1
00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:08,680
And I also pray that you may 
just prepare our heart 

2
00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,920
slaughters as Dan opens the 
scripture and speaks to us as 

3
00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:13,280
well. 
Or that we may be prepared for 

4
00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,400
what you have to say. 
So we just pray these things in 

5
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Jesus name. 
Amen. 

6
00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,440
Awesome. 
We're in in our month of prayer 

7
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and it's cool that we've we've 
had held here talking about the 

8
00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:26,880
Gideons and and God's Word 
because. 

9
00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,440
God's word is kind of the 
primary way that God 

10
00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,880
communicates to us. 
I guess that's the primary way 

11
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he gets his, his message to us. 
And so I want to talk a little 

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bit about the flip side of that 
this morning because we're in 

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00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,040
our month of prayer talking 
about prayer, which is our 

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00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,120
primary way of communicating 
back, right. 

15
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And in any good relationship, 
right. 

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Communication needs to go both 
ways. 

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Yeah, we all know that, right? 
And there's a, there's a term 

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for that, isn't it? 
When they had that sort of 

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circular thing, kenosis, you 
know, it's going both ways. 

20
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And and but if you, if you think
about it for a minute, if you 

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had a friend and your friend 
came to you and they said, 

22
00:01:07,350 --> 00:01:09,030
that's a good friend, right. 
And they came to you and said, 

23
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hey, listen, my lawnmower's 
broken down, can I borrow your 

24
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lawnmower? 
You know, I need, need to mow my

25
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lawns, right. 
And it's a good friend. 

26
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So you'd probably go, yeah, 
yeah, that's that's fine, Look 

27
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after it. 
But yeah, that's good, right. 

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So because it's, it's a good 
friend. 

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Right. 
But what if that friend? 

30
00:01:23,790 --> 00:01:25,870
Just kept coming back. 
And they would say, hey, can you

31
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lend me 20 bucks? 
Hey, can you babysit my kids 

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this weekend? 
Hey, can you, can you help me 

33
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with this? 
Can you do this? 

34
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Can you do that? 
Can you do that? 

35
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After a while, you'd start sort 
of thinking about what kind of 

36
00:01:38,070 --> 00:01:43,670
friendship is this, you know? 
And so a few years ago, I became

37
00:01:44,510 --> 00:01:47,790
quite convicted that my prayers 
to God were kind of that way. 

38
00:01:47,790 --> 00:01:51,150
My conversation with God, all my
prayers were kind of a shopping 

39
00:01:51,150 --> 00:01:52,210
list. 
Yeah. 

40
00:01:53,090 --> 00:01:56,530
Even felt like that, Yeah. 
So I I I'd be praying and 

41
00:01:56,530 --> 00:01:59,250
saying, OK, God, I I need you to
help me deal with this person. 

42
00:01:59,490 --> 00:02:03,530
You know, I can I if I could get
a good parking space on the way 

43
00:02:03,530 --> 00:02:05,090
to work this morning, you know, 
that would be great. 

44
00:02:05,770 --> 00:02:08,090
You know? 
And I, I I don't know how I'm 

45
00:02:08,090 --> 00:02:09,770
going to pay this bill. 
If you could provide some more 

46
00:02:09,770 --> 00:02:12,370
money somehow, that'd be good. 
And all my prayers were kind of 

47
00:02:12,370 --> 00:02:14,770
like this big shopping list. 
All right. 

48
00:02:14,970 --> 00:02:16,770
I became kind sort of convicted 
about that. 

49
00:02:16,770 --> 00:02:20,090
So I started studying prayer and
just kind of looking a little 

50
00:02:20,090 --> 00:02:22,390
bit into prayer. 
In the Bible. 

51
00:02:22,470 --> 00:02:24,270
I just want to share a couple of
highlights this morning. 

52
00:02:24,270 --> 00:02:27,230
We're going to kind of a shorter
session here, but just a couple 

53
00:02:27,230 --> 00:02:30,630
of highlights that were really 
helpful to me studying this out 

54
00:02:30,710 --> 00:02:32,830
and hopefully will be helpful to
you as well. 

55
00:02:32,830 --> 00:02:35,310
And so we're going to be in 
Matthew chapter 6. 

56
00:02:36,430 --> 00:02:40,270
Jesus is talking about prayer 
and we're going to pick this up 

57
00:02:40,510 --> 00:02:43,190
part way through, right part way
through the conversation. 

58
00:02:43,630 --> 00:02:45,590
So Jesus is teaching about 
prayer. 

59
00:02:45,590 --> 00:02:50,430
Matthew chapter 6 and verse #7. 
Jesus says this. 

60
00:02:50,510 --> 00:02:54,140
He says. 
And when you pray, do not heap 

61
00:02:54,140 --> 00:02:58,060
up empty phrases as the Gentiles
do, right? 

62
00:02:58,060 --> 00:03:01,140
Like like the pagans do. 
Don't heap up empty phrases like

63
00:03:01,140 --> 00:03:04,460
the the pagans do, for they 
think that they will be heard 

64
00:03:05,180 --> 00:03:09,420
for their many words. 
Now you see this a lot in 

65
00:03:09,420 --> 00:03:12,540
religion, right? 
It's it's kind of everywhere, 

66
00:03:12,820 --> 00:03:16,060
you know, you know go and so it 
say a few Hail Marys, right? 

