WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.560 Amen. Thank you all for preparing us so beautifully to hear God's Word. 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.140 As we prepare to look at God's Word this morning, I want to tell you a couple other things. 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:24.100 One exciting announcement I get to tell you about this morning, we have been searching 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:30.359 for a pastor of shepherding in young families. I've been leading that search team with Stephanie 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:37.320 Newberry and Amanda Utley and Rick McCann and Russell Joffrey on, and we have made a unanimous 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:43.100 recommendation to the session, who unanimously agreed to call Derek Harris, and he has accepted 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:49.820 our offer. Derek and his wife, Anna Catherine, live in Nashville, where he is a pastor at Christ 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:55.460 Presbyterian Church there, and they are now eagerly looking for a place in Huntsville. Some of you 00:00:55.460 --> 00:00:59.880 met them Friday night at Family Movie Night. They were here looking for a house. They have a son 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:05.920 who started kindergarten this week, John Paul. So please pray for them. We're so excited that God 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:11.460 has called them here. They've got a lot of transition in the next few weeks, especially for their son, 00:01:11.539 --> 00:01:16.280 as he has just transitioned into his first week of school and will be transitioning out and back in 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:21.680 again. So please do pray for them, and we'll tell you more about them and let you meet them when 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:29.780 they're actually here in person to introduce them to you. You may have heard that there's a really cool 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:37.480 astronomical phenomenon going on tomorrow. It's a big deal if you hadn't heard, and I just had this 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:45.420 real itch this week to be relevant, you know, to say something profound about it. And so early on, 00:01:45.420 --> 00:01:52.379 I thought I'll preach about the end times, you know, the signs of the times, but I'm not a prophet 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:57.439 or a son of a prophet, so I backed off of that, and I thought, you know, what I really need to do 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:06.219 instead is to preach a sermon about sin, about our utter depravity, and title it Total Eclipse of the 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:19.280 Heart. Thank you. It would have made the offertory song choice easy. And oh no, this is bad because 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:26.219 he left, and I noticed later in the week that there was another church that was giving out glasses to 00:02:26.219 --> 00:02:31.579 everybody who came on Sunday, and I thought, you know what, I want to be more spiritual than that. 00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:38.340 I'm going to preach a sermon, and the title, I know it. Sun exposure prevents and protects from 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:45.240 sun exposure. That, and if we had a billboard, that would be on it this week, but we don't, so you're 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:54.780 saved from that. I had trouble refining any of these ideas into a sermon, so I'll just work on them for 00:02:54.780 --> 00:03:01.659 the next one in 2024, and instead we're going to stick with our study of the Lord's Prayer in the 00:03:01.659 --> 00:03:09.500 Gospel of Luke, and all God's people said, amen. Yeah, the sermon title is just about as creative as the 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:15.259 other one's, Daily Bread. We better pray, and then we'll look at God's Word together. 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:32.159 Father, what Kayla just saying is true. You're always right on time. You have an open hand. You give us 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:41.079 exactly what we need. You provide our daily bread, moment by moment, day by day, and so Father, we come 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:53.120 to you this morning and say, teach us to trust you for that. Lord, teach us to pray. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:03:56.640 --> 00:04:01.420 This is God's Word, Luke 11, at verse 1, God's Holy Word. 00:04:01.419 --> 00:04:08.479 Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, 00:04:08.799 --> 00:04:15.939 Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And He said to them, when you pray, say, 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:25.740 Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:32.060 sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation. 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:37.480 Thus far, God's holy, inerrant, inspired Word. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:50.040 Give us each day our daily bread. Jesus is teaching us how to pray. We've seen He's also shaping our hearts 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:57.120 at the same time. What should we long for? What should we love? What should we value? And this 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:04.400 particular petition about daily bread, I think, takes aim at the very heart of why we don't pray, 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:12.879 or at least why we don't pray consistently. Imagine for a moment that you're an Israelite living 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:21.620 back in Exodus 16 that Peter read for us earlier. You're wandering through the wilderness nomadically. 00:05:21.959 --> 00:05:32.819 That's your life. In a Middle Eastern desert, you've felt deep hunger. You've had no options for 00:05:32.819 --> 00:05:40.699 addressing it. No way you could feed yourself. You would wake up with this prayer on your heart, 00:05:40.699 --> 00:05:49.120 wouldn't you? Give us this day our daily bread. Why? Because if there's no manna the next morning, 00:05:49.159 --> 00:05:58.199 you're going to feel that ache again. You hate it. You need God to provide your daily bread. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.740 So if you were an Israelite in the wilderness with nothing to eat unless manna shows up the next 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:10.680 morning, if you were a farmer in an agrarian society where unless the crops grow, your family 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:16.959 is going to go hungry, you won't have anything to eat, then you would pray this prayer. Praying for 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:29.759 daily bread would be a must if that was you. But we aren't, are we? Israelites. Farmers and agrarian 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:36.899 societies growing our food for each day. Most of us could flash a credit card and have food saved up 00:06:36.899 --> 00:06:44.620 for days if not weeks or months with no problem. And that's where I started as I was contemplating 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:52.719 this petition this week. If there's one thing that keeps us from a life of prayer, it's the lack of 00:06:52.719 --> 00:07:01.819 feeling need. And I do think there's truth in that, that conscious awareness of our need is vital 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:12.199 to a life of prayer. But that's actually kind of easy to acknowledge. And so I got a little bit more 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:19.079 honest. The reality is that even though we may not have to wonder where our next meal is coming from or how 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:28.420 we're going to get it, we are still really anxious, aren't we? We fret, we worry, we carry a lot of stress. 00:07:28.420 --> 00:07:34.939 In fact, more than any group of people ever has, if you believe any study that you read these days. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:42.939 That's who we are. We're anxious, we're stressed, we're burdened. As I searched my own heart for 00:07:42.939 --> 00:07:49.300 why this is true, and as I asked myself why I don't just pray about everything all the time, 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:54.740 I realized the truth is often more painful than I'd like to admit. 00:07:54.740 --> 00:08:01.240 Truth is, we trust ourselves more than we trust God. 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:08.079 We trust ourselves more than we trust God. Now, that sounds harsh. 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:15.920 Many of our hearts are probably arguing about that right now. No, that's not true. I tried arguing with 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:24.500 it this week, and then I asked myself some diagnostic questions. When a significant decision or a difficult 00:08:24.500 --> 00:08:34.120 situation arises in the middle of my day, do I typically pray first or plan first how to deal with it? 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:38.299 Do I instinctively turn to God or to myself? 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:49.139 What about when my plans are changed? When my plans are altered, what emotions persist in me? 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:57.679 In case you don't know me very well, frustration and anxiety would be nice words for when my plans 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:04.899 get changed. Panic is probably more accurate. I'm convinced that it will be catastrophic for 00:09:04.899 --> 00:09:09.460 everyone involved if my plan doesn't happen the way I've expected it to. 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:18.980 When I'm feeling uncertain about my financial situation, do I tend to find security in considering 00:09:18.980 --> 00:09:27.000 my bank account or God's resources? Does that question itself sound even a little bit sarcastic to you? 00:09:27.420 --> 00:09:30.460 Like, okay, come on, seriously? I mean, of course I'm... 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:35.580 It does tell us something about where we put our trust, doesn't it? 00:09:37.300 --> 00:09:44.300 When we slow down and analyze our busy lives, we realize we can't blame our lack of prayer on mere 00:09:44.300 --> 00:09:51.680 busyness and success and that we just don't have a lot of needs. That's too easy. It's deeper than 00:09:51.680 --> 00:09:56.700 that into hearts that trust ourselves more than we trust God. 