Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread - [Matthew 6:11]

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. If you have your Bibles, please turn to Matthew chapter 6,

Matthew chapter 6. We're in the book of Hebrews, typically here on a Sunday morning, but this is not a typical

Sunday morning, is it? We are going to go look at Matthew chapter 6. Last week, I was in one of the supermarkets and saw the destruction and the chaos, especially in the paper line.

All the paper towels were gone, and all the zinc lozenges gone, and all these other things gone.

And I was carrying a few bottles of water and some things home. I walked into the garage, and it just popped into my mind, and I said it out loud,

Give us this day our daily bread. And I thought, when's the last time I prayed that? And so, of course, when

I feel conviction as a pastor, I like to convict the congregation as well. When's the last time you prayed, give us this day our daily bread?

Or would you provide what I need for just today? And since many of us need to have a good reminder, at least

I do, I thought, let's go and take a look at this passage in Matthew chapter 6, where our Lord Jesus instructs us to pray daily for all of our needs.

It's a good reminder for all of us, especially when I think about the Lord Jesus, and how He cares for us, and how

He wants us to do the right thing and look unto the Lord for everything we need, not just spiritually, but also physically.

Some of you have had wonderful prayer instructors, and you can think about people that have taught you to pray over the years.

I think of Kim's grandmother, Grandma Evian, and whenever you would say, Grandma, could you pray for something, her head would drop, and she'd begin to pray right then.

And I would think to myself, I didn't ask you to pray this second, but just sometime pray, but she would immediately pray, and that's a good lesson that I learned, that I caught from her, when somebody asks you to pray, just pray right then.

But how would you like to have the Lord Jesus as your instructor to teach you how to pray? If you could have anyone to teach you how to pray, who would you pick?

And of course, today when we look at this great sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, we're going to learn how to pray from the

Lord Jesus' words, particularly, Lord, help us when it comes to provision, how do we pray, and the

Lord Jesus teaches us. Now, big picture in the book of Matthew, it's the book about Jesus as King.

Remember, every time you go to the book of the Bible, a book of the Bible, say to yourself, why is that book there?

God has placed it there, and of course, we have four different gospels, gospel means good news, and good news accounts of Jesus.

It's almost like one good news account, one gospel could not contain all the great things about the

Lord Jesus, so we have to have four, and there are four different purposes and the purpose of Matthew is to show

Jesus as the King, right? This is the first book that's attached to what we call the Old Testament, and so we move from Malachi to Matthew, and it would not surprise you to think, you know what?

Out of all the books in the New Testament that are called gospels, which one has the most Old Testament quotes?

Well, the one that's closest to the Old Testament in your Bible, and so we move from Malachi to Matthew, by the way,

I'm doing my very best with this smaller congregation to not go into radio mode because I feel like I want to go into radio mode very quickly from Malachi to Matthew and things like that, but I'm going to restrain myself since it's a formal

Sunday morning worship service. But there's all kinds of Old Testament quotes in this book, more

Old Testament quotes about Jesus in Matthew than found in Mark, Luke, and John, and we come to the sermon called the

Sermon on the Mount, and if you have a red letter Bible, the words of Jesus in red, you can see that chapter 5 of Matthew, chapter 6 of Matthew, and chapter 7 of Matthew are all the words of Jesus, except the introduction.

This is a sermon that Jesus preached, and if you look at Matthew chapter 5, 48, as that chapter is wrapping up, we see some very startling words from our

Lord. You therefore must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

What a conclusion to chapter 5. You mean to go to heaven, you have to be perfect to get into God's holy, perfect heaven?

You have to be perfect, and the answer is yes. That should immediately make all of us think, well, how could

I, a sinful person, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, how could

I somehow get to heaven? God demands people to be perfect. How could we be perfect?

So we'll learn later in the New Testament, of course, that the way you are perfect to get to heaven is trusting in the perfect one.

Jesus, unlike us, perfectly obeyed the law, never sinned, and when we trust in him,

God sees us, think of accounting language, think of banking language, God sees us in light of the account of Jesus.

So Jesus perfectly obeyed, so God sees us as perfectly obeying. Jesus is our representative, and in addition, all of our sins are put into Jesus' account so that we have nothing to pay for, so we are seen as perfect.

