How do you talk to God

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

If you're here this morning and you do not have a worship guide, would you please raise your hand so we can make sure that you get one so that you'll have the outline on the back.

Anyone in the back there?

Good.

All right.

When the disciples heard Jesus pray, they heard a prayer that they had never heard before.

They heard someone praying like they had never heard someone pray before.

In fact, Jesus prayed as if he was talking to a real person instead of some prayer in some kind of heavenly language.

In other words, he prayed to someone who was actually listening to what he said.

And so when they heard that and saw that, they had never seen it before, they said, Oh Lord, would you please teach us to pray?

As I was looking at how Jesus prayed throughout the New Testament, really throughout the Gospels, he prayed about personal things.

He prayed about private things.

He prayed about dangerous things, difficult things.

He prayed for food that he could later eat that day.

He prayed for protection.

And he also, in his prayers, was a lot of praising God, his father.

So, no wonder the disciples were attracted to Jesus praying because he prayed about all the stuff that they spent a lot of time worrying about.

Amen.

Yes, perfect.

So it is probably to no surprise while they cried out, Jesus, teach us to pray.

So he did.

He taught them how to pray.

And the prayer he taught them is probably the most famous prayer in the world.

And it's titled The Lord's Prayer.

Because the Lord prayed it.

That's why it's called, excuse me, not because the Lord prayed it.

I had it wrong.

Not because the Lord prayed it, but because the Lord taught it.

And we'll see, really, it's the disciples' prayer.

And the reason it's the disciples' prayer, it's a prayer that's set up as a pattern to teach the disciples to pray as well as to teach you and I how to pray.

Amen.

So we see this powerful prayer here in Matthew 6, 9 through 13.

If God were going to teach us how to talk to him, what would you think the lesson might be?

If God was going to teach you how to talk to him, what do you think it might be?

That's a pretty good question.

Isn't that a pretty good question?

Well, guess what?

In 66 words, in 66 words, word-for-word pattern of how that you and I are to have a personal conversation with God is what we're going to learn these next few weeks.

The series is how Daddy's going to teach us to pray.

And it's going to be exciting because we're going to look just as the Son of God Himself explains how to talk to His Father, He's going to teach us how to talk to God the Father.

The Lord's Prayer is the most famous prayer in the world.

It should more accurately, again, be called the disciples' prayer, since the prayer asked.

Now watch this.

The prayer asked for forgiveness of sins.

And the reason that we know it would not really be the Lord's Prayer is because Jesus Christ was sinless.

Can I get an amen?

Amen?

In fact, he was a lamb without blemish and without spot, 1 Peter 1.19 tells us.

He says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

2 Corinthians 5.21.

So it's really the disciples' prayer instead of the Lord's Prayer because the Lord was sinless.

He doesn't have to ask for forgiveness.

So again, it's titled The Lord's Prayer, not because He prayed it, but because He taught it.

If you got that, say Amen.

It's important.

As we go into a lot of churches, you see it posted on many of the walls and different Sunday school rooms.

Whole congregations recite it from memory.

In fact, there's a lot of people that attend church.

Are you ready for this?

Regularly that can recite the Lord's Prayer, but yet they don't know the Lord Himself.

Amen.

Oh me.

I mean, we go to weddings, we hear it cited, we hear it saying.

We go to funerals, we hear it saying, we hear it quoted.

We hear it quoted at homes, at meals, at bedtime.

Pastors, parents, teachers have taught the Lord's Prayer for generations to come.

And will continue to teach it.

Because it's such a famous prayer.

And it is.

The Lord's Prayer is ready?

The Lord's Prayer is perfectly balanced.

Let me give you an example.

It's perfectly balanced.

It teaches us what?

To look to God first.

Amen?

And then ourselves.

It teaches us to forgive and then receive forgiveness.

It teaches us to look to God first, then to ourselves.

It teaches us to forgive and then to receive forgiveness.

And it teaches us totally, absolutely, completely to depend on God and God alone.

Can I get an amen?

What a prayer.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

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

Give us this day our daily bread as we forgive our debts and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Now, as we look in Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 through 13 today, and this is just kind of an introduction, there's three, there's some principles in this prayer.

