Talking with God - Part 3

Amen. Well, have y'all enjoyed the service so far? Amen, I have too. If you would take the Word of God with me and turn to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

We're continuing our series looking at what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer in our series about talking with God.

As a way of reminder, I do believe strongly that God has called our church to a season of prayer.

And I think it's appropriate then to start with the pattern that Jesus laid out for us of how to pray.

So I want to remind you that as we read through Matthew 6 and we've gone so far from verses 5 down through verse 10.

Today we'll be looking at verse 11. Matthew 6 and verse 11.

I want to remind you that this Lord's Prayer that has been repeated by millions of tongues throughout history since Jesus gave it to his disciples.

It's not so much an exact recipe for how to talk to God and get something in return.

That's not what Jesus gave it to us for the purpose of.

Instead, he was giving us a model.

He was giving us a pattern of how to pray.

So I pray that God would teach us to pray and use this passage in Matthew 6 to do it.

Much of the study of my sermon series comes from the Bible Exposition Commentary by Warren Wearsby.

And that's an outstanding commentary series for anyone who would like to dive a little deeper into the scriptures.

And I'll just say this about it before we move on.

If you go back in my office, back in the back of the building back there, there's a little inner kind of large closet area.

And I've got my whole library in there, hundreds of books that God's allowed me to accumulate over the years.

And many of them are very theologically taxing, very in-depth.

And this one is a lot more accessible for those who don't want to spend about five hours on one chapter kind of thing.

So this is a really nice, very practical, lots of life application in this commentary series.

And that's why I like to recommend it to anyone.

It is easily readable for anyone who would like to dive into that.

Matthew 6, 5 through 13, again we say the Lord's Prayer is less of a prescription and more of a pattern.

The first section that we already covered were God-focused petitions.

Our Father in heaven, your name be hallowed or honored as holy.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now we're in this second section starting today, which is life-focused petitions.

Not necessarily man-focused or self-focused because our focus in prayer should always be on the Lord.

But asking the Lord to intervene in our lives on our behalf for our good and for His glory.

So that's where we are today, Matthew chapter 6 in verse 11.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

If you're able and willing, would you join me in standing and let's read this verse together.

I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible.

Give us today our daily bread.

And that's it, folks.

That's all we're doing today.

Is that alright?

Maybe we'll get out of here early, right?

Give us today our daily bread.

I don't want to go much further than that today.

Because we get into the theme of forgiveness.

God recognizing that God shows so much forgiveness to us and then asking Him to help us show forgiveness to others.

But today, it's all about petition.

It's all about God meeting our needs.

And I think this one single solitary verse gives us more than enough lesson and teaching to take away from today.

So let's ask God to speak to us from His Word.

Lord, we do ask you to speak to us through your Holy Spirit.

We believe that many in this room are your children.

They have put their faith in you for the forgiveness of their sins.

They have turned from sin to new life in Christ.

We saw the evidence of that continuing to happen in the lives of some of our younger members here.

Cabry got baptized.

My son got baptized a couple weeks ago.

We've got more children lined up to get baptized in the coming weeks.

What an amazing expression and testimony of life change that you can work within us.

God, I ask that you would speak to us from your Word today.

That you would show us that you are enough.

And that we must turn to you every day for our daily needs.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

I want to point out this picture to you before we go much further in our talk today.

You all know what this is from.

