The Pattern Of Prayer (part 1) - [Matthew 6:7-15]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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The glorious and the good God that you are we do pray for some of those in our family who lost loved ones

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We think of the Bertrand's and Tom's the loss of Tom's father and and the McLaughlin's and the loss of Mary Ellen's father

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We pray for them and for the grandchildren in both cases We pray that you would sustain them and your all -sufficient grace has always will be proven

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Their strength in their weakness father. We pray for your Holy Spirit's guidance this morning as we open the scriptures together

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We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. We'll be Discussing a series on prayer and it's it's going to be kind of different it might be a little bit like a discipleship lab, so to speak because I want it to be as Practical and as helpful as possible this in no way is

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Something that I'm teaching because I've become an expert in the area of prayer practically speaking

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I remember as a young Christian reading books Like Ian bounds power through prayer and you read about all these great saints of old

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Spending four hours on their knees. I Thought yeah, you know as a young die hard on fire young collegiate who wanted to do everything to walk with the

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Lord I can do that and Then the years have gone by and then realize there's a lot more growth in this area

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But let me begin by asking this question There seems in many areas of our lives, but particularly this one

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When it comes to prayer there seems to be I'll ask it in a number of ways and we can discuss it There seems to be a wide gap between our theology of prayer.

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We have the right theology of prayer but there's a gap between our theology of prayer in the practice of prayer

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Or we would say, you know prayer is good But it's not really essential

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Or we'd say it's it's an prayers an important part of my Christian life But it's really not near the top of the list

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So let's discuss that a little bit why would you say there is such a wide gap between our theology of what the

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Bible teaches and we know about prayer versus our Practice of prayer. Why is there such a gap when we say that it's an important thing

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But it's really maybe not the or one of the top of the list Any thoughts or comments on that?

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Well, go ahead, brother okay, very good comment, so Will said that because God's will we believe because he is sovereign

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God's will will be accomplished whether we pray or not his Purposes eternal purposes will be established.

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It's almost like the idea of Evangelism right The book that was written evangelism and the sovereignty of God by Stott It's almost like prayer in the sovereignty of God, which we'll get to later in the series probably the third

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Sunday But that's sometimes why we think okay God's will is going to be accomplished. His end purpose will be

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Established so that's why maybe we don't pray. Why else good point. Yes pastor

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Bob Yep, very simple too much going on we're busy

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The idea he said that of even for a Sunday driving for Barry to come here years ago would have been unheard of it's part of our culture the busyness of life, you know,

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I think of Mark one if we're not going to go to that I mean, this is obviously not going to be an exhaustive series on prayer three weeks

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We'll definitely not cover that but I think as it relates to that mark one probably the busiest day recorded in the life of our

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Lord and He gets up the next day early in the morning Goes away up to a mountain to pray and the disciples like what are you doing?

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people are looking for you and Yet he made it a priority. So the busyness of life part of our culture.

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Yes, Joey Yes, yes, so it's not a priority she's saying because part of our culture is everything is based upon getting results and that's of course

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Infiltrated the church unfortunately, so because we pray and we don't see immediate results that we don't make that a priority or pray and that has

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Changed our way of thinking How many of you have an easier time studying the word versus praying raise your hand

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Okay, we're going to get into that also probably next week the relationship between prayer and the

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Word of God But I think also it's because we don't we have another reason is we might have a false or a wrong perspective

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Maybe maybe our theology can be tweaked a little bit on prayer too As to what prayer is

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And that's what I'm going to kind of cover Today turn with me briefly. I mean, this is not going to be our main text

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We're going to look at Matthew 6 but Colossians chapter 4 verse 2 if somebody can read that Colossians 4 verse 2

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Our main text will be in the Sermon on the Mount the words of Jesus the disciples prayer Matthew 6

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But just as an intro Colossians 4 verse 2 So different reasons as was highlighted why we don't make it a priority between what we believe about prayer in the practice of prayer because God's will is going to get done no matter what because of the

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Busyness of our culture because we don't see end results immediately instantaneously like in everything else we do

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But let's see what Paul commands us here in Colossians 4 verse 2. Go ahead Larry. Thank you Thank you continue steadfastly in prayer some other translations.

