Jeff Durbin on The Lord's Prayer Part I

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Jeff Durbin preaches at Apologia Church on The Lords Prayer at Apologia Church. For more, go to apologiaradio.com

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Understand how the Bible uses that word and those phrases, really the kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven are synonymous to one another.
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Jewish sensitivities forced Matthew to use kingdom of heaven in place of God just because of the sensitivity they had even to writing
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God's name, which is interesting because in a moment here you're gonna see Jesus be so brazen as to call
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God Father and that is really an epic moment for the people of God to see
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God in the flesh, Jesus the second person of the Trinity referring to God the Father as our
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Father, such an intimate thing and so Matthew chapter 6 we finished now the big portion we are gonna go back and do a sermon or two on some more parts there just to get a better grip of what's happening there in the context of the whole story but we just finished the big section where Jesus after sitting on the mount speaking to the people unpacks and explains the law of God and really refutes their misinterpretation and misapplication of the law of God and now we're into some pretty intimate stuff
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I mean we talked about a moment ago the providence question God's providence being the stuff of life the real nuts and bolts of life and this is one of those things in the teaching of Jesus it's the real nuts and bolts of our experience with God our relationship with God to God Matthew chapter 6
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I'm gonna read the passage and then we're gonna get into it and unpack it today the Lord's Prayer I want to tell you how excited
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I am today to do this it is humbling Matthew chapter 6 starting in verse 7 do not heap up empty phrases as the
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Gentiles do for they think that they'll be heard for their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him pray then like this our
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Father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly
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Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses as far as the reading of God's Word let's pray together
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Father when I ask that you'd bless today Lord as we listen to the words and teaching of your son help us
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Father in heaven to understand what it means to talk to you help us
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Lord to understand Lord your explanation of how we are to have this relationship of conversation with you father help us
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Lord to see the glory Lord the majesty of being able to call you father to talk to you to converse with you to be your sons and daughters let us understand that God I can't communicate it
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Lord in myself and my own words Lord I can't do what has to be done in this message for you to convict us gone by your spirit to challenge us to go deeper with you
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Lord I pray that you would use Lord me a jar of clay and unworthy servant
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Lord and myself to Lord explain what it means to pray
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Lord Jesus thank you that you told us and your name we pray amen so this is big think
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I want you to consider for a moment there are lots of books on prayer there's a there's a group of Christians in history that we really like a lot we are really theologically speaking we are modern -day
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Puritans okay so our theology is very much consistent with the Puritans the
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Puritan way of thought we think that that's consistent with the early church we think that's consistent with the New Testament but the group of people that I'm talking about that really nailed prayer and wrote books on prayer and you can get the valley of vision this this amazing epic book of prayer by the
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Puritans they knew how to pray and they wrote down their prayers and they were a praying kind of people and if you go to any bookstore today into the
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Christian section after you wade through all of the false doctrine and false teachers and all of the charlatans and con artists how do you get through those books you may find some good books on prayer prayer is actually a very profitable business in Christian bookstores learning how to pray pray like this here's seven days to better prayer 15 days to better prayer it's profitable to teach people how to pray and oftentimes you can look at people giants of the faith in the past that wrote on prayer and you can gather a lot of really amazing encouraging transformative teaching on prayer good from sinful people redeemed by God forgiven that no
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God that have dug into his word and said this is how we pray and you can get a great benefit from it you could even have your pastors tell you how you know how they answer to the question how do
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I pray and you may get some good answers some biblical answers but the beautiful thing about what we're doing right now is you're not just hearing from a
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Christian how to pray you're not just hearing from fallible human being who has come into a relationship with God after being he's come into history and he's talked to us he's let us know about himself and he's told us that we are his sons and daughters we have been bought out of darkness into light out of slavery into freedom and this
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God hasn't left us in the dark he's actually revealed himself it's a revelation of God there's no uncertainty here there is rock -solid certainty about prayer about conversing with God communion communing with God we know what's important to God right now because of Jesus in prayer what are
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God's priorities in prayer what does he expect to hear from us when we talk to him what's it like to talk to God and have a relationship with them and this is really
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I think powerful the disciples that followed Jesus they got to see his life they got to see his miracles they got to see him touch people and give blind people eyes that could see again they saw him touch people's ears and he can let people hear once again they saw him before miracles and sick people coming in droves to Jesus got healed of their diseases they got to see all these amazing things with Jesus they got to see him walk on water live righteously explain the law of God in its perfection they got to see love incarnate walking among sinful people to redeem them and they got to see what what is love like what is
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God actually like in the world what is the perfect image of God what were we supposed to be like they got to see all that but a really compelling thing that was different from Jesus in his ministry and his disciples is that they didn't pray like Jesus as much as they could see
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Jesus and try to follow him and try to be like him and all these different ways and how we love people and how we try how we took care of people they might have followed him in that way but they certainly didn't follow