67
00:03:16,260 --> 00:03:18,460
Or you know the whole the mantra
thing, right. 

68
00:03:18,460 --> 00:03:22,200
So you have this kind of phrase.
And you repeat this phrase and 

69
00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,280
you if you keep repeating this 
phrase, then God or the gods are

70
00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:28,520
kind of forced to listen because
you kind of keep saying it. 

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00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:33,440
Or you know, we had a friend in 
in Korea and she went and 

72
00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,720
visited A Buddhist fortune 
teller and now pay them a lot of

73
00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:38,200
money. 
I think it's like 1200 U.S. 

74
00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,520
dollars to come up with for her 
a lucky name and she would 

75
00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,160
change her name to that lucky 
name. 

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00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,360
And because you'd be saying it 
all the time and people would be

77
00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,220
saying it all the time. 
You know that would you know the

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00:03:50,260 --> 00:03:53,940
the gods would listen and that 
would bring her good luck good 

79
00:03:53,940 --> 00:03:57,380
luck for her meant a lot of 
money right And and so you know 

80
00:03:57,380 --> 00:03:58,980
that was that was kind of the 
plan right. 

81
00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:01,740
But Jesus says look that that's 
not the way it works. 

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00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:05,740
OK that that's not how it goes. 
The phrase there I'll just go 

83
00:04:05,740 --> 00:04:09,260
back empty phrases where he says
you know don't keep up empty 

84
00:04:09,260 --> 00:04:10,740
phrases really interesting 
phrase. 

85
00:04:11,340 --> 00:04:14,100
Some versions of Bible will will
translate as empty repetition. 

86
00:04:15,140 --> 00:04:18,420
I think you know IV translators 
as translates as babbling. 

87
00:04:19,130 --> 00:04:23,050
Right, babbling it. 
It's a it's a single Greek word,

88
00:04:23,410 --> 00:04:26,090
but it's a compound word. 
This is the word beto lagayo, 

89
00:04:26,730 --> 00:04:29,170
beto lagayo. 
So it's it's a compound where 

90
00:04:29,170 --> 00:04:32,570
the lagayo part on the end just 
means to speak, to say 

91
00:04:32,570 --> 00:04:34,970
something. 
The beto part on the front 

92
00:04:35,370 --> 00:04:37,810
literally means to stutter or to
stammer. 

93
00:04:38,650 --> 00:04:41,770
But it's actually grammatically 
it's called onomatic paya. 

94
00:04:42,090 --> 00:04:43,530
Remember onomatic paya? 
I had to think back. 

95
00:04:43,530 --> 00:04:45,530
I was thinking back to high 
school thinking, what was that 

96
00:04:45,530 --> 00:04:47,410
again, Right. 
Onomato Paya is. 

97
00:04:47,870 --> 00:04:51,150
A word that describes a sound. 
You know, we have a lot of 

98
00:04:51,150 --> 00:04:54,670
those, hey, like, you know, 
beep, buzz, ring, you know, cock

99
00:04:54,670 --> 00:04:57,150
a doodle Doo. 
You know, we have a whole bunch 

100
00:04:57,150 --> 00:04:58,390
of those, right? 
And that's what this is. 

101
00:04:58,870 --> 00:05:03,670
So what Jesus is saying here, 
he's saying when you, when you 

102
00:05:04,670 --> 00:05:09,670
pray, don't don't go batta, 
batta, batta, batta, batta, 

103
00:05:10,310 --> 00:05:11,950
right. 
That's what he's saying. 

104
00:05:12,150 --> 00:05:13,950
And it's kind of like in English
we say this, right? 

105
00:05:14,310 --> 00:05:16,370
You know, yada yada yada. 
Yeah. 

106
00:05:16,930 --> 00:05:19,770
It's a little bit different in 
many but you know the same kind 

107
00:05:19,770 --> 00:05:22,290
of ideas it sort of repeated 
like that in a lot of Greek 

108
00:05:22,290 --> 00:05:23,970
texts in in in other secular 
texts. 

109
00:05:23,970 --> 00:05:26,330
When they use this word better 
they'll they'll repeat it 

110
00:05:26,330 --> 00:05:28,290
several times like that like 
yada, yada, yada. 

111
00:05:28,290 --> 00:05:29,730
Right. 
Don't go better, better, better,

112
00:05:29,730 --> 00:05:31,330
better, right. 
There's probably a lot more into

113
00:05:31,330 --> 00:05:34,530
in that then we've got time to 
look at this morning. 

114
00:05:35,090 --> 00:05:39,810
But let's let's move on. 
Best #8 says this Do not be like

115
00:05:39,810 --> 00:05:42,250
them, these these people, these 
Pagans who? 

116
00:05:42,890 --> 00:05:44,290
Who use this empty repetition 
for? 

117
00:05:44,290 --> 00:05:48,410
Your father knows what you need 
before you ask him. 

118
00:05:49,730 --> 00:05:51,810
Okay. 
So God knows what it is that you

119
00:05:51,810 --> 00:05:53,530
need. 
He knows about the shopping list

120
00:05:54,170 --> 00:05:56,770
before it is before you even 
tell it to Him, right? 

