Radical Life | Part 3 | How Jesus Taught Us to Pray | Grace Summit Church | Lindsay Hannah

Hey, welcome to Grace Summit [music]

Church podcast. We're so glad you're

here.

[music]

We're all about helping people know

Jesus, [music] grow in their faith, and

live out his love every day. No matter

where you're at in your faith journey,

our prayer is that this message helps

[music] you know Jesus more and live

with greater purpose and conviction.

Let's jump in.

each one of the senior attendants had to

write a um a testimony and I just want

to encourage all of you because his

testimony pointed right back to the

motion conference and that's what

radically changed his life and that only

happened because of what you guys made

happen. So thank you so much. He's

standing here today because of you and

it just it's so powerful. So um again my

name is Lindsay Hannah and I am just

thrilled to be here with you this

morning. an honor and privilege to share

the word. Uh last week, Pastor Ben is

talking about radical life. He started

off his sermon talking about uh about

bees and a bee story. I don't know if

you guys remember this and how bees when

they sting you, you don't see the bee

coming when you get stung and that

happens. The storms in our life takes

place. And as he was sharing this, it

reminded me about a month ago or so, I

had my grandson for the day. We loaded

up in the in the car. We head out to go

to our normal field trip, which is the

grocery store. And as I as I'm pulling

out of the driveway, I see a large weed

in our landscaping.

And it I was like, "Okay, I'll remember

this." On the way back, this will give

Brooks and I something to do. We can go

pick the weed together before we go in.

And went went on with the day,

completely forgot about it. And about a

couple hours later, I'm in the kitchen

making dinner and my husband comes comes

home and he said, "Hey, I'm going to go

change real quick and I'm going to go do

some weeds. I saw some out in the yard."

Perfect. Wonderful. Well, not even a

couple minutes later, I hear all this

screaming outside, screaming, yelling,

all of this commotion, and I go running

out into the garage. And here I see my

husband running full speed back into the

house, eyes as big as watermelons. And I

see a swarm, hundreds of bees following

him. And I mean, he's he's screaming.

I'm like, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh." He's

like, "Ah." Well, come to find out, when

he went and pulled that weed out, there

was a huge nest of bees that were living

in our mulch. And I mean, poor guy was

just covered in beastings on the back of

his legs. A poor guy. But what I was so

thankful for that it wasn't me and my

grandson. I mean, like, sorry, babe, but

oh my goodness, I'm so glad it was you

and not me. [gasps] But really thinking

that through, just talking about how a

radical life, I'm sure there was

definitely some radical prayer that was

taking place when he was going through

all of that. Um, but that brings me to

what we're going to be talking about

today, which is prayer. And I am just

out of a show of hands, how many out

there um are can recite the Lord's

Prayer with by me memorization?

Okay. Yes. About 50. So, thank you for

your honesty. So, I don't know about

you, but I've always been a little

curious of why why some um denominations

and some churches recite the Lord's

Prayer every Sunday as part of their

their normal service cadence and others

like GSC don't. And so, the last few

months, I've just been curious about

that. I've been studying about the

Lord's Prayer and and the importance of

it. And so that's what I want to talk

through this morning and how the Lord uh

the Lord's prayer is actually a

blueprint that was given to us on on

prayer and how and how to build our

relationship with God. Um so through my

study I just I I realized that Jesus

directly taught his disciples this

prayer when they asked him how to pray

and churches recite it uh aloud simply

because it is the only corporate prayer

that is authored by Jesus himself.

So it's fascinating. So the sermon this

morning is how Jesus taught us to pray

and it's where he didn't give us the

words to repeat. He actually gave us

this design, this model, this blueprint

uh for us to build our prayer life. And

before we kind of jump into studying the

the Lord's prayer itself, I want to kind

of go back uh a little bit and um Jesus

had said in Matthew 6:5, "And when you

Matthew 6:5

pray, don't be like the hypocrites, for

they love to pray standing in the

synagogues and on the street corners to

be seen by others. And truly I tell you,

they have received their reward in full.

