WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.540 All right, let's read together from Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 to 13, which is the Lord's prayer. 00:00:07.540 --> 00:00:37.520 So Jesus says, 00:00:37.539 --> 00:00:44.920 I love is that we've been able to talk about the resurrection, the greatest event in human history. 00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:50.000 And then tonight we get to come back and talk about one of the most basic things of the Christian life 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.739 and where the rubber meets the road, and that is how to pray. This is a passage that in Luke, 00:00:55.780 --> 00:01:02.280 his disciples had said, Lord, teach us to pray. And he gives them kind of a condensed version of 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:10.560 what he gives us here in the Sermon on the Mount with what Corey just read. We've talked about how 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:16.019 prayer is just hard. It's one of those things that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:21.159 Even that verse that talks about the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. That was said when 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:25.659 the disciples were told to stay awake and pray with Jesus and they fell asleep. And I'm like, 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:30.979 that's me a lot of times when I'm trying to pray is I'm fighting off sleep. Just, I want to be here. 00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:36.799 I want to be doing this, but it can just be hard. I can get so distracted with the things that are 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:43.140 going on around me, whatever it is, it can just be hard. And so I think it's very fitting for us to be 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:47.819 looking at the Sermon on the Mount, looking at this section on prayer, and even just saying, 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:52.560 Lord, would you teach us to pray? And that's been my prayer that as we go through this, 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:57.980 that we would be able to just be saying, Lord, as we think about prayer, as we preach about prayer, 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:05.000 as we listen about, like teach us to pray. And so tonight we're going through one of the most 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:12.420 basic things when it comes to prayer. Give us this day, our daily bread, verse 11. Now, 00:02:13.060 --> 00:02:18.039 what we've just been reminded of when the Lord is teaching us to pray, he starts with our father, 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:24.759 like Corey just shared with us. That may be the most foundational thing you hear in all of the 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:30.599 Sermon on the Mount with the thing, if you can just remember this, that God is our loving father. 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:36.479 It changes everything. It changes the way we think about prayer. It changes the way we think about our 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:42.780 life. When you go to the secret place, which we talked about a couple of weeks ago, the secret place 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:50.680 of prayer, you aren't going to sit before the judge. You aren't going to sit before that critical boss, 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:56.780 like Corey was just talking about. We're going to meet with your heavenly father. That changes 00:02:56.780 --> 00:03:03.180 everything in the way we think about prayer. And then he says, hallowed be your name. That is actually 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:09.060 a petition that says, Lord, we want you to make your name hallowed throughout the earth. We want you to 00:03:09.060 --> 00:03:14.199 make your name. Holy, make your name. Great. That needs to be one of the things that we're thinking 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:18.960 about in prayer. When we come to him, God, you're the creator and sustainer of the universe. You 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:25.000 deserve all honor, glory, and praise, not just for me, but from everyone in the earth. Hallowed be your 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:31.539 name. It's a petition. Jesus is saying, ask that God would make his name great in all the earth. Make 00:03:31.539 --> 00:03:38.439 your name. Holy. And he says, your kingdom come, your will be done. So as I come to pray, I need to be 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:45.020 thinking, God, I want it to be your will that is done, not my will, not anyone else's will, but yours. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:50.620 This is about you and your will. I want your will to be done here on earth, just like it is in heaven. 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:56.879 And so when we come to God like that in prayer, and we start out reminding ourselves and saying to him, 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:02.500 you are my heavenly father. I want you to make your name great. I want your will to be done on earth as 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:08.800 as it is in heaven. It shapes our prayers differently. It shapes how we hope. It shapes how our, what our 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:14.759 expectations are, like what we think should happen, what could happen. If I, if he is our loving heavenly 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:20.459 father, it means he cares about us deeply. He's not judging us and how we pray. And if he's also the 00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:27.519 all powerful, almighty God who deserves all glory, honor, it changes the way we think about what he can do as 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:34.659 we pray. So that's foundational to say, our father who are in heaven, hallowed be your name, make your 00:04:34.659 --> 00:04:44.019 name great. And then we come to this most basic simple prayer in verse 11, give us this day our daily 00:04:44.019 --> 00:04:52.259 bread. Why did Jesus teach us to pray this? Why did he teach us to pray, give us this day our daily bread? 