Jeff Durbin on The Lords Prayer Part II

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Your Father forgive your trespasses. As far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray.

00:12

God, please guide your church today. God, I'm in myself not worthy to lead your people in prayer.

00:26

So God, I pray that by your spirit you would teach us to pray.

00:32

Help us, God, to see you as you are, not as we have made you in our own mind.

00:40

Help us, God, to love you enough to seek your face as we ought.

00:47

God, help us, Lord, to cast away from us the things that don't matter, the things, Lord God, that distract us from you.

00:55

Help us, God, to be a church that prays. Help us to be a church that prays in the way that brings you glory and that you're pleased with.

01:06

Lord Jesus, teach us to pray. God, I pray that you'd get me out of the way in this sermon.

01:11

I pray that you would cause me to vanish away, to decrease, and for Christ to increase. God, bless us as a church.

01:19

Help us. Help us, God, to leave behind us right now all the things, Lord God, that are weighing on us.

01:26

Help us, Lord, to cast away from us sins that would distract us from listening.

01:34

God, convict us. Allow us to let go of what robs us of joy.

01:40

Let us walk in the light as you are in the light. In Jesus' name, amen.

01:46

So this is big, being taught to pray by Jesus. I mentioned as we opened up the Lord's Prayer that history is full of examples of people that prayed and, from a human perspective, prayed well.

01:59

I talked about the Puritans and how much they prayed and how committed they were to rich theology in their prayers.

02:06

The prayers were great. If you get the Puritan Prayer Book, it is just fantastic.

02:12

It makes you actually feel really small. As a 21st century Christian, the kinds of prayers that we have compared to the weight and the height and the glory of the prayers and the value of the vision, it is really spectacular.

02:26

If you don't have that in your library, get it, get it, because it'll really bless you. Not so much to have prayers that you just get through as rote prayers that you pray just to do, to have something, but read those prayers to see the kind of rich theology and understanding of God that the

02:43

Puritans had. How they prayed was really a testimony to what they knew about God and how they'd experienced

02:49

God in ways that are just really spectacular. If you even learn the history of the Puritans, and that movement, and what

02:55

God brought them through to use the word of God to transform and shape really the world and so much of what we have as blessings before us,

03:04

I mean, study the movement, study what God did, and then pray for a revival. And really, pray for a revival not so much just in the theology of the

03:13

Puritans, but in the prayer life of the Puritans and how they sought after God so much.

03:19

But history, again, is just replete with examples of people that can pray and pray well, and there's great books on prayer, and you can look at modern people that God has raised up to teach and to lead the church.

03:28

I mean, universal, and there's great books on prayer. But each and every single one of those examples falls woefully short of Jesus and his prayer life and what he knew about prayer, and not only what he knew about it, but how he actually did it, he demonstrated it.

03:46

I talked to us about the fact that, you know, if you want a model for prayer, if you want to follow somebody that could pray and pray well, you have to follow

03:52

Jesus, because Jesus is God the Son. He was in an eternal relationship with the

03:57

Father. You know the chapter. In the verse, John chapter one, verse one. In arche ein hologos, kai hologos ein prostom theon, kai theos ein hologos.

04:06

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

04:12

God. Jesus always existed forever back. No matter how far back you want to push the beginning,

04:18

Jesus was already there, and he was prostom theon, face to face with or toward the

04:25

Father. That's intimate face to face relationship with the Father from all eternity.

04:30

He was God. John 1, 14, and the Word became flesh, and he dwelt among us.

04:38

And when the Word, who was in an intimate relationship with the Father forever, lacking in nothing.

04:43

Here's the thing that drives me bonkers about thinking about the Trinity and like the relationship of the

04:49

Father to the Son. There was nothing lacking, nothing lacking in the fellowship of the

04:54

Trinity, the triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God, eternally existent as three co -equal, co -eternal persons.

05:03

God is perfect. Without you and without me, he didn't create because he needed something. He didn't create because he needed glory.

05:11

He just had to have it, right? And he's missing it somehow. He didn't create because he was lacking in fellowship or joy.

05:17

It says in the Bible that God is the happy God. Try to wrap your mind around that. He's the happy God always, and he always had perfect fellowship,

05:25

Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And so there's this perfection of community and relationship and fellowship among the persons of the

05:33

Trinity, the triune God, forever in the past. It's perfection, happiness, no brokenness, no stain, no weakness of relationship, no failing daily in our relationship as we do with each other every single day.

05:47

In our families especially, you'll notice it, the conflict that happens between brother and sister and father and mother and mother and daughter, and the conflict.

05:56

We see relationships of love that we have that we don't ever wanna do without, amen? We want those relationships forever, but it's not a relationship of perfection.

06:04

It's a relationship that is stained constantly by our own sin, our own pride, our own evil desires, our own selfishness.

06:13

That's how our relationships work every day, and we want those relationships, but they're not perfect.

06:21

They're what we know, what we love, and we don't ever wanna let it go, but it's not perfect. And yet here you have

06:27

Father, Son, Holy Spirit from all eternity in absolute perfection, never a bad day and never a dull moment.

06:37

Happiness and bliss and fellowship, and so then Jesus, Philippians says,

06:42

Paul says, he was in the very form of God, Jesus, and he did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped or held onto, but he did what?

06:53

He emptied himself, and he became a servant, and he became obedient even unto death.

07:00

So Jesus takes on flesh. The infinite takes on the finite.

07:08

And he humbles himself, and he's in the world now after having an eternal relationship of perfection with the

07:14

Father. Now he submits to obedience as your substitute, as your federal head, as your representative.

07:22

He's representing you, living a life that you and I have absolutely failed of obedience and perfection, and so he now operates in a relationship with the

07:31

Father of perfection on this side of heaven. And he prays, and he prays well.

07:39

Jesus would get up early in the morning, and he would pray before the sun was even up, right?

07:46

And so when I say like, we need to follow Jesus, I mean, Jesus took the Psalms seriously.

07:53

He was a literalist, a wooden literalist, when it says, early in the morning, my prayer shall rise to you.

07:59

Jesus was a wooden literalist at that point. He took it seriously, and he got up early in the morning before everybody else is up.

08:06

It's dark outside, Jesus is up to do what? To seek after the Father. It was his single mission in life.

