Antidote to Anxiety — Varghese Chacko

Good evening and a blessed new year to each one of you. I am pretty glad to be here this evening especially to see many familiar faces, some of the youngsters whom I have recently got introduced to. I am glad to be here this evening.

I have come to Borivali Assembly many years back as a bachelor when I was in fellowship with Fort Assembly, living in Santa Cruz. That was many, many years back. I remember coming to Borivali Assembly and taking a couple of Bible classes during your weekly meetings.

Very glad we are back here, especially with this loving home, Brother Koshi's ministry that we have enjoyed in Fort. I still remember those days that we used to have the Bible classes after he completed his lecture in the college and used to come out there and used to enjoy those days.

Anxiety and the Temptation to Be Ruled by Worry

I was just thinking what's in our mind when the clock ticked 12 o 'clock yesterday or today or middle of the day. What was that? Anxiety? What's that holding on to us? That Malayalam song that sung I think echoes the feeling.

A man who is worried and looking at the future, wondering what's going to happen and that man is singing and trying to get consolation or confidence in the Lord and he is lifting his eyes up. Isn't it?

That's what it is, right? Why am I worried with so much of thoughts, the thoughts of agonizing thoughts? My Lord knows all my future, so I don't need to get worried. That's what the song is, isn't it?

Beautifully echoing what goes through our mind. Anxiety is something all of us experience. It's not something abnormal. It's something very normal. Every human being has anxiety. In fact, anxiety is a part of, I would say, the construct God has given to the mankind in situations like a dangerous situation.

Suddenly you get anxious and the flight or fight syndrome comes up, right? That I should fight this situation or I should fly away from this situation. That brings in the adrenaline, gets pumped up and the physical, all the health, I mean, we get health from nowhere and you know, the courage from nowhere and suddenly we act something which we would never think we would have done before.

That's a part of the construct, the way God has created and that's wonderful. But the point is, when it goes beyond that, when it goes beyond what God intended it to be, that's where the trouble is. Anxiety could become the ruler of our life.

We could become a slave in the kingdom of anxiety and that's where Satan would work in a believer's life. He wants to thwart the kingdom of the Lord. He never likes the kingdom of the Lord. So instead of we being focused on to the kingdom of the Lord, it is easy for him to work through this route, to put anxiety, fill our lives and we getting led by anxiety.

Our actions get led by anxiety. Our thoughts get filled with anxiety. Our thinking and our behavior and our relationship with others gets affected with anxiety. We become slaves to the kingdom of anxiety.

How sad that would be and that happens to the world too. If you look into any journals on mental health, you would see that the most common disorders that you see around is causing through the mental anxiety.

What would happen to that anxiety? Sometimes it goes to a level of compulsive disorders. Sometimes it stops at much below levels. You see them in a home. It's a normal scene sometimes. The first child when suddenly sees a second child born, develops a habit of sucking the thumb.

Have you seen that? Most of the child doctors would tell you that comes out of the anxiety of whether I'm losing the primary spot in the home. That's what the doctors would tell you. Sometimes people get anxious and keep rubbing their nose all around.

You keep seeing all these kinds of mannerisms. Anxiety takes over in many different forms. Some people are anxious about heights. Some people are anxious about cockroaches. Some people are anxious about different things.

Well, what am I trying to tell? What I'm trying to tell is to let us know what is leading us. What is ruling us. As we look forward to 2011, what's in our mind? Some young people would be wondering, I wonder whether I'll ever get married.

If I get married, will I get the right person? Oh, I wonder. Will I ever pass my exam? This looks very tough. Some people will be very anxious in this recessionary trend as it is there across the world.

Will I lose my job? I'm anxious every day morning. Am I going to retain my job or it's going to shut the shop? What's going to happen? What's going to happen to my home? What's going to happen to my children?

What's the future? I don't know. Anxious. Well, the Lord Jesus wants to handle this. He knows what we are going through. He started that at the beginning of his ministry. Right at the beginning of the ministry in Matthew 6, we see that he's handling that.