121
00:05:57,090 --> 00:06:00,250
God wants us to come to Him with
our requests. 

122
00:06:00,370 --> 00:06:03,410
We'll see that in a minute. 
But the point is that God is 

123
00:06:03,410 --> 00:06:07,690
already aware of our needs and 
so we don't have to use any kind

124
00:06:07,690 --> 00:06:09,650
of clever tricks to try and get 
his attention. 

125
00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,360
If I keep saying this or I keep 
doing this, I keep, you know, 

126
00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,120
repeating this, so then then God
will have to listen, right? 

127
00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,400
Actually God already knows. 
So that's that's important, 

128
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:21,320
right as we as we come into 
this. 

129
00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,440
So he starts off vest #9, he 
says pray then like this. 

130
00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:32,560
And So what Jesus does now is he
lays out a template, kind of 

131
00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:36,240
like a boilerplate sort of 
template idea of to teach us how

132
00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,300
to pray now. 
I don't know if you're like me, 

133
00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:42,020
but when I was younger, what we 
used to do was we used to 

134
00:06:42,020 --> 00:06:45,620
memorize this prayer and then we
would just say it at certain 

135
00:06:45,620 --> 00:06:48,700
times and it kind of was empty 
repetition, right? 

136
00:06:48,700 --> 00:06:51,580
Which is exactly what he just 
said not to do, right. 

137
00:06:52,460 --> 00:06:54,820
And so that's not what we want 
to do with this, right? 

138
00:06:54,900 --> 00:06:58,260
And that was not Jesus intent. 
What he's kind of giving us a 

139
00:06:58,260 --> 00:07:01,740
kind of a framework of how 
prayer should go. 

140
00:07:01,740 --> 00:07:03,660
And like I said, what I want to 
do is just look at a couple of 

141
00:07:03,660 --> 00:07:05,580
things that he said. 
There's a lot in there. 

142
00:07:05,580 --> 00:07:08,020
So we're just going to pull out 
a couple of main points here. 

143
00:07:08,660 --> 00:07:13,860
And they don't want to kind of 
show you just how kind of some 

144
00:07:13,860 --> 00:07:16,820
ways that I tried to personally 
apply this and it's been really 

145
00:07:16,820 --> 00:07:19,660
useful to me. 
So it might be, you know, 

146
00:07:19,660 --> 00:07:21,380
hopefully will be the same for 
you as well. 

147
00:07:21,820 --> 00:07:23,220
So this is how he starts off 
right. 

148
00:07:24,420 --> 00:07:29,940
He says our Father in heaven, 
hallowed be your name, Okay. 

149
00:07:30,220 --> 00:07:35,260
So Jesus is kind of balancing 
out a few different things here.

150
00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:36,880
Right. 
In this phrase, there's a lot in

151
00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,640
this, right? 
But he's balancing out a few 

152
00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,320
different things. 
He he says he, he starts off by 

153
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,240
addressing God as Father. 
Right. 

154
00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,120
And this was quite new. 
This is not something that you 

155
00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,760
see in the Old Testament, so far
as I know, right. 

156
00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:52,360
And this, this was a very new 
thing. 

157
00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:54,080
And and Jesus does this 
repeatedly. 

158
00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,760
When you see him praying, he 
refers to God as Father. 

159
00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,520
I can imagine when he did did 
this, I can just imagine the old

160
00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,480
guys. 
Bristling had this right. 

161
00:08:03,850 --> 00:08:06,530
That's not how you, you know, 
that's not how you address God. 

162
00:08:06,890 --> 00:08:10,610
But what he's doing there is 
he's, he's showing the the, the 

163
00:08:10,610 --> 00:08:13,250
nature of the relationship, 
right. 

164
00:08:13,250 --> 00:08:19,010
We have direct access to our 
heavenly Father like a like a 

165
00:08:19,010 --> 00:08:22,290
child has relationship and 
connection to their father who 

166
00:08:22,290 --> 00:08:24,650
can have. 
So that's how he starts it out, 

167
00:08:24,970 --> 00:08:26,730
right. 
But then he says this hallowed 

168
00:08:26,730 --> 00:08:30,810
be your name. 
And really, really the idea here

169
00:08:30,810 --> 00:08:33,909
is your very being. 
Is holy. 

170
00:08:34,830 --> 00:08:36,470
It. 
It's really important for us to 

171
00:08:36,470 --> 00:08:38,830
understand this concept of 
holiness because I think we we 

172
00:08:38,830 --> 00:08:40,230
sometimes can play this down a 
little bit. 

173
00:08:40,669 --> 00:08:44,670
The Greek word that we usually 
translate as as holy is the word

174
00:08:44,670 --> 00:08:47,470
hagnos and and it means hagnos 
agios anyway. 

175
00:08:47,950 --> 00:08:52,710
It literally means not earthy 
right, not earthy, but it it 

176
00:08:52,710 --> 00:08:57,590
gives the idea of this is on a 
whole nother level, right. 

177
00:08:57,590 --> 00:09:00,150
It's not like ordinary stuff. 
It's just on a a whole 

178
00:09:00,150 --> 00:09:01,510
different, whole different 
plane. 

