Praying The Lord's Prayer

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We started off talking about God's call to come to Him in prayer. We even talked a bit at the beginning of the series about God challenging

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His people for not calling out to Him and not striving for Him.

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And it's unique and strange on a human level. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

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You don't often have people who are in hostile relationships talking about one another in that way.

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And in the context of the whole situation, us and God is that God is the Holy One and we're not.

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God is righteous and we're not. God is good. And in ourselves, we're not. In the relationship between us and God, we're the offender.

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God is the good one. He's the Holy One. We're the offender. We're the rebels. That's how the

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Bible describes us. If you have the Bible paint the picture of you and me, the picture is not that we're neutral towards God or we're kind of spiritually sick.

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We know that the Bible gives a very clear picture of our condition before God, before Jesus saves us and brings us into Himself.

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And the picture is we're enemies of God. We're by nature children of wrath. We are sinners. We are helpless. We are ungodly.

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It says we're the wicked. That's what the Bible says. It's not popular to talk that way in our culture, but that's what the

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Bible says. Jesus says in His day, we talked about this over the series, He talks to people in His day, religious people, leaders.

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And He says that you are of your father, the devil. And so Jesus actually has categories in His mind.

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He says, over here, we have a category of people who are not of God, not from God. They are of their father, the devil.

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And He has people over here that He actually opens up to them and says, here's how

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I want you to pray. You pray like this, our Father. So for Jesus, there are categories of people.

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There are people over here who don't know God, people over here that belong to God. There are children of God and there are children of, we can say it, the devil.

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There are people who don't know God and people who know Him intimately. The difference between the two, we know from the scriptures, is one word, grace.

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It's the grace of God. It's not because of you. You didn't do that. It's His doing that we're in Christ Jesus.

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And so it's this amazing and humanly speaking and comprehensible thing that God, the

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Holy One, takes people who are rebels against Him and His rule, and He draws us into relationship with Himself.

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He does everything to save us. He gets all the glory. There's no credit on our side.

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He's the one that chooses to save us, plans to save us, brings about the redemption itself.

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And then after that redemption is complete, what does God do? He actually, by His Holy Spirit, grants to people like you and me the ability to even see

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Jesus and to cling to Him. He grants us repentance and faith. And then all of that,

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God is the one who is moving. God is the one who is drawing. God is the one who is bringing

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His people out of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. And He's saving. And then in that relationship,

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God actually challenges His people. He's patient with us. He's steadfast.

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He causes us to persevere. He keeps us to the end. But in the midst of daily relationship with God, where we are the ones that are failing.

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It's not Him. It's me. He's not falling short. He's not breaking

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His promises. He's the consistent one. I'm the inconsistent one. And in this relationship, He challenges

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His people. I'm going to say in at least two ways. There are many ways we can talk about this. But in at least two ways,

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God challenges us. First way is that He actually confronts His people. And He confronts them for not calling out to Him.

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That that's actually a problem. You don't call out to me. You don't even ask for me to show up. And you don't strive for me.

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So God actually speaks to us in terms of neglect. You neglect me. You don't call out to me.

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You don't ask me. You don't believe me. You don't trust me. And so that's the one way that God challenges us.

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And another way that God challenges us, I think it's in a very personal level. He challenges us to actually believe that when we ask

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Him for something that's according to His will, that we'll receive it. Jesus says things about our relationship with the

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Father that actually should convict us. They should trouble our spirits.

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The way that we think about the Father. He says, like, which father, if his son asked for bread, he gives him a stone, right?

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And Jesus challenges the way that we actually think about God. And He says, look, ask and you'll receive. Seek and you'll find.

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Knock and the door will be open to you. And so I want to suggest to us that Jesus challenges us on prayer.

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He tells us things about prayer that I think if we're honest in our most honest moments, and we're transparent,

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I think all of us have to confess to something. There are things that Jesus says about prayer in His Word that we can acquiesce to as Christians.

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We will say, I got that checked off. I can answer the theological exam. If you give me a multiple choice,

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I'll give you the right answer. I can fill it out. I'll write the essay theologically, and I'll get the answer right.

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We believe it intellectually, but we don't actually believe it. When Jesus says that if you ask anything in His name,

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He gives it to you. We don't believe it. We don't trust Him. We don't trust God for healing.

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We don't trust God to take care of our needs. We don't actually walk in such a way that it speaks towards,

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I really believe that. We say on the one hand, I know that God takes care of my needs. But the moment there is turmoil or difficulty or circumstances look like they're out of control, we start getting anxious.