08:12

His ultimate goal, his purpose was to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

08:20

Jesus wasn't just walking through a relationship with the Father of glorifying the Father through his life of obedience, he did.

08:28

He was also in a hot, white pursuit, a white, hot pursuit of affection and intimacy with the

08:40

Father. And so when Jesus teaches us to pray, he comes right after how pagans do it. Unbelievers pray with babble,

08:47

Jesus says. They just babble on, they just say stuff because they think they're gonna be heard for their many words, because they say a bunch of stuff, right, and so I pointed out as we entered this text that when

08:57

Jesus goes after how pagans pray, we always go to like, well, who's that?

09:03

Today, how do I apply that example of Jesus to what happens around us today?

09:10

And as good, solid Calvinists today, we go, oh, well, that's Rome. They say just meaningless words and babble and they just pray just over and over and over repetitious words and they pray so that other people, or Jesus attacks people and actually critiques people who pray so that other people see them pray.

09:26

And we're always trying to figure out, like, well, who does that around me? And the answer is, that's not the point of Jesus addressing it.

09:33

It's not about the other, it's about me. Jesus teaches us, like, what it's like to pray.

09:38

If you want, like, sort of a bird's eye spy cam view, okay?

09:45

We love, like, today in our technology, we really love it, we love we have cameras everywhere and, like, we're all voyeurs in a sense, right?

09:51

We all, like, love to watch YouTube and, like, hidden camera footage of a robbery or someone involved in something that they shouldn't have been involved in and we can't help it.

09:59

They have millions and millions of views and viral videos. Well, here is actually some good voyeurism, a way for you to actually pay attention to something, get a bird's eye view of something that you want to watch.

10:14

And Jesus tells you, like, what it's like in his relationship of prayer and intimacy with the Father. You get to now spy on it a bit.

10:22

What was it like for Jesus to rise early and spend time with the Father? What was it like when Jesus prayed and he talked to God?

10:29

What was it like? And Jesus tells you, this is what it's like when God the Son talks to the Father in perfection.

10:35

This is what he tells us. He says, like this, you pray like this. He says, our

10:40

Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Now, as a quick review,

10:46

I do wanna touch it. We're not gonna spend a lot of time here today but I wanna make sure that I put this together in one tight package for us.

10:52

You'll notice that when Jesus prays, he doesn't leap into the Father's presence, although that happens, of course, at times with all of us.

11:00

We leap into the Father's presence and we say, gimme, like, help, this is an emergency moment. But when

11:05

Jesus goes into the Father's presence and he prays, and you can just see him praying this prayer publicly, not for the purposes of being seen, but for the purposes of real intimacy and teaching, he says, our

11:16

Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Notice that when Jesus prays and he tells us to pray, his singular focus is on the glory of God.

11:29

It's an upward prayer first. It's about what is right and true before what

11:36

I need. You see, here's what you have to get, we have to all grasp this about prayer.

11:42

Prayer is not about going to God to make him better than he is. We're not going to God to give him instructions.

11:50

Jesus says as much. He already knows what you need before you've even asked him.

11:56

He already knows it. It's already before him. He's already decreed it. He knows.

12:01

So why does he call you into prayer with him if he already knows all things? Because of intimacy, because of relationship.

12:09

That's how he's created us. He calls us into worship to glorify him and to know him.

12:16

And when Jesus tells us to pray, he first starts off with the Father as father, as premier, as treasure.

12:26

And so we go into God's presence, and you say, what was it like when Jesus talked to the Father? First and foremost, when Jesus talked to the

12:32

Father, he was focused upon the Father's glory, the Father's desires, the

12:38

Father's will above all things, and that is perfection incarnate. What's it like for a perfect human to worship

12:46

God? Well, he first focuses upon God in worship and prayer. And so when we go to God's presence, it's first about God's glory and his name being holy.

12:55

Notice that Jesus says, hallowed be thy name. And admit it, I said it when we did the message before, most of us don't even know what in the world that means.

13:03

Admit it. When you hear people praying that prayer, they say, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

13:09

It just seems so erudite and so lofty and big. And I told you about how for years at the hospital, the beginning of this church right before you,

13:21

I would see daily, every single day, I would see these AA groups and SA groups and HA groups and all these groups get together of people who were completely dissing scripture,

13:31

God's revelation in Jesus. They wanted none of it. You can worship the doorknob, the electricity, the floor mop, it didn't make a difference as long as it wasn't

13:40

Jesus. And at the very end of this meeting where they would often heap scorn upon Jesus and anybody in there that brought their

13:48

Bible. They would all say, okay, let's dismiss now. They all stand up, they'd hold hands, and they would say, our

13:54

Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom. And I was in awe.

14:00

I would just, what's happening? Do you know what you're praying? The people who just dissed

14:06

Jesus in the biblical worldview for 35 minutes are now actually going into God's presence after just maligning him and his son and his mission.

14:16

Now they're saying, God, may your name be holied throughout the earth. Hallowed be thy name means this.

14:23

God, your name be holied. God, in my life, may your name be holied.

14:34

Mine first. Holied be your name is not asking, it's not, watch, it's not an exclamation, proclamation.

14:45

Piper said that, that for 20 some odd years, as a pastor, he thought that in the

14:54

Lord's prayer where Jesus says, hallowed be thy name, he thought, and I think many of us do, that that was a proclamation, right?

15:02

Like you're saying to God, God, your name be holied, because it is. Like, holy be your name,

15:08

God, like praise God. But that's not what it is. That the word itself is actually asking

15:16

God, telling God to do something. Do you get the difference? It's not, praise God.

15:22

It's more like, your name be praised. Do it, God. You're actually calling out to God for him to do something.

15:29

And so when Jesus tells you, you go into the Father's presence like this, our Father in heaven, first and foremost, child,

15:36

Father relationship, Son of God relationship, go to him not as an unbeliever,

15:42

Gentile, doesn't know God, repetitious prayers for just, so that meaningless words, just so that we be heard.

15:48

He says, you go Father in heaven, Father -Son relationship. He says, your name be holied in my life, in my family's life, in my son and my daughter's life, my spouse's life, my home, my church.

16:05

God, your name be holied here. And that's, holy your name, God, among us and our families and communities, my neighborhood.

16:14

God, your name be holied in my city. May my city council holy your name.