This is post-Korean war.

this is a collection of orphans that were displaced and many of their families

killed or lost no idea where they would be as a result of the brutal korean conflict many years ago

and so rescue workers would come in to these collection of orphan children from korea

and they would try to provide food for them shelter for them do their best to try to find if their

families were still alive or if there was someone they could be placed with or find a proper home for

them at the close of the war so you see this happening what i didn't know is oftentimes this

will happen at the end of a war or a conflict war is a terrible thing unfortunately sometimes it's

been necessary in the history of our civilization but we all know that it's a terrible undesirable

thing with a lot of collateral damage as you see pictured here but what i didn't realize

was what these particular rescue workers started doing

was when they would put these precious children to bed they would give each one a piece of bread

to hold in their hand not so much to eat that the children had already had their dinner

but it was to hold that piece of bread because they realized the children were in deep consternation

and anxiety over whether there would be safety and food and sustenance the next day their lives have

been so disrupted their families gone their entire world shattered that holding

that piece of bread in their hands throughout the night would allow them to go to sleep relax

and trust that they were going to have food and provision the next day i think that's a beautiful

picture of what god offers to his children we always know through the presence of the holy spirit

in our lives that goes with us wherever we go goes to bed with us is there when we wake up he never

leaves us we have that presence of god always with us that that asserts assures us gives us that

certainty that no matter what happens no matter what satan throws at us no matter how often our flesh

may fail no matter how many arrows keep coming at us god's protection will always be there and god's provision

will always be there and we understand that principle from the word of god would you take me to the next

slide please

here's the question that i want us to ask kind of our takeaway from today do my prayers come from my

immediate need or from daily dependence on god i think that's the principle that this verse is teaching us

when jesus instructs his disciples and by including it in the word of god all christians to follow

he says give us this day our daily bread give us today what we need for today

how many times do we find ourselves praying god

establish my future tell me what i need to do 10 years from now five years from now

fix my retirement needs etc etc and there's nothing wrong necessarily with praying for the future

but i think jesus doesn't want us to forget about the right now the present saying god give me grace

for today give me food for today give me my needs for today because god has the future in control

god has the future wrapped up in his hands he knows exactly where he wants to take us he knows the grand

whole picture from his point of view of our lives but he wants us to trust him for the right now

the today so number one prayer is dependence on god if you're filling out your bulletin this morning

and there's a pen in front of you if you need one prayer is dependence on god would you look at

matthew chapter 7 and verse 1 i want to read this from the new living translation so if you sinful people

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

know how to get good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts

to those who ask him you understand the point he's trying to make if we as sinful and imperfect as we

are as parents talking to the parents in the room right now we love to give good gifts to our children

we love to meet their needs and we love to go above and beyond that and as much as we can and should

we love to we love to give gifts to our kids right don't you love giving gifts to your kids

i enjoy that i love seeing the smiles on their faces i love surprising them with things

we took austin down to six flags for his birthday recently and the idea was it was going to be a

surprise but holly couldn't hold the secret so at some point along the way he uh and the the little

rascal i got in the car after a wednesday night we had our wednesday night activities up here for

kids and teens and all that and i grabbed them after they got done and put them in the car taking

them home and they teamed up together and they're like so we really want you to tell us what we're

going to do for austin's birthday said well you'll you'll find out we're going to go to a fun place

well where is it it's in dallas okay what what's the name of it well i'm not going to tell you is

it six flags what mommy already told us we love giving good gifts to our kids and we had a blast

down there it was a lot of fun i used to go there growing up when i was a kid and now i got to take my

kids there for the first time we love seeing those smiles we will probably spend more money than we

should trying to make that happen sometimes and sometimes we got to rein it in and not spoil our

kids right but we love doing that how much more does our heavenly father who loves us more than we

could ever even be capable of loving how much more does he want to give good gifts to those who ask him

look in philembians chapter 4 and verse 6 i've got it on the screen don't worry about anything

boys you want to say that with me we've been learning this one in devotions

bow and austin why don't you say this with me ready philippians 4 6 don't worry about

that's right good job guys we've been working on that trying to teach them some memory verses at

night man if you hide god's word in your heart that those scriptures come back later in life in those

moments when you really need them so as parents i'm encouraging you to try to do that if possible

in your home family devotional times in the evenings as well in everything through prayer and petition with

thanksgiving present your request to god y'all we don't need to worry about anything but how many

things do we worry about we worry about a little bit don't we so are we in direct disobedience to god's