And towards the end of the ministry also he is handling that. That we see in Luke chapter 12. Very parallel passages. Very, very identical passages. But happening one at the beginning of the ministry, one at towards the end of the ministry.

And in between you see at least 12 times he's referring through this anxiety, the fear, the worries of the future and how to handle it. We will be this evening trusting upon the Lord, looking forward for the first passage written that he has handled at the beginning of his ministry.

Jesus' Command Not to Be Anxious

Would you turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. The portion that we intend to consider is verses from 25 to 34. Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 to 34. Now as we are reading, let's understand the construct of the passage.

The first verse 25 is starting with a negative commandment. Can we read that? Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life. What ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on, is not the life more than the food and the body than the raiment.

So that's a kind of negative commandment, isn't it? Do not, be not anxious for things of this kind. Agam, we are looking at Matthew chapter 6 verse 25. So this is a negative commandment. Be not anxious.

Alright? Then you turn to verse 33 and 34. There is a positive commandment out there. Verses 33 and 34 of Matthew chapter 6. A positive commandment. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

Be not therefore anxious for the morrow, for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. So it began with a positive, it started with a negative commandment, be not.

And then it ends with a positive commandment, be seeking. So these are the two basic commandments that we see which are complementary. One, be not anxious at the beginning and then towards the end, a positive commandment, be seeking the kingdom of God.

The Birds, the Lilies, and the Gentiles

In between these two commandments, one the positive and one the negative, in between these two commandments, Jesus is picking up three examples. What are they? Verses 26 and 27, we have the first example.

What is that? Verses 26 and 27 of Matthew chapter 6. Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. And your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?

And which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit unto his stature? He's talking about birds as an example. So that's the first example. Then he brings in the second example. That is in verse 28, 29 and 30.

The second example, what's that? What's that? Lilies, yes. And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today he eats, and tomorrow he is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? So first he talked about birds as an example.

Then he talks about lilies of the field. And thirdly, there is a negative example. That's in verses 31 and 32. That's about Gentiles. What is he talking about there? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat?

Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. We have made a little round of the whole passage out here.

In a mechanical terms, we have just put the nuts and bolts out to understand how the passage is structured. This is what Jesus is doing. And first he started off with a negative commandment to say, Be not anxious.

At the end he is concluding, Instead of being anxious, you seek the kingdom of God. And in between, to construct the logic, he brought in three examples there. First of the birds of the field, birds of the air, and then lilies of the field, and then the Gentiles that they can see around their nation.

What is he trying to do? What's the logic out of the whole thing? How is he making? I mean, what's he trying to say? Well, this is how he's doing. Jesus starts off saying, Be not anxious. Instead of being anxious, what you should do?

You should be seeking God's kingdom. Okay, what's the relation between that? That we will see very shortly. But to show that, he is giving three examples. Look at the birds, look at the lilies, look at the Gentiles on the negative sense.

And what is he saying? Each of these examples ends up with one statement about God. Did you notice that? Each of these statements, each of these examples will have something about God that he is showing.

Have a close look at that. The first example, verse 26 of the birds, the verse ends like this, And your heavenly Father feedeth them. About the lilies, look at verse 28. And comes to verse 30, when it concludes, it says, But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, so God clothes the grass.

And then comes about the Gentiles. And then he comes about a conclusion. They're also talking about Lord. What is he talking? Verse 32, Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

So he is not talking about simply about some birds or lilies or Gentiles and, you know, making a nice story around so that attention span is captured. That's not the idea. The idea is to pick up these examples and lift their eyes upon to the Lord.

Why? Worries or anxiety is looking inward or downward. To combat that, to counter that, you have to look upward to the Lord, the Lord who feedeth the birds, the Lord who clothes the grass, the Lord who is much, much greater than what Gentiles can think of.

Our loving heavenly Father who provides for you, who knows you. That's what Jesus is trying to do. He's trying to let us know that anxiety is nothing but looking downward. Instead of looking downward, oh, dear brothers and sisters, look upward to the Lord.