00:04:52.259 --> 00:05:00.300 This is one of the first, it's the first of four petitions about asking God to do something for us. 00:05:00.980 --> 00:05:10.000 And it is interesting that Jesus starts with the physical needs. He could have started with the 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:17.180 spiritual stuff, but instead he chose to start with the most basic physical need. I think one of the 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:22.699 reasons that is just like Corey talked about this morning in the sermon that the, the leading Greek, 00:05:22.939 --> 00:05:29.000 the leading philosophies of the day, mainly by the Greeks was that the material world, including the 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:36.040 body is either bad or at least it's unimportant. And Jesus starts with a body. He starts with our basic 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:43.420 physical needs and says, go to God, go to your heavenly father and pray, give us this day, our daily bread. 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:49.400 Martin Lloyd-Jones says that Jesus starts with the physical needs because if you're worried about your basic 00:05:49.400 --> 00:05:57.020 needs, it will affect the way you view everything else. It will affect the way you approach all of your life 00:05:57.020 --> 00:06:00.960 if you're worried that your physical needs aren't going to be met. I thought that was pretty practical. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:10.379 But it also emphasizes just how much God cares about everything in your life. He cares about our spiritual 00:06:10.379 --> 00:06:15.719 life so much that Jesus came and took care of our greatest need by living the life that we couldn't 00:06:15.719 --> 00:06:22.920 live, dying the death that we deserve to die. And then he defeated death for us, took our greatest need. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:30.379 He took care of that. But Jesus says he also takes care of our smallest basic physical needs. Give us this 00:06:30.379 --> 00:06:37.540 day our daily bread. Now we could talk about this passage and talk about the spiritual symbolism of it. 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:43.180 You know, it's like Jesus is the bread of life and he's the true bread from heaven. He says in John 00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:49.340 chapter six, or how man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the 00:06:49.340 --> 00:06:56.180 mouth of God, which Jesus says in Matthew chapter four. But what Jesus is doing here is he's addressing 00:06:56.180 --> 00:07:07.040 our physical needs, our most basic daily physical needs of food. So he says, give us this day our daily bread. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:14.500 Now, if you were a first century Jew listening to Jesus here and you hear, give us this day our daily bread, 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:19.000 what do you think they would think about? This is crowd participation. You can actually answer this. 00:07:19.960 --> 00:07:20.500 What do you think? 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:30.280 Manna. Good. I heard it. Manna. Exodus chapter 16. When God has delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:38.000 they actually start grumbling about being rescued and all the problems that they're having. They're hungry. 00:07:38.359 --> 00:07:42.719 They don't think they have enough food. And God literally sends what they would call bread from 00:07:42.719 --> 00:07:48.119 heaven. It's this wafer-like thing that actually tasted pretty good and supplied their needs. Kind of 00:07:48.119 --> 00:07:53.939 reminds me, we were listening to the two towers as we were driving around Orkney on our holiday. And 00:07:53.939 --> 00:07:58.099 they were talking about the limbus, the wafer bread of the elves, you know, and how it actually tastes 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:02.160 pretty good and sustains them for a really long time. It's like, that was probably taken from manna. 00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:07.700 It's like this wafer. Manna literally means, what is it? It's like, what is this substance that tastes 00:08:07.700 --> 00:08:12.240 good, that comes out of heaven? It's like the dew on the ground. They just wake up and it's there. 00:08:12.400 --> 00:08:15.860 And that was supposed to be their daily bread, what they were supposed to eat. 00:08:16.220 --> 00:08:21.980 Now, when they were given instructions on what to do about this, they were supposed to go out 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:29.160 every morning and gather what they needed for the day. If they got too much, maybe they're thinking, 00:08:29.400 --> 00:08:34.279 this might not be here tomorrow. So I got to get enough. I'll just keep it away, save it, 00:08:34.580 --> 00:08:39.039 put it in the corner. It won't be too greedy. Just get what I need for tomorrow. I'll save it back there. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:46.759 What would happen? It would breed worms and start to stink. God was teaching them, trust me, 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:53.259 when I say, get what you need for today. I'm going to provide for today, but then also I'll do it again 00:08:53.259 --> 00:08:58.240 tomorrow. You have to learn to trust me. This is what the Jews would have thought when they heard 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:03.480 this. Give us this day our daily bread. They're probably thinking about manna in the wilderness 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:11.240 when God was teaching them to understand that he provides for their daily needs, their basic needs. 