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We start getting worried. We start walking in fear. We stop talking to God. Why? Because the truth is, if we're honest, we don't actually believe

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His word. And that's a problem that God is constantly shaping us in, in our sanctification.

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He's drawing us more and more into believing that He means what He says. When He makes a promise,

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He keeps His promises. Now think for a moment now about the difference between you and God and me and God.

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We have a long and very stable and consistent track record of not being trustworthy.

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We have a long history and track record of blowing it and not getting it right and not being consistent.

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And the Bible says about God that He keeps His promises. He's the covenant keeping God. And it actually says that God's own nature is like this.

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God cannot lie. And so between us and God, He's the one that should be trusted.

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We've demonstrated over a long period of time that we're not to be trusted. We get things wrong.

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We're fallible. And so in this relationship we have with God, it ought to cause us to be humble.

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It ought to cause us to actually get on our knees. We think about the fact that God actually calls us to enter into a relationship with Him and speak to Him.

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He says, I want you to talk to me. I want you to call out to me. I want you to strive for me. I want you to tell me what your needs are.

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I know what you're going to ask for before you even bring it to my attention. I know what you need, but I want you to enter into a relationship with me and I want you to talk to me as Father.

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That's how He calls us into His presence. And He calls us to actually believe His promises, to be unwavering, to not be double -minded, to not ask with selfish motives, but to believe.

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That's what we've learned in this relationship with God concerning our prayer.

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But if you go to the text of Matthew chapter 6, as we finish up the series here, again, this could take us weeks to unpack every word of this beautiful prayer.

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But let's look at the highlights of Jesus teaching us to pray. First and foremost, as a banner over this, if Jesus teaches us to pray, we should listen.

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Because Jesus is God Himself, the second person of the Trinity. Jesus, who was in intimate relationship with the

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Father from all eternity. John chapter 1 is a text you need to emphasize.

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John 1, 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.

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Now, in the Greek, it's even better. Enarche ein halagos, kai halagos ein prostom theon.

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Prostom theon is toward God, an intimate relationship with the Father. Jesus always existed,

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John 1, 1 says. For all eternity back, as far back as you want to go, with no stopping point.

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He was already there. But then it says something different. It says He was with the

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Father. He was prostom theon. It gives the idea of face -to -face intimacy, toward, with the

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Father. So, John 1 speaks to Jesus' eternal relationship with the Father.

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So, when Jesus says, this is how you pray, you're getting the inside scoop from the person who has the most deeply intimate relationship with the

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Father. And Jesus' whole life is expressed by that. It changed James, the

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Lord's brother, who wrote James in the Bible. James was known as Leather Knees. We talked about this because of his life of prayer.

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Jesus' life of prayer had to have a dramatic impact on his brother because he was known as Leather Knees.

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He was always on his knees, believing God. And why? I suspect it's because he saw what it meant to have a life of prayer and intimacy with the

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Father. And when Jesus tells you, this is how you pray, you need to believe Him. Because Jesus, if you read in the

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New Testament record, his relationship with the Father was the kind of relationship where he's up in the morning before anybody else is.

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He takes the Psalms literally, early in the morning, my song shall rise to thee.

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Jesus does that. He gets up when it's still dark outside and he's praying and talking to the

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Father. He's talking to the Father before these amazing things. Like when he's raising

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Lazarus from the dead, he even says a prayer to the Father. He talks to him. He knows what the Father's going to do. But he says, for them,

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Father. Let them see it, God. And Jesus, in his point of most pain, in the

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Garden of Gethsemane, when he knows what's coming up ahead of him, he knows the difficulty, the pain he's about to endure.

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His body is physically responding as a human to what he knows is about to take place.

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He's still crying out to the Father. He's still dependent. He has an intimate life of prayer. And that's what Jesus calls us to.

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So when he speaks about prayer, we ought to listen. And this is what he says in Matthew 6, verse 5.

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Listen. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. Actor, pretender.

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Don't be like the actor. Don't put on a costume. Don't put on a mask. Don't pretend. So Jesus, literally in saying hypocrite, is saying, don't be like the actors.

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They're acting. They're pretending. They're doing it as a show. Don't be the actor.

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Don't be the fake. Don't be the fraud. Jesus says, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.

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What motivates them? Is it a life of intimacy with God? Is that why they're talking to God? Are you wanting to pray so that others see you pray?

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You see, it's a part of a fallen condition. We love to look spiritual. People love to look spiritual.

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They love to look connected with God. And even if they say they're not connected with God, they love to seem like they're connected with the universe, right?

