The Lord's Prayer | Pastor Tony Mattar

We're doing well. Hey. If I haven't met yet, my name is

Tony, one of the pastors on staff. And if I sound slow or

out of breath, it's because I am. I'm on the tail end of

a cold and I was determined to be here today, determined to speak God's

word today. Today's special day. It's New Year's Eve. Anyone's staying up

till midnight? Come on, be honest. Wow, you should have seen

the eight thirty service that was our New York New Year's gathering right there and

they going to bed early tonight. You know it's special. It's New Year's

Eve. For me personally, this is you know, my wife and I

Ariel were planting Venture Seattle in twenty twenty four, which we're very excited for.

And it's my final day on staff here at the Central Campus. Tonight,

at midnight, I officially become Venture Seattle, and I don't know what

that means yet, but we'll find out, we'll see. I want to

thank Pastor Brandon Die for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I wanted

to unpack a message I met with Pastor Died about a month ago, and

I said, what do you feel like our church needs to hear right now,

and she really wanted me to unpack the thought of prayer. I want

to talk about prayer today. Could we do that? We're doing it regardless,

so I want to unpack specifically. The title of today's message is the

Lord's Prayer. Our hope for our church and our belief in my prayer for

venture is that twenty twenty four we would build a habit of prayer as a

church. We'd be people of prayer. We'd pray all the time. Everything

would be soaked in prayer. Everything would be about prayer. I lot about

you, but maybe you have felt this way in your life before, where

you have felt like the odds were against you, that maybe there was no

way out or no way to keep going. Maybe you've thought this, maybe

you've thought I have no future. It's too late if you thought thoughts like

this before. I think it's time you and I learn about the power of

God through prayer. You know, prayer in the scriptures changed people, Prayer

changed situations. Prayer even changed the course of nature at times. There's a

famous line that's been said before. If you're swept off your feet, it's

time to get on your knees. See. The thing prayer changes most,

does it change the heart of God? We're not here to change God's mind.

No, no, no no. The thing prayer changes the most is

you and I. Prayer changes us. See sometimes, if we're being really

honest, can we just be brutally honest today in church? Okay, I'm

not holding back. It's my final final message of the year. No fluff

today, We're just gonna go in. Oh, this is this feels good.

Here go huskies, All right, here we go. If you think

about moments in your life, not just crises, moments in your life,

ask yourself this. There's no shame, there's no condemnation. Is prayer your

first resort or your second response? Is prayer the thing that you think about

first, good, bad, the ugly, all in between. I pray

prayer should be our first decision, not our last. Now, if there

are many models to pray, and believe it or not, they're actually wrong

ways to pray. But I want to highlight the most original model laid out

to us by Jesus Christ himself. Here's what I know. With Christ,

You and I are invited to know him in such a deep, intimate and

rich way. There is no need for you to covet someone else's relationship with

God when you are invited to know Him on such a personal, intimate level.

The question I've been asking myself though, is does the modern day believer

do they know Christ in this way? Is he just friend? Is he

savior? Of course he's savior? But do we know Him in such a

rich way? Here's what I believe, and I will go to the grave

with this thought. Our prayer life is the most intimate part of our faith

journey. It is my prayer life is the most intimate part of my faith

journey. Yet why is it there are moments in life where, if we're

being honest, prayer could feel lackluster, It could feel disingenuous. It could

almost feel like it's infrequent or repetitive babbling. What if God invited you to

more? What if there's more for your life through prayer? What if there's

more of the presence of God that you missed out on this year, but

there's more for you when you come to Him in times a prayer. What

if there's more? Each of us are invited to know Him this way,

each of us in Matthew six Jesus gives us the model his disciples wanted to

know how to pray. To give you some context, he's sharing what is

called Sermon on the Mount. This is the most famous message of all time.

Jesus is speaking to all of his believers, all those who are following

him, and he discusses prayer and fasting. In Matthew six seventh through eight,

he says this, when you pray, don't babble on as the gentiles

do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and

again verse eight. Don't be like them, for your father knows exactly what

you need, even before you ask him. You know what this tells me.

There is no need for vain repetition when it comes to prayer. Vain

repetition is this. It's all lips, there's no mind, there's no heart.

