Prayer

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Years ago when I was on staff with the Christian organization the Navigators I was reading about the founder
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Dawson Trotman, and there was a statement that he had made that just Resonated with me to the core and he said this and I quote truly our most difficult work as Refreshing and as wonderful as it is is prayer
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Truly our most difficult work as refreshing and as wonderful as it is is prayer
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That resonated with me because as a young Christian I found prayer to be refreshing to be wonderful but also a difficult work
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As a young Christian, I was taught a simple illustration called the wheel illustration which had
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Jesus Christ at the hub at the center and And then it had two vertical spokes the
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Word of God as God speaks to us through the scripture and prayer as we speak to God and the horizontal spokes were evangelism and fellowship fellowship with my other fellow believers and evangelism as I sought to preach the gospel to my unbelieving family and friends and I would say over the years with my friends where I grew up as a young Christian my
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Christian friends and even being involved With different churches over the years. I would say in strong Bible believing gospel preaching
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Christ exalting churches people are very strong with the word as We are here at BBC and rightly so we're strong with fellowship.
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We enjoy the company of the redeemed Do we not and rightly so we have so much more in common than even some of our physical family but those two taboo words
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Evangelism and prayer May be not as strong in those areas But as a preliminary before we get into our text
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Because of what's going on in our day and age today I want to make it very clear from the Bible that prayer is us talking to God Not the other way around Prayer is not
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God talking to us Prayer is us talking to God Turn with me to Matthew chapter 6 as I read our text
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Matthew chapter 6 to set it in context. We're going to begin from verse 1 and go all the way down to verse 18
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And I was going to preach something different But I asked Elder Pardeep what he was doing last week and for the sake of continuity
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I wanted to continue where he left off in the end of chapter 5 Matthew chapter 6 beginning in verse 1
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Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them
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For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven Thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
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That they may be praised by others Truly, I say to you they have received their reward
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But when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing So that your given may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you verse 5 and when you pray
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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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Truly, I say to you they have received their reward but when you pray go into your room and Shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you
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And 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 him pray then like this our father in heaven
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Hallowed be your name Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
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Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and Lead us not into temptation
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But deliver us from evil For if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you
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But if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your father?
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forgive your trespasses Verse 16 and when you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces
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That their fasting may be seen by others Truly, I say to you they have received their reward
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But when you fast anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others
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But by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret
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Will reward you prayer as I said is us talking to God and God listening.
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It's not God talking to us and us listening We see it even here in our text the greatest sermon that ever preached was ever preached by the greatest teacher the
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Lord Jesus Christ Look even in verse 7 What does
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Jesus say and when you pray do not heap up empty what Phrases as the
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Gentiles do for they think that they will be what heard for their many words
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Prayers using words and phrases To be heard by God This is consistent with the entire
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Bible both Old and New Testament let me give you a quick panorama to show you that prayer as Jesus teaches it here to set it as A foundation is talking to God Solomon for example in 2nd
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Chronicles chapter 6 verse 21 says in his prayer to God and listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people
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Israel when they pray toward this place and Listen from heaven your dwelling place and when you
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God hear forgive David Did the same for example in Psalm 17 verse 6
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I Call upon you for you will answer me. Oh God Incline your ear to me hear my words
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New Testament the Apostle John in 1st John chapter 5 verses 14 to 15
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And this is the confidence that we have toward him That if we ask anything according to his will he
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Hears us and If we know that he hears us in whatever we ask we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him
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God is doing the hearing in prayer and we are doing the talking It's clearly evident through both
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Old and New Testaments Why is that important as we get into our text what the
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Lord Jesus Christ teaches on prayer because of what's happening in our day and age even in evangelical circles
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Sarah's young book Jesus calling in her intro writes and says the following quote
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I began to wonder if I could receive messages during my times of communion with God I had been writing in my prayer journals for years nothing wrong with that, but that was one way communication
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I did all the talking. I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible and This is where the red flag should go up, but I yearned for more
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She's writes increasingly I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on a given day
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Or how about Bill Hybels Pastor Bill Hybels In his book power of a whisper one of the seeker sensitive churches
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Willow Creek Where they designate their church service to give what the people want not what
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God calls us to give to those who are redeemed He writes in his book power of a whisper That alone should give you a red flag quote
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God's low -volume whispers have saved me from a life of boredom and self -destruction Whispers that have arbitrated key decisions nudges that have rescued me from dark nights of the soul
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Promptings that spurred on growth God whispering to human beings. Do you really believe it?
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Do you think that the transcendent God he writes customizes little promptings and then directs them to rank and file human beings for the purpose of assurance or Direction or just to convey his love or his warning about something.