command to us yes we are now god knows that he's not up there shaking his fist i told you not to

worry he knows we're gonna worry but he's reminding us you don't have to worry i've got this under control

so in those moments that's why those verses are so important to internalize remind yourself when that

fear that anxiety that stress pops back up and thinking i can't handle this i don't know what to do

i don't know if they're gonna do the right thing i don't know if he's gonna do what he said he would

do i don't know if i'm gonna do what i said i would do there's so much stress and care and anxiety that

life is bringing me in this moment and god says don't worry about it

through prayer and petition with thanksgiving that we have that access to god and that we know that god

will answer according to what is right and what is best present bring those requests to god

so here's the question do we take our requests to god first last or ever

in those moments when the struggles of life blindside us

when fears or uncertainty or disappointments attack us start to undermine our confidence our sense of

security do we take those requests to god first or do we take them last

y'all remember the name winston churchill the great leader of england prime minister of england

he made a very accurate and somewhat damning accusation against the united states wasn't really an

accusation it was an observation he said after exhausting every other possibility

america can always be counted on to do the right thing

there's probably little truth to that

we were kind of the last ones i think to come into world war ii and then when we finally did

we won it

so it was good

but oftentimes

our nation our people will

go through a laundry list of other things

before we end up making the right decision

y'all we're no different

you and i oftentimes will try everything humanly possible to fix a problem before we bring it to god

so do we bring our requests to him first

do we bring them last

or do we ever bring them to god there may be things going on in your heart and your mind in your life

right now that you've never brought to god

now is god aware of that problem of course he is

but once again we are not robots that god mechanically controls

he allows us to have the free will

to bring things to him

or not

he allows us to have the free will

to walk in his steps

or follow our own path

and suffer the consequences of it

so do we take our requests to god

first

last

or at all

alistair beg

great pastor up in the midwest

written a lot of books

he's had a tv and radio program for quite some time

outstanding

theologian and pastor

he says erase the two words

that shut down our prayers the most

be with

what do we mean by that

when we bring our requests to god

james teaches us the idea of asking inappropriately for something

asking for something that we don't need to ask for

the old king james version that i grew up with says

calls it asking amiss

here's one of the most common ways that i believe

our prayers

might even be categorized as pointless

how many of you

my

both my hands are up

how many of you are guilty of saying

the prayer god be with

so and so

y'all don't like to raise your hand do you

because i know so many more of you do this

all right i do it too

we do it all the time

what are we actually asking god to do

are we asking him to do this

joshua 1 9

have i not commanded you

be strong and courageous

do not be afraid

and do not be discouraged

for the lord your god

will

be

with

you

wherever you go

throughout the bible this is just one example

throughout the bible

god said i will be with you

jesus said

in matthew 28

the verses that the verse that follows the great commission for the church

where he tells us to go out

and take the good news of jesus to the nations

he says i will be with you

always

god is with us

but how many of our prayers

end up being this

god

be with uncle john

god's with him

be with the firefighters

out in the panhandle

god's with them

he's there

god is there already

we've got to look at the requests

we're making to god

and say god

teach me to pray

like you want me to pray

god your will be done

provide protection

for those firefighters

your will be done

in this terrible tragedy

that we're all praying for

god be with my loved one

who's struggling

does that make any sense

he's there

he's already there

god

heal her

if that's your will

god heal him

if you'll be glorified from that

but whatever happens

we're going to trust you

we must pray

how jesus

taught us to pray

otherwise

our words start to become meaningless

we're not thinking about what we're actually saying

we're not thinking about what we're actually asking

the god of the universe to do

now that doesn't mean that when we pray on wednesday night or some other time that

you know

we're going to start pointing fingers at each other if somebody says be with

okay

let's not do that

let's have grace toward one another

there's probably going to be times in my life from here until the day god calls me home that i say be with somebody