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They be devoted to prayer the ESV does a good job in capturing the idea Continue steadfastly.

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It's an imperative. So it's a command but the tense is in the present tense. So it means Continue steadfastly good idea is something that's continuous habitual a pattern a way of life prayer is to be

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Hebrews 4 just as another introductory Hebrews 4 15 to 16 you're familiar with this.

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Let's turn to that also Hebrews chapter 4 Our focus today is going to be on the pattern of prayer as outlined by our

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Lord I think that's important in understanding in getting grasp of the practice of prayer, but also we'll see here briefly

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Hebrews chapter 4 Verses 15 and 16 the privilege that we have in prayer

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Somebody can read that Hebrews 4 15 to 16. Yes Thank you So what is the reason the writer of Hebrews says we can draw near?

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With confidence to the throne of grace because of what because of who? Because of Jesus referred to as who?

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Great High Priest So that's a privilege that we have that in the Old Testament days Hebrews talks a lot more about that and pastor

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Mike will be walking us through the book of Hebrews next but Talks a lot about how the the great hype the high priest in the

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Old Testament days could go into the Holy of Holies how often Once a year and yet you and I have the privilege to draw near the throne of grace

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Daily regularly. All right. Let's turn to our text to look at the pattern of prayer Matthew chapter 6

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Beginning verse 7. It's not going to be a full exposition of this text But I'll be referring to it today obviously and in the next few weeks as our basis

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Matthew chapter 6 and I'll just read that verses as you follow along verses 7 to 15

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I remember as a young child Growing up in a Protestant conservative evangelical

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Church part of the worship service to me in my mind as a child was We said the

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Lord's Prayer what was referred to as the Lord's Prayer the our father in the Protestant evangelical church

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So that's what I knew as a kid I didn't know anything beyond that until of course as I studied scripture and the

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Lord showed it to me through his word What is it really that Jesus intended here?

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Matthew 6 let's begin in verse 7 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 for their many words Do not be like them

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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

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Give us this day our daily bread Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation

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But deliver us from evil For if you forgive others their trespasses

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Your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses just To give a little context here the the main thrust here is from the beginning of chapter 6 verse 1 where Jesus says beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in Order to be seen by them

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For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. That's the main thrust

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It's it's talking about the practice of righteousness not imputed righteousness

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But practicing our righteousness who is it to be done not before other people other men but before God That's a general thrust and then

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Christ highlights three specific areas fasting praying or actually begins with giving giving praying and Fasting so when he teaches this prayer

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It's within that context of praying not before other men like the Pharisees who he condemned here

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But before our Father who is in heaven secret prayer private prayer, so let's see how he begins actually

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In Luke 11 Luke's account of it. It says this you don't have to turn there But the precursor to Jesus teaching this prayer it says in Luke 11 verse 1 now

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Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him

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Lord Teach us to pray so Christ was praying and One of the disciples

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Observed and saw that he was praying and that was his incentive to ask him Lord.

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Teach us to pray Christ modeled prayer in His incarnation and that was the impetus for the disciples to be teachable and say

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Lord Teach us to pray and then Luke goes into the prayer as outlined here in Matthew Typically, you know, the prayer is broken down into two parts.

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The first part is very God centered Focusing on who God is and the second part is seems to be more requests

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Focusing on our needs And we'll get into that aspect of prayer. You're all familiar with a

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CTS I believe right the different aspects of prayer a is adoration right

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C is for confession T is for Thanksgiving and s

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Supplication, but I that's how I was always saw this as broken into two parts, but really even the second part

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Just to highlight this a little bit before we get into the first part, which will be our focus this morning

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It's not about our needs though. You might think it is the first part you say is obviously about God 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.

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Then you say okay from verse 11 It's more about us. Give us This day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us

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Not in temptation, but deliver us from evil Maybe so, but if you think about it, the prayer is directed to the

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Father our Father in heaven So even the second part is really God centered Who are we looking for give us this day our daily bread for provision you?

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Implied give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts father

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And lead us not into temptation He is the one we are praying to so he is the one we look to to overcome temptation.