179
00:09:02,390 --> 00:09:08,990
It's about a majesty and a 
purity and a power that is is so

180
00:09:09,630 --> 00:09:13,630
powerful that it's just on 
another scale, like just like 

181
00:09:13,630 --> 00:09:16,350
orders of magnitude different. 
Making sense. 

182
00:09:16,630 --> 00:09:18,590
Yep. 
And so that's what he's getting,

183
00:09:18,590 --> 00:09:19,430
getting at there. 
Right. 

184
00:09:19,430 --> 00:09:22,070
So. 
And I I think it's kind of like 

185
00:09:22,230 --> 00:09:24,030
the way that I sort of imagined 
the sun. 

186
00:09:24,030 --> 00:09:24,910
Right. 
So. 

187
00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,480
We have the sun and and we rely 
on the sun for warmth and to, 

188
00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,240
you know, make things grow into 
into live and stuff. 

189
00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,720
But if you get too close to it, 
it will kill you, right. 

190
00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:36,600
Because that's very, very 
powerful, right. 

191
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,440
And I think that's the idea of 
sort of holiness in the way that

192
00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:41,240
ancient people kind of imagined 
it. 

193
00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,920
You know, God said to Moses, 
take your sandals off your feet.

194
00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,920
You are on holy ground, right? 
You know, take this seriously, 

195
00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:48,960
right? 
There's there's there's a, 

196
00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,600
there's a power and there's a 
there's a majesty and there's a 

197
00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,560
purity there that is that is 
very, very. 

198
00:09:55,030 --> 00:09:58,150
Powerful, right? 
So we have this balance, right? 

199
00:09:58,150 --> 00:10:02,870
We have this God that we have a 
direct relationship with. 

200
00:10:03,830 --> 00:10:06,430
He's not a distant God. 
You know, there was a song in 

201
00:10:06,430 --> 00:10:08,670
the 90s, I think a Bette Midler 
song, and it was, you know, God 

202
00:10:08,670 --> 00:10:11,710
is watching us from a distance. 
It's like, no, no, no, he's not.

203
00:10:11,710 --> 00:10:14,510
He's not a distant God, right? 
We have this, this connection 

204
00:10:14,750 --> 00:10:18,910
with him, but he's also a very, 
very powerful holy God. 

205
00:10:18,910 --> 00:10:20,110
He's on a whole nother level, 
right? 

206
00:10:20,110 --> 00:10:22,750
So we we don't want to take God 
lightly. 

207
00:10:23,870 --> 00:10:25,870
So that's kind of how he how he 
starts it off, right. 

208
00:10:25,870 --> 00:10:29,150
So in practice, right. 
What does this mean for us in 

209
00:10:29,150 --> 00:10:30,590
practice? 
Okay. 

210
00:10:30,990 --> 00:10:32,790
How do we, how can we put this 
into play? 

211
00:10:33,070 --> 00:10:35,430
So this is something that's been
helpful to me, right. 

212
00:10:35,590 --> 00:10:40,830
So I kind of imagine the sky 
like how massive the sky is. 

213
00:10:41,430 --> 00:10:44,150
So maybe it's like storm clouds 
or whatever and I and I can kind

214
00:10:44,150 --> 00:10:46,510
of see it from horizon to 
horizon or the stars. 

215
00:10:46,870 --> 00:10:49,270
And you see the Old Testament 
writers do this a lot, just 

216
00:10:49,270 --> 00:10:52,270
looking at the stars and how 
massive the The thing is. 

217
00:10:52,700 --> 00:10:57,740
And then understand that God is 
bigger than that because that's 

218
00:10:57,740 --> 00:11:00,820
his creation. 
He made that and Romans one 

219
00:11:00,820 --> 00:11:02,660
talks about, you know you got to
be careful, right. 

220
00:11:02,660 --> 00:11:05,500
You can get hooked up in in the 
worship of these things, you 

221
00:11:05,540 --> 00:11:08,420
know that God created anyway and
and and we we want to be 

222
00:11:08,420 --> 00:11:11,460
worshipping the creator not the 
creation because he has so much 

223
00:11:11,460 --> 00:11:14,860
bigger than his creation. 
And so when I imagine that if I,

224
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I can sort of picture that in my
mind and think, wow, yeah, 

225
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that's that's just huge. 
And God is so much more than 

226
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that. 
So much more powerful than that,

227
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so much greater than that and 
just sort of, you know the the 

228
00:11:30,850 --> 00:11:35,050
the idea that he is the powerful
creator of the universe who is 

229
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in control of everything, right.
The holy God. 

230
00:11:39,010 --> 00:11:43,490
Now spend some time thinking 
about that until you get it 

231
00:11:43,490 --> 00:11:46,890
clear in your head. 
Now that that lot of days, that 

232
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might be a one line prayer. 
You can just say that that's 

233
00:11:49,770 --> 00:11:50,690
fine. 
I can I can do that this 

234
00:11:50,690 --> 00:11:51,770
morning, right. 
We're just spending. 