16:20

May the governor of my state revere your name as holy. May the President of the

16:26

United States holy your name. That's the kind of prayer that you go before the

16:32

Father with is you're praying, first and foremost, to your Father and you're praying a prayer, God, do this, do this in the world.

16:40

I think about this, watch for a moment now. This is important. I don't think that pessimillennialism, amillennial, premillennial, postmillennial, can be broken down into two camps.

17:00

Pessimillennialism and optimillennialism, okay? I don't think that you can truly hang on to any pessimillennial system, that all things get bad and worse and destructive all the way through.

17:13

I don't think you can really hold on to that prayer and pray the Lord's Prayer every day and mean it.

17:22

Things are gonna go bad and turn to dirt and mud and grotesque things and the world's gonna get awful and bad and terrible and fall apart.

17:30

Father, your name be holy, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

17:35

See the difference? That doesn't work, does it? It's two conflicting ideas. If you truly pray the

17:42

Lord's Prayer every day and you believe that God answers prayers and that he's telling you to pray the prayer for a reason, how could you possibly pray the

17:49

Lord's Prayer and believe that the world is not ultimately gonna be under the feet of Jesus in time and in space and in history?

17:55

How could you do it? You're praying, God, your name be holy. Why is Jesus telling you to pray the prayer?

18:01

Because he doesn't intend for it to be fulfilled. Think as it extends, Jesus says, your kingdom come, your rule, your reign, your sovereign rule come.

18:13

Your will be done on, where? Earth as it is in heaven.

18:19

Every one of us in the West today, Christianity in the West is satisfied, so satisfied with Jesus being king over Neverland.

18:32

We're satisfied with Jesus being king over Neverland and the secularists are satisfied with our position, our claim that Jesus is king over Neverland.

18:43

Heaven, that place over there, Jesus rules well there and he belongs there and he rules mightily there.

18:50

He's king of kings there and Lord of lords there and then all of a sudden you come in as Doug Wilson says and say yes, and Jesus is king over these

18:59

United States and people say, oh, you mean king, king?

19:05

Like really, king? Think about it for a moment. The prayer you pray, first and foremost, God -centered, not me -centered, is father, father, your name be hallowed, your name be holy, do it,

19:17

God, and your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus comes into the world, he breaks into history as the second

19:26

Adam, as perfection, as the true and perfect Israel. He comes into a world that's stained by sin, cursed by sin, he redeems, he's removing the curse as far as it is found, he rules heaven and earth now and justice and righteousness will be established in the world,

19:44

Jesus wins and watch, here's the point, he tells you and I to pray for it, to pray for it.

19:53

But here's the thing, watch, watch, as you and I pray, as the church prays under the instruction of Jesus, our grandmaster of prayer, as he tells us to pray, watch, we pray this prayer together for the world, holy your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, but here's what you have to notice, when you pray those things, as Dr.

20:16

White has taught me and says so often, prayer first and foremost, it's not about changing

20:24

God, making him better than he is, prayer changes who? Come on now, who?

20:30

Me, it changes me and so you pray this prayer, your heart gets aligned with God's heart first and foremost, you start treasuring the things that God treasures, being pleased in the things that God is pleased with and so first and foremost, the

20:44

Lord's prayer every day in your heart and on your lips before God is gonna transform you, because if you can't pray this prayer and truly mean it and have a life that is completely distorted and disharmonious, how do you pray that prayer and talk to God every day about his name being holy and his kingdom coming, his rule coming and his will being done on earth as it is in heaven, if you don't seek holiness every day, if you don't seek his rule over your life and family every day, if you don't seek his will being done in your personal life every day, you cannot pray that prayer every day and truly mean it and not be transformed by it, you can't, you can't, because it would be a total catastrophe, a prayer that means nothing, so the first thing that this prayer does is obviously glorifying

21:38

God, but the next thing it does is it has to change you, why? Because it's not about you,

21:44

Jesus says you enter into the Father's presence, the first thing you do is you center yourself around the things that matter to God first, that's the start of the

21:52

Lord's Prayer, okay, next, Jesus says this, watch, he first says

22:00

God, then he says give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, the prayer is really in two parts, right, one is

22:14

God -centered, first and foremost, next is me, so Jesus is saying you first go into your

22:21

Father's presence and you align yourself to the will of the Father, you focus on what matters to God, next you focus on you,

22:29

Jesus isn't saying, look, you're a robot, and you're under the feet of God, and he just wants you to just give him glory like a drone for all eternity, you just drone on about God and his glory and goodness, no, it really is intimate, it's really meaningful, and actually

22:44

Jesus tells you, you go to your Father for what you need, it's really, it's interesting, because watch, he says give us this day our daily bread, now

22:55

I mean this when I say this, it's a part of me that, forgive me, it's a part of me when

23:00

I was like planning for the Lord's Prayer, I was like let's make that a six -month series, because you really could, you could do it, and I think it would be awesome, but we eventually have to finish,

23:14

Matthew, for goodness sakes, but so I am gonna really scan over so much here, guys, and I know that I'm not a perfect pastor, and I miss things, but I'm gonna do my best to try to talk about the things that matter a lot, at least to me, and I think to us, when he says give us this day our daily bread, it's interesting, you go to God, and he says the most simple thing, give us this day our daily bread, it's like the most basic thing of life, if you don't eat, you die, that's it, right, and so it's really interesting,

23:46

Jesus puts like in this Lord's Prayer, he could've said a hundred things, you know, he could've, he could've said, give us,

23:52

God, our sandals that we need, right, the ground is really hot here in Arizona, that's a good thing to pray for, right, boy, it's hot, right, so that's a basic thing, that's a basic need in Arizona, right, something for my feet, right, so he could've been in there, like God, give us our daily clothing, he could've said,

24:15

God, give us our monthly mortgage payment, right, those are all important things, right,

24:20

God, please give me my monthly rent, why did Jesus, in teaching us to pray, go straight after the most basic thing of life, food, give us this day our daily bread, it's because Jesus is teaching us,

24:35

I believe, humble dependence upon God for the most basic thing of life, you recognize in your prayer, watch, that you need

24:45

God for even the most basic thing of life, for the smallest things and the big things, but Jesus is saying, you go to the

24:54

Father and you ask him for the most basic stuff of life, without which you cannot survive and pray any longer, bread,