No one is perfect because of the fall of Adam, and then we, of course, sin. But the standard doesn't change from God, therefore we have to get to heaven by not being perfect, but trusting in the perfect one.

And what's happened in chapter five is this, the Pharisees have distorted that. Think of Picasso, I don't know if you like modern art,

I don't really care for modern art, but Picasso kind of has a really weird view of things.

It's like you've got the truths of God about his holiness and his righteousness and his standards, and then the

Pharisees come along and just kind of modern art it. Is that a word? It is now.

You know exactly what I mean. The Pharisees distort the picture of God, and therefore

Jesus comes on the scene and he says, this is what I really want you to know. And chapter five is full of this phrase, you have heard it said, but I say to you.

The Pharisees teach one thing and they distort the truth of God, but I will tell you the truth. And I'm not going to minimize sin, because I'm not going to minimize the holiness of God.

If you want to get to heaven, you have to be perfect, and the only way you can do that is through the

Lord. Now who sends the Lord Jesus? It is the Father. So we come to Matthew chapter six this morning in a chapter that has regularly the word

Father in it. Father, Father, Father. And this is the

Father that sent the Son, Jesus, into the world to redeem sinners. This is the Father who had the

Holy Spirit energize Jesus, as it were, not as a force, but give him the ability to do the miracles, give him a resurrection.

St. Augustine and Martin Luther and many other saints said there's nothing more wonderful in the entire

Bible than this section here, the Lord's Prayer, verses nine through 13. And I think this morning you will agree with me.

Probably the greatest prayer ever prayed, or the instruction of prayer ever given.

A few comments before we start. Number one, this prayer is for today. Let me read it to you in chapter six, verses nine through 13.

My first comment is this is for today. There are people in evangelicalism that say this isn't for today.

You don't have to pray this now. This is maybe for the millennial kingdom. This prayer template is for today.

In addition, I want you to see the context in chapter six. Do you see what's going on in verse five?

The best way to look at context when you study the Bible is just read what's before, maybe, and after. And when you pray six five, you must not be like the hypocrites.

They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your father who is in secret.

See how many times the word father is used? And your father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the

Gentiles do, for they think they'll be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask.

Father, father, father, father. By the way, when you pray, here's what I don't want you to do.

I don't want you to be like in first Kings 19. How do we get the gods to pay attention to us? We're going to cut ourselves and bleed all over, then maybe

God will pay attention. Well, maybe God's sleeping, or he's busy, so he might have to say a lot of things over and over and over to wake him up.

And the Lord Jesus says, you have a father, and what do you have to do to get your father's attention? Well, maybe your human father is harder to get his attention, but the heavenly father, you just go to him, and don't just make up stuff when you talk.

Do you see what it says there? Don't heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. I guess if you're on livestream, you should give at least one

Greek word for your sermon. So here's the Greek word, bata logosete. Bata is just a word like, it's just a made up word.

It's like na -na or something like that. And logo comes from logos, or a word. And so Jesus says, when you pray, don't pray this way.

Bata, bata, bata, bata, bata, bata, bata, bata, bata. Just, you know, I need something from you,

God, and so what am I going to say to you? I'm just going to have to get your attention? I just repeat it over and over and over again. Bata, bata, bata, bata, bata, bata, bata.

Don't keep saying bata all the time. Why? Because you have a father, and you can just ask him for whatever you need.

And by the way, this is how you ask him. Do I look at the camera more, or do

I look at you? Did Jesus ever pray this prayer?

We call it the Lord's Prayer. Is it because this is the prayer that Jesus prayed? No, this is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.

And we know Jesus never, ever, ever prayed this prayer. Because look at verse 12, forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.

Jesus doesn't pray this because he's never sinned. Now, before we zoom in on Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread, do you see the structure?

It's super simple. There are two sections, vertical section, horizontal section.

God's glory section, humankind's good section. And it starts off with, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And so we look at God's glory primarily. We look at the God -centeredness of God here.

And then it moves to what we need as human beings. We need bread, we need forgiveness, and we need to be not led into temptation.

This, by the way, is a law, is a command, verse nine. Pray then like this. It's an imperative, it's an ongoing imperative.

