of the world
that's my go-to phrase
do we go to god
and say god
thank you
thank you for giving me
this
or do we just
enjoy the moment
and we don't ever
give credit
to the one
who provides
how often
do we pray
how often
reflect daily
dependence
on god
or do we just
pray in the moment
these reactionary
prayers
when we feel
like we have to
and we have
nowhere else
to turn
now i thank god
that he's there
even when we have
nowhere else
to turn
but y'all
he was always
the first stop
to begin with
he should have
been the first
place we turned
before we turned
anywhere else
all those other
times
when we thought
there was another
way to fix it
god still should
have been
our first stop
so do my prayers
come from
immediate need
or from daily
dependence
now god doesn't
sit up there
and wag his finger
at us and say
well you haven't
been talking to me
all week
or you haven't
been talking to me
all month
or you haven't
been talking to me
in years
so why should
i listen to you
now
now that's not
how god works
god loves us
that's how we
would work
right
that's how you
and i would be
with each other
but god's not
that way with us
he loves us
unconditionally
that's why he sent
his son to die
for us
so we should go
to him every day
daily depend on
him for to meet
our needs
both physical
emotional
spiritual
mental
god can make
such a powerful
difference
holistically
across the board
in our lives
but we gotta
daily depend
on him
let's ask god
to do that
now
would you
bow with me
in prayer
god we don't
know exactly
what's on every
heart this morning
i i can't
possibly know
the burdens
on every heart
i know some
of them
some have
shared what's
going on
in their
lives
right now
we've got
people
this morning
who are in
need
physical need
there's been
deaths in
families
there's been
physical
ailments
that have
popped up
recently
that were
unexpected
god none
of that
surprises
you
we ask
you to
intervene
on those
people's
half
remind them
that you
are god
and you
are in
control
you always
have our
good and
your glory
as the
chief end
to whatever
happens in
our lives
but god
remind every
one of us
in this
room
whether it's
a child
a teenager
an adult
remind each
one of us
to daily
depend on
you for
everything
we need
to get
through
church we're
going to sing
a song in
just a moment
but before we
get started in
this I want to
ask these
questions
if there's
somebody
who doesn't
know Jesus
as savior
I talked
about the
gospel and
the good
news of
Jesus for
a little
bit in
the in
the message
but let
me ask
you this
you're here
at church
this morning
most of you
have been
coming to
church quite
a bit
but walking
in these
doors does
nothing to
make you a
Christian
does nothing
to make
God your
father
glad you're
here
you'll hear
about God
here
there's got
to be an
intentional
decision that
you make
you say
God I'm
going to
turn from
sin
that doesn't
mean I'm
never going
to sin
again
but I'm
not going
to let that
be the
master of
me anymore
I want a
new master
I want God
to be my
master
I'm going
to turn
from sin
I'm going
to turn
to Jesus
and you
recognize that
Jesus death
on the cross
was for the
payment of
your sin
so you
could be
freed
so you
could be
saved
from hell
from the
punishment
that is
reserved for
all those
who die
without
Jesus
so if
that's
you this
morning
don't be
ashamed to
slip your
hand up
right now
and I'd
love to
talk to
you
I'd love
to pray
for you
don't walk
out of this
house this
morning without
making that
decision
say God I
want to be
your child
now starting
today
starting today
right now
March
March 10th
could be
your day
of salvation
so every head
bowed for
privacy sake
and I'm going
to ask
right now
is there a
child a
teenager or
an adult
in the room
who would
be
unashamed
enough to
slip your
hand up
and say
would you
pray for
me
I'm ready
to give
my life
to Jesus
slip your
hand up
thank you
for the
rest of
us I
want to
ask this
question
how many
of you
would say
God you
need to
revitalize
my prayer
life you
need to
change
how I
pray I
need to
pray more
often for
more things
more needs
whatever it
is say
God's talking
to me
through his
spirit
say I
need to
more daily
depend on
God
not make
him my
last stop
make him
my first
stop
would you
put your
hand up
and I'll
pray for
you too
my hands
up I'm
with you
I'm right
there with
you thank
you
God you've
seen the
hands you
know what's
going on in
this room
right now
you know
what's going
on in your
church you
gave us these
words you
taught us
these things
help us to
depend on
you
this song
that we're
about to
sing
says teach
me to
abide
you're my
strength
you're everything
I need
God give me
what I need
for this day
and teach me
to remain
in you
Jesus said
if you remain
in me
you are the
branch I am
the vine you'll
have everything
you need
would you
stand to
your feet
as we sing
these words
I'm going to
be right down
front
don't be afraid
to slip out of
your pew
come down here
and talk to
me
we can kneel
at these steps
or you can
come down here
and kneel at
these steps
by yourself
and have a
moment of
private prayer
but I'd love
to talk to
you
let's hear about
whatever God's
working in your
heart about
Hayden's going
to lead us