Cling to the Lord Who Goes Before You (Joshua 23 John Lasken)

Well, good morning, everybody.

Yeah.

Made it, yes. So Ivan, that was a self-inflicted wound. I went to a funeral in Florida. It was a great friend of mine. He is and was a soul winner. Loved to evangelize and died unexpectedly. This guy was like larger than life.

His name was Jim Connelly, just the kind of guy who'd give you the shirt off his back, just constantly telling people about Jesus. Last year, he opened a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter in St. Petersburg, Florida, and then just unexpectedly just passed away.

So I went down for his funeral. And I knew that I would be arriving right before the church service, flying through the night. So I asked John Laskin where he is. Pastor John will be preaching for me today.

Otherwise, I would say something that I don't know what I said. I'm kind of loopy here.

Reuben, I think you're preaching anyway.

All right, yeah, let's go. Come on, let's go. So yeah, I flew from, this is the way that Frontier took me, to get from Tampa to Philadelphia. You could see Atlanta or Charlotte. No, they flew me to Denver to get to Philadelphia.

So I was all night long, but it was worth it. It was a good time. I got to share the gospel with the people I was sitting next to, so praise the Lord for that. All right, let's get to some announcements.

Number one, men's breakfast at 6 AM tomorrow here, not at Cracker Barrel, but here. So guys, if you want to come out for a good conversation, and we're reading a book. Also on Saturday, we have the Love Life Ministry, which is at the Cherry Hill Women's Center.

We go out, and we plead with women not to murder their babies. And we try to encourage them to choose life, and we pray. So please join us if you are free on Saturday at 9 AM. This Saturday the 10th, this one coming, yes.

The Blanket Drive, the youth are collecting blankets to give to Seeds of Hope. So if you have blankets that are no longer used, but they're in good condition, or maybe if you want to just swing by like five below, they have cheap blankets.

You could contribute those, and those will be given to Seeds of Hope for those in need. We have a hymn sing, I hear, on December the 18th. So it will be a Sunday evening, and I'm sure we'll have some Christmas hymns in that, right, John?

Wouldn't you guess?

Yeah, the week before Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, Christmas Eve, we have two services, one at 2 30, so it's still light out. But if you want it to be dark, it actually gets dark so early that you can come to the 4 o 'clock service, and by the time we do the candlelight, it's dark outside.

So it's a candlelight service, and both of them have candlelight, so 2 30 and 4 o 'clock. But on Christmas Day, mark your calendars, Christmas falls on a Sunday, and we have decided to have one service that day at 10 45.

So there won't be a 9 AM service. That way you can spend time with your families, open presents, do the whole Christmas thing, and then all together, we're just going to pack it in here and just worship the Lord on Christmas Day.

So with that, let's go to the Lord in prayer and seek him for this worship service. So Father, we do come to you now, and we know that we do not come by our own merits because we have nothing to bring to you.

We come through the body of Jesus Christ, his body torn like the veil of the temple, to open a new and living way. Through the shed blood, we can now enter into the most holy place. Thank you, Jesus, that you have made a way for us to come to the Father.

And so Father, we come in spirit and in truth, and we ask that you would receive our worship, be glorified in your church. We pray that our hearts would be made right before you this morning, that we would confess our sins, that we would forgive those who have offended us, that we would praise from the heart, and that we would have ears to hear your word.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen.

Let's stand and sing.

Worshiping together and focusing on his birth, it was just the beginning of the redemption plan when he went to the cross for our sins. Let's quiet our hearts this morning as we continue to sing. Emmanuel.

Behold this starlit night. A king is born in Bethlehem. Our journey that leads to the hallowed ground. He fells in the silent age. For 100 years can he be found. But broken by a baby's cry, rejoicing the hallowed man.

Allow us to push all the busyness aside and open our hearts, make time for you. There's so many times that throughout the year that we're really, really busy, and then it really comes to a really busy time.

And we want to make sure, Lord, that we put you first. We want to let your glory and your peace and your joy into our hearts this season. We pray, Lord, that you prepare us for your birth.