It's something that we ought to regularly do. Pray this way. Well, but I'm smarter than the average person.

Do I still have to pray this way? Yes. I'm in seminary, do I still have to pray this way?

Yes. My parents prayed for me, so do I have to still pray this way? Yes. Didn't our

Lord Jesus pray regularly? I think of Mark chapter one, very early in the morning, while it was still dark,

Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he what? Prayed.

In the languages, it's a long prayer meeting that Jesus had with his father. J .C.

Ryle said, we ought to see in all of this the immense importance of private devotion. If Jesus, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, thus prayed continually, how much more ought we, who are compassed with infirmity?

If he found it needful to offer up supplications with strong crying and tears, how much more needful is it for us, who in many things offend daily?

A praying master like Jesus can have no prayerless servants. What shall we say to those who pray, yet give but little time to their prayers?

We are obliged to say that they show at present very little of the mind of Christ. Asking little, they must expect to have little.

Seeking little, they cannot be surprised if they possess little, end quote. And then the last thing

I'd like to say before we look at this section of Give Us a Stare Daily Bread, is this is a template for prayer.

Take a look at verse nine again. Pray then like this. The text does not say pray this, although if you'd like to pray it, you could, but it's a template, it's a paradigm, it gives a structure.

Do you know any other paradigms for prayer in the Bible, or even that we've made up? We use a paradigm regularly, do we not?

It's called what? Acts, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication.

Why do we have that paradigm? Well, one of the reasons I think we have it is because if I'm not careful, I just default to S.

I have a need, please help me, I'm hurting, can you help me, I'm worried, can you help me?

But when you approach God, the God of the universe, we have to be captured by a framework that recognizes not just what

I need, but how great God is, and so here we have this template, pray then like this.

And this, by the way, tells me that I need prayer instruction. I just can't go, well, I'll figure it out on my own,

I'll pray the way I want to, I'll pray as I'm led, I'll pray as the Spirit moves me. No, pray then like this, here is your manner.

It starts off with God's glory, the first three, starts off with our good, the next three. It's okay in emergency to just pray, help me, but this is a template for prayer as we're thinking through the things from our

Lord Jesus himself. And by the way, I don't see in the text, pray with a kneeling posture.

Pray with your hands up. Pray using Latin only. Make sure you have incense when you pray.

Lay yourself out on the floor like Luther did when he got ordained and prayed. It doesn't say anything about that, and there are postures to prayer that are fine in the

Bible, but the Lord Jesus doesn't talk about those here today. He just talks about coming to the

Father. That's the main thing. God is a Father. He's not a force, he's not an entity, he's not a higher power.

One person said, quote, this does not teach us to pray, oh, great ground of our being.

Oh, eternal scientist. Come to the Father. We know the

Bible teaches a triune God. One God, three persons, the Father, the Son, and the

Spirit. And so when you go to prayer, you pray Father. Remember, when you study the

Bible, you should ask yourself the question, why doesn't it say Mother? Why doesn't it say Mary? Why doesn't it say Saint Christopher?

Why doesn't it say Gabriel? Why doesn't it say somebody else? Because it's your Father who knows you, who protects you, who cares for you, and it is the

Lord Jesus who said, pray then this way, our Father. I love

First Peter chapter five, where First Peter five says, it matters to God about you, he cares for you.

Cast all your anxieties upon him, what? Because it matters to him about you.

That would be a good literal translation. I love this, that I have a Father.

You have a Father in heaven. You say, well, my Father on earth wasn't very good, so I have a distorted view of God the

Father. This kind of prayer language from Jesus will help you get over that.

We have a Father, and the only reason we have a Father is because of the work of the Son. No access to the

Father except through the Son. We are predestined to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself,

Ephesians chapter one, verse five. Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.

Dear Christian, if you remember one thing from Jesus's prayer, remember you have a

Father. J .I. Packer said, if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being

God's child and having God as his Father. If you really want to understand

Christianity, J .I. Packer said, you have to understand that God is your Father and that you have access to him through Jesus alone.

Before we get into this passage, one last commentary from the larger catechism. Question, what does the preface of the

Lord's Prayer teach us? Answer, the preface of the Lord's Prayer, Our Father which art in heaven, teaches us when we pray to draw near to God with confidence of his fatherly goodness and our interests therein, with reverence and all other childlike dispositions, heavenly affections and due apprehensions of his sovereign power, majesty and gracious condescension, and also to pray with and for others.

