1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,040 If you haven't done one of these before, typically we're 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:06,880 shooting, I'm right now at least going to shoot for about 20 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:08,840 minutes of time in the scriptures together. 4 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,160 I gave you some notes, knockout, some of that, and then we'll 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,920 take some time to pray. I have specific things we'll put 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,720 on the screen to pray for as a church and we'll just, I'll give 7 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:22,640 you some instruction. We'll break out into groups. 8 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,200 If you're not comfortable praying out loud, someone else 9 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:26,600 will pray for you. No big deal. 10 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,640 It's all voluntary. There's no perfect words or 11 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:35,240 anything like that. So let's get envisioned for some 12 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,360 prayer. But prayer is somewhat an 13 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,000 intimidating topic. Like if you talk to the lost 14 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,440 world and you say, hey, come to prayer service tonight, they 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:50,000 might be thinking like, what? What kind of prayer? 16 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:51,720 What does that? What are you going to do? 17 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,040 Is it going to be any fun? Is it going to be boring? 18 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:55,920 Are you going to make me feel awkward? 19 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,840 Are we going to be on our knees? We maybe have a lot of thoughts 20 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,240 that come to mind. And I think it's good to just 21 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,720 look at a biblical pattern for what is prayer in the Bible. 22 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,480 So tonight I'm calling this a pattern for prayer. 23 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,760 It's it's really simple and honestly, it comes out of where 24 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:16,080 we are in Bible study in Colossians chapter 1. 25 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,680 So why don't you just turn your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1? 26 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,040 I will have most of the verses come up on the screen if you 27 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,600 don't happen to have a Bible, but I think you're going to be 28 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,520 familiar with this if you've been in it. 29 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:32,520 I don't intend to teach you everything because I know you've 30 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,440 been studying it already. But in Colossians chapter 1, the 31 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:39,960 apostle Paul writes to this church and he says in verse 32 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:43,080 three, he says that he's praying always for you. 33 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,080 Now, that's a grand thing to say about anybody. 34 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,760 I'm always praying for you. But we believe that Paul had 35 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,160 never actually visited or met these people. 36 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,680 So he's praying for people that are of the same spirit in a 37 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,520 different place that he's never likely met. 38 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,520 He says in verse 9, he says, we do not cease to pray for you. 39 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,000 And man, I just think that's incredible. 40 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,479 And that's the heart that we want to have for other people. 41 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:14,200 Really this pattern of prayer we will see together we can apply 42 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:18,000 to our own life, but it is intended for others. 43 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,560 So let's read in Colossians chapter 1, verses 9 through 14. 44 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,280 The Bible says for this, 'cause we also, since the day we heard 45 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,640 it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you 46 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:33,040 might be filled with the knowledge of His will, and all 47 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,160 wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might 48 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,920 walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every 49 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:43,280 good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen 50 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,360 with all might according to His glorious power unto all 51 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,720 patients. And long-suffering with 52 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,720 joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us 53 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,560 meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints and 54 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,800 light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. 55 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,440 And that translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, in whom 56 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:06,520 we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of 57 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,240 sins. Now you've probably seen this in 58 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:13,240 Bible study, but you should know repetition is the price of 59 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,240 learning thy word. If I hid in my heart that I 60 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,920 might not sin against thee. Some things are just worth being 61 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:21,240 looked at again. So let me give you, in case you 62 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,240 missed it, a brief pattern for prayer, starting with point 63 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,440 number one, that prayer. Hold on. 64 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:35,360 Nope, there we go, all right, to pray for God's will to be done. 65 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,240 So if you don't know how to pray, if you don't know what to 66 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:43,200 pray, you can start here. It says in verse 9 that you 67 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,160 might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all 68 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:47,880 wisdom and spiritual understanding. 