Matthew 6:5–13

Christ focuses on some principles that will help us pray the Lord's Prayer in a way that honors Him.

In fact, he starts out in verse 5.

Look at verse 5 with me.

Let's look at verse 5 and 6.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.

For they love to pray standing in the synagogues, in the corners of the streets, and they love to be seen of men.

Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

Wow.

Verse 6.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into the closet.

And when thou hast shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Wow.

So really we have three ingredients today are really that consist in this powerful message today.

And really, it's a powerful message.

How do you talk to God?

We see prayer, the pattern to pray, God's prayer.

Then we see pagans, and then we see pretenders.

Amen?

Sound familiar?

So let's begin by looking at three things today.

These principles.

In Matthew 6, 5, Jesus points out how the Pharisees love to pray in standing in the synagogues and in streets.

And in fact, the first point is do not pray.

God's gonna, he gave the disciples some key insight before he started teaching and pray.

He said, number one, hey, you can't pray like the hypocrites.

Amen?

You can't pray like the hypocrites.

In fact, he makes that very plain right here.

In fact, he said, there's four things wrong with the way the hypocrites pray.

And here they are.

Number one, he said, they are more concerned about their position than they are their piety.

They're more interested in being seen of men than being heard of God.

Mercy, that's good.

Are you with me?

They're more interested in being seen of men than being heard of God.

In fact, back in the Jewish culture, they would, wherever they were, every three hours they would stop and pray.

That's like six, well, actually, six o'clock, nine o'clock, twelve o'clock, three o'clock.

And what they would do, the scribes and Pharisees, they made it a point to be in the most populated areas, the marketplace, uh, in the streets, in the synagogues, when it was, hey, on the hour every three hours, so that they could get up and begin to pray, so everybody could see them and think that they were spiritually, hey, giants.

Spiritual giants.

Oh, look how godly they are.

Look how dynamic they are.

Look at, hey, how spiritual they are.

Let me remind you, the Lord sees not as man sees.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

1 Samuel 16, 7, amen.

God knows your heart.

That's why he says, guard your heart, for out of it flows the issues of man.

Proverbs 23, amen.

Guard your, I mean, that's Proverbs 4.23.

Guard your heart, for out of it flows the issues of man, who you really are.

When he said the word issue is there, the Hebrew word means really what you are comes out of your heart.

But then, secondly, not only were he said, don't pray like the hypocrites, because they're more concerned about position instead of being humble, they're more prideful and selfish than godly.

He says, secondly, here's the second thing wrong with their prayer.

They wanted recognition instead of reward.

They wanted people to say, look how spiritual they are.

They wanted people to think that they were a lot more godly than they really were.

Amen.

I mean, they put on the show.

I mean, they did.

But hey, it was a hey, but what does what does Jesus say?

It was entirely the opposite of what Jesus said in verse 6.

Jesus said what?

Go to your closet in secret, close the door, and don't pray out, hey, so that men can hear you.

Pray so that God the Father can hear you, because that's where God is.

He's not in the marketplace, which in reality he is, but we're talking about in the context of praying.

He's saying he's not looking for you to put on a show with your eloquent prayers, he's looking for you to give your heart to him in secret.

To pour it all out to him, not man.

Can I get an amen?

So he said, don't look for recognition.

Look for a God rewarding you.

And I love what he says there.

He will reward you openly.

When you pray to God in secret, he will, hey, reward you openly.

That's good, folks.

That's good, church.

It is.

It is.

Powerful.

And then he said, not only were they more concerned about position and instead of piety, recognition instead of reward, they were they were more concerned about man's approval than God's answer.

That is enlightening.

Amen.

That's illuminating.

They were more interested in what man thought, hey, than what God could do for them.

God help us.

But the third thing he said to the disciples said, here's the third thing you got to realize about these guys.

They were self-centered instead of God-centered.

Now, this is oh, this is so good.

He said they're self-centered instead of God-centered.

In fact, right here, look at it.

In the word, the Lord's Prayer is not a self-centered prayer.

They were so self-centered, but the Lord's Prayer itself, you don't find any mention of personal needs for us till you get halfway through the prayer.

And wait, when you get halfway through the prayer, and it does turn over to our needs, guess what?