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Do you really think this happens? I've staked he writes my entire life on these things called whispers.
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I've started a church in a movie theater and Because of a whisper close quote
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Can you imagine pastor Mike? Coming back this summer and saying by the way, the reason
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I came here 20 years ago was because of a whisper That would fall over like a lead balloon because of nudges and promptings of a whisper
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This is our culture. It's infiltrated the church prayer when Jesus talks about prayer here. He's talking about us
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Communicating with words and phrases to God and he is the one listening. We are assured of that from the
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Bible But to set it in context our text the thrust and the theme is found in verse 1
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Look at verse 1 again with me. This is the overall theme the thrust of Jesus Notice that he begins with what word?
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Beware Interesting. It's a very strong Greek word. It's a strong word of caution of Warning and the only time in this
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Sermon on the Mount that Jesus uses it look with me If you will to the next chapter is chapter 7 verse 15 and notice what he warns us about there.
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He uses the same word Matthew chapter 7 verse 15 beware of whom
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False prophets Caution strong warning beware of false prophets and he continues who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are
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Ravenous wolves. This is significant. I mean it permeates the entire New Testament Including the epistles the
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Apostle Paul in Acts 20 when he met with the Ephesian elders He said to them from among your own self.
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There will be false teachers The Apostle Peter wrote an entire chapter 2nd Peter chapter 2 about false teachers
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Jew changed the whole authorial intent of his book He was going to write about our common salvation, but he changed to write about these false teachers beware
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Jesus says of false prophets, but in our text he says to beware of what just as strong verse 1 of Practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them
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Beware, Jesus says of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.
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It's his general Thesis statement and then he gets into the specifics in three specific areas
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In the area of given verses 2 through 4 in The area of praying which we're going to look at verses 5 through 15 and in the area of fasting verses 16 through 18 and to highlight
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Not to practice our righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. He sets up a contrast
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He says in verse 3 for example or in verse 2 start in verse 2 in the area of giving
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Thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you as a hypocrites do in The synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others truly
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I say to you that they have received their reward verse 3, but when you give in Contrast to that don't be hypocritical about it.
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Don't be an actor who's putting on a show Same with prayer verse 5 and when you pray 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 truly.
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I say to you they have received their reward verse 6, but when you pray
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In contrast don't be like the hypocrites and the same with fasting Verse 16 and when you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces
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That their fasting may be seen by others truly. I say to you they have received their reward, but when you fast in contrast to the hypocrites
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So Jesus general thrust and theme here is to not practice our righteousness and our focus this morning is in the issue of prayer
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Do not be hypocritical about your prayer life. Do not pray Like the hypocrites
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And there's a very basic outline to our text The first one
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There's two simple parts to the outline our prerequisites of prayer What are the prerequisites of prayer and that is signified in verses 5 and 7 by the phrase when you pray?
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When you pray verses 5 and verse 7 Jesus does not say if you pray it's assumed on his part
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The Word of God is our spiritual food for our nourishment is it not prayer is like our breathing Can you imagine me telling you?
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Okay now you can begin to pray to breathe When you pray not if you pray
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Those are the prerequisites of prayer. We will look at and then verse 9 pray then like this
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The second part of our outline that is the pattern of prayer the pattern of prayer And we will see that's why we don't have it in our order of service
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Like I did growing up in our church where you just repeat the Lord's Prayer Sunday after Sunday So we have the prerequisites for prayer and the pattern of prayer
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There are two prerequisites that Jesus highlights if somebody you were discipling asked you about their prayer your prayer life and to help them in Their prayer life what prerequisites would you give them?
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What are the prerequisites for a godly prayer life? What are the two Jesus gives number one the first prerequisite is found in verse 5
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Humility humility Humility is the first prerequisite that Jesus gives for prayer
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And when you pray verse 5 you must not be like the hypocrites Why are they hypocritical for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners?
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Just like he said in verse 1 why what's their motive that they may be seen by others?
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Why humility this is why Because prayer is not for men's applause.
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It is for God's approval Prayer is not for men's applause. It is for God's approval
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It's an issue of motive that Jesus is highlighting here. Jesus is not saying don't pray in public
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So if you're in a home group or a small group Bible study, and you're going around praying Jesus not saying don't pray in public
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What is your motive do you do it to be seen by others? Is there the background to this of course in the
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Jewish culture when Jesus was speaking these words? The Shema you familiar with a Shema in the
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Old Testament Deuteronomy 6 right Hebrew word that type comes from the word that means to hear hero
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Israel Deuteronomy 6 the Lord your God the Lord is one and you shall love the
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Lord your God with all your heart And with all your soul and with all your might these commands that give today should be on your heart
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And you shall teach him diligently to your children when you rise when you walk The Shema was repeated like a ritual in a
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Jew's prayer life at the start of the day and at the end of the day It was very ritualistic.
