[0:00] We take one last look at Jesus' teaching on prayer here in Luke 11.
[0:12] Today we're reviewing, we're going to discuss and talk about what we've learned, what God has been teaching us, so it'll be more interactive for us this morning.
[0:26] So, I want to first read the text and then we'll pray so that we can understand prayer. And we'll jump into it. So, if you're able, please stand as I read from the Gospel of Luke chapter 11, the first 13 verses, Luke 11 verse 1.
[0:46] Now, Jesus was 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.
[0:58] And he said to them, when you pray, say, ask, Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins.
[1:15] For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves?
[1:34] For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within, do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed.
[1:49] I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence, shamelessness, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
[2:09] And I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.
[2:20] Knock and the door and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
[2:34] What father among you? If his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish, give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
[2:47] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
[3:01] So it reads. Father, guide us. Give us understanding. Give us insight. Help us, Lord, as we discuss these things, as we talk about and let these things percolate among us, that we might encourage one another, that we might teach one another, that we might think through together what you've been saying to us the last several weeks about how to talk to you and why talk to you.
[3:36] We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. Is the...
[3:53] All right, that works. I was looking for the, you know, the do thingy, and I'm too scared to do it with my fingers. So...
[4:04] There's probably 30 names for that thing. Right? Foyer. Entryway. Too hickey. Too hickey. All right, all right, all right. So, we have spent the last several weeks on prayer.
[4:17] We've looked at what Jesus teaches us to pray in verses 2, 3, and 4. And then last week we looked at why we would persist in prayer.
[4:35] Why is it? And so, we see Jesus asking two questions. A question of verse 5, Who has a friend who would refuse to give you something in the middle of the night?
[4:49] Who would actually have the gall to say, You know, the door is shut, my kids are in bed, and I'm not able to get up and give you anything.
[4:59] Who has a friend like that? Nobody has a friend like that. Jesus expects a no. And so, he says, If he won't give you anything because of his friend, he'll give you something because of his impudence, his shamelessness.
[5:13] He'll be ashamed to not do that. Or he will end up being shamed if he doesn't give up and give you something.
[5:24] And then Jesus asks the second question, verse 11, What father among you? Who of you who are fathers would ever give to your child a serpent instead of a bread or a scorpion instead of an egg?
[5:41] Who would do that? No father would do that. And so, he says, If you who are evil, if you who comparatively are evil fathers, know how to give good gifts, so he's not saying you're totally corrupt and evil.
[5:53] He says, You have evil in you. If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts, how much more? The Heavenly Father will give you the ultimate, the ultimate good gift of the Holy Spirit.
[6:07] And so, he's asking two questions there to give comparisons. All right? So, what encourages us to keep praying is, we don't, God isn't like a friend who's bothered by us, who would refuse us anything, who's irritated, and only if we hound him would he give us something.
[6:30] He's not like that. He's a Heavenly Father who gives good things. And so, keep asking, keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking, because he's a, he's a father who gives. And then, the other question is, is he's not like us as fathers.
[6:46] He's, we as fathers have failings and weaknesses, yet we still know how to give good gifts. How much more? By comparison, our Heavenly Father.
[6:57] All right? So, I think he's giving two, two motivations. Why would we keep praying? Because of who we pray to. Because of who he is.
[7:12] I used to think those verses, verses 5 through 13, was talking about, if we just keep coming, keep coming, keep coming, keep hounding him, keep hounding him, he'll finally give us what we want.
[7:22] And the verses do imply a persistence. But, but I don't think it's about our persistence that finally wins him over.
[7:33] I think it's about what drives us to be persistent is who he is. Because I can get burned out trying to just be, being persistent.
[7:47] It's not about my performance that finally earns something from God. It's who he is that, that makes me keep coming. Because I believe, because it's something I believe about him.
[7:59] It's something I know about him. He's my father. And if he's not giving it to me right away, I keep asking. Like a child. He will give me good things.
[8:11] So, so there's that. And then, and then our main focus for the weeks that we spent here was on the request. We took one a week, right? We looked, we looked at the first three in verse two.
[8:24] Actually, he only has two there in verse two. Hallowed be your name. That's a prayer. It's not a statement. It's cause your name to be set apart. We're asking God to do something about his name.
[8:36] Your name, your reputation, cause it to be hallowed, cause it to be sanctified, cause it to be set apart. And you could, gosh, you could apply that in so many ways.
[8:50] Cause it to be set apart in your, in this nation. Reveal who you really are to the people of this nation. Let alone, we could apply it in more personal ways to me.
[9:05] Remind me who you are. Reveal to me who you are or to our church or to our family or to our community. I mean, so many ways we could pray that. And that's the first prayer.