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:04.640 Paul Miller just zinged me on this one. He got me right on. I read his perspective on the need for 00:10:04.640 --> 00:10:11.820 what he calls learned desperation. This is what Miller says. If you are not praying, 00:10:12.640 --> 00:10:18.520 then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:25.080 You'll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:31.300 you realize you can't do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, 00:10:31.460 --> 00:10:39.060 you'll find the time to pray. Then he adds this helpful tip. Time in prayer makes you even more 00:10:39.060 --> 00:10:46.759 dependent on God because you don't have as much time to get things done. That's why I don't do it. 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:49.080 Don't tell me that. That's not nice. 00:10:51.439 --> 00:10:57.139 But listen to what he's saying. In other words, he's saying that you may say that's not true, 00:10:57.539 --> 00:11:04.500 that I don't think my resources are all that I need in life. And I do trust God even more than 00:11:04.500 --> 00:11:12.000 I trust myself. But if I'm not praying, my life says something different. My actions scream that 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:19.139 what I'd like to believe is true is not actually true. We so struggle practically to trust God, 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:30.240 don't we? We tend to trust ourselves more than we trust God. And Jesus comes in this passage to people 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:40.820 like us and says the heart of prayer is assuming a posture of trust. That's what prayer is about. 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:49.320 When we pray, give us each day our daily bread, we are acknowledging our relationship of constant 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:57.120 communal dependence upon God. We'll come back and talk about some of those words. But remember, 00:11:57.280 --> 00:12:04.580 prayer is about having a relationship with God. It's not merely a transaction where I put a request 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:13.740 in and then await the desired outcome, like a Coke machine, as it were, where I rub the magic lamp and 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:23.300 God's supposed to do what it is that I want. That's a transaction. That's not prayer. Prayer is to be 00:12:23.300 --> 00:12:30.540 similar to that, but it's a relationship built on trust where we come and we tell Him what we need, 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:37.399 where we listen to Him direct our hearts, and where we watch for His good provision in our lives. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:48.740 We come like a child to a father and tell Him what we need. Daddy, I'm hungry. Daddy, I'm cold. Daddy, I'm scared. 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:58.080 As we look at this particular petition this morning, how it calls us to that posture of trust, 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:04.860 first look back briefly to the beginning of the prayer Jesus gives His disciples. Let's not isolate 00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:11.440 this petition from the rest of the prayer. We come to pray for our daily needs in the context of having 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:20.140 our hearts pointed to God, to God-centered priorities. Remember from last week, the priority of God's glory, 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:29.120 of His name being hallowed, of His kingdom, of His kingdom needing to come more and more in our lives 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:36.240 and in our world? That's actually where our needs start. No matter what our situation is, 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:44.039 no matter what needs we feel, it's always true that our needs begin with the glory of God needing to be 00:13:44.039 --> 00:13:50.299 first in our hearts and the kingdom of God needing to be more and more a reality in our lives. 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:57.539 So this petition, give us this day our daily bread, is not an encouragement to turn away from God towards 00:13:57.539 --> 00:14:05.299 ourselves and all the things we want. That's not what's going on. Rather, it's an invitation to bring 00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:15.859 our broadest needs and our specific momentary needs to Him. Both of those. See, that's the kind of 00:14:15.859 --> 00:14:22.059 dependence that we have on God that we're so uncomfortable with. It's utter dependence for 00:14:22.059 --> 00:14:30.599 everything. We're to be so utterly dependent upon God that we must pray to Him not merely for the big 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:40.620 things of the kingdom, but just as certainly for the little things of our momentary existence. Remember, 00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:48.279 it's in Him that we live and move and have our being. Our next breath is dependent upon Him as much as our 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:57.680 next meal. And so Jesus says for us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Give. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:07.379 Over and over, give. Every day, give. Even the basics of life, Father, give. 00:15:09.439 --> 00:15:16.179 Because you are the benefactor and we the beneficiaries. You are the resourceful one and 00:15:16.179 --> 00:15:23.399 we are the charity cases. You are the giver and we are the recipients of your abundant provision. 