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It was just repeating a prayer like in a prayer book verbatim They knew it by memory.
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There was no attention giving to what was being said and also what
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I had developed over the years In the Jewish prayer life what they would pray at 9 a .m.
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12 noon and 3 p .m. The third sixth and ninth hour their day began at 6 a .m. Very ritualistic, so wherever they were whatever they were doing
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That's why also it says here whether they're in the synagogues or in the street Corners no matter where they were they would stop what they were doing
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Publicly to pray why what does our text say they love to do this?
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Because it was an opportunity to parade their piety to be seen by others
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Can you imagine using prayer to parade your piety? God opposes whom the proud but he gives grace to the humble
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Who are the hypocrites in Jesus day Jesus told the disciples to look out for the leaven of the
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Pharisees, which is hypocrisy They were hypocritical about it Think with me of Luke 18 the passage in Luke 18 where Jesus gives this parable and he states the reason for a given this parable to those who were self -righteous and looked down with contempt on others at the end of the parable
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Jesus contrasts the Pharisee in the tax collector and says that the tax collector that night went home
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Justified but the example Jesus uses interesting is the example of the Pharisees prayer life
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Think about praying like this like the Pharisee The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus
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God, I thank you when you begin your prayer with God I thank you. What should be the next thing out of your mouth?
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For who he is and what he's done in your life now for the Pharisee. This is who Jesus is addressing in our text
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God, I thank you in Luke 18 the Pharisee says that I'm not like the other man God I'm thanking you for me.
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I'm not an extortioner. I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer or even like this tax collector Comparison the highest form of sinful flesh
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I'm not like this tax collector. I fast twice a week I give tithes of all
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That I get Humility Jesus says is the first and foremost prerequisite for coming to God in prayer
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Martin Lloyd -jones puts it very well Quote we tend to think of sin as we see it in rags in the games of life
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We look for example at a drunkard poor fellow and we say there is sin But that is not the essence of sin to have a real picture and true understanding of sin
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You must look at some great saint some unusually devout and devoted man
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Look at him there on his knees in the very presence of God Even there self is intruding itself and the temptation is for him to think about himself and To think pleasantly and to think pleasurably about himself and to really be worshiping himself rather than God That not the other is the true picture of sin end of quote
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Satan our archenemy is not thinking. Oh this Son of God, we've been saved by the grace of God this
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Child of God is going into the throne room. So I'm not going to bother them on this holy ground
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That's why Jesus says we have to come first and foremost with humility Don't be like the hypocrites.
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Don't be arrogant to be seen by others to parade your party But instead verse 6, what does he say?
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We are to do but when you pray in contrast to the hypocrites Go into your inner room
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And shut the door and pray to your father Who is in secret?
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Jesus is not saying that to pray in secret alone. There's no need to pray Throughout the day we need to have an attitude of prayer
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Paul says pray without ceasing as I'm at work or I'm engaged with whoever
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I am in conversation I'm in prayer constantly the prayer lines are always open Jesus. You're saying don't do it publicly to parade yourself
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But go into your inner room why who is our real audience when we pray
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Even when we pray publicly our real audience is our father as we will see later in verse 9
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Right our father in heaven He's our real audience. I remember when my wife and I were ministering in New York City I was involved with the college students at NYU Great group of kids and I've always loved college students, and I remember one time
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I was teaching on their campus and one of the students was Coming in the elevator with me up to where their room was where we met and they said to me
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We're so glad you're here again to teach us and I thought to myself Thank you Lord that you're being I'm being used in a small way amongst these students to teach the
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Word of God But then they told me the real reason they were excited because when I taught them I would give him handouts in manila folders, and they said to me that I was running low on manila folders
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I needed it for my classes Needed to be humble But with that group
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I also taught a summer course on how to study the Bible Called God has spoken
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Seven week course in the summer on how to study the Bible and at the beginning and at the end I would ask one of the students to pray
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It wasn't a course on prayer was a course on Bible study But I wanted to give opportunity for them to pray and I remember asking specifically one student to pray and I noticed that they were
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Hesitant so I directed it to somebody else and had them pray then after the class. I went and approached them and said and asked why they were hesitant and They were a new believer, and they said well
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I I don't know how to pray like everybody else prays Using all these eloquent words and these theological phrases, and I had one question for this person when you pray
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Who you praying to? Who's your audience? Even when you do it publicly Your audience is your
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Heavenly Father Just pray to him Number one prerequisite for prayer is humility.