[9:16] That's what Jesus tells us to pray first. So in other words, that's the biggie. That convicts me. Cause it's like, I want to kind of get through that one and get down to the ones that really, you know, my temptation stuff or my forgiveness or my bread.
[9:35] I, you know, so that, and then thy kingdom come, you know, again, not a statement, but a prayer. We're asking God to cause his kingdom to come.
[9:45] And that's a huge prayer too, because kingdom is what Jesus came to do. It's his reign. It's his, when he came, he started preaching and demons started showing up and he started conquering them and throwing them out and making his kingdom come by capture, by, by rescuing people from, from Satan's kingdom, from Satan's authority.
[10:11] And he did it easily. And every time someone saved, that's the kingdom coming. That's Christ coming into our hearts to reign.
[10:21] And that's Christ kicking out the evil one and, and conquering our sin and et cetera, et cetera. So many things, ways that that applies. And then thy, cause thy will to be done.
[10:33] Now that's not in Luke 11. So we borrowed it from, from Matthew six, where the Lord, the, we call it the Lord's prayer. It's really the disciples prayer. It's the same prayers.
[10:45] Um, but in Matthew's version, he has like, thy will be done. Luke doesn't have that. Um, it's a different setting, but so we included it because I believe that's part of what Jesus taught us to pray.
[10:59] Cause thy will to be done. Again, um, we're asking God to do his will. And so we looked at different ways that could be simply my personal surrender, you know, not my will, but thine be done.
[11:14] It could be, uh, praying for direction and insight, uh, like Paul did in Colossians one. It could be praying, uh, fill us.
[11:24] Paul says in Colossians one, nine, fill us with the knowledge of your will. So show us your will, fill us with the knowledge of your will and all, and all wisdom and insight.
[11:36] So in other words, not just what your will is, but how we walk in it, how we do it, how we embrace it, what it looks like in our lives. Right. And, and, and then, uh, we also looked at its application in terms of wisdom and doing what pleases the father.
[11:50] So God has revealed his, his will, what he wants us to do in several ways. And we looked at those things. They all started with S remember. So that's the way, that's the way we know they're, they're spiritual.
[12:02] Um, uh, and so we, he, he's declared what his will is. Um, so we're asking, help me to know how that looks in my life.
[12:13] What, what, what is, what does, um, being a lip presenting myself as a living and holy sacrifice to God. What does that look like? Right.
[12:25] Not, not, not, uh, Romans one, Romans 12, one and two, not, not conforming to the world, but being transformed. So what does that look like? So that's his will, but what does that, how does that look?
[12:36] How does that, how do I embrace that? So, um, and then the last three things we looked at, um, the three prayers regarding us. So the, so the, so the Christ pattern has, has God's things first, his name, his kingdom is his will.
[12:52] And then it has our things, our bread, our, our relationships or forgiveness in our relationships, and then our temptation. So we looked at each of those. So, uh, give to us today our necessary bread, uh, the breads, the, the kind of bread that we need.
[13:09] So we, we talked about that, how that, uh, helps us recognize that we depend on him. Um, because we can think we have plenty of bread. We can have a fridge full of bread.
[13:20] We can have lots, you know, we can have weeks, you know, we got leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. So we, you know, uh, in, in a sense where it's like, well, I don't need to pray for bread today.
[13:30] I got bread today, but I think it helps us remember to say, thank you for what I have, because what I have isn't because of my greatness or something. It's because you've given me the ability to work.
[13:42] And to earn and to be able to put bread on the table, et cetera, et cetera. And then we looked at deeper ways that, that, that bread applies. It applies to physical healing. It, it applies to this, this bread man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God.
[13:58] Right. And then Jesus himself is the bread. I am the bread of life. And so even if we were, we feeling okay in physical ways, maybe we want that deeper bread.
[14:09] Give me today that bread. That's Jesus. Right. Um, and, and then notice we're not just praying for me. It's give us. So I might have bread, but my brother might not have bread or my brother might need a job or my sister might need physical healing, you know?
[14:27] So we're praying for others as well. And that thing, um, forgiveness. So we spent two weeks on that one. Cause that, that's a biggie. Um, cause we're praying in two parts, forgive us our sins.
[14:45] Because why? Cause we are constantly forgiving everyone. It's like, Oh, okay. Am I doing that? Oh, go back.
[14:57] So one thing that we clarify about that when we're asking for forgiveness there, we're not asking, uh, to read, to be resaved. We already have, when we are saved by, by God in Christ and we're born again, we're forgiven in an eternal sense.
[15:17] We're saved. We can't unsave that. We can't undo what God has done. If God has saved us, we're saved. So why are we praying for forgiveness if we already have it?
[15:29] Well, we're praying for daily relationship forgiveness, not eternal forgiveness, but for relational. Cause, cause every day I fall short every day.
[15:43] Um, I struggle with some things that I always struggle with. Well, I struggle with anxiety. I struggle with lust or struggle with anger. I struggle with covetousness, whatever.
