The Method of Prayer

Greetings guys. This is Pastor Keith and I want to welcome you to today's lesson and I want to talk about what we're going to be doing over the next couple weeks because I'm not going to be with you by the way if you're listening to this online this message is being presented for the men of set free ministry and this is I usually teach there on Thursday mornings but for the next three weeks I'm going to be out.

This is my normal time of taking time off and because of everything going on with kovat I talked to Pastor Mark and we just decided it would be better if I produced some video lessons for the group. So I'm producing the video lessons on behalf of saw on behalf of set free and for your benefit.

What we have been talking about over the last couple weeks has been the concept of prayer and the sovereignty of God. We looked at the question if God knows everything and has already determined what he is going to do then what is the purpose of prayer.

Why do we pray. And so that has that became a two-part lesson. The first was the the question of has God determined what he's going to do and and does God know the future perfectly. And we learned the answer to that is of course yes.

And then we said well what is the purpose of prayer. And we said that prayer. There were four purposes of prayer and that was in our lesson last time we talked about the purpose of growing a maturity the purpose of worship the purpose of following the command of God and of course the purpose of asking of God those things that we need and so that was the purposes of prayer.

And that was our lesson last week. But what I want to do is I want to continue this study of prayer out and I'm going to do three more lessons on the subject of prayer and I want to focus more on I want to dive a little deeper into the subject of prayer hoping by God's grace that this will help you.

Because I know that many of you men are are desiring to pray. You want to pray and hopefully by God's grace you want to become better at praying. And I know that sounds funny because a lot of people I don't think even think about the fact that we can become better at praying but in the same way that we can become better at studying the Word of God as the same way that we can become better at at following the Lord and the things that he's called us to do.

I do think we can become better prayers. I think that our prayers can become more intimate. I think our prayers can become more more personal. I think our prayers can become more meaningful. And I think ultimately not only for people that we're praying with but our own personal prayer life can grow.

The Model Prayer as a Framework for Prayer

And so what I've broken this down into three parts. I've broken it down into first we're going to look at the method of prayer that's going to be today's lesson now next week we're going to look at the attitude of prayer so that means how should I approach prayer.

And then lastly we're going to look at the object of prayer. Who am I praying to. What should I be thinking about why while I pray what is the focus of my prayer. Now there'll be some overlap in some of this some of the method and the attitude will go together.

Some of the object and the rest will go together because you can't sort of talk about one without talking about all of them. But I hope that by the end of this you'll understand the value of what I'm trying to get across to you today.

So if you have your Bibles turn with me to Luke 11 and we're going to look at Luke 11 chapter verse 1 and we're going to go down to verse 4. We're going to look here. This is Luke's version of the what is typically called the Lord's Prayer.

Now I don't believe this is the Lord's Prayer. I believe this is the model prayer. The Lord's Prayer I believe is in John 17 that's the prayer that Jesus prayed. And if you read John 17 that's what we call the high priestly prayer of Jesus.

But Jesus gives a model for prayer. And that's why I said we're going to look today at methodology. We're looking how we are to pray. And we're going to base this on a question that the disciples asked Jesus because they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.

So let's read the text together now. Jesus was praying in a certain place when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. And he said to them when you pray say father hallowed be your name your kingdom.

Come give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. Let us pray father in heaven. As I seek to give an exposition on the subject of prayer over the next few weeks I pray first and foremost Lord that you'll keep me from error for God.

That I know that I'm a fallible man and I know that I'm capable of preaching error. And for the sake of your name and for the sake of my conscience I don't want to preach error and Lord. I also don't want to be a coward.

So I pray that you would keep me from error and cowardice. I pray also for the men who will hear this message. For the men of set free. For Pastor Mark I pray that you'll give him strength and vitality and encouragement and an extra measure of your spirit to do what you've called him to do.

For the other men of set free. For the overseers I pray that you would encourage them in their leadership and their example. And to the men who maybe are just coming into set free that you'll give them the the desire to continue with the program to understand the value of what they're doing.

Lord most of all that we would understand the value of prayer the end to understand the value of having an intimate relationship with you. And I pray all of this Lord in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.

Jesus’ Praying Life and the Disciples’ Request

The method of prayer that is our subject today. And the first thing we're going to do is we're going to look at our text. It says number one. It says Jesus was praying in a certain place. It says now Jesus was praying in a certain place that reminds us something right away before we even talk about our need for prayer and the way that we ought to pray.