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What's the second prerequisite that Jesus gives us here number two avoid? meaningless repetition avoid meaningless repetition verse 7
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When you pray do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do
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For they think that they will be heard for their many words as the Gentiles were do
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Elder Pradeep Mentioned that last week in verse 47 of chapter 5 if you notice and if you greet only your brothers
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What more are you doing than others in his message loving like Jesus loves? Do not even the
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Gentiles do the same Here Jesus picks up on that phraseology.
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Who are the Gentiles? Paul makes it very clear in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 when he says the following that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and Honor not in the passion of lust like the
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Gentiles who do not know God The Gentiles who do not know
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God do not heap up empty phrases like they do this was by the way pagan practice
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People who would pray to their pagan God did this Repeated empty phrases meaningless repetition because they thought as Jesus said
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There would be heard for their many words now. That's not to say in a long prayer is bad But repeating the same thing over and over again
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This is true in Elijah's day was it not I love that picture in the Old Testament I'm on Carmel with the prophets of Baal and he he's mocking them
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One of my favorite pastors makes me laugh It says in 1st Kings 18 and they took the bull that was given them and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon saying okay from morning until noon.
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What were they saying? This is what they were saying quote Oh Baal answer us So from morning until noon, they were saying
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Oh Baal answer us twice in the text it says but there was no voice and No one answered and they limped around the altar and that they had made and as midday passed
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They raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation But there was no voice
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No one answered. No one paid attention From morning till noon bail.
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Oh bail answer us as they put their offering and Elijah put his offering and And they prayed to their
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God their pagan God to send fire and Elijah said well, maybe you should pray some more and louder.
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He might be asleep Wake him up He might be on a vacation That's great
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It's called friendship evangelism. It was a pagan practice that the
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Jews had incorporated They were arrogant in their prayer and they thought we'll just repeat the same words over and over again.
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God will surely hear us And notice verse 8 it's a direct command it's not a suggestion by Jesus do not be like them do not pray in this way
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Why I love the scripture whenever he gives a command. He always gives us a reason for that command.
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So our motives are proper for Your father knows what you need before you ask him
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He knows what you need before you ask him great that has resolved my prayer life. I don't have to pray
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He knows it, right? then why pray is a legitimate question if the father knows what we need before we ask him and That is the reason
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Jesus said which says we are not to keep empty phrases Because he knows that then why pray?
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Good question. Here's the answer because prayer is more than just asking as We will look further today and later next week in the pattern of prayer.
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It begins all with God when we are up here doing scripture reading whichever one of the elders it is and a lot of times we pray and Sometimes we do bring the needs of the congregation before us before the throne of grace but most of the time we try intentionally to pray through the text and to focus on worship and praise and adoration because That's what prayer first and foremost is to give
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God the loud and honor that he deserves. I Remember again as a young Christian with a navigator we would go through some of the great portions of scripture in the
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Old Testament the Psalms and some in the New Testament that Highlight the character of God and our whole prayer time together in our
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Bible say would be just worshiping God Praising him for his attributes his greatness his majesty
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That's why we pray but even when the time comes and it does come when we bring our request to him
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It's not to let God know something that he is not already aware of after all
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He is omniscient if you praise God and say God I praise you because you are all -knowing, you know everything about me the intentions of my heart the struggles
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I'm facing We're not telling him to make him aware of a need that he's not already aware of Even Jesus said here for your father knows what you need before you ask him
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So why do we do it? Why do we bring our request to him? It's not for his sake because he knows it all
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It's for our sake we do it in prayer
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To realize that we are completely dependent upon him for everything for everything
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John Calvin put it well in his Institutes Quote, but someone will say does
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God not know even without being reminded both in what respect we are troubled and what is expedient?
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for us So that it may seem in a sense superfluous that he should be stirred up by our prayers as if he were drowsily blinking or even sleeping until he is aroused by our voice
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But they who thus reason do not observe to what end The Lord instructed his people to pray for he ordained it not so much for his own sake as for ours prayer
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When we bring our requests to God, even those that he knows he knows all of them actually Because he knows him.
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It's a reminder for us Lord. I'm dependent upon you for everything Prayer is giving
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God the praise and then looking to him for dependence Though there's a two prerequisites that Jesus says forth in our prayer life humility, we don't come like the hypocrites in Arrogance doing it to parade our piety and secondly to avoid meaningless repetition thinking we will be heard
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Now the pattern of prayer we're just going to start this and we'll continue this part next week the pattern of prayer
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As I mentioned at the beginning and it's one of those areas prayer like evangelism when we think you know what? It's not like we're all in the same boat.