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There's this deeply transcendent spiritual thing. It's almost like people wear it as a badge of honor.

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I'm a spiritual person. And Jesus says, don't be like the pretenders. Those actors, they love to stand and pray.

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Why? So that other people see them. And Jesus says, don't be like them. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

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That's painful if you think about it. How many times in our own walk with Jesus have we done things where our motivations were not pure?

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We didn't really do it because we were doing it for the person. We didn't do it because we wanted God glorified.

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We didn't do it because we love the person. We did it because we wanted to be seen by others. We did it because we wanted to be seen as spiritual.

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How often has that been a part of our own experience? See, we say to the Pharisees, I know that's the bad guy of the story, those terrible

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Pharisees. But we never do the hard work of looking at our own hearts and asking the question, how much of that Pharisee is actually in me?

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How much of the Pharisee is in me when I pray with other Christians? How much of the Pharisee is in me when

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I minister to others? How many times am I looking over my shoulder to see who's looking at me when

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I'm doing something spiritual for God? And Jesus says, don't be like the pretenders. Don't be like the actors.

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They've already received their reward. They got what they wanted. Praise for men. They got it.

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Jesus says, but when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who's in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

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Here's the point. Is Jesus saying that all prayer should be never in group settings, never in front of other people?

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Is Jesus saying when you pray, you have to always go into a dark room quietly? No. Jesus is teaching contrast here.

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There are people who love to pray publicly so that people see them as spiritual.

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So he says, the contrast is you go and do it in secret. Well, here's the point.

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Look, this is the beautiful thing about Christianity, about a relationship with Jesus. Are you ready? He's the truth.

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This is real. Do you catch that? Let me say it again. He's the truth, and this is real.

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So watch. When it comes to Christianity, there are no benefits to faking.

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There are no benefits to pretending to be spiritual. You get no points with Jesus because you're faking.

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You get no points with Jesus because you put on a good show. And why? Because this is true. This is the truth.

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Because God is who he says he is. Because Jesus is really the Messiah. Because this is a real relationship with God.

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This isn't a game. It's not a play. It's not a show. And so what you need to embrace as a

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Christian is that if you're going to have a relationship with God, let it be a meaningful, real relationship with God.

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Don't even bother with the costume. Don't bother with the mask. Take it off. It's not going to benefit you for eternity.

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It's not going to benefit you now. Jesus is saying, let it go. Take off the mask. Take off the costume and come to the

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Father. Come have a real relationship with God. Come talk to God as Father. And you're his child.

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Come cry out to the Father. Talk to him. He knows what you need before you ask. But come. He invites you.

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And Jesus says, go into your room. Shut the door. Pray to your Father who's in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

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What was that? A promise? That was one of the things I was talking about. We don't actually believe that.

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He makes so many promises about prayer that they seem so big and so grand and so impossible.

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I choose like secretly in a dark corner of my heart to not actually believe him. I'll do the

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Christian thing and say, oh yes, God answers prayer. I'll say it. But will I actually believe it?

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Probably not. Practically speaking, I live in such a ways that he doesn't keep his promises.

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That he's not really listening to me. I don't go into his presence because I don't actually believe he's listening. I don't go into his presence because I'm not so sure he's actually going to come through.

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But that's a promise. He will reward you. And then Jesus goes further. He says, and when you pray, do not heap up, listen, empty phrases as the

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Gentiles do. Jesus is speaking in terms of here are the Jews who know God. These are God's people.

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They're his chosen, his elect. The Gentiles are those who are out there in paganism and idolatry. Deep contrast.

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There it is again. Believers, unbelievers. Children of God, children of the devil, right?

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Those who know God, those who don't. Jesus says, watch, don't heap up babbling empty phrases like the

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Gentiles do. Think about it. How many books on prayer are out there? Go to your local bookstore.

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There's only like one left anyways. Barnes and Noble, right? Go in there and look at all the books on prayer, right?

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And you have Christian books on prayer, okay? And you also have like pagan books on prayer. And when you look at books on prayer, especially like the new age stuff, it's like just this woo -woo chanting.

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Repeat yourself. As a matter of fact, the idea that happens as prevalent in like Eastern mysticism is chanting.

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And what is chanting? Babbling. It's non -stop repetition of phrases. Now there's underlying worldview issues.

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They believe that like your words have creative force and power, and you can speak things into existence. But the idea is, is if you say something enough, it'll change reality.

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But they babble over and over. Nothing's changed. Nothing new under the what?

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It's the same today. Pagans are still babbling. Heaping up empty phrases. Jesus says, don't be like the pagans.