So out of these six petitions, let's focus in now on verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread.

And I'm gonna give you seven responses that you could learn from this text.

If you are outlining today, seven responses, why seven? Well, it's the perfect number, of course, but we're just gonna look at seven for our time today.

Looking at verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. And the first response to this prayer instruction from our

Lord Jesus is praise. Praise, how do I get praise out of that?

Just imagine, look at the verse again, give us this day our daily bread. Now, why is there a praise?

Let me answer that in just a second. But what does he mean here first? Bread. Now, last night, Caroline came over and she brought over a family -sized

Swedish fish thing. I guess that's the only thing they had at Walmart when you went, or Hannaford, or Market Basket.

And she brought over some bread, a loaf of bread, like yeast bread kind of thing. And so we all had some of that bread.

Is that what Jesus means here? Well, it certainly includes that, but when you think of bread, you should think of everything we need to eat, clothing, shelter, what do we need to live?

The basic things, that's what he means here. We have everything we need in Christ Jesus for forgiveness, for justification, for redemption, for reconciliation.

Spiritually, we have everything in Jesus. And now he's telling us physically, this is how you pray. Pray for your physical needs to be met.

I need to sleep someplace, I need to eat something, and I need to have clothes. Of course, it means bread, bread, but it means more than bread.

Clothing, food, and shelter, physical things. Now, what's the praise part? Can you imagine every

Christian in the world prays this and God hears? Not only that,

God hears, but he also provides. Who's a God like that who could hear these prayers from all his children, and then he could understand them all and actually answer them all?

That is the awesomeness of God, in my opinion. God can hear every Christian's request for temporal sustenance.

Every person that's affected by the virus is crying out, God, we need help. And he hears every one of those and can simultaneously provide for that.

When I was younger, I would go to a football game and Nebraska football would have maybe 80 ,000 people, and maybe

Michigan would have 110 ,000 people. Can you imagine God knows every one of their thoughts?

Now, let's just imagine they're all Christians and they're all saying, Lord, we've got a trial and we need food, shelter, and housing.

Isn't shelter and housing the same? We need food, clothing, and shelter. Help us, and God hears everything and can provide.

That is amazing to me. That shows us how great God is. How can,

I mean, I guess you could answer this question. How can I pray for something so simple like food when all the other

Christians around the world are praying for things that maybe are more important even than food? Well, God is omnipotent.

God is omnipresent. God is kind and compassionate. God's a father.

God the Father hears those prayers and he answers those. Everything necessary for the preservation of this life is bread, including food, body, good weather, house, home, wife, children, good government, and peace.

So said Martin Luther. God, could you please give us this day our daily bread?

That should point you to praise, to say God has the ability to accomplish everything he commands us to do because the

Son has told me, you pray for your temporal needs. And if the Son tells me to pray for my temporal needs, the

Father must be able to give me those needs. True or false? God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

I hope you said true because that's Philippians chapter four, verse 19. How about Psalm 145?

The eyes of all look to you, God, and you give them their food in due time and you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

If God gives unbelievers food with common grace, how much more does he take care of his children?

Give us this day our daily bread. When's the last time you said, Father, give us this day our daily bread?

Well, there's another response, not just praise, but thankfulness. When I read this verse, give us this day our daily bread,

I think to myself, I have to be thankful for God's goodness in all that he provides. That God even cares.

I mean, after all, he has a universe to run, does he not? The Bible says, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the

Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Everything we need, we can just say,

Lord, would you please give those things and he will give them to you perfectly and in a perfect time.

Now, I don't know if it's true or not, but I read a story about a king, and here's the story. Quote, the leaders in the kingdom had the task of appointing his successor from infant twin sons, because the king had died.

The decision was difficult since they were so much alike. Finally, they noticed that one was sleeping with his fists tightly shut, and the other with his hands extended wide open.

They chose the latter, and they say, when he became a man, he was known as the king with open hands.

I don't know if it's true or not, but that sure reminds me of who God is, the God with open hands, the

God who is good and who does good. Thomas Mattin said, he is originally good, good of himself.