Look at the birds. Look at the lilies. Look at those Gentiles around you, what they do. And look at the Lord Jesus. Look at the Lord of the Lord of heavens and the Lord of all creatures. Look upward and get out of the worries.

That's what he's trying to do. Now we're going to go a little more deeper into that examples and try to understand what in each of those things holds for us this evening. Let's come to the first example.

The Birds Show God's Goodness and Provision

Verses 26 and 27. Verses 26 and 27, would you like to read for me? Anyone? Verses 26 and 27, Matthew chapter 6. Thank you. He's talking about birds now. I'm just imagining as the Lord speaks about birds, those of you who has read through it, or some of Uncle Koshy, I think has gone to Israel.

Many times or one time? No, you're not gone? Okay. All right. I just saw this, so I thought you're gone. All right. So now this place on earth, even today, is the hotspot of bird migration. It says, I read it somewhere, that the most number of Israeli pilots died because of bird crash than they have ever died on battles.

So much of birds migrate because of the geographical situation as it is. If you go back to Revelation, which is Uncle's interesting subject, where you see at the time of the great battle, you see the birds come.

You go to that land and still you can see that bird migration. And that's what most of the commentators say. So it's a place of bird migration. So as Jesus is talking about, he must have been looking at around the birds that is going all around there, all around there, birds, plenty of them.

So easy to talk about that. And he says, look at the birds. What is he saying? Look at the birds and what they're seeing? They sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. What does it mean? What's he trying to say?

Hey, birds does nothing. So you go around partying. What's the big deal? Why are you going to work? Do whatever you want. You have enough and more. Go have fun. Is that what he's saying? No, that's not what he's saying.

Birds are not lazy, are they? Have you seen any birds going into having a sun bath in a beach or something like that? No, no, no. If you see that, that's dead. Dead bird. Birds are relentless, all the time working.

They pick up something, they fight for the food, they fight for the grains, they go all around. If they have nothing else, they just fly around or keep looking all around. You should watch a bird. It's relentless.

Every day morning, it gets up and go to work. Monday morning, we all have a Monday morning blue, isn't it? Birds don't have a Monday morning blue. They wake up, they start off just like that. Next day morning, they wake up, they go.

Then what is Jesus talking about here? Why is he showing birds and talking about this? Oh, while they are working for their food, while they go hunt for their food, while they go all around search for their food, they are not anxious whether they will find it.

Why? Why? Your Heavenly Father is there. Verse 26, Your Heavenly Father feedeth them. That's what he is trying to say. Your Heavenly Father feeds them. A bird, Monday morning, doesn't get anxious about what am I going to do now.

It looks like a major recession happening in US. And what am I going to do? I have been having, my neighborhood has a lot of grains and now what's going to happen? No, the bird is not worried. He just goes up and it knows there is a Heavenly Father who has kept what it requires for that day.

That's it. Look at the birds and learn you man or you of little faith that there is a Heavenly Father who feeds. The first lesson that we learn out there is our God is good. Our God is a good God. He feeds even the birds out there whom we don't count.

In Thane where we live, you have hundreds and thousands of pigeons out there. You get tired seeing the pigeons. But I was just thinking the other day that the Lord is not tired of them. He feeds each one of them.

So many of them, thousands of them. Maybe some funny guy who is carrying his bag full of grains and feeding them. But if he doesn't come there, I think they are not going to die out there. God is feeding them week after week, day after day, month after month, year after year.

He feeds them till the day they are appointed to be on earth. What a good God that we have. Psalms 52 verse 1. What would you read? Psalms 52 verse 1. The goodness of God endureth continuously. Psalms 119 verse 68.

Thou art good and do us good. Psalms 145 verse 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his work. One word perhaps you can turn and have a look which has really struck me in this connection.

Psalms 145 verse 14 and 15. Psalms 145 verse 14 and 15. The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all. Hey, look at that verse. The eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season.

What a good Lord that we have. How good is the Lord that we adore. God is good all the time. Whatever be the time that we are in. Maybe in a time of recession. Maybe in a time we don't know what the future holds for us.

Maybe in a time that we are thinking that everything looks dark. If there is no sunshine all around my life. I am sick. I am not well or things are not happening the way I wanted it. Things are not looking so prosperous like my neighbors or people in the assembly or whoever that I am comparing myself with.

But let it be known to you my brother. Let it be known to you my dear sister. God is good. If you have any doubt, just open your window. Look at the birds. Your heavenly father feedeth them. The writer of the scripture said, there is no one so far has seen a son of righteous begging for bread.

You will never see that. You will never see that. Our God is good. So the Lord is picking up the first example and telling us. Be not anxious. Look at the king of this kingdom. Seek his kingdom who is good.

Bible presents a God who is good essentially. And a good God can only produce good things in life. He can't produce anything evil. God cannot produce evil. Sometimes somebody would say then, hey, how come then God created hell?

Well, even hell is God's goodness symbol. How can that be? If not for hell, human beings wouldn't have sought God at all. Once he saw the danger of hell created out there, kept the eternal hell fire that has been created.

Man has an opportunity to prevent himself from getting into that consequence. That also shows God's goodness. God is good. All that he does is good. All his dealings are good. All his purposes are good.

All his thoughts for you and I are good, my brothers and sisters. Let that encourage us this evening. Let that be our guiding light for the year ahead. Be not anxious. Seek after the kingdom of God where the king is good.

And I need not to worry. He has promised me to feed me. Come to the second example. Lilies of the field. Verses 28. We read that portion. Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin.

The Lilies Display God's Faithfulness and Bountifulness

And then he goes on to compare that with something amazing. Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And then he points on to the Lord. What is he? God that so clothed the grass of the field.

So means how? So beautifully, so faithfully, so bountifully he is doing that. You see, if you are given a chance, it's not going to happen. But then if you are given a chance to become something else other than a human being, I'm sure you will not look at those grass at that corner and say, I would like to have a being a grass at that corner.

Will you? I mean, I don't think anybody wants to become a grass. It's something that you don't count as much. It's nice. I mean, if you see that, but then beyond that, you don't want to become one of that.

But you have a God who clothed them faithfully. Grass comes up and withers. The next set comes up. It's also beautifully grown. The next set comes. Oh, even that is glorifully, it's so beautifully clothed.

Faithful God that we have here. Ages after ages, you look at those grass. Oh, those lilies in the field. They are so beautifully clothed by the Lord. He is faithful. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9. Would you turn with me to that?

Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God. What's he talking about him? The faithful God. The faithful God. Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 13. We are told, even if we believe not, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful.

A faithful God. Isaiah chapter 11 verse 5. We are told that faithfulness is a girdle of him. Faithfulness, the girdle of his reins. Isaiah 11 verse 5. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22 and 23. We read, great is thy faithfulness.

Day after day, it was new every morning. No wonder Paul, when he wrote his last letter in second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12, he has to say that. For I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed.

He is a faithful God. The hymn writer says this. How good is the Lord we adore. How faithful, unchangeable friend. His grace is as great as his power and knows neither measure nor end. God is a faithful God.

So Jesus is looking, asking the disciples and the people to look into the field. Look at those lilies. They are so beautifully and faithfully adorned year after year. Why? One set is gone, the next set comes.

So he tells the people who are listening to him. My dear brothers, my dear sisters, God is faithful. Whether you feel it or not. Whether temporarily you are experiencing it or not. Let it be known to you.

God is faithful. He will fulfill his promise. You just seek his kingdom. You just seek his will in your life and your family's life. He is faithful to fulfill the desires of your heart. He has taken it up and Apostle Paul lived all his life with that faith and towards the end, when he was about to write his last letter to Timothy, he is telling these words to Timothy.

Hey, I know whom I believe. I know he is faithful to hold that which I have committed unto him. What a gracious, what a faithful God that we have. It's not like the friends that we have around who are there today and tomorrow they may not be.