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He is the one we look to for Forgiveness, he is the one we look to for provision. So it really is the whole prayer is really

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God centered But let me focus on the first aspect today as we looked at the pattern of prayer verse 9, right pray then in This way

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Pray then like this as our text is in this translation others say in this manner

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Pray then like this. This was not just to be repeated just like Liturgically ritualistically whether it's corporately or whether it's in your own personal private prayer life to just say the prayer

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Okay, check mark. I've done my Christian duty Christ gave us his prayer as a pattern for prayer and I think that'll help us be more motivated to Practice prayer in our lives based on what we believe is the theology of prayer

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So he begins with our Father in heaven Why our

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Father and not my father any thoughts?

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Yes, Deb What's that? Okay creator of all the only

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God, okay good Yes, Tom, okay

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Okay, so he's directing us us how to pray our Father So is this a pattern for corporate prayer only since he's using our or is it a pattern also for your own personal private prayer

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Life both. Yes, it's for both. So even if you're praying in your own personal prayer time

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Though you address him as my father The point Jesus is trying to make here is that we're not as Christians even though individually we have we're a child of God And he is our father

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That it's done within the context of being part of a body the church So even in your praying in your own private prayer life, you are to be mindful of that that I'm as I'm praying

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Christians in my own local body and Christians around the world are praying at the same time and God the heavenly

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Heavenly Father is hearing them is listening to them Turn with me briefly to 1st

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John 5 verse 1 just to highlight this aspect a little bit more the hour part of the

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First part of the pattern of our prayer our Father in heaven. Somebody can read that 1st

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John 5 verse 1 Okay, the second part everyone who loves the father part

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B Talking about our father everyone who loves the father loves Who?

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Whoever has been born of him John's purpose is different here in What he's writing he's writing about assurance of salvation 1st

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John 5 13 being his authorial and tennis purpose I write these things to you who believe that you may know that you have eternal life

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Well, if I say I love the father everyone who loves the father also loves the one who has been born of him

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The point of how it relates to the prayer is it's not just my father It's our father because as I have a heavenly father, so my brothers and sisters in Christ have the same heavenly father

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He is the same one we are praying to Our Father in heaven

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Deb mentioned he is the creator of all is he everyone's father No, what's the requisite for being for God Gary said?

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No, he's not everyone's father. Well, what is it? Go ahead Gary Okay, exactly must be born again it just said it from 1st

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John 5 so only those who are born again But there's this even today nowadays, maybe not as much as in the past this idea that God is everyone's father

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He's everyone's creator in the sense that he has created all but prayer is addressed to the father So prayer is really the privilege of the child of God It's a privilege of us as his children who have been born again by his grace to address him as our father

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Romans 8 15 don't turn there you familiar with this verse for you've not been given a spirit of slavery that leads to fear again

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But a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out what? Abba father term of endearment

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Turn with me to John 8 briefly to to highlight this aspect of the prayer a little bit more about God being our father

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John 8 Let's begin in Somebody can read from verse 42 to 44 those three verses

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John chapter 8 verses 42 to 44 Jesus is addressing the crowd specifically the religious leaders about who is their father?

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42 to 44 of John chapter 8 go ahead. Yes Thanks Carmen Thank You Carmen, so according to Jesus Everyone has a father and there's only one of two choices

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Who what who are they either who is your father who else is your father according to that text? God or Satan, okay

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Did cross my mind last night? I was preaching the gospel to a co -worker of mine But I said maybe

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I won't tell him yet that the father is his devil that might not be the best thing So I withheld that was a lot more gracious Talked about Christ and who he is and what he's done, but the point as it relates to us

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In God's system Everybody has a father. It's either God or The devil and John the

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Apostle who recorded these words of Christ picked up on that don't turn there in 1st John chapter 3 He says this verse 10 by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil?