[15:56] Um, or maybe new stuff's coming up and I'm, I'm falling on my face. And so I'm, it's just those, if I don't confess those things to the father, they get in the way of my relationship with God.
[16:10] Right. And I think that's what John is talking about. And in, in first John one, God is light. So we walk, you know, if we say we have fellowship with God, yet we walk in darkness, we're, we're lying.
[16:23] If we're not confessing our sins, if we're not walking in his light, so that all of my stuff shows, but if I walk in his light, I have fellowship with him.
[16:34] And that leads me to what? Confess. Because if I walk in the light, then stuff shows. I'm not hiding from God and I'm not hiding my sin.
[16:46] I'm walking in the light. I'm in relationship with the father. And so those little things show up or sometimes bigger thing, you know, and so I confess him and he forgives me. And that's, and so, so we're talking, that's what kind of forgiveness we're talking about.
[16:59] The harder part is the next part, right? For we are forgiving. Are we? Always. Of course not.
[17:10] Of course, we struggle with that. For we are, how does he say it here? For, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
[17:21] That's hard. And that's tough. Cause some of that stuff, some of the debts, some of the hurts are big.
[17:32] And so how do you let those go? And, and we're connecting our forgiveness and notice that whole forgiveness prayer.
[17:45] We're connecting our forgiveness with him to our forgiveness of others. So in other words, I can't just make it me and Jesus. Cause me and Jesus and me and the father are impacted by how I treat others.
[18:02] So if he's forgiven me this huge amount, right? Of debt, how can I hold on to the comparatively small petty?
[18:14] So not, not insignificant, but by comparison, that's the point. Right? So it causes us to really look at that.
[18:28] And, and then finally lead us not into temptation. Um, that's kind of like Jesus in the garden, you know, if possible, let this cup pass.
[18:40] We're, we're praying. We're, we're, we're asking, um, that member that prayer is a little different. It's in the passive, right? And so it, and it's in the subjunctive, which means the other ones are all in treaties, asking for something real right now.
[18:55] That one's asking for something that's a potential, which doesn't mean it's definite, which means we're saying, if possible, don't lead us today into temptation or testing.
[19:13] Jesus asked that. If possible, let the cup pass. And he had to work through that. But we're asking that. And remember, he said it to the disciples in the garden, pray that you may not enter into temptation.
[19:28] And their temptation was to be overwhelmed by their sorrow. Remember? They were sleeping for sorrow. They were sleeping because they were overwhelmed. And so they, that Jesus is saying, don't pray that you don't enter into that temptation because you're, you're vulnerable to that sorrow that will overwhelm you.
[19:47] And you'll, it makes sense. So, so we pray. And I think the, I think by praying that one, we're making ourselves aware that we're vulnerable.
[20:00] And so in a way we're saying, okay, I know I'm going to face something today. Help me. The very least. And, and possibly Lord, if possible, could we not go there today?
[20:13] James says you have not because you asked not. If possible. Maybe it's possible. Maybe, maybe God will put off Satan sifting us today.
[20:26] Hmm. I don't know what that means. So anyway, so that, so I'm sure you have lots of questions and you have some thoughts. I don't want to ramble on here. I do want to make a couple of statements because I was looking at Spurgeon and I know Spurgeon talked a lot about prayer.
[20:45] He, he, in our bell tower, we have a bell. That makes sense, right? It's in the bell tower. Um, and there's a rope, right? And so he pulled the rope and what happens?
[20:56] The bell rings. So, so Spurgeon compared prayer. Spurgeon said, prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above.
[21:06] In the ears of God. So prayers like that. And he, and he said, some people are very timid with that. Just, just don't want to make it very loud. And then some people know they're really needy and they just, they just, right.
[21:24] I thought that was an interesting comparison. He, he said, Spurgeon also said, there's no better thermometer to our spiritual temperature than the intensity of our prayer.
[21:36] By which he meant how much we mean it when we pray, how much, you know, we're not just reciting it. And then he also said, uh, true prayers measured by weight, not length.
[21:49] It's not how long we pray. It's how much we pray. And there was some other quotes.
[22:00] He talked about groaning and he said, sometimes, you know, God hears the groaning more than just the words. I thought that was interesting. Because you know how Romans talks about the Holy Spirit interprets our prayers, groanings, right?
[22:14] It's like, okay. Okay. Enough of me. What do you want to talk about? There's a lot here. What have you learned?
[22:27] What, what, what has God taught you? What has he shown you or reminded you of? Yeah, Dan. I'm a pattern slash framework type of guy. A what? A pattern, a framework.
[22:38] I need. Oh, gotcha. A structure. Yeah. The engineer thing. I need to absorb things. And when, when you look at Jesus and how he defines how we should pray here, and the one thing, and I, I look at a parallel because of course, talk about God first.