And so we praise him and thank him for his goodness. Every good gift comes down from him.

If you look over in chapter seven, you see this kind of language used here as well. Jesus instructs in Matthew chapter seven, look at verse seven.

What a good father who's compassionate and caring for his people.

Verse seven of Matthew seven, asking it will be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, excuse me, for everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.

Which of you, if his son asked for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, will give him a snake?

If you then, though you were evil, remember the fall, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, everywhere you look in the sermon, the father will in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.

And if God the father gives the best gift, the Lord Jesus to you, he'll give you the lesser gifts as well.

Divine pity, divine mercy, your heavenly father knows. Back to Matthew chapter six, give us this day.

You ever just think about these words, give us. What if it said, sell us?

What would you have to give to God to get these things? Some kind of barter system. I love what

Winslow said. We come not then to God with a petition, sell us, but give us.

Out of your overflowing heart, from your infinite sufficiency and most free favor, give us the blessings of your providence and grace.

I come, Lord, with an outstretched hand, with an empty palm, stricken with hunger, famished and ready to die.

I have heard that there is bread enough in my father's house and despair. Lo, I come, not worthy to be called your son, asking but the portion of a slave, give me this day my daily bread.

That's the goodness of God. Never grows tired of giving.

Give us this day our daily bread. So what are the responses of this prayer? Number one, praise.

Number two, thanks. Number three, humility. Humbling ourselves. Give us this day our daily bread.

And here's where it really hit me this week. We are dependent creatures, are we not? How frail.

And what happens with the whole system when the truckers don't come and the hospitals close and all these other things?

We are dependent people and therefore, God wants us to pray every day, God help us, sustain us.

God is independent. The theologians call that his aseity, A -S, his aseity.

He is from himself. He is independent. He doesn't ask for counsel. He is not dependent on any person.

I'm hoping that they're gonna say you don't have to pay your taxes by April 15th with all this virus stuff. That'd be kind of nice, wouldn't it?

And when I do my taxes, I have to write down how many dependents I have, right?

And that number is decreasing sadly, in one respect, because I don't get to claim as many kids as I used to as they're getting older.

Happily, they're on their own and they take care of themselves. Trying to stay on track here and not go to radio mode.

We are dependent people. God is independent. This is a prayer that should remind every one of us.

That we are dependent on God for our heart to beat every day, our lungs to expand and contract.

Israel needed manna, how often? Well, once a week, God just dumps it on Israel and they stack it up and you just use it throughout the week.

How did God give manna to Israel? Every what? Every day, except the night before the

Sabbath and when it was double. If they tried to hoard it, there was worms and all kinds of other things. We are dependent on God.

Not just when we have these trials, but every day. I think these trials bring this out so we can understand these things better.

God gives and He lavishly gives. Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed.

It shall be food for you, Genesis chapter one. Our daily bread.

We have to be humble because we are not self -sufficient and whether you're rich or poor, you're not self -sufficient.

Whether you're smart or not, you're not self -sufficient. Well, are there any other responses? Praise, thankfulness, humility.

Number four, trust. Number four, trust. Give us this day our daily bread. Dear friends, me and you, you and I, have to trust

God for all our provisions including today's provisions and future provisions.

This day, do you notice it there? Give us this day. It's only found here in Luke 11 and outside of the

Bible, it's used for a woman's shopping list. I find that interesting, fits right in.

Give us this day our daily bread. We need food for the coming day. One person said, this is kind of funny, this prayer that Jesus taught us is for our needs, it's not our greeds.

This day, we just need what's for today. And you can imagine back in those days how much more precarious life was, how tenuous life was, how stressed life was and you've got to think about seeds and farming and everything else and we can just go to box stores.

But then and now, it's the same thing. We ought to be dependent people and thinking to ourself,

God is gonna have to provide all these things. This day, we don't pray,

God, can you give us enough for a month, enough for a year? The God who hears the raven's cry is not going to be deaf to you, as many writers say.

D .L. Moody said about this verse, a man can no more take a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough today to last him for the next six months.

Isn't that good? Or, Moody said, can he inhale enough sufficient air into his lungs with one breath to sustain life for a week to come?

We are permitted to draw upon God's store of grace from day to day as we need it.

