WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Good morning, church. It's good to see you all this morning. Would you turn with me to the 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:16.219 Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6? That is page 761 in the Pew Bible. If you're new to Trinity this 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:23.879 morning, let me welcome you. This year, this academic year, we've been studying perhaps one 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:28.300 of the most famous passages in all of the New Testament, what we've come to call the Sermon 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:34.299 on the Mount, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. And in the center of the Sermon on the Mount, where we're 00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:40.899 at this morning, is what we call the Lord's Prayer. Here, Jesus is teaching His followers how to pray. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:49.719 He gives us a model in the Lord's Prayer to shape and to guide our own prayers. Of course, you can 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:55.340 pray the Lord's Prayer exactly as Jesus has given it to us, word for word. That's good. But I think 00:00:55.340 --> 00:01:04.460 Jesus meant for this prayer also to become a template, a guide for our own praying, like the 00:01:04.460 --> 00:01:13.560 train tracks along which the steam engine of prayer can run. After all, a train without tracks is pretty 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:21.040 useless, right? Or it's pretty dangerous. But if you put a train on a set of well-constructed tracks, 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:28.940 then it becomes a thing of beauty and a thing of power, right? But I think one of the problems that 00:01:28.940 --> 00:01:39.420 we encounter with prayer is that it feels hard to get the train moving, doesn't it? Maybe you've had 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:44.500 the experience of sitting down to devote some time to prayer, and you just don't know where to begin. 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:50.500 And these last couple of weeks, as we've looked at the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer, 00:01:50.620 --> 00:01:55.799 hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, these wonderful, powerful prayers, 00:01:56.579 --> 00:02:01.719 well, they can at times be a little bit intimidating, right? It's like these prayers, 00:02:01.859 --> 00:02:07.859 they feel like the peaks of the Himalayas, but I'm down here, right, in the foothills of prayer. 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:13.759 I'm just at the corner of State and Grove Street. How am I going to get way up there to the heights of 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:20.120 those prayers? So, prayer can be overwhelming, can be kind of intimidating even. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:26.000 How can I pray in the face of such mystery and majesty? How can I scale those peaks? 00:02:29.139 --> 00:02:32.300 And in that place, it can feel like our prayers never get rolling down the track. 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:35.920 Or maybe you've had this experience. You know, you sit down to pray, 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:40.479 and you want it to be rich, you want it to be full, you want it to be weighty, 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:44.379 you know? You want your prayer experience to blow your hair back. 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:54.619 But your mind wanders to the cares and concerns of the day, right? You think about what you need 00:02:54.619 --> 00:02:59.219 to make the kids for breakfast. Your mind's preoccupied by the work meeting scheduled for 00:02:59.219 --> 00:03:05.899 later that day. You just can't seem to settle in to prayer. The train just seems stuck at the 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:15.460 station. In other words, it can feel like the daily anxieties press us away from what we think of 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:25.080 as the depths of prayer. But when we're in that place, that's where the next petition of the Lord's 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:31.439 Prayer that we'll consider today is so helpful and so necessary for us. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:40.719 We come today to the fourth petition, give us this day our daily bread. Here is a prayer that connects 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:48.300 to the concerns of everyday life, and it gets the train of prayer moving down the track in power and 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:54.919 in beauty. So, as we've done these last few weeks, let me read from the Lord's…let me read the Lord's 00:03:54.919 --> 00:04:01.099 prayer from Matthew 6, and then we'll consider this fourth petition in more detail. So, Matthew 6, 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:02.919 verses 9 through 13, Jesus says, 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:31.360 All right, let's pray and ask for God's help as we consider this passage. Father in heaven, we come 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:38.699 confidently to You because of Jesus our Lord. We ask in His name that You would bless the reading 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:43.920 and the preaching of Your Word. We thank You that Your Holy Spirit has inspired and preserved 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:51.480 Your very words for us in the words of Scripture. Guide our thoughts, guide my words as we seek to 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:57.100 understand what You're saying to us this morning, and may our communion with You deepen as a result 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:05.879 that we might live lives to the praise of Your grace. Amen. All right, so what are we praying 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:12.160 when we pray, give us this day our daily bread? Well, I want to make three observations about this 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:17.220 petition, and