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Don't be like those who don't know God. They think they're going to be heard because they're talking to God a lot, right?

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So they think in their mind, they think, well, I have to get what I want because I'm saying a lot of things.

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It's always sad. Some of you guys have been there. If you go to the abortion mill to do ministry, one of the ministries we do is bring the gospel to the abortion mill.

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It's the ugliest, hardest ministry you could ever be a part of. It seriously is awful. Always awful, especially now, as hot as it is.

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Now it's extra. It's uber awful ministry right now as you go out there. But one of the things, though, it's heartbreaking to see.

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And at this point, I kind of ignore it because we're so busy with what we're doing there. You see a lot of the

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Roman Catholics that come throughout the year, and they'll usually kind of line up on the sidewalk, and they'll just stand in a line, and they'll walk sort of up and down the sidewalk around the abortion mill.

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And there might be at times even 20 to 30 of them just going up and down the sidewalk. And you'll see nuns sometimes and Roman Catholic priests, and you see people with signs about Mary.

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And you'll have these Roman Catholics going up and down the street in front of the abortion mill, not calling out to the women, not offering help and love and support to the women inside, not pleading for the lives of the children, just actually walking up and down the sidewalk.

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And this is what's so distressing, is they're not on the sidewalk praying to God, talking to Jesus, but they're talking to Jesus' mom, they think.

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And they're saying this prayer to Jesus' mother. And this prayer is being repeated over and over and over and over again.

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What's the prayer? Hail Mary, Mother of God. And they go on,

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Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. And they're repeating this over and over and over, and they're praying in this sense, not to God himself with meaningless repetition, but they're praying to an idol.

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And that's typical of fallen people as we repeat ourselves and we babble. And Jesus says this,

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When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

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Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask.

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It's an amazing thing. So watch, it gets you into a conflict, right? Does it? You? Jesus says, come and pray.

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Don't be like those people over there. They don't even know God. They're not believers. They think God's going to hear them because of their many words.

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Jesus says, your father already knows what you need before you ask. So there's, watch, the autonomic response, the knee -jerk reaction to Jesus saying, your father already knows what you need and what you're going to ask for.

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The first response is to say, what? Well, then why am I going to pray? Why am I entering into your presence if you already know what

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I'm going to say before I say it? That's the beauty of this intimacy with God.

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He knows everything. Has decreed everything. He decreed the moment you were going to get on your knees to cry out.

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He decreed the problem that got you into the prayer itself. And He knows what He's going to do through your prayer to get to the ends, which is

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His glory, and taking care of your needs. He knows it all. So you can say, why pray if God is sovereign?

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And the answer is, you pray because God is sovereign. Because He has ordained your prayer even as the cry to God and Him to move.

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He has ordained our prayers as the means of Him changing the world and circumstances.

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Yes, He knows all things. Yes, He's in control. He declares the end from the beginning. Yeah, He knows what you're going to ask before you do.

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But His promise is, I will take care of your needs. Come to me. Ask me. Seek.

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This is an intimate relationship of God acting in time with you and me. And so Jesus says, don't even bother with the meaningless prayers.

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Don't bother with the babble. Know that He hears you. Know that He will reward you. Take off the costume.

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Stop pretending. And come into His presence and talk to Him as Father. And then

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Jesus says this. Here's how you do it. Pray then like this.

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Our Father in Heaven. That's the opening to the prayer. Our Father in Heaven.

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And it's, I think, something that, again, if we're honest with ourselves, if we're transparent about ourselves and what we think, it's something that we are, at this point, jaded to, we're indifferent to.

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You see, we get to call Him Father so much that we forgot how glorious that actually is.

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We know God has saved us. He's washed us of all of our sins. We know that we have all these promises to hang on to.

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Maybe we're raised in a Christian home or we've had our parents our whole lives pouring the gospel over us and pointing us to God our whole lives.

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We've neglected how great a salvation this actually is. And when we hear the

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Lord's Prayer, Our Father in Heaven, it's not as majestic as it actually is, as glorious as it actually is.

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It doesn't even change me. I don't even consider anymore how powerful that is. But if you think about the fact that all of us ought to be condemned.

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All of us ought to actually face God for all of our sins. We ought to actually endure all that God has in terms of justice for us.

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But we're not gonna. Romans 8, 1, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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I'm not going to face it any longer. And so I'm indifferent towards it, that I get to call Him Father. And Jesus says, here's how you pray.

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Don't babble. Don't fake it. Let it be real. Come into His presence and say,

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Father in Heaven. What do you first do when you pray? You enter into His presence and you're first acknowledging

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God as He is. Father. Not simply as judge.

