The Do's and Don'ts of Prayer - Praying The Way Jesus Taught

Oh, good morning. Good to see you guys. We're

going to take a slight break. I wanted to Because

I knew we're gonna be missing a lot of people

today. I was like, you know what? Let's take

a break from the book of Mark and Let's just

do a one -off sermon. So as I was praying I was

like, what am I? What Lord do you want me to

preach on and I just kept coming back to the

words of Peter In my heart just kept going Lord

teach us to pray and so That's what we're gonna

talk about this morning if you would turn with

me to Matthew chapter 6 We're going to start

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

in verse seven, but I've got a little riddle

for you. Okay, a little mind bender as you're

turning there. How do you get a room full of

people suddenly to be quiet and wish they were

invisible? Okay. Yeah, that was good. Anybody

else? Ask for a volunteer to do what? We'll go

with ask anyone to pray and they're like Like

record scratch moment and then everyone's like

nobody wants to make eye contact with the pastor

That's actually by kids like if you've eaten

lunchless after after church or you've ever eaten

lunch with us or been with us Uh, if we have

people over, I always ask my kids to pray over

the meal. Uh, so that way it forces them to pray

in front of other people. And they always do

the same thing. They're like, and Michael will

do all he can to hide, like when he knows it's

coming. And so, um, I'm guessing that there's

quite a few people here that, um, you would rather

spot clean a porta potty at a music festival.

than have to pray in public. I am not one of

those people. It's I've never been afraid to

pray, but I will say I do get very conscious

like when I'm praying. And it's one of those

things where in when I even when I'm praying

here every every Sunday or praying or like I

become very aware of my words, which is good.

And at the same time. I forget that I'm praying,

if that makes sense. It's like my brain is doing

two things at one time. And so I get why people

get nervous. But I want to talk this morning

about the do's and don'ts of prayer, which the

title of my sermon is pray like this, the do's

and don'ts of prayer, because Jesus gives us

how to pray. And so the big idea, if you're taking

notes, is prayer is simply the children of God

talking to their father. And so. Prayer is one

of the simplest acts of the Christian life, and

yet it can feel like one of the most mysterious.

It is both instinctive and learned. It's natural

and it's supernatural, and every one of us knows

that we ought to pray, yet many of us wonder

if we're ever doing it right. And so before we

dive in, let me ask you a simple question. What

is prayer? If you were asked to define it, if

you were asked, if somebody asked you what is

prayer, what would you say? Okay, that's good.

Worship to God. Talking with him, good. Anybody

else? What's that? Yeah, yeah, that's good too.

Asking, yep. So here's some definitions. So theologian

Wayne Grudem in his book, Systematic Theology,

he defines prayer like this. personal communication

with God, pretty straightforward, right? John

Frame, who also has another systematic book that

we have to read in seminary, his definition is

a genuine relational conversation with our Creator

rather than mere meditation or self -improvement.

And then the Puritans, who practice prayer literally

daily, they were very good at disciplining themselves

to pray. The Puritans defined prayer as a holy

intimate conversation between a loving soul and

God. If I were going to define it myself, and

if you want to write this down you definitely

can, I would define it from what I see in scripture

and just my personal experience of walking with

Jesus. I define it as Prayer is an ongoing conversation

with the triune God that begins as he speaks

to us through his word and continues as we respond

to him in faith. If you just want the simple

definition or the simple way of saying it, give

it to me straight, Pastor Logan, in a very simple,

redneck way. It's just me talking to my dad.

That's what prayer is. So here's the next question,

though. Is all prayer the same? Is it all created

equal? No, it's not. We have people with many

different religions, right? And some of those

religions, they either repeat memorized rituals.

Catholics do this a lot. Some chant. Some enter

trances. Some believe saying enough words or

praying enough times earns favor with God. That

would be like Islam. But Jesus says there's a

difference in how you should approach God and

how you should pray. Not every prayer honors

God. Not every prayer is the kind of prayer our

father desires. You can read that in Isaiah and

in Jeremiah where God tells the children of Israel

that he does not hear their prayers and that

their offerings reek. And so that brings up the

question then, all right, so how are we supposed

to pray? And so that's what we're going to unpack.

We're going to unpack the do's and don'ts. And

so my prayer for you this morning is that by

the end of our time together, you'll see prayer

less as obligation and more as an open invitation.

And through Christ, you have access to your heavenly

father every moment of every day. So let's go

ahead and let's read Matthew chapter six, starting

in verse five. And when you pray, you must not

be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand

and pray in the synagogues and at the street

corners that they may be, what does that say?