my hope is that each one will help us to pray this prayer with a deeper understanding 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:22.180 and deeper connection to God and God's kingdom. And the first observation is simply this. 00:05:22.180 --> 00:05:30.860 When Jesus invites us to pray, give us this day our daily bread, He wants us to see that God cares 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:38.740 about your every need. God cares about your every need. This is a prayer, after all, for bread, 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:46.980 the most basic, simple human need. This is a prayer that says, God, You know and care and are intimately 00:05:46.980 --> 00:05:53.800 involved in the most basic details of my life, down to the simplest act of the food that I eat. 00:05:54.939 --> 00:06:02.379 You know, the truth is that we tend to make prayer too complicated when what God wants is for us to 00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:09.280 come to Him as our heavenly Father and lay before Him any and every care and thought and concern and 00:06:09.280 --> 00:06:14.280 distraction that might be on our minds. Is it the breakfast you have to make for the kids? 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:19.500 Is it the work meeting you have scheduled for later in the day? Is it the nagging aches and pains of 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:25.399 getting older? Is it the desire to find a friend or two in a new city or a new school? God wants you to 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:34.559 bring all of that to Him every day. We have this idea that such prayers are too simplistic or too immature, 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:43.899 but here is Jesus Himself, the most profound, the most mature person to ever walk the face of the earth, 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:51.579 and He says, pray like this, give us today everything we need, even our daily bread. 00:06:51.579 --> 00:06:59.339 So we're in very good company, friends, if we pray simple prayers. 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:07.579 But still, we can have this nagging feeling that our prayer life ought to be more profound. 00:07:08.839 --> 00:07:14.659 Don't we eventually leave those petty concerns behind? Doesn't that all just become too self-centered? 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:23.140 Should I not need anything from God and just pray for His glory? Well, friends, have you considered 00:07:23.140 --> 00:07:30.660 that a prayer life like what Jesus invites us into here, a prayer life that isn't afraid to bring even 00:07:30.660 --> 00:07:37.780 our smallest concerns to God, our every anxiety, our every care, that that is the sort of prayer 00:07:37.779 --> 00:07:49.239 that gives God the most glory? How so? Well, when we don't ask God for these things, 00:07:49.919 --> 00:07:55.179 when we don't pray for our daily bread, as it were, what are we saying about God? 00:07:57.899 --> 00:08:03.359 We're saying either that He doesn't care about those things, or we're saying that He can't really do 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:07.840 anything about it, or we're saying that we aren't really dependent on God after all. 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:17.160 But friends, God does care, and God can do something about it, and we are completely dependent 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:27.160 on God for everything. God is worthy to receive all of our praise just for who He is, yes, but God is 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:38.639 also worthy to receive all of our needs and all of our cries for help. God is glorified in our dependence 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:49.100 on Him. That was one of the first sermons that Jonathan Edwards ever published, God glorified in 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:58.980 our dependence. God wants to be magnified in the smallest details of your life because, friend, 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:09.440 the reality is your life is the sum of a series of small details. So if you're not praying those things, 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.899 then you're living a life of practical atheism. 00:09:12.899 --> 00:09:23.340 God wants to be magnified in the smallest detail. God wants every one of them to shimmer with His care 00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:34.600 and with His love. God cares about your every need. Now, just think of the peace that you and I might 00:09:34.600 --> 00:09:41.779 experience in the midst of our daily cares and anxieties if you and I prayed this sort of prayer. 00:09:42.899 --> 00:09:47.419 If you took every care and concern to your heavenly Father who cares for you. 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:52.919 The Apostle Peter writes about this in chapter 5 of his first letter, verses 6 and 7. He says, 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:57.959 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:07.539 casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. Cast your burdens on Him because He cares for 00:10:07.539 --> 00:10:12.799 you. The Apostle Paul also picked up this theme in Philippians chapter 4. In Philippians 4, 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:13.719 5 and 7, He says, 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:21.839 The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with 00:10:21.839 --> 00:10:28.039 thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:37.539 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Now, this does not mean that all of 00:10:37.539 --> 00:10:43.539 our anxieties will simply disappear. Some of us are more prone to worry or anxiety than others. 00:10:44.219 --> 00:10:50.519 In fact, the Apostle Paul could speak about his own cares and worries frequently throughout his letters, 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:55.899 the greatest of which was his concern for the health and perseverance of the churches that he planted. 