So this is a special lesson about how

and when we pray. So I that verse just

reminds me of I don't know how many of

you are in theater in in this place, but

you know, you think of the big stage and

the box seat that's up there and you

know the very important people are

sitting up there, the VIPs or the the

very wealthy. And so, you know, th this

verse reminds me of, okay, we're gonna

stand on that stage and say are these

and thou and and recite King James and

Jesus is in that box seat.

But no, that's not what Jesus is saying.

He's saying in Matthew 66, "But when you

pray, go into your room, close the door,

and pray to your father who is unseen.

Then your father who sees what is done

in secret will reward you."

So, you might be wondering why this

chair is up here on stage. This is my

prayer chair and it represents my my

alone time at home. And we'll get to

this and we'll talk about it a little

bit more later in the sermon, but

that's what Jesus is saying. Find find

your your alone time

and quiet time.

So, as we get into the Lord's Prayer,

we're going to go straight into Matthew

Matthew 6:9–13

6:9-13. And I am talking straight from

the King James version, going old

school. I think Pastor Ben, if you're

watching online or watch it later, you

are going to be proud. We are. So, um,

it says here, "After this manner,

therefore, pray ye." And if you know it,

recite it along. Our Father, which art

in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy

kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth

as it is in heaven. Give us this day our

daily bread, and forgive us our debts as

we forgive our debtors, and lead us not

into temptation, but deliver us from

evil. For thine is the kingdom, the

power, and the glory forever. Amen.

So why did Jesus give us this prayer?

Why Jes Jesus gave us this prayer is to

teach the correct structure,

focus, heart, and attitude for

communicating with God.

But I don't know about you guys, prayer

can can honestly be awkward. You know,

it's one of those things that

if we're in a group group setting or

maybe you're you're the lone Christian

that's at a birthday party and they say,

"Hey, Lindsay, can you pray for the

meal?" Yeah. Or if you're in a Bible

study group setting, a small group

setting, and the pastor or the group

leader says, "Who wants to pray?" What

does everybody do?

We're not making eye contact. We're

putting down. We're putting our eyes

down. It can be awkward. And I just it's

one of those pieces where as Christians

we know that prayer is important. We

know this. You know, a new believer,

yes, we know that this is something that

we need to do, but there's honestly not

been any training or teaching about

this. And so, this is where where Jesus

is stating, "This is your blueprint.

This is your blueprint." And so with it

being maybe awkward or uncomfortable

in in Luke 11, it's so cool because this

is where we see how it all unfolds. It

says in Luke 11:1 and 2, "Now Jesus was

Luke 11:1

praying in a certain place. And when he

finished, one of his disciples said to

him, Lord, teach us to pray as John

taught his disciples." And when he and

then he said to them, when you pray,

say. And then he went on with the Lord's

prayer. So what what Jesus taught the

disciples, you can notice there that

they didn't say, Lord,

teach us how to preach. Lord, teach us

how to heal. Lord, teach us to do

miracles or how to be become better

leaders. They said, Lord, teach us to

pray. Teach us to pray. because they

knew that there was so much power power

in that. And and it's interesting

because you can read that prayer. It's a

simple prayer that we will break down.

But Jesus didn't give them some

theological long lecture on how to pray.

He gave them a simple outline on how to

pray. And so it's it's interesting how

Jesus gave us a blueprint, not a

formula.

You know, some churches recite the

Lord's Prayer every Sunday. I was

raised, my father's a pastor. We were

raised in a non-denomin

non-denominational Pentecostal Holy Ring

church. So, we were in church Sunday

morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night for

choir, Wednesday night. I some of you

might even know what I'm saying.

Saturday prayer meeting.

And then my friends, some of them were

Catholic. They would go to Catholic mass

either Saturday evening or Sunday

morning. And I remember when one of my

friends turned 15, she was she had a

kinetta. And so we went to the Catholic

mass and it was my f it was the first

time where I realized, wow,

they recite the Lord's Prayer. I had

learned that in Sunday school. And just

fascinating how different different

denominations and churches

look at it differently because I know

some of us in this room maybe couldn't

even get through it without reading it

on a screen. But I don't think Jesus

gave us this prayer so that we could

just check a box.

But I also don't think we should

overlook it simply because we're afraid

of repetition.