One of the things that we notice in the life of Jesus Christ was a consistent constant and perpetual prayer life. Jesus would pray all night. Jesus would pray various times throughout his ministry. There would be whole sections where it was just him focused on the subject of prayer.

Communing with God. And you say but wait a minute Jesus is God in the flesh. Why would he need to commune with God. Well there's an inter-trinitarian relationship. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are all God.

They are one in essence. But they are not all the same person. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Spirit. They interrelate to one another. That's what we're going to talk about in our third lesson.

The object of our prayers is the Trinity. We are to pray trinitarian prayers. When Jesus is on the earth Jesus is praying to the Father. Jesus is in communion with God the Father. God the Son on earth is in communion with God the Father in heaven.

And it is a vital part of his ministry. We must not ever forget that prayer was a vital part of what Jesus did in his ministry. And he considered it very important. And it says here that he was praying in a certain place.

And when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. Now the John that he's referring to there of course is John the Baptist. John the Baptist had preceded Jesus.

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And John the Baptist very clearly taught his disciples how to pray. And so the disciples of Jesus are looking at John and his disciples and saying okay John gave them a method for prayer.

Jesus we need a method for prayer. Give us this prayer method that we will know how to pray. And for a moment I want to just consider the fact that I think this is a lost desire in many places because a lot of people when you hear people say I don't know how to pray.

A lot of people say well just pray. Just say what's on your heart. Just speak from the heart. Just talk to God like you were talking to a friend. Just talk to God like a child talks to a parent. All those things may sound good and in a sense there is some truth to them.

But when Jesus was asked Lord teach us to pray. Jesus did not say just be willy-nilly. Jesus did not say just follow your heart. You know the Bible says the heart is desperately wicked who can know it.

So the idea of following your heart in prayer not always the best idea. And Jesus didn't say treat God like Santa Claus climb up into his lap and just talk to him like you're talking to a grandfather or a Santa Claus figure or friend.

Jesus gave them a method for prayer. And by the way I do think Jesus gave a method for prayer. I don't believe Jesus gave a prayer that was meant to be recited. And I want to clarify this because I do teach my children to recite the Lord's Prayer.

But I know and I explained to them that the reason why they're learning to recite the Lord's Prayer is because one it's scripture and it's always good to learn to memorize scripture and to the prayer provides for them a framework from which to build their prayers.

I don't think Jesus especially like what we see in Roman Catholicism where there is a set of beads the rosary where the beads are prayed over. And when you get to a certain bead you say Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee pray for us sinners now and at the time of our deaths you know that's the the Mary's prayer the Marian prayer.

And then you get to a certain bead and you say our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come. And it becomes it becomes a repetition. And we're going to talk about this in week two.

We get to the attitude of prayer because Jesus clearly forbids prayers that are simply prayed in vain repetition. We see this in Matthew chapter 6 and that's going to be the text for next week. So Jesus in providing us what we call the Lord's prayer what I call the model prayer.

Jesus in providing for us the model prayer is not providing for us as it were a prayer to be recited like everyone learned together to say our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done.

I don't believe that that was what the prayer was intended. Again though I do teach my children and even in our church periodically from time to time we'll have a season where we'll teach through the Lord's Prayer and everyone will recite it.

And the reason for the recitation again it's good to learn scripture and it's good to learn the framework. But what we try to explain is that the prayer of Jesus is a framework. Now I want to make a point to in Luke's gospel Luke 11 we have a truncated version of the prayer meaning we have a the prayer is less extensive than it is in Matthew chapter 6 and Matthew chapter 6 we have a few additional lines.

And the reason is that this is two different scenarios. This is two different situations. Now if you have a King James Bible this is one of those times where the King James is translated the exact same in Luke as it is in Matthew and and I again this is one of those places where I would say I disagree with how the translators made that decision they but be that as it may the point of the matter is Luke's the the the the prayer in Luke is slightly shorter than the prayer in Matthew because this is two different situations.

This is two different scenarios. In Matthew chapter 6 when Jesus gives the longer version of the Lord's Prayer that is during his Sermon on the Mount and he's preaching on the subject of prayer and he's giving the attitude of prayer and the model for prayer.

But in Luke 11 he's providing a response to the question teach us to pray. And you say well what's the what are you getting at. Well here's I think this tells us something. This is not meant to be absolutely rigid.