One can pray long, one can pray all day, and one can

do this, but unfortunately to the wrong God. First Kings eighteen twenty six,

the prophets of Baal cried out, Oh bail, answer us. They

prayed this for half a day. In Acts nineteen thirty four, a mob

in Ephesus shouted, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. They did this for

two hours. My friends who are Muslim, they take time to pray five

times a day. They have this fear, this reverence for God. They

pray five times a day and they send their prayers up to all Llah.

But do they know who they're praying to? Is there's someone listening? See,

I believe this about the True God. The True God is not impressed

by the length or the eloquence of my prayer life. But he's impressed and

seeks my heart. God wants your heart more than he wants your eloquence.

God wants your heart more than he wants your commitment. He wants you the

most vulnerable, honest version of yourself. See, prayer requires more of the

heart than the tongue. Think about this. When you pray, do you

pray from a place of authenticity? Has language? Has your prayer language become

almost borderline religious? God is not concerned with your cadence or your length.

He wants your heart. You guys with me. Jesus reminds us that our

Father knows exactly what we need, even before we ask him. Have you

ever read that portion of Scripture and thought, well, what's the point of

bringing anything to him. Anyways, If he already knows, why would I

ask him? Why would I bring a request to him? See, we

don't pray to tell God things that he didn't already know, or that he

hasn't heard of yet. We pray to God to commune with a loving God

who wants you to bring every single need before him. This is how much

he cares about you. God does not turn a deaf ear when you speak

to him. I'll never forget. I was a youth pastor for a handful

of years, and youth kids would always ask for prayer for the most random

things in life, and all I forget. There was one time a youth

student come up to me and asked me to pray for him. I said,

what's going on, buddy, what's going on? He said, Pastor,

my cat needs prayer. The youth pastor and me, why it's so

badly say, I'm not praying for that. It's a cat. Cats are

demonic, they're not of the Lord. But I'm his pastor. So I

figured, all right, buddy, let's pray for your cat. And I

kid you not. The next comes to me to inform me his cat has

been healed by the Lord. And that's how I was reminded God's ways are

not my ways. That was my cat See you, buddy, Sometimes prayer

isn't so much just what can I get out of it? But isn't sometimes

prayer just a moment for you and I to stretch our faith a little bit,

to believe God for something so miraculous in my life and in your life.

To believe God and ask him it should cause you and I to grow.

There should be a tension in our life because I want to see the

hand of God move over my life. He wants me to bring the smallest

and the largest request to him because he delights in us. Jesus gives us

a model for building a habit of prayer in Matthew six nine through thirteen.

This is known as the Lord's Prayer. In the Lord's Prayer, there are

five peas Jesus highlights prays, petition, provision, pardon, and power.

Let's read this together, Matthew chapter six nine thirteen. If you grew up

in the church, you are very familiar with this text. If not,

let's unpack it together. Our Father in Heaven, may your name be kept

holy, May your Kingdom, Come soon. May your will be done on

earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need,

and forgive us our sins, as we've forgiven those who sin against us.

And do not let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil

one. Notice how the prayer begins with this our Father in heaven. What

is this? This is praise. This is the acknowledgment that there is someone

higher and greater than me. And not only does it acknowledge who the Father

is, it reminds us. It reminds you and I who we are praying

to. You. See, we are coming to God now out of a

privileged relationship. I don't call stranger's father. I don't call people that I

don't know father. I call my father father. It's that simple. We

are now encouraged to come and live in this privileged relationship with a privileged tide.

See the name Father would have been so unusual for the Jews of this

day. It would have been too intimate to call God. Yet Jesus invites

us to a more personal form of intimacy with God. He wants you to

speak to the Father. The Father delights when you and I can call on

him. I love how Scripture is so clear that he is a father to

the fatherless. If you lack the wisdom of a father, there is no

need to run to the world. There's no need to run to the wisdom

of the world. When we have the Father speaking to us day in and

day out. Prayer is not calling on a distant deity. Prayer is calling

and speaking to an everlasting and ever loving Father. From praise Jesus' transitions to

this statement, May your kingdom come soon. May your will be done on

earth as it is in heaven. The right kind of prayer has a passion

for God's glory. The right kind of prayer has a passion for God's agenda.

