"Our Father" - Part 2

Hi, this is John Ozanting, the lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

What an honor it is to talk about the Lord's Prayer.

And uh I think it's gonna come up on the screen.

Could we could we pray the Lord's Prayer together?

Would that be appropriate for a series on the Lord's Prayer?

And so it's up there.

Let's let's pray together.

Our Father who 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 deaths as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

And could we also pray together for Pastors John and Nicole as they sat to come home?

Father, we thank you for your hand on Pastors John and Nicole, for how they're influencing other people around the world.

But this is their home.

And we're grateful.

So would you be with them as they travel back, give them a safe journey, give them strength and energy and the health they need to return to us safe and sound?

So we thank you for them.

Lord, we also pray for all churches around the city of Edmonton right now who are meeting and who are proclaiming the hope that is in Jesus Christ.

Would you be with pastors and congregations and bless them and bring fruit, Lord?

May there be people who come to know Jesus Christ today because of the faithfulness of your people in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

When I sent the uh PowerPoint slides, notice the punctuation in the first line.

Thy kingdom come with an exclamation mark.

And there's a reason for that.

The pastors have been encouraging us with the book by Daryl Johnson, 57 Words That Changed the World, A Journey Through the Lord's Prayer.

And I want to quote to you, he says this 57 words that put everything in perspective, 57 words that change the world by bringing the reality of heaven down to earth.

Now, if you how many of you are numbers nerds, how many of you looked in your English version and counted the words of the Lord's Prayer?

Anybody do that?

Well, you would need, was it 57 or is it more?

Depends on your version, but it's the Greek version that the 57 words are counted.

So uh don't think that Daryl Johnson was off his rocker when he wrote this book.

Prayer, what a topic.

Let me tell you, I when I taught uh Bible college, I was assigned for a couple of semesters a course on prayer dynamics.

So I taught two semesters on prayer.

And it's interesting because prayer has so many connotations for us.

It's a guilt inducer because how many of us are always worried that we don't pray enough?

We're not good enough in prayer, we feel guilty about it, and so forth.

There are so many books on prayer.

I checked my little personal library.

I have a number of books over the years that I've read on prayer that have been helpful.

Some of you may be familiar with the book of common prayer.

Anybody know the common prayer?

Anyone raised Anglican?

That kind of thing?

Where it's actually a book with written prayers in it.

Can you imagine that?

Religious stuff?

Scripted prayers, liturgical bits, vain repetition material, perhaps?

Not at all like our more pleasing to God's ears, spontaneous prayers, right?

I'm gonna start by sort of polling you, you don't have to raise your hands on this, but just think in your heads here.

What is your preferred choice of prayers?

Do you prefer the spontaneous from the heart prayers?

Or do you also like scripted prayers like from the prayer book?

What is your answer to that?

How about this scripted prayer?

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Yeah, so how many of you prayed that as kids?

I was raised that way.

I remember kneeling at my the bunk bed in my room with my brother, and we would pray that prayer, and now I lay me down to sleep.

But there's that odd line in it that I really don't like.

You know what that one is, right?

What is it?

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

And it's like, well, what are you teaching kids?

Now, because you you you finish your prayer and then you you know it would take a little while for your little kid's mind to not to be worried about how the Lord's gonna take you tonight.

That's a scripted prayer.

What about this?

Are you allowed to pray with your eyes opened?

Do you feel uncomfortable with praying with your eyes opened?

Why is that, right?

I mean, I was raised that way too.

It's like when I see somebody praying with their eyes open, it's like they're not really meaning it.

Can you imagine ministers actually praying a prayer, a written prayer, reading it in church?

Reading it with their eyes opened.

I mean, would God bother to listen to that kind of prayer?

Many years ago, I discovered the value of written prayers.

So don't hate me.

When I was a professor of New Testament Studies, uh, it was a particular college graduation service, and as faculty members, we were all invited to participate in some aspect of the service.