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:17.860 And just as a side note, I mentioned this, but this came about, the manna from heaven came about 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:23.159 because they were grumbling and complaining against the Lord. And I just think it's really 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:30.240 important for us to understand that the Lord is gracious to us. Even when our hearts aren't exactly 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:35.700 right, he still provides for our needs. He still cares about those basic needs. Even when we get it 00:09:35.700 --> 00:09:40.820 wrong, just like Corey was sharing, a father doesn't stop loving you because you disobey. 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:46.620 Same thing with our God, that even though they were grumbling and complaining against him, he still 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:53.580 provided because he was very long suffering and patient. And like the Israelites, when we hear this, 00:09:53.720 --> 00:10:01.799 give us this day our daily bread, we need to learn constant dependence on the Lord. We need to understand 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:08.500 our neediness. It's not like that's something that we kind of conjure up. Yeah, I need to act like I'm 00:10:08.500 --> 00:10:15.419 needy. It's like, no, no, no, you are needy. This is a reminder of that. This is a reminder that you are 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:21.340 constantly dependent upon the Lord, whether you realize it or not. So when we pray, give us this 00:10:21.340 --> 00:10:29.100 day our daily bread, it reminds us, I'm relying on you for everything I need today. It allows us to go 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:36.720 back to him day after day. He doesn't give it to us just one time, this one lump sum that covers a long 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:42.899 period of time, because the reality is we're just going to forget him if that were to happen. I mean, 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:48.200 you guys know this. It's like when things are going bad, that's when we're most likely to pray. 00:10:48.700 --> 00:10:53.540 We're most likely to reach out to God in desperation and say, I need you to do something about this. 00:10:53.539 --> 00:10:59.120 Things get better, and what happens? Our prayer life kind of slips back into that normal. Y'all know 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:05.399 what I'm talking about? But when we're praying, give us this day our daily bread. It reminds us, 00:11:05.819 --> 00:11:12.179 I need him every single day. If he just gave it to us in one lump sum that was to last us over a long 00:11:12.179 --> 00:11:19.059 period, we would care more about the gift than the giver himself. And that would be a tragedy. 00:11:19.059 --> 00:11:28.399 We need to learn to love the provider more than the provision. And the reality is we don't like 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:35.339 being dependent. We don't like having to ask for things. We're just creatures that hope things get 00:11:35.339 --> 00:11:42.179 brought up without us having to ask for it. We don't like feeling needy or, worse, coming across as 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:48.979 needy. We protect against that all the time. And God says, you have to understand, in this relationship, 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:56.059 you have to understand, we are needy. And this is a reminder to us that we need him every day. 00:11:56.379 --> 00:12:01.199 Because we're more natural like the Israelites who want to go out and gather for more than one day. 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:09.099 We want guarantees for tomorrow. And not in, like, God's promise to provide for us tomorrow. We want to 00:12:09.099 --> 00:12:14.839 see it, taste it, and touch it for tomorrow, right? We want that tangible evidence instead of a promise. 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:22.019 And the promise is more sure than anything we could put our hands on. God wants us to understand that 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:27.360 he is the one that guarantees that we will have what we need tomorrow, not anything else. So reason 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:33.600 number one why Jesus teaches us to pray, give us this day our daily bread, is that we are to be in 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:42.840 constant dependence on the Father. We need to be reminded of that. He says, give us this day our daily bread. 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:53.399 Bread. Bread. The most basic and fundamental of needs. Our daily needs are often a source of anxiety for us. 00:12:53.740 --> 00:12:59.440 I mean, if we think about it, most of us are not worrying and thinking a lot about finances 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:05.700 because we're just greedy. Now, we are greedy. We've got that in us. But we're just more worried 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:10.240 that the money's not going to be there to provide for all of our needs tomorrow, or next month, or next 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:15.120 year, or whatever. That's why we are anxious about money. We don't think we're going to be provided 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:21.500 for. Not just because we're greedy and want more. That is part of it. But we worry about our daily 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:28.759 needs. It's a source of anxiety for us. And I just think it's great in Matthew. I said great. It's kind 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:35.560 of sad, but it reminds me of me. So I think it's great. But in Matthew chapter 14, you have the feeding 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:41.500 of the 5,000. It's 5,000 men. So a lot more people that were actually fed than 5,000. And they take up 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:48.319 12 basketfuls left over. And then the very next chapter in Matthew 15, they're 4,000. Same thing. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:54.619 He multiplies it. Fees. They have seven basketfuls left over. And then the very next chapter, Matthew 00:13:54.619 --> 00:14:00.199 chapter 16, verse 7, Jesus mentions something about beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. And the 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:07.240 disciples are like, oh, no. Forgot the bread. And he's like, are you really worried about bread? 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:13.420 Oh, he says, oh, you little faith. That's me. Like, do you not remember what I did for you just 00:14:13.420 --> 00:14:19.940 the other day? Give us this day our daily bread. Some of that is like, don't you remember that I 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:25.280 provided for you yesterday? Why are you anxious about today? Why are you worried that you're not 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:31.179 going to have enough? That I'm not going to provide for you? I told you I would. And I proved it 00:14:31.179 --> 00:14:36.759 yesterday and the day before and the day before that. So why are you anxious? And he's going to 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:43.360 talk more about that in this chapter, Matthew chapter 6. But we stress about our daily needs, 00:14:43.439 --> 00:14:49.000 our daily bread, just like the disciples did. And we're just quickly to forget that the Lord will 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:56.539 provide. That's Psalm 104, 27. The psalmist is talking about the creatures of the world, the lion, 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:04.139 Leviathan, different sea creatures. And he says in verse 27, these all look to you to give them their 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:12.379 food in due season. God is taking care of all the creatures of the earth. Jesus says this later in this 00:15:12.379 --> 00:15:18.820 chapter that God takes care of the sparrows, the small birds. Don't you think he's going to take care 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:26.360 of you? Yet we're still just prone to worry, prone to anxiety, prone to think, well maybe this is the 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:31.940 exception. Maybe next week, next month, next year is going to be the time that I do something to mess 00:15:31.940 --> 00:15:38.560 this up and God's not going to provide for me. And Jesus teaches us to pray, give us this day our daily 00:15:38.560 --> 00:15:47.480 bread so that we're reminded that our smallest needs, bread, physical needs are going to be taken care of. 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:53.060 So reason number two, Jesus teaches us that we are to be dependent on the Father for everything, 00:15:53.800 --> 00:16:01.220 all of our basic physical needs. He cares about even the smallest things. And we need to understand 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:07.139 that when we are learning to pray. Now I mentioned the first century Jews, they hear this, give us this 00:16:07.139 --> 00:16:13.519 day our daily bread. They probably think about manna. But if they also know their scriptures really well, 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:20.759 they might even think of Proverbs chapter 30 verses 8 and 9, where the writer here says, 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:29.120 give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:36.139 deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. 00:16:36.139 --> 00:16:45.840 Do we pray like this where we are satisfied for the food that is needful for us? Or are we just 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:54.600 constantly thinking about abundance? I need more. I never have enough. The first century Jew hears daily 00:16:54.600 --> 00:17:00.860 bread and they might think of this proverb that says, God, give me the food that is needful for me. 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:05.599 Give me what I need. Don't give me too much. Because if I get too much, I'll probably 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:11.319 forget you. But don't give me too little. Because if I do, I'll be tempted to steal. And that will 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:17.240 profane the name of my God. Give me just that right amount, that Goldilocks amount of not too much, 00:17:17.299 --> 00:17:24.919 not too little, but just right. Give me what I need, the food that is needful for me. Now I can remember 00:17:24.919 --> 00:17:31.579 before I was in uni and then when I was in uni, I might say something like, look, it's not that I want 00:17:31.579 --> 00:17:36.500 to be rich. I just want to be comfortable. You know what I'm talking about? Anybody ever said something 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:41.699 like that? Like, I don't need a lot. I just want to be comfortable. And essentially what I'm saying 00:17:41.699 --> 00:17:48.000 when I said that was, I want to have enough that I don't feel like I need the Lord. I want to have 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:58.000 enough that I don't have to worry about anything. In other words, too full. Forgetting the Lord. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:04.299 That is what I'm prone to do. Now, one of the things when we hear this about, Lord, give us the 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:12.839 food that is needful for me. What if he does give us abundance? What if he prospers us? And at that 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:17.859 point, one of the things we have to realize is that scripture teaches us about faithful stewardship. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:27.019 If he has entrusted you with a lot, with abundance, that means you are to be a faithful steward. 00:18:27.019 --> 00:18:32.220 If you feel like you don't have very much at all, you don't have the abundance. I wish I was the guy 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:38.240 that had abundance. I wish I had all of that. You are to be a faithful steward with what you've been 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:45.879 given. It's not about how much, as much as God is going to give you what you need. And if it feels 00:18:45.879 --> 00:18:50.259 more than like what you need, one of the things that comes to my mind a lot is where Jesus was 00:18:50.259 --> 00:18:56.900 saying to whom much is given, much is required. Or the parable of the talents where the five talent and 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:01.420 the two talent, they did the same thing. They were faithful with what the Lord gave them. 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:07.360 And that's what we're called to do. And so there might be some of us like, I wish I was the, 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.900 the, had the abundance, the prosperous one. Then I could be really generous. And the reality is, 00:19:11.980 --> 00:19:16.100 if you're not generous where you are right now, you're probably not going to be generous if you 00:19:16.100 --> 00:19:22.340 had a lot more. Generosity doesn't just start when you have an abundance. It comes from the heart. 00:19:22.339 --> 00:19:29.199 But when we're praying, give us this day, our daily bread. We are saying, God, give me what I need. 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:36.079 You know what I need. I don't necessarily know what I need. I mean, sometimes we treat prayer like a 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.959 genie in the bottle or like a five-year-old that had a genie in the bottle. And it's like, we're not 00:19:40.959 --> 00:19:47.439 going to ask for the right things often. We don't often know what we should ask for. And even when we 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:53.000 get it wrong, God gives us what we need. And we just trust him with that. So we say, God, give us 00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:00.380 this day our daily bread. Daily bread. That's a space where we need to live. We're in constant 00:20:00.380 --> 00:20:06.539 dependence. We understand our neediness for the smallest, most basic necessities. Daily bread 00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:14.420 reminds us of daily needs that he cares about, that are important to him. And in fact, because he is our 00:20:14.420 --> 00:20:22.360 father in heaven, our father, he cares about these needs more than you do. He cares about your life 00:20:22.360 --> 00:20:28.600 more than you even do yourself. And like we've talked about this morning, if he did not withhold 00:20:28.600 --> 00:20:35.140 Jesus from us, if he did not withhold Jesus from us, what in the universe would he ever withhold from 00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:43.580 us if it was for our good? Do we believe that he is a good father who wants our good? Now the 00:20:43.579 --> 00:20:50.939 resurrected Lord makes sure that our basic needs are taken care of. And if he does that, what will he 00:20:50.939 --> 00:20:57.139 not take care of? What will he not take care of? And this is where the rubber meets the road. Do we trust 00:20:57.139 --> 00:21:05.480 him? Do we trust that the one who took care of our greatest need, that's one thing, but this is just 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:11.659 small. Those prayers that you're like, that's too small to pray for. You know what I'm talking about? 00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:18.140 It's like, man, I'm in a hurry. I really need to find a parking spot. Lord, would you give me a parking 00:21:18.140 --> 00:21:25.779 spot? Help me find a place to get here, get there. Like that feels like, oh, that's just wrong. I 00:21:25.779 --> 00:21:31.040 shouldn't pray about those things. Give us this day our daily bread says there's nothing too small that 00:21:31.040 --> 00:21:36.840 we can't bring before the Lord, that we just trust him with to say, I am needy on you for everything. 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:43.159 And in Edinburgh, you realize you're needy for parking, but I am needy for everything. 00:21:44.659 --> 00:21:53.859 I can trust my heavenly father. Now, I was reminded this week, there's an acquaintance I have back in 00:21:53.859 --> 00:22:04.059 Birmingham who is a minister, had four kids, actually had three kids, and then they had twins 00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:10.559 who were conjoined. And it was a really big deal. They weren't sure they were going to live, and then 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:16.240 it looks like they're going to live, but they need to be separated. The husband and wife are separated. 00:22:16.399 --> 00:22:22.399 One has the older kids, one's up in Philadelphia for like a year. Like they're just away from each 00:22:22.399 --> 00:22:30.579 other. Just a terribly hard time. And the Lord just does a great work. The surgery's successful. 