This is the Lord's table.

He has invited all to come. He sent messengers into the world to say come. And many made excuses saying, well, I have to go take care of this business or that business. And so they wouldn't come. And so the king in the parable says, well, then go and invite the crippled and the lame and those who have need to come.

And those, many of them came. But the parable goes on that the king said, but there's still room. So go into the highways and the byways and compel them to come in. Invite them to come. The Lord's table is an invitation that we offer to all.

But the Lord's table, in order to eat of it, requires that one come and submit to him as Lord. That means that when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we do so as believers in Christ. If you have not yet bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, then when the bread and the cup is offered to you, just let it pass by.

But don't think that you have to be worthy to earn the right to eat and drink of the cup. Rather, to come worthily means with that humble attitude of dependence on Christ, confessing your sins. And so take a moment to confess your sin and your need for forgiveness.

When you come with that humble heart, the table is offered to you if you believe, if you submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter 22, verse 14 and following, we're told, when the hour came, he, Jesus, reclined at table.

And the apostles were with them, with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, listen, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

Then he says, and he took a cup. And when he had given thanks, he said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

And he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

So the body of Christ and the blood of Christ represents his life and his death. The bread represents the person of Christ, the bread of life. As Jesus said in John 6, I am the bread of life. And he offers this life to us.

But we must also believe that he died. And so the cup represents his blood. And that blood is his life, but his life given in death. So the one who comes must believe in who Christ is and what he's done.

And so we hear in Luke 22 that we are to do this in remembrance of him. And rightly so, we should always remember what Christ has done. It is finished. What he has done, he has done once and for all. But there's part of this text that I have often missed in reading through it.

So focused on what Christ has done and remembering that as well we should, I missed this part of it. Maybe you caught it. Jesus said, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And then he said the same thing about the wine. I will not drink until the kingdom of God comes. So do you see what Jesus is doing there?

He's calling us to remember his death, burial, and resurrection. But he's also calling us to look forward to a heavenly meal, a banquet in heaven with him. I don't know about you, but for me, sometimes this life gets heavy, especially when you lose a friend, you go to a funeral, and you see how short life is and how much pain and how much suffering.

Did you know that one of the reasons we come to the table is to remember what is soon to come? It is to look forward to the marriage supper of the lamb. For every time we eat of this bread and drink this cup, we not only remember what he's done, but we remember that he's coming soon.

This is a reminder to hold on. It's a reminder to look for his coming, the marriage supper of the lamb. In Revelation 19, that is described for us. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out.

Can you picture it now? There's coming a day when every person who has named the name of Christ, your family member who's gone before you, your friend who passed, in heaven with you at a banquet, a feast.

And this is a foretaste of that. And they say, hallelujah, for the Lord, our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory, for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Now listen to this.

And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage.

Supper of the lamb.

And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Church, we're invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And so we come to this supper, the Lord's table, as a foretaste of what is soon to come. He is coming soon.

It may be far quicker than we expect. We look back on what he's done, but we also look forward to what he's about to do. And we will eat with him and with all those who have named the name of Christ. So as this bread is passed and then the cup, I want you to take some time to confess your sin and to look forward to that day, to rejoice, to find hope, and to keep your perspective right on heaven in the marriage supper of the lamb, lest you grow weary and lose heart.

This is sustenance for our soul. It's God's grace to us in the Lord's supper. So ushers, if you'll come forward, let's give thanks. Father, we thank you for the bread of life, Jesus Christ. We thank you for his body, broken for us.

We thank you for the forgiveness of sin. We recognize we could have done nothing to earn forgiveness, but you gave it to us as a free gift of your grace. So Lord, as we come to you now, we confess our sins.

We ask that you would be faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Thank you for the body and for the blood of Jesus. For I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. And Jesus, thank you for the shedding of your blood, without which there is no remission of sin. Thank you for the new covenant in your blood, the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for paying the penalty for our sin by giving your very life blood. Life is in the blood, and you have given your blood to make atonement for sin. We remember this, and we look forward to the day when we drink the cup of joy in your presence at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

There was a song that we've just sang, and one of the slides, gentlemen, if you can find it, prepare him room, prepare him room. Let the King of glory enter in. Frequently, when I get a chance to stand up and speak to you, I find it intriguing that the songs that we sing in worship prepare, actually, the thoughts that the Holy Spirit has already put on my heart.