This particular year I was assigned the task of the closing prayer.

Guess what I did?

I don't take any ministry lightly, not being up here, not praying at any service, anything like that.

And so, because I knew a few days in advance I was going to be doing this, I was thinking a lot about how I wanted to close the service in prayer.

And so I prayed about what I was to pray.

Okay?

And I crafted a written prayer.

I typed it up, I put the sheet in my Bible, and I was on the platform, and then when the service ended, I got up, put my Bible down, and I pulled out this sheet of paper.

And I knew that the austere members of the faculty and all the rest of the ministers who were on this platform could see what I had done.

And I was a little bit worried what they would think.

Anyway, so I I read the prayer.

Well, I got a bit of a vibe from someone.

I'm not going to mention anything about who it was, but that this was somehow sacrilegious to read a prayer at a Pentecostal assembly's Bible college graduation.

As if I'd violated some kind of spiritual rule about how to pray properly.

Now, please don't get me wrong, I'm all for the spontaneous types of prayers.

That's how I most of my prayer life is.

But I want to recommend reading the prayers of others and using them when they strike a chord in your heart.

Because isn't that what the book of Psalms is?

It's a book of prayers.

I appreciate the prayers that Johnson includes throughout his book, 57 Words.

And part of the reason I recommend using prayers that way is because I discovered how a daily dose of Bailey's was such a blessing to me.

Now don't go down that path.

I'm not talking about that kind of Bailey's.

John Bailey wrote a book called A Diary of Private Prayer.

And it's a devotional classic.

It was written back in 1936, and over the years I've gone back to it and I use it time and again, not every month, but I do pull it out a few times a year to use it.

It's set up to be a monthly, uh, there's 30 days of prayer with morning and evening prayers in it.

Because it was written in 1936, the language is a little bit, well, I don't want to use archaic, but anyways, it's it's not quite modern English.

And so I wrote the publisher several years ago, and I offered my services to uh upgrade the language.

I wanted to kind of turn it into a little bit more modern without destroying the essence of the prayers.

The publishers wrote back and they said essentially this one of the family members is already working on that project, and so I have here the upgraded copy of the prayers.

I suppose most influential in my life isn't all the books I've got on how to pray.

But what has been most influential in my life is reading or hearing how other people pray.

Reading their hearts, identifying with them, hearing others, being blessed by the honesty, the intimacy they have with the Father.

Now, by coincidence, I was doing most of the prep for this on Thursday, and I so I pulled my book out and I read to myself, of course, the prayer for the morning of the 20th.

And so here's an excerpt from that prayer.

You have given me little power to shape things to my own desires.

Therefore, use your own great power to make what you desire happen within me.

Now, why is that worthy of sharing with this particular topic?

Well, stay tuned, I'm gonna explain that.

So let's dig into today's assignment with a few proverbs, of course.

The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

And then another proverb if anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.

So there are prayers that God hears, there are prayers that are detestable.

One of my favorite authors, Frederick Beakner, writes this, and this is a novel of sorts.

The book starts off this way I am Raphael, one of the seven archangels who pass in and out of the presence of the Holy One, blessed be he.

I bring him the prayers of all who pray and of those who don't even know they are praying.

Some prayers I hold out as far from me as my arm will reach, the way a woman holds a dead mouse by the tail when she removes it from the kitchen.

And now you can see the rest of this.

Some prayers, some like flowers, are almost too beautiful to touch.

And others are so aflame that I'd be afraid of their setting me on fire if I weren't already more like fire, that I am more than anything else.

From the book On the Road with the Archangel.

But I like that line, and it really struck me.

And I wonder what kind of prayers stink to high heaven?

What kind of prayers are almost too beautiful to touch, that are on fire?

What kind of prayers could there be that people don't even know they are praying and yet are actually capturing the ear of the Father?

Do you know that you pray sometimes without even knowing when your heart is aching?

When your heart is longing?