It's not singular needs, it's plural needs.

It's not my, it's we.

Amen.

In fact, look at it, this is awesome.

Hey, even the personal needs are expressed in the plural.

Look at it.

Not my father, but our father.

Not my daily bread, but our daily bread.

Not forgive my debts, but our debts.

Not lead me, but lead us.

The prayer itself keeps us from being self-centered.

Is that not good?

You can't be self-centered and pray the Lord's Prayer, folks.

Man, that's good.

Sometimes we feel, and we think that God's, or sometimes, you know what I'm saying?

I think sometimes God's God's sitting up there feel, and he feels like he's our heavenly bellhop.

I mean, all we do is get up and start asking, but Lord, I need this, I need this, I want this.

Oh, and by the way, Lord, can you get it to me by 4 o'clock this afternoon?

God's not our heavenly bellhop.

We enter into his presence with a self-centered perspective instead of a God-centered perspective.

Now, let me show you this.

I think we have it on the screen for you.

I want you to, I want to show you one of the best examples of this.

In Luke chapter 18, verses 10 through 14.

Luke 18:10–14

We have the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

Woo! Now, this is good.

Listen to what he says in verse 9.

And really, this whole paragraph deals with the spirit needed for prayer.

Here's what he said.

Here's the warning to the self-righteous and to those who despise or look down on other people.

Listen to what he says.

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves, all those things that we just discussed.

They, hey, that they were righteous and despise other words.

Oh, I'm so righteous, I just I can't be around those sinners.

They are so bad.

I can't be around them.

Oh, I'm too good to be around them.

Then verse 10 says, Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.

Two men are praying in the temple, one is a Pharisee, one is a sinner.

Now watch what he says.

The religious person, the Pharisee, stood and prayed thus with himself.

God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

He stands and prays only with and about himself.

Notice, he's praying about himself.

He's talking about how good he is to God.

Don't you think God knows that?

Hello.

Don't you think God knows how righteous he is?

All he's doing is cooking his goose in front of God.

Amen.

I never thought about that.

Cooking the goose, I don't think I've ever used that.

That's pretty good.

Amen.

But look at it.

That's what he's saying.

He really is.

And then look at verse 12.

He goes on.

I meant, boy, he feels God will accept him because of his good work.

He says, and not only am I righteous, whoo, God, woo, I fast twice in the week, and I give a tent, I'm a tither, I'm a faster, I do all these things.

Man, I'm godly, God.

Look at me.

Woo! Put a big sign, spiritual.

You've seen those folks.

I know so.

You around them.

And here, they won't have a sign that says I'm spiritual, but here's what they do.

If you don't drive the right car, you don't have the right clothes, you don't give the right money, you don't do this, you don't that, you don't smell have the right cologne, you don't have the right shoes, they just smile and just walk right on by.

Walk right on by.

Well, that, you know, let me help you today.

There's a church you might would like to attend.

It's down the road.

See, now what they're telling you is we don't want your kind, don't want it, don't want it, but in a loving way they say, you might want to visit down the road.

They got your kind of people.

What what kind of people is that?

It's sinners.

I want to go to the sinner's church.

Why?

I be one.

Amen.

And I got news for you, you are one too with your highfalutin' self.

Amen.

All your righteousness is as filthy rags with God, folks.

There's none righteous, know not one.

There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God.

You're just a dirty, old, good, rotten sinner, and you may have good smelling cologne, but your sin stinks.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

Now I will not be popular online today.

Sorry.

Yeah, but now watch.

Watch.

Then get verse 13.

Here's the sinner.

Now we just did, hey, we have just dealt with the religious, know-in-all, spiritual, smart aleck.

Now look at the center.

And the publican standing afar off.

He said, I'm not even worthy to be even close.

Cannot even lift up so much as his eyes.

God, I'm so unworthy.

He beat his breast.

But he said, Lord, please be merciful to me, a sinner.

Now look what Jesus said.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.

For everyone that exalts himself shall be what?

Brought down, and he that humble himself shall be exalted.

See the difference, church.

So and then there was one other thing.

One other thing.

They were pompous instead of personal with their prayer.

You see that pompous attitude right here.

You just saw it.