When I pray, Here's what changes. Now His name, his kingdom,

and his will take top priority in my prayer life. This is where

we're reminded in Scripture to die to self, to pick up our cross and

follow him. If you've ever heard this, let's debunk some bad theology that

you give your life to Christ and you get saved and now you live a

good life and you live on your own strength and when you need God,

he's there to help you. But don't worry. You got this. Oh,

and let's focus on all that you want and on all of your interests.

Let's focus on everything that's always centered about you. That is God's design

for your life. That is backwards theology. The Kingdom of God is upside

down. It's not just about my desires. He gives me the desires of

my heart as long as they honor Him through about his kingdom, through about

his will. His will has nothing to do with how I feel. God

cares heavily about his kingdom on earth, and sometimes my prayers need to be

reminded. To have this kingdom perspective, we have to resist the tendency to

promote ourselves before God. God, just give me the promotion. God,

just bring me a spouse. God just do this. God just do that.

Why because it just feeds me. God cares about me, of course

he does. But God isn't so concerned with my agenda versus his agenda.

This year, the kingdom of God matters first. His will be done on

earth as it is in heaven. He invites you and I to accomplish this.

You know, God doesn't need us yet. He's inviting us to a

journey to witness his kingdom. Come in petition. We bring our request to

him. We align our request to his word and his kingdom. But you

know what happens when I'm petitioning before God, when I'm asking him, you

know what it's really doing. It's actually refining the desires of my heart.

It's reminding me to ask for things that give God glory. Jesus then transitions,

give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins,

as we have forgiven those who sin against us. Jesus is encouraging you and

I to pray for our physical needs. He's not asking you to pray for

your greeds. He's asking you to bring to him your needs. The right

kind of prayer will freely bring its own needs to God. We need our

daily provision, We need our daily bread. We need daily forgiveness. We

need daily strength in the face of temptation. But why is it? Have

you ever read this? You read this portion of scripture, and you notice

Jesus tags on after eating Chick fil a all day and all our needs before

him? Why does he tag on the need for forgiveness. Jewish teaching had

regarded sins as debts before God, but aren't you thankful today? You're walking

into a new year, you're living your life, and you, my friend,

have been forgiven by God for every one of your sins, every future,

past present, sin that has happened that has yet to come. Aren't

you thankful for the grace of God over your life today? Aren't you thankful

that when you were a mess, God rescued you and redeemed you. Listen,

Forgiveness of sin only happens by repentance, not by wishful thinking. It

is you and I bringing are wrongdoing to God and asking him for his grace.

And what does he do? He remembers our sin no more, and

there's grace. So why does Jesus tell us to remember this? Well,

we ask for his forgiveness because he forgives. And now you're reminded of this

beautiful reality. When you are forgiven, you become a person of grace.

Do you know what's not really allowed in the Kingdom of God. I'm not

saying this has to be instant or immediate, because that we're human. These

things take time. You know what's not allowed in the Kingdom of God?

Bitterness, unforgiveness. We cannot be followers of Christ and literally tell someone I

will never forgive you. It is impossible. We have become people of grace,

and through prayer I am reminded that I myself must extend grace every sin

day, every single moment husbands. When your wife wrongs you, she never

does. But when you wrong your wife, you know to ask for forgiveness.

Grace sets the captive free from offense, from bitterness, from anger.

If you've been living offended this year, it's time to get out of the

prison of offense. Why are you sitting in this prison of offense? It's

always their fault. They did it, They messed up, they said this.

It's always pointing fingers outward. Mightn't remind you it's time to lay down

the offense and just move forward. You might not ever get the apology.

But by the grace of God, I've decided to extend grace to them,

even though they didn't ask for it. Why because my heavenly Father, come

on, did that for me. The prayer ends with a reminder of the

power of the Father, and do not let us yield to temptation, but

rescue us from the evil one. You know what temptation means. This,

It literally means a test. It's not always a solicitation to do evil.