235
00:11:52,180 --> 00:11:56,740
And worship, you know, praising 
God, looking at, you know in 

236
00:11:56,740 --> 00:11:59,820
song and and and and thinking 
about Jesus and what he did and 

237
00:12:00,100 --> 00:12:02,020
and and all of that. 
And I can, I can just say that 

238
00:12:02,020 --> 00:12:03,460
right now. 
But some days, depending on what

239
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you're going through, this can 
be tough. 

240
00:12:04,940 --> 00:12:08,940
But if you read Habakkuk one, 
you know or even in Psalm 73 

241
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that we just just read right 
where they're looking around and

242
00:12:12,340 --> 00:12:14,700
going, God, you know, Habaku's 
going, God, where are you? 

243
00:12:15,220 --> 00:12:16,340
Where are you? 
What's going on here? 

244
00:12:16,340 --> 00:12:17,660
Right. 
So it's really, really important

245
00:12:17,660 --> 00:12:21,180
to try and get in that mode and 
and stay there until you get it.

246
00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,160
Yeah, Yep. 
So that's kind of the, the first

247
00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,400
bit of it. 
Then he goes to the next bit, 

248
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which is this verse #10. 
Your Kingdom comes, your will be

249
00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,480
done on earth as it is in 
heaven. 

250
00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,760
OK, so in the Gospels, Jesus 
talks a lot about the Kingdom of

251
00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:44,200
God, sometimes Jewish people 
even now a lot. 

252
00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:48,080
And and traditionally don't say 
the name of God out loud to try 

253
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:50,720
and you know, as a sort of a way
of trying to be respectful, God 

254
00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:52,930
never actually. 
Says to do that, but you know 

255
00:12:52,930 --> 00:12:54,690
that it's. 
I mean it comes from a good, 

256
00:12:54,810 --> 00:12:56,090
good place. 
They they would just want to be 

257
00:12:56,090 --> 00:12:57,850
respectful. 
So they don't say that loud. 

258
00:12:57,850 --> 00:13:00,610
So Matthew's Gospel, he's 
writing to the primarily a 

259
00:13:00,610 --> 00:13:03,810
Jewish audience and so he says 
Kingdom of heaven because the 

260
00:13:03,810 --> 00:13:05,330
Kingdom of heaven. 
So you see this Kingdom of 

261
00:13:05,330 --> 00:13:08,930
heaven, Kingdom of God thing in 
the Gospels, Jesus will often 

262
00:13:08,930 --> 00:13:13,250
say things like you know people 
say, you know look after #1 but 

263
00:13:13,250 --> 00:13:17,210
in God's Kingdom, right in God's
economy, in God's way of doing 

264
00:13:17,210 --> 00:13:19,330
things. 
That's not how it works. 

265
00:13:19,970 --> 00:13:21,810
Whoever wants them to be a 
leader needs to be a servant, 

266
00:13:21,810 --> 00:13:23,170
right? 
And he would say these things a 

267
00:13:23,170 --> 00:13:25,490
lot, he'd say. 
And the Kingdom of God is like 

268
00:13:25,490 --> 00:13:27,810
this, right? 
The Kingdom of heaven is like 

269
00:13:27,810 --> 00:13:29,650
this. 
And he would kind of explain how

270
00:13:29,650 --> 00:13:33,290
things are supposed to work the 
way that God wants them to work.

271
00:13:34,810 --> 00:13:41,170
So what we're praying for is 
that we would do things the way 

272
00:13:41,170 --> 00:13:44,450
that God wants them done. 
Yeah. 

273
00:13:45,210 --> 00:13:46,610
Really interesting in in 
Ezekiel. 

274
00:13:46,650 --> 00:13:49,350
You know the. 
Israel, they're they're facing 

275
00:13:49,350 --> 00:13:52,350
this kind of imminent invasion 
from their enemies. 

276
00:13:52,350 --> 00:13:54,590
And so there's this kind of 
question of God, where are you, 

277
00:13:54,990 --> 00:13:56,550
You know, what's what's going on
here? 

278
00:13:57,310 --> 00:13:59,590
And and Ezekiel is addressing 
that. 

279
00:13:59,590 --> 00:14:01,630
A lot of God is addressing that 
through Ezekiel. 

280
00:14:02,070 --> 00:14:05,310
And one at one point God says 
look at, you know, it's almost, 

281
00:14:05,310 --> 00:14:08,590
if you imagine a city and the 
city has a big defensive wall 

282
00:14:08,590 --> 00:14:12,070
around it and the defensive wall
has, you know, has a breach in 

283
00:14:12,070 --> 00:14:13,510
it. 
Someone's someone's punched 

284
00:14:13,510 --> 00:14:15,550
through the punched a hole in 
the wall. 

285
00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,240
And God says, I look for 
somebody to stand in the gap, 

286
00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,880
and I couldn't find anyone. 
And So what he's saying is, 

287
00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:26,520
look, it's not my will that it 
goes down this way, but you guys

288
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,160
have choices to make. 
I've let you make choices. 

289
00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,400
And these are the choices that 
you've been making. 

290
00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,840
And this is how it's playing out
in the New Testament. 

291
00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,960
It says God's not willing that 
any should perish, but it all 

292
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:39,360
should come to the knowledge of 
God. 

293
00:14:39,770 --> 00:14:40,330
Right. 
That's as well. 