The best of friends might leave us, but we have a faithful God and hence we need not to be anxious. Another thought in there is not only he is faithful, look at the lilies and the beauty of those lilies.

He is so bountiful. He has lavished his glory on those little lilies, which we don't even consider. Isn't it? That's what it says, is it? Jesus is comparing the lavishness of that glory with the greatest of greatest glorious king in human history, Solomon.

And he says, Solomon in his greatest glory was nowhere near to these little lilies. Look at that man. Amazing. God is bountiful when he blesses you. God is not just, okay, okay, I know you. So I'll give you some little stuff to survive.

I know sometimes we say, how are you all surviving? God is not just let you survive. He is going to bless us bountifully if we seek his kingdom. Look at those verses, 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9.

We are told 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9. Look at the words that's been there. It's written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

You can't even imagine. You're not seeing it. You can't even think of it. It's amazing things that he has prepared for you. When he talks about his grace, what is he using? Ephesians chapter 2 verse 7.

You remember that verse? Ephesians chapter 2 verse 7. Exceeding riches of his grace. Simply saying grace itself is big, isn't it? But he will not let you stop with that simple grace. He is talking about exceeding riches of grace.

What a bountiful God that we have. When he is talking about life, John chapter 3 verse 16. Everlasting life, isn't it? I'll give you quite a long life. No, no, no. Everlasting life. When he has to talk about love, Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3.

Everlasting love. Look at the bountifulness of the Lord. John chapter 10 and verse 10. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly. No, more abundantly. That's in your Bible.

Not just abundantly. More abundantly. I still remember one of the early missionaries to Tamil Nadu from Indian side. One brother, M .H. Aryan. Most of you would have heard of him. He has exposed that verse in a very interesting way.

He has once said, talking about this verse. He said, you go to a hospital. There is an old man sitting there, lying there. 70 year old, 75 year old. Barely able to stand up. And tired, sick and he is there.

And a nurse also comes up and pounds up. Uncle, how are you? How are you doing this morning? Looking good. And their uncle M .H. Aryan then said, I still remember that as a child I am hearing this example.

He said, look, both of them have life. The old man has it barely. But the nurse, the young girl has it abundantly. Isn't it? Well, how is your life? How is your spiritual life? Barely living. Or is it more abundantly?

God is a God of bountifulness. He gives us beyond that we can think. Provided you are willing to accept it. Provided you are willing to take with both your hands the Lord's will for your life. He is willing to give it more abundantly.

The eyes have not seen. The ears have not heard. Or you have never even thought about it. What a God that we have. A God who is bountiful. There is a nice song in the Sunday school that we sing. Look at the lilies.

You will know God is faithful. You will know God is bountiful. Look at the birds. You know God is so good. Isn't it? So, the Lord says, do not be anxious. Seek His kingdom who is good. Seek His kingdom who is faithful.

Seek His kingdom who is bountiful. Don't simply sit and sulk. That's what Jesus is saying in our language. Come to the last example that Jesus is bringing here. Verse 31 and 32. Be not therefore anxious.

The Gentiles and the Difference a Heavenly Father Makes

Verse 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek? That's a negative example. Isn't it? He is talking about don't be like Gentiles. Don't be like them. They seek all these things. Why do they seek all these things?

Of course, food. If you don't have the best foods possible or in our Indian language, if you have not eaten the dumb biryanis and the choicest of all the food, you will lose great pleasure. Isn't it? I feel sorry for many of the vegetarians.

They have not seen what the other side of the world is. So, you will lose a lot of things. That's very important for a Gentile sense. Isn't it? I mean, if you don't have all the pleasures, that's a big thing.

I am not able to eat it. Oh my, that's a big thing. The world can fall down on your head. Dress. Yeah, Gentiles do miss the dress. Isn't it? You know, the best of dress if you can't wear, you will miss a few glances of people appreciating you.