[22:53] And it was like, where else in the Bible does it talk about God first? Triple, the 10 commandments, the first forward. Good. Yeah. God first. And then for other things. Yeah. So, it's, it's, so, I mean, is it a new thought?
[23:07] Yeah, but at the same time, I think it's always put God first. Yeah. It's a new way frame of mind. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What does that do to us? But if Jesus wants us to follow this pattern, and we're naturally gravitated toward the, the latter ones, right?
[23:27] What does that do to us? To pray according to his pattern? Yeah. The foundation. Yeah. This is the foundation.
[23:38] But it also reforms, and it makes us think about him first. Yeah. Yeah, John. I have a question on the forgiveness thing.
[23:50] Oh, no. We already answered all that. So, you know, I'm not sure if the Bible, because I can't find it, I'm not sure whether the Bible is specific regarding forgiveness of your, quote, brother versus everyone.
[24:06] Because in Matthew 18, there's those two little sections where, number one, Jesus starts off by saying, if your brother sins against you, and there's this whole thing, and then Peter comes back and says, should I forgive my brother seven times?
[24:24] And Jesus says seven times, seventy times. But I can't find similar passages about the world. You know, so I don't know, that's my question.
[24:39] What did we learn back in Luke 6? His sermon on the plane. He talked about loving our, loving your enemy.
[24:51] No? No. No, he made it harder than that. Loving your enemy. Letting go.
[25:06] The essence of forgiveness is to let go. And so even with your enemy, who's not your brother, you're letting it go.
[25:18] You're turning the other cheek. You're, you're, you're, you're giving it away, right? You're not holding or requiring from him. He steals from you.
[25:30] That's, well, that's kind of indebted. So I think, I think in a general sense, yeah, it applies to everybody, but particularly to our, to our brothers and sisters in Christ, because that, it, it, it's got to start here.
[25:50] So some people say, oh, you don't have to forgive them unless they, unless they ask for it. Like, like, you pointed out Matthew 18.
[26:01] It talks about, you know, if you're, doesn't it say if your brother sins, you have to, he comes to you or something like that. Or maybe it's Luke 17 that talks about if your brother comes to you seven times a day and says, I repent, then you have to forgive him.
[26:20] But I think Jesus is teaching us that we, there's a difference between, remember, there's a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Those are two different things.
[26:33] It starts with forgiveness. Hopefully it goes to reconciliation, but it doesn't hold us. So forgiveness is one step, letting it go. I don't, I can't do reconciliation unless the other person is willing to talk.
[26:50] Right? And to, to meet, meet face to face. That's what Matthew 18 is. Your brother sins and he doesn't repent.
[27:01] What do you do? You, you bring two or three witnesses to watch you talk about this. Right. And so you go through a procedure there.
[27:11] Right. And there's also the issue of trust, building trust. Yes. Reconciliation, of course, has its elements. And there's the element of trust, which is not included.
[27:24] Correct. The forgiveness, I think, is again, more for us, because not to forgive, whether they're believers or not, Yes.
[27:36] still interferes with our relationship and knowledge of God's character, and what Jesus has done, and the Holy Spirit.
[27:46] Yeah. However, also bringing up in Paul's letters to Timothy, and such, if you have someone who is divisive, you must do something to protect.
[28:05] Right. Well, we have that element. Exactly. It's a very, it's almost like a relationship, isn't it? Very complicated. It is, but that's an important distinction. So forgiveness does not mean you have reconciliation.
[28:20] Forgiveness does not mean you have trust. Or tolerance. Or what? Tolerance if their activity is divisive. Right. So, so Matthew 18 is the church discipline thing.
[28:31] If you go to your brother, he's sinned against you, you go, and you, you, you, you talk about that, and if he doesn't admit it, then you bring, because maybe I got it wrong, so I bring witnesses in, see if I got it before working this thing right.
[28:44] And if they agree, no, he has sinned against you, and he's unrepentant, then you take it to the church. Right. That's why we have membership. Because you, we, you go to the church.
[28:54] Who's the church? Well, it's those who have, who have agreed about these things together, and to be accountable to these things together. And then, and then what happens, he says, if, if you tell the church, and the church tries to get this person to repent, and they don't, then what do you do?
[29:14] Yeah, we call it excommunication. Jesus says, well, you treat him like a Gentile. like he's, you know, not a convert.
[29:25] You treat him like, he's not acting like a Christian, so you treat him like he's not a Christian. Which means, he's not welcome at the Lord's table. That's really, really harsh, and that's really, really hard.
[29:42] And it's not something you do, one, two, three, four, all in the same day. I believe it takes months. Right. You go through that. You really try to rescue this person. Exactly.
[29:53] But you might find out they're truly unrepentant, and resist all, they're acting like a total unbeliever. That's what Jesus says, you treat.