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Jesus and how Jesus talked to the father and how Jesus prayed and the intimacy that Jesus had with the father and this is one of those compelling things about Jesus that gets me it convicts me it challenges me it works me over I told you last week that the thing that really highlights
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Jesus for me as a follower of Christ is his how much he absolutely utterly despised hypocrisy and I told you that if you were a person who was a hypocrite if you were a fake if you were the kind of person
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I like to wear a mask if you were the kind of person I like to put on the God face when you come to church then you wouldn't have been very comfortable around Jesus for very long because Jesus always went for the jugular he always went for the heart he always knew what you weren't willing to give and he always knew what was behind your motivations and it's just really kind of it's kind of creepy in some way that like it says in the text that Jesus knowing their thoughts answered them and so like they're thinking something and he knew what they were thinking and he would respond to what was going on between their ears right it's a little bit creepy it might have been kind of weird for the disciples to know that every moment they're standing next to that in him and they're talking to him that he is right there in their heads right it's kind of weird
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I wish I had the gift with some of you trust me okay I don't I have to work on well
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I don't know what's real what's what's actually going on but the powerful thing about Jesus that the disciples just had to it had to be something that was mind -blowing to them and frustrating to them
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Jesus would go away and he would leave people to go have time of intimacy with the father to talk to the father
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Jesus would get up when it was still dark outside to pray he probably did it all the time like every day it was his practice he got up before the
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Sun was up to go and spend time with God in the time of Jesus trial where he's now going to Jerusalem and he's going to be crucified he told them that he was he knew what was ahead of him he's going to pray in the
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Garden of Gethsemane and he's crying out to the father that in a space of a few hours the father is going to pour out upon him you and do to me and Jesus still seeks the father and he's praying and he's petitioning and he's seeking the father as our substitute our representative and he's grieving knowing the pain that is right ahead of him and he still seeks the father there wasn't a point there where he didn't trust him and long to hear from him and to know him and in this moment where the disciples are around Jesus they're there with him in this moment they can't even stay up to pray they weren't even going to the cross it was the one that they loved that was going to the cross and all they can do is think about their sleep they're exhausted they're tired and certainly
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Jesus was too but Jesus longs for the father he longs for intimacy he longs for that relationship as a human being he is there grieving over what's to come and that's just that's a that's the thing about Jesus that gets me the hypocrisy thing gets me because that's what you would intend and anticipate
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God to be like in the world he would hate hypocrisy he would hate the fakeness and he would call it down and Jesus does he just did that he says don't be like the
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Pharisees the hypocrites the whoop -a -creates the pretenders the actors the ones who are wearing a costume don't be like them when they pray they pray that so that people see them pray in the synagogues and on the street corners that's that's what they do they pray so people praise them for being so spiritual when they give they give to get the trumpets blowing and so that everyone knows how spiritual they really are don't be like them don't even let your right hand know what your left hands doing he says and when you pray go into the closet and when you fast don't fast so that others see you're fasting he says when you fast make yourself look good don't make a thing out of it this is the
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Jeff Durbin translation by the way okay you don't try to let people know to highlight yourself and make yourself look spiritual he says if you're gonna be hungry for God then be hungry for God and that's what it's about and Jesus says don't be a hypocrite don't be a pretender he calls it down and then this is the this the powerful moment this is where Jesus now
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God in the flesh tells us what it's like when he prays when when
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God the Son who submitted himself to the obedience even to death he tells you what it's like when he prays that's astonishing
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God is not just telling us about himself and about ourselves and about salvation in the world he's telling us how to talk to him what our priorities are supposed to be like when we actually pray to God and this is really a big moment if you think about it this isn't a self -help book written by a sinner on how to pray this is not the
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Puritans tips to best prayer this is Jesus telling you this is how you pray and he starts off and he does something interesting it tells you what not to be like when you pray it's interesting that he starts that way because really it's how we all pray and it's how the cults pray and how religions that are really separate from God and hypocrisy really just incarnate it's how they pray and so look what he says here he says in verse 7 and when you pray do not keep up empty phrases as the
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Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him that's powerful now
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I'm going to just point out as we get into this and we start to unpack it and say well what does that mean something
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I want to highlight before we go any farther notice two things one the Gentiles and your father so if you're taking notes this is big okay at least in my mind as I prayed and reflected and thought about teaching you this as a church and try to really dig into my own life and see where I fail and I do fail in prayer
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I confess I know he's here miles and your father that's huge it's not just giving you a case example that you should pay attention to like some sort of technical okay you don't pray technically like this you pray technically like that he says
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Gentiles do it this way but your father wants you to pray like this and what's big about that right now right before us is there's a distinction for Jesus between unbelievers which is what
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Gentiles were at the time Jesus ministry first was to the Jew to the Jew first then to the
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Greek it was about three and a half years after Jesus death burial resurrection and ascension that the then went to the
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Gentiles which I think fits into Daniel 70 weeks prophecy perfectly by the way it's pretty awesome however the gospel goes to the
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Gentiles later there were Gentiles there in Jesus ministry but in this context when
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Jesus says this sermon them out listen Gentiles are pagans Gentiles are children of wrath
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Gentiles are unbelievers Gentiles don't know God Gentiles are far off Gentiles are aliens to the promises of God and so Jesus is saying okay ready children of God Gentile unbelievers pagans don't know
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God the unrighteous the righteous the unrighteous children of God children of the devil it's that stark of a difference and Jesus says don't be like the