The more that, you know, I've personally

studied it and looked at it, the more

that I realized Jesus wasn't necessarily

giving us a script to memorize. He was

giving us a model for how to pray.

So let's break it down.

Breaking it down, we're going to start

Matthew 6:9.

Matthew 6:9

The first phrase, our father which art

in heaven, hallowed be thy name. So

before Jesus asks God for anything, he

starts with who God is. He's our father.

He's in heaven. He's majestic.

So you notice the prayer begins with our

which means it means trust. It means

there's a family relationship there.

It's not mine.

It's not give me.

It's not my father. Not forgive me. It's

not protect me. It's our father. And

then goes on to say hallowed be thy

name.

What that means is

father let your name be honored.

Back in the biblical times a name

represented someone's reputation,

someone's character, the nature of them.

So here we're saying we're honoring you,

your reputation. We believe in you. You

are highly majestic. Hallowed be thy

name. And then as we go on,

Matthew 9:10, thy kingdom come, thy will

Matthew 9:10

be done in earth as it is in heaven. You

know, we we tend to think prayer is

about getting God to do what we want.

You know, here it's saying, uh-uh, it's

not what you want, it's what God's will

is for our life.

And you know, this is where we often

pray, God, here's my list. This is what

I need you to do today. I need you to do

this, this, this, this.

And this is moving from, okay, God, what

do you have? What do you have for me

today? He's teaching us, "Your kingdom

come, your will be done." That is true,

true surrender.

and where we can get to a place that

Lord today I'm going to reflect

everything of you.

I'm going to surrender my will and have

your will be done.

Moving on, Matthew 9:11 says, "Give us

Matthew 9:11

this day our daily bread."

And I love the message, the message

version translation Bible. My husband

and I, we we uh read our devotions

together. We pray together every

morning. And we have the message Bible

that we read it out of because I don't

it must be my personality. But I it just

brings brings scripture to life for me.

And I thought it was interesting because

the message version says, "Keep us alive

with three square meals." Yeah. Thank

you, Jesus, for giving us some food to

keep us alive today. you know, but it

it's I love that because it's Jesus

doesn't make prayer so very spiritual

that we can't talk about dinner, we

can't talk about breakfast with him and

our needs. And as we dive a little bit

deeper here, you know, that daily bread

equates to our daily needs.

You know, that could be something in our

jobs, it could be relationships, it

could be health, um you know, any of our

worries. Maybe maybe there's a difficult

conversation that's taking place later

in the day. Lord,

just give me what I need to to get

through today.

Um, and what this does, it it makes us

dependent on God. And it's not just for

those huge miracles that we pray for

maybe every couple months because

there's that's when we get on our knees

because we're having, you know,

something that's taking place that's

large. It's no, it's give us this day.

Give us this day our daily bread. And in

Matthew 9:12 it says, "And forgive us

Matthew 9:12

our debts as we forget our debtors."

This is where the prayer gets a little

bit uncomfortable.

So Jesus could have stopped at forgive

us period. Uh but he went on to say and

forgive our debtors. That means we need

to forgive others. Um, you know, it's

interesting how I think we love

forgiveness when maybe we've asked

someone say, you know, we we apologize,

we say, I'm sorry, and they're like,

it's all it's good. We're good.

But then when we have to be the one

offering the forgiveness, it's like

we're standing there with a clipboard

and, okay, Carla, what you what you said

to yes yesterday, it hurt a little bit,

but you know what? I forgive you, but

Pastor Danm,

you hurt me so bad. I I I it can't be

forgiven. I'm carrying that with me.

Nope. And then you you you're the one

you're you're the one deciding who needs

to be forgiven.

But forgiveness

doesn't mean that what happened didn't

matter. There are no consequences to

what happened. you that forgiveness

doesn't mean that you have to trust

someone again or that you have to

pretend that you weren't hurt. You know

what it means? It means that I'm not no

longer going to let what happened to me

own me. And that's where that shift is

when Jesus says as we forgive our

debtors. Um, Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be

Ephesians 4:32

kind and compassionate to one another,

forgiving each other just as in Christ

God forgave you."

Jesus

hung on that cross, nails in his hand,

and he took every one of our hurts and

our sins,

and he placed it on himself.

And what did he say?