25:04

Jesus says, give us this day our daily bread, you're coming to God and you're recognizing he's the sovereign, he's our

25:10

Father, and if he doesn't feed me, I don't get anything, I don't eat, you know, watch, this is important, and let me say, especially to the kids, if you're in here right now, kids, and you haven't checked out yet, you need to listen, you're raising

25:23

Christian homes, right, I wasn't, but you're raising a Christian home, and I see it, I see it, you see the fact that kids raised in Christian homes can get jaded, they get jaded, they just don't care anymore, they get indifferent to Christian terminology, the gospel, prayer at the dinner table or at breakfast or at lunch, just becomes something you have to do because we're a

25:43

Christian family and we love Jesus, and so Jesus is at our table, and so we say thank you to Jesus, right, like it becomes something you just do, it's just part of the thing, and so you say, well,

25:52

I gotta pray real fast, and like, you know, you shoot out a prayer to God because what, that's what Christians do, you just have to pray, it doesn't really mean anything, you're just doing it because that's what

26:02

Christians do, because that's part of our tradition, because if I didn't do this, there may be anything bad about me, maybe

26:09

I'm not very Christian, very good at being a Christian if I don't pray before my meals, or maybe I oughta pray really well.

26:15

One thing I noticed about Presbyterians when I hang out with them, Presbyterians and Baptists pray different before meals,

26:23

I don't know if you guys know this or not, am I right, Marcus? Oh, you haven't noticed, okay. Presbyterians are like, thank you

26:30

God for the food, love you, amen, right, Baptists are like, Lord, we just wanna thank you for the waitress, and all the hands that made the meal that brought it to the table, and God wanna thank you for what you did in church this morning, like, half the time,

26:44

Baptists don't even get to like to thank you for the food, but sometimes we forget to thank God for the food, we've already prayed about 50 other things, right, and everyone's mad because we're ready to eat now and we're hungry, right, okay, but prayer at the table is not something we should ever become jaded to, or be indifferent towards, because watch,

27:00

Jesus says you pray every day to the Father, give us this day our daily bread, so you recognize if you're in that kind of prayer with God that the reason

27:07

I have this food in front of me is because God gave it to me.

27:16

Now, this is a hard thought, and you gotta come, this is where like theology matters a whole lot.

27:21

Now, today, today in this room right now, not a single one of you is gonna go to bed tonight,

27:29

I don't think, hungry, and if that's the case, if you're gonna leave here today, and you're not gonna eat tonight, you come talk to us and we're gonna feed you, okay, that's my promise right now, no one's going to bed in here hungry tonight, if you need food, we're providing it, you're not gonna leave here without food, okay, so let's get that out of the way, every one of you is gonna leave here and go to bed tonight with food in your belly, and you're not gonna starve, guarantee it, okay, however, we think, give us this day our daily bread, meh, whatever, because we are so unbelievably blessed by God and loved by God, we don't even know what it means to be hungry, my kids have never experienced hunger, they think they have, and they try to make it look like they have, they go three hours between meals, and they're like, especially my son,

28:28

Sage, especially Sage, if Sage ever goes three hours without food, he's like,

28:34

I'm dying, dad, I'm dying, and he literally acts like that, like literally acts like that, it's the truth,

28:40

I wouldn't stand up here and lie to you at the pulpit, okay, if he doesn't have food for a couple hours, starving, he's dying, now, the truth is that in the world today, and we don't like to think about it because it's a raw thought, it's a painful thought, we don't want it in our minds, we're gonna go about our business, and not think about all the pain that's going on in the world around us right now, but today, in this world, there are little babies starving today that are gonna die, today, in this world, there are one -year -olds and two -year -olds and three -year -olds that are dying of starvation, without moms and dads cast out into the streets, there are people thrown into the garbage today that will die of starvation, there are people in the world, in God's world today, that are dying of starvation, nothing to drink and nothing to eat, and we think, why would

29:36

I pray for God to feed me? It's a tough thought to have, because you have to say, okay, well, wait a second, now

29:42

God is a good God, why are people starving in the world? Why does God let one -year -olds die of starvation and two -year -olds die of starvation?

29:48

That thought hurts my heart, why would God be like that? The truth is, is every single one of us deserve to die starving, because we hate

29:57

God from the womb, we run from God and his world and his universe as rebels from the start, every thought of our imagination is wicked, there is none righteous, none who does good, none who seeks after God, we're all rebels against the king from birth, we are rebels and we are sinners, if you don't believe kids are sinners, come over and babysit,

30:18

I'll show you, we're rebels, we are in a fight with God from the beginning,

30:24

God says, haters of God, enemies of God, that's our position, and so in the world today, in sin, people die of starvation, and God doesn't owe anybody anything, if you think that he does owe anybody anything, you have not contemplated your own sinfulness before God and contemplated his holiness, he owes us nothing, we are all this clay in the potter's hand, all of us deserve one thing to be cast out, but he shows mercy to people, goodness to people, love to people, every day the rain falls on the just and the unjust, the sun comes up to rise over people who are enemies of God, people today will have full bellies who are at war with God, think about that, he feeds his enemies, and in this world today, people die of starvation, in a cursed, fallen world that Jesus is wrapping up and redeeming, he's winning, people today are dying of starvation, watch, and Jesus says, you pray our

31:23

Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and so when you go at the dinner table, when you go to lunch at tonight, when you go to eat with each other or at home, that prayer,

31:42

God thank you for this food, that matters, he fed you, every detail of the universe, every molecule, every moment, every transaction, every person, every breath, every heartbeat, every single one is wielded in God's hands, and every little step and molecule and movement and growth out of the ground, moving on the truck to a restaurant, to your plate, to your belly, is from a

32:10

God who loves you, and Jesus says, you go to God with humble dependence, give us,

32:17

Father, give us this day our daily bread, give me what I need, if you don't give it,

32:24

I'm not gonna have it, so Jesus teaches us humble dependence, and what we should know about that, and here we go, is this,

32:31

God is sovereign, man, we say it a lot, don't we? We're Calvinists, right, we have to say that, right?

32:38

We're reformed, we have to say sovereignty a lot, we have to say holiness of God a lot, we have to say depravity of man a lot, we have to say these things, it's our code language, welcome to our ghetto, okay?