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Gentiles those who don't even know God don't pray like them they heap up these empty phrases don't babble like them he says your father your father you children of God who belong to God you get to call him father he knows what you need before you even ask for it so don't be like the unbelievers who don't even know
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God they don't know him that's why they talk to him in the way that they do that's why it's hypocrisy that's why it's fake prayers that's why it's manipulation of God because they don't even know him and so of course their prayers are babbling and stammering and repetitious because they don't even know
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God as father there's no intimacy there there's no relationship there it's all technical it's all just words and empty phrases your father knows what you need so don't talk to him like that don't bring down God so low as to think you can trick him with the empty phrases and the pretend prayers and the meaningless babble your father already knows what you need so don't manipulate him don't try and distort your relationship with God okay so interesting point here to make watch
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Ephesians chapter 2 what does it say Ephesians 2 is big right and by the way it's all about Gentiles and Jews being brought together into one body right
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Ephesians chapter 2 what's it say that God has broken down and done away with that wall of commandments that separated
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Jew from Gentile and he's made them what he's made them one there is neither male nor female
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Jew nor Greek slave nor free you're all one in Christ Jesus right so he says this in Ephesians 2 he says you were by nature children of God of wrath you were by nature children of wrath he says you were dead in your sins and trespasses by nature children of wrath so you you have unbelievers described in a way that would really injure the psyche and the heartbeat of the modern -day preachers that want to say nice fluffy encouraging things like all of us are children of God there's something you need to grab hold of because it's vitally important for you to get if you don't know
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Jesus and if you are a believer it's vitally important for you to get so you can make Jesus known and that is this not everybody is a child of God people are children of God via adoption made by God we're all children of God yes we're all image bearers of God all creatures of God but we are not all children of God being a child of God is not a right it's a privilege it's a gift and if you call
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God father if you actually say that our Father in heaven and it's true and actually it's true it's connects and it's real if you say that that was a gift of God he took you as an alien a stranger an orphan as someone who was not him who didn't know him and he took you by his love and he brought you into his family into his house and he says father he says you call me heavenly father our father in heaven you're not like a
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Gentile unbeliever pagan doesn't know God you're gathered together into God's family and bestowed with all the riches and grace and love lifted up out of the mud and the dirt and you are saved and called son that's huge by the way people get tripped up today especially in our
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PC culture and the tension between roles in our culture which is hitting a peak goodness sakes people get tripped up when the
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Bible uses things like as for men and women sons of God a woman says well
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I want to be called a daughter of God because female right and like it why does it have to highlight the male it's just it's it's a patriarchal system you and your patriarchy it's all about the man it's all about the man and the male and the stuff and it's like you are obsessed with genitalia it is nothing to do with your genitals has everything to do with position in this culture and in God's system the firstborn son was the heir that son got everything so that the son could now distribute it down to the rest of the family the son was the heir the son was the one that was the next up the son it was a big deal to be a son and so watch when the
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Bible says you have been called sons of God and is speaking about male and female together son of God know this that's the title you want ladies not because of gender but because you are an heir it's a it's
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God saying you're in my son now and he's the ultimate heir and now I call you a son of God sons of God that means that you're all heirs well you're the you're the highest lifted up one right either you're the one that's got the the premier status that's that's what you are
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Romans chapter 9 go there real fast Romans 925 just to show this distinction now again and what
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God has done in calling and allowing us to call him father I want you to see it I want you to memorize this text because it's big and Romans chapter 9 you know the passage
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Calvinists love this passage by the way you're here for the first time we are that so we love this passage
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Romans chapter 9 talks about God's sovereignty and God mercying whom he wills and hardening whom he wills but in the context of God giving mercy to whom he wills and hardening who else watch this big
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God's a sovereign right none of us deserve the salvation he's given the potter has the right over the same lump sinful humanity to make vessels of honorable use and vessels of dishonorable use right so all of humanity is that one lump of clay what's the whole lump deserve to be cast out right and it says that God mercies whom he wills hardens whom he wills so by his grace he chooses to give mercy to the undeserving he chooses to actually love
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Jacob right he could have hated both Jacob and his brother but he says
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Jacob I have loved Esau I have hated so he chooses to give love to the undeserving and in this text and the whole
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God giving mercy to whom he wills by his grace 25 through 26 read this well starting 24 even us whom he has called
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God does the calling there see he has called it wasn't us he has called not from the
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Jews only but also from the Gentiles as indeed he says in Hosea watch here it is those who were not my people
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I will call my people and her who was not beloved
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I will call beloved and in the very place where it was said to them you are not my people there they will be called sons of the
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Living God that's the whole thing right that's that's the substance like look at this room right now look around point it out look at the white people look at the brown people look at the
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Asian people look at the black people we need more by the way color you understand stop reaching out to people who you were just comfortable with I'm going to say that just outright the gospel is about bringing the gospel into all of the earth all the tribes nations people of every language that that this church should be so diverse and different colored because we recognize what
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God has done in bringing sons and daughters together out of all the nations right but look at it look out look how different it is look at room right now it's huge this is you how many you guys have