[30:04] So that, yeah, you don't have trust, right? You don't have reconciliation. And we do have two principalities doing that still, so we do have to be careful of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
[30:15] Yeah, and that's going to happen. We have to be told to do that. Yeah. To be a weaver, because, because the devil, Satan is out there to devour. Yeah. And we, as a body, have to protect against that, I think, is one of the things.
[30:30] Paul tells Timothy, if you've got a person who's divisive, you warn him. Right. You warn him a second time, and if he's still divisive, you kick him out. You know. You don't, don't let the wolves attack the sheep.
[30:44] Yeah. Yeah, I just thought reading some scripture would be helpful here. Oh, that would be really good. In response to John's question. And just look at Luke 6.
[30:56] And let's look at Luke 6, 26 through 31, for starters here. Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
[31:08] But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, so they're not your brothers, they're your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you.
[31:19] Pray for those who abuse you. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. From the one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to anyone who begs from you.
[31:31] And from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish others would do to you, so do to them. And then the tie, I think, is to verse 35 and 36 here.
[31:45] But love your enemies, do good, and lend, and expect nothing in return, and your reward from heaven will be great. And you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil, but merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
[32:02] And when we look at the Lord's Prayer, there are two verses at the end of that that we never want to read, because it says, if we do not forgive others who sin against us, our Father will not forgive us.
[32:17] I think it's this perspective of we're immersed in the world, and we're using the world's tools, and the world's analysis of what right and wrong is.
[32:30] And when somebody violates me, according to the world, I want it back. I want to take it back. Whereas God is saying, you're part of my kingdom, I'm providing you everything.
[32:42] Why do you need it back? Why do you need to hold on to the transgression this other person had in you? I think it's a very, very different perspective and not a worldly perspective that we are called to.
[32:56] And it's difficult, because I'm in the world, and I'm seeing what the world does, but I think we have an obligation to forgive others the way Christ forgave us, which is, while we were still sinners, while there was still enmity between us and Him, He forgave us.
[33:19] Okay, rebuttal. Rebuttal. That's fine. Now, here's my situation. I read it at the same time Rick was reading it, and I don't want to talk semantics, but I'm just bringing it up the way I saw it.
[33:37] The whole passage that he read before he talked about forgiveness and being forgiven, the word is love. Yes. There's no word about forgiveness.
[33:48] Now, what I read into the passage is this. What Jesus is talking about in this passage is, you know, when someone slaps you on one side, give them the other side, he's not saying forgive it.
[34:01] He's talking about living with it. He's talking about being humble. Yes. And being loving. Yes. And all that. But the whole concept of forgiveness is not in that passage.
[34:12] Go one more verse. Where? In Luke 6, Rick read through verse 36, Be merciful even as your father is merciful. Judge not, you will not be judged.
[34:23] Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Right. So he does add forgiveness to that. But I think there are, I agree with everything Rick has read.
[34:35] I agree with everything. Yeah. But it's very complicated. There are a lot of levels. Yes. In what Jesus is telling us. Because we can find where Jesus has said, you know, walk away.
[34:54] If they, to his own missionaries, his own apostles, if they, if they don't listen to you, you know, take the dust off, shake the dust off of you, and leave.
[35:08] So we have, but that's not the way our heart should be. To start with. And I agree. We have to be discerned. Oh, Jesus also tells us we do judge.
[35:22] Yes. Right? We do. But, but the epistles show us in what fashion. Right. To do that. It's not that you don't make judgments. You are to make judgments.
[35:32] Of course you make judgments. You can't get, but we have to be careful with those judgments. Right. That's what he said. Be careful how you judge. Because however you judge, you will be judged in return.
[35:44] And that's what I say about how you are going to be judged. And forgiven. I think the point of Luke 6 is, we don't take our cues from the world.
[35:56] We take our cues from Christ and the Father. So we're his children, so we act like his children. Which is going to be totally different than the world. And totally different than what's next. And with a different heart.
[36:07] With a different heart. So we really need the Holy Spirit to do that kind of stuff. Amen. Amen. Alright. We're going to blow it. And we're going to fall back on our natural things sometimes.
[36:18] But... Go final... I have one final and then I'll stop. Haven't you caught you no trouble? I just want to bring this verse up. Yeah. Not for debate or anybody.
[36:31] When Jesus was on the cross and forgave, he did not just say, Father, forgive them. He had a qualifier. Yeah. For they not know what they're doing.
[36:43] Yeah. Okay. I know that. Now why did he do that? I don't know. I have no idea why he put a qualifier on that. So did Stephen. But that's...
[36:53] Anyway. Yeah. I'm done. No. But that's a good example of forgiving his enemy. Right. Right. Right. He left it. And why is that important? Here's the thing.