It's not meant to be every time. It's our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come. I don't think it's intended to be that way. I think it's intended to be a framework. It teaches us principles for prayer.

And that's what we're gonna look at today. We're gonna look at the method we're gonna look at the principles that we learn. We see this in Luke's version. We see these and Matthew's version. And what we're gonna do.

I'm gonna do it on the board. We're gonna look at this from the perspective of the traditional version. The traditional version of the Lord's Prayer if you don't know it our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our.

And this is important because sometimes it says debts sometimes it says trespasses sometimes it says sins. But we're just gonna go with forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. So that is the basic framework of what we call the model prayer. And what are some things that we see in this model where the first thing that we see in this model is that when we approach God there is recognition of who it is we are speaking to.

And so the first thing we have is we have the address. And this is who are we speaking to. We're speaking to God. We are addressing God. So we say who it is we are addressing. And it is the Father in heaven.

Who are we addressing the Father in heaven. One of the most interesting things that we note in the Bible is that in the Old Testament God is referenced as Father but not as frequently or with the same level of intimacy that we see Jesus referencing God as Father and Jesus references our Father reminding us that because of the adoption that we have received through coming into relationship with Christ being born again we are now adopted into the family of God.

And we have a father in heaven. We might not have an earthly father. We might not have a good relationship with our earthly father. We may have an earthly father who did us wrong who treated us poorly.

But this is not that father. This is the Father in heaven. And so our prayers should begin with a recognition of who it is we are speaking to. And again this is a level of intimacy because the Bible says that we are to call God our father but with the attitude of Abba not Allah as in the Islamic religion but Abba which is an Arabic phrase which means a father and I know you probably heard this before means like daddy but it's relational fatherhood not just that he's the father of the nation or the father of the kingdom.

He's our father possessive. He belongs to us. He's ours. He's my God he's my father. And so when I when I enter into my prayers I understand immediately who it is I'm speaking to. But I don't enter into that prayer with a sense of a cavalier spirit because the very next thing Jesus says is our father who is in heaven hallowed be thy name hallowed be thy name.

And the word hallowed or hallowed means holy. It means holy. When you enter into prayer you are entering into a conversation. You are entering into the throne room of God who is holy. Open your Bibles and turn with me back to Leviticus chapter 10.

In Leviticus chapter 10 we have the story of Nadab and Abihu. Leviticus chapter 10 says this. Now Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized or strange fire before the Lord which he had not commanded them and the fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord.

Then Moses said to Aaron this is what the Lord has said among those who are near me I will be sanctified and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. I want you to consider something for a moment.

Nadab and Abihu are the sons of Aaron. Nadab and Abihu have decided to offer to God what he has not commanded what the text calls strange fire. They offer up a strange fire to God and God does not receive their worship but instead chooses by the power of his might to destroy them.

The fire that they offered became a consuming fire and it burned them to death and they died right in the presence of their father. Aaron was the high priest. These were his sons exercising their call to priesthood.

But they exercised it in a way that was ungodly. They exercised it in a way that was strange or unauthorized. And God did not receive their worship but instead he responded by consuming them with fire.

Now for a moment I want you just to think about how Aaron must have felt. I'm sure Aaron was crushed. I have five children. I could not imagine having to watch them be burned to death. It would destroy me in a profound way.

I'm sure to hear their screams and to see their pain and to know that they're not ever coming home. That's what Aaron had to face. Sometimes I think we don't read the Bible with a sense of understanding.

These are real people at real times in real history. And that and this is a real situation. God chose to take the lives of these men because they had done something that needed to be dealt with immediately.

And the question is what did they do. They did not recognize the holiness of God. They thought God's presence was something that could be played with. They thought God's presence was something that they could take a cavalier attitude toward.

They thought that offering up a fire that God had not commanded was fine because God was going to take whatever they offered no matter what even though God had clearly given them regulations to follow.

And so Moses comes to Aaron and he says among those who draw near to me I will be. And the ESV says sanctified. But I like this translation better. I will be seen as holy among those who approach me I will be recognized as holy brothers.

We must when we are entering into the presence of God. When we are addressing God we must understand. Yes he is our father. Yes there is intimacy there. Yes he is Abba father. He is by the Spirit adopted us into his family.