You just saw it with the Pharisees.

True prayer, hey, true prayer, Jesus said, look, right here, is personal.

It is talking intimately with God the Father in heaven.

We do not need to pontificate, to talk in high-sounding religious terms like they were.

I fast, I do this, but we need only to talk in the way we would talk to our closest friends.

That's the way you pray to God.

And that's what He's telling us here.

You don't speak to the person that you love the dearest, dearest and closest to.

You don't communicate with he or her in high, posturous ways, your relationship would suffer greatly.

In fact, it probably would soon be over, but you don't go home.

I was thinking about this.

I don't go home during the day after I've been out visiting and say, oh thou, and I wrote it down because I'd mess it up.

Oh thou, dear and most wonderful wife.

How thou art blessing me this day.

Oh thou, dearest and most wonderful wife, how thou art blessing me this day.

Man, she'd look at you and think you were drunk.

Susan said, That sounds good.

No, we speak conversationally, intimately, and personally.

That's the way we speak.

And that's how we should speak to God.

Well, hey, while we should not pray like the hypocrites, he said, All right, disciples, you're not to pray like the hypocrites.

Then secondly, he said, Oh, by the way, there's another way you're not supposed to pray like.

He said, You're not to pray like the heathens.

Look at verse 7 and 8.

Jesus said, When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.

For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

In other words, the more words they pray, they think the more God's gonna hear them.

Can I say something?

When it's time to eat, don't pray a long prayer.

Say, God, I love you, we love you, thank you.

God bless this food.

Amen.

If you want to impress me with your praying, let's do it after we get through eating.

Just the thought.

Amen.

Therefore, he says, for they think that they would be heard for their many words, therefore do not be like them, for your father knows the things that you have need of before you ask him, but he still likes you to ask him.

So, how do we sound when we are praying like the heathen?

Have you ever thought about that?

How do you sound when you're praying like the heathen?

Sometimes we use words in our prayers for punctuation.

Lord, this, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Look, Lord, look.

Every other word, you you're calling his name again.

Like he didn't hear you the first time.

I don't say, I wrote me another little prayer.

I don't say, now, Susan.

We have to go to the store, Susan.

Yes, we have to go to the store, Susan.

We have to, Susan, do it today.

Susan.

Susan's my punctuation.

We don't pray that way.

We don't use Jesus in that way.

Jesus and Father are not punctuation marks.

God wants us to talk to him in the same way we would talk to our sweetest, most precious friends.

He craves that kind of relationship with his people.

Now, sometimes we pray hypocritically in our churches with repetition and we lose the emphasis.

I understand that.

And here's when I was going to school, I dealt with many people.

In my doctorate's degree, I went to PCA school.

That's the real conservative side of the Presbyterian denomination.

Dr.

E.

C.

Sprohl on the holiness of God.

R.

C.

was unbelievable.

But they're very liturgical in their worship.

They have prayer books written by godly people with great words.

They have prayer books that you can can open up the prayer book, go to the contents, and about every need you got, there's a prayer for you to be able to read and to pray.

And there is nothing wrong with that because, by the way, the Lord's Prayer is a good example of that.

Amen.

But what we don't want to do, and what God's trying to say here, is that we don't start depending on reading a prayer.

Okay?

And it becomes mechanical.

And it becomes mechanical worship instead of spontaneous worship.

Amen?

Big difference.

Why?

Because it's a broken and contrite heart and spirit that God will not despise.

Psalms 51, 17.

So that's the key.

We don't want it to become prescribed worship.

We want it to be spontaneous worship.

But there's nothing wrong with the liturgical praying.

And what I mean by that is as long as it's from the heart.

I love, I have a prayer book and I'll read some through those prayers.

But it becomes part of my heart.

I just don't read it.

I go back and take the words and let the words come down into my heart and they become part of me.

I look up the verses, if the, but most times they have the verses.

I turn to the passage of scripture where they got those words in that prayer, and I really read the context of that whole passage and let it become part of me.

Amen.

So then when I close that prayer book, it's still in my heart and it's spontaneous and it's real.

It's real.

Other heathen practices here during this time have influenced the prayers of Christians.

Some believe that lighting a candle while they pray means that prayers continue to go up to God as long as the candle burns.