[37:04] It's not about a rule. It's about why is that important? If I'm unforgiving, what happens to me? Yeah.
[37:15] I build a garage. I have a root of bitterness that grows in me. I even, as Paul says in Ephesians 4, 29, 31, somewhere in there, we can allow Satan a foothold.
[37:33] Right. We give him an opportunity. If we are unforgiving, he takes root in that. Which he can make that grow into greater bitterness, a greater grudge, a greater...
[37:44] It can affect us in a lot of different ways. So in other words, it's for our sake to forgive. It's... I may not be reconciled with that person. It may not matter to that person.
[37:56] But I forgive for my sake, for my heart. Because my heart can get messed up if I don't. And if we've let that grow for a long time, that's why it gets real hard to let go of some of those things that happened a long time ago and we've never let it go and it's still there.
[38:14] It's still got us in the clutches. Right? And that... And that's hard. And Christ can get us out of that, but that's... It's hard. And that's why I think it's important.
[38:26] Yeah, Dan? I was just going to tag on to that angerness and bitterness and rage that's turned inward fuels depression in a mighty way.
[38:38] Fuels depression? Yes. Fuels. Oh, sure. I agree. To kind of tag on to what John said as well, Jesus did that from the cross because he's Jesus. He recognized that those people didn't know what they were doing.
[38:51] but we don't have that ability to make that judgment call. And something I remember from years ago, I don't remember if somebody told this, but true forgiveness releases us from feeling the need to seek any retaliation against those that hurt us.
[39:14] That's what has to happen first. You have to recognize that before you can even begin to hope that there can be restoration of the relationship, whatever was broken.
[39:28] Yeah. And I think the difference between those who are outside the church that we forgive, we let it go. We turn the other cheek, right?
[39:38] We let it go. Whereas those inside the church, we continue to pursue that relationship. If it's inside the church, that's my brother. So I don't just turn the other cheek and let it go and ignore that person and sit on the other side, you know, or whatever, go to another church because I don't want to be around that person.
[39:59] God calls us to, no, bear with one another, forgive one another, and then go to your brother if you have to. If it's not something you can just bear with, some things we can just let, we just let it go.
[40:12] We just bear with, but if it's really imposing the relationship or hurting the body, we need to go to that brother or sister and let them know. People have done that in this congregation to me. I'm grateful for that.
[40:24] It's not fun hearing that stuff, but I'm grateful for that. If people don't do that, what happens? We deal with it in some other worldly way.
[40:38] So that issue is really, really important in terms of one another stuff. I'd like to modify worldly to human nature.
[40:51] Sure. Because I don't always follow what the world says because you have a ton of options out there. But I will tell you that my inner man, my old self, is, and you mentioned this before, there's a nut of him, there's a shell of him, I hope, it's shrinking.
[41:15] And one wants to do what my human nature wants to do, which is self-centeredness, which wants me to flame back. And I think that's one of the reasons why God made it perfectly clear that vengeance is his.
[41:36] Because that's a part of hatred, is wanting to get back and to destroy a person or hurt a person. So, retaliation and that kind of thing.
[41:51] So I think we are constantly at battle with ourselves. Sure. Part of that worldliness is still in us. So we're careful, and as you said, we take the paces to make sure we're not making a misstep or a misjudgment.
[42:08] But we do have to discern, of course, if somebody is going to kill us. I mean, emotionally, whatever.
[42:23] So this prayer really makes us reflect on things. If we're praying through this pattern of prayer, seriously. Especially this forgiveness one, because it's like, okay.
[42:35] Okay. It can be frustrating because there's things that you've let go from the past and people you've forgiven and something can happen to you that brings that all back up.
[42:49] And then you've got to go and let it go, you know. So sometimes, that's real fun sometimes. What else? Yeah, Dan. I just want to tag on something Dan said earlier and then you talked a little bit about the reason why it starts out with our Father.
[43:06] Yes. There's times that I'll start to pray that and it humbles me to realize it just overwhelms me and humbles me to think I'm talking to the Creator who made each and every one of us, who made everything on this earth, the ability for us to do things on this earth, He created it all.
[43:29] And there's times I don't get past that part. Sure. and it's a total respect, honor, praise from the very start.
[43:42] It puts your heart where it's supposed to be, where He wants you to be, to come before Him. Thanks, Dan. One of the things that this, going back over this, I've taught this 12 years ago or something here, and going back through it again has reminded me of some things and one of those things is it's about relationship.
[44:07] Prayer is not about me giving God my list because I catch myself doing that. I want to get it over. I want to get the prayer. I want to check it out. I want, you know, there's that nature in me to want to just give my laundry list to the Lord, my hit list and all those good things I'm praying for.
[44:26] I got it on my phone. And I can say, you know, and I realize I've just rushed through that and I haven't really talked to my dad. I've just said, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this.