69 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,520 So this is something that Paul was praying for this church and 70 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,840 honestly for most of us when we're praying for people or 71 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:01,760 things in our life, it's not usually let's have God's will be 72 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,440 done in this moment. We often want reprieve. 73 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,760 God fix my problems. We complain to God instead of 74 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:13,720 surrendering to his will. And here Paul says we want you 75 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,560 to have the knowledge of his will. 76 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:19,880 So in your prayer, this is a good place to start. 77 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,560 If you don't know what to pray, you can be like Jesus. 78 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:29,080 In Luke Chapter 11, Jesus says thy Kingdom come, thy will be 79 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,960 done as in heaven, so on earth. This is the Lord's prayer. 80 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,320 Jesus taught his disciples to pray, and he said when you come 81 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,600 to God, make sure you're surrendering your will to God's 82 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,680 will. At the end of Jesus's life in 83 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,880 the Garden of Gethsemane, when he was praying and asking the 84 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,720 Father that he wouldn't have to be crucified, he said not as I 85 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:55,320 will, but as thou will. And so it's OK to wrestle with 86 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:57,400 God's will. We don't always love the things 87 00:04:57,400 --> 00:04:59,800 that God asked us to do, the things that the Scriptures 88 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,840 clearly tell us that it is his will for our life. 89 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,680 It's OK to wrestle with His will, but we should begin with 90 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:11,200 prayer to say, God, you have a will, You're in charge. 91 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,120 I hope you hear me and do the things that I am asking you, but 92 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,200 you're the Lord. But you can know what God's will 93 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,400 is just simply. Second, Peter 39 is that for you 94 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,400 to be saved? The Bible says it's God's will 95 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,320 that you'd be saved. First Thessalonians 4 says it's 96 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,600 God's will that you would abstain from fornication. 97 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,480 First Thessalonians 5 says that you would give thanks. 98 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,800 So God's will is clear. It's not a crazy ambiguous 99 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,760 thing. It's very clear what His will is 100 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,280 for you. And we're praying for our life 101 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:47,240 and for the lives of others. We want to pray that God's will 102 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,760 would be clear in our lives. The apostle Paul wrote to 103 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,880 another church and had a prayer for them to the Colossians. 104 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:59,320 And he says he was hoping that that you might stand perfect and 105 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:01,120 complete and all the will of God. 106 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,360 Apophis is this wonderful servant in that church, and he 107 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,080 was laboring fervently for this church that they would stand 108 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,680 perfect in all the will of God. That's what good leaders should 109 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:14,960 be doing. We should be praying for other 110 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,400 people to be accomplishing God's will. 111 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:19,160 So in your notes, I put it to you this way. 112 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,840 If you don't know what to pray, ask for God's will to be done. 113 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,000 That's a good place to start. We'll have a time of prayer at 114 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,920 the end of this and pray for some specific things. 115 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:38,080 If you don't understand them, just default back to God's will 116 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,120 being done right. So first, pray for God's will. 117 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:46,080 Secondly, pray for lives that are honoring to God. 118 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,800 Pray for lives that are honoring to God and Colossians chapter 1 119 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,240 and verse 10. This is this is all the 120 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,000 description of this prayer that that Paul had for this church. 121 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,440 He says that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all 122 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,720 pleasing, being fruitful, and every good work and increasing 123 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,960 in the knowledge of God. I'm summarizing this one in a 124 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,200 couple of different ways. But in general, Christians are 125 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,000 supposed to live differently than the rest of the world. 126 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,840 And Paul's prayer for the Colossians church was that they 127 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:25,720 would walk worthy unto all pleasing, meaning first pleasing 128 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:31,400 to the Lord, pleasing to the Lord, That word or that phrase. 129 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:33,600 I don't know what you guys come up with in your Bible studies, 130 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,240 but I think we we rested on that phrase, all pleasing. 131 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:41,800 What does that mean? It's an interesting phrase. 