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Jesus could have said, go into His presence and pray like this. Our holy, just, wrathful judge in Heaven.

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Now watch this. Is that true? Is it true about God?

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Yes! Would it be wrong to go into God's presence and say to Him, Our holy, just, and wrathful judge?

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Would it be wrong? It's all true. It's not wrong. It's just not how

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Jesus calls us to come into prayer with Him. Jesus is identifying the nature of your relationship.

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He's not merely judge to you. He's Father. So He says, first acknowledge

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God and His height above you. He's not simply saying,

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Our Father in Heaven. Like, that's where your address is. Right? Our Father at 8295

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East Bluebird Street. Right? I'm talking to that God and not the one over there on Cherry Lane.

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Not that God. Right? It's not an address of God saying, Our Father in Heaven. Not here.

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Our Father in Heaven. Not simply location. It's talking about God's above us.

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It's His status. It's who He is. God in Heaven. Father in Heaven.

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You first come to God as Father. He's above you. You're the creature. Recognizing who

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I am before God. Enter into His presence as Father. Now, quick thing. I know some of you guys were here for, but I do have to say it again.

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It's important. And I hope it does change you. I have to emphasize that some people came to me after I said it.

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And they said, That really, really, really hit me. And that is that many of us, especially on a day like today, people are celebrating fathers today.

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Many of us have very, very, very bad fathers. Some of you guys don't know what that's like.

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You know your dad's a sinner, but you're like, My dad's awesome. My dad loved God. My dad was a great dad.

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Some of you guys don't have that experience that many of us have, where you have horrible earthly fathers that have fallen woefully short of God's standards.

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And so when you hear the word father, it doesn't ignite passion in you.

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When I say to you, You get to call him father. You're like, No, thanks. Like my earthly father was horrible.

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And so when you hear father, there's baggage with that word. There's baggage carried with that of pain, misery, distrust, suffering, inconsistency, sin.

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And so when you say, This is your father in heaven. It's like, Ew. I already know what that relationship is like.

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I had a very bad one. Here's the point. The only reason you know your father was a bad father is because you know in your heart of hearts that there is the standard out there of what the father actually is.

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God is the ultimate standard of what father is supposed to mean. And your father here on earth was supposed to be for you an image of him in your life.

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And the reason you know he's fallen so short is because you know in your heart of hearts the true standard of father.

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That's what he is. So I want to encourage you on this. If you struggle with the concept of father, you need to invest yourself for a long time in what the

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Bible says about the attributes of God. What is he actually like? How does he keep his promises?

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How he is steadfast and his mercies are new every morning. How he actually covers you and sings over you.

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How he's consistent. How he keeps his covenants. How he is never going to fail you.

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How he'll never lose you. He'll never betray you. How he keeps you first. How he demonstrates that he sacrifices for your good.

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How he gives himself up for you. That's the standard of father. And so I just want to say, as you enter into this relationship of prayer with the father, you need to recognize that he's the father that never leaves you.

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He never betrays you. He's never inconsistent. He's always there. That's who you're coming to.

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But then he says this, and this is where it gets really powerful. Go to the text. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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Now I want to get to that word there, hallowed. What? We say it often, right?

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People say it all the time. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

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Right? That's how people have said it for so long, right? In the King James Version. It's beautiful. Hallowed be thy name.

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And people have said that for so long and never stopped to ask, what is a hallowed? Right?

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What is a hallowed? People say it, right? I told you, like being at the hospital all those years, every single day,

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I would see people railing against Jesus. And at the end of the AA meeting, they would stand up and hold hands.

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And they would go, all right, time to pray. And they'd say, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

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And if you'd walk up to any of them and said, what's a hallowed? They'd have been like, no clue.

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So some sort of a light chicken gravy. I don't know. Well, I don't know what it is. Hallowed be thy name.

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The word hallowed comes from hagiadzo in the

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Greek. And the word means to make holy, to consecrate, to sanctify, to set apart.

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Say, for example, you have something very, very special in your home. And you set it apart, like up on a pillar.

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And you're like, this, this thing is sacred. This thing is holy. This thing is important.

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This thing matters. That's setting something apart. That is consecrating it. In the temple, you have things that were consecrated.

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They were set apart. They were holied in the temple. And so the word hagiadzo is to set it apart, to holy.

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Now, here's where it gets deeper. Now, listen to this. This is big time. This can change your whole perspective.

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It will make you a fighter in the world. So this is like dangerous talk right now. When Jesus says, pray for this.