Let's play that clip of little Merrick, my grandson.

Dear read us, angle for today, hang for growth redoors, and hang your mommy on bobby and babba me.

Amen.

And hang of heartfu amen.

Amen.

Alright, we're gonna replay that because it's too good.

Alright, I know you're taking notes.

Let's do it one more time.

Dear reason, angle for today, hang for growth redoors, and hang your mommy on bobby and blah blah me.

Amen.

And hang of heartfu amen.

Amen.

Childlike faith, when was the last time you prayed with your eyes scrunched in sincere concentration?

Thanking God for the most basic or even the most mundane blessings in your life.

And really, could any blessings from God be called mundane?

Now back to the idea of scripted or read prayers.

I'm sure you're all clever enough in here to realize where I'm going with this.

To realize that the Lord's prayer is what?

It's a scripted prayer.

It's a prayer we read.

Maybe you've memorized it, but how many of you were reading it off the screen when we prayed it?

And when you were reading it, were your eyes open?

You bunch of sinners.

Scripted prayers.

And here's what I find humorously ironic in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

What was Jesus teaching just before he introduces the Lord's prayer?

He says this, and when you pray, do not keep on babbling with empty scripted words, like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Now, that teaching, that bit isn't original with Jesus.

I hope you know that.

Because some decades before, in a book that's recorded in the Apocrypha, some of you know what that is, in the book of Ecclesiastes or Sirach, as it's called, here's what it says.

Use not many words in a multitude of elders, and make not much babbling when thou prayest.

All right, so that was a common teaching, right?

Let your prayers be sincere.

Babbling, vain repetition, mindless words, autopilot prayers.

Like the person who had a list of prayer requests, and so he prayed them, but he recorded them on a tape, and then he pressed play and he kept it on a loop so that it would pray 24-7 in his house through the stereo system.

Like, really?

That would work?

Then you would never have to get on your knees again.

So let me be honest here.

I've wrestled a bit with the idea of faith that I don't need to ask God more than once for the same thing, right?

You ever heard that teaching that he's heard you, it's a lack of faith to ask for the same request again?

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

Does that mean I should never pray the Lord's prayer again because I prayed it once?

Matthew goes on to say, Your heavenly father knows what you need before you ask him.

Well, if he knows what you need before you ask him, why do you have to ask him?

And if he knows what you need before you ask him, why does Jesus then give them a template for asking God for the things he already knows you need?

In other words, Jesus is endorsing prayer no matter what the Father already knows about you.

So the big question is this was this template of the Lord's prayer meant only to be repeated word for word?

Or is it meant to be a door through which we enter into a deeper, more meaningful, more real, and honest conversation with the Father?

And I think it can be both, obviously, but I do believe that if we take it as a template, you're gonna be amazed at the power of the Lord's Prayer.

Now let's revisit the version of the Lord's Prayer that was recorded in Luke.

And here's how Luke sets the stage.

Says this, Luke chapter 11.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.

When he finished, and we assume that the disciples were seeing him pray, when he finished, the disciples said to him, and by the way, did Jesus end his prayers with, in Jesus' name, amen.

Anyways, the disciples, one of the disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray.

The next line is, just as John taught his disciples.

Think about that for a while.

Some of you are wired the way I am, and so you're sort of thinking, are they disrespecting Jesus?

Like John's disciples got taught, why aren't you teaching us?

Like you're kind of neglecting the role of a rabbi, Jesus.

The disciples had seen Jesus slip away for private prayer.

We don't know how many times.

And don't doubt they would have heard Jesus pray in public because that was a Jewish thing.

At mealtimes, you'd say a prayer at the end.

Likely the other Jewish prayers traditionally were used.

Jesus would have used those two for other occasions.

His disciples were Jewish.

They were steeped in the tradition of prayers.

Prayers that had been scripted and had been passed on for centuries and still are.

For example, one of the common prayers starts this way: Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe.

And then there's the next lines of request.