132 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,880 Well, essentially it is to be pleasing to the Lord. 133 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,280 And we're reminded with this kind of phrase that not 134 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,160 everything is pleasing to the Lord. 135 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,480 We're called to walk worthy, to live differently. 136 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:02,800 And first, John, John says, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of 137 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:04,720 him. So this is the context of prayer 138 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,520 because we keep his commandments and do those things that are 139 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,800 pleasing in his sight. If we want God to hear our 140 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:19,120 prayers, we need to be walking in his ways, doing things that 141 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:23,840 are pleasing in his sight. Secondly, in this phrase, Paul 142 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:28,040 is praying for the fruitfulness of this church. 143 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:33,960 He says in verse 10 of Colossians one being fruitful in 144 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,400 every good work. So when we're praying for 145 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,159 ourselves or we're praying for others, we're praying for fruit 146 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:45,680 that is the fruit of the Spirit, the character in our lives, the 147 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:49,240 Spirit of God pouring out to others, but also bearing fruit 148 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,320 as Jesus says in John 15. Herein is my father glorified 149 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:58,200 that you bear much fruit. This is a a marker for a 150 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:00,560 disciple. If we want to call ourselves 151 00:09:00,560 --> 00:09:03,760 disciples of Christ, we are going to be sharing the gospel. 152 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,800 We're going to be reproducing with others. 153 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,920 So if you don't know what to pray, pray that people are 154 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:14,040 fruitful. And thirdly here, pray to know 155 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:20,160 him better. In verse 10, he says increasing 156 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:25,000 in the knowledge of God. It's an interesting phrase, the 157 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:26,840 knowledge of God. Did you guys look at that one in 158 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,840 your Bible study? Anyone break that one out? 159 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:35,000 I think we looked at that one during our time, but the word, 160 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,200 the phrase knowledge of God isn't used a whole lot of times 161 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,160 in the Bible. In Romans Chapter 11, we're 162 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,600 reminded of the depths of the riches both of wisdom and 163 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,440 knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His 164 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:53,320 judgments and His ways past finding out as believers, we are 165 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,960 called to know God in an intimate way and have knowledge 166 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:02,160 of God and that knowledge is unsearchable. 167 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,320 His judgments, you'll, you can study it your whole life. 168 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,880 You can seek Him your whole life and we'll never fully have him 169 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,320 figured out. So when we don't know what to 170 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,400 pray, I think I put it to you this way in your notes. 171 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,920 Pray for God to grow you to be who He wants you to be. 172 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:30,760 He wants your life to be pleasing, to be fruitful and 173 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,120 increasing in the knowledge of God. 174 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,440 This is a great thing for you to pray for your friends and 175 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:39,200 neighbors as well. Let's look at #3 to pray for 176 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:49,800 strength and joy and suffering. So as Paul continues in verse 11 177 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:52,680 of Colossians 1, he says strengthen with might according 178 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:56,720 to his glorious power unto all, patience and long-suffering with 179 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,840 joyfulness. Now there's so much densely 180 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:05,520 packed in here, but really, quite simply what we see is 181 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:10,160 patience, long-suffering and joyfulness. 182 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,680 And often times when we think about prayer, we're thinking, 183 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,280 relieve the difficulty. That's what I'm praying. 184 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,400 I don't know about you, but I don't like feeling bad or being 185 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,760 oppressed or struggling or not having victory or people not 186 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:27,440 liking me. I want to be free. 187 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:29,440 I want to be good. I want everything to be perfect 188 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:30,760 in my life. Who doesn't want that? 189 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,960 But we're going to have difficulty, right? 190 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,480 Instead of being relieved, we need to have joy. 191 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,480 So a couple verses on this. In Second Timothy chapter 2, 192 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:50,320 Paul says all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer 193 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,520 persecution. It's only a matter of time as we 194 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,480 walk with the Lord and we seek him and do his will. 195 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:02,960 The point that we saw previous, we're fruitful that some kind of 196 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,640 difficulty comes our way only because we're a follower of 197 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:08,520 Jesus, not because we're being idiots. 