Seen by others. And truly I say to you, they

have received their reward. But when you pray,

go into your room and shut the door and pray

to your father who is in secret. And your father

who sees in secret will reward you. And when

you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the

Gentiles do. For they think that they will be

heard for their for their many words Do not be

like them for your father knows what you need

before you ask him pray then like this Our father

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 and forgive

us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver

us from evil. For if you forgive others, their

trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive

you. But if you do not forgive others, their

trespasses, neither will your father forgive

your trespasses. So if you are taking notes,

the first note is this. Don't pray to impress

with your deeds. don't pray to impress with your

deeds. Now, Pastor Logan, what are you talking

about? Well, let's back up for just a moment.

If you go to the very first verse in chapter

six, Jesus says, beware of practicing your righteousness

before other people in order to be seen by them,

for then you will have your reward from your

Father who is in heaven. So this is where we

get the, don't let the right hand know what the

left hand is doing or left hand or the right

hand is doing. Meaning we don't have to Trump

it that we're giving money or helping someone

out The Lord knows that you're doing this He

should be he's the one laying it on your heart

to give so we don't have to make this grandiose

gesture and let Everybody know that look how

look how awesome we are. Look how giving we are

nowadays It seems like the only way people give

to the homeless or help someone out is if they

are videoing it and putting it on social media

There's one spoof video that I saw that was really

funny where this guy was standing behind a Dollar

General acting like a homeless person and he

said to a guy getting out, hey man, you got $20.

And he's like, no man, I don't have $20. And

he's like, come on man, you gotta have $20. About

to go into Dollar General, I know you got money.

As if everyone that goes into Dollar General

has money. And so then he goes, man, I don't

have no $20. And then he's like, come on man,

I know you got, he's like, all right, fine, I

got $20. But. If I'm going to give you that $20,

you got to let me record it. And I got you got

to let me put it on Facebook and the homeless

guy says back to him, he goes, I'll let you talk

to my agent about that because I don't do it

for free. So it was pretty funny. So anyway.

So Jesus begins with the don'ts of prayer. and

the whole thing comes down to let's don't make

this about us and our righteousness because prayer

and giving and all the things it should point

to yeah and so jesus says he begins with the

warning when you pray you must not be like the

hypocrites and notice he doesn't say if you pray

he assumes his followers already pray yes And

so the question isn't whether you pray, the question

is why you pray. And so now let's clear up something

that Jesus is not saying. It was, were we sinning

standing up here and praying in public? Are we

going against what God, what Jesus is saying

here? No, no, it is not sinful. It's not forbidden

to pray in public. If that were the case, then

Jesus himself would have disobeyed his own command

because he prayed publicly all the time. The

apostles prayed publicly, and the early church

prayed publicly. And so we pray publicly every

day. Every Sunday we pray. We have prayer and

praise time, but people pray before city council

meetings, in government, on battlefields, in

hospitals, at sporting events, and around dinner

tables. And so you can write this down. Public

prayer isn't the problem. public performance

is. And so Jesus says the Pharisees love standing

in the synagogue and on the street corners to

pray. Why? Why do they like doing this? What

does it say? Yeah, to be seen. Why do they want

to be seen? Because they wanted them to know

that they were righteous, right? They're holy

people. And so Jesus says, That's their reward

then their reward is ultimately being seen So

they weren't speaking to God they were performing

for people and That's why this passage follows

immediately after Jesus says beware of practicing

your righteousness before people in order to

be seen by them So you can write this down the

issue isn't location. It's motivation You can

pray in a packed sanctuary with a humble heart

And you can pray alone in your bedroom while

secretly imagining how spiritual everyone would

think you are if they could hear you. Do you

ever do that sometimes? It's okay, you can be

honest. You ever in your prayer closet and you

start using some theological words you heard

on a Sunday morning and you're like, man, if

someone could hear me right now, they think I'm

such a holy person. I'm just asking, not because

I do that, but. But so God doesn't simply hear

our words. He sees our motives. So if there's

something weighing on your heart, God says, go

into your room, shut the door and talk to your

dad. Invite others to pray with you. Ask your

church family to pray. There's nothing wrong

with any of that, but be careful that your desire

is to be known as a spiritual person. My next

little sub point is. Don't pray to impress with

your words. Don't pray to impress with your words.