But all those different prayers, Jewish prayers begin with that.

Baruchhat Meleka Ulam.

Lord, blessed are you.

They begin with that.

So it's a scripted prayer, but it comes from the heart.

So what did the disciples need to be taught about prayer, anyways?

They knew the Jewish prayers.

They saw Jesus pray.

Did they sense something was lacking in their own prayer practices as they saw how Jesus prayed?

Didn't they realize that they were already being taught as they witnessed what Jesus prayed?

Anyway, here's what I see happening.

The disciples saw in Jesus' prayers something different from a routine.

I don't doubt that Jesus did pray the Jewish traditional prayers, but I believe he added to them, or there was something special about the way he prayed.

For example, we we see in the Gospels a number of times that the people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees.

And by the way, the word for authority does not mean decibels.

In other words, it wasn't that he taught them with a loud voice, shouting at them all the time.

There's authority in his words.

So make sure that we hear sort of what's going on here.

So I'm going to give you a little imagined interplay between Jesus and the disciples based on Luke chapter 11, verse 1.

Luke 11:1

So the disciples say this, Lord, how can we get to the place where we can pray like you do?

And then Jesus responds this way.

All right, guys, let me tell you how I go about framing my prayers.

And so I'm going to give you my outline, and then he gives them the our Father who art in heaven, okay?

Now, guys, I give you permission to use my prayer.

I want you to use it.

But make sure you know that it is an outline, and I expect you to expand and personalize the basic points of this prayer.

Otherwise, those points will just become vain repetitions.

Now, some more of Jesus.

Hey guys, disciples, I start my day with greeting the Father.

And we talk.

I express my praise and gratitude for how good a Father He has been and my desire that his name would be hallowed among all people and by me today as I walk my steps.

And I count my blessings, and you disciples, by the way, should be doing the same.

I honor my Father's name, not just with my lips, but I ask for the grace of honoring his name by being light as I live out the day ahead of me.

And at the end of the day, I debrief with my Father, and we talk about how the day went.

Thy kingdom come.

We talk about the state of the world, and my heart's cry that his kingdom come and be enjoyed by all of you and by all others.

Because that's the good news, it's not just for you twelve.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I want you guys to know I know a thing about heaven.

And believe me, this world would be so much better if we could see God's will be done in us.

By the way, Peter, how's it going with you in the doing of the Father's will today?

How'd you do yesterday?

What about the rest of you disciples?

How have you been doing?

What did you personally perceive to be the will of the Father for you today?

Other than following me around all the time, stalking me.

What do you think the Father's will is for you tomorrow?

What's on his agenda?

That's what I want you to use my prayer for.

Now, enough of Brian Globish's imagination there.

But there had to have been something about the way Jesus prayed.

If you want to eavesdrop on a couple of his prayers, listen in on John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

Read that prayer.

Or go to the end of the Gospels and read those little short snippets of his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Hebrews tells us that with loud cries and tears he prayed to the Father.

I mean, there was something passionate about the way Jesus prayed.

Now, earlier I shared an excerpt from the uh Bailey's book of prayer, and I'm going to reread it to you.

It says, You have given me little power to shape things to my own desires, therefore use your own great power to make what you desire happen within me.

I said that was worthy of sharing for this topic today.

Because of the verbs of the Lord's Prayer.

And uh Johnson points out in his book that all the verbs of the Lord's Prayer are in the imperative.

Okay?

So hang in there with me.

Don't lose me on this one, whatever the imperative is.

But the word the verbs are hallowed, the verbs.

Be, come, done, give, forgive, lead not, deliver.

Those are all in the imperative.

Now, those of you who are English language nerds, what is an imperative?

What's another word for that?

I hear commands, right?

I order you to tell me that.

Okay?

It's a, these are in the form of verb commands.

In other words, when you pray that, this is this is I'm uncomfortable saying this, but it's like you're commanding God to do this.