He said, "Lord, forgive them for they

know not what they do." He took

and he forgave us. So, how can we hold

on when we know that we have been

forgiven and we are set free. So, we

don't forgive because of what Jes what

someone did to to us was okay. We

forgive because God has forgiven us. And

so that true forgiveness it it equals

complete freedom. So you know you might

be what what does that look like? If you

have complete freedom and just forgiving

those around you, it means that maybe

there's a scathing text that you receive

from someone that you care deeply about

and it automatically makes your blood

boil.

What that means is you're going to

pause. you're not going to respond and

you are going to pray for that person.

It means you might receive on your phone

you see a number or a name come through

because I don't know about how many of

you guys I don't even remember num

numbers anymore. [gasps] I don't even

know if I could recite all of my kids'

numbers on their cells. But it means

that you see that that name come through

and it automatically makes your blood

pressure high and you say, "Nope, I'm

going to answer this with love.

There are so many ways that we can walk

out

forgiveness with complete freedom when

we fully understand that God forgave us.

And some of us may have been carrying

something for five years, a year, 10

years, maybe our our whole life. And we

can we're really really really good at

explaining why we need we are justified

in how we feel.

But God

in his amazing mercy wants us

to forgive our debtors and forgive

ourselves. And there's a reason why

Jesus put that smack dab right in the

middle of the Lord's prayer.

There's a reason. As we move on 9,

Matthew 9:13, lead us not into

Matthew 9:13

temptation, but deliver us from evil.

So, this is where Jesus is teaching us

to ask God for protection. We need God's

help. not just with what's happening to

us, what's around us, protecting us on

the roads or what not. He is protecting,

we're asking him to protect what's

happening inside of us. You know,

sometimes the biggest threats to our

spiritual life, it's not what's going on

out here where people can see. It's

what's happening inside of us. That

pride, the temptation, maybe there's

some addiction problems, the um anger,

um rage, jealousy, fear, resentment.

and

my family. We were [laughter]

up at the lake and there was a tragedy

that happened a few weeks ago with um

the marina owner and he has spent his

whole life, second generation, on the

waters on the lakes in northern Indiana

and his wife, they went out with some

friends for an evening boat ride. She

ended up having a brain aneurysm and

fell and and died in the water.

He knew he had to go in, grab her out,

pulled her up, CPR.

They rushed her to an AED that was on

the side at one of the campgrounds. They

were able to keep her pulse going, but

she was brain dead immediately.

and tragedy to our community there.

And what is fascinating is she was an

organ donor.

They sent her body to Indianapolis

where they had found a match

for someone who needed her heart.

And so they kept her pulse. They kept

her alive and her heart beating. and she

now

has put new life in someone else.

We can see we can see God's hand through

that whole situation. The husband

devastated. She's mid-50s.

Last week, we ended up seeing him and my

husband Chris said, "We're praying for

you. I can't imagine we we're praying

for you." And he responded and said,

"Your prayers aren't working.

What do you how do you respond to that?

This is where

we continue to show them love. We

continue to pray. But this is where you

can see pray for God's protection to

protect your heart because there might

be some people in this this congregation

today that have been praying the same

prayer over and over and over again and

you're saying, "God, the prayers aren't

working."

But the one thing that I can promise you

is that we have a good God. You might

not see what's taking place today, but I

promise you,

one day, one day, it will all be clear.

So maybe the point of the Lord's Prayer

isn't that every church has to say these

exact words every Sunday, but maybe it's

that Jesus gave us a pattern for how to

build a life of prayer.

Looking back at this, our father. Those

two words, our father. You can say, God,

help me remember who you are and who I

am in you. Your kingdom come. Lord,

where am I trying to control something

that I need to surrender?

Give us this day, Lord. What do I

actually need from you today?

Forgive us.

What do I need to confess

as we forgive?

Who is it that we need to release,

Lord? Lead us. Where do I need your

direction and deliver us, Lord? Where do

I need your protection today? Because

prayer is a relationship. And

relationships don't grow because we

think about them. They grow because we

spend time with someone. So spend time

in prayer, whatever that might look like

to you. So in closing, now that we know

how to pray, what do we do with this?