So then Jesus gives another warning, and when

you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the

Gentiles do. Notice that he says, he talks about

what the Pharisees do, and then he says what

the Gentiles do. Why does he say that the Gentiles

use empty phrases? What do you think that that

means? Yeah, like they're pagan so they're used

to all of this crazy nonsense that comes out

of their words or come out of their mouth so

the Pharisees wanted to impress people but the

Gentiles wanted to impress God because their

pagan background told them this is what God needs

So they believed if they repeated enough words

if they prayed long enough if they found just

the right formula Then maybe the gods would finally

listen And Jesus says, don't pray like that.

Why? Why don't you pray like that? Because your

father isn't reluctant to hear. He wants to hear

from you. Your father knows what you need before

you ask him. And now that raises the question,

if God already knows what I need, then why pray

at all? Write this down, because I get this question

a lot. Because prayer isn't about informing God.

It's about depending on God. Prayer doesn't update

an all -knowing Father. It draws us closer to

a loving Father. Prayer is the thing that essentially

aligns our heart with Him so that we're praying

His will and His will becomes our will. So some

of us think that our prayers aren't good enough

because they're too short. Others think we have

to use big theological words. We think if we

don't sound like the old saint who's been praying

for 50 years, then somehow God is less impressed

with us. Sometimes the most holy prayer you can

pray is just weeping, saying the name Jesus.

So can I encourage you? God isn't grading your

vocabulary. He's inviting your heart. One of

the sweetest Prayers in all of scripture is only

three words long. Lord, save me. You can write

this down. I think I have it in here. Prayer

isn't measured by its length. It's measured by

its dependence. Jesus isn't condemning long prayers.

He spent entire nights praying to the Father.

He's condemning empty prayers. The difference

isn't how many words you use. The difference

is whether those words come from a heart that

truly knows the Father. That leads us beautifully

into what comes next. So if it's not about impressing

God, then what is prayer? And Jesus answers by

giving us a model for how to do it. Well, we

talked about what is prayer, but how should we

do it? So point number two is this. The do's

so I have do and then a So if you if you want

to take notes like that, however, you want to

so if we look at Look over with me And if you

look at verse 9, so Jesus said don't pray like

this and then he gets to verse 9 He says but

pray then like this. How does he start that?

Yeah, worship, adoration, but how does he, what

is the line that he uses? Our Father in heaven.

So if you're taking notes, do pray to your Father.

So after warning us what prayer is not, Jesus

gives us the model. Notice he doesn't say, pray

these exact words. He's giving you a model. He's

not telling you to just recite this because if

you just recite this I can remember before When

I was in high school before our baseball games

the coach would tell us to go off and pray and

The captains would always lead the prayer and

the prayer that we had to recite was the Lord's

Prayer and I remember how it was literally just

Reciting it like you're reciting, you know something

you memorized in school. It was kind of meaningless

So if this is all you pray this can become the

very thing he said not to do So don't recite

empty words. He's giving you a model for how

to pray He's not saying this has to be the way

that the things that you say so He says then

pray then like this. This is merely isn't a prayer

to memorize. It's a pattern to imitate And so

the very first words are incredible, our Father

in heaven. I don't want you to skip that because

it's actually very revolutionary. Jesus saying,

pray then by saying our Father in heaven, the

disciples would have heard that and been like,

are we allowed to say that? So for us, it doesn't

feel that way, but for the first audience, it

was revolutionary. Because the Old Testament

though it talks about God being a father Jesus

invites his disciples to approach God like what?

children Before when they had to approach God,

how did they do it? Talked about it before right

now to go through all these things and there

had to be a lot of Sacrifice and Jesus is like

you go because of me and what I'm going to do

you'll get to approach him this way. So you don't

get to approach him because you've earned some

sort of privilege and not because you're naturally

God's children but because Jesus the eternal

son brought you into the family. So we don't

pray to a distant deity, we don't pray to an

impersonal force, and we don't pray hoping someone

is listening. When we pray, we pray to our father.