32:50

This is how we talk here, right? Now pause, stop letting it be just the language of a ghetto, because when

33:01

Jesus actually teaches you to pray, he teaches you to pray to your Father for what you need, which means that you recognize from the beginning of your food that the creator has control over the creation and the creatures, and he's the one that determines whether or not you will eat.

33:24

We don't like a God like that in the West, we don't like a God who's in control of whether or not you put food in your mouth, but Jesus says this, you have to pray, give us this day our daily bread, because he's the one that gives it, which means that God is the sovereign in the world over the food supply.

33:46

God's the sovereign over the trucks that brought you your food, God's the sovereign over the sun that caused it to grow out of the ground and the rain that fell on it, the water, and God's the sovereign over the hands that learn the skills and the trade to work the ground, to develop it,

34:05

God's the sovereign over the person that got the lease to put the store there, God's the sovereign over the employees that put the food out in the grocery store, he's the sovereign over every detail to get the food into your mouth, because he loves you.

34:20

So the first thing you recognize in asking God is give us this day our daily bread, is that God's the creator, you're the creature, and he's the sovereign, you come to him in humble dependence for your most basic of needs, and here's what's amazing, you gotta capture this, is that Jesus actually tells us that our

34:38

Father in heaven, our Father, he wants you to ask him, he wants you to come to him, he wants you to come and ask for what you need, he's not far off, he's saying you come to me for your food,

34:53

I wanna give you that, come to me for the food, I'll give it to you, I want you to ask me.

35:00

God is sovereign over the macro things, that's the whole story, right? I want you to see a verse for that, because we gotta have scripture with this, right?

35:07

So I want you to see Isaiah 46 .10, it is one of my favorites, I want you to try and memorize it,

35:12

Isaiah 46 .10, I want you to see it together, by the way, if you wanna see how sovereign God is, read Isaiah 40 through 46, chapter 40 to 46, read that section of scripture, but Isaiah 46 .10,

35:25

I wanna read this together, this is God, I'm gonna start in verse nine. Remember the former things of old, for I am

35:34

God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, not only is there no other

35:40

God, there is none like me. Watch, and here's how there's no other

35:46

God and none like God, watch this, this is big, and if some of you guys are thinking about what I'm thinking about, you know what

35:52

I'm talking about, this is big, right? You know what I'm saying, Dan, okay? Okay, I am God, there is no other,

35:57

I am God, there's none like me, what do you mean? Here's what he means, watch. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all, what?

36:13

My purpose, how does God distinguish himself from the false gods and the idols of the pagans in the world, how does he do it?

36:20

I'm the only God, there's none like me, and here's how, I declare the end from the beginning.

36:27

I do my purpose. These false gods, they don't control anything.

36:33

These false gods don't do a lot of talking, wood has a hard time with that. Stone, stubble, and hay can't speak, it can't be in relationship, it can't decree, it can't give any revelation, but there's more, there's more.

36:47

False gods can't control history, and God says this, I'm God, no one else,

36:53

I'm God, there's none like me, here's how, I declare the end from the beginning, my purpose stands, even, watch, to the macro things, sorry, macro things and the micro things, watch what he says, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country, watch,

37:12

I have spoken and I will bring it to pass, I have purposed it and I will do it.

37:23

How does that make you think about the birds? Stellar asked me for an airsoft gun, my first response was, you'll shoot your eye out, because I had to, okay, big

37:43

Christmas fan, forgive me. Next thing was, my fathers know how to give good gifts, as long as they are $7 .95,

37:52

and so, I got the airsoft gun, and the first thing he does, because he's a little boy, is he puts the little things in there, he wants to go shoot things, he wants to go shoot the wall, and after shooting the wall for a little bit, he realizes, okay, that's kind of boring, so maybe

38:05

I'll shoot my brother or sister, so then we have to have a talk, okay, and then you have to try to figure out, how am I gonna organize this in such a way that my children keep their eyeballs, and so, you work through that, but then you notice that your seven year old is outside, trying to figure out, what else can

38:17

I shoot, and then birds are flying over, and my wife and I had to have a discussion, before anything ever happened, a little discussion about the fact that God made these creatures, and God commands us to be good to them, and if we're gonna actually kill an animal, it has to be for a purpose, because God made these, and a righteous person takes care of their animals, that's, by the way, in the

38:39

Bible, pretty sweet stuff, right, doesn't mean you can't kill animals, kill and eat and yummy bacon, okay, but take care of your animals, and okay, so we have that discussion, and here's the thing, here's why, there's a whole theology behind, like, shooting birds, right,

38:56

God is the one who determines when these birds fall, and when they rise, he calls them from the east, we're to be good to these creatures, and we have to recognize that God sovereignly controls all detail, so Jesus says,

39:12

I want you to see it, Matthew 10, 29, go to it, back to Matthew, Matthew 10, 29, and this one is nuts,

39:33

Jesus says, are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, what?

39:46

These insignificant little sparrows sold for a penny, two sparrows sold for a penny, that's like,

39:51

Jesus is like, it's nothing, right, two sparrows sold for a penny, it's meaningless, nothing little creature, right, and Jesus says, not one, not one single sparrow falls to the ground without your father knowing it, determining it, deciding whether or not the sparrow falls to the ground, dead on its back,

40:15

God's sovereign over all that, he rules, he's sovereign over the macro things, the micro things, the creatures that fly across the world onto the ground, dead on their backs, he's sovereign, and so we come to the

40:29

Father in prayer, and we ask him, Father, give us our daily bread, it's an immediate, humble recognition of dependence upon the one who can do it.

40:41

Even the birds, he determines when they fall. And if you're thinking right now, man, that is such a big

40:47

God, and I don't get how he is that sovereign, that seems wild, and it seems kinda out of my control and out of my hands, and I don't know if I like that kind of God, and that's right, nobody does until your heart's changed.

41:01

And when you know him, and that the judge of the earth will always do right, and he is good fundamentally, always perfect and light, that's the

41:10

God you want running the universe and your food, that God.

41:16

So now, let's get to the next point, Jesus says, go back to Matthew chapter six, let's do it together, I'm gonna do, listen closely,

41:24

I'm gonna do forgive us our debts together with the next portion, together. So I'm gonna skip forgive us our debts to do it in one shot together.