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two categories Everyone has a father. It's either God the one true

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God of the Bible or the devil So this is our father in Heaven and that's a that's a privilege that we have when we come to the

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Lord that we address him as our father and it's mindful of our Being born again and being his children as part of his family

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Not familiar probably with this name, but it's a little book that I got as a as a young Christian It's called prayer more than words written by a man named

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Leroy Iams And he says this as it relates to this aspect of the prayer our father

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Quote when the Bible says to come boldly to the throne of grace. It does not mean brashly

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We should not breathe into the presence of Almighty God with a cocky little hi there the very thought that the creator of heaven and earth and The sea and all that it contains should ever permit people like us to come into his presence

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Should fill us with a sense of gratitude awe and reverence Yes He is our father

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But there should be something more than a casual. Hi you pop So it's a balance of I come confidently

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I don't come Ashamedly because of my great high priest Jesus Christ, and I have the privilege

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We have the privilege of addressing him as our father that is What we are to do as we come to him in prayer

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But yet not brashly and that's leads us into the second part of this first section of the prayer our father

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Where what else does Jesus say in wet in? heaven Now that aspect of what

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Jesus is highlighting here about the character of God really is two things The aspect of our father being in heaven highlights two aspects of God's character.

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It highlights number one his transcendence Who can explain transcendence to us, what do we what do we mean when we say

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God is transcendent he is what he is other

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Gary did you have you hear that okay other than everything we know exactly above and beyond us

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We're studying this week with my daughters on a very simple theological concept the

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Trinity so So we're discussing that and one of them says to me

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I still don't understand it and of course I said Joe. How do you mean you don't understand?

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I taught it very well. No. I didn't say that to her and she said what I wanted her to say actually I said exactly

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Turn with me if you will to Isaiah 55 let's turn there to get this is the verse I gave them in response to that as we were discussing the

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Trinity what it is and looking up some verses in the New Testament Matthew 28 of course baptizing them in the singular name of the

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Father Son Holy Spirit The Lord's baptism also where we see the Trinity at work

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Well, I still don't understand this dad. Okay great. This is why Isaiah 55 8 through 9

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Somebody once you find it go ahead and Feed us in that reading Great passage of Scripture go ahead mark.

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Thank you there. It is transcendence right there my ways God is saying through the prophet

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Isaiah. They're not your ways My thoughts are not your thoughts as high as the heavens are above and he goes on and explains that so Deuteronomy 29 verse 21 9 says the secret things belong to the

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Lord our God But the things revealed Belong to us and to our children forever that we may obey so there are certain things that God has revealed so I told him yeah

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But God has revealed himself as a triune God in the Scripture my finite mind even as one who has been born of the

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Spirit born again has a new heart a New will a new mind can't fully comprehend the infinite

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God But I accept it because it has been revealed in the Scripture, and I'm reminded again of God's transcendence

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That he is other than me so yes I approach him I approach him boldly and Confidently and that should motivate me to pray in my pattern as I come to him reminding myself.

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He is my father He is our father, but yet. He is in heaven. He is transcendent above and beyond me

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But the in heaven that Christ highlights in Matthew 6 here. Not only is he highlighting God's transcendence

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He's highlighting God's sovereignty God's sovereignty let's look at a couple of verses where it connects these things together

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Psalm 115 verse 3 if somebody can look that up and somebody else who would like to do someone 15

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Joel thanks brother verse 3 and then Psalm 33 Verses 13 to 14

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Psalm 33 is the other one verses 13 to 14 so listen to here as the these

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Passages in the Psalms described God being in the heavens. Let's hear Psalm 115 verse 3 go ahead

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Joel Thank you our God is where? In the heavens therefore

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He does all that he pleases he is sovereign Psalm 33 verses 13 to 14

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Go ahead Caleb the Lord looks down from heaven, and he sees everything and how does it describe him in the heavens enthroned a

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Ruler one who is in charge. He does as he pleases only as he pleases always as he pleases as pink has said

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So when Christ says we approach him and are mindful of who we are talking to yes

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He is our father by his grace. We are his children, but also he is our father in heaven who is transcendent and who is

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Sovereign and we can approach him as our father because at the same time that he is transcendent Because he's become imminent in the person of Jesus Christ Our high priest by which we can come with boldness and confidence and he continues in verse 9 hallowed be thy name

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Hallowed be thy name hallowed literally means to to set apart To make holy hallowed be thy name.