There's no scriptural reference for that.

And what you're doing is, so, so when the candle goes out, there's no more praying.

No.

Jesus said men ought to always pray and not to faint.

Amen.

Luke 18, 1.

Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing.

And everything give thanks to God, for this is his wheel.

Amen.

And then another heathen practice was they called it the prayer wheel, that they would write their prayers and put it in this wheel.

And long as the prayer was in that wheel, it was continuously going up to their God.

Then they had flags where they wrote things and put them on flags, and their prayers were being carried to God through the wind to their God.

All kinds of man-centered praying.

I love what R.A.

Tory wrote.

Listen to what he said.

And then, by the way, then there's the uh in Mexico, the Indians, and they make figurines to express their needs, images of corn, cactus, and children, and all these techniques are man-made efforts to cycle one's prayers to their God.

But for the Christian, our heart is to be the cycle.

Our heart is to be the one that's lifted to God Almighty.

And we cry out from our heart what we need, the things that we're thinking.

We praise him and we just we just say, God, I'm I'm hurting right now.

Lord, I'm in trouble right now.

Lord, I need you right now.

Lord, help me.

You said that's not reverent.

Oh, yes, it is.

Ask Peter, ask Peter.

When he was walking on the water and he started sinking, he didn't say, No, Heavenly Father, I am in trouble.

Do you understand, Heavenly Father, that the waves are about to drown me?

Oh, Heavenly Father Jesus, do you understand?

No! He said, Amen.

It comes from your heart.

Your heart, folks.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

So, we're not to pray like the hypocrite.

We're not to pray like the heathen.

So, how do we pray?

Well, here we go.

The pattern for prayer.

Now we start the series.

That was the introduction.

Number three, the pattern for prayer.

Boy, this is good.

As we study this prayer, 66 words given by God Himself.

We'll discover some of the greatest theology you will ever learn in this prayer.

There is no doubt.

Ever put into writings.

Written, are you ready for this?

In the language from heaven.

Isn't that good?

Written in the language from heaven.

Now notice, let's begin by noticing the emphasis, first of all, is on God.

In the first three petitions, look at what he says in the verse.

Verse 9 and 10.

Look at what he says.

Your name, your kingdom, your will.

He deals with God.

He talks about God in his name, God in his kingdom, and God's and his will.

Wow.

I mean, it totally exalts God.

Nothing more, nothing left.

Totally.

Then notice the second part of the prayer, verses 11 through 13.

It emphasizes are you ready for this?

The poverty of man.

Oh, yes.

Look at what it says.

Dealing with us.

Remember, plural.

We, us, we need daily bread.

Us, we need forgiveness.

Amen.

Us, we need protection from temptations.

Us, we need deliverance from evil.

So it deals with God, who he is, hey, his name.

Oh.

Everything about God's in his name.

His name, his kingdom.

We're to be kingdom builders.

And then his will, God's will for our life.

Powerful.

In the first part of the prayer, it's your, your, your.

Talking in reference to God.

In the second part of the prayer, it's us, us, us.

God has all the glory and the power and the majesty.

Can I get an amen?

Let me say that again.

God has all the power, the glory, and the majesty.

And then, are you ready for this?

And we have all the needs, all the wants, and all the poverty.

He has everything, and hey, hey, and we don't have anything.

Let me repeat that.

God has everything, we don't have anything.

But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives thee power to get wealth.

Deuteronomy 8.18.

I mean, God's everything.

We're nothing.

I am the vine, you are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can what?

Do what?

Do what?

What does nothing mean?

Thank you.

Amen.

John 15, 5.

Are you with me?

God has everything, we have nothing.

Say that with me.

God has everything, we have nothing.

Wow, that's good.

Isn't it wonderful to be able to come with empty hands, having nothing, to the hands that has everything?

I think I'll have a spell on that one.

Isn't it good to come with nothing to the person's hands that has everything?

Everything.

You know what?

I saw a verse this morning, I was reviewing and praying, and I went, woo! Psalms 37, 21.

God brought it to my thoughts when I was reviewing this part of the message.

He says, I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.

Woo! Have me a spell on that one.