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Jewish parents or you're from Jewish literal Jewish descent right this room is full of a bunch of pagans redeemed by Jesus most of our parents were all pagan parents you go down and take a path through our genealogy what is it pagan ancestry and what did
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God do he took people who were not his beloved and he called them loved he took people who were not his people and he called them sons of God that's what's happening here and you call
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God father now so he says watch this you don't be like Gentiles who don't know God pagans children of wrath not children of God you guys actually call
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God father and so this is how you talk to the father it's a big deal another text you guys want to go to later is first John 3 1 just mark it down of the privilege and the glory listen of the love that God has shown us in that he calls us sons of God children of God next
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Jesus says what he says don't be like the Gentiles they heap up empty phrases what does it mean to heap up quote empty phrases the
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Greek word there is Bata Ligeo Bata Ligeo it means to stammer to babble to use many words to repeat the same words so you get the idea
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God saying God is talking to saying stop babbling when you talk to God do you know anybody like that do you know anybody who's like a vortex you start talking to him and you get sucked in and they just babble and babble and stammer and but no one in here is like that okay okay but you know
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I'm talking about and it's just meaningless empty phrases it's ongoing and you wonder how much of this communication is like real communication between you and me like you really care what
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I have to say you ever talk to somebody like that that can't stop talking about themselves for long enough to hear about you right you ever talk to somebody that you realize that while they're talking they could be talking to the wall or anybody else because you just you're just a post right just there they're babbling so Jesus says don't babble don't stammer don't continue to repeat the same thing over and over and over now pause what's the very first thing that comes to a reformed
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Calvinist mind when you see Jesus saying this the first thing you think about is the
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Rosary doesn't write the first thing a good Calvinist does when they read Jesus here is they go papists what what kind of Calvinist preacher would
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I be if I didn't talk about Rome for a second here right I have to it's required it's like part of the club
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I have to have to do that okay it's it's actually accurate to do so but I want to go beyond just that and I want to do what we don't often do and that's look at ourselves when
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Jesus says don't babble so first when Jesus says don't heap up empty phrases don't babble don't stammer don't keep repeating the same thing the first thing we should point out is what would it look like today now
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Jesus obviously wasn't talking about Roman Catholicism then it didn't even exist yet and Rome hadn't fallen into apostasy yet but the principle is intact and the principle is true when we go to the abortion mill usually
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Wednesdays and Saturdays and we we've done this for years now when you go to the abortion mill and you guys can attest to this if you've gone when the
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Roman Catholics show up they're really a mission field for us but when the Roman Catholics do show up they don't generally call out to the girls that are going in and call it to the men that are going in they don't generally try to talk to them and interact with them they show up particularly during 40 days for life and they get in a line and they walk around the abortion clinic back and forth back and forth back and forth over and over and over and they're saying something what are they saying they're praying the
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Rosary and I if you didn't have the Rosary memorized before now if you go to the abortion mill you will have it memorized in the first 15 minutes all they do is they go back and forth and they repeat the
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Rosary outside the abortion clinic Hail Mary this hurts to say but I'm gonna read it
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Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb
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Jesus Holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen now this is not only completely idolatrous and wicked it is not only a complete subversion of the truth in Scripture where the
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Bible says there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man
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Christ Jesus it is not only completely wicked it is precisely the kind of thing that Jesus was talking about when he says you do not pray like the
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Gentile unbelievers those pagans and in Roman Catholicism if you sin in a particular way you can have a priest basically tell you you pray the
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Rosary this many times and through those prayers you get absolution you get forgiveness because you have now worked through by laboring and praying this prayer to another mediator other than Jesus it is
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Babel it is empty phrases it is repetitious prayer it is not only a violation of everything the
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Scripture for when it comes to Jesus as our mediator it is exactly the kind of prayer Jesus is talking about however the next point
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I'd like to point out to all of us to me is when Jesus says you don't use empty phrases you don't stammer you don't babble when you talk to your father
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I'm going to talk about the bottom of that which is hypocrisy he's talking about hypocrisy he's talking about pretending and now he tells us how to pray and he says don't do it like the unbelievers the
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Gentiles who were just repeating themselves because it's pretending it's pretending to have a conversation with God and the bottom line is we all fall into that at some point in our relationship with God we pray out of mere duty this is what
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I must do and so let me throw some words out so that I can say that I've prayed before I went to bed or I prayed when
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I woke up or I prayed over this person I prayed because it's my duty it's hypocrisy
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Jesus is talking about hypocrisy he's talking about pretending he's talking about acting and when he tells us to pray to our father in this way in contrast to that way it's because the bottom line is when you just repeat yourself over and over and over in these meaningless prayers it is fun you know you don't need to say it out loud and think about how much you pray first that failure the
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Bible says to pray without ceasing that means that there is a non -stop open communication we have we have the holy moly package in with our cell phone to God right like it is like non -stop communication it never ends that call is always open we are running up data and minutes constantly talking to God pray without ceasing and so the first failure is what a we do not pray like God calls us to like you know