This is one of those Sundays. Michael and I talked about it between services. Neither one of us prepared for this to happen, but when we sang those words, I was just totally caught up. Prepare him room, prepare him room.

Let the King of glory enter in. The one thought I'm gonna be speaking about this morning out of Joshua 23 is cling to him. Psalm 19, one, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows his handiwork.

The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. Some thoughts. What I see, what I perceive, and how I respond. You see, the heavens are going to show his handiwork. I had the privilege of serving the country in the U .S. Navy, and when we'd be in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night, where there's no light pollution of any sort, looking up to the stars on a clear night, it is awesome.

There is so much to see. I have not had the privilege yet, maybe some of you have, of having seen the northern lights. There are things in the skies and in the heavens that just are so totally awe-inspiring, and you are going to look at this and perceive it in one way or another.

One option is that this is the result of a big bang with all sorts of particles being spewed across eternity to what we now perceive as the stars in the heaven. I don't buy that. Another way to understand it is the account in Genesis 1 where God created in six days, and he put all the stars in their place, and he named them, and he counts them, and he knows them by name, and so when I look out at the heavens, and we've seen images from the Hubble telescope, and it's limitless on its majesty, you can see the stars, but what do you perceive?

Do you perceive an accidental occurrence, or do you see God in his sovereign, creative hand? But then, how do you respond? And when I looked to the heavens, and I looked to things that are created, it's like, I'm in awe.

I've also had the privilege of going down through the Grand Canyon on the water side. I can't do heights, so I couldn't look at it from up above, but I'm okay on water. I was in the Navy. And as you go through the canyon, 216 miles of it, it's one incredible view after another, and I go with my brother, who is a great guy, one of my best friends.

We come from opposite perspectives. He's an atheist, I'm not, in case you were wondering. And so when he sees the Grand Canyon, he just sees the result of billions of years of things that have happened, but you know what?

There's a place in the Grand Canyon that befuddles them, it's called the Great Inversion. And there's this one spot in the canyon when all the layers that stack up over the historical eons that they propone, they're upside down.

They can't explain that, I can. It's called the Great Flood. See, you see things, and how do you perceive things, and then how do you respond to what you perceive? And I think that we need to respond in awe, and to hearing his voice, and to saying, yes, God, I want you, I'm so in awe of you.

My family had the privilege of, several years ago, of taking an extensive trip into the highlands of Scotland. That's my best Scottish word, Scotland. It's a great place, lots of cool things to see, but they have an interesting law.

I think it's called the Law of Open Spaces, I'm not sure, but you're driving along the road, and there's a field that looks interesting to you. You can get out and walk on the field, even though it belongs to somebody, and he's got sheep, and all this other kind of stuff.

You're just allowed to walk out there. They're not worried about their sheep, do you know why? And sheep only listen to one voice. And I could try to, perhaps, urge the sheep to follow after me, but they won't.

They only listen to one voice. The cottage we lived in was situated in the midst of fields and we could walk out in them, which we did, and the first day we were walking in the one field, there were sheep out in the field, that was so cool.

But then they moved to another field, and they moved to another field, and the shepherd, by his voice, calls the sheep, and they go where they need to go. And when it comes time that the ewes are going to be lambing, he would separate the ewes that were ready to lamb from the rest of the flock, but he could call them, and they knew his voice, and they would follow after him.

Scripture uses this imagery to describe us. In Psalm 100, verse three, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. That's who we are. You know, sheep have to be led. They need somebody to lead them, and that's how he describes us.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. John 10, verse four, says the sheep follow the shepherd because they know his voice. Now, this is a truth for those of us who have bowed the knee to Christ.