I've never seen my hey the righteous forsaken nor his children begging for bread.

Now that'll make a Presbyterian shout.

Yes.

That is what the Lord's Prayer right here is all about, and that is what the prayer will teach us the more we pray it.

2 Corinthians 9.8, here's what I hey, all sufficiency in all things.

Well, in fact, here's what 2 Corinthians 9.8 says.

All grace, all sufficiency in all things so that you can do the work of God.

2 Corinthians 9.8.

Man, that's good.

One of my favorite verses.

All grace, all sufficiency in all things so that you can do the work of God.

Now, just buckle up.

You ready?

As we go down through this prayer, I want you to see something.

I think I have it.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

As we go down through it, hey, I in fact I put it in your outline there.

We discovered that this prayer pictures the cycle of life for the Christian.

I'd never seen this before.

Number one, it starts with praise.

It starts with praise.

Notice what it says.

Hallow be your name.

I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Now that word hallow, I thought that I'd do a little word study.

There it can be used as a verb.

And it's haggiah adazol.

Haggai adzo is a better way to say it.

And then there's it's also as a noun, hagias.

Now here's what that means.

It has two basic meanings in the biblical Greek.

Number one, to make an ordinary thing extraordinary.

To make an ordinary thing extraordinary.

Hallow be thy name.

When hallow be thy name, when thy name, God's name gets in thy, you are no longer ordinary.

You are extraordinary.

There is nothing ordinary about you once Jesus gets in you.

Because you have the power of the Holy Spirit of God living in you, and you can call upon the name of the Lord.

Then the other meaning to treat someone or something as sacred.

See, you don't go in into your prayer claws it flippantly, and you don't call God the man upstairs.

You know what that is?

Hallow be thy name.

It means the holy one, the sacred one, the sinless one, the all-sufficient one, the all-sanctifying one.

Hallow be thy name.

Starts with praise.

Hello be your name.

Then notice the second thing.

It moves from praise to priorities.

Luke 9 23, what do you say?

If any man come after me, let him deny himself and what?

Take up his cross and what?

Follow me.

Man, that's pretty good.

That's what it means.

What about Matthew 6.33?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things should be added unto me.

So now we go from praise to priorities, seeking God's will for our life, and then the third thing, then it talks about provision.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Woo! Wow.

My God shall supply all our needs according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4.19.

Listen, God would be a liar if he didn't provide for now what it's not our wants, but our needs.

If we are walking in what?

The power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, exalting Jesus for who he is, allowing Jesus to have lordship of our life.

The reason we're in a mess is because we're doing it and not God.

And then you try to blame everybody but you.

I got news.

It's me.

It's not my brother nor my sister.

Hey, standing in need of prayer, oh Lord, it's me.

It's you.

Me.

God's got to take care of us if we, hey, if He's Lord of our life.

He's gotten two, folks.

Did you get?

I got two amens.

Two of you got it.

I said, if you're walking with God, He's got to take care of you.

That's good preaching, preacher.

Now watch.

Then he moves from provision.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Then he talks about personal relationships.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Oh my goodness.

Well, I'm just walking to church today and I'm just, oh, I'm super spiritual.

I gotta have, ah, dah dah da.

But yet you've got bad relationships.

You've got you got an unforgiving spirit with two or three people in the church or in your family, and boy, but yet I'm I'm I'm spiritual.

I got a Greek word for that, baloney.

Amen.

You can't have a grudging spirit and a bitter spirit, hey, and an unforgiving spirit and be walking with God.

We're having a great time in our marriage class.

Matter of fact, it's growing every week, and we're gonna we're gonna repeat it right after.

It's four weeks.

It's been how to stay in love.

My wife is really enjoying this.

I gotta practice what to preach.

Every once in a while I ask the Lord, can I preach this later?

Because I ain't doing it now.

Hello.

You with me, church?

And you know what the Holy Spirit says?

He said, if I waited for you to do it, you'd never get around to it.

So repent and start doing it.

Amen.

That's old me preaching.

But now notice, he says that.

And in fact, in that chapter, verse 14 and 15, he says, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you.

But now watch verse 15.

But if you forgive not, mm-mm.

Me and their trespasses, neither is your heavenly father going to forgive you.