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Father, hallowed be thy name. Holy be your name. This is where it gets a little bit interesting and dangerous for the church, when you start praying for these sorts of things.

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The word does not mean, I'm giving you a request.

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The way the word is in the text and in the prayer is an imperative. It's not a request.

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It's a very humble and mild way of commanding God to do something.

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Now, you have to be careful with that for a creature to command the creator to do something. But it's what it says.

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So Jesus says, our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You come into God's presence, recognizing who he is and your first instinct in prayer.

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This is important. Jesus says, your first instinct in prayer is to focus on God and his purposes.

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But in this context, Jesus says, holy your name. You're asking

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God, God, holy your name. Holy it. It sounds weird, right? Hallowed means to holy it.

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And it's asking God to do it. It's saying, do it, God. Holy your name. Say your name apart.

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In my life. In my life. So you come before God, you're saying, God, holy your name.

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God, your purposes are supreme. God, make me honor you.

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God, change my life for your glory. Make me holy, God. Because watch, if you go to God's presence and you say,

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God, holy your name. It has to start somewhere, right? Prayer changes me first.

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So what does it do to me? When you're praying, God, holy your name. It has to start with me in my life.

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What's wrong in my heart? What's broken in me as a father, as a husband? What's broken in me as a pastor?

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What's broken? God, holy your name in me. It has to start with me, God. But then we move another level.

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You're asking God to holy his name. It's a command. God, do it. In the world,

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God, do it. So where does it go next? Well, it has to go to my family. If I'm praying this prayer to God, to holy his name, to set it apart, to consecrate it, it has to start with me and then my family.

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There's an old saying and it says, and I love it. I think it's true. It's powerful. It's this, as goes the person, so goes the family.

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As goes the family, so goes the church. As goes the church, so goes the world.

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That's a powerful way to think about it. But this prayer, you enter into God's presence with. Jesus says this, Father, holy your name.

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That's a dangerous prayer. And it's a prayer, I think, that most of us, though we say the

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Lord's prayer as, quote unquote, evangelical Christians in the West, though we say the prayer, we don't believe that it has legs, that it'll actually happen.

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We act like the Lord's prayer here is wishful thinking. But Jesus says, I want you to ask the

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Father to holy his name. Where? Here, in my home, in my community, in my state, in my nation.

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God, holy your name in Ireland. Let it be set apart and holied in all of Ireland.

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We ought to watch the news and be thinking in terms of, God, set your name apart in this context.

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When we watch the news, we shouldn't see collapse and say, oh well, I guess I'll retreat. Jesus didn't tell you to pray for retreat.

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Jesus said a prayer that was a victorious prayer. He says, you pray like this, holy your name.

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God, holy your name here. We ought to be praying constantly for God's purposes.

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God's name to be set apart and consecrated in all of life. Don't forget this, it's not a request.

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Jesus doesn't say, go into the presence of the Father and suggest to the Father that he holy his name.

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He actually says, you go into the Father's presence and you're giving God an imperative.

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God, do it. Do it, God. Holy your name. I think that's powerful.

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Then Jesus says, your kingdom come, your will be done. There is no way I can do justice to this in today's message, particularly because I want to be better with time.

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But let me just point to something powerful about this. Jesus emphasizes in our prayer life the kingdom of God, the rule of God.

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And it is something we have missed in the Christian culture of the West. The rule of the

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Messiah, the word there in the Greek, the basilea, the rule, the reign of God.

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The kingdom of God is a central focus of the entire Bible. Ancient Jewish eschatology and New Testament eschatology points towards the rule of the

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Messiah. And notice how Jesus says to pray. You enter into God's presence and you say,

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God, your purposes, your name be holy. God, your rule, come.

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Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The whole prayer starts

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God focused. God focused, your purposes, your ways, your kingdom, your will, your rule.

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Jesus says, go in like that. How do your prayers start? Jesus says, they start with God.

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They start with God. All of our prayers ought to be saturated in the things of God and about God.

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It's worshipful. But I want to point you to the central theme here. Jesus has God's name holy.

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His kingdom come. His will is done here on earth as it is in heaven. First thing to note.

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We missed that today. We're so impacted by dualism with a hint of gnosticism in the church today.

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We've lost sight of the biblical worldview. We think that heaven is good. Spiritual existence is the better.

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Earth is bad. The physical world needs to be abandoned and just blown up. But a biblical worldview says

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God created all this and he called it good. And Jesus is redeeming it. And so Jesus says this.