And this is why I love this, okay? So, my own

kids, okay, they know how to approach me when

they want something. My daughter is the best

at it. When Aria's gonna ask me for something

that she feels like I'm going to say no to, she

doesn't say, dad. She goes, daddy, right? The

dads in the room that have daughters know what

I'm talking about. There's just there's there's

a different way right and and She always will

approach me like that with one question and it

goes something like this daddy Will you take

me to get ice cream Now you may be like what's

the big deal about that my daughter's lactose

intolerant Okay, so She really wants ice cream

But the all of us including her very much so

are gonna suffer later and so It's funny because

there's times I say no and there's times that

I say yes But does that keep her from ever coming

back with the same question? Nope So I know that

if I say yes She's going to enjoy ice cream for

about 15 minutes and she's going to regret every

bite of it later and sometimes like I said I

say yes sometimes I say no, but I don't say no

because I don't love her. I say no sometimes

because I do. And here's what I love most about

this. Whether I say yes or I say no never keeps

her coming back tomorrow. She doesn't think well

my dad said no yesterday so I guess he doesn't

love me anymore. I mean she will say that to

me but she'll come back tomorrow. But she knows

she's my daughter and she knows that I love her.

And so she keeps coming, coming back. And church,

that's how Jesus teaches us to pray. As children

who know they are loved by a father, so go to

him. But don't miss the next words. That's important

too. As Gene has pointed out, this is worship.

And so he says, hallowed be your name. So Jesus

holds two truths together that we often pull

apart God is our father and God is holy Why does

that matter because how you approach him matters

We can approach him as my daughter does with

all confidence Being a child But we do not approach

him casually You don't get the chance to just

act like he isn't holy and act like he is not

the creator And so I I have this you can write

this down familiarity should never erase our

reverence Familiarity should never erase our

reverence There is such a thing as fear of the

Lord not terror that makes us run from him But

in awe that makes us fall before him Just ask

Isaiah and John the Revelator. Isaiah, when he

saw the Lord lifted up, he said, woe is me. And

he was basically like, I'm dead. John the Revelator

sees Jesus in his glorified state and he falls

at his feet though as he was dead. And so this

is the God that we're praying to. He is infinitely

holy, infinitely glorious, infinitely majestic,

and yet because of Christ, he tells us to call

him Father. Do you see why that's revolutionary

to the disciples? So think about that for just

a moment. The God whom angels cover their faces,

the God who spoke galaxies into existence, the

God whose holiness caused Isaiah to tremble,

invites you and he invites me to come to him

as a child. And so you can write this down. Prayer

begins with both awe and affection, with reverence

and relationship, and with holy fear and childlike

joy. And that's the kind of Father Jesus invites

us to know. Next subpoint, subpoint B, do. pray

the kingdom so Jesus goes on and he says your

kingdom come your will be done on earth as it

is in heaven and this is one of those verses

that's easy to say but incredibly difficult to

live so what does it mean for your kingdom to

come you ever thought about that yep live it

every day so You guys know that we are in the

both now and the not yet, right? So we live in

this tension of the kingdom of God now and the

kingdom of God that is yet to come. And that's

what your kingdom come here will be done. And

so the already, theologians call it the already

but not yet. So we're praying with both the present

and the future in mind. Jesus had... has already

inaugurated his kingdom through his life, death

and resurrection and the ascension. He is already

the king, but his kingdom has not yet been fully

realized, because sins still exist, death still

exists, cancer still exists, war still exists,

we still battle temptation. So when we pray,

your kingdom come, we're crying out, Lord, finish

what you started. And so we're longing for the

day when Christ returns and evil is defeated

once and for all and every tear is wiped away

and heaven and earth are made new. We're praying

for the day when his glory fills the earth, but

that prayer also changes how we live today. God's

kingdom is advancing right now as the gospel

is preached. Lives are being transformed and

people bow their knee to King Jesus. And so Paul

says that we are Christ's ambassadors. That means

we don't build the kingdom by our own power Jesus

builds his kingdom But he graciously allows us

to participate in what he's doing every time

you share the gospel Every time you forgive someone

every time you serve your neighbor every time

darkness loses ground because Christ changes

the heart the kingdom is breaking into this broken

world and Jesus says your will be done and This

is where prayer gets uncomfortable Because it's

one thing to ask God to accomplish his will and

it's another thing to surrender ours and notice

Jesus doesn't just pray my kingdom come my will

be done instead every prayer begins with surrender

That doesn't mean it's wrong to dream or it's

sinful to make plans. It's actually biblical

to do those things It's biblical to make plans

But Christian prayer always lays those plans

at Jesus's feet and It's saying Lord. Here's

what I desire, but I want your desire to become

my desires Here's what I'd like my here's how

I'd like my life to go But I trust that your

path is better than mine one pastor said it this

way. You can write this down right here Prayer

is not getting God to agree with my agenda. It's

aligning my heart with his So that's why I was

saying when we talk about prayer it is us Learning

who he is what his will is and aligning our hearts

with his will so that his will becomes our will

So if you think about Jesus himself in the garden

of Gethsemane on The night the cross on the night

before the cross he prayed father if it is possible.