all right

but i'm going to work on it

i'm going to work on breaking that habit

and pray more meaningful intentional prayers

for myself for my family for others

to our heavenly father

so number two

prayer keeps our perspective

centered on god

that's a great bridge to go into this

what are we actually saying

who are we actually talking to

we've got to remember that jesus

god himself is listening

he is listening

we have access

by the sacrifice of jesus christ

on the cross

by his death

that paid for our sin

and broke down the barrier

between you and god

broke down the barrier

between me

and god

we now have access

to our heavenly father

so our prayer

when we talk to him

that attention

that prayer

all of that should be centered

on him

jeremiah

Jeremiah 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9

this is what the lord says

let not the wise

boast of their wisdom

let not the strong

boast of their strength

or the rich

boast of their riches

but that's what we do

isn't it

if you're wise

if you're smart

sometimes that's going to come out

you're going to want everybody

to know about it

if you're strong or rich

sometimes we can't help

but let everybody else

know about it

that's what human nature

wants to do

but god says

don't do that

instead

let the one who boasts

boast about this

that they have understanding

to know me

god

that i am the lord

and i exercise kindness

and justice

and righteousness

on the earth

for in these

i delight

declares the lord

this is why we pray

god is the lord

he is jehovah god

he is the creator

of all that is

he holds it all

in his hand

he is all powerful

we call that omnipotent

he is all knowing

we call that omniscient

and he is everywhere

at all times

we call that

omnipresent

god is sovereign

god rules

over it all

and he says

i can exercise

kindness

justice

and righteousness

on the earth

what more do we pray for

but kindness

justice

justice

and righteousness

god is the only one

who can make those things happen

and you can depend on politicians

but that's a losing battle

and i'm not against politicians

i thank god

for the ones of integrity

and especially those

who try to follow

god's leading in their life

who are serving us

at the local

state

national level

we need them

in those

in those offices

but you can't depend

on human politics

to always exercise

kindness

justice

and righteousness

can you

but god can

that's why we bring

our requests

to him

i love this quote

by the one who wrote

that commentary series

he says

prayer prepares us

for the proper use

of the answer

what do we mean by that

prayer prepares us

for the proper use

of the answer

we mean that

if we are asking god

to move

are we ready

for when he answers

what are we going to do

when he answers

well

again

we're not robots

if we had a need

and god just immediately

met that need

without us

going to him

first

how grateful

would we be

and how likely

would we be

to misuse

to misuse

his provision

for our own desires

our own fleshly lust

instead of god's will

so if i have a need

and i don't

go to god

and say god

please meet this need

and then he meets

the need

but i never went

to him

i never brought

that request

to him

do i give him

any glory for it

do i give him

any credit

does he get any

honor at all

no

i just think

hey i'm a lucky guy

my need got met

good for me

that's karma man

clean living

no

when we take

our request

to god

it prepares

our hearts

to use the answer

according to god's will

because we know

where it came from

we know

that man

we were facing

a financial disaster

and we had no way out

and god

intervened

because we

we took it to him

so then he gets the glory

and then we say

god what do you want me

to do now

with this provision

that you've given to me

how can i

bless you

by blessing others

with what you've given me

so prayer

prepares us

for the proper use

of the answer

would you go to

first john 5

and verse 14

with me

i'm going to turn over there

i don't have it on the screen

because i wanted us to look

at the words

in the scripture

if possible

first john chapter 5

1 John 5 · chapter mention

and verse 14

give you a minute

to get over there

everybody doing all right

this morning

y'all glad to be in church

amen

me too

all right

first john 5

14

i'm going to read

from the new international version

down through

verse 15

this is the confidence

we have

in approaching god

okay you ready for what follows

here's why we have the confidence

this is what we know to be true

this is the confidence we have

we're confident in this