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You pray that God's name is holy to everywhere. And you pray that his rule comes. And you pray that his will is done here, here on earth as it is in heaven.

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Think for a moment now about what Jesus says about what he's going to do in the world. I want you to go quickly to these texts.

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First John 3 .8. First John 3 .8. Go to the right. First John 3 .8.

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Here's the text. It says this. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

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For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Listen. The reason the son of God appeared.

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Stop. Here's the reason. Divinely inspired. This is the reason

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Jesus came. Was to destroy the works of the devil.

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So you think about the New Testament telling us about like what's the purpose of all of this Jesus coming, salvation, what he's doing in the world.

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It says the reason the son of God came was to destroy the works of the devil. Now think about how the

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Bible tells you to pray. That God's name would be consecrated. That his rule would come. That his will would be done right here on this dirt like it is in heaven.

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And his purpose is to destroy the works of the devil. How do you face the world now?

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Jesus says you pray victorious prayers of God winning back the world. That God's name would be holy in every circumstance.

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That his rule would be over everything. And that his will would be done everywhere like it is in heaven. Because the son of God's purpose.

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The reason he came was to destroy the works of the devil. And look around you. Look around us.

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Where are the works of the devil? You see him everywhere. And if you think about the message of Jesus.

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The reason the son of God came was to destroy it all. People ask us sometimes, they say, why do you as a church get involved in the kinds of things that you do?

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Why do you do that? Why do you do those kinds of aggressive, dangerous missions?

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Why would you do it? Do you guys just have sort of a mental problem?

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Are you crazy? Like why do you do the sorts of things that you do? And my fundamental, I can give lots of reasons biblically.

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And I would love to do that. But I think a short answer is this. Why do we get engaged in the kinds of things that we do?

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Why do we have apology or radio with a teaching arm going around the world? Trying to shape culture and change things.

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Why do we have a studio popping out evangelism in every area that we can?

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Why do we go out to the Mormon temple? Why do we go to the streets? Why do we go and try to end abortion in our culture? Here's my short answer.

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Because we pray the Lord's prayer and we mean it. Why are we going to Kauai to plant a church to win the entire island?

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Because we pray the Lord's prayer and we believe it. We see, here's the thing. I believe that the

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Lord's prayer is not merely wishful thinking. It's not merely wishful thinking.

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You see, watch this. I believe the Lord's prayer gives you the passion for the mandate.

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And what's the mandate? Matthew 28, 18 through 20. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey. And the

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Lord's prayer gives you that passion. And you're constantly reminded of God's purposes in the world. Think for a moment about Colossians chapter 1.

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Go to the text quickly. Colossians 1, 15 through 20. Another example of this as the theme of history.

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Colossians chapter 1, verse 15. I'll start there. Watch. Some of you guys know it. It's powerful. He is the image,

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Jesus, of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation. For by him, this is

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Jesus now. All things were created in heaven and on earth. Visible and invisible.

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Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him.

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And he is before all things. And in him, all things hold together.

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He holds everything together. Right now, Jesus holding the molecules together in your body. Right now,

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Jesus causing your heart to pump. Right now. Right now, Jesus holding every galaxy into its position.

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Right now, Jesus holding Saturn in its orbit. Right now, Jesus holding the moon just far enough away from the earth.

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Right now, Jesus causing the sun to burn. Holding everything together.

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And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. That in everything, he might be preeminent.

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Stop. We do it all the time. We get mellow -headed.

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And here is a place to not be mellow -headed. That in everything, he might be preeminent.

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In what things? Spiritual things, right? In the church, Jesus is preeminent. It says, in everything, he might be preeminent.

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For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him, to reconcile to himself all things.

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What things? All things. Whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.

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What is Jesus reconciling to himself? What? Come on now.

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All things. Where? Heaven, right? Spiritual things, right?

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That's what Jesus is concerned with. Just the heavenly things. It says, Jesus is reconciling all things to himself, whether in heaven or on earth.

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How's that for facing the world? That's the purpose of God in Jesus Christ.

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To destroy the works of the devil. To reconcile all things to himself in Jesus Christ, on earth and in heaven.

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And how does Jesus tell us to pray? He says, you pray like this. I believe it. Father, holy your name.

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God, bring your rule and reign. God, that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's the purpose.

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That's where we're going. And Jesus says, pray for it. And finally, we're going to go quickly here because we did spend time on this over the last couple weeks.

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So I'll just touch it. Now the prayer switches.

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First, it's God. So how do you enter God's presence? First, it's about him. First, it's worship.