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Are we not? It's not like you know what? I've been I need to stop. I've been preaching the gospel too much I've been praying too much, you know, and too
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I need to I need to to stop doing that No, this is an area. We need all need to grow and be encouraged by our
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Lord's words What's the pattern of prayer verse 9 pray then this prayer? Is that what it says?
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No, pray then like this or as some translations. I think the New American Standard says pray then in this manner
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That's a right translation pray then like this. It's a pattern for a prayer life. It's not just to be repeated
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After all, he just said don't use empty phrases to be repeated over and over again to be heard This is a pattern for a prayer life
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It really is broken down into two parts The the first half is really the God -centered part in the second half.
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We are told as a man -centered, but is it really? Well, okay The first part just notice in in this prayer which by the way is usually referred to as what the
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Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer is in John 17 his high priestly prayer. This is teaching us
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He taught the disciples of how for us to pray notice in the first few verses Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name
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Your kingdom come your will be done The second half is petition notice the words that are used give us this day our daily bread and Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation
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But is it really God -centered the first half and man -centered I would suggest that even the second half is still
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God -centered Because even when you bring your petitions and supplications before God to meet your needs
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Who are you looking to to meet those needs the God whom you just praised? The God whom you just worshiped in prayer
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So it's all God -centered. It's all God -centered even when we bring our needs before him.
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We saw to remind us that Our prayer life is not just for Sunday. It's for every day to worship him
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And how does the prayer begin? We're just going to touch on this and continue next week our
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Father our father Martin Luther Luther said five hundred years to the
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Reformation He said that he himself if he could just understand these two first words of the prayer
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He would never be the same again And that ought to be true for you and me if we could like Martin Luther said understand
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Just these first two words of the prayer. We would never be the same again our father Remember Jesus talking about private prayer.
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Is he not going to your room and in secret prayer? So you would think because he's talking about private prayer myself in my secret room praying to God you would think he would say my father
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But he doesn't he says our father Why because it's a reminder of us that we are part of the communion of Saints It reminds us when we pray that we are part of the fellowship of believers
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It reminds us that the privilege that you have I have and that is to come boldly before the throne of grace
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It's a privilege for every believer our father
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But when the disciples are first hearing this when they hear Jesus saying pray then like this our father
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I can guarantee you they must have been looking at each other did Did I hear correctly?
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Did did our Lord say father? They weren't allowed to even pronounce the unspeakable name of God the tetragrammaton four letters
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YHWH Yahweh Nevermind coming to him in prayer and calling him father
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This was radical for the disciples to hear And we need to understand this privilege that we have
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The Apostle John says in 1st John 3 1 that it's only for the children of God the privilege of prayer
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Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the children of God there's a sense today in our culture that People believe in the fatherhood of God that God is the father of all people.
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We're all brothers and sisters God is a creator of people, but not the father of all
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Machen is a book Christianity and liberalism highlights is very very well, and he says and I quote It is very strange how those who accept only the universal fatherhood of God as a sum and substance of religion
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Can regard themselves as Christians or can appeal to Jesus of Nazareth For the plain fact is that this modern doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God For no part whatever of Jesus is teaching the modern doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God is
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Not to be found in the teaching of Jesus, and it is not to be found in the New Testament ordinarily the lofty term father is
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Used to describe a relationship of a far more intimate kind the relationship in which
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God stands to the company of the redeemed The really distinctive
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New Testament teaching he says about the fatherhood of God Concerns only those who have been brought into the household of faith
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That's one of the unique privileges that those of us who have been redeemed by the
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Lord have prayer I Could tell an unbelieving friend the gospel, but if I tell him to pray
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Who is he praying to? This is our privilege
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Paul says in Romans 8 15 for we did not receive a spirit of slavery that leads To a spirit that leads to slavery again, but a spirit of adoption as sons whereby we cry out
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Abba Father if you are here this morning, and you have been redeemed by the
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Lord. This is your privilege This is your honor as you come to him in prayer to address him as your
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Abba father If you're not a Christian this morning if you are not redeemed
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Maybe you're a Christian by name nominally, but you're not trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone to save you from your sin
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The privilege of prayer is not yours Prayers a privilege that he gives to his own children and for that we are grateful
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Let's pray Father we do. Thank you for the privilege that we have
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To come before you and address you as our father What a high and lofty name that is
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We thank you for the Word of God and for Jesus teaching here this morning Help us father as we continue to grow in our sanctification each of us in this area of prayer
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There would have we done not for our glory, but for your sake and as we pray we remember
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That you know everything about us that we would honor you in our prayer lives. We ask these things in Christ's name.