00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:32.980 But as Americans, we're proud of our independence, aren't we? We do struggle to see our need and to 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:39.639 trust anyone beside ourselves to meet our needs. That's almost in our DNA in this country. It's 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:45.439 certainly in the air we breathe in the culture around us. But the Bible promotes our dependence 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:55.760 upon God. And that dependence fuels prayer. That's why in our core commitments here at Southwood, we say we 00:15:55.760 --> 00:16:07.100 recognize our deep dependence and need for prayer. It's part of who we are. Our relationship with God is 00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:16.519 one where we remain desperately needy and He remains gloriously sufficient. Notice that's not something 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:25.159 intended to change in our relationship with God. We remain needy and He remains sufficient. 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:33.279 Not because we don't grow, not because we don't mature, but because God has so designed our relationship 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:42.879 with Him. That we grow by what? By abiding in Him. We grow and bear fruit by remaining connected to the 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:51.620 vine, by drawing life from Him, by depending on Him for everything. It's no failure in us that we need God. 00:16:51.819 --> 00:16:59.819 It's the glorious way He designed it because He loves to meet our needs. He designed us that way. We're dependent 00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:11.580 upon Him. Secondly, notice the communal nature of our dependent relationship with God. What I mean by that is 00:17:11.580 --> 00:17:21.380 how we together need Him and together seek His provision. The pronouns of this prayer are very important 00:17:21.380 --> 00:17:29.000 because they help us lift our eyes again beyond ourselves and our personal needs. It's not 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:39.480 give me each day my daily bread. That's how we often pray for what I need, right? It's give us each day our 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:47.140 daily bread. A prayer for God to meet the needs of all His children, not just mine. You may not be 00:17:47.140 --> 00:17:55.640 wondering where your next meal is coming from, but some of God's children are. Some of them don't have the 00:17:55.640 --> 00:18:01.580 resources you have. Some of them He's providing for differently from the way He is for you, and so we 00:18:01.580 --> 00:18:09.880 pray for God's provision for all. This means we pray for the ways God will provide our daily bread too. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:18.700 Things like peaceful communities, just governments, wise leaders, and the like. Ways in which God provides 00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:26.880 what we need. It's a corporate dependence where the needs of others, which I'm told to put before my own 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:37.319 anyway, are to be on my heart and in my prayers. Who else are you praying for? Who besides yourself 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:46.900 do you pray for? Who else are you praying with? That communal dependence doesn't just look like 00:18:46.900 --> 00:18:53.060 praying for others. It looks like praying together. It doesn't mean Jesus is telling us not to pray alone, 00:18:53.240 --> 00:19:00.180 something that He very clearly did often, but it does imply as we're praying for our daily bread that 00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:06.800 often others will be praying alongside of us, either praying together for the same things, which is one of 00:19:06.800 --> 00:19:12.560 the reasons we have been sending out this prayer guide, so that we as a family can be praying together 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:19.179 for similar things. That's part of it. It also sometimes means praying physically in the same 00:19:19.179 --> 00:19:26.679 place where you've got someone there alongside of you. It reminds us that our common Father has called 00:19:26.679 --> 00:19:35.200 us together to depend upon Him and to carry each other's burdens, Galatians 6. One of our elders, 00:19:35.619 --> 00:19:42.059 Jeremy McCoy, has been getting a group of men together early in the morning to pray, really early in the 00:19:42.059 --> 00:19:47.500 morning. But one of the things I appreciate about what He's said to us in that as He invites us to 00:19:47.500 --> 00:19:54.500 that time, is He says He just needs the strength of other brothers praying with Him to help Him pray. 00:19:54.980 --> 00:19:59.679 He wanted to pray more consistently and He said, I need your help. Come pray with me. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:08.019 If you need help praying, ask someone else to join you. Whether we look at or act like it, 00:20:08.019 --> 00:20:16.359 we all need it. We all need it. Equally, we need God and depend upon Him and need prayer. So go together 00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:30.119 to your Father. Dependence is communal. It's also finally constant. Jesus reminds us that this 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:40.339 posture of trust, this dependence upon God that we have is to be constant. Give us each day our daily 00:20:40.339 --> 00:20:50.779 bread. Why? Why? He's capable of providing any way that He wants to. Why do you think God wants us to 00:20:50.779 --> 00:20:57.599 ask Him each day for what we need then? The Bible tells us, for example, that God already knows what 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:04.899 we need before we ask Him. Is He wasting your time? Why go tell God what you need when in another 00:21:04.899 --> 00:21:09.319 passage you're going to tell us He already knows it? Does He just only have a memory that can go one 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:16.459 day so every day He needs us to come and ask? That's not the problem. It's not for information 00:21:16.459 --> 00:21:22.299 and it's not because we don't already expect we know how some of our needs will be met that day. 00:21:22.379 --> 00:21:25.939 It's not because we don't know where we'll eat lunch or how we'll be able to get there, 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:34.200 practically speaking. God's not against savings accounts or diligent work. What's it about? Why? 