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Muslims will often say well we do our prayers you know this many times a day and we have this time a day where we turn and we face
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Mecca no matter where we're at and we do our prayers we pray this many times a day that's how much we pray Christians should scoff at that because we pray constantly at least recalled to so first how much do you pray do you pray without ceasing do you pray and actually rejoice over the access you have to your father all the time to go before his throne with confident and bold access to actually talk to your father and he listens have you thought about not how much you pray but how do you pray how much how much of our prayers are just awesome when they're in front of other people we talked about this last week our prayers are awesome when they're in Bible studies or at church or with a friend all of a sudden we have lots to say to God how strange is that for our father to like know our lives and our walk and our conversation with him and when we're with other people all of a sudden we have so much to say to him that is so grandiose and and and so erudite and so beautiful how do we pray is it genuine or is it empty phrases think about that how does that get us like what has to connect in your mind and your heart and mine for us to see that we are the same guilty party that Jesus addresses there in Matthew 6 when he says don't be like the
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Gentiles who keep up these empty phrases we our first reaction is to go papist our first reaction is to go
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Gentile it's never to look at the text and say oh oh that's me that's me who has repetitious prayers that's me who just says words to get it done out of here it is duty rather than intimacy as a child
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I mean think about it what what kind of relationship would you have with your wife or with your husband or the friend if you knew that every time they talked to you it was out of mere duty to talk to you would you have any ability to have intimacy with a person who when they talked to you it was merely a work a task something they were doing cold as a shell it wasn't even real there was no real concern there was no real desire to know that person to talk to that person if you knew that a person was talking to you merely out of duty and they didn't really like you how would that relationship work and how often are our prayers as Christians just that empty phrases so what is this teaching us
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Jesus is saying when you talk to your father be real don't be a hypocrite don't be like the people who don't really know him talk to God as your father that's the relationship you have with him that's the intimacy that you can draw on with God you're a child he's your father he knows what you need so come after him it's a powerful thing always it has to first be me that gets taken to task and so when
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I've fought and prayed over the Lord's Prayer I've thought about how much I don't pray the way
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I ought to I've thought about how much I don't treat God as a father I thought about how about how much
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I do pray at times out of duty because my flesh gets gets too strong my spirit too weak and it just becomes dutiful just pray because well you have to pray and Jesus in his life of prayer demonstrates to us how we're supposed to be intimate with our
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Father in heaven and the one thing that every father every mother every child should do when they come to this prayer is repent we have to repent over how much we pray or don't pray we have to repent over how we pray
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I want to say this I don't think that God does anything in history ever I don't think
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God does anything in history ever with his people that is meaningful at all without first them meeting him in prayer
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I don't believe it and I think I'm gonna say this I think as much as God has done in our church to change the world literally to change the world in our little huddle in our little community as much as God has done
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I think that we are only seeing maybe 5 % of what God would do if we merely asked him
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I don't think that we are a praying church like we ought to be I don't think that I'm a praying pastor like I ought to be why do
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I say that because I see Jesus and his life and ministry and I want to say this we are not like that and Jesus is not merely condemning his people he's reminding us this is your status this is who the father is so come to him we gotta address this quickly
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Jesus says your father knows before you ask him so watch this I'm gonna read it to you again and when you pray do not heap up empty phrases as the
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Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard in other words what they won't they think they'll be heard for their many words do not be like them that's a command don't do that for here's why don't be like them don't do it because for here's why you don't do it this is why you don't pray like them your father that's your relationship to him that's who he is to you is your father for your father knows what you need before you ask him so don't bother with the meaningless phrases because your father already knows what it is that you need so you go okay so what in the world my praying for so that should cease all conversation right if you already know what
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I need no reason to talk to you and yet Jesus still still says talk to your father why because God and this doesn't make any sense from a human perspective longs for you to talk to him he longs for communication with you he's watch watch this he's not less satisfied he's not lacking anything if you don't but strangely and in a way that is incomprehensible he desires his people to come to him to talk to him even though he knows everything from the end to the beginning that he has already determined will happen in the world he says you come to me and you talk to me now you try to wrap your mind around that one and that just goes to show you the depth of the father's love for his people and the intimacy that he calls you to have with him us to have with him so he says he already knows so you might ask the question it's it's it's a big one why ask him if he already knows what you need first thing is well because he says he's your father and you're his child that's what
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I didn't create you as a robot he created you as an image bearer of God uniquely above all the other creatures specifically to have a relationship with him you got to grapple with that for a second dogs don't pray dogs give glory to God baboons give glory to God the stars give glory to God the oceans roar and give glory to God yes it all gives glory to God but dogs don't have a relationship of prayer with God other animals that do not have a relationship of prayer with God human beings have a relationship of prayer with God because we have a relationship of intimacy with God he created you for fellowship with Him and with others.
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God communicates. He talks and He created you to talk to Him. So first and foremost, why do we pray?
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Intimacy with God. Next, prayer is a means that God uses to bring about His purposes in the world.
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You remember that catechism, right? Providence, right? He has decreed what does and doesn't happen.
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He orchestrates things all together to work together for His glory and our good. Even the evil things that happen in the world only happen by permission, right?