[44:43] Please save this place. You know, please, please, you know, I mean, they're good. They're all wonderful, good prayers, but I forgot that I'm talking to my father.
[44:56] Rick's talked about it's not a vending machine. You know, he's not a vending machine. We just kind of, you know, it's about a relationship. And that's what's kind of reminded me because I can have that tendency to do that.
[45:09] Speaking of Rick. I think the important thing that I'm trying to learn is we pray to impact God to get what we want. Do we pray for God to impact us?
[45:21] and I think he does impact us by the nominal response to my prayer is wait. I don't want to wait. I want what I want right now.
[45:33] I want that snake. I want that serpent. I want whatever it is that I want because I'm focused on the world and I'm focused on myself. Do we pray that God would impact us through our waiting?
[45:47] Are we going to be patient? Recognize his sovereignty. Recognize that he loves us. And recognize that in this whole prayer thing we have a part we play too. That's the reason we keep on knocking is he wants us to have a part in that.
[46:03] And by waiting when I get the answer I'm that much more joyful for the answer at the end of the day and that much more convicted for the answer at the end of the day. I have a part in that.
[46:14] Yeah. And God has ordained prayer as a means by which he works. He could do whatever he wanted apart from us.
[46:26] Right? And he created the world without us. But he saved souls through our prayers. He brings wandering brothers and sisters back through our prayers.
[46:41] I mean he has ordained prayer as a means by which he will work. Now that's mystery it's all but look what Jesus says in verse 10 there right? Verse 9 and 10 ask keep asking and it will be given.
[46:58] Seek keep on seeking I mean he's promising knock and it will be for everyone who asks receives the one who seeks will find and the one who knocks it will be he's making a bold promise.
[47:12] and it's because of who he is so it's yeah I think that's all great reminders. He already knows what we need before we ask him right?
[47:26] So it's not about information. It's about relation and it's for our sake. It changes us. I mean read the Psalms read the Psalms that start out angry and frustrated and you know and watch the transformation that happens in the Psalms.
[47:46] It's for our sake. It's how God works in us and he uses our prayers to affect other people. I don't he doesn't have to but he does. So there's real power in it but let us never forget I'm talking to our daddy right?
[48:10] our Abba he already knows what we need so why do we pray? He wants us and sometimes all we can do is groan that's okay.
[48:29] Jesus made real clear it's not about your words it's not about getting all the words right in the right order and everything that's more our compulsion. it's about just talking to him.
[48:41] Here's some structure. Here's some structure. This method of prayer to me is such for the audience that Jesus had and for the early church the Jewish contingency is such a fast change in what the prior prayer was like for them.
[49:16] Oh this is radical. This is so radical. I don't even know I mean I am just astounded when I realize when I'm praying what Jesus has actually made possible by allowing by his death allowing the Holy Spirit to indwell and that we can now approach God died breath and gave as father.
[49:49] He wants us to talk to the father. We can talk to Jesus we can talk to the spirit but he wants us to direct our prayers to the father in the name of Jesus with the help of the spirit.
[50:04] Right. Because they couldn't before at all they always needed a ritual or they needed an intermediary. And they never addressed him as father.
[50:16] Never. Never. They never even mentioned a name for fear. He was likened to a father but he was never addressed as a father. Well they never even wrote his name. Yeah.
[50:26] Yeah. for fear that they might sin. So I don't wow we can just go to him as we are. Dan.
[50:47] I'm a bit of a history nut and I've been reading a book about the Civil War and how it started and everything Abraham Lincoln just one of these great leaders of our country of all time.
[50:59] But it's interesting in the midst of this war some of his advisors come to him and say should we be praying that God is on our side? And he said no we should be praying that we're on God's side.
[51:13] Yeah. Yeah. Very good. So kind of you know praying for your enemy and you know just really that's what our focus should be. Yeah.
[51:26] We pray before football games you know that God will help us win right? It's like I was the token Christian on our high school football team and so I was asked to pray.
[51:37] Yeah. Ask a 16 year old to pray. Anyway. Nothing wrong with 16 year olds praying.
[51:51] Anyway. Yeah. That's good. So that's the model. That's the pattern. James asked an interesting question this morning.
[52:07] Is there a difference between private prayer and public prayer? Is Jesus just teaching us private prayer?
[52:19] In Matthew 6 it's clear that he says you know go into your inner room right? Right? So it's secret private prayer even though we're saying us our we're praying not just for ourselves but it's an interesting thought.
[52:37] He doesn't seem to teach anywhere about how you pray publicly. In fact he seems to discourage it. Don't pray on the corner to be seen right? Don't pray with wrong motives.
[52:50] It's just interesting. The church did pray corporately. You see it in Acts 4 when Peter's in prison they're praying. You see it in the garden with Jesus he takes three of his disciples with him to pray.
[53:06] Yet when he does that he brings them and says watch and pray with me and then he goes and walks away from them and prays you know on his own and he's expecting them to be praying.
[53:18] So is that what corporate prayer looks like? Is it everybody praying? It's an interesting question. I don't know how to answer that by scripture.
[53:30] In the Old Testament in the synagogue right? Synagogue was the pattern for the early churches how they prayed how they worked. You know they had prayers they read recited from Deuteronomy had several prayers they would pray but they were reciting they weren't spontaneous prayers.
[53:54] They were prescribed prayers. Right? And the only thing that was spontaneous in the synagogue was the sermon. Everything else was readings and Paul talks about speaking to one another and hymns and psalms and spiritual songs.
[54:15] So it's an interesting question. Maybe I just brought it up to make you think of something else and get you off track. I don't know. Sorry. Hopefully you didn't. I just thought it was interesting. I was just going to say someone I'm just throwing this out there because we are asked to do intercessory prayer and I think sometimes that needs somebody else's set of ears to hear that or you know besides God and because I think many times it's helpful in helping people to pray as a model but somebody must have recorded Jesus prayer in the garden.
[54:57] They do. Yes. They were close enough to hear what he was saying. to help someone for instance I've done public prayer in a grocery store with someone who all of a I don't even know about tells me a problem and I say let's pray.
[55:23] I'm just saying there's not a lot of instruction on how that looks and so that's why when I do a congregational prayer or pastoral prayer I use that same model for praying I pray thy name thy kingdom thy will that's how I do whatever indicates for you to do you're okay doing that okay any other yeah our persistence are keep seeking keep asking keep knocking that in that order is because of our faith and I just find it comforting that Jesus even when he was on this earth and in heaven continues to intercede for us and pray for us and just like Peter he prays that his faith would not fail and that's what he prays for us I believe so too thank you yeah yeah yeah Jesus modeled that and what a great reminder he's still doing that he's still praying for us yeah
[56:31] Don yeah piggybacking on what Kelly said didn't Jesus pray for his disciples and us in John 17 mmhmm um kind of maybe as a model that's the real Lord's Prayer yeah yeah but but yes but as far as the Lord's Prayer that we're talking about today um one of the parts that blesses me the most it says hallowed be thy name and um there are so many so many things in especially the Old Testament that keep popping up to me that bless me about the name of the Lord I don't know where it is but somewhere in Isaiah I think it says for you have exalted above all things your name and your word and I'm just thinking about our kids that God has brought to himself and the grandchildren we've been blessed with that we saw this past week um Isaiah 29 23 and 24 say when they see among them their children the work of my hands they will keep my name holy they will acknowledge the holiness of the holy one of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel those who are wavering in spirit will gain understanding those who complain will accept instruction
[57:51] I don't know that his name should be our I mean our guide our reference point our solid foundation and then in 42 8 it says I am the Lord that is my name I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols it just that kind of grounds me because I am so prone to I am prone to depend on other things or myself and that gives his praise to others and to idols and that is what he says not to do isn't it yeah yeah we talked about that when we looked at his name his name he has got all kinds of names right no one name can capture all that he is so he's got all these names yeah the big summary name is
[58:57] Yahweh I am what more can you say right I am he's the only one that is I am okay let me pray Father what a great privilege it is to come to you we do pray that you would cause your name your reputation your glory who you are to be hallowed to be set apart to be sanctified to reveal who you are Lord among us and around us cause your kingdom to come in all that power that is in that cause your kingdom to come to our children to our loved ones that you might rescue them from the authority of darkness and transfer them to the kingdom of your son we pray for the power of your kingdom to come to those who are broken those who are humble cause that's who the kingdom belongs to we pray
[60:17] Father that you would cause your kingdom to come through the power of your Holy Spirit as Paul said it's the kingdom is the righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit so fill us more and more with the Holy Spirit cause your will to be done show us what that is help us in our own personal lives to let go of our agendas to say not my will but yours be done show us what your will looks like in practical applications grant us direction give us this day the bread that we need for those of us Lord that need some physical healing physical touch a job physical refreshment we pray Lord that you would bless them with that for those of us Lord that need today a bread that's deeper than that the bread of your word the bread that is
[61:20] Jesus himself give us that today what we need forgive us Lord our sins forgive us the many ways we fall short for we are forgiving by your help by your spirit by recognizing how much you have forgiven us we are forgiving all who are indebted to us and lead us not Lord may we not be led into temptation may we may may we not enter into temptation into that realm in which we are we are so vulnerable grant us help and rescue help us to keep our armor on help us to be alert and sober grant us your grace all these things we pray Lord with confidence because it is your will it is how Jesus wants us to pray and so we pray these things for your glory and for your timing in Christ's name amen amen to receive
[62:40] NING!NING Thank you.