You think that they are appreciating you. So, you know, for them it's a very big thing. I mean, the best of clothing I have to have, the best of line, designer wear. Oh, it's a big thing. Man, that's important.

Life. If I don't do my exercises, I don't have the proper food and vitamin and enough clothing for warming, my life will be shorter and that's tragic, impossible. How can it be? These are the stuff Gentiles are seeking.

Yeah, naturally so. Why? Jesus is not blaming them. Naturally so. Why? They don't have a father who knows the future. They don't have a father who can tell them that I will give you the food all your life.

Don't worry man. They don't have a father who can tell them I will clothe you man. You don't worry. They don't have a father who can tell you I will give you life eternal. Oh, they don't have a father.

That's what he is saying. Look at verse 32. Your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Gentiles have to get worried about a rainy day that might come at any point of time in life.

And he has to hoard funds. He has to keep load of things. He has to have bonds. He has to get worried and anxious about the whole thing. But you have a heavenly father who knows your need. He knows. We have a God who is all-knowing, omniscient God.

An all-knowing God. We read that in a few verses. In Daniel chapter 2 verse 22. He knoweth what is in the darkness. He knows what is in the darkness. He knows what is in the darkness. In the whole future looks dark to you.

You are not able to visualize what it is. He knows what is in the darkness. Psalms 139 verse 2 and 4. Thou knowest my down sitting and my uprising. And thou knowest my thoughts from far off. Oh what a God he is.

He knows not only the darkest of darkest things around me of future of past or present. He knows my sitting down. He knows my standing up. He knows oh my thoughts from far off. What a God that we have.

Isn't it that why Job the servant of the Lord. He landed up in a situation where he just not able to understand. He landed up in a situation where he couldn't comprehend. Why all these things happening to me?

I haven't done anything wrong in my mind. I have lived a righteous life. Why all these things happening to me? My children are affected. My health is affected. My finance is affected. My prestige is affected.

My standing in society affected. Why even my wife is now rejecting me. What a situation he landed up. But you know what Job said. You want to see that amazing verse. Job 23 verse 10. He is looking into this God.

What is that? Job 23 verse 10. What is he saying? What held Job there? What is the secret of Job? Job standing. What is that? Job 23 verse 10. But he knoweth the way that I take. But Lord you knows an omniscient God.

The Lord say look at the Gentiles. They don't know this all-knowing God. Isn't it what David has to say when he is so weak and frail. He has to say this verse in Psalms 103 and verse 14. Sometimes in life we sin and we go against our conviction and faith and we fall at the wayside.

But even at that point of time when the Lord restores along with Peter we could see. Say Lord you knoweth that I love thee. Isn't it that we have in John chapter 21 verse 17. Lord thou knowest all things.

Thou knowest that I love thee. We have a knowing God. That was the Malayalam song also. Lord you knows. Saints have been holding on to that wonderful God and his attribute. A knowing God who knows my uprising.

Who knows my down sitting. Who knows my thoughts from far off. Who knows my ways. Who knows what I am going through at this point of time. Who knows my future. Hence do not be anxious. Look forward to the kingdom of God.

Seeking God's Kingdom and His Righteousness

Now what is that kingdom of God. The positive command that he is talking about. Come to verse 33 and 34 and with that we will close. Verse 33 and 34 we are told. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

Dear brothers and sisters seek his kingdom. But what is his kingdom by the way. What is his kingdom he is talking about. He is talking about heaven. Look forward to die somehow. Don't worry about what is happening around you.

He is talking about a kingdom which he explains in the previous chapter. Look at chapter 5 verse 3. He is explaining that. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs will be the kingdom. Is that what it is?

Is the kingdom. Presence is the kingdom. One more verse. Verse 10. Chapter 5 verse 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom. Wow. He is talking about something present.

Right now. Right here. That you can experience. Theirs is the kingdom. When the Lord has taught the disciples to pray. What did he ask them to pray. Luke chapter 11 verse 2. And he said unto them when ye pray say our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name.