41:32

So I'm gonna go right into the pray that we are not into temptation, led into temptation. Jesus says in verse 13, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

41:42

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil is yet again another recognition in the

41:49

Lord's prayer. Watch, it is yet again another recognition in the Lord's prayer,

41:55

Jesus telling you to pray it, of the full authority and sovereignty of God. You notice that,

42:00

Jesus' prayer? It's all about big God, big God, all control, all authority. Did you notice that?

42:07

Jesus' prayer about the Father is so filled with theology and richness, it's in every, at every single turn of the prayer, it's

42:17

God is in control, God is in control, God is big, God is God, I am not. Every single part of the prayer is about God's full sovereignty, did you see it?

42:26

Give us this daily bread, forgive us our debts, you, we need your forgiveness, and then what?

42:32

It's lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. What is it a recognition of? The full sovereignty of God at every turn.

42:40

Now watch, I'm gonna give you, why not, Charles Spurgeon. Morning and evening, Spurgeon's work, when he spoke on this about not being led into temptation,

42:50

I wanted you guys to hear it, I thought it was important to hear. He says, what we are taught to seek or shun in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action.

43:01

Very earnestly, therefore, should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path of obedience that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us.

43:13

We are not to enter the thicket in search of the lion. Dearly might we pay for such presumption.

43:21

This lion may cross our path or leap upon us from the thicket, but we have nothing to do with hunting him.

43:27

He that meeteth with him, even though he winneth the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the

43:33

Christian pray that he may be spared the encounter. Our Savior, who had experience of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished his disciples, pray that ye enter not into temptation.

43:47

When did he say that? The night of his betrayal. But let us do as we will, we shall be tempted, hence the prayer, deliver us from evil.

43:55

God had one Son without sin, but he has no Son without temptation.

44:01

The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, and the

44:07

Christian man is born to temptation just as certainly. We must be always on our watch against Satan because like a thief he gives no intimation of his approach.

44:20

Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan know that there are certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds may be expected.

44:32

Thus the Christian is put on a double guard by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it.

44:39

Prevention is better than cure. It is better to be so well armed that the devil will not attack you than to endure the perils of the fight.

44:50

Even though you come off a conqueror, pray this evening first that you may not be tempted, and next that if temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil one.

45:02

Spurgeon, I think, had it right there. Jesus says to pray to the Father, recognizing his full sovereignty and control of the world.

45:10

He says, pray to God, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. What is it an immediate recognition of?

45:18

One, that God restrains evil. God restrains evil.

45:27

Do you notice that in Jesus' ministry, we've talked about it before, do you notice in Jesus' ministry how many times they picked up stones to kill him?

45:34

Right? Pick up stones to kill him. They wanted to, they were after Jesus' life. They were conspiring together.

45:40

Who knows how many times? Text doesn't tell us. We have a couple examples of them conspiring against Jesus to destroy him.

45:47

They wanted him dead, and it took Judas, the son of perdition, it was predestined to be so that he would get what he wanted and turn

45:56

Jesus over. Even Judas desired to destroy

46:02

Jesus ultimately, but watch, Jesus had to give him permission. Right?

46:08

So what's Jesus do? Judas is there stealing money, he's conspiring, and Jesus has to give divine permission.

46:16

He says, what you must do, do quickly. He couldn't do it until Jesus said, you're now permitted.

46:23

And Jesus says, the son of man has to go to Jerusalem and be killed and be raised after three days, right?

46:30

But watch, they wanted to kill him before that and stone him. Many good works have I shown you from the

46:35

Father, he says in John 10. For which of these did you stone me? For thy good works we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and that thou being a man makest thyself

46:43

God. He said, I am God. Ego eimi, I am. Before Abraham was,

46:48

I am. That was serious business. Serious enough, they wanted to kill him. They knew what he was saying.

46:55

I and the Father are one. They wanted him dead, and he slips out. He gets away.

47:02

They couldn't kill him until it was the appointed time that God had predestined for his purpose to be accomplished.

47:09

So watch, our prayer before the Father is recognition of his sovereignty, even over the broken things of life, even over the temptations.

47:19

We pray what? God, don't leave me in a temptation. God, protect me from the enemy.

47:27

God, protect me from my own sin. Protect me, God, from me. You recognize immediately in this prayer that God restrains evil.

47:38

I've already talked about Dr. White once in this message. I'll do it again. He's so big on the sovereignty of God. He's taught me so much about the sovereignty of God.

47:44

He says often that one of the things we don't do a lot as Christians is thank God for his restraining of evil.

47:53

We always bicker at God when we say, well, why did you let that happen? And here's the thing, he has a purpose for all things.

47:58

All things work together for good to those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose. He takes the murder of Jesus, the most awful event in history, and he determined that, purposed that for the good of his people and the glory of Jesus, amen?

48:12

But we never thank him enough for his restraining of evil every single day, every single day, holding people back from being what they want to be.

48:25

You recognize what in God in this Lord's prayer? You recognize that God restrains evil, too, that God gives people over in judgment and in discipline.

48:35

Gotta get this, Romans 1. We say it a lot, right? Romans 118, it's one of the life verses of Apology of Church, right?

48:43

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

48:49

For that which is known about God is evident within them. We know the text, right? Everyone knows God. They don't want

48:55

God in their knowledge, so they switch God for idols. And what does it say? Therefore, God, what?

49:01

Gave them over. It's in our Bibles, that's our theology.

49:07

Like it or not, that's the God who runs the universe. He is thrice holy, he is just, and we're not.

49:14

And it says in judgment, people don't want God, so God says what? Have your sin, have it, taste it, experience it.

49:26

Now watch, if you're an unbeliever and you don't know Jesus, God giving you over to your sin is the worst thing imaginable.

49:35

When people can live lives of depravity and love their sin and they can't see it, they love it and they applaud others who do it.

49:43

When that happens, it is the worst thing ever. People think that I'm free. I'm free of the restrictions of religion and Jesus and all your dogma.

49:54

I'm free to live my life the way that I want and to be the person that I believe that I am.

50:00

People think that there's real freedom there and the truth is, they have been handed over by God to their sin.

50:07

God lets them have their temptation, he lets them have their sin,

50:13

God gave them over. That's one for the unbeliever. Two, if you're a Christian, the Bible teaches plainly that God disciplines those whom he loves.

50:22

How does he ever discipline you? There must be some sin involved, which means if there was sin involved, that means the Father did what?