Whatever we need for our well -being, Lord, please provide our daily bread.

This means we should look at our lives and say, today could be our last day. Living like today could be our last day.

Now, of course, it wouldn't be a sermon on provision of God and God's tender mercies as father providing bread without the

George Mueller story about the orphanage. And you probably know the story that I'm gonna tell. George Mueller, back in the day in England, had an orphanage and he wanted to care for those dear children.

And he ran out of milk and ran out of food. The story goes, quote, one morning, the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty.

There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal when

Mueller said, children, you know we must be in time for school. Lifting his hand, he said, listen to these first two words, by the way.

Dear father, we thank thee for what thou art going to give us to eat.

There was a knock on the door. The baker stood there and said, Mr. Mueller, I couldn't sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn't have bread for breakfast and the

Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a .m. and baked some fresh bread and have brought it.

Mueller thanked the man. No sooner than this had transpired, there was a second knock at the door. And I think this is the part you remember.

It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.

No wonder years later, when Mueller was to travel the world as an evangelist, he would be heralded as, quote, the man who gets things from God.

What a good story, reminding us about the provision of God and the care of God and the goodness of God.

How do we respond when it comes to trials or even this prayer? Praise, thankfulness, humility, trust.

You can trust the Lord. You can walk by faith. And now number five. I don't know really how to phrase this, so I'm just going to say others.

To think of others, not just yourself. Verse 11, Matthew 6. Give us this day our daily bread.

Now, you could pray, give me bread. That's fine, but look at the text. Give us. It is Galatians 6 that says bear one another's burdens.

Not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. We are all in this together.

We are all kingdom citizens. We are us and our, not me and I. We not only pray for our needs, we pray for other people's needs.

This is a plural. Pray in plural, the Lord Jesus said. Paul got that in Ephesians 6, verse 18.

Praying always for the saints. If you want conviction,

I was convicted when I read this. These have no commiseration or pity.

They are like Judas's who pray for themselves and whose bowels fell out. Do good, oh

Lord, to those that be good, Psalm 125. Lord, I have needs.

Could you meet those needs? Lord, other people have needs. Could you meet those needs? Response six, contentment.

Praise, thankfulness, humility, trust, thinking of others, and contentment. What can we learn from this great prayer?

Specifically, give us this day our daily bread. It should teach us contentment. Give us this day our daily bread.

A cheerful contentment with whatever God gives. Maybe a little, maybe a lot, but coming from his hand.

And for those who have had temporal life with spare diets, to use the quote, he's made up for it with spiritual blessings.

We ask for provision, God gives us provision, and we're content. And then number seven, let's call it priorities.

What can we learn from this lesson from Jesus Christ as he teaches us to pray? Priorities, give us this day our lotto scratcher winner.

Give us this day our fame. Give us this day more money. Give us this day more riches.

Give us this day more influence. Give us this day a bigger platform. Give us this day a mega church.

Give us this day, I don't know, just fill in the blank. What's he say? Just give us this day our daily bread.

What are the priorities of life? Very convicting to me.

Just give us this day our daily bread. To be content with what we have, simple.

I think somewhere it is written that we should desire to live a quiet life and work with our hands. Does that sound familiar to you?

I think it probably does, that's from Paul. Praise, thankfulness, humility, trust.

Praying for others, being content, and knowing what's really important. I know what you're thinking, now

I don't have to work. I just pray, God provides. Do you think Jesus wants us to be lazy and not work?

The desire of the sluggard puts him to death for his hands refuse to work. All day long he's craving while the righteous gives and does not hold back.

Of course we're to work. God has ordained the ends and the means. 2 Thessalonians 3, now we command you brethren in the name of our

Lord Jesus Christ that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition with which you have received from us.

And he goes on to say when people don't work, they shouldn't eat. So if you're able to work, you should be working, providing.

As a father, I think a good way to end the sermon regarding give us this day our daily bread is to go to John chapter six and let's just end there.

We are to pray for our physical needs. We are to ask God to take care of our physical needs. We are to thank him for our physical needs as he has provided them.

But I just wanna remind you as we're gonna close who the

Lord is when it comes to spiritual needs as well. Maybe there's somebody watching, maybe somebody even here in this congregation who's not trusting in the

Lord Jesus. And I want to remind you in John chapter nine about Jesus, the great bread of life.