00:10:55.899 --> 00:11:04.419 So, a prayer life doesn't just evaporate all of our cares and concerns and all of our anxieties, 00:11:04.419 --> 00:11:13.659 but in the midst of those cares, your cares and my cares, we can experience God's care and God's peace 00:11:13.659 --> 00:11:15.939 in the midst of those things. 00:11:15.940 --> 00:11:24.820 So, brothers and sisters, don't let yourself get too tripped up in prayer, thinking that you need to 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:33.260 be more sophisticated, less every day. Come to God as you are. Humble yourself, Peter says, 00:11:33.780 --> 00:11:40.080 and cast your cares on Him. That's how the train of prayer gets moving down the track. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:51.379 And friends, isn't this principle not at the heart of the gospel itself? Is it not at the heart of the 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:59.820 gospel itself? The message of Christianity, the good news about Jesus Christ, is not try hard to be 00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:06.960 spiritual and good, and then God will accept you on that basis. No, friends, the gospel is very opposite. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:17.740 You come to God as you are humbled by your flaws and your sins. You come with empty hands, 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:26.160 and God accepts you. And on what basis will you be accepted? Only on the basis of Jesus. 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:36.800 He opened the door so that you could walk in. He was worthy to call God Father. We in our sin are not 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:43.379 but Jesus through His life and death and resurrection gives us the right to be called children of God 00:12:43.379 --> 00:12:53.000 freely by grace. So, praying these simple prayers is an outflow. It's an expression of the gospel itself. 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:59.519 We bring all of us, and God receives us by grace and glorifies Himself as the God of grace. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:08.519 God cares about our every need. 00:13:09.939 --> 00:13:15.079 Second observation, when Jesus invites us to pray, give us this day our daily bread, 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:24.600 He's helping us to see God's hand at work all around us. He's helping us to see God's hand at work 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:30.040 all around us. In other words, He's helping us to see and trust what we call God's providence. 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:35.000 How does the food we eat get onto our tables? 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:40.440 I don't know about you, but when my family sits down to a meal, 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:47.580 we don't sit around an empty table, close our eyes, and pray, give us this day our daily bread, 00:13:47.580 --> 00:13:54.980 and then poof, dinner magically appears, right? That's not how it happens. How does it happen? 00:13:56.680 --> 00:14:02.020 Someone had to cook the meal and serve it, right? Someone had to go to the grocery store and buy the 00:14:02.020 --> 00:14:06.480 food. Someone had to package and deliver the food to the grocery store. Someone had to plant and raise 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:11.480 and harvest the food that got packaged and delivered. And even prior to that, the sun had to rise, 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:18.420 the rain had to fall, the seasons needed to turn. It's staggering when you think about it, 00:14:18.420 --> 00:14:25.899 all the details and people and processes that need to be in place just to have a meal around your table. 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:34.440 But press a little further. How did you get to the store to buy the food? Well, you drove on a road 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:38.200 maintained by the city, and a lot of people had to work hard to maintain all those roads and that 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:44.620 infrastructure. How did you cook the food? You used gas or electricity to run your stove provided by 00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:49.259 the utility companies and that entire infrastructure. Where did you get the money to even buy the food? 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:55.400 You went to work and perform your job with your colleagues and clients and co-workers. And friends, 00:14:55.480 --> 00:15:02.400 suddenly the interconnected web of people and places and institutions becomes almost infinitely thick 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:14.399 and intricate just so we can eat a simple meal. Give us this day our daily bread. What are we praying for? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:26.000 Well, when you step back, we are praying for something massive. We're praying for God's hand to be at work, 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:36.639 sustaining, guiding, directing, not just the rhythms of nature, but the systems and institutions of human culture. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:41.600 Martin Luther put it this way. He said, 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:50.399 "'Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:56.480 clothing, shoes, house, home, lands, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:01.279 devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:05.199 good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.'" 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:17.039 You see, praying, "'Give us this day our daily bread,' forces us to acknowledge that God is God in all spheres of 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:32.159 existence." When we pray this seemingly simple prayer, it forces us to see God's creational care of all things. It lifts our eyes to see what we call God's providence. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:41.039 One of my favorite definitions of God's providence is from the Heidelberg Catechism written in the 1500s, 00:16:41.039 --> 00:17:07.039 and it goes like this, "'God's providence is His almighty and ever-present power whereby, as with His hand, He upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:17.680 food and drink, and wealth and sickness, and riches and poverty. Indeed, all things come to us not by chance but by His Fatherly hand.'" 