294
00:14:40,330 --> 00:14:41,890
It's not. 
It's not God's not willing that 

295
00:14:41,890 --> 00:14:45,370
anyone should perish, right. 
But we have options here, right?

296
00:14:45,370 --> 00:14:47,770
We we have choices. 
God has in his sovereignty has, 

297
00:14:47,890 --> 00:14:51,010
has given us, you know, the 
ability to make these choices. 

298
00:14:51,450 --> 00:14:56,610
And so we need to be praying for
God's will to be done right. 

299
00:14:56,610 --> 00:14:59,890
And it's easy to kind of point 
the finger at everybody else, 

300
00:15:00,010 --> 00:15:01,490
you know. 
Well, these people are just not 

301
00:15:01,490 --> 00:15:03,610
doing what you, you know, but 
us. 

302
00:15:03,610 --> 00:15:06,050
We need to be praying 
personally, right? 

303
00:15:06,050 --> 00:15:08,290
That we would do what God wants 
done. 

304
00:15:08,790 --> 00:15:10,150
Right. 
And the ultimate example of this

305
00:15:10,150 --> 00:15:12,070
is Jesus in in Garden of 
Gethsemane. 

306
00:15:12,550 --> 00:15:14,430
Right. 
And he praised this father, if 

307
00:15:14,430 --> 00:15:17,390
you're willing, right, he's 
about to face crucifixion and 

308
00:15:17,390 --> 00:15:19,390
all the torture and all the pain
that goes with that. 

309
00:15:19,710 --> 00:15:22,230
And and not only that you know 
there's more than that as well. 

310
00:15:23,070 --> 00:15:27,230
You know being turned on by his 
friends and and and and more and

311
00:15:27,230 --> 00:15:29,390
more but but this is his prayer,
right? 

312
00:15:29,390 --> 00:15:32,670
Father, if you're willing remove
this cup from me, right. 

313
00:15:32,670 --> 00:15:36,670
In other words, if, if, if this 
is what you if it's what you 

314
00:15:36,670 --> 00:15:38,310
want, can can I not go through 
this? 

315
00:15:38,630 --> 00:15:39,750
Right. 
If there's another way to do 

316
00:15:39,750 --> 00:15:45,110
this can we can I not have to 
face this nevertheless not my 

317
00:15:45,110 --> 00:15:50,590
will but yours be done That's 
that's that's what he's kind of 

318
00:15:50,590 --> 00:15:56,910
getting at here right that we 
would we would pray like this 

319
00:15:57,190 --> 00:16:01,790
that we would go okay God, your 
will be done on on earth as it 

320
00:16:01,790 --> 00:16:03,870
is in heaven. 
Okay in practice. 

321
00:16:05,070 --> 00:16:07,880
What does that look like? 
For me it looks like this. 

322
00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,560
It's it's it's saying this, 
you'll deal before my deal, 

323
00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,840
you'll deal before my deal, 
whatever that might include. 

324
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,920
Again, some days this will be a 
quick one line prayer. 

325
00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,440
Some days this will be really, 
really tough depending on what 

326
00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:26,000
it is you're facing, what it is 
you're going through. 

327
00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:29,960
You know, if you're facing an 
illness or the death of a loved 

328
00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:33,400
one or or you know something 
that you know it's going to be 

329
00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:34,360
tough, you're going to go 
through. 

330
00:16:34,730 --> 00:16:36,490
It's really it's really tough to
pray this. 

331
00:16:36,730 --> 00:16:39,930
I always, you know, I'm kind of 
a standard that Jesus, you know,

332
00:16:39,930 --> 00:16:43,170
was able to pray that prayer 
looking at what he was, what he 

333
00:16:43,170 --> 00:16:47,970
was about to face, you know. 
So again try and sit here until 

334
00:16:47,970 --> 00:16:51,250
you get this. 
But practical reality here is 

335
00:16:51,250 --> 00:16:52,570
you may not get there in one 
session. 

336
00:16:53,570 --> 00:16:55,810
It may take a long time. 
You may need to keep coming back

337
00:16:55,810 --> 00:16:58,450
to this. 
But your deal before my deal, 

338
00:16:59,610 --> 00:17:03,130
whatever that might include, and
then we'll. 

339
00:17:03,870 --> 00:17:05,589
We'll finish with this one this 
morning. 

340
00:17:07,069 --> 00:17:09,750
Give us this day Our Daily 
Bread. 

341
00:17:11,550 --> 00:17:12,950
Give us this day Our Daily 
Bread. 

342
00:17:14,390 --> 00:17:16,270
This is kind of where the 
shopping list comes in. 

343
00:17:17,069 --> 00:17:23,190
Yeah we've just written verse #8
that God already knows what it 

344
00:17:23,190 --> 00:17:25,710
is we need. 
He already knows. 

345
00:17:26,270 --> 00:17:29,310
So if he already knows, then 
what's the point of asking him 

346
00:17:30,150 --> 00:17:33,350
And and I think it's because if 
we've been through this process.