That is as bread, physical bread satisfies and sustains, Jesus, the bread of life, he satisfies and sustains spiritually.

True satisfaction. We live in a hungry culture. People are crazy with a hunger for contentment and desires unmet.

And so we know who Jesus is. You don't need to search for fulfillment any longer.

So this is just a good way to be reminded about Jesus who is the bread of life. Yes, he's the light of the world.

Yes, he is the resurrection and the life. Yes, he is the way, the truth and the life.

Yes, he is the door of the sheep. Yes, he is the good shepherd. Yes, he is the divine, but he is also the bread of life.

I'll only make a few comments just as we see Jesus on display as the bread of life. And this is the

Lord in whom you must believe. Let's just pick it up in verse eight. One of his disciples,

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother said to him, John 6, 8. Moving now to verse nine.

There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are these for so many people? Jesus said, have the people set down.

Now there was much grass in the place, so the men set down and number about 5 ,000. Jesus then took the loaves and having given thanks, he distributed to those who were seated, likewise also the fish as much as they wanted.

And they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.

So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.

Therefore, when the people saw the sign that he had performed, they said, like signs pointed something, and they're pointing to Jesus is the

God man, prophet, priest, and king. This is truly the prophet who has come into the world. We should believe what he says because he can do these things.

So Jesus, perceiving they were intending to come and take him by force to make him a king, this is kind of a good king to have.

But he gives us food, withdrew to the mountain by himself alone. This great compassionate shepherd, he feeds 20 ,000 people and they wanna grab him.

Now, when evening came, verse 16, his disciples went down to the sea and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum.

It had already become dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea began to be stirred because of the strong wind was blowing.

Then when they had rode about three or 400, I said three or 400, that would have been a long trip. You would need extra bread for that trip.

Then they had, by the way, what's so good about all this is it's the power of God's word. It's not the preacher, right?

When you go evangelize your friends, it's not how smart you are or how wonderful you are. It's the power of God's word.

Not many mighty, not many 1 Corinthians talks about. So let's pick this up again.

Then when they had rode about three or four, and by the way, why am I trying to go fast? I have a captive audience, right?

Let's just finish this up. Three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea.

I don't just think of flat, think up the crest of the waves and down the crest of the waves. There's strong wind blowing.

And he's walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat and they were frightened. And he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid.

So they were willing to receive him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land. There's another miracle to which they were going.

And the next day, the crowd that stood on the other side, verse 22, of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one and that Jesus had not entered with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got on the small boats and came to Capernaum seeking

Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here?

Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

You just want a miracle worker, that's what you want. So he tells them, do not work for the food which perishes.

Now see, he's turning it to spiritual things. You're gonna see the metaphor of I'm the bread of life.

We're not talking about physical bread. We're talking about as bread that's physical, nourishes and provides and preserves, so too spiritually.

This is what I've come to do, to save people. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for food which endures to eternal life, which the

Son of Man will give you. For on him, the Father, isn't that interesting? For the Father, God has set his seal.

What shall we do that we may work the works of God? This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he has sent.

So they said to him, what then do you do for a sign? Remember what he just did? So that we may see and believe you.

People seeking signs are never satisfied. What work do you perform? You think we're impressed by feeding 5 ,000 people, 5 ,000 men, 20 ,000 people, we're not so impressed.

We wanna see a real sign. By the way, Moses did better signs than you. Look at it, verse 31.

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written, he gave them bread out of heaven to eat.

I mean, you fed us one day, Jesus. Moses fed us for 14 ,600 days.

Of course, it's not Moses who did it, but that's the way they're framing it. Verse 32, truly, truly, I say to you, it is not

Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

He's talking about himself, his own provision, his own care, his own sustenance. Verse 33, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven.

Jesus came, remember? The Father sent him and gives life to the world. That's not just regular life, that's a spiritual nourishment.

And these deaf, dumb, and blind people said, Lord, always give us this bread. They think it's real food.

And now Jesus says these words to make himself perfectly clear, and this is the one who provides for all of us, who has taught us to pray, and if you don't believe, you ought to be believing in.

You ought to repent and believe. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible -teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.