That's why I use the punctuation, thy kingdom come with an exclamation mark.

God, you deliver us.

You better deliver us from evil.

Like, doesn't that sound a little bit uh, well, inappropriate for us to talk to God that way?

But that's the way the Lord's prayer is set up.

So, elsewhere in the Bible is something that might help us understand this idea of the imperatives in prayer.

Because in the book of Hebrews it says that we should come how before the throne of grace.

Some of you know this, to come boldly to his throne, or to come with confidence.

That word could also be translated freedom of speech, literally.

It really could be understood that way.

In other words, it's like we're being told you can come to God with freedom of speech.

You don't have to worry that he's going to sanction you, he's gonna censor you, or he's gonna just block you out, or he's gonna punish you because you you prayed such a nervy prayer.

Come boldly to his throne.

And that's what this prayer, the Lord's Prayer, is.

It's it's a nervy, bold prayer.

God can handle it.

As I mentioned before, some of the prayers in the book of Psalms, they're too hot to handle, Raphael, aren't they?

One of the earliest on record Christian prayers is one some of you may recognize.

It's from the Aramaic and it goes this way.

You ready?

Maranatha.

Maranatha.

Is that word familiar?

And it means this.

Maranatha means come, O Lord.

It actually occurs in the New Testament once.

It occurs in Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

It's another way of saying, God, your kingdom come.

So it's a little snippet of the Lord's Prayer in Corinthians there.

So these verbs, they strongly suggest that God has to be the one who pours out his grace.

He's the one who has to make it happen.

He has to, because we can't do it in our own strength.

His kingdom has to be established by God and so forth.

And so when we pray, Father, cause your name to be hallowed.

Father, at times we can be disheartened and overwhelmed by all the disturbing stuff that's going on in the world.

Father, cause your kingdom to come.

How long will it be till you establish your kingdom?

Now, while I agree with Johnson that God has to be the one who makes these things happen, that they're in the imperative voice, praying thy will be done commissions us, Marvadon says this, praying thy will be done commissions us as agents for the fulfillment of God's purposes.

So while God has to do it, he chooses to do it through you.

He wants you to be his agents of the kingdom.

So lots of ink has been spilled about what the kingdom is, and I'm not going into that.

People argue, is it some future thing only?

Is it here already?

I mean, how's this kingdom?

What's going on here?

And the answer is yes and no.

It's already, it's not fully here yet, but it's already happening in all of you.

Now Jesus said to a group of high-minded theological experts who are trying to trip Jesus up with an oral exam.

He says, This the kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, with all of your theological nitpicking, nor will people say, Well, here it is, or there it is, because the kingdom of God is within you.

Or another version or manuscript will have, among you.

It's among you already.

It's here, it's in you.

Now, when Jesus resigned his occupation as a carpenter and began his public ministry, the Gospel of Mark records this.

The time has come, this is Jesus speaking.

The time has come, the kingdom of God is near.

Repent and believe the good news.

All right.

Repent.

That is, change your mind by believing that what I'm telling you really is good news.

So is the good news you need to quit doing that, you need to be a better person.

Is that what the good news is?

Thou shalt, you know, you better not do this, you better do this.

No, the good news is that the gospel, Jesus, has come to give you the most amazing life ever, both now and for the future.

A life that is filled with hope, no matter all the things that try to uh war against that hope.

He will give you wisdom, he will give you God's peace, he will be your comforter when you need it.

He will give you strength to walk in a richer way, richer than you could have ever hoped for.

This is the good news, folks.

It's not about being a wet blanket on your life.

He will bless you with a growing awareness of his love for you.

Despite the you of your past or the you that you are now, the you that you're worried about in the future, he's come to give you an abundant life and to change you from the inside out.

He will help you represent the Jesus lifestyle now.

A life that others need to know is really good news.

Represent Jesus.

So what is the Bible?

The Bible is a book of kingdom values.

All right?

So you want to know what it means for God's kingdom to come?