347
00:17:34,050 --> 00:17:37,650
If we go through this, this idea
of we get a fairly clear picture

348
00:17:37,650 --> 00:17:43,490
in our heads of the power and 
the holiness of God and who God 

349
00:17:43,490 --> 00:17:48,770
is and who we are, you know, in 
comparison and and and we have 

350
00:17:48,770 --> 00:17:51,210
that that kind of reasonably 
straightened our head as much as

351
00:17:51,530 --> 00:17:54,210
as much as we can do it. 
And then, if we've surrendered 

352
00:17:54,210 --> 00:17:59,050
to the idea of your deal before 
my deal, whatever that entails, 

353
00:17:59,170 --> 00:18:02,290
you know, all of that implies it
will greatly change our 

354
00:18:02,290 --> 00:18:06,430
perspective. 
And and and on these urgent 

355
00:18:06,430 --> 00:18:09,790
things on their shopping list, 
even when they are urgent or 

356
00:18:09,790 --> 00:18:14,190
important, it changes the way we
look at them and we we see them.

357
00:18:15,070 --> 00:18:19,430
So I would encourage you to put 
this into practice this week if 

358
00:18:19,430 --> 00:18:22,710
you can as as we we finishing up
our month of prayer. 

359
00:18:23,190 --> 00:18:26,190
So the the first one there is 
acknowledge and understand the 

360
00:18:26,190 --> 00:18:28,230
power, glory and holiness of 
God. 

361
00:18:29,510 --> 00:18:31,710
And like I say, you may be able 
to that may be. 

362
00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,760
An easy thing and it may not be 
depending on what what's going 

363
00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:37,760
on in your life at the time, 
right? 

364
00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,240
But for that one try and sit 
there and and stay there till 

365
00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,760
you get it. 
The second thing is your deal 

366
00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:47,080
will form my deal And all that 
implies that is a hard prayer to

367
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:51,760
pray and you you know and it's 
it is you know it's a fearful 

368
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:53,320
thing to fall into the hands of 
a living God. 

369
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,800
You know you you you don't 
really know what that's 

370
00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:58,720
happening you up to. 
So there's a huge amount of 

371
00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,680
trust, isn't there, in in 
handing yourself over to God. 

372
00:19:02,420 --> 00:19:03,900
With that prayer. 
Right. 

373
00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:07,660
But but this was the the 
boilerplate that Jesus laid out 

374
00:19:07,660 --> 00:19:08,860
for us. 
Yep. 

375
00:19:08,980 --> 00:19:12,100
Trying to get to that. 
And and the third one, tell him 

376
00:19:12,100 --> 00:19:14,820
what you need. 
Tell him what you need. 

377
00:19:15,580 --> 00:19:16,260
Yeah. 
Let him know. 

378
00:19:16,260 --> 00:19:17,620
He wants to know. 
He wants to hear it. 

379
00:19:17,620 --> 00:19:21,300
Even though he already knows. 
I think acknowledging that we 

380
00:19:21,300 --> 00:19:22,900
need him. 
You know there's a there's a 

381
00:19:22,900 --> 00:19:26,460
trust thing there as well and 
and it's it's it helps us. 

382
00:19:27,380 --> 00:19:31,580
It helps us to understand, you 
know, we're reliant on God. 

383
00:19:32,620 --> 00:19:35,820
In the young adults study, we'd 
be going through judges and one 

384
00:19:35,820 --> 00:19:39,340
of the things we we've seen was 
Gideon, you know he started off 

385
00:19:39,340 --> 00:19:40,540
really good. 
He would he would pray all the 

386
00:19:40,540 --> 00:19:43,260
time. 
But as as time went on, you 

387
00:19:43,260 --> 00:19:44,900
know, after he won that big 
battle, you know, we were 

388
00:19:44,900 --> 00:19:48,140
talking about this morning then 
he stopped praying. 

389
00:19:49,220 --> 00:19:50,940
You just see that he just starts
making decisions. 

390
00:19:50,940 --> 00:19:52,580
Yeah, I got this. 
This is fine. 

391
00:19:52,580 --> 00:19:55,580
I got this right. 
And God wants us to trust him. 

392
00:19:55,900 --> 00:19:58,020
We we need that connection. 
And when he when he stopped 

393
00:19:58,180 --> 00:20:00,560
praying. 
He just kind of isolated himself

394
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,520
a little bit, stopped taking 
advice, stopped you know, 

395
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:05,720
hanging out with people who 
would have, would have given him

396
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:09,720
good advice and things just kind
of spiraled on him, right. 

397
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,040
So tell him what you need. 
It is important, right? 

398
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,360
God does want to hear it. 
And even the little things 

399
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,120
sometimes I feel guilty about, 
you know, those those prayers 

400
00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:21,120
about, hey, God, I could really 
do with the car park right now, 

401
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:22,800
right? 
But God wants to hear, right? 

402
00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,560
God knows what we need. 
But if we've if we've done the 

403
00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,440
1st 2 steps, then we get a lot 
more. 

404
00:20:29,070 --> 00:20:31,350
Focused about, yeah, I don't 
really need that. 

405
00:20:31,950 --> 00:20:35,070
You know I do. 
You know, you just get a lot 

406
00:20:35,070 --> 00:20:37,390
more focused on what it is that 
that you need. 