50:27

Allowed you to have it. You didn't get disciplined by accident. The sin didn't enter by accident.

50:35

If you're really a child of God and you know Jesus and there's discipline, it means the Father let it happen.

50:41

He lets you have your temptation so that you could see your sin and he could show it to you and then free you.

50:48

So what is the prayer? We're to pray every day. He says, pray this, lead us not in temptation but deliver us, what?

50:56

From evil. Now freeze, I gotta answer this. There's an apologetic part to this too, right?

51:01

Because you're thinking, what? God wields temptation? Well, no.

51:09

God determines whether or not we will meet that temptation but we need to hear from God about what that looks like.

51:15

So I want you to see it because I don't want you to walk away now thinking in the wrong way about temptation. So where do you gotta go to learn about temptation in the heart?

51:22

This is like a Bible trivia right now. Where do you go to learn about temptation and the heart and sin?

51:29

James, James what? James chapter one, there you go, good job. James chapter one,

51:35

James chapter one. James, the brother of Jesus, James chapter one.

51:48

Very famous passage. James chapter one, verses 12 through 15.

52:00

Let's read this together. Look at the text I'm reading from the ESV today. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which

52:12

God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one.

52:25

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

52:32

Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

52:41

So here's how the Bible describes it. Temptation is there, it's there.

52:47

All the possibilities, name it. Pick your poison, pick your poison, what?

52:54

Is it alcohol? Is it drugs? Is it pornography? Is it inappropriate relationships?

53:03

What is it, is it stuff, is it money? Is it, what is it, is it greed? Pick your poison, pick the temptation.

53:12

Okay, now that's all temptation, it's all around you. If you go to Las Vegas, cover your kid's eyes because it's all around you just being broadcast.

53:28

Shout it at you from the magazines, from the billboards, on the television, on YouTube.

53:34

It's being broadcast and pushed in front of you. The temptation is there and what James is saying, watch, is

53:41

God himself tempts no one with evil. He doesn't dangle it in front of you and go, here it is.

53:46

Here it is, the temptation is there. We live in a fallen, sinful world. We have desires that are sinful.

53:53

Now watch, James says it works like this. Temptation is there, people are led away when their desire meets the temptation and it's the sperm and the egg scenario.

54:06

When the desire meets the temptation, they come together, it conceives and gives birth to sin.

54:15

Okay, and so what James is saying is this, ultimately, where's the problem? Where's the problem?

54:24

Me. In my heart, this is big, church, listen.

54:30

This is all about sanctification. If you get this, you will get the whole groundwork about sanctification.

54:35

If you get this, you will see so much in yourself right now. I assure you.

54:42

Temptation is outside, the desire is within. Desire meets temptation, they conceive, it gives birth to sin and ultimately death.

54:53

That's how it works, okay? Now think about it, where's your sin? What is it? You might be the kind of person that says, well,

55:00

I couldn't help it, right? Like you might have an explosive temper, all right? Anybody got that? You have an explosive outburst of wrath, you got an explosive temper.

55:08

And what's the person with the explosive temper always say each and every single time?

55:15

Well, if you, right, every time. What do you have?

55:21

You have death and sin coming out and every time there's a response, it's because if you hadn't said this, if you hadn't done that, if you would have just done this,

55:31

I wouldn't have spilled the sin. Well, that's not how it works.

55:37

Temptation is there, yes, but it doesn't give birth to sin until it actually meets the sinful desire in you so that it makes a little baby, right?

55:53

A little baby, and it comes out and it's sin. So watch, how do we deal with our sin? Is it saying what?

56:00

Is it saying this? Just remove the temptations? I assure you, you can get rid of every single temptation around you and you will find a way if it's within you to create a temptation for yourself.

56:15

The problem is within. So here's a great way to describe it. I love this. Trip said this example, so I'm borrowing it from him.

56:23

I think it's wonderful. I've maybe used it before with some of you guys. Try to gather this and we'll understand the whole scenario.

56:28

God, deliver us from temptation and evil. Keep us from it. God, guard my life.

56:34

Keep me holy, keep me pure. Please, God, give me that. It's focusing it upon me. Watch this.

56:39

James says, it conceives and gives birth. So if I took a glass of water, if I took a glass of water and it gets hit, right, and then

56:55

I look down, if you know the answer, don't shout it out loud, and I say, why is water on the ground?

57:05

In your own head, answer that. In your own head. Generally, people answer it the same way.

57:12

They answer it the same way. If you have a glass of water and it gets hit and there's water on the ground, people generally answer it same way in every place

57:20

I've ever asked the question. They say, well, because you hit the glass. But listen to how it's asked.

57:26

Why is water on the ground? Could've asked it,

57:31

I could've asked it differently. Why is milk on the ground? Why is Kool -Aid on the ground? There wasn't milk in the glass.

57:39

There wasn't Kool -Aid in the glass. Why is water on the ground? The answer is, water, what, was in the glass.

57:49

And every time, sinners, we spill stuff on the ground the first thing we look for is who hit us or what happened to get it on the ground.

58:02

But the truth is, is if the sin was on the floor, it's because the sin was first where?

58:09

Inside you. And so what we go to God for is ask him, God, please guard us, deliver us from temptation and evil.

58:17

Keep me pure, guard my life. It's focusing constantly on our own sin and our own selves, but we know from the scriptures that the only way it ever actually conceives and gives birth is if the desire is in us.

58:29

So you pray, God, protect me from the temptation, God, deliver me from it, keep me pure. God, guard my life.

58:36

And you deal, James says, with the desire. And so, watch.

58:43

When I came out of my, I don't wanna make it too biographical here, but I think it's a good example. When I was involved in drugs and alcohol for a long period of time,

58:54

God handed me over. I mean, clearly, I never would have done it before. I never would have done it. I would not have.

59:01

I mean, there were times, things that I did that were totally shameful and evil and sinful, but one of the things I was dogmatic about is

59:07

I'm not the kind of person that does drugs. I won't do it. And I had a life and a pattern of sin and went involved in a bunch of evil things and wasn't listening to God, obeying

59:16

God, and then one night, God just, he handed me over to it. He said, there you go, you can have it.

59:22

The next day, I found myself in a place where I did something that I said

59:27

I would never do and I liked it. No conviction.