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It doesn't mean Christ is not saying okay through your prayer. You're gonna be making God holy God is inherently holy

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He is by nature holy the only attribute of God in the scripture that is mentioned three times away

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It is in Isaiah 6 holy holy holy and Revelation talks about that is the Lord God Almighty That is the core of his being if you get down to the very core of his essence

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We see sovereignty in heaven and his holiness hallowed be your name Notice, he says hallowed be your name names in that culture in the

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Jewish culture meant something and they'd still mean something today sometimes In the

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Hebrew culture when you mention a person's name The person who was hearing that name it brought to mind everything of all who that person was in Their character in their reputation

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So when we mentioned the name of God that he is hallowed that he is holy. We're reminding of who

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God is by nature he is holy holy holy

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Hallowed be your name so this is the pattern of prayer that Christ gives us we're going to get into intercession next time and Some other things in the sovereignty of God as I mentioned

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But the pattern he gives us here before we pray for our needs as it were as he has in the second part even even though those are still very

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Theocentric because we're looking to him to meet our needs is to begin prayer with praise

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Is to begin prayer with worship Worship part of corporate worship

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Of course is when we gather together and sing the great hymns of the faith and in the great courses now that they're that there are

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But worship is beyond that of course We know ultimately worship is a way of life right Romans 12 1 in view of God's mercy

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To offer your bodies a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God. This is a spiritual act of worship but part of our prayer life sometimes

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I think we have a Misconception is like okay. It has to begin with what Jesus sets as our pattern and This is not just leftover stuff a lot of times we think you know

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There's so many needs I have to pray about for myself and to intercede for others And that's true, and God calls us to intercede on behalf of others

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But it's not the idea Jesus is not saying here. Okay. You know just go through your list make sure you praise me, okay?

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Now we can get to the real stuff This is the real stuff praise and prayer is

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What the book of Romans is to our biblical theology? Praising God in prayer is what the book of Romans theologically is to us biblically in Christ is saying we have to focus our attention upon Our father and who he is

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Question why do you think Jesus sets as our pattern for prayer private prayer corporate prayer to begin with this?

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Kind of prayer of worship and praise and adoration. Why did Jesus set that as our pattern any thoughts?

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Hmm you need to realize who God is before you can talk to him properly excellent hand up back.

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Yes, Anthony Okay to get our focus off of ourselves

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So so first of all so we know who God is so we can talk to him properly secondly so we can get the focus

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Off of ourselves very good Joanie Excellent, so the Psalmist is a great example. It goes into some of the the

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Psalms talking about what they're going through their struggles but the focus then becomes on who God is and He and then you see that by the end of the psalm the whole different in their attitude towards their current troubles

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Gary Okay, the

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Lord inhabits the praises of his people now if we were in the college and career group I'd ask you by next time we meet to find me the reference for that verse so All right, let me give you some stuff if I can get two people that and there might be some overlap

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I know Eric in back in August when I wasn't around did a great series on spiritual disciplines you used

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Whitney's book right Eric as a basis and he gave you 30 days of psalm I'm not some of it might be a little bit repetitive, but that's okay

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We get it's just a good way to reinforce it so two people who can pass out some handouts Thank you.

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This should be more than enough While they're passing that out

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Let me read you what RC Sproul said listen carefully About this aspect of our pattern in praying to God He says this in the book effective prayer

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Sproul says quote we do not come rushing into God's presence arrogantly Assaulting him with our petty requests forget him whom we are addressing

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We're to make certain that we have properly exalted the God of creation Only after God has been rightly honored adored and exalted do the subsequent petitions of God's people assume their proper place

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Let me repeat that last sentence Only after God has been rightly honored adored and exalted do the subsequent petitions of God's people

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Assume their proper place. One of the things I was I've been very thankful to the

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Lord over the years as a young Christian I was it was modeled to me and I was taught this aspect of prayer

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And I'm giving you some sheets to help you along with this And I know those of you who have already by now

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It's been more than 30 days. So I have already gone through the 30 days of Psalm as Eric had directed you, right?