What does he say? Please let this cut pass for

me And then he says something very real Jesus

has a very real human desire He didn't pretend

otherwise that he wasn't but he immediately follows

it with what nevertheless not my but Yep If the

perfect son prayed that way how much more should

we Every time we pray your kingdom come your

will be done. We're declaring something beautiful

King Jesus You're a better king than I would

ever be. And that's the prayer that the father

delights in. See. Do pray for daily bread. Jesus

then says, give us this day our daily bread at

first glance. This seems pretty straightforward.

We're asking God to provide what we need. But

there's actually a lot really packed into the

simple requests. So I'm going to break that down

quickly. For the disciples, they are understanding

the daily bread comment. It's pointing them back

to the Exodus where we know that God provided

for them manna every morning, right? Did he provide

manna for them for the week? Nope. Did he provide

manna for them for the month? The year? Nope.

How many, what was the, how much did he provide

for? For the day. So he gives you just enough

for the day. And so God was teaching his people

something. I can be trusted one day at a time.

Can God be trusted with all of your life? Yes,

but he's saying this is a day -to -day thing.

You and I are walking this out and trust day

-to -day. And so I tell you guys all the time,

Christianity is a blind faith leaping off a building.

It's small steps of trust towards him every day.

And that's still what he's teaching us today.

When we pray for our daily bread, it's a reminder

where our bread is buttered. And yes, that pun

is absolutely intended. So everything we have

ultimately comes from God. Now, some of you guys

might be thinking, Pastor Logan, my job provides

my food, my farm, my ranch, my business. These

things provide my food. Yes. But those are the

ordinary means that God uses to provide. So I

would ask you this if you if your heart is ah

my job provides that yada yada yada this these

would be my next Questions to you who gives the

rain Who makes the seed grow Who makes your heart

to keep beating so you can get up and go to work

Who gives you strength to work another day who

sends customers to buy your cattle your hay your

corn your soybeans Who gave you the mind to run

a business? And some of you are like, I don't

have a mind to run the business. That's why I

have somebody else do it, right? Who provided

a community that needed teachers, nurses, mechanics,

truck drivers, welders, bankers, and every other

vocation that is represented in this town? God.

Bread delivery men. Glad you're here, man. Glad

you guys are here. God did all of it. Now someone

is thinking in their mind Yeah, but I I do my

own hunting Okay Praise God for that Praise God

that God blesses you with your own meat. What

are you talking about pastor? Well first off

last I checked you didn't create the deer Last

I checked you're not the one that sustains the

deer I put out a corn feeder Who ordered his

creation to walk and wander right in front of

your tree stand just at the right moment? The

Lord. Ephesians says this, every good gift comes

from above. And so the point is we don't stop

working. The Bible calls us to work diligently,

farm the field, run the business, go to work,

study for the test, provide for your family,

but never confuse the means with the provider

the means may change but the provider never does

amen and so i think when reason why jesus says

daily bread and not weekly bread not yearly bread

but daily bread because every day god invites

us to trust him again and again and again and

that's actually freeing we worry we stress I

don't have enough for retirement. I don't have

much of a savings account. I don't know if we're

going to be able to pay the mortgage next week.

We stress these things and God is saying stop.

We're not worried about tomorrow. We're talking

about today. So do you have food to eat? Yes,

Lord. Do you have clothes on your back? Yes,

Lord. Do you have a roof over your head? Yes,

Lord. Great. So I'd say. Pretty blessed. And

so I would say it's very free. Well, and by the

way, I don't live this every day. I mean, just

yesterday, Tracy and I are on a walk and we're

stressing about different things. And I had I

kid you not, I came back and I read this part

to Tracy as a reminder for both of us. And so.

I said to her, I go, yeah, you know, I wrote

in there that it's actually freeing to know that

we only have, we just, we take it day to day

and we trust the Lord. Why do I think it's freeing?

Because prayer reminds me that I'm not in control

anyway. And so we can like to think we are in

control, but fact of the matter is we're not.