Jeff already expressed this concept. This is an important concept, and if I don't say this often enough today, I wanna say it again right now. If you have never bowed the knee to Christ, that is the first decision of importance for you.

Turning to him and confessing and repenting, it's his grace leading you to it and then responding in faith, becoming his child. If we become his child, John 1, 12, we are now described as his people. We are now described as the sheep of his pasture.

Wherever we are, this is his pasture. And then John 10, 27, my sheep know my voice and they follow me. That's our calling. Because where we are going, what we are doing, what life brings in front of us, we have a shepherd, we are his sheep, we know his voice.

When a child, when a person surrenders, bows the knee, the Holy Spirit comes within and enables us to hear the voice of Christ in the midst of all of the other noise, enables us to hear the voice of Christ.

I get intrigued by interesting things sometimes. I don't know if any of you spelunk, anybody know what a spelunker is? Somebody goes into caves. We did a cave trip once and as we were coming out, one of my daughters says, man, I'm sure glad there weren't any bats in there and I went, hee, hee, hee.

Do you know how bats know where they're going? Sonar. They emit a sound and the echo tells them what's going on. Now there could be hundreds of bats in a cave, they know their sonar from everybody else's sonar.

If they didn't, man, it would be confusing as all get out. I know my master's voice and when he calls, I can hear his voice and I can do that because I got the Holy Spirit dwelling within me. And I even have the Holy Spirit teaching me and encouraging me to cry out, Abba, Father.

Now quite frankly, I don't know much about sheep. I've been amongst them, if you would, but I do have a little bit more knowledge about dogs. Maybe some of you do. We've had a couple of dogs and our second dog, Taffy, wouldn't listen to me, not a whit.

He was Sandy's dog. I probably has something to do with the fact that she's the one that always fed him. But Taffy was Sandy's dog and if Sandy spoke, Taffy would listen. If I spoke, it was like in one ear and out the other.

I'm sorry, it's almost like talking to a teenager. Did I just say that? But you get the message. You get the message. I am a child of my master, the shepherd and I know his voice and when he tells me something, I can hear it.

The message in Joshua 23 is to hear that voice and then cling to it and then cling to it. In this world, there are a lot of voices. There are a lot of sounds. There are a lot of enticements to go this way.

There are a lot of attempts to teach you truth and now I'm gonna speak to you teenagers who in high school or going to college, there are a lot of voices that are gonna try to teach you truth but there is only one who teaches you true truth and that's God.

Cling to him.

We are exhorted to hear his voice and to obey him. Let's pray. Lord God, we do know that as your children, as those who have bowed the knee, we are sheep who need a master. You are that master. Lord, your voice speaks to us in a way that protects us, encourages us, guides us.

We need to cling to you, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You shall fear the Lord your God. Nope, that's the wrong one but you shall cling to the Lord your God as you have done to this day. Joshua 23, eight.

Debek, that's the word in the Hebrew. It can be translated, depending on which Bible you're looking at, as clinging, holding fast, cleaving but the root of that word is debek. It's going to talk about a singular devotion.

It's gonna talk about an adherence that doesn't break, that is not only there but is intentionally followed after. It is used in a relationship between people. If we go back to Genesis 2, 24, we are told to leave our mother and father and cling to our spouse.

That is a relationship of singular devotion, of giving without compromise, without need for being proven but just clinging, giving fully to nobody else, full devotion that doesn't end. This metaphor, in fact, is used by God, this marriage metaphor between himself and the church.

Okay, we are his bride and in that way the church is to follow after him, forsaking all others. I wanna ask you, church, to always, always be in prayer for your pastor, for anybody who speaks to you, for anybody who teaches you because the dangers of the slightest introduction of something other than true truth is of major danger because that one little introduction of something that isn't true truth can spread.

So always be in prayer, always be grateful to God for Pastor Jeff and how he teaches you. But we are in this marriage relationship that's described and that's our devotion to God. This word, to beck, is also then applied in physical realms.

In Jeremiah 13, it talks about the waistband that clings to the garment. In Psalm 137, it talks about the tongue that clings to the palate. And in Job 19, it talks about the bones that cling to the flesh.