198 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:12,520 If we're making terrible decisions, that's on us. 199 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,240 But if people don't like us because of Jesus, well, we just 200 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,600 can't change that. There is a choice in that first 201 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,920 Peter three. It is better if the will of God 202 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,960 be so that you suffer for well doing than for evil doing. 203 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:32,480 So at some point you could say it is the will of God that you 204 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:37,920 suffer, not that you're always miserable and hate your life, 205 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,760 but it's if you're going to be like Jesus, you will at times 206 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,720 find yourself unpopular. It's just how it goes. 207 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,160 But God has given us because we believe the gospel. 208 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,280 When we heard the word of the truth of the gospel, He gave us 209 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:59,160 His Holy Spirit to dwell in US. And in John 14, the Holy Spirit 210 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:05,800 is called the Comforter, and we have with us at all times an 211 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:12,400 ability to be strengthened with all might through the Spirit of 212 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:17,800 God that lives inside of us. And truly, if we are going to to 213 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:23,080 be fruitful and present joy and long-suffering, if we're going 214 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:26,800 to have any patience, it is not going to be produced by our own 215 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,800 natural physical means in the flesh. 216 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:35,840 We have to rely upon the Spirit of God that lives inside of us 217 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,840 at times of difficulty. So I put it to you this way in 218 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:42,240 your notes, don't always pray for deliverance. 219 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,840 Not saying not to, just don't let that be your only prayer. 220 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,400 Pray for strength and joy and struggles. 221 00:13:55,520 --> 00:14:03,160 When I think about things going on in people's lives, I always 222 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:07,760 want to help alleviate the struggle, but sometimes I'm 223 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,080 hesitant to step in and try to solve a problem that maybe the 224 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:13,680 Lord is working out something in that person's life. 225 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,760 I can't know the circumstances. And just recently a person that 226 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:23,880 I'm trying to witness to it in my office in the city told me 227 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,160 that his mom has cancer. She's terminally ill. 228 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:29,480 And I said, man, I'm sorry I I genuinely am. 229 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:34,560 I hope that she gets better, but I also have to wonder what might 230 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,960 that do in his heart as he considers the gospel and life 231 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,520 and death. God could be working. 232 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:46,200 If you are in the book of Exodus and you read through Pharaoh and 233 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:50,120 hardening the heart, there is a whole thing that God allows 234 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,640 rebellion and difficulty ultimately so that his power can 235 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,720 be on display. So we never truly know what's 236 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,880 going on, and if we always just try to save everybody from their 237 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,400 problems, they're going to miss out on producing joy and 238 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,120 long-suffering in times of difficulty. 239 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,240 Now, just so you know, I don't ever want to make your life 240 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:11,920 difficult, OK? I'm not ever going to try to 241 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,840 create these circumstances, but they will happen. 242 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,200 So when they happen, pray for strength. 243 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:26,200 And lastly #4 is to pray to remember what he has done. 244 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,560 To remember what he has done. It says in verses 12 to 14, 245 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,560 giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be 246 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,040 partakers of the inheritance of Saints and light, who had 247 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:46,240 delivered us from the power of darkness, and have translated us 248 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,760 into the Kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption 249 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,080 through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. 250 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,880 So when you're praying, if you don't know what to pray, at very 251 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,880 least if you're a Christian, you can be thankful. 252 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:07,440 We can, we can be thankful at very least because we know God, 253 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,880 he says in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father. 254 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,880 It's so easy to just get bummed out and pray for difficulty. 255 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,960 And Lord, it's not going this way and fix that and do my 256 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,320 thing. And God hears all of your 257 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:23,600 requests. Amen. 258 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:32,640 But also you know the God of the universe, you know the 259 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:38,840 omnipotent one, all powerful pre-existing creation. 260 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:44,160 I mean you get to call him Father as it says in this verse, 261 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:49,400 giving thanks unto the Father. So no matter what your father 262 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,600 has been like, you have the best father. 263 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,120 There is no greater father than God. 264 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,840 I'm, I'm try to be a good father, but hands down I'm never 265 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:08,160 going to be as good as God. He is a good father in Jesus. 