I love New Year's sermons because pastors love to get excited about telling people like

this is going to be the year. Come on, I'll never forget twenty

nineteen. There was a pastor I watched their sermon and they said, twenty

twenty is going to be a year of double portion for your life. We

got a double of a lot of stuff, a double of the flu,

a double of time at home with my kids, going losing my mind at

a double of a lot. I would like to give us a reminder of

what twenty twenty four will be, though not as a oh man, that's

bad news, but as a oh okay, that's fine. Twenty twenty four

will not just be yes, blessing, prosperity, Amen, Jesus name you

know what twenty twenty four will also be, though, a year of testing

for your life. Testing is coming your way. Testing is coming daily,

it might come quarterly. Testing will come when it comes. And God is

allowing the testing in your life. Why when I have a habit of prayer,

you know what happens the testing. The smaller tests we go through them,

they're not as rigorous anymore to me. When I go through times of

testing, I'm reminded to lean into the strength of my Father, to lean

into the grace of God, to speak to him more, not just through

times of testing, but overall, because when I'm building a habit of prayer,

I am constantly bringing everything to God. I'm not worried when the when

the test comes, testing is gonna come our way. Guys, it happens.

This is life. If you've ever been told give your life to Christ

and all is well, that person was a heretic. It's more like this,

give your life to Christ and be prepared. But He's with you every

single moment. He allows them in our life. He allows them in our

lives because when we pray to Him. The Bible says, we become overcomers

in Christ Jesus. We can overcome in who in myself? No, so

I can overcome in motivation. No no, no, no, we overcome

and who in Christ Jesus. That is how we overcome. We don't turn

away when times get tough. We pray and we persevere. Whoever's on keys,

they could come on out. We're gonna wrap up here in a moment

Jesus gave us a way to pray. He teaches us how to call on

him. Not with a religious spirit of performance, but rather, there's an

invitation to you and I to this deep, rich, intimate life. Christ

is inviting you and I to our prayer life. Should praise him. We

should petition before him. We should ask for his grace and his mercy.

We're invited to witness His power in our lives and through our life. We

pray to Him for all he has done and will do. Here's how I

wanted to end our time today. I want you to evaluate your prayer life

right now. There is no shame, there is no condemnation. If anything,

let it be an encouragement that you're invited to more. God wants more

of you. Think about your prayer life right now. Do you have a

need in your life that's so large, so extravagant that God has to come

through Because if he won't, it won't work. God has to show up.

This is you and I relying on the strength of God. Do your

prayers align with his desires? Do you bring even the small requests to him?

Not saying for a parking spot at Costco, but and I guess you

could pray for that whatever, But I'm saying even the small, the minutia

of the details, because isn't he a god of detail when you look at

creation? Aren't you reminded he is a god of detail when you look at

the mountains and you look at how many species and flowers, And isn't he

a god of detail? A god of creativity. As I was writing this

message, I felt like there were a few of us in this room,

and I want to be sensitive to this. There were some things in your

life that are so large and extravagant that you have felt like you lost some

faith in bringing to God. You feel like you've asked time and time again,

yet it's been difficult. Here are some of the ones that I really

felt the Lord put on my heart for venture that I felt like, this

is the year you bring to Him more than ever that you ask, and

that you would just God, you allow the Lord to strengthen you, to

sharpen you, to work on your heart. For those of us online and

in the room who have a child who you raised up in the church,

you love them deeply, yet you're watching them walk away from the Lord right

now, and you've been pleading, You've been yielding, ask caing God.

Let this be a year of answered miracles in your life. Let them come

running back home this year for any of you who received a diagnosis of cancer,

of a heart condition, of an ailment, that you would witness God's

miracles healing over your life. There are two people in this service. I

felt like the Lord. Your spouse does not believe in the same God as

you. Your spouse has even mocked you for your faith. May this be

a year where your spouse comes to know Jesus. There's some severed ties,

broken relationships and families. There's a person in this room. I felt like

you have a cousin who you were near and dear to, and I felt

encouraged to remind you. Bring this need to God. Bring this to God.

Let God work in your heart and in their heart. Some of us

in here we need a financial miracle, not that God would just get rid

of our debt, but that God would change our heart in regards to our

finances. Maybe this is a need that you've been so silent about, or

you've been open and you've asked for help, but you feel like it's just

a cycle. It just happens over and over. I felt like there were

some of us in this room, and please don't be ashamed, be reminded

that God hears you and sees you that there's some of us. We've been

struggling with the bondage of a sexual addiction, pornography and lust, tampering with

our marriage. It's affecting the way I parent. Let this be a year

where God breaks the yoke of bondage over your life. That there's healing,

that there's forgiveness, that there's mercy, that there's grace. Our prayer life

must not be a subject that we are ashamed of or we feel unworthy of.