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But He has decreed not just the end result, what is going to take place, but He has decreed the middle part, and that is the means.
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So for example, before the foundation of the world, God chose people in Jesus Christ, Ephesians chapter one, to be saved.
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He predestined us, amen? But there was a time in your life where somebody gave you a Bible, or somebody told you about Jesus.
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Maybe you were a stubborn, stubborn atheist like Jamie, right? And somebody came and gave you the gospel, and you turned to Christ, and no one can even believe it now.
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It doesn't make any sense. Or maybe you were a hardcore, pipe -hitting, militant atheist like Robin, right?
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And somebody gave you the gospel, and your heart changed, and you came in to like annihilate the pastor.
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And through that argument, you ended up having your heart changed, and you came to Jesus. So somebody there was the means.
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Something there was the means to bring about God's plan for salvation. God decrees not only the ends, but the what?
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Means. And, listen, the means oftentimes for what takes place in the ends is you and I, with God, us petitioning, and praying, and pleading, and begging
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God. That's the means. God's going to do His perfect work, but watch,
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He calls you into relationship with Him. Not so you can change
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His mind, to rub that genie's bottle, to call down off His throne to make
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God do your bidding. God calls us into prayer with Him so that our thoughts become like His thoughts, so that we get changed.
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Prayer, listen, is not about changing God. Prayer is not about, watch, making
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God be better than He is. Oh, man, that's big.
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If I was an old school preacher, I'd be wiping my sweat off my head right now. We'd be playing like organs in the background.
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There's a big moment right here. Every one of us act like that, especially during our trials.
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We talk to God like we need to give Him instructions on how to do a better job in the world.
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Tell me I'm wrong. Isn't that how we handle it? God, let me tell you what you ought to be doing right now.
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God, let me give you a little bit of help now. If you'd come down and bend your ear to my throne, let me tell you the better ways that you could be handling this universe or my circumstances.
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Let me just say this. Why pray if God already knows what you need? God calls you into prayer with Him because prayer with Him, time with Him, changes you.
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It changes you. Prayer is about worshiping
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God, talking to God as He is, and as we talk to God, as we worship
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God, as our thoughts become consistent with His thoughts, we're changed. And when we're changed, we begin to even pray for the things that are consistent with His will.
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Prayer is about changing us, not God. But I want to say something about prayer that's pretty sweet.
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I love this. One of my favorite things, and I talked about it on Thursday. Some of you guys weren't there because you're sinners.
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You're sinners. Daniel chapter 9. Go to Daniel 9.
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Daniel chapter 9, I want you to see this because it's pretty cool to think about in a time of our deepest needs.
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There's so many examples, by the way, that could be given on prayer, but I do want to get through Matthew eventually.
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Daniel chapter 9, I'm not going to read the whole thing, but this is just a section that's really important. Daniel chapter 9 verse 20.
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This is during a time where the Jews were told by God that they were going to go into captivity to Babylon for how many years?
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Who knows? 70 years. 70 years in captivity, so now God was going to bring
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His discipline and punishment upon people of Israel. They were going to go away into Babylon, 70 years, and then
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God actually told them who was going to deliver them from the captivity. He even names him before he's born.
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He calls him Cyrus. He tells him, this is who's going to actually deliver you. Before he's even actually a thought in his parents' mind,
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Cyrus, this guy is going to get you out. 70 years. Now, Daniel's at the end of that now, and he realizes, well, the time is coming up now, and so God must be ready to spring us.
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He's going to take us out of this now, right? Now watch. They now, temple gone, right?
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That's the center of their worship. Temple's gone. No more sacrifices. They're in priesthood. It's all messed up.
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Everything's destroyed. They were once a people, and now it seems like they're not a people, and now they're in some pagan society, and they're under the boot of this pagan government system, and they're like, we've lost everything.
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I thought we were going to get a messiah. I thought the messiah wins the world. I thought all the nations come to God, and it looks like an absolute disaster, and so now
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Daniel's like, it's almost at the end of the exile. It's almost at the end of the time of the captivity, and so he goes to God, and he's pleading with God.
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Read Daniel 9. He's pleading with God. He's like confessing the sins of God's people. He's, please forgive us.
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Please forgive us. Please forgive us. God, rescue us. God, help us. He's just pleading, and he's crying out to God, and he's grieving, okay?
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Watch. God already said when they're getting out. He already said it. It's happening.
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It's guaranteed, and now Daniel's going to God saying, please now, please show up now,
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God. Help us. Please forgive us of our sins, and I love this. Daniel 9. While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people,
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Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking and prayer, the man
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Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
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He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, oh Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
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Watch. Watch this. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved, therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
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Okay. God is sovereign. He's already told them they're getting out. Daniel knows the time is up. Daniel goes before God, and he's praying, he's praying, he's pleading with God.
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God, forgive me. God, help me. God, forgive the people. Forgive me, God. All of a sudden, angel Gabriel comes, very reliable source, shows up.
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He says, Daniel, when you started, at the beginning, a word went out,
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I was sent. You're loved by God, is the answer. For a drink or something.
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What is it that you did that took so long to get here? Well, the point was, God knew what he was doing.