Well, of course, check the Bible out.

It's got a few things to say.

Check out the part called the Beatitudes in the first part of the Sermon on the Mount before the Lord's Prayer, Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Those are kingdom values.

So God wants his people to be poor in spirit, not to be arrogant.

He wants us to learn how to mourn about the condition of the world, about the condition of other people, so that we can be comforted and be a comfort to other people.

He wants us to be peacemakers.

He wants us to be people of mercy.

I mean, all these kingdom values are there.

I wonder why Jesus started this most famous sermon with the Beatitudes.

Blessed are those who are poor in spirit.

Because they are the qualities of people who have this tree that is growing within them.

That most famous passage, by the way, in Galatians chapter 5 about the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Remember that?

We could relabel the fruit of the Spirit passage.

Let's call it this: the fruit of those who have the kingdom living or growing within them.

And so we pray, Father, cause your kingdom to come, grow that fruit in our lives.

The book of Proverbs is a book of kingdom values.

How to live wisely for the maximum benefit of oneself, of one's family, and of society in general.

So every time we exercise wisdom, we push back the powers of darkness.

Every time we do the right thing, we are saying no to the enemy, the father of lies.

Each time we respond wisely like Jesus did, we say no to the values of the kingdom of this world, and we gain ground and our light shines brighter.

Now, let's get real right now for a second.

I heard a rumor that some of you are gossips.

I heard that.

Now that's not wise, people.

Every bit of gossip, every bit of juicy rumor is like turning off one more light switch in an already dark world.

Every bit of gossip that we tolerate and worse yet pass on gives joy to the enemy and disciples others in how to be gossips.

It teaches our children that it's okay to disrespect people.

It gives them permission, and then we wonder why a young generation turns out the way it does.

But oh, the power of life-giving words.

That's wise.

And every life-giving word, every word of encouragement.

You guys are awesome and so forth.

Man, I love that worship team and all the volunteers that I see here.

I just want to encourage you to keep going.

I mean, that's the kind of stuff that pushes back the powers of darkness and discouragement.

The Apostle Paul talks about demolishing arguments and tearing down strongholds.

Well, how do we do it?

We do it brick by brick by saying no to the devil and saying yes to what Jesus wants.

Brick by brick.

Now, the religious leaders of Jesus' day expected God's kingdom to come with this instant transformation, flipping the tables against all evil with a bang, and then there it is, it's all good.

But by how Jesus disappointed them, because his kingdom wasn't about instant transformation.

It was about an instant defeat of the devil on the cross, but it was about growth.

Little by little.

It is evolution, it is evolving, it is evolve.

Not a bad name for a church.

Every act of mercy, every little word of encouragement, every little expression of love, every little act of self-denial that you manage to have victory in, builds the kingdom.

Every saying of no to the dumbing down or the easing up of what it means to be a Christ follower is saying yes to God and your and his kingdom.

Now, we all know that self-denial is not an easy thing, is it?

I mean, I have no trouble saying no to a cigar because I have no desire for cigars.

It's not a big deal, but what about this or what about that?

I want to read to you something that hit home with me, and it's from a little book called You Jonah.

It says this I will demonstrate my immediate obedience, providing you comply with my demand for a more satisfying assignment.

That describes Jonah, right?

I'll be obedient as long as you give me an easy thing to obey.

But every little effort that we have to grow in the faith makes a difference.

Jesus was a big promoter of little things, because if you're faithful in the little, he'll give you much more.

Now, of course, the ruler of the other kingdom, he doesn't want you to believe in the significance of the little.

He wants his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth.

And my how easy it is for us to comply sometimes with that.

It's kind of like how we feel about elections.

What's my one vote gonna matter?

Is it gonna really make a difference?

And so what do we do?

We think it won't make a difference, so I'm not gonna bother.

But a refusal to vote is a yes vote to despair.

What a difference we may have.

What difference might a one little act of kindness make?

Probably nothing.