59:33

And that Saturday turned into the next Saturday that turned into the next Monday and Wednesday and Saturday which then turned into a year of depravity and God gave me to it.

59:44

He let me have it until he crushed my life at the end. He brought me to repentance and he freed me from it. Now watch, this is important.

59:52

At the time, when I first came to Christ out of my alcohol and drug addiction, at the time, if you would have put me in a situation where temptation was outside of me and the opportunity was there,

01:00:05

I struggled. Why? Because though I hated my sin and I loved God, there was still within me something that was there that needed healing and help and growth.

01:00:16

I needed to experience God and to love God. It was there and so when temptation was there, it was where, it was leaning towards it.

01:00:23

I had to fight and war and I couldn't understand how I would love God so strongly one second and then want to go back to my old life and there was a war for like six months or a year.

01:00:34

You had to keep me from temptation. My wife was God's greatest tool in my life.

01:00:39

I couldn't get a gallon of milk for 10 minutes without her saying, where were you? Why did it take you so long?

01:00:47

Greatest thing in my life was my wife, tool, accountability, great, I needed that. I needed freedom from the temptation because my heart was long still for God and it, for God and it, conflicted, struggling and then

01:01:00

God purified my life and my heart and I tasted and I saw that God was good and watch, when we planted

01:01:07

Apology at church, this is crazy, I held so many drugs in my hand when we first planted this church, it was stupid.

01:01:16

It was ridiculous. I held heroin in my hands, I held marijuana in my hands,

01:01:21

I held Percocets and you name the pills, I had it in my hands. You had cocaine in my hands.

01:01:28

Weird stuff in my hands, right? People come to church, Pastor Jeff, I can't believe what I did. I went and got stuff from my dealer and I'm struggling right now.

01:01:34

I'd say, as an act of worship to God, we're gonna dump this to worship God together and we would do it like a little ceremony of like worshiping

01:01:43

God by dumping the idol. It was just an amazing experience but I remembered something amazing. One night, we still do have a policy.

01:01:52

If someone comes in, we're still a church that pursues addicts, if somebody comes in and says, hey,

01:01:57

I'm struggling right now, I made a mistake, I sinned and I have drugs and we have a policy, the elders will go together or somebody will go together to the bathroom immediately to dump it as a worship ceremony but there has to be accountability immediately, every time, don't just hand me drugs, please.

01:02:14

We have accountability, it's how we do it, we dump it together. Well, one night, nobody was there.

01:02:22

Pastor Luke had left, somebody had left. I didn't have anybody right next to me and someone came in and said, I need help.

01:02:27

I can't say, go away with your drugs and someone put into my hands like 25 ecstasy pills.

01:02:42

They were gonna have a party, 25 ecstasy pills.

01:02:47

Now, my thing when I was addicted and life of sin was ecstasy, that was my thing, ecstasy, alcohol, cocaine, you name it, but my thing was ecstasy.

01:02:58

Now, if you had given me a bag of 25 pills of ecstasy in 1999 or when

01:03:09

I had first turned to Christ, ain't no way I wouldn't have taken them.

01:03:17

I probably would have immediately, my heart still longed for it, the temptation was there but when this person handed me the pills, nothing.

01:03:27

It didn't meet a heart that was even longing for it, the temptation was there, the heart was not in it.

01:03:33

My first thought is, I don't want people to think bad of me, I don't want the church to think bad of me, I don't want to destroy, my first thought is, this will ruin my ability to communicate with God and to fellowship with God and to know

01:03:45

God. I don't want this because I want God over this. This is fake, it's a lie.

01:03:51

I know the true God, I know what true pleasure is and true joy is, I don't need it. So watch, it wasn't even a temptation.

01:03:58

Why? No heart to meet it. And so what Jesus tells us to pray in the Lord's prayer is that you ask

01:04:03

God every day for what you need, you ask him for forgiveness and watch, the third thing is what you ask him to deliver you from temptation, to guard you from it, to keep you pure but notice, watch, if the temptation enters your life, it's for a reason.

01:04:17

God is exposing something in you. Boy, I went really long here, didn't

01:04:22

I? Okay, all right, I hope you guys are okay with that. So I think we're gonna break this into another section.

01:04:30

You guys okay with that? Okay. I have a lot to say about forgiveness and so I want to.

01:04:38

So what we'll do is next Sunday, we'll do the section on forgiveness because it's big. I just couldn't help myself,

01:04:46

I'm sorry. So what do I want

01:04:51

God to teach? What do I want to know and what do I want you to know as a church? We depend upon God, humble dependence in our prayers.

01:05:03

You recognize God as the provider of the most basic things of your life for your forgiveness and for your life of sanctification.

01:05:11

God deliver us from evil, God is the sovereign. How do you come to God? This is the last thing I want to say.

01:05:18

So what? I asked myself that this week, I did. I asked myself that this week as I was praying through this.

01:05:25

I asked myself, how has this changed me at all? I have asked

01:05:31

God, like seriously, and I feel really convicted by that this week. I've asked God, how has this even changed my life?

01:05:37

And I'm still being rocked by that question today. We spend all this time in the

01:05:43

Lord's prayer, I'm studying and I'm delivering it and praying, but I'm asking the question, how has it changed my prayer life?

01:05:49

Because here's the thing, watch. If you came here and I came here to sit in God's house together with him before his throne to listen to his word, if we leave here unchanged by his word here, what are we doing?

01:06:01

Are we the hypocrites? Are we the hypocrites that Jesus confronts here in this passage before he starts telling us how to pray?

01:06:09

Are we the ones that pray just to be seen by others? Are we the ones that babble along, not recognizing who

01:06:14

God truly is? How has the Lord's prayer changed you? Has it made you more intimate with God, dependent upon God?

01:06:23

Has it given you more reverence for God? Has it changed how you view him as father?

01:06:31

Do you see how glorious it is now that you are a child of God and can go to him in prayer and that he wants to hear from you?

01:06:41

How's it changed you? Ask that question. Let's pray.

01:06:48

God, thank you for your word. Please change us, transform us.

01:06:56

God, help us to see all that we need to see in your word.

01:07:02

Change me, change us. Transform our prayer life. Draw us into intimacy with you.

01:07:10

In Jesus' name, amen. So, we're gonna come to the Lord's table now. If you have turned from your sin to trust.