What do we do with this?

my prayer chair. So, making prayer a

practice,

I'm going to read again Matthew 6:6. But

Matthew 6:6

when you pray, go into your room, close

the door, and pray to your father who is

unseen. Then your father who sees what

is done in secret will reward you.

So I'm asking you all find

find a place like my prayer chair.

This has been my refuge. It represents

my time

alone with God. And I had I had been

told through a Bible study a couple

years ago to find a place

at home. Whether it's a seat on the

couch, maybe it's your car, maybe it's

the same time every day, maybe it's

beside your bed kneeling either in the

morning or at night.

But find a place because when then you

go past that, maybe throughout the day,

you might be having a hard a hard day.

You will you will remember as you walk

past and you see your prayer chair

about

24 years ago. I think

I hit the lowest of lows in my life.

Nobody would have known it. I had a

great job, amazing family. I went to

church. I'd say my father's a pastor, so

of course I had to show up like maybe

once [music] every two, three weeks.

I prayed,

but I found myself

pregnant with my third daughter

with absolutely no

male relationship in my life. My father

was a pastor. And I remember at that

moment when I found that out

of just questioning

my life here on earth to be frank frank

with you,

questioning

the child that I was

that was in my belly.

And

somehow a family member found out that I

was having these questions and called me

on the telephone.

I remember sitting in my parents dining

room in the corner broken. And this

phone call

changed the tra [music] trajectory of my

life. When I look back at it now, I see

a dark cloud, a dark cloud over my life.

But I remember that phone call as vivid

as a hand reaching down through the

darkness,

holding and pulling me up. And this

family member said, "Lindsay, you are a

child of God. The baby you are carrying

is a child of God and a gift of God. But

girl, get yourself pulled together.

And it was that moment that I decided

[music] to

rededicate my life to Christ.

I said, "Lord, I am putting everything I

can to my three girls getting back

involved in church." And today that girl

sitting right over here who birthed my

grandson

at that time I remember saying also

Lord I am fasting dating. [laughter] I'm

giving a whole year. I am not going to

date anybody. But you know what I'm

going to do instead? I'm going to pray

for the next man in my [music] life. And

I put three prayers. I was very specific

and direct. I said, "Lord,

give me someone who loves you more than

me. Give you give me someone who loves

my girls as their own. And Lord, [music]

give me someone who agrees with me to

keep our marriage pure."

I when we talk about in Luke 5:16 on the

Luke 5:16

screens, but Jesus often withdrew

[music]

to lonely place places and prayed. I was

lonely, but you know what I did? I did

it often and [music] I was consistent. I

sat behind the the steering wheel of my

car every morning going to work and I

prayed those three things. And you know

what? Within a year,

the man sitting on this front pew

[music] right here

swept me and my girls off our feet. And

Jax wouldn't be here today if it wasn't.

What I'm trying to urge you, there might

be something going on in your life where

you you're questioning

Seek the Lord through that prayer.

Seek the Lord [music] through that. He's

going to hear you. Do it over and over

and over and be consistent. God is such

a good good God.

And prayer, doing it often, it's like a

muscle. [music]

So, it's you can't go to a to a gym and

expect to be physically strong right

away, right? You have to put in the

work. You have to do that also with

prayer. Put it into practice. And so I'm

going to ask you all to stand. And as

you do, I'm going to ask the worship

team to join us here on stage. [music]

And what we're going to do is we're

going to close

and we're going to recite this Lord's

Prayer all together in unison.

and believe in the power that stems from

it

with me. Our Father, which art in

heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy

kingdom come, thy will be done on earth

as it is in heaven. Give us this day our

daily bread. Forgive us, as we forgive

those, and lead us not into temptation,

[music] but deliver us from evil. For

thine is the p and the power and the

glory forever. Amen. Amen.

Thank you for listening to today's

message from [music] Grace Summit

Church. We hope it encourages you to

walk out your faith this week. If you're

in the Fort Wayne area, we'd love to

meet you in person. Join us for [music]

a Sunday service at 9:15 or 11:00 a.m.

on East Duvant Road, or connect with us

online [music] anytime at

graceummitchurch.com.

Have a blessed week, and we'll see you

next time.

[music]