No one's gonna notice.

No one's gonna see that I've done this little deed here in the church because no one's around, so why will I pick up that garbage if no one can see it?

Or no one's gonna know if I indulge in this, I won't get caught, so why will it really matter?

Well, it matters to God and it matters to your soul.

Whatever you think about Jordan Peterson, uh, I'm still gonna share this with you.

One of the things that out of his first book that really hit me was his emphasis on telling the truth.

And this is the line, I won't get it exact, I'm paraphrasing it, but he says, Every lie pollutes your soul.

No matter how little the lie is, it's a pollution of your soul.

The little things matter.

And so, Father, thy kingdom come.

I want you to come in my life to empower me to be a shining light and to run freely and with joy.

In Proverbs 29, 6, it says, An evil man is snared by his own sin.

But I love the second line.

But a righteous one can do what?

Can sing and be glad.

That's freedom.

That's out of bondage into the glorious kingdom of God.

The good news of the kingdom.

So there's a paraphrase up here as well.

A person who refuses to act wisely will be trapped in and haunted by their own poor choices, but the one who lives out the kingdom values will always have something to sing about and be glad for, will have many blessings to count.

Now I want to conclude with this reminder: this is a sermon on prayer.

Jesus wants us to grow in our confidence in prayer and to grow in our enjoyment of prayer.

The Lord's prayer is like the framework upon which we built this beautiful house of prayer.

It's not the whole finished house itself, but it's a framework.

Now I hope the following illustration will be helpful.

I go on prayer walks.

I try to go out every day.

Uh sometimes I'm it's not always a prayer walk.

Sometimes I'll be memorizing scripture, but but sometimes I devote a whole time of walking four or five miles with prayer.

And at times, and I find myself most often focusing on that one line that I get to preach on today: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

And I use it like a springboard into praying for my family, for myself, for my friends, for our churches.

And so, for example, I'll pray this way: Father, how do you want your kingdom to come in my life today?

What will that look like?

Here's what I have planned for today, Lord.

How do you want your kingdom to come with these choices I'm making?

And then I pray for my family.

Bennett, I told you I was gonna use you, but I'm not embarrassing you, I hope.

But when I pray for my family, I pray this way.

Father, how's Bennett doing today?

What does he need today to help him represent you and your kingdom values in his walk today?

How do you want your kingdom values to be in him as a husband and as a father to little Merrick?

And to his involvement with the youth.

I pray that way.

God, let your kingdom come in my son's life.

Let your will be done in his life.

And so, you know, you got your kids, you got your grandkids, you got friends, and all the rest of it.

I mean, four or five miles goes by pretty quickly when you pray this way.

And so I ask God questions when I pray.

And I don't always get answers.

In fact, I rarely get answers.

But sometimes I feel nudges.

So I say, what does Bennett need today?

And I may be off base, but I'll pray that way.

The impressions I get.

And then I go from questioning God to thanking God for Bennett, for the son he's been, he is, and he will be, and for the blessing he is to evolve, to people that he gets to know at work, and so forth.

So I give thanks for his blessing.

I'm grateful for how he wants to grow in Christ.

And by the way, when I pray, I'm not in a hurry to get through to the next thing on my prayer list.

It doesn't really matter because I believe that when I pray on a prayer walk, God is ordering my steps.

And so if I don't get to everybody, it's okay.

Lord, teach us to pray.

May that be your heart's cry.

And you know what?

To ask the Lord to teach you to pray is one of those beautiful, delicate prayers that Raphael brings before God.

It's a prayer the Father will answer.

Are you listening for his answer?

Would you pray with me?

Our Father, we are not as strong as we think we are.

We are easily distracted by the media, by our appetites, by our preferences, by hardships when we would prefer that faith in you would mean a life of comfort and ease.

But Lord, we know that in our heart of hearts, life is hard at times, it's challenging.