These are adherences that are not broken. These are adherences that can be depended on. These are adherences that don't alter or change. But probably more importantly, to beck is used in a spiritual context.

To beck, having a spiritual allegiance to God is responding to him and knowing who he is. Deuteronomy 10 .20, you shall fear the Lord your God, you shall serve him and cling to him, by his name you shall swear.

This is the relationship with God that to beck talks about. He is our singular focus. He's the one that we surrender to because of his sovereignty we fear him, because of his sovereignty and his holiness.

He is the one that we serve and we choose not to serve others other than him. He is our spiritual lead, our spiritual master. And so we hold him and we swear by his name. That's the relationship, the spiritual relationship.

In Deuteronomy 30, it says loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him for he is your life and length of days. These verses are not in a command tense. These verses are in a tense that is an ongoing practice.

You don't do it once and it's done. These are things that are to be definitional of who we are in our relationship to God. Loving the Lord your God. He is our God, he is our God. Obeying his voice because what he has to say uniquely teaches us.

And if we choose to not obey him, the definition of that is believing the lie of Satan that you can become your own God. Because if you're not obeying God, who are you obeying? We are obeying somebody.

We might make ourselves our own God or that thing that we choose to put above God. Obeying him and holding fast to him, Debek, all the days of your life. Life is going to present challenges, opportunities and obstacles.

And we're going to need guidance to get through them because we don't know what's coming up next. I want to paint a picture of you of a sight impaired person who perhaps comes through the doors and comes walking up the aisle.

Most likely that sight impaired person would have a companion. And you can see in your mind that person walking up holding tight to the arm. As that person walks him around the chairs and up to a place where they can sit because if they lost contact with that person, what would they do next?

That sight person, Debek, clings to the companion. But then there are like seeing eye dogs and you've seen them walking perhaps in public and they have that handled thing that's on the dog and they are holding on to that because they can't dare let go of that.

If they did and they were in the middle of somewhere where they didn't know where they were, they would be lost. Debek, they cling to. They cling to. Satan is going to talk to your flesh and say you don't need Debek.

Satan is going to talk to your flesh and say you can do it on your own. You do not need God. You do not need anything. You can reason through it on your own. But I'm telling you right now that we need to seek after God.

We need to trust God and we need to rely on him. We need to be able to see God, not only able to see it, but we need to perceive who God is and then we need to respond to who he is. The motivation to do that is very clear here in Joshua 23. 23 .3, as you have seen, all the Lord has done to you, what the Lord has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you.

The nation of Israel has a history that they would know and they would know quite well because they would tell the stories. And these stories would go all the way back to the time of Abram, who becomes Abraham, who was given the promise of becoming a great nation, that all nations will be blessed through him, the promises that are given to Abraham.

They knew the story of Jacob's sons who sold Joseph into slavery. And as that story unfolds, Joseph says, what you meant to me for harm, God intended it for good. Joseph was placed in a position in Egypt where because of his obedience to God and surrender to God's lead, he didn't fall into temptation.

He ended up becoming the second greatest only to Pharaoh and is able to provide food that would protect the Jewish people through a famine. They knew the stories of that. But then there's a captivity in Egypt and then there's the burning bush.

Moses says, who should I say sends me? And he goes, I am, that I am. That's our God. They know these stories and then how Moses approaches Pharaoh and there's various plagues and eventually they're let go.

They know the stories of leaving Egypt only to be confronted by the Red Sea. And here comes Pharaoh's chariots. So it's like, we made a big mistake right now. No, you didn't. You see, God still is with them.

Moses, put your staff out in the sea parts and they walk on dry ground. I was in the Navy, as I said, had the chance to go from the Mediterranean Sea into the Indian Ocean, which takes you through the Suez Canal down through the Red Sea and down into the Indian Ocean.

And I was on watch in the middle of the night one time and I proclaimed to the guys, gentlemen, I honestly can't tell you exactly where, but somewhere, oh, we just passed over Pharaoh's chariots. That is so cool to think how God, and they knew these stories.

They knew the stories of God's deliverance, but then there's two other stories that they know about. They know Mount Sinai where God gives the 10 commandments and the people get impatient because he's up there so long.

What do they do? They make a golden calf. And they know the stories about Kadesh Barnea where they could have gone right into the promised land, but the 10 spies said, it ain't gonna work. It's a land flowing with milk and honey, but hey, dude, we're grasshoppers and they're giants, can't happen.

They know the story of punishment. You see, not only is there God providing for them, but he is also a holy and righteous God. And even his act of punishment is a blessing because he can't let this sin go and fester and grow.

He needs the people to be devoted. He wants his people to cling to him. At Mount Sinai, they had other things that they were willing to cling to. They could control it by making a golden calf and worshiping it to it.

Or in Kadesh Barnea, they could control it because we don't get it militarily, we can't do this. But you see, God had the plan all along. All he had to do was cling to him. So the stories of punishment are actually stories of blessing.

Now, the people eventually get a camp in Shittim on the east side of the Jordan River. They got across this river and it's at high flood stage and it's torrential. Now, some of you have been around for a while.

I started this journey through the book of Joshua about three years ago. Way back then, I actually had a picture of the River Jordan at rushing tide. It's not a little bit of water that the migrants are crossing down at our southern border.

This was nasty stuff. How are they gonna cross it? Well, you see, in Joshua 1, the Lord said, have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened. That water looks pretty bad to me.

Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. He gets them across that river. The priests go first with the ark and when the priest's foot touches the water, again, the water separates and on dry ground, they crossed over, took stones and set them up as a memorial.

They know these stories about how God brought them into the land. They know the stories of the spies that go into Jericho and end up in the apartment of Rahab, of all people. And what does Rahab have to tell them?

We have heard the stories of how your God has fought for you against the kings on the other side. And the hearts of the people are melted. They cannot stand against you because of your God. They know these stories.

You have seen what the Lord has done for you. The battle of Jericho, all they had to do was obey, walk, take a little hike around the city for a few days, shout and the walls come down. But they also know about AI.

And the first time they tried to attack AI, there was sin in the camp. Some of the booty from Jericho, inappropriately taken and hidden. And the leader didn't seek God for his direction. I know how to do this one.

We just had a great victory at Jericho. I don't need God. These are the little people they lost until they cleansed themselves, got themselves right with God. And then they routed AI. They know these stories.

The next many chapters in the book of Joshua are the battles and the occurrences that they had and how God was faithful. Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous. The Lord, your God is with you wherever you go.

They know all of these stories. And then they get to Mount Ebel and Mount Gerizim. And on one mountain, half the people, and on the other mountain, the other half the people in the middle is the Ark. And they rehearse what happened back in Deuteronomy where they announced the blessings and the curses.

They know God's plan for them. They know how he will care for them. But they also know the warnings that if they don't go there, and you have seen all that the Lord, your God has done. To all these nations, for your sake.

The Jewish history is one of seeing the hand of God. They know all of this. But here's a question for you. When you see what God has already done in your life, and I was speaking to my brothers and sisters who have bowed the knee to the Lord.

When you see what God has done in your life, your response has got to be one of awe, reverent awe, worship to him, surrender to him, dependence on him because he will do what he has done. It's time to cling to him.

Cling to him. Turn to him. The Lord's prayer. Okay, we go into Matthew chapter six. Matthew five, six, and seven is the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew six, he goes into some of these practices. And when you give to the needy, he tells them what to do.

And when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love standing on the synagogues and the street corners to be seen by them.

Don't be them.

And when you pray, don't keep on babbling as the hypocrites do. They want to be heard by their many words. So he's telling them, don't just recite things. And then he goes on to say, this then is how you should pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, and we know the Lord's prayer. And many have learned the Lord's prayer as a young child and can recite it quite easily. It's kind of like saying, now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord, my soul to take.

Amen.

That's not really a prayer. Any more than, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. I was raised Catholic. I confess that. And I knew how to pray the rosary. All right? And on the big beads, you would say, our Father.