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But these are some things that have been helpful to me over the years So you'll see in one of the sheets as I wait till everyone gets one one of the sheets is

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Arken Hughes in his book disciplines of a godly man has an appendix in the back of that book praise

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Passages where you can use in your own prayer life But his are all from the Psalms and I have some of the ones that I use from the

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Psalms I mean typically people think of the Psalms right because some but some of the Psalms are Psalms of lament

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Of course are different kinds of categories and genres of Psalms even the some are very praiseworthy

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But in the list there you'll see In the shorter pamphlet that's being passed out.

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I have a list of some key portions of Scripture you can use to praise

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God And it's a great thing to do So what I typically do you can do it in a small group

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Or you can do it in in your own private prayer life is praying through these passages of Scripture And actually sometimes it's helpful to do when you're just reading through the

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Bible. Let's say you're reading One person I'm helping recently they there

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I told him okay They're reading through some of the New Testament epistles and I said when you read

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Pause and pray what you've just read They're not necessarily Passages that focus on the character and nature of God and praise passages in that sense

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But he the person said to me says why it's just opened up a whole new light to me in terms of my scripture reading

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Because I would just read and then you know, we read the Bible and then we Disconnect our prayer life from what we just read.

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Okay, and I've done my duty. I've read my Bible now Let me just pray But our prayer never connects what we just read in the

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Bible, but these pastors in particular did everybody get one Anybody not get it. So there should be two sheets one a small one back there.

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Did you and we need some up top there? We'll get you some up there also

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Those looks are upstairs. Yeah. Thanks Eric. What's that? Whatever. I have there should be more than enough.

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I made about 70. So if you look at me with me at the short the smaller page

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Which is the praise passage is about 36 praise passages there some are from the Psalms You'll see some are from the

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Old Testament some classic portions of Scripture Don't have it in front of me but from memory at Exodus 15 the song of Moses There's some great passages there in the

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Old Testament first Kings chapter 8 when King Solomon dedicates a temple powerful passage of praising

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God for who he is Nehemiah chapter 9 My wife and I did that this week where Nehemiah is talking about the rebellion the stiff -neckedness of of the people of God of Israel and then one of those marvelous but God's comes and it says but Because you

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God are a gracious Ready God gracious compassionate ready to forgive slow to anger.

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So as I go through these Portions of Scripture sometimes I'll underline them. Sometimes I'll box them in I have you pick your own system

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You don't even have to do that. It's not a study The purpose of these praise passages is as you read them

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So I would read I'll read two or three verses some of them are longer portions like Nehemiah 9 I think is verses 5 to 38

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But you can pick a portion of them and as you read two or three verses you pause and you praise

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God for the Attributes of what you see in those specific verses now, the tendency is to be to want to rush through it

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Okay, let me get over this so that I can get to the like I said earlier the real stuff of intercession and there's a place

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For intercession, but only it takes his proper place as Sproul put it. Thank you After we worship

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God for who he is and sometimes I won't even Go beyond that praying other

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I won't even get into necessarily that time of prayer confession Thanksgiving and supplication

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I just focus on a on the adoration It's a marvelous thing because then by the time when you get to praying for your needs and by the time when you get to praying for others

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Interceding it's in a whole new light because you're praying for them and for yourself in light of who you just worship

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God for who? he is and If you were to study we'll get into this more But I'm jumping ahead if you're to study the

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New Testament prayers, for example, the Apostle Paul even when he prays for the believers His and I think to myself when was the last time

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I prayed like this for somebody else. I mean, it's okay It's I mean nothing is too petty for God if my daughter is struggling because her bicycle broke and we're gonna pray about that But the point is when even when you pray for others your prayers for others takes on a whole new

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Form so to speak when you first begin to praise God So if you're looking at these small sheets a lot of great pastors in the

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Old Testament besides the Psalms Some in the New Testament Luke chapter 1 as you see there

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That's related to the birth of Christ Incarnation Luke 1 there. That's Mary's Magnificat.