But would you let every hardship, every challenge, every frustration, every anxiety and hurt, and sadly even every broken relationship, every loss, don't let them destroy us, Father.

Rather, may they only turn us to cry out, Father, your kingdom come.

May we not give in to fear, to hopelessness.

Your will be done.

And so let us be agents of your will being done.

Little by little, would you grow kingdom values in us today?

For your glory.

So your name will be hallowed.

It will be honored, it'll be famous.

Your kingdom all around us now, Father.

Let it happen.

We want to participate with you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Can I do the PS here at the end?

Just who's ever in charge?

There's much that wars against or contradicts God's kingdom in our lives.

We look around in our society, trends, and all that stuff that we see out there, and it I'm sure it drags you down at times and wonder is it ever going to get better?

Is it just going to keep getting worse?

How can we possibly make a difference?

The state of this world, our country, perhaps even the state of your life right now, challenges the belief that we can push back the powers of darkness and we can get things to honor God again.

But I want to remind you of 2 Chronicles chapter 7, 14.

2 Chronicles 7 · chapter mention

But first I'll ask you this question: Does our land need healing?

Does our society need healing?

If my people who are called by my name will just humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways and seek my face, guess what he's gonna do?

I will forgive and I will heal their land.

And so, people, I'm encouraging you.

Would you be people of prayer instead of people of disrespecting of cynicism?

Would you be people who pray for our government, pray for the rulers of our world?

Pray that trends would stop, that the goofiness that we see or identify will stop, that people will have enough, that God will move in hearts once again.

Because every little ounce of cynicism and and criticism lets in a little bit more darkness, people, and that's not your job.

Your job is to bring light.

And so, would you be people of prayer?

Father, would your kingdom come?

And so, saints, keep praying, keep listening.

But there are some here who perhaps are struggling with wanting to believe, even.

Maybe you you're not even a Christian.

You might be stuck in this funk of lifeless spirituality, going through the motions.

I want you to know this.

The Father is at work in you.

He's tapping you on the shoulder and he's saying, Let's go.

What are you afraid of?

I want you to come to my son.

You're not gonna hate the will that I have for you.

In fact, you're gonna be blown away if you give your heart to Jesus.

And you're gonna look back and you're gonna wonder, why didn't I ever do this before?

And so if you are here today and you don't know Jesus, you're not a Christian, you wouldn't identify that way.

First of all, I want to say thanks for coming.

It's pretty amazing that you would come and sit through this.

But I urge you to do what Jesus said.

This will sound harsh.

I want you to repent.

What that means is just change your mind.

Rethink that about the gospel, rethink that maybe this really is good news.

Maybe this Jesus stuff is real.

I'm feeling there's something in my heart that is challenging me to accept it.

I believe that's the Holy Spirit working in you, and I'm urging you, I'm inviting you to give your heart to Jesus this morning.

If you have this vibe within you that there's got to be something more to life, you're right.

There is something more.

How could Jesus possibly love a person like you?

I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that he does love you.

No matter what you've done, no matter what you are, it doesn't matter.

He loves you.

He's calling you to come to him this morning.

He just does.

He loves you.

That's who he is.

He proved that by his will being done on the cross.

Jesus died with the ultimate act of pushing back the powers of darkness so that you would sense his love this morning.

And so the Father invites you to receive the good news, to invite Jesus to enter your life, and he will rock your world with greatness if you make that choice.

So would you all bow your heads in prayer?

And if you want to accept Jesus into your heart, if you feel that tug, I'm gonna pray.

And would you repeat after me?

It doesn't have to be out loud, but in your heart, but the rest of the Christians around, if you would just encourage us by praying along with me, repeating it.

Dear Lord Jesus, I don't understand your love, but there's something pulling me to accept it.

And so I give my heart to you this morning, Lord.

And I want to change my mind about you.

I want to change some things in my life.

And I know that you'll help me to do that.

Thank you for your forgiveness, for your help in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch dot com.

We hope to see you soon.