266 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:15,359 Jesus in Matthew 6 says in the Lord's Prayer after this manner, 267 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:20,960 therefore pray ye our Father, which art in heaven. 268 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,720 And if you're a believer, the context of these phrases if you 269 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,920 continue to read giving, giving thanks unto the Father, which 270 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,760 hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 271 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:35,880 the Saints. And like God has made me a St. 272 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,960 In verse 13, he delivered us from the power of darkness. 273 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,400 According to John chapter 8, before you accepted Jesus as 274 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:51,400 your Lord, Satan was your daddy and he was not a good daddy. 275 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:56,880 He wants to kill, steal, destroy and wreck and ruin your life and 276 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:01,040 keep you in bondage until you ultimately suffer in hell 277 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:05,040 forever. But Jesus gave his life for you. 278 00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:09,360 And if you believe in that you have a Father in heaven and at 279 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:12,680 very least we can be thankful for that. 280 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,280 That is the will of God, as I mentioned before and everything 281 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,560 give thanks for this is the will of God. 282 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,280 So if you don't remember all of this stuff, just remember you 283 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:28,080 can be thankful in your prayers and if at the very least 284 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:33,720 thankful for salvation. Sometimes it's hard to be 285 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:38,280 thankful for difficult circumstances, or that's just to 286 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:43,600 be patient and wait. But we have been delivered from 287 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:45,880 the power of darkness. The Bible says we have 288 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:51,960 forgiveness of sins. And I think honestly, most of 289 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:54,200 the time we just don't get excited enough about this, 290 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,120 right? I mean, we, we should be stoked. 291 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:00,440 We should be singing songs and jumping up and down. 292 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,680 And man, I don't have to do anything to make up for my sin. 293 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,480 Jesus took all of all of my shame, all of the, the 294 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,720 condemnation and he brought me into his family and totally 295 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,640 forgiven me. And he, he calls me son or 296 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,960 daughter unworthily only because of the blood. 297 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,720 Psalm 35 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord. 298 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,480 It shall rejoice in his salvation at very least. 299 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,840 We've just got to be over the moon for the cross like every 300 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,600 day. And I think that kind of 301 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,960 outpouring of joy and gratitude of salvation, that's a witness. 302 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:42,040 The lost world can't say that they don't have this testimony. 303 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:44,880 I have a Father in heaven. He's awesome, He's forgiven me. 304 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,640 I know him. We walk together without hope in 305 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,000 this world is how the Bible describes the lost. 306 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:56,120 But it's easy to lose that in Psalm 51. 307 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,960 King David, if you read the whole Psalm, it's a difficult 308 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,720 time in King David's life. He made some poor decisions and 309 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:09,320 he writes this in grief pouring out to the Lord. 310 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,760 Man, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I messed up. 311 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,600 He says, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. 312 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:21,080 And maybe if we can't today be joyful, if we can't be reminded 313 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,960 of what God has done for us, we can pray this honest prayer. 314 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,240 God, get me excited about the gospel. 315 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:33,400 Remind me of what you did. So your last blank is to pray 316 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:39,400 for God to remind you of who you are because of what He has done. 317 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:47,600 Who you are because of what he has done. 318 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:54,920 So our pattern was to pray for God's will to be done, to pray 319 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:59,480 that our lives would be honoring to God, to pray for strength and 320 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:04,080 joy and suffering, and to remember what He's done and be 321 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:07,040 thankful and be grateful. If you don't know how to pray, 322 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,880 that's a good place to start. So I want to give us some time 323 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,360 to do that now and then we'll break out into praying for some 324 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:16,920 specific things. So I want to give you about 3 325 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:18,720 minutes before we pray for other stuff. 326 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:22,160 Why don't you think about these for a moment? 327 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,720 Essentially, these are the the main points. 328 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,240 I'm just going to ask you to pray silently and I'll come back 329 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,280 up in just a couple minutes and we'll move on. 330 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:34,760 So let's take a moment and pray.