Hello.

Did you see that?

That's in red letters.

Jesus said, if you don't forgive, I'm not gonna forgive you.

Now I don't know how you interpret that, but you and I know for you that don't like that, you know what it really didn't mean that.

Well, what did it mean?

Well, that doesn't, that's really not what the Greek says.

Well, what does the Greek say?

Hey, it means what it says, and it says what it means.

Amen?

There it is, right there.

But now watch.

Then he goes from personal relationships.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Then he talks about protection.

Look at what it says.

Number five.

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

Woo! There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful and just, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but with the temptation also make a way to escape.

There is no temptation for a Christian that when you're tempted, that you can't avoid if you want to.

Did you hear that last part?

If you want to.

Now there is, and I believe this with all my heart, from from the great prophet, I meant from the great King David to Peter cursing God.

I think you can go too far into that temptation where it's too late to turn back.

That's why you avoid it and you flee it.

Can I get an amen?

When you go out on a on on the deck and you see a naked woman there bathing, you don't sit that stand there and keep looking.

You say, and then leave.

Hello.

I listen, I'm no dummy.

Amen?

And for you ladies, if you see a few windows, would you mind covering up?

Where they ought not to be looking, where you ought not to be showing.

Hello.

Susan hates it when I do that when I try to put it on that Sheba.

I didn't put it up.

We both are guilty.

Can I get an amen?

We have been arguing 35 wonderful years over that passage of scripture.

And then it moves from protection.

Are you ready?

And it gives us a promise.

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

Amen.

There hath not failed one word of all of God's good promises.

Amen.

1 Kings 8:56.

1 Kings 8:56

The Lord's prayer reminds us that God longs for his people to communicate with him.

But not just in church, but every day.

Small groups, Bible studies, Sunday school, choir rehearsal, all of it, all of it.

So much in our lives could get better if prayer were more of a factor in our lives.

Most of us wait till it gets to the point we've tried everything else, and then we say, well, we've done everything, tried everything we know to do.

I guess we ought to pray.

And that's when you have humbled yourself now to the poor, hey, to the point and to the position that now you are going to can you believe this?

You are now humbling yourself and you are going to start praying to the, hey, God that created the heavens and earth that can move any mountain, any problem you've got, just by the word of his testimony.

Amen.

Just like that.

Just like that.

Let me close.

This is powerful, folks.

You say, Well, this is my prayer.

Because it's a prayer that I've been praying all my life.

Well, I've got news for you.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, it is not your prayer.

It may be a prayer that you're praying, but it's not your prayer.

It's not your prayer.

And then I thought it for a minute.

For instance, how can we say, listen, I'm gonna go back to the prayer another way.

Our Father, if our religion has no room for others and the needs of others, how can we say he's our Father?

If you're not a church for whosoever, you know what I love about our church?

You look out here, it's the diversity's fantastic.

This is the way heaven looks.

Amen.

I get so excited, this is the way heaven looks.

And this church helps people.

We help needs.

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3, 18.

How can we say father?

If we do not demonstrate, hey, a father-child relationship with God in our daily living?

How can we call him father if we're not submitting to his authority and talking to him all day, every day?

How can we call him our father in heaven if our interests and our pursuits here on earth?

Can we say, hallowed be your name?

If the one who is called by, hey, that name is not holy in our life?

How can we not be living holy and call him holy father?

Hallow be thy name, which means the holy one.

How can we do that if we're not living holy?

Be ye holy in all manner of conversation, for it is written, Jesus said, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:15 and 16.

1 Peter 1:15

How can we say your kingdom come if we're unwilling to give up our rights and our sovereignty to His?

Not my will, but thy will be done.

How can we say your will be done if we're unwilling to or resentful in having, hey, to do what God wants us to do instead of what we want to do?

How can we call him our Father?

How can we say on earth as it is in heaven unless we are truly ready to give ourselves to his service here on earth and be an ambassador for Christ?

Wow.

How can we say, give us this day our daily bread without expending honest effort in everyday work, going out working, hey, because we're supposed to work?

I'm not talking about the engineers and the ones that can't work.

But hey, instead of being freeloaders, we work every day.

And Ephesians 4 says we work and we don't steal, but we work so that we can give to others.