407
00:20:37,630 --> 00:20:41,590
So I I would really encourage 
you to to kind of go through 

408
00:20:41,590 --> 00:20:46,230
these steps today and this week 
coming, particularly #2 if you 

409
00:20:46,230 --> 00:20:49,670
get sending that number two, 
your deal before my deal if if 

410
00:20:49,670 --> 00:20:54,470
we can, if we can really be 
surrendered in that sense it, it

411
00:20:54,470 --> 00:20:56,510
will change you, right? 
It will change you. 

412
00:20:56,910 --> 00:20:59,830
It will it'll be scary. 
It'll be a roller coaster. 

413
00:21:00,390 --> 00:21:01,790
But it'll be amazing. 
Yeah. 

414
00:21:02,510 --> 00:21:05,230
And it will change us 
corporately you know if if we're

415
00:21:05,230 --> 00:21:09,190
all on that page. 
So hopefully that's helpful. 

416
00:21:09,430 --> 00:21:13,870
Let's let's pray now and and 
kind of a little bit soon to go 

417
00:21:13,870 --> 00:21:16,510
through those steps and just 
kind of corporately go to God 

418
00:21:16,950 --> 00:21:22,790
with this Father. 
We we do come very humbly before

419
00:21:22,790 --> 00:21:26,270
you Lord and we we understand 
that you are the creator of 

420
00:21:26,270 --> 00:21:28,290
everything. 
And you know I just think of all

421
00:21:28,290 --> 00:21:32,050
those things in the book of Job 
where you're asking Job do you 

422
00:21:32,050 --> 00:21:34,130
understand this do you 
understand how this works. 

423
00:21:34,130 --> 00:21:37,730
Do you understand how the you 
know the gravitational fields in

424
00:21:37,730 --> 00:21:40,370
the play aids works. 
Do you understand all these 

425
00:21:40,370 --> 00:21:44,170
things that because you created 
it all and you created us and 

426
00:21:44,170 --> 00:21:48,490
you understand how we work and 
you love us because we are your 

427
00:21:48,490 --> 00:21:52,610
creation. 
Lord, it's hard for us to, you 

428
00:21:52,610 --> 00:21:57,270
know, our minds don't comprehend
what Your Holiness is like. 

429
00:21:57,270 --> 00:22:00,550
Like how how big and how 
powerful and how you are. 

430
00:22:00,550 --> 00:22:06,190
But, Lord, we we just really 
want to concentrate on that this

431
00:22:06,190 --> 00:22:07,750
morning. 
We want to thank you for it. 

432
00:22:08,670 --> 00:22:11,310
Lord, we do. 
We do want to be surrendered, 

433
00:22:11,550 --> 00:22:14,110
but we do want to be able to 
pray you will be done. 

434
00:22:14,310 --> 00:22:16,270
That's a scary thing. 
A little bit. 

435
00:22:16,270 --> 00:22:18,550
We know that you you're 
immutable. 

436
00:22:18,550 --> 00:22:21,310
So you you have our best 
interests at heart. 

437
00:22:21,990 --> 00:22:25,130
Because it's it's what's best 
for you is what's best for us. 

438
00:22:25,570 --> 00:22:28,850
But also your means of doing 
things, the method you do it is 

439
00:22:28,850 --> 00:22:32,170
also the best way of doing it. 
And that's really hard for us to

440
00:22:32,170 --> 00:22:35,130
comprehend sometimes. 
And you know, sometimes life is 

441
00:22:35,210 --> 00:22:38,490
is really tough and sometimes, 
yeah, there's just these curve 

442
00:22:38,490 --> 00:22:42,770
balls that throw us. 
And but Lord, thank you for the 

443
00:22:42,770 --> 00:22:44,450
understanding of your, your 
presence. 

444
00:22:44,970 --> 00:22:46,850
And Lord, thank you for the 
example of Christ that you know,

445
00:22:46,850 --> 00:22:50,130
he was able to pray this before 
going through what he went 

446
00:22:50,130 --> 00:22:53,740
through, you know, which is kind
of unimaginable, unimaginable. 

447
00:22:53,740 --> 00:22:56,540
Even when we read that story, 
it's kind of hard to had to 

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comprehend. 
And he was able to pray this. 

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00:22:58,620 --> 00:23:02,380
And Lord, we just want to be 
people that would also pray that

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to you. 
Lord, Lord, we do have things we

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need. 
We all as individuals have 

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things we need. 
But Lord, as a church family, we

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just pray for for unity, Lord, 
just for a singleness of purpose

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and focus, which is to to love 
you and to love other people and

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share your love with those 
people because we love them. 

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00:23:24,420 --> 00:23:27,340
And, you know, there are lots of
practical things that we need. 

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But, Lord, we know that you 
understand that. 

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00:23:29,980 --> 00:23:33,220
And we thank you that you do. 
And we thank you that we have 

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this connection to you as our 
Heavenly Father. 

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00:23:36,220 --> 00:23:37,580
Lord, thank you for being our 
God. 

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00:23:38,140 --> 00:23:40,820
Thank you for loving us the way 
you do. 

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00:23:41,220 --> 00:23:44,260
And thank you for the ultimate 
way that you showed that when 

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your Son Jesus Christ went to 
the war for us, loved us to the 

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00:23:49,300 --> 00:23:52,120
uttermost to the end. 
We thank you for that this 

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00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:54,000
morning. 
Thank you in Jesus thing. 

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Amen.