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:22.720 And then the Catechism asks, 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:31.039 what does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence? 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.680 How does that benefit us? Answer, 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:43.599 we can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future, 00:17:44.399 --> 00:17:51.279 we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from His love, 00:17:52.159 --> 00:18:00.240 for all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will, they cannot so much as move. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:06.399 Give us this day our daily bread. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.240 It's a prayer that starts with our immediate needs and then flows out to encompass God's providential, 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:17.039 sustaining care of all things for our good. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:25.920 Our culture talks a lot about cultivating gratitude, doesn't it? Gratitude has become sort of one of the 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:30.480 staples, one of the like stock and trade of the wellness and self-care kind of literature and 00:18:31.840 --> 00:18:37.279 TikTok videos or however you sort of imbibe that stuff. Maybe not TikTok for that much longer. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.240 But friends, do you see how this prayer, 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:50.000 give us this day our daily bread, is the key to real, lasting gratitude? 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:57.519 Because this prayer helps us to see that God's fatherly providence has been at work 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:02.559 to answer our prayers time and time and time and time again. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:09.200 We often wonder if God hears or answers our prayers, and yet when we pray, 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:14.480 give us this day our daily bread, we start to see all of existence as an answered prayer. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:21.759 All of life is a prayer of gratitude to our good, loving, faithful, sovereign God. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:29.440 And again, does not the gospel itself teach us this truth in the most pressing and profound way? 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:31.839 In Romans 8.32, Paul writes, 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:36.559 "'He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:41.039 how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?' 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:47.599 The Father was willing to give us His own Son, bread from heaven. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:54.240 How will He not also keep His promise to care for us now in this life, 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:59.759 and prepare for us in the life to come something unimaginably good? 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:09.039 Give us this day our daily bread. It's a prayer to help us realize that God cares about your every 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:16.480 need, and it's a prayer that helps us to rest and rejoice that God's Fatherly providence is directing all things. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:20.960 There's one more observation I want to make. 00:20:22.639 --> 00:20:27.519 When Jesus invites us to pray, give us this day our daily bread, 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:34.960 He's inviting us into a life of kingdom-centered simplicity. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:40.720 He's inviting us into a life of kingdom-centered simplicity. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.079 Note that Jesus tells us to pray for our daily bread. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:21:00.079 The fallen human heart wants to amass wealth, to gather up as much as we can in, if we're honest, greed. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:06.000 But Jesus says to His followers, not so with you. 00:21:07.679 --> 00:21:13.199 Don't pray, God, fill our bank accounts with exorbitant wealth. I promise I'll tithe. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:25.119 But rather, give us this day our daily bread. May our hearts be content with daily bread. May our hearts 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:31.279 be weaned from their addiction to material wealth. May our hearts be turned away from the God of money. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:39.039 And may our hearts rest in the provision of daily bread. Proverbs 30, verse 8 says, 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:45.519 Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:58.000 Give us this day our daily bread. You see, friends, as we pray this prayer with assurance that God wants us to bring all of our needs and concerns to Him, 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:04.559 and as we pray this prayer with gratitude that God's fatherly providence has been at work to answer our prayers time and time again, 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:15.519 we find that we also cannot pray this prayer, give us this day our daily bread, without also thinking about those. 00:22:16.639 --> 00:22:23.440 We cannot pray this prayer for daily bread without also thinking about those for whom daily bread is not a given. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:38.000 As we pray this prayer, we immediately think of those who struggle to find daily bread, the hungry, the poor, the displaced, the refugee, the outcast. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:50.160 So we are praying then that God would give us hearts of kingdom-centered simplicity 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:55.440 so that we might have something to share with those in need. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:07.040 Friends, in the early church, there was such a freedom in Christ that when others were in need, in their midst, 00:23:07.040 --> 00:23:11.759 they would freely sell property, belongings, and share with those in need. 00:23:12.800 --> 00:23:17.680 The church became a new human community that ran on just different principles, 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:24.960 principles where money and wealth didn't rule people's hearts. Instead, they were so captivated by God's grace in Christ, 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:30.960 so caught up in the wonder and reality of the resurrection and all that it meant, 00:23:31.840 --> 00:23:38.480 they had clung so tightly to the resurrected Lord that they could freely open their hands 00:23:39.600 --> 00:23:42.799 and practice solidarity with the poor in their midst. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:50.559 You see, they had found and they had tasted a bread that satisfied every longing. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:56.319 They had found a wealth, they had found a treasure that could never fade. They found a dignity that money 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:01.839 could never buy. They found a security that wealth could never provide. They had come to know the risen Christ. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:13.679 They had tasted of the age to come. They had been risen with Him and even seated with Him in the heavenly places. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:17.039 Paul could say to the early churches, 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:19.359 all things are yours. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:28.639 And brothers and sisters, the same is true for you today in Christ. 00:24:30.159 --> 00:24:35.439 You were dead in your trespasses and sins, but God has made you alive in Christ Jesus. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:41.919 He has raised you up and seated you in the heavenly places with Him. You will reign with Him forever. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:51.680 All things are yours. Why would we cling to the passing wealth of this world when the kingdom has been given to us? 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:00.800 That's why the church prays, give us this day our daily bread, 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:07.119 and then we use whatever wealth we have to meet the needs around us. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:14.159 Now, of course, poverty alleviation is a many-sided thing. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:22.639 It takes much wisdom, much cooperation, much prayer, much time, much effort, much community. 00:25:24.639 --> 00:25:25.119 Acknowledged. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:33.759 But only when our hearts are trained in the simplicity of this prayer will we have the freedom 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:40.479 to not chase wealth and its empty promises as if it will answer all of our deepest longings. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:47.199 But we'll have hearts that are trained to view any material good that we have 00:25:47.919 --> 00:25:50.159 as resources to be used for God's kingdom. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:26:00.480 And friends, in this church we have seen so much of that. I wish I could tell you all the stories of 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:07.120 generosity and solidarity I've seen the Spirit do in our midst. We have much to be grateful for. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:14.000 The deacons and their work of care, small group members rallying around one another, 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.799 some of you starting intentional communities to seek the practical good of your neighbors, 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:24.960 families providing for the needs of their children and the needs of your extended family, 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:30.880 caring for the widow, for the refugee, for the fatherless. God's Spirit has been answering this 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:39.519 prayer again and again in our midst. May God continue to do so and make a salt and light to our 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:47.680 city, to make us that new kind of community that is so enthralled by the resurrection of Jesus that we 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:58.000 just run on different principles. Give us this day our daily bread. Friends, the train of prayer doesn't 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:03.759 need to be stuck on the tracks. God isn't waiting for you to find the right word or take up the right 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:09.680 topic. He wants you to know that He cares about your every need, that He's at work in everything 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:15.279 around you, and that His kingdom has begun right in the midst of our everyday lives. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:22.480 So bring your cares and concerns to Him. That's where the prayer train starts rolling down the track, 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:30.160 and those simple prayers will pick up steam, and by God's grace we'll begin to experience in deeper and 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:38.960 deeper ways His loving care, and His faithful providence, and His healing kingdom. Let's pray. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:52.880 Father, we pray as Jesus taught us, give us this day our daily bread. Make this prayer our own this week, 00:27:53.760 --> 00:28:03.120 this month, this year, and all the years to come, train our eyes through this prayer to see your hand at work 00:28:03.120 --> 00:28:11.120 all around us. Train our hearts through this prayer to become people of kingdom-centered simplicity. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:20.720 Make our church through this prayer a signpost of your kingdom and a witness to your resurrection life, 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:25.600 Lord Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.