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What a great passage that is Where she praises God and addresses him as my

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Savior great passage to give to your Catholic friends Luke 1 the prophets

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Zacharias praying there Ephesians 1 and 1st Peter 1 I put together They don't so much highlight the character of God per se but those are great passages on salvation

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Soteriological passages where both Peter and Paul begin that section of Scripture with the same way blessed

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It's praiseworthy blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the rest of the passages you see there

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Philippians Colossians Hebrews 1 and 3 in Revelation are really Christological passages that focus on who

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Jesus is and what he's done So it's very simple what you do is you read through these portions but instead of reading through the whole thing as You read you stop every two or three verses and respond back to God in prayer not praying any requests

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But just praising him for what you see in that text for how you might see something about his faithfulness

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About the fact that he's a God who is ready to forgive and so on and so forth Another thing you can do if you look at the other sheets that were passed out

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That's 30 days I know Eric had giving out 30 days in the Psalms But these are the bigger sheets as you see there and you can

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I can send out an email for that too You can I have them on my phone that has a PDF file It's easy if you want to have it on your smartphone

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But those are 30 days that highlight either the names of God as you see there on your sheets or the attributes of God So each day for 30 days

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You just go through them from 1 to 30 and just highlight in your prayer time

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Praising God for that specific name of God over that specific attribute of God so a couple of ways you could do it a third thing that you could do

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I Guess I'm an old fogey here, but I love the hymns of the faith.

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I love some of the newer courses Thanks to the Gettys who've come up with some decent lyrics rather than as MacArthur says the 711 courses seven words repeated 11 times but you take you take a

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Your hymnal you open up to a great hymn I don't know You know holy holy holy and instead of you can sing it if you want as long as nobody's around to listen to you

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But if you have a good voice, that's okay, too, but I'll read I won't just sing I'll read through the verse verse 1 of that hymn

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Then I'll pause and I'll praise God for what I just read Like I'm reading through a verse of Scripture and with the hymns you can do that because they're so biblical

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They're so deep in their theology and they're so Theocentric so that's another great way that you can do that In terms of spending time praising

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God in in your practice of prayer Any questions whether you're using the hymn book or whether you're using these portions of Scripture or the 30 -day sheet that I've passed out

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Any questions about that? So try it this week if you want you can alternate it one day

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One day you can go through a passage of portion of Scripture one a couple days you might use the the sheet that I passed out the calendar there the 30 days of the names and attributes of God Let me close with this quote

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This is from Puritan Thomas Watson Just in reference to the to the prayer that we just briefly studied and we'll get into the second half a little bit more next

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Time but he says this is a very insightful and very helpful Quote when some of the other petitions shall be useless and out of date as we shall not need to pray them in heaven

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For example, give us our daily bread because there shall be No sin, no lead us not into temptation because the old serpent is not there to tempt

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Yet the hallowing of God's name will be of great use and request in heaven

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We shall be ever singing Hallelujahs, which is nothing else but the hallowing of God's name point being that in heaven, we're not going to be

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Bringing in petitions before God because we are going to be in his presence and we'll be worshiping him for eternity

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So part of developing that it's helpful in our own personal prayer life to spend some time

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Just focusing on God and who he is in his character worshiping him telling him how great he is

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And then when it comes time to intercede for others and pray even for our own needs they take on a whole new light

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All right, let's close in prayer any comments or questions before we close Father, thank you so much that we have been given this privilege to draw near the throne of grace

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Not because of anything we have earned or done obviously But because of our great high priest our advocate who intercedes himself on our behalf even today his present ministry

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And we can come boldly we can come Confidently because of him and we can come addressing you as our father because by your grace

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We have been born again into your family and are your children But we come to you father realizing who you are that you're the

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God who is in heaven Who is transcendent beyond and above us other than us? Your ways are not our ways your thoughts are not our thoughts

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But yet you have by your own will decided to reveal things to us in your word And amongst many other things you've decided to reveal is who you are your great character your glorious nature

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The goodness that you possess innately by who you are and help us in our own prayer lives to be motivated to follow this pattern that the

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Lord gave us to come to you not just to Bring our requests before you and to intercede for others

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But to come to give you the praise the adoration that worship that you deserve whether it's reading through one of these great

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Marvelous portions of Scripture or whether it's highlighting a particular attribute That day of yours or whether it's just reading through one of the hymns the great hymns of the faith these are just tools helpful tools to help us get our attention off of ourselves and to focus upon you help us the rest of this day to Keep our hearts and our minds focused upon you as we worship together corporately in Christ name.