that if we ask anything

according to god's will

he hears us

that right there

just don't even go on to 15 yet

that right there

is a powerful promise

that right there

sets god's children apart

from everyone else in the world

you understand

that people

who don't know god

people who have not

repented from their sin

and turn to jesus

and place all their faith

in him

for the forgiveness

and the cleansing

of their sin

to start a new life

with him as their child

those kinds of people

who have never done that

they're still praying

they're still praying

they don't even know

to whom

but god doesn't hear

the prayers

of those who are not

his children

unless they are turning

to him

when he's been drawing

them for the forgiveness

of their sins

but we know

that as his children

the father

hears his children

so we know

we are confident

that if we ask

anything

according to his will

he hears us

and

if we know

that he hears us

then whatever we ask

now

jump back up

to verse 14

according to his will

we know

that we have

what we ask

of him

do you realize

the power

in that promise

if you are asking

according

to god's will

god will give it

to you

god will

give it to you

but it's got to be

according to his will

i can ask him

for a million dollars

tomorrow

and if

for some reason

it's his will

for me to have it

then i'll have it

but

knowing myself

i don't think

it's his will

for me to have it

i'm not going to ask

for that

because i don't see

anywhere in the scriptures

that it's god's will

for me to have a million dollars

but i know

that it's god's will

for me

to be

to love my wife

well

i know it's god's will

for me to

be a good dad

to my kids

i know it's god's will

for me to work hard

i know it's god's will

for me to read his word

i know it's god's will

for me to treat

my neighbor correctly

i know it's god's will

for me to have integrity

you understand

these are the things

that really matter

in life

the things that really

make a difference

in who we are

and a blessing

to our families

to those

who we interact with

god will answer

those prayers

if it's in accordance

with his will

god i'm worried

about my sister

i don't know

if she's

a christian

i don't know

if she follows jesus

god i'm worried

about my

son

i'm afraid

for the choices

that he's making

in his life

god i'm worried

about my wife

her health

is failing

and i'm gonna trust

whatever your will is

but if it is your will

please heal her

if we pray

in accordance

with god's

will

he hears us

and we will have

what we ask

what a powerful promise

so again our takeaway

is this

do my prayers

come

from immediate need

or daily dependence

i want to flesh that out

just a minute longer

before we close

how many times

do we pray

reactionary prayers

you know what i mean

something bad happens

so we go to god

right

because we're not

already in the habit

of daily depending

on god

how weird would it be

if my kids

never talked to me

unless they really

needed something

some of you are saying

i got teenagers

and that's about

what it sounds like

it's not a great

relationship

is it

but when we are

in daily communication

not just for god

to give us

our bread

or our provision

or our sustenance

food wise

for that day

but if we are

in daily communication

for god

to give us

everything that we need

patience

how many of you

pray for patience

or avoid praying

for patience

because then

you know how it works

how many times

do we actually

go to god

every day

and say god

i need you

to get through

this today

when the good things

happen

when the blessings

come

when the times

of plenty

are here

and we're loving it

we're rocking

on top of the world

that's my go-to phrase

do we go to god

and say god

thank you

thank you for giving me

this

or do we just

enjoy the moment

and we don't ever

give credit

to the one

who provides

how often

do we pray

how often

reflect daily

dependence

on god

or do we just

pray in the moment

these reactionary

prayers

when we feel

like we have to

and we have

nowhere else

to turn

now i thank god

that he's there

even when we have

nowhere else

to turn

but y'all

he was always

the first stop

to begin with

he should have

been the first

place we turned

before we turned

anywhere else

all those other

times

when we thought

there was another

way to fix it

god still should

have been

our first stop

so do my prayers

come from

immediate need

or from daily

dependence

now god doesn't

sit up there

and wag his finger

at us and say

well you haven't

been talking to me

all week