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First, it's focused on his purposes, his will. And then it says, give us, give us this day our daily bread.

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Now you're coming to God and you're saying, God, take care of my needs. God, please provide for me.

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You're saying, I'm letting it made known to you, God. This is my request.

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So you come to God after it's time before him, God -centered. Now it's actually coming to me.

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So watch this. People struggle with this. People say, I feel awkward coming to God and just praying for my stuff.

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I almost feel selfish, right? I feel selfish. I should be praying about other people. I should just be praying about God.

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Jesus says, don't do that. No, you come to his presence and you stay God -focused. And then you come to God and you make your request known to God.

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God, give me this day what I need. God, give me this day my daily bread. Now notice where it switches right away.

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It immediately goes towards focusing in upon forgiveness. But not watch forgiveness simply the one

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I need. Saying, God, forgive me. It's me, God. I need forgiveness. Focus on me.

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Jesus expects us to come into God's presence asking for forgiveness with a knowledge that we are forgiving others' debts along the way.

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We cannot, brothers and sisters, this is critically important because we miss it as Christians constantly. We abuse

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Christians constantly on social media, in the public. We destroy one another.

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We act like Jesus isn't concerned with the church having peace and unity. Today in the 21st century, it is awful.

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We slaughter each other. And Jesus says, you pray,

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Father, forgive me as I forgive others. There's a direct correlation between, watch, my being forgiven and my forgiving others.

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Don't forget, Jesus gives you the powerful story of the unmerciful servant. This one who owed this debt he could never repay to a master.

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And then he goes and he chokes a fellow slave for owing like pennies. And the point of the story is to shock you.

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How could you do such a thing? How could you be forgiven a debt you can never repay? And you go choking somebody else.

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So Jesus says, you come into his presence. Father, take care of my needs. God, forgive me. Lord, I release people.

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I'm releasing them, Lord. I forgive them. And Jesus actually says, you know the text, right?

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If you have something against your brother and you're going to offer a gift to God, you're going to give something to God.

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You're going to go do something powerful for God. You're going to go invest in a ministry for God. You're going to do all these amazing things for God.

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Jesus says, first, leave your gift at the altar and go be reconciled. First, Jesus teaches us that there's a direct connection between our relationship with one another and our relationship with God.

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Don't come into his presence pretending and being an actor before God, asking for his forgiveness when you will not forgive people around you.

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Here's the point. Forgiving people, forgive. And so you're reminded daily when you come into your prayer with God, God, I've got business to do with this person,

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Lord. Let there be peace. Now, sometimes there's no way to bring peace. Some people don't want peace. Sometimes you'll try to have a relationship with somebody and offer forgiveness or bring peace and they won't let it happen.

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But as far as it depends upon you, live at peace with one another. And if it's up to you to forgive, then you must forgive.

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And our prayer before the Lord and the Lord's prayer always reminds us, we must forgive others to expect forgiveness from the

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Father. We can't have a higher standard of forgiveness for ourselves than the

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God of the universe has. Saying, I'm not really ready to forgive them yet, but God, you forgive me.

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It's madness. And final thing, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

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There's always the reminder when we pray that God is sovereign over our circumstances. And you're asking

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God, he tells you to ask for it, pray for it. God, protect me from evil.

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God, deliver me. God, don't lead us into temptation and trial.

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God, preserve us. God, you're sovereign over it. It's an acknowledgement at the end of your prayer that the

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Father is actually the sovereign. And you're requesting of God that he protect your circumstances, that he protect your life.

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It's dependence upon God for his providence that he would protect.

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It's perfectly acceptable to ask God to preserve your family, to preserve your life, to preserve your circumstances.

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For God to protect you from sin, to protect you from evil. Hey, you know what's a good prayer to pray? Father, protect me from my own sin.

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Protect me from myself. Protect me from my own heart, God. Deal with my heart.

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Protect me from me, God. You see, you're focusing in your prayer upon God guarding your heart and life from evil.

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That's a prayer that sanctifies you. So the Lord's Prayer is this beautiful introduction to prayer.

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Is it supposed to be a prayer you simply memorize and pop off to God and all of a sudden he's going to hear you because it's a magical prayer?

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Jesus just denied that, right? People do that, right, with the Lord's Prayer? It says, don't babble, no meaningless words.

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And then we start repeating the Lord's Prayer, doing what with it? Babbling meaningless words and phrases.

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Here's the point. Jesus is teaching you how to enter into the Father's presence. And so brothers and sisters, let's do it.

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Let's change the way that we focus on prayer in our lives. Let's change in terms of how we view prayer as important.