We can make plans, we work hard, we save, we

invest, we do these things that are wisdom. All

of those things are good, but at the end of the

day every breath we take is sustained by the

grace of God And so that's not frightening that's

freeing because the burden of sustaining the

universe has never rested on your shoulders It

rests on his So church I would ask you to work

faithfully as I know you do As I said plow the

field run the business raise your children love

your neighbor be diligent with what God has entrusted

to you and then guess what sleep well Because

your father never does He watches over his children

and he knows exactly what we need before we even

ask it and last one pray do pray for daily grace

Do pray for daily grace. So Jesus for Jesus continues

with forgive us our debts as we also forgive

our debtors and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. I want you to notice

something. Just as we need daily bread, we need

daily grace. Every single day, every day, we

need God's mercy. We need his forgiveness. We

need his strength. and none of us ever graduates

from his grace. The longer you walk with Christ,

the more aware you become of just how desperately

you need him. I tell people all the time, well,

at the last men's ministry thing, there was a

question that was asked before I got there, and

as I walked in late, Derek goes, well, now the

expert's here, so you can ask the expert. And

I'm like, man. The more education I've got on

the Bible, the more I realize I don't know anything.

I mean, it's true. When I started working on

a PhD, there were things that I'm like learning

and I'm like, I'm an idiot. Like I thought I

knew the Bible. I do not know the Bible. And

so that's a beautiful thing. Why? Because you

never outgrow this. You never outgrow it. God

is always showing you new things and new attributes

of who he is and what he's like, and it's like

you can't outgrow that stuff. And if you get

to a place where you think you've outgrown it,

I would say, brother, sister, you're not a Christian.

You have created yourself to be a God. So Jesus

teaches us to pray, forgive us our debts. Now

let's be clear, as Christians, we're not asking

God to save us over and over again, okay? We're

children who have already been adopted through

Christ. If you have said yes to Jesus and you

have made the decision to follow him, you are

not getting re -saved over and over again. You're

already adopted into the family. But just as

children regularly need their father's forgiveness

when they've disobeyed, we regularly come before

him the Heavenly Father confessing our sins,

not because we're trying to earn His love, but

because we already have it. And then Jesus adds

something that's incredibly challenging. He says,

we also have forgiven our debtors. Why? Because

forgiven people forgive. I said last week that

not all forgiveness is equal. There's some forgiveness

that it just hurts. Somebody has to pay the debt.

and thanks be to Jesus that he paid the greatest.

And so we don't forgive others in order to earn

forgiveness. We forgive because we've experienced

God's forgiveness. When you realize the debt

Christ canceled at the cross, it becomes much

harder to keep a record of someone's debt against

you. Grace received becomes grace extended. Then

Jesus says something that often confuses people.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from

evil. I did a podcast on this but for those that

didn't listen to it is okay because I'm going

to quickly go through what that means because

has that ever confused anybody because James

is very clear or he's like God doesn't tempt

us but then Jesus says lead us not into temptation

does that ever confuse anyone all right we're

all Bible scholars got it get it okay and so

some people can read that and be like well hold

on Doesn't the Bible say that God doesn't tempt

anyone? And it does. As I said, James is very

clear about that. But temptation comes from our

own sinful desires. So what is Jesus teaching

us to pray then? He's teaching us to pray from

a place of humility. In other words, Father,

don't leave me to myself. Don't let me wander

into something that will overwhelm me. Keep me

close, strengthen me, deliver me. God is never

the author of temptation, but he is absolutely

our protector in the midst of temptation. And

Paul tells us that whenever temptation comes,

God faithfully provides a way of escape. And

so every time we pray this prayer, we're admitting

something. I'm weak. I need grace. I cannot fight

this on my own. Church, that isn't weakness,

it's wisdom to know this. The Christian life

isn't about living a life of self -confidence.

It's lived by dependence upon Christ. And so

every morning we ask for bread, every morning

we ask for grace, and every morning we ask our

Father to hold us close. And every morning we

trust that His grace is sufficient for whatever

that day may bring. And so in closing, here's

this. So we spent this last 40 minutes talking

about prayer. So now I want to invite us to pray.

Not because it's the end of the service, but

because I think it's just smart. If I'm going

to teach on something, I want to give you the

opportunity to practically walk this out. So

Jesus didn't give us this passage so we know

more about prayer. He gave it so we'd actually

pray. And so I want to lead you guys through

this as Jesus taught. I don't want you to worry

about sounding spiritual and I don't want you

to worry about like if other people are listening

to you around, like this is just you and the

Lord. So here's what I'm gonna do. If you want

to come up front, you can do that. If you want

to stay in your seat, you can do that. If you

want to pray with someone next to you, you can

do that. whatever you'd like to do if you feel

like you need to kneel stay seated whatever you

want to do like this is your time