Yes he loves us. But he is still holy. And therefore when we enter into his presence we need to understand that we are entering into the presence of a holy God hallowed be thy name. And then Jesus goes on and he says thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Submission to the Holy Father and Daily Supplication

So we move from the address to the concept of submission. So we've gone from the address father in heaven that's who you are hallowed be your name. That's what you are. And now we say thy kingdom and thy will be done.

Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Not only do I recognize you're my father in heaven. Not only do I recognize that you're holy. And not only holy but you're holy holy holy.

The Bible says the only thing that God has ever called three times is holy. He's not called love love love. He's not called justice justice justice. He's not called grace grace grace or mercy mercy mercy.

But he is called holy holy holy. In Isaiah chapter 6 the seraphim surround the throne of God and they cry out holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with his glory. So he's our father but he's holy.

So we submit to him. Thy will be done. I talked about this last week. I think that there are some people who say you shouldn't pray that I will be done. When you pray you should tell God what you want and believe he's gonna do it.

You shouldn't say nevertheless not my will but I will be done. That is foolishness. We should always say thy will be done because God knows better than us. God has a plan that's greater than our plan.

God has a desire that's greater than our desire and he has a purpose that is better than our purpose. So we start with who we're talking to and we submit unto him. And then Jesus moves to the next portion.

Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then he moves to what we would call supplication. Supplication means the making of a request.

And the first thing we see in the prayer is the request for our daily needs. Our daily needs give us this day our daily bread. There's so much in this and time is not going to allow me to break. Each one of these can be broken down for an entire sermon.

But consider for a moment the fact that what Jesus is saying is that one we need to be coming to God daily to ask him for our needs. And we don't ask for our needs for tomorrow. We ask for our needs for today.

We don't say God give us a week's worth of bread so we don't have to talk to you again for a whole week. We don't say God give us our annual bread so we can come annually and pray to you. This actually tells us how often we ought to pray.

We ought to pray every single day because Jesus said give us this day our daily bread not yesterday's bread and not tomorrow's bread but give us this day our daily bread. But it's not only daily needs it's also daily forgiveness our daily forgiveness because he says give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses now again can be translated debts.

I think the King James translates it debts. But honestly I prefer Luke and Luke's version because Luke translates it from the word hamartia. The word Greek word hamartia means sin. This reminds us of something as believers we have been forgiven.

Jesus died on the cross. He took the punishment for all of our sins past present and future. We have no more sin that will be held against us. The Bible says blessed is the man whose sin is not counted against him and we have that blessing.

If we are in Christ we have the blessing of knowing our sin is not counted against us. And yet we also know that daily we err daily we make mistakes daily we sin daily we rebel against the commands of Almighty God.

And so daily we go before God knowing that the forgiveness is in Christ. And we say God forgive us our sins. Forgive us of our sins because we need to be forgiven daily not to re-up our subscription to salvation.

No salvation is secure but we need the peace of forgiveness every day. We need the peace of relationship with God every day. So we say God forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

The Bible says if we do not forgive our brother God will not forgive us. That's that's a scary thought because I know that in my own heart there been some times where I have had trouble forgiving. I've had trouble letting go.

I've had trouble being angry with someone. But you know this is why the Bible says if you come to the if you come to give your offering to the Lord and you realize that your brother has something against you you leave your offering and you go and you be reconciled with your brother.

This is why the Bible says that as much as it depends upon you live at peace with all men. We have the responsibility we have the necessary responsibility to do the act of forgiveness now that doesn't mean that everybody we know is going to be forgiven because some people don't want our forgiveness.

And forgiveness is a difficult concept but like I said would take longer than one sermon and certainly a portion of a sermon to deal with. But I like to think of the father of the prodigal son. The father of the prodigal son was ready to forgive when he saw the prodigal son walking toward him and he was downtrodden and he had the mud on him from the pigs and he was so desperate and broken.

And the father saw the son and he ran to the son and he embraced the son and he kissed him and he put a ring on his finger and he put a robe on him and he said you are my son you were dead and now you live.

We are called to be forgiving people. So in our prayers this becomes a moment of reflection. Forgive us of our sins and God help us to forgive those who've sinned against us. If I'm holding something against this person or that person God let me give me the strength to let it go the burden of forgiveness give me the strength to let it go.