00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:36.240 All's going well. But, you know, there's things like having to wear braces to fix the spine. Just 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:40.099 all these different things that are going on. But they've seen the faithfulness of the Lord. 00:22:41.179 --> 00:22:46.919 And then a couple of months ago, almost a couple of months ago, one of their older sons, who's like 00:22:46.919 --> 00:22:55.379 seven, is diagnosed with leukemia. And it's just really, really hard. And I'm kind of following 00:22:55.380 --> 00:23:01.660 them online just to kind of see how to pray for them and things like that. And while they're in 00:23:01.660 --> 00:23:05.800 and out of the hospital with him, because they can't even do the treatment sometimes because the 00:23:05.800 --> 00:23:11.400 fever's too high, he's sick, his immune system can't take it. Just all the complications that are 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:18.360 going on. They find out that one of the daughters, the brace is not working for the spine. And it's 00:23:18.360 --> 00:23:24.440 caused her to develop a hernia. She's like two years old. They're separated again, trying to take care of 00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:31.000 there. I'm just looking and I'm like, how are they just going through all of this? How are they making 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:37.279 it? And you will see one of the things that they say is we learn how to trust the Lord all along the 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:44.420 way in the small things. So we knew we had to just trust him with the bigger things. And that's how we've 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:50.480 been able to make it through it. And I went, I meant to go back and verify. I literally, I think their dog 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:54.360 died during this time as well. I mean, it's just like, there's just nothing that seems 00:23:54.359 --> 00:24:00.299 to be. It's like, please, Lord, give them mercy. And they said, we learned to trust him with the 00:24:00.299 --> 00:24:06.119 small things so that it taught us to now trust him with the bigger things. And as it gets harder and 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:12.939 harder, we still just learn to trust him because it started with trusting him with the small things. 00:24:13.799 --> 00:24:19.359 Now, when Corey gave me this passage, that this was what was going to be next up to talk about, 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:25.859 give us this day, our daily bread. It kind of stirred me inside because, you know, there are 00:24:25.859 --> 00:24:30.819 different times that different parts of the Lord's prayer just meant a lot to me. Different seasons. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:35.879 I can remember one season that hallowed be your name. Like I was really, really passionate about 00:24:35.879 --> 00:24:40.939 talking about that, that I learned that's not just a statement of like, hey, your name is great. It's a, 00:24:40.939 --> 00:24:45.459 it's a petition. Lord, make your name great. And I was just really passionate about that. Lord, 00:24:45.460 --> 00:24:50.400 how would be your name, make your name great in all the earth. And I want to, you know, be about 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:54.860 missions and all these different things. And, you know, it was just a period of time where that was a 00:24:54.860 --> 00:25:03.640 very strong petition in my heart. But over the last 10 years or so, it has actually been this one 00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:10.920 that give us this day, our daily bread that has been so special to me and even taken on 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:18.460 new meaning of just thinking about the Lord providing for all of our needs, everything that we need, 00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:25.580 even the smallest things, how much he cares. Now, we've all known suffering. Everyone in here has known 00:25:25.580 --> 00:25:31.560 a measure of suffering. But there have been some periods of time where our family has known suffering 00:25:31.559 --> 00:25:41.779 to the extent where you're in a place where you're just shocked that you're in this position. 00:25:41.980 --> 00:25:48.960 How could we ever get to this place? How could we ever be here? You're not sure how long it's going 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:53.839 to last, if there will ever be an end to it. You're not guaranteed that there will ever be an end to it, 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:59.639 but you are guaranteed that he will be with you through it. And it was during this time, 00:26:00.059 --> 00:26:06.759 over a long period of time, where this prayer, give us this day our daily bread, 00:26:07.980 --> 00:26:16.159 was the prayer that would just sustain me. Because it was like, Lord, I need grace just to make it 00:26:16.159 --> 00:26:20.279 through today. And I'm not asking you for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll come back and ask you tomorrow. 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:26.480 But right now, I just need to make it through today. Would you give me the grace, the strength, 00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:31.379 the wisdom, the mercy, whatever I need, just to make it through today? And I'm going to come back 00:26:31.379 --> 00:26:37.200 tomorrow, and I'm going to ask for tomorrow. But please, give us this day our daily bread. Give us 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:44.700 what I need to lead my family through this. Give me what I need, the wisdom to navigate this situation 00:26:44.700 --> 00:26:50.160 and make the right decisions. And the Lord used this prayer to shepherd me through the valley 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:55.720 of the shadow of death, where it's like, I'd learned to trust him with the smallest things. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:03.500 And if I can trust him with the smallest things, I know he will take care of all things. Give us this 00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:11.759 day our daily bread. He gives us the grace that we need to sustain us for the day. And he will do it 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:19.700 again tomorrow and the next day. And that is guaranteed. We have the promise. We just have to 00:27:19.700 --> 00:27:26.779 learn to trust it. And we need to make this a part of our daily lives. We're saying, give us this day 00:27:26.779 --> 00:27:32.980 our daily bread. I want to trust you for everything, because I know I'm needy. And I know I'm dependent 00:27:32.980 --> 00:27:42.079 on you for everything. Help me to trust you. Now, if you've been here for many of these Sunday nights, 00:27:42.279 --> 00:27:48.559 and we've been talking through the Sermon on the Mount, and chapter 6, verse 8, just a few verses 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:55.759 earlier, but a few weeks ago, Jesus says, don't be like the hypocrites when you pray, for your Father 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:03.400 knows what you need before you ask him. So some of you might be thinking, why in the world, if he knows 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:10.680 what I need before I ask him, why is he telling me to ask him? Why would I ask him if he already knows 00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:19.079 I need it? And what we realize is that this is how relationship with a Father goes. 00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:28.199 God loves for us to meet him in that secret place and to ask him for everything that's on our hearts. 00:28:28.639 --> 00:28:33.039 There are some times you might be thinking, like, I'm too distracted to pray. I've got so many things 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:39.159 on my mind. That's the stuff you should be praying about, right? Like, when we're just stressed, 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:46.599 when we're, like, so distracted, it's like, Lord, take this. Help me not to worry about it, because I know 00:28:46.599 --> 00:28:53.359 you've got it. You will provide. You will take care of me. And as we do that, as we meet with him, 00:28:53.459 --> 00:28:59.480 we start growing in that relationship with him. He's going to provide for his children, but the daily 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:07.019 asking turns our hearts towards him so that we recognize when he answers our prayer, so that we 00:29:07.019 --> 00:29:12.719 recognize that he is there with us in the midst of whatever we're going through, and that he cares 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:21.019 about it all. And it teaches us to love the giver even more than the gift. So that you might have a 00:29:21.019 --> 00:29:26.620 prayer like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that's like, Lord, deliver us from this. But even if you 00:29:26.620 --> 00:29:33.380 don't, I'm still going to praise you. Because even if he doesn't give us what we're asking for, 00:29:33.700 --> 00:29:40.380 it's because it was for our good. One of the most, the best things I've ever heard Tim Keller say that 00:29:40.380 --> 00:29:45.920 just helped me think about prayer was that, just that quote that he says where God gives us what 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:52.080 we would have asked for had we known everything that he knows. Like if I really knew what I should 00:29:52.080 --> 00:29:57.600 be asking for, that's what I would ask for. Like God knows that, and that's how he grants our requests. 00:29:58.520 --> 00:30:06.900 And as we come to him for daily bread with these prayers, it allows us to see that the steadfast love 00:30:06.900 --> 00:30:14.160 of the Lord never ceases, that his mercies never come to an end, that they are new every morning. 00:30:14.940 --> 00:30:21.360 Great is your faithfulness. His mercies are new every morning. And when we're asking for daily bread, 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:26.380 when we're going to him asking for these things, we're actually able to recognize those mercies. 00:30:26.740 --> 00:30:31.600 We're able to recognize the things that he's doing in our life that will cause us to love him more, 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:37.559 grow in our relationship with him, and learn to trust him more. So being forced to come to him for 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:46.219 daily bread allows us to see his mercies, to rejoice in his faithfulness. Asking for daily bread is for 00:30:46.219 --> 00:30:53.339 our good, and it's also for his glory. We get what we need, and he gets honored for giving it to us. 00:30:53.779 --> 00:30:59.480 And we grow in a relationship with our daddy, which is the goal, right? All right, let's pray. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:10.859 Father, we do thank you that we just can even come to you and call you Father. And like a perfect 00:31:10.859 --> 00:31:17.379 Father, you care about our daily needs even more than we do, so we can trust you. And God, right now, 00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:24.879 I just ask you for grace to trust you more. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak, so we struggle 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:32.440 to pray. But God, maybe just even this little verse, this small petition, give us this day our daily bread 00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:43.280 could transform our prayer lives. We are needy. Help us to remember that so that we will come to you 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:48.960 and trust you more and trust you more and hope in you because you are our hope. 00:31:51.139 --> 00:31:55.759 We pray these things, and we ask that you would make them a reality in our lives. 00:31:56.359 --> 00:31:58.240 And we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.