or you haven't

been talking to me

all month

or you haven't

been talking to me

in years

so why should

i listen to you

now

now that's not

how god works

god loves us

that's how we

would work

right

that's how you

and i would be

with each other

but god's not

that way with us

he loves us

unconditionally

that's why he sent

his son to die

for us

so we should go

to him every day

daily depend on

him for to meet

our needs

both physical

emotional

spiritual

mental

god can make

such a powerful

difference

holistically

across the board

in our lives

but we gotta

daily depend

on him

let's ask god

to do that

now

would you

bow with me

in prayer

god we don't

know exactly

what's on every

heart this morning

i i can't

possibly know

the burdens

on every heart

i know some

of them

some have

shared what's

going on

in their

lives

right now

we've got

people

this morning

who are in

need

physical need

there's been

deaths in

families

there's been

physical

ailments

that have

popped up

recently

that were

unexpected

god none

of that

surprises

you

we ask

you to

intervene

on those

people's

half

remind them

that you

are god

and you

are in

control

you always

have our

good and

your glory

as the

chief end

to whatever

happens in

our lives

but god

remind every

one of us

in this

room

whether it's

a child

a teenager

an adult

remind each

one of us

to daily

depend on

you for

everything

we need

to get

through

church we're

going to sing

a song in

just a moment

but before we

get started in

this I want to

ask these

questions

if there's

somebody

who doesn't

know Jesus

as savior

I talked

about the

gospel and

the good

news of

Jesus for

a little

bit in

the in

the message

but let

me ask

you this

you're here

at church

this morning

most of you

have been

coming to

church quite

a bit

but walking

in these

doors does

nothing to

make you a

Christian

does nothing

to make

God your

father

glad you're

here

you'll hear

about God

here

there's got

to be an

intentional

decision that

you make

you say

God I'm

going to

turn from

sin

that doesn't

mean I'm

never going

to sin

again

but I'm

not going

to let that

be the

master of

me anymore

I want a

new master

I want God

to be my

master

I'm going

to turn

from sin

I'm going

to turn

to Jesus

and you

recognize that

Jesus death

on the cross

was for the

payment of

your sin

so you

could be

freed

so you

could be

saved

from hell

from the

punishment

that is

reserved for

all those

who die

without

Jesus

so if

that's

you this

morning

don't be

ashamed to

slip your

hand up

right now

and I'd

love to

talk to

you

I'd love

to pray

for you

don't walk

out of this

house this

morning without

making that

decision

say God I

want to be

your child

now starting

today

starting today

right now

March

March 10th

could be

your day

of salvation

so every head

bowed for

privacy sake

and I'm going

to ask

right now

is there a

child a

teenager or

an adult

in the room

who would

be

unashamed

enough to

slip your

hand up

and say

would you

pray for

me

I'm ready

to give

my life

to Jesus

slip your

hand up

thank you

for the

rest of

us I

want to

ask this

question

how many

of you

would say

God you

need to

revitalize

my prayer

life you

need to

change

how I

pray I

need to

pray more

often for

more things

more needs

whatever it

is say

God's talking

to me

through his

spirit

say I

need to

more daily

depend on

God

not make

him my

last stop

make him

my first

stop

would you

put your

hand up

and I'll

pray for

you too

my hands

up I'm

with you

I'm right

there with

you thank

you thank

you

God you've

seen the

hands you

know what's

going on in

this room

right now

you know

what's going

on in your

church you

gave us these

words you

taught us

these things

help us to

depend on

you

this song

that we're

about to

sing

says teach

me to

abide

you're my

strength

you're everything

I need

God give me

what I need

for this day

and teach me

to remain

in you

Jesus said

if you remain

in me

you are the

branch I am

the vine you'll

have everything

you need

would you

stand to

your feet

as we sing

these words

I'm going to

be right down

front

don't be afraid

to slip out of

your pew

come down here

and talk to

me

we can kneel

at these steps

or you can

come down here

and kneel at

these steps

by yourself

and have a

moment of

private prayer

but I'd love

to talk to

you

let's hear about

whatever God's

working in your

heart about

Hayden's going

to lead us