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:44.559 It's about the relationship, isn't it? God has created us and designed us to trust Him moment by moment, 00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:52.320 to live in relationship with Him, to follow His Word one step at a time, to trust His promises one 00:21:52.319 --> 00:22:00.519 situation and circumstance at a time. And this petition reminds us that we may pay with a credit card, 00:22:01.220 --> 00:22:07.559 but the money is a gift from His hand. We may work for our living, but the job and the productivity 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:17.240 are gifts from His hand. Listen, God desires relationship with you, interactive relationship. 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:26.380 Isn't that amazing? God wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to know what you need. He's 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:33.380 invited us into a relationship of constant dependence every day, every need He wants to hear about. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:42.200 That's why I mean prayer is not a transaction as much as it is a relationship. One of my favorite 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:50.019 things about my relationship with my wife is that I get to share everything with her. There are not a 00:22:50.019 --> 00:22:55.779 lot of people in the world who just want to hear about my day all the time, what I did, where I ate lunch, 00:22:56.259 --> 00:23:04.519 how I failed, how I felt through the day, but she does. And every experience is enriched by telling her 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:11.319 about it. And I love to hear about hers. We share those things together. It's having a relationship. 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:22.680 God has invited us into a relationship of constant dependence. He wants to hear about those needs. 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:28.579 He wants us to live in relationship with Him. I told you last week some of the things I learned 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:34.039 from Mike Stanfield as he's going through cancer treatment, as he's been studying this prayer, 00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:40.000 as he's been praying that God would use him for the sake of the kingdom. Mike said what God has 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.920 been teaching him most about is this petition, this daily bread petition. If you don't know Mike, 00:23:47.500 --> 00:23:56.299 Mike is a successful business executive. He's driven. He's visionary. He's strategic. He's capable. 00:23:57.980 --> 00:24:03.920 He said this cancer has helped him learn to bring to God not only big annual goals, 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:15.099 but also daily problems that may seem small. He says it's thinking what provision from God he needs 00:24:15.099 --> 00:24:22.460 today. It's been things like strength to sit in an awkward position for several hours while blood is 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:30.980 drawn. Patience with waiting. Boldness to share of Christ while suffering and dealing with pain. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:39.840 Ease of finding a vein. He says he's seen God answer those specific prayers in such particular, 00:24:40.360 --> 00:24:47.640 specific ways and seen how encouraging that is to see God answer specific things, 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:54.340 to see how he particularly provides for something we've particularly asked for. We see God answer 00:24:54.340 --> 00:25:02.480 and work and it helps us to trust him. He's seen God do that for him. No need is too big for God to 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:09.540 handle. We bring big requests to our king, right? But no need is too small for him to care. 00:25:09.539 --> 00:25:17.240 That's what Rosemary Miller learned when someone told the Christian writer and speaker, she was a 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:21.720 grandmother at the time, she would drive her grandkids around London and pray for a parking 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:26.579 spot for them to get in. And someone told her, you shouldn't pray like that. It's trivial and it's 00:25:26.579 --> 00:25:34.440 selfish for you to pray for parking spots. And she just laughed. She said, how else would I find a 00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:43.460 parking space? It was just second nature to her. She talked with her father. She told him what she 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:49.600 needed, that she couldn't walk far and she had kids to manage and she prayed for what she needed. 00:25:51.220 --> 00:25:56.080 She looked to her father for everything, moment by moment, day by day. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:26:04.539 I've been finding it lately to be really helpful in remaining prayerful throughout the day to start 00:26:04.539 --> 00:26:10.859 each day by praying about the things that I need for that particular day, thinking through the schedule 00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:18.279 and the plan and telling God what I need so that I'm then able through the day to revisit that prayer 00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:23.319 and to walk into a meeting and say, God, this is that meeting that I prayed about. I needed wisdom 00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:31.879 for. This is the person I've prayed for, patience with. I bring to God the needs that I know about 00:26:31.879 --> 00:26:37.519 for the day and then I've learned I really better pray for the ones I haven't planned yet. I don't 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:41.599 know about you, but my days don't usually go the way the calendar looks at eight in the morning. 00:26:42.679 --> 00:26:49.659 But there are needs he knows about. And ask him to provide for those as well. It may look entirely 00:26:49.660 --> 00:26:57.240 different for you from Mike or Rosemary or what God's teaching me, but it's that posture that he's 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:05.580 calling all of us to of constant dependence, of trust, of relationship with him. Our father wants 00:27:05.580 --> 00:27:13.860 that with all of us. That's the heart of asking for daily bread, that we would come and trust him and 00:27:13.859 --> 00:27:22.839 see him provide. And the focus is on that constant momentary dependence for today. The words also point 00:27:22.839 --> 00:27:34.459 us to look forward. As God provides each day. One after another day after day, because he gives us what 00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:41.460 we need each and every day, he eventually does that forever. He eventually gives us exactly what we need 00:27:41.460 --> 00:27:49.440 eternally, doesn't he? It's a good chance to stop and remember again who we're praying to. It's not just the 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:55.059 first word of the prayer, Father, that calls us to remember that. It's all through this prayer. The heart of it is 00:27:55.059 --> 00:28:02.899 who are we praying to? He's the God who provides, isn't he? All the way back to the first time he's 00:28:02.899 --> 00:28:09.220 called that name when a ram is caught in a thicket and Abraham sacrifices that ram in place of his son, 00:28:09.299 --> 00:28:18.240 Isaac. To when God sends his own son to provide for our greatest, deepest and longest term need, a 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:28.359 savior. That's why Paul says in Philippians 4, God will meet all of our needs, right? Not just the one 00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:33.839 today, but he'll keep meeting them beyond today. Every need according to his riches and glory in Christ 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:41.660 Jesus. He says something similar in Romans chapter 8, but he makes a little bit of an argument. He says it 00:28:41.660 --> 00:28:48.960 this way, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:54.900 graciously give us all things? In other words, if God's taking care of your greatest need, he's certainly 00:28:54.900 --> 00:29:01.640 not going to abandon you today when you need a meal, when you need patience, when you're alone. 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:10.660 We can certainly trust him never to abandon us. We can certainly trust him to provide our daily bread. 00:29:10.660 --> 00:29:20.519 We can certainly trust him to meet our every need if he has met our greatest need. Last week, we rejoiced 00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:29.320 that our father is the king. Today, we need to remember that our father is also our shepherd, 00:29:29.960 --> 00:29:40.640 making us lie down in green pastures, leading us beside still waters, preparing a table before us, 00:29:40.660 --> 00:29:54.560 even in the presence of our enemies. See, because God is my good shepherd, I shall not want. 00:29:54.559 --> 00:30:08.500 We don't talk that way much anymore. It means I shall lack nothing. Because he's my shepherd, I have exactly what I need. 00:30:08.819 --> 00:30:19.960 Whatever I have is exactly what he knows that I most need. So I need not stress. I need not fret. I need not worry. 00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:33.160 I can trust him more than I can trust myself. I'm the sheep, right? He is the good shepherd. We must trust him. 00:30:33.660 --> 00:30:37.400 And every day together, depend on him. 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:42.019 I want us to practice that together this morning. 00:30:43.019 --> 00:30:47.900 And I promise to make you all feel awkward at this point in every one of these sermons on prayer. 00:30:48.360 --> 00:30:49.540 I'm going to come through on that again. 00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:55.180 I want us to practice it by taking a posture of trust and dependence physically 00:30:55.180 --> 00:30:58.560 and kneeling together to pray. 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:01.360 Kneeling is not the only way to pray. 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:03.639 We usually don't do that. 00:31:04.139 --> 00:31:08.939 And if you're uncomfortable or unable to kneel, you can pray right where you are. 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:10.459 That is no problem at all. 00:31:11.059 --> 00:31:17.899 But I want to invite us to have a tangible reminder of our utter dependence on God. 00:31:18.899 --> 00:31:22.359 We don't always have to be on our knees for that to be true. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:26.359 But we need that reminder because we forget so quickly. 00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:32.939 We're going to begin by spending a moment privately reflecting on how God has already been faithful to us. 00:31:33.019 --> 00:31:35.699 Here's questions to lead us in prayer this week. 00:31:36.139 --> 00:31:40.879 To start by thinking, how is it God provided for me yesterday exactly what I needed? 00:31:42.059 --> 00:31:43.919 These aren't complicated questions. 00:31:44.500 --> 00:31:49.719 We're going to then lead us in praying for what we need today. 00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:52.519 The things that I already know I need. 00:31:52.620 --> 00:31:58.079 And then thinking of others and others' needs that I'm aware of that they have. 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:03.059 I'll lead us in that and just let you join with specifics in your own hearts. 00:32:03.779 --> 00:32:07.019 But let's kneel together in prayer if you're able. 00:32:07.019 --> 00:32:20.160 Father, we come before you with thanksgiving because you are so good. 00:32:20.740 --> 00:32:22.879 And have provided for us in so many ways. 00:32:23.259 --> 00:32:28.299 Hear the prayers of your people as we pour out our thanks to you. 00:32:28.299 --> 00:32:58.279 Thank you. 00:32:58.299 --> 00:33:04.680 Father, we bow before you together and we plead with you for your continued care. 00:33:04.940 --> 00:33:06.859 You have been so good to us. 00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:09.079 You have cared for us so well. 00:33:09.419 --> 00:33:12.519 And we are dependent upon you day by day. 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:18.259 This congregation is for your provision for us. 00:33:18.759 --> 00:33:22.980 Financially as a church, you've kept us over the last several years. 00:33:23.079 --> 00:33:26.720 You've cared for us so well and you've kept us dependent one week at a time. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:30.900 You've given us just exactly what we've needed for the day. 00:33:32.100 --> 00:33:34.319 And we ask that you would continue to do that. 00:33:34.980 --> 00:33:37.480 Would you continue to meet our needs? 00:33:37.579 --> 00:33:40.799 Would you especially be with those who are hurting this morning? 00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:42.920 Father, there are those who are sick. 00:33:43.100 --> 00:33:45.559 There are those who are grieving among us. 00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:47.880 And we cry out to you before them. 00:33:47.960 --> 00:33:51.279 They need your presence and your care and your comfort. 00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:55.259 And so would you be with them as you promised. 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.480 We pray for our country. 00:33:58.220 --> 00:34:01.160 We pray for you to direct us. 00:34:02.379 --> 00:34:03.660 There is a lot of hurt. 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:06.599 Not just in this room, but in this world. 00:34:08.019 --> 00:34:09.079 There's division. 00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:10.719 There's anger. 00:34:10.980 --> 00:34:12.019 There's violence. 00:34:12.019 --> 00:34:16.139 And Father, we pray that you would bring healing. 00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:17.739 We need you. 00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:20.820 We pray, Father, for others. 00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:25.880 For those who today don't know where their next meal is coming from. 00:34:25.940 --> 00:34:28.099 And we know there are those in this congregation. 00:34:28.500 --> 00:34:31.539 But we also know they're in this city and in this world. 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:34.519 And we pray, Father, that you would feed them. 00:34:35.940 --> 00:34:37.019 Would you do that miraculously? 00:34:37.019 --> 00:34:45.519 Or would you do it as you often do through your people, through generosity, through work that you've created us for? 00:34:46.300 --> 00:34:50.239 Father, would you meet all of our needs? 00:34:51.380 --> 00:34:56.739 And would you especially remind us that what we need is to see your glory? 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:04.199 That what we need is to see you as faithful and as good as our shepherd. 00:35:04.199 --> 00:35:08.599 Lord, that we might know that we have everything we need. 00:35:09.299 --> 00:35:11.739 Do that work in our hearts, we pray. 00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:13.359 That we would trust you today. 00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:15.039 That we would trust you tomorrow. 00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:18.119 And that you would give us hearts to trust you always. 00:35:19.299 --> 00:35:21.599 In your eternal provision for us. 00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:23.960 We worship you and we thank you. 00:35:24.460 --> 00:35:26.359 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:35:26.360 --> 00:35:26.500 Amen. 00:35:28.500 --> 00:35:33.400 You can stand with us as we respond and ask for God's continued provision. 00:35:33.579 --> 00:35:35.180 Singing, guide me, O thou great Jehovah. 00:35:35.179 --> 00:35:35.299 Aniliona and Suptora 00:35:57.519 --> 00:35:58.299 Cod grape word of the word 00:35:58.980 --> 00:35:59.859 怎么 through 00:35:59.859 --> 00:36:01.419 Εulfion