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He said it was going to happen, and when Daniel first went to prayer and pleaded with God, God said, at the moment he started, he said, go and tell
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Daniel that he's loved, and here's the answer. You might be thinking, well, what's the middle part?
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What's the point of that section, right? Started here, word went out, and now I'm here, and you tell me that when
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I started praying, it was already given, the word went out. What's the point? Intimacy with God.
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What's the point? A relationship with God. What's the point? He's your father, you're his child, he longs for that intimacy and fellowship.
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So oftentimes when we pray, we go before God, we're pleading with God, telling him to be better than he is and to show up quickly, and the answer is
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A, he knows better than you how to govern the universe, and B, oftentimes, the answer has already been decreed.
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You're in that middle section where God tells you, now you come to me. The answer is already determined.
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That middle part is about you and your relationship with God. You as a child, him as your father.
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Also, watch, this is big. Your father knows before you ask him, tells us a lot about what
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God is like. Jesus saying, don't do it like them, this way, because he's your father and he already knows what you need, so don't do it like them.
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Don't talk like them, act like them, pray like them. He's your father, he knows what you need, watch. When Jesus calls
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God the father, our father, it tells us a bit about what he's like.
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And this is tough. This is tough in a fallen world, because even if you have a
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Christian father, even if you have a dad who's a pastor, you have an earthly father that is an utter failure at being a father.
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You got to grapple with that. Fathers are supposed to be representatives of God, amen?
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Not God, but represent. We're supposed to actually, as fathers, show our kids what our father in heaven is like.
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And the problem is, is we blow it. And the problem is, is many of us have had fathers who weren't
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Christians that were awful, evil fathers. Maybe you had a father who abused you, physically, emotionally, or worse.
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Maybe you have a father who was not there, maybe you had a father who was unreliable, who failed, maybe you had a father that wasn't like God, and so you have seen your father in heaven, and when the words come out of your mouth, father, it's like vomit coming out of your mouth.
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Because of your experience with your earthly father, he hurt you, he wasn't there, he was distant, he was not intimate.
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And so what happens is that when you say, our father in heaven, it hurts your heart to say it because of how much your father wasn't like God.
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And the truth is, as believers, we have to recognize, listen, the reason that you know in your heart of hearts that your father is such an abysmal failure is because you know in your heart of hearts who
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God truly is. And the only reason you and I can say our fathers have fallen short is because there's a perfect standard of what a father's supposed to be.
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Do you understand that? As much as your father may have hurt you, as much as me, I have not been the father
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God has called me to be, watch, the reason you know I'm a failure and you're a failure and our dads are failures is because you all know the true and living
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God. And you know that the reason you can say that falls short is because he is the standard.
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Did you catch that? That's big and so important. It's big, it's so important right now too because if you want to know what it's like to call him father and what it's like to talk to him, you have to go to the text where Jesus describes this right after Matthew 6.
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By the way, the parallel is in Luke 11, 11. That's easy to remember, right? Luke 11, 11. In Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 through 11, watch, this is what it's like to talk to him as father.
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This is what God intends for you to know about your intimate relationship with him as father.
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So let's get this, Matthew 7. This is a famous one, right? This is a big one.
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This is on like postcards and posters and cheesy Christian t -shirts. Don't let it be that.
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Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.
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Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
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For which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
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Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then who are evil, okay, that's you, that's your status.
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If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
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Boy, if that doesn't change you right now, you're not listening. If that doesn't change you right now, you're not filled with God's Spirit because that has to carry some weight.
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What's he like as your father? What's he like with you as his child and you talking to him?
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Seek and you will find. Ask and you'll receive. He says if you're evil and you know how to give good gifts to your kids, what do you think it's like with your father in heaven?
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You see, oftentimes I think we talk to God and we think that he's either not listening or he's not as good a God as he ought to be and he really ought to listen to us a little more, maybe put us at his right hand so he can govern the universe better.
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And we ask for stuff and we think he's going to give us something less. Or sometimes we ask for stuff, it doesn't happen the way that we think it ought to and so we get sort of miffed at God like, you should do better, you should be giving me something different.
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The truth is we get to the end of that whole path we were on, maybe God changed our course and we realize at the very end that's the path that I wanted,
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I want nothing different. We realize maybe even on the path we were on that was sinful, we say, why did
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God put me on that path? And you find out later exactly why God gave you that path. You realize why as a good father he was doing what he did in your life.
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It was all motivated by his love for you and his commitment to his glory. Every time, all the time, good fathers know exactly how to take care of their kids.
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I was at Safeway the other day, Sailor was with me, we had to go and run and grab something.
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I think I was cooking, you know, taking care of my responsibilities or something, I don't know. And I went to the store and there was a guy outside of Safeway and it seems like you can't where I live go to the grocery store without losing some money from someone in the parking lot.
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But this guy is there and he says, hey, can you give me some money? And I said, maybe,
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I might have some change on the way out, I don't know. And so I walk out and then
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I actually forgot to get some change and then I was like, oh, he was like, hey, that money, remember that money?
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I was like, oh, oh yeah. So I was like, I pull my wallet out real fast, I usually don't carry cash on me. And so I open my wallet, all
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I had in there was a $10 bill. I open it up, I was like, oh man, I'm sorry, I didn't have any change. He goes, I'll take that 10.
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I know, right? First thing I did, I kind of giggled like, no, no.
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But you know what I said to him? I said this to him. My daughter's sitting right there. I said to him,
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I said, no, I'm sorry, can't do that. I said, I'm a father, four kids
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I got to take care of. They come first, always.
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That's how fathers think. Their needs before yours, their needs before mine.
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You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You know, okay. So, you know what I'm saying?
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Yeah, okay. Whew, right? So many things I like to do, right? He said, no, okay. Their needs before anybody else.
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And you have a singular focus as a parent when you know you're doing right by God and them, your singular focus is their good, always.
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How do you plan for your future? How does it work with what they need? How do you plan for where you go, move, live, whatever?
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It's their needs. Sometimes even when you're going to do like fun things that should be an enjoyment for the whole family, you end up going to the place they want to go to, not that you want to go to, right?
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And why do you do that? Why do you do that? Because you love them. Sometimes you have very little money to work with and what do you do?
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Selfishly pull it together and say, no, right? What do you do? Sometimes you have very little money to work with and you go,
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I want to bless my kids and you risk and you give because why? You just want them to smile.
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You want them to enjoy themselves and you give stuff away of yourself because you want your kids to be blessed and to enjoy the world and you as a family and to have good memories.
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Why? Because that's what fathers do. And so Jesus is showing, he's your father.
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You ask, you receive. You seek, you find. You knock, the door is open. If you're evil and you know how to give good gifts to your kids, what do you think it's like with your father?
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And so when we pray to God and we come before him, we're not Gentile, pagan, unbelievers. We're children of God who have a father who loves us and Jesus tells us, you go to him and trust him.
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He knows what you need. You talk to him as your father. And I want to say,
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I have so much more to say. This is going to become three messages, by the way, okay. Let me just say, because it's 5 .45,
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so I do want us to eat tonight, I'm going to stop there for now and get into the hallowed be your name next week.
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You're like the Lord's Prayer. We're in the, right?
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Okay. Okay. Well, now you've got the context, so that's good.
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So I do want to say this is important. All of this, everything
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I said about father, child, intimate relationship, bold and confident access, all of that only means something if you are a child.
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And so, if you're sitting in this room tonight and you've never repented of your sin, you've never turned from your sin to Christ to put your faith and trust in him, if it's never happened in your life, then you're not a child of God.
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You are a child of wrath. You're not a son of God. Jesus says that the wrath of God abides on you, and the
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Bible says there's distinctions. There's the sheep, the goats. There's death and life.
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There are those who know God and are known by God, and those who do not know
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God and are destined to separation from God.
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And so, here's the thing. If everything I said to you right now was meaningful, it's either you're a believer and you know
01:01:38
God and you've trusted in Christ and you've been given a new heart and you're redeemed and belong to God as a son of God, or if it was meaningful at all and it's striking on your heart right now, there's a good chance the
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Spirit of God is applying the message to bring him glory and to enjoy him forever.
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That's the purpose of every person who's ever made by God, and the call of the gospel is to repent and believe the gospel.
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Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the Messiah who lived righteously, blamelessly.
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He kept the law perfectly in place of his people. He died on a cross, a death that you deserve and I deserve.
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And he was buried and he rose again. He is ascended and seated now, sitting on his throne. He is the
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King and he calls men and women everywhere to repent, to turn away from your sin to God and to put your faith in Christ.
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This message is meaningless if you have not turned to Christ as Savior and as Lord.
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I'm not asking you to give Jesus a chance. I'm not asking you to give him permission. God is a consuming fire.
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He is either Father to you or he is your judge and will condemn you. It's either a relationship of peace and intimacy as Father or it's a relationship of warfare where you're the rebel, you're the hostile one in his kingdom, and he is against you, not for you.
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Who is God to you? Is he Father or are you his enemy? For those of us who have been loved by God and called sons of God, let's learn to pray.
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Let's commit to pray more and better like Jesus.
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Let's pray. Father, thank you. God, thank you. Lord, I know that I, in the end, cannot do full justice to this teaching, and I know that this week you have confronted me, and Lord, I'm thankful, and I just ask that,
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Lord, by your Spirit and Word, that you would convict this church. Lord, let me first say this.
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Individually, we all need to come to you in a way that brings you pleasure.
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We need to come to you in a way that is real and not with hypocrisy, and so please work on each of us.
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But let me also ask, Father, would you please work in the hearts and minds and lives of the fathers in this room?
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Would you please help us to lead our families better in talking to you?
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Lord, I know we are utter failures in this area as fathers, and please, I just pray that if anything happens,
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Lord, out of this message, that that connects, that the fathers in this room will lead their families in prayer and worship the way we're supposed to.
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And so I pray, Lord, for those in this room that are not truly converted, they're not truly regenerate, I pray that even now you would cause them to grieve over their sin, and Lord, draw your people to yourself.
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Grant them repentance and faith, in Jesus' name, amen. So now we come...