How can we save, provide for our daily bread if we're not doing all we're supposed to do?

That's good preaching, preacher.

And with the freeloaders.

And I'm not talking about not helping people that need help.

We do that here.

But my George, it's time.

We get back up and go to work.

Let me help you younger folks.

There's no free lunch.

Somebody pays.

And I don't mind paying, but bless God, get out of here and dig the ditch with me.

Amen.

Work together.

Help one another.

How can we say, forgive our debts as we forgive our debts if we continue to hold grudges against a brother?

How can we say, do not lead us into temptation if we deliberately choose to stay in a situation where we know we're tempted and we give in to that temptation?

How can we say, deliver us from the evil one if we're not prepared to fight the spiritual battle by putting on the armor of God daily with the word of God and being faithful to our church and fighting together?

How can we say yours is the kingdom?

We do not give the king the discipline and obedience of a loyal subject.

Woo! If you're willing and obedient, you should eat the good of the lamb.

If you refuse and rebel, you should be devoured by the sword.

How can we say, and the power, if we fear what friends and neighbors may say or do?

How in the world can we be afraid of what people think?

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of the God under salvation to everyone that believes to the Jew first to the Gentile.

I'm not ashamed to wear my Jesus' awesome bracelet.

You're just swear.

No, I'm saved.

You say, Well, I'm saved, but I don't act like that.

Maybe what do you get saved with?

Because when you get saved, you change.

I'm not saying you gotta be as radical or or shall I say, what's the you don't have to be as vivacious about it or or whatever.

That's good.

I'm just, I'm just, I am who God made me.

See, when I was playing football before I even got saved, I never got the most valuable player, but I always got the most enthusiastic trophy.

I'm just enthusiastic about whatever God calls me to do, ask Susan.

Doesn't matter what I'm what If if you want, if I get involved, buckle up, bless God, we're going 100 miles an hour.

Don't ask me to do something, and by the way, if I say, uh, that just means I'm not gonna waste my time.

Because when I get in, I'm in.

That's by the way, that's the way it ought to be about this church.

You're interested in this church, we want you.

But you gotta get in.

You gotta get in.

Because you won't stay long if you don't get in.

You gotta get in the game.

Amen.

Be a part, be a part of your family.

And we don't force you to get in, that's your choice.

But once you get in, get in.

Go to work.

Can we say in the glory, if we're seeking our own glory first, and then I finish and I'm through.

Can we say amen?

Unless we honestly say, hey, cost what it may, this is my prayer.

God forbid, if I should glory in anything, except the cross.

By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I into the world.

Didn't know that little 66 words was so full, did you?

And we're just starting.

I'm telling you, I've never seen so much theology in 66 words in all my life.

Don't miss a week.

It's gonna be life-changing.

Or if you do, watch us.

You can get us all week.

Go back and listen to this again.

If you're like me, when when I get hit, I listen, I have to go back and listen to again.

In fact, I think I'm gonna go back and listen to this one, just see what I said.

Because the Holy Spirit just grabs me sometimes and takes me.

Amen.

I love you with all my heart.

That's why I preach the book with all the power and fervor God gives me.

Every time I step in this pulpit, I give you everything I got.

I'm prepared, I'm ready, and I can't wait to share my heart with what God's given me to give to you.

But I just don't do it to do it.

I don't do it for man, I do it for him.

And he's promised me in Isaiah 55, verse 11, it will never return void.

Isaiah 55:11

Amen.

But it will accomplish where God sends it.

So I've done my job.

I'm through.

I've done my job.

Now, what about you?

Here's your now listen.

Here's the invitation.

If you're not saved, you cannot say, My Father, which is in heaven.

You can't pray that prayer.

Oh, you can pray it, but it doesn't mean anything to you.

But there is one prayer you can pray.

And that's called the sinner's prayer.

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

God, save me.

Give me your mercy, your grace.

I deserve hell, but I won't heaven.

I want you to come into my heart, my life, and change me and save me today, Father.

Change me.

Then guess what?

Then you are a candidate to pray the Lord's Prayer.

My Father, our Father, which are in heaven.

In fact, John 1 12 says, For as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at CW.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.