And then we see it goes on. It says we thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who are not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

This again is part of supplication and it's the it is the prayer of deliverance. It's the prayer of deliverance. So we've prayed for our needs and and daily bread could be as much as daily daily sustenance.

It can go across the board that that fits a lot of things. God give me everything I need every day on the day that I need it. God forgive me of every sin that I have sinned and every sin that's been done against me.

Help me forgive and then lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil. This I believe because a lot of people ask questions about this and they say well God would never lead us into temptation.

James tells us God doesn't tempt us. So why would we pray lead us not into temptation. What this is is this is making the clear observation that God directs our steps. The Bible says many are plans of a man's heart but the Lord directs his steps.

And so we have to understand that God is sovereign over our lives. So we're saying God don't put me in a position where the the devil will have an opportunity to tempt me but deliver me from evil. God don't don't allow me to walk to a place that I would be walking into temptation.

And you guys know what I'm talking about. You know that there's houses that you probably shouldn't go to. You know that there are friends that you probably should not talk to because those people are your temptation.

And you know how easy it is for your feet to want to take you to their homes. You know how easy it is for your mind to wander and want to go to be with those people because they satisfy something in your flesh.

And you're saying to God deliver me. I believe this is a. I believe these two phrases go together. I believe these two phrases function as a parallelism and what they're saying is lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

I think it's the same thing said in two different ways. God keep me from the house of the harlot. God keep me from the house of the of the of the drug salesman. God keep me from the the the the house of the violent man.

Keep God keep me from the house of the wicked. Turn to Psalm 1. Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.

See Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who does what who does not walk who does not sit and who does not stand in the evil ways and in the evil places. Blessed is that man and that's what we're praying for. God make me the blessed man.

Make me the man who doesn't walk in the council of the wicked. God make me the man who doesn't stand in the way of sinners. God make me the man who does not sit in the seat of scoffers but rather make me the man who delights in the law of the Lord.

Make me the man who meditates on your word day and night. Jesus said lead us not into temptation but deliver us deliver us from evil. So this is an outline of Jesus's model prayer. First we understand who it is we're speaking to.

Then we submit to him. Then we supplicate or we ask of him. And in the midst of that we also make a confession notice under forgiveness forgive us of our sins. There's also the act of confession. And then of course the traditional ending for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forevermore.

And so Jesus gives a perfect model for prayer. Jesus gives us an outline to follow. Jesus gives us a method and this must be the best method because this is Jesus's method. I want to end with one last thing.

I'm gonna turn my board over because I want to show you. Years ago a person came up with an acronym that is helpful when it comes to prayer and this might help you remember some of what I've said today.

And the acronym is acts. A CTS acts and acts stands for adoration confession Thanksgiving and supplication. Adoration confession Thanksgiving. Supplication a CTS acts adoration. God you are God you are holy.

Same way our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Confession. Lord I have sinned forgiven forgive me of my sins. Thanksgiving. Now you might say well Jesus's model prayer did not include Thanksgiving.

I think it does in the submission. Thy kingdom come thy will be done. I am thankful for what you've done God. And I want to see your kingdom rule. Of course the supplication the last. Give us this day our daily bread.

Give us the forgiveness that we need. Give us the ability to forgive others. And of course lead us not into evil but father in heaven. Protect us. Put a hedge around us. Keep us in the center of your will.

That's the method of prayer that Jesus taught us. This is simply an acronym to help you remember. Maybe when you're praying but my first encouragement to you is to memorize the model prayer. Not so that you can simply recite it but that you can understand the framework Jesus gives us.

You know you can pray the model prayer without praying it exactly as it's written. You could say something like father in heaven. I'm so thankful that you are my father. I'm so thankful that I have a father in heaven hallowed be your name Lord.

There's no other one in the universe who is holy. You are the only one who is truly holy. You are the thrice holy God holy holy holy. Thy kingdom come thy will be done. I father thank you that I can trust in your kingdom.

And it's coming and you see how I'm just going through the prayer and I'm elaborating on each sentence and I'm thinking more about it. I'm going deeper and I'm diving in using the prayer as I believe Jesus intended it to be used as a model as a framework for our prayers.

So that is the method of prayer. Next week we're going to look at the attitude of prayer. Let's let's end with a prayer. Father thank you for this time that we've been together I pray for these men who will hear this message and I pray that you would bless them and Lord help them to draw closer to you in prayer.

And I pray all this in Jesus' blessed name. Amen.