Christ has invited us to pray. We do not pray to a deaf

God. We pray to a God who the Bible says leans in when we

bring our request to him. He's a loving father who's invited you to a

secret place. If only you knew. Sometimes I hear that if Tony,

only you knew, there's this secret place that God's inviting you specifically to,

and no one else is allowed to go, not even your spouse. It's

you and it's him. It's this place where God speaks to you about your

identity. It's this place where God speaks to you about your authority in Him.

It's this place where God reveals his Kingdom's secrets to you. It's a

place of separation, it's a place of consecration. Ultimately, what is it.

It's a place of holiness, just you and Him, and that God

is inviting you to this secret place. In that place, he listens,

he responds, he answers, and I love the promise in Matthew seven to

seven. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will

find. Knock and it will be opened to you. God promises an answer

to those who diligently seek Him. My prayer for you is you build a

habit of prayer in twenty twenty four, that this would be a year of

persistence for you, a year of determination for yourself, that His ways are

higher than my ways. And James reminds us in the Book of James.

We ask, because we have not that this would be a year. We're

reminded to ask that we bring to God our requests with authenticity, with truth,

with vulnerability. He cares, this is the year as a church we

pray. And I just felt led by the Lord in this service to say

this, if we pray for revival in Milk Creek and we've seen God move

in our church this year, We've seen a beautiful services, a thousand salvations.

Praise God for all of this. But if we want to see more,

it's never gonna be how good in the worship is. It's never gonna

be how good Pastor Brandon preaches. It's gonna be the church coming to God

in prayer, believing, fasting, asking him to move. It's not just

about what we could present to others. It's about the prayers that we're asking,

petitioning on the behalf of people who have yet to hear. It should

ache our hearts that there are people going to Hell right now. It should

ache our hearts that our city is yet to see the light of Christ and

its fullness. This is why we pray. This is why I'm giving my

life to planting a church, so that we would change the narrative of Seattle,

that people would say I found God in Seattle. This is why we

pray. Prayer doesn't just change me, it changes the lives of others.

Our church this year is going to do a month of prayer starting in January

tomorrow, we're going to be doing specific worship in prayer and I it's Pastor

Morgan. At the end, we'll talk about a Bible reading plan that we're

going to be doing for the year that would encourage you to read the Bible

daily and pray. But I want to encourage you today to take the next

step and pray. Would you stand to your feet, ut to you by

your head, and close your eyes. I want to as a church,

I really felt like the way I wanted to end was I wanted us to

dedicate twenty twenty four to a year of prayer and listen. Pastor Tony can't

force you to do this. There is no manipulation of this. You on

your own accord, must choose. Am I dedicating? Am I making this

a year of prayer? Or not? Am I diving deeper? Are there

riches God has for me that I've yet to even discover? Are there promises

God is speaking over you yet you just have not heard them yet? Are

there miracles awaiting based off our belief and faith in God to move in our

obedience to pray? Knock, knock and it will be opened to you.

Ask and you shall receive if you're here today and you are far from Christ

and you want to walk into the new year knowing that you are in a

right relationship with Him. If that is you, and you are ready to

lay down your sin, lay down all you're wrongdoing, and ask him for

his forgiveness, I want to pray for you. If that's you, would

you just raise your hand right now so I can know who you are.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I could put those hands down. Thank you the rest of us. I'm

not going to ask you to do this unless you're ready. If you're ready

to dedicate this year to be a year of prayer, would you just slip

your hands right now. Come on, No one is forcing you. This

is between you and the Lord, heavenly Father. You see every hand lifted

here today. God, we thank you for your power. God. We

thank you for your majesty. We thank you that no one can compare to

the goodness of you. God. We dedicate our church, We set ourselves

aside to pray. Let this be a year of prayer. God. Let

this be a year where you refine our hearts. She would change us.

Let this be a year where every hand lifted every person represented wouldn't just pray

infrequently or when they feel bad or Lord, let this be a year where

we pray constantly at all times, that we would know more of You.

We dedicate this new year to you, God, and I thank you that

in one year from now, we will celebrate the miracles, the miraculous and

the grace that you've poured out on our church and at all the campuses.

We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen,