1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:06,680 So let me just read for us Matthew 6, beginning at verse 9, 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:12,720 Jesus speaking to his disciples. This then is how you should 3 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:17,760 pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:24,240 be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it 5 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:28,240 is in heaven. Give us today Our Daily Bread 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,080 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 7 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,000 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,840 one. For if you forgive other people 9 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,360 when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also 10 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,000 forgive you. But if you do not forgive others 11 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,200 their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. 12 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:53,440 Father God, we pray that you'd help us to understand this 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,120 prayer, that we'd understand more of who you are, more of who 14 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,640 we are, and above all, that this prayer actually would act as the 15 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,960 encouragement we need to actually get us praying to you 16 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,400 and depending on you as our Father. 17 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,640 Please, by your spirit, would you open our eyes to the God 18 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,880 that you are. And the gift that prayer is, we 19 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:18,640 ask it in Jesus name, Amen. So, yeah, if you were at 20 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,200 Gilmorton with us yesterday and if you weren't just to Orient 21 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,480 ourselves again, that Jesus gave his disciples this prayer in 22 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,720 Matthew 6 to teach them and through them to teach everyone 23 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,800 who reads these words throughout history how to pray. 24 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,040 And the Lord's Prayer we call often, it's recorded for us 25 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:39,360 twice in the gospel, so Luke Chapter 11 and here in Matthew 26 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,360 chapter 6. The wording differs slightly in 27 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,840 Luke and Matthew, but the basic outline is the same. 28 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,960 And it seems likely this is a pattern of prayer that Jesus 29 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:49,200 would have taught his disciples a number of times. 30 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,720 Tell them understand the heart of prayer, what prayer is really 31 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,320 all about. But more than that, to actually 32 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,080 encourage them to start praying themselves. 33 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,440 That's verse 9. This then is how you should 34 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:05,680 pray. So the Lord's Prayer, it gives 35 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:07,560 us an amazing theology of prayer. 36 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,320 But actually more than that, Jesus purpose in this prayer is 37 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:16,280 to get us praying as individuals and corporately as a church. 38 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,960 The great evangelist and writer John Stott used to say this. 39 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,200 He said the real battle to pray always takes place at the 40 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,360 threshold of prayer. What what did he mean by that? 41 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,680 He basically meant that the struggle is to actually start 42 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,160 praying. Well, if I think about prayers 43 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,360 really difficult, but actually maybe the greatest struggle is 44 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,320 getting started. We don't know what to say. 45 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:42,160 We don't know how to approach God. 46 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,240 We're, we're just confused by all that's going on. 47 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:45,800 Just we, we just don't even begin. 48 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:50,280 And that is where the Lord's Prayer really helps us because 49 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,800 we did see that the devil does everything in his power to stop 50 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,640 us praying, whether by distracting us or keeping us 51 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:59,640 busy or discouraging us. And, and he knows actually that 52 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,840 when we actually start praying to our Father in heaven, our 53 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:08,080 Father in heaven welcomes us. He hears us, He helps us, and 54 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,760 actually we are blessed as a result of drawing near to him. 55 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:14,720 The real struggle is to get started. 56 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,120 I know that's really true. And Lily and my experience, we, 57 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:21,440 we sort of like, we do marriage prep with a lot of people. 58 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:22,760 We've done marriage prep with some people here. 59 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,600 We'll say, yeah, you know, you've got to pray together as a 60 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,960 couple. We're, we're pretty bad at it. 61 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,960 We, we try to pray together regularly, particularly in 62 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:31,960 difficult times when we're struggling, when there's too 63 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,760 many things on, we don't know what to do. 64 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,040 But I can tell you, every time that we think we should probably 65 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,800 pray right now, 10,000 reasons come rushing into our minds to 66 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,760 stop us. Things like, well, it's getting 67 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,280 late, or we're too tired, or it just feels a bit awkward to 68 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:51,760 suggest praying. We've got other things that we 69 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,720 need to do. And as I've reflected in those 70 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,080 experiences, I think that's true for a lot of Christians 71 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,280 actually. The battle of prayer is the 72 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,000 battle to actually get started praying. 73 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,280 So just to help us, this would be like one of two grip times 74 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,920 going to do this morning. Just if you're if you're able to 75 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:11,680 just turn to the person actually people around you. 76 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,960 What are the roadblocks that stop you praying in your life? 77 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,480 What reasons do you often find for not praying? 78 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:20,360 And then when you don't want to start praying, has anything 79 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:21,800 helped you overcome that feeling? 80 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,400 Anything you could recommend to the people around you? 81 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:25,680 It's just like it. Take a few minutes. 82 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,080 What are the reasons that you find for not praying the 83 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,400 roadblocks and then when you don't want to start, has 84 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,280 anything helped you overcome that feeling? 85 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:34,160 Do you want to just turn the people next to you and the 86 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,160 person next to you and just share a bit of that? 87 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,760 Take a few minutes and we'll come back together in a few 88 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:43,120 minutes time. So I'm not going to ask for 89 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:44,920 feedback from that, but that's just helpful just to think 90 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,560 through what are some of the roadblocks that stop us and 91 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:50,120 things that we might have overcome. 92 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,480 Again, we want to look at the Lord's Prayer, not just as 93 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,080 amazing teaching about who God is, but actually as an 94 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,840 encouragement to us. This then is how you should 95 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:02,360 pray, says Jesus. And we thought yesterday if you 96 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,520 were with us, that the Lord's Prayer actually is a really 97 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,080 short prayer. Jesus said you don't have to use 98 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:08,800 lots and lots of words when you pray. 99 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,320 You can probably say the Lord's Prayer in roughly about 15 100 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,320 seconds. Jesus doesn't give us a long, 101 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:14,640 long prayer. He gives us a short prayer. 102 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,480 It's a simple prayer, not lots of big words in it. 103 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,200 It's actually a confident prayer because it begins with the words 104 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,640 our Father remembering the God is our Father. 105 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,720 He wants to hear us pray. And actually prayer always flows 106 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,600 out of recognizing the fatherhood of Gods. 107 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,400 And we thought about that when we're think about this, this 108 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,080 prayer that Jesus teaches us that that the Lord's Prayer 109 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,560 really shows us that prayer at its simplest is a child asking 110 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,560 their father for help. It's just we we need help and 111 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,800 therefore we go to God, we ask him to help us. 112 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,280 And alongside that definition, the the first 3 requests in the 113 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,880 Lord's Prayer, verses 9 to 10 hallowed be your name, your 114 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,760 Kingdom come, your will be done. We thought about yesterday how 115 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,920 they they tell us that prayer is about how we get involved with 116 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,080 God's saving purposes for us and for our world. 117 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,720 God amazingly opens up to us the opportunity to play a part in 118 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,200 his saving purposes. He he says, actually part of you 119 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,000 doing that is that you're going to pray your Kingdom come, your 120 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:19,200 will be done. You're going to pray. 121 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:21,640 Would people hallow your name? Would people see God What an 122 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:26,480 amazing God you are. And we turn to the second-half 123 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,600 of the Lord's Prayer this morning and another key aspects 124 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,200 of prayer to put alongside those first two. 125 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:34,840 They're really, they're all linked together. 126 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:39,960 That prayer is a daily dependence on our Father to meet 127 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,560 our needs in Christ. That's those last three 128 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,240 requests. Give us today Our Daily Bread. 129 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,720 Forgive us our debts or our sins. 130 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:53,800 Deliver us from the evil one. These prayers show us about who 131 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:58,080 we are and they tell us who God is, who we are. 132 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:02,280 We are people who are in need of forgiveness and provision and 133 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:05,000 protection. And who is God? 134 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,080 He's the one willing and able to meet each one of those needs in 135 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,640 Christ. Prayer is about depending on 136 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,320 God. It's about dependence. 137 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:19,320 And The thing is, dependence can be a bit of a dirty word for 138 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:21,400 some of us in modern Western culture. 139 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,960 It's not some we find very attractive or appealing. 140 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,680 You sort of slap an end at the beginning of dependence. 141 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,200 That's a different story. We like independence, and the 142 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:32,360 goal of many of our lives actually is to become more 143 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:34,720 independent. You think of a teenager wanting 144 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,880 to be more independent of her parents, someone working long 145 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:39,920 hours to achieve financial independence. 146 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:41,360 They can stand in their own 2 feet. 147 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,280 A musician or performer looking for creative independence, not 148 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,360 listen to the record label doing their own thing, or a country or 149 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,360 people group fighting for political independence. 150 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:52,480 We want to make our own decisions. 151 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:54,800 We actually don't have to argue with people much that 152 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:59,200 independence is a good thing when it comes to dependence. 153 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,120 Well, none of us really like it. We want to be able to cope on 154 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,000 our own. We want to be able to do things 155 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,520 on our own. And in actually many aspects of 156 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,880 life, that desire for independence is a natural and 157 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:13,680 right desire. Again, that teenager wanting 158 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,200 more independence, that's natural. 159 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,400 They're coming into adulthood. That's a natural and good thing 160 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:21,760 according to Jesus in the Lord's Prayer. 161 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,600 Dependence is not something followers of Jesus ever grow out 162 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:27,960 of. Dependence stands at the very 163 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,360 heart of the Christian life. It stands at the very heart of 164 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,760 what it means to be human. And by finishing this model 165 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:40,000 prayer with requests asking for God's provision and pardon and 166 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,440 protection, Jesus wants to show us just how dependent we are and 167 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:49,680 how dependent we should be on the God of grace when it comes 168 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:52,200 to our relationship with God, when it comes to our life 169 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,080 together as a church family, when it comes to us living as 170 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,800 witnesses for Jesus in this world, we're not meant to live 171 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:04,080 for Jesus without depending on him in prayer day by day by day. 172 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,040 Prayer is at the heart of walking by the Spirit. 173 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,320 It's at the heart of our witness to Jesus. 174 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,680 It's at the heart of our relationship with God as our 175 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,720 Father. And and the Bible tells us that 176 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,680 again and again and again. I've always loved the way Jesus 177 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:20,320 puts it. Elsewhere in John's Gospel, 178 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,160 chapter 15, the picture he uses to express our dependence, he 179 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,000 says I am the vine, you're the branches. 180 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,320 If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. 181 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,120 Apart from me, you can do nothing. 182 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,960 And again in recent years it struck me that the two sides of 183 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,600 Jesus words here, both sides of this promise, apart from me, you 184 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:42,920 can do nothing. That's the negative side of 185 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,000 Jesus words. You can work as hard as you 186 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:46,920 like. You can practice all the 187 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,200 spiritual disciplines. You can come up with vision 188 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,680 statements and strategies for your life or as a church. 189 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,160 But without a daily dependence on Jesus, nothing we do will 190 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:58,000 bear lasting fruit for him. It's a really humbling 191 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,520 statement. Apart from me, you can do 192 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,360 nothing. But then Jesus also lifts us up. 193 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:06,680 He says if you remain in me and I and you, you will bear much 194 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:08,760 fruit. It's a really bold invitation. 195 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,960 He says remain in me, depend on me, keep trusting in me for your 196 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:15,760 life and mission and watch what will happen. 197 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:18,680 You will bear much fruit, says Jesus. 198 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,440 In terms of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, in terms of 199 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,920 the fruit of people coming to know and trust in Jesus for 200 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:27,880 themselves. It's a really bold promise from 201 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,920 Jesus. That's a promise all about daily 202 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:36,200 dependence on our Father to meet our needs in Jesus Christ. 203 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,920 That's what prayer is about. It's about I I need your help, 204 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,840 Lord. I need your help, Lord. 205 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:46,720 Let's look at the second-half of the Lord's Prayer together, 206 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,440 praying as God's children. And in verses 11 to 13, Jesus is 207 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,200 so revealing to his disciples just what their top 3 greatest 208 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:57,240 needs are. And we might feel that we know 209 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,640 what our needs are, we just need a little bit more money. 210 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:03,400 Or we need an ideal partner, or we need a perfect body shape, or 211 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:05,600 we need to know the name and address of the pizza place. 212 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,000 Last night that Don Hay got pizza slices the size of a man's 213 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,760 head. I will ask him later. 214 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:17,000 We have so many needs, but actually Jesus boils it down to 215 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,160 our deepest needs. Here He says our greatest needs 216 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:26,960 are for God to provide for us physically, to pardon our sins, 217 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:32,520 to protect us from the evil 1 So first of all, our greatest needs 218 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,400 is for God to provide for us physically. 219 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:40,280 Give us today Our Daily Bread. And one level, that's a really 220 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:43,320 simple prayer request. And yet it's amazing, actually. 221 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,120 Throughout church history, many Christians have struggled to 222 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:48,640 understand it from any of the early church fathers, for 223 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,400 instance, that it seems so unlikely that this great prayer 224 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:53,480 of Jesus would contain a reference to something so 225 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,040 ordinary and physical as actual bread. 226 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,960 Many of them said, well, this is clearly Jesus telling us to pray 227 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,200 about the Lord's Supper, the bread we receive then, or or 228 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:04,360 about the word of God, the bread of life. 229 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:08,120 And to be fair to them that the word, the Greek word before it 230 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:10,600 translated daily in the NIV is very rare. 231 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,960 It only happens one other place in the New Testament in Luke 11, 232 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,600 when he says give us today Our Daily Bread. 233 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:20,240 So, so some churches presumed it must be some sort of spiritual 234 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:22,640 bread. And the assumption there is that 235 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:26,480 Jesus, he's the Son of God, he's far too spiritual and important 236 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,640 to refer to actual bread in this prayer. 237 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:31,280 He must be referring to something else. 238 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:35,400 But The thing is, there's no linguistic evidence that the 239 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,360 bread Jesus refers to is spiritual bread. 240 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,440 You can translate the phrase in different ways. 241 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:46,000 Daily bread, Bread for tomorrow, bread necessary for existence. 242 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:49,960 But the point is, Jesus is actually referring to physical, 243 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:54,480 actual bread here. Bread that you need and bake in 244 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,360 an oven, Bread you butter and eat. 245 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,200 Bread you may have had for breakfast this morning. 246 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,280 And Jesus tells us to pray for that because he wants us to know 247 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:09,400 that our Father in heaven cares about our physical needs, and he 248 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:13,000 wants us to ask God to provide for us. 249 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:16,960 See, the danger often is in the Christian life. 250 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,920 We have become more spiritual than God is like those church 251 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:23,720 fathers. Maybe we we presume it isn't 252 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,200 appropriate to pray for the food we eat or for our car to get 253 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:29,920 fixed or or the clothes we need or the money we need to pay for 254 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:31,440 a bill. We've been in those things that 255 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,240 are off limits. That's kind of dying to us. 256 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:34,920 Jesus doesn't say pray about those things, pray about other 257 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:36,760 things, but those things are dying to us. 258 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,560 But again, we need to see prayer is about dependence. 259 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:43,760 Our Father loves us and he's concerned for our physical needs 260 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:49,400 as well as our spiritual ones. God knows this is to survive. 261 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,640 We need food and drink, we need clothing, we need somewhere to 262 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:54,920 live. And so Jesus urges us, go to 263 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,440 your Father and ask Him to provide for your needs. 264 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,240 There's nothing too big or too small that we can't bring to our 265 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:06,680 Father in heaven. So give us today Our Daily 266 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,800 Bread. There's at least 2 Old Testament 267 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:14,080 echoes behind this phrase of Jesus in the book of Proverbs at 268 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,000 which we're I'm going to come back to you next week. 269 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,520 Proverbs chapter 30 verses 7 to 9. 270 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,960 A man called Agur praised the following prayer. 271 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,080 He says two things I ask of you, Lord, do not refuse me before I 272 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,440 die. Keep falsehood and lies far from 273 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:27,840 me. Give me neither poverty nor 274 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,680 riches. Give me only my daily bread. 275 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,360 Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say, who is 276 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,080 the Lord? Or may become poor and steal and 277 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:42,240 so dishonour the name of my God again, that this prayer of Agur 278 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:43,600 is just like the prayer of Jesus. 279 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,440 Remind us that we're asking God to meet our needs rather than 280 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,760 satisfy our greed. There's a sense actually 281 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,680 material wealth is not the straightforward blessing we 282 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:55,920 often think it is. If I just had a bit more money 283 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,400 then I'd be content. Actually. 284 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,680 This probably reminds us that having enough actually can cause 285 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:03,800 us to do rely on ourselves, not on God. 286 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,840 It can cause us actually to sin, says Agur. 287 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,880 Far better to learn dependence on God and contentment with 288 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:17,000 having our needs met by him. Of course, this kind of assumes 289 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,880 something that God is the one who provides everything that we 290 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:22,600 need. And that's the truth we actually 291 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,480 struggle to take hold of. Sometimes we think, well, well, 292 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,760 not I provide what I need. And there's a great early 293 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,880 episode in The Simpsons where Bart Simpsons asked to say grace 294 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,800 before meal and he prays this was dear God, we paid for all 295 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:36,360 the stuff ourselves. So thanks for nothing. 296 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,040 Amen. And and when you think like 297 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:41,600 that, that's kind of it going well, hang on. 298 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,640 I, I work for this. You know, I went to the shop, I 299 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,240 handed over money, they gave me the goods. 300 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,040 Why am I thanking God? We see this prayer of our guru 301 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,200 and the prayer of Jesus reminds us everything we have, 302 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:57,360 everything we enjoy comes from God right down to the bread on 303 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,040 our plates. And as a result, we should thank 304 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,200 him for it, and we should depend on him for it. 305 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:05,600 And that's the second Old Testament echo. 306 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:07,960 This may be more significant. We heard this preached on a few 307 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:09,720 weeks ago when George Hawkins was with us. 308 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,320 The manna in the wilderness in the book of Exodus. 309 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:16,560 So the Israelites were set free from slavery in Egypt under 310 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,840 Moses. They cried out to God for food 311 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,120 in the desert. And God responded by raining 312 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,720 down bread from heaven every day for the next 40 years. 313 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,680 And that bread that manner was the sign of God's faithful 314 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,480 provision for his people. It was given to the Israelites 315 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,440 to teach them to depend on God, not on themselves. 316 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,840 And God told them to collect only as much as they needed for 317 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,520 that day. It was daily bread until it was 318 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,680 the Sabbath, and to trust him that the next day God would 319 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:46,640 provide the same. If he gathered too much, it 320 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:48,000 would go off, it would go mouldy. 321 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,240 It was it was, it was a test really a lesson to them. 322 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,480 Will you trust in God for your day-to-day provision? 323 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,960 Because this prayer of Jesus tells us that's all we can ask 324 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,320 God for it. Take one day at a time, keep 325 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,680 depending on our Father in heaven to provide everything we 326 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:11,880 need to live for him. It's about daily dependence on 327 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:12,920 God. And amazing. 328 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,800 Jesus doesn't just call us to a life of of dependence. 329 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,119 He modelled that life for us in his own relationship with his 330 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,839 Father. Again, Jesus, He's the eternal 331 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:24,800 Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. 332 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,680 And but for him, life is all about relying on depending on 333 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:30,960 God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. 334 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:35,080 It's a life of dependence, and he calls us to share in that. 335 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,600 Mike Reeves in a really helpful little book called Enjoy Your 336 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,200 Prayer Life, writes this. He says if God was a single 337 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,400 independent person, independence would be the godly thing that 338 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,560 would be hard to be like him. But as the Son always depends on 339 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:50,560 the Father, that is the nature of Christian godliness. 340 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,680 Being a Christian is first and foremost all about receiving, 341 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,040 asking and depending. It's when you don't feel needy 342 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,200 and so when you don't pray much that you lose your grip on 343 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,040 reality and think or act in an unchristian manner. 344 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,280 In fact, as you grow as a Christian, you do feel not more 345 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,160 self-sufficient, but ever more needy. 346 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:14,080 Give us today Our Daily Bread. Help me today, Lord. 347 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:20,480 Provide for me today Lord. And then verse 12, Jesus moves 348 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,680 beyond our physical needs, important as they are, and urges 349 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,840 us to have our great spiritual needs met by Him. 350 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:31,920 Forgive us our sins. We ask God to pardon our sins. 351 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,520 Verse 12. Forgive us our debts as we also 352 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,720 have forgiven our debtors. That language of debts. 353 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:41,800 It just tells us that apart from faith in Jesus, we are all 354 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:46,120 hopelessly in debt to the God who made us, and we cannot pay 355 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:49,520 that debt off. We have an obligation to God as 356 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:52,600 people made in his image, to love him with all our heart, 357 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,040 mind and strength, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. 358 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:58,880 And the Bible tells us every single one of us has failed to 359 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,400 meet those obligations and a massive debt has built up. 360 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:09,280 What Jesus calls his disciples to hear is honesty before God. 361 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:13,000 Confess your sins and your feelings. 362 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:17,760 But more than that, it's also a call, a prayer to express our 363 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:22,520 faith in Jesus, the one giving us this prayer and his death and 364 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:26,160 resurrection for us. Because the only reason any of 365 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,200 us can approach the living gods and pray this prayer without 366 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,600 fear of being punished immediately is because of the 367 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,680 saving work of the person teaching us this prayer. 368 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,520 Because Jesus went to the cross for us, He lived, died, and rose 369 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,360 again. As a result, we can come before 370 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:45,000 our Father in heaven and have our sin pardoned, our debt 371 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:49,720 cancelled because Jesus has justified everyone who trusts in 372 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:51,920 Him. We are righteous in His name 373 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,320 because He's redeemed everyone who trusts Him. 374 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,760 We've been set free from sin and death because Jesus has taken 375 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,320 the punishment on Himself that we deserve. 376 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:04,640 We are not clean and debt free in God's sight and therefore we 377 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:08,360 don't hide our sin from God. We confess it to him with 378 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:13,040 honesty and celebrate the fact that he will forgive us in 379 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,240 Christ. Forgiveness a sin. 380 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,320 It's one of the most precious aspects of the gospel. 381 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,080 But this is actually the one bit of the prayer where it reflects 382 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:27,240 back on us as well, verse 12, and we discover that we have 383 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,880 been forgiven by God. That needs to transform the way 384 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,320 we relate to people who sin against us. 385 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,040 Again, it was CS Lewis you said everyone loves the idea of being 386 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,440 forgiven by God. We just don't like the idea of 387 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:43,800 ever having to forgive someone else. 388 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:48,360 And yet Jesus places an unbreakable link between God's 389 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:52,240 forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of other people. 390 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:56,240 We cannot ask God to forgive us, says Jesus, if we are unwilling 391 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,040 to forgive those who have sinned against US. 392 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:03,320 Verses 14 and 15, the the coder to this prayer, if you like 393 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,240 Jesus says, for if you forgive other people when they sin 394 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,320 against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 395 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,560 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not 396 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:17,440 forgive your sins. And that is a hard saying for us 397 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,160 to hear. Some of us, you may be sitting 398 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:21,760 here this morning thinking, well, you've been sinned against 399 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,360 terribly by people in your life. And worse than that, maybe those 400 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:26,640 people have never acknowledged it. 401 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,960 They've never said sorry, they've never been repentant of 402 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,320 it. How do we respond? 403 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,720 Verse verse 12 says if we've been forgiven by God, we must be 404 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,280 ready to forgive whoever has sinned against us. 405 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,160 And we need to be clear, there is a difference between 406 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,400 forgiveness and true reconciliation. 407 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,760 And for true reconciliation, restoration take place actually, 408 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,600 both parties need to acknowledge their wrongdoing, and that may 409 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:56,440 take a long time in some cases. In fact, true reconciliation may 410 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:58,240 never come this side of the new creation. 411 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,160 But even when the other party refuses to own up to what 412 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,560 they've done or confess their guilt, we must be prepared to 413 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:08,000 forgive them as God in Christ forgives us. 414 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,000 We are people who've been forgiven so much, Jesus tells 415 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,200 us. We must be willing to forgive 416 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,480 others. We mustn't hold on to hatred or 417 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,960 long for revenge. You mustn't hold on to grudges. 418 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,640 Again, think of the parable The Unmerciful Servant, a story 419 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,520 Jesus tells about two servants. One owes a quite a small debt, 420 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:26,080 but the other servant refuses to forgive them. 421 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:28,520 And he says he's he has his hands round his throat. 422 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,000 Give me what you owe me, Jesus says. 423 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,560 You need to be willing to let go of the other person's throat and 424 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,040 forgive them. But how do we do that? 425 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,160 Jesus tells us only through prayer. 426 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,240 Only as we ask God to teach us how to forgive by showing us our 427 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,200 own need of forgiveness, and so overtime teaching us how to 428 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,840 forgive those who have sinned against us humanly. 429 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,280 It feels impossible, but that's why Jesus tells us to pray that 430 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,320 prayer in verse 12. As he puts it elsewhere, with 431 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,920 human beings this is impossible, but not with God. 432 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:13,680 All things are possible with God, so we're told. 433 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,440 Give us today Our Daily Bread, provide for us physically, Lord, 434 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,240 forgive us our sins. Pardon our sins, Lord, because 435 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,600 of Jesus. And then this last prayer 436 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:27,800 deliver us from the evil, and we ask God to protect us from the 437 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:32,040 evil. 1 Again, this is a reminder Jesus doesn't invite us 438 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,400 to pray because it's kind of a nice thing to do or it's a quick 439 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,200 way to feel spiritual, to feel warm and cuddly in the mornings. 440 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,480 Now Jesus says you need to pray because you live your life in a 441 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:49,280 spiritual war zone with an enemy who wants to get at you. 442 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:54,200 Prayer isn't about achieving a state of Zen like calm prayers 443 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,440 about facing up to temptation and evil in our lives, in our 444 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,080 world, and depending on our Father in heaven to enable us to 445 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,880 overcome them. Verse 13. 446 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:05,600 It's fundamentally the same prayer. 447 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,320 It's expressed in 2 slightly different ways. 448 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,520 So lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil 1. 449 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:14,640 With this request, Jesus reminds us that we have an enemy, the 450 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:19,240 devil, the evil 1, and we need the Father to protect us from 451 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,320 him. Jesus reminds us that the evil 452 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:25,120 1, the devil, he is real. He's not just a cartoon figure, 453 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,360 product of spiritual paranoia, a figment of our imagination. 454 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:30,480 Who elsewhere in the New Testament describes the devil as 455 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:35,040 a liar, a murderer, a roaring lion prowling around for someone 456 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,200 to devour? And he loves to attack disciples 457 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,880 of Jesus. He does that in so many ways, by 458 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,600 lying to us, luring us into sinful behavior and attitudes, 459 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:48,360 by causing disunity among Christians, by promoting false 460 00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:51,800 teaching, twisting God's word. And in light of all those 461 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,320 attacks, Jesus says, pray to your Father. 462 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,000 Deliver us from the evil one, protect us from him. 463 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:00,840 Jesus says we can resist the devil. 464 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:05,280 He will flee from us as we depend on our Father in heaven. 465 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,080 Lead us not into temptation, says Jesus. 466 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:12,640 We need to be real. Actually, this is not a prayer 467 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:16,320 for God to free us from ever being tempted, because Jesus 468 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,600 knows temptation to sin will come for all of us. 469 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,840 This time, this side of the new creation, Jesus himself was 470 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:23,720 tempted to sin. Matthew chapter 4, a couple of 471 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,080 chapters before this. He's tempted by the devil in the 472 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,160 wilderness. Temptation will come to all of 473 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,240 us. What Jesus prays here is that we 474 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,880 will not give in to temptation, that our Father will protect us 475 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,600 from giving in. The German reformer Martin 476 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,760 Luther used to put it like this. He said you can't stop the birds 477 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,000 flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a 478 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,920 nest in your hair. Martin Luther had a nice way of 479 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:49,600 putting things. Temptation will come. 480 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,040 Those birds are going to fly over our heads, but what we need 481 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,520 to pray is that we would not give in to them. 482 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:59,440 We'd walk away from them. Some people suggest you could 483 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,080 paraphrase this prayer, lead us in the way that is not 484 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:07,240 temptation, lead us in the paths of righteousness, and deliver us 485 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,880 from the evil. 1 And as with the other prayers, in this prayer 486 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,640 Jesus isn't sharing this to to frighten us or make us anxious. 487 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:19,240 He's teaching us this prayer because we can depend on the 488 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:21,400 Father. He's teaching it because the 489 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,520 devil is a defeated enemy and we can share in the victory Jesus 490 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:29,080 has won and send the devil packing by just saying no, I 491 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:33,680 will not listen, I'm with Jesus, I trust in what he has done and 492 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:40,480 who he is. So prayer is a daily dependence 493 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:46,600 on our Father to meet our needs in Christ, asking him to provide 494 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:52,320 for us physically, to pardon our sins, to protect us from the 495 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,000 evil one. Prayer is an invitation to come 496 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:59,480 to God in our need and ask him to meet every one of those needs 497 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,480 in Christ. I know we can see, as we've told 498 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,400 this weekend, praying together. Actually, every one of the 499 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,560 prayers in the Lord's Prayer is a corporate prayer. 500 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,000 We don't pray this prayer just on our own as isolated 501 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,400 individuals. We pray as members of God's 502 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,800 Church of Christ's body, the church. 503 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,480 We pray as people who belong to Jesus, who give us today Our 504 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:25,960 Daily Bread. That's a prayer for God to 505 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,160 provide for all his people. If God has provided for you, you 506 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,760 need to be praying for believers in this country and around the 507 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:33,880 world for whom they are not being provided for. 508 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,520 Praying for God to meet their needs, playing our part to do 509 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,760 that, forgive us our sins. A prayer that God's people 510 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,280 throughout the world will be people transformed by God's 511 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,280 grace. That as people forgiven by God 512 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,280 through Jesus, we will offer God's forgiveness to others 513 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:53,720 through Jesus and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 514 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,880 from the evil. And I pray for all of us to 515 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,760 fight the good fights together, to encourage one another, pray 516 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,640 for one another, love one another, weep with one another 517 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,560 when it's hard, help one another to see through the lies of the 518 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,040 evil one. We pray all these prayers 519 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,200 together. The follower of Jesus doesn't 520 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:17,640 pray alone in this world. We pray as part of the community 521 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,600 of God's people, and we pray alongside the community of the 522 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,640 Trinity. God the Father invites us to 523 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,280 pray. God the Son intercedes for us, 524 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,320 praying for us at the right hand of the Father. 525 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,480 God the Holy Spirit equips our prayers and we don't know what 526 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,080 to pray for. He he interprets for us. 527 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:40,120 We never pray alone. That's where the Lord's Prayer 528 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,200 reminds us. The Lord's Prayer tells us, ask 529 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,680 your Father for help. Depend on Him as a child with 530 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,760 their Father. Prayer is about getting involved 531 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,720 with what God wants to do in our lives and in our world. 532 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:56,840 Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. 533 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,360 Prayer is a daily dependence on our Father. 534 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,440 Give us Our Daily Bread. Forgive us our sins. 535 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:08,040 Lead us not into temptation. This is a beautiful prayer that 536 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:12,360 gets us aware of who we are and aware of who God is. 537 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:13,760 And that is at the heart of prayer. 538 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,320 We we thought yesterday about that quote from CS Lewis. 539 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:22,800 True prayer is the real me speaking to the real God. 540 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,840 It's about being genuine about who we are and being truthful 541 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:32,120 about who God is. The real God is our loving 542 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:36,160 Father in heaven. The real me is someone who needs 543 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,880 God's grace and help every day of my life. 544 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,200 And when we get scared about the admission, about our need, we go 545 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,200 back to the first thing. Who's the real God? 546 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,200 He's our loving Father in heaven, and He wants to help us. 547 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:57,280 He is near to us. So to be finished, there is. 548 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,680 I've quoted from CS Lewis a few times to them and a CS Lewis 549 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:02,880 mood. And there's a great moment in 550 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,680 the Chronicles of Narnia in one of the lesser known books, The 551 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,280 Horse and His Boy. And someone pointed out to me a 552 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:11,640 few years ago and I just, it's amazing. 553 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:13,920 And Lily reminded it reminded me of it this weekend. 554 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,240 So the boy of the title is a boy called Shasta. 555 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,040 And in the book, at this point, he's been travelling a long way. 556 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,520 He's in a desert, he's weary, he's frightened, he feels alone, 557 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:26,160 he starts crying. And then suddenly he senses A 558 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,240 presence nearby. That's right. 559 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,960 Someone or somebody was walking beside Shasta. 560 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,040 It was pitch dark and he could see nothing. 561 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:39,720 At last he could bear it no longer. 562 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,400 Who are you? He said, barely above a whisper. 563 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:51,840 One who has waited long for you to speak, came the answer. 564 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:57,560 In the story, it's Aslan the Lion, the Christ figure standing 565 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:03,760 next to him, ready to help. We open by saying the struggle 566 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,960 of prayer is often the struggle to start praying. 567 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,360 We maybe don't know what to say. We feel God is distant. 568 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:13,960 We just things are too much. But actually, just as in that 569 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:19,200 story, when we open our mouth to speak to our Father in heaven in 570 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,640 the name of Jesus, trusting in all that Jesus has done, we 571 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,960 discover that He's just waiting for us to speak. 572 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:31,120 He wants to hear from you. He wants you to ask Him to help 573 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:37,400 and He wants to bring glory to His name by helping. 574 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,360 Give us today Our Daily Bread. Forgive us our sins. 575 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:53,320 Deliver us from the evil 1. Just invite you to take a moment 576 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,280 or two again, maybe turning to the person next to you. 577 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:01,120 Just looking at those 3 requests, just what has stood 578 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,760 out for you? And then I'm going to lead us in 579 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,080 praying through the Lord's Prayer in a little bit. 580 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,480 But give us today Our Daily Bread. 581 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,640 Forgive us our sins, deliver us from the evil. 1. 582 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:13,520 Which of those encourages you the most? 583 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:15,960 Which of those challenges you the most? 584 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:19,560 Which of those actually encourages you to start praying? 585 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,880 Just maybe turn to the person next to you, share what stood 586 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:24,440 out for you. And they'll call us back 587 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:29,800 together in a minute to pray before we sing each other. 588 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:34,960 And what we're just going to do, ask us already where, where 589 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,000 we're seated. We're going to pray the Lord's 590 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,240 Prayer together. I put it on the screen. 591 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,600 There's various different English translations of it. 592 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,160 So when we try and stick to the words on the screen. 593 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,520 But if you want to pray a different version, go for it. 594 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,120 There's we actually prayed in our pre service meeting for 595 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,400 years of the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever, 596 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,840 Amen. And people think that's not in 597 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,480 the original text, but the early church prayed it from very early 598 00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:58,640 days. So we're going to include that 599 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:03,320 bit as well. But let's, yeah, let's pray the 600 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,480 words of the Lord's Prayer, this model prayer of Jesus giving us 601 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,920 words we can always use to approach our Father in heaven. 602 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:17,480 Let's let's pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 603 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:24,120 your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in 604 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:28,080 heaven. Give us today Our Daily Bread 605 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:34,240 and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against 606 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:38,480 us. Lead us not into temptation, but 607 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:43,760 deliver us from the evil one, For yours is the Kingdom, the 608 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,200 power, and the glory, forever and ever. 609 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:48,560 Amen.