But may I also say that we need God's help with everything.
I got to tell you, in my life, every time I've tried to tackle
something by myself, thinking I got the way, I came up short.
I made a mistake. I stumbled, I ran into
roadblocks and difficulties. Every time I try to do it on my
own. I think that's everybody.
I'm going to make a statement now that may seem redundant
because I've said it many times, and if it's redundant, I'm going
to say it's OK, I'm good with that.
But when we pray to God, I believe with all my heart I
believe this to be true, that God wants us to be vulnerable to
him. I realize that the word
vulnerable is not a very fun word, and it's not a word that
people like to say because you know why people think
vulnerability is weakness? And it's not.
God wants us to be vulnerable to Him, So much so that without it
or the lack of vulnerability comes with it, The lack of
humility. And that's everything in our
demeanor. Before God, God wants us to be
vulnerable. What else, though, the Bible
does tell us, though, to be? Courageous and to be strong.
And I got to tell you, in my whole life, my kids can tell
you, my family can tell you. I have always been about trying
to live by the principle of never quit, never give up.
No matter what I have always felt in my life, I've always
thought, I've always looked at examples of people motivating
examples, for example in sports where somebody didn't give up,
because I think that transfers into life.
I really do. I think about Dave Waddle in
1972 in Munich. Remember that he wrote Ran the
800. He told his story 50 years later
He said the 1st 200 meters of the race.
It was absolutely hopeless, but something inside me said never
give. Up and he came from behind and
he won the race, made history. I believe in courage.
I also believe in the concept of this very fact right here.
There is no such thing as courage where there is No Fear.
So fear's not the problem. Courage is your reaction to it.
I believe in that. But hold my point I I I'm
talking about being vulnerable to God.
I'm going to get there. I got a point here.
The Bible even talks about being courageous and being strong, not
just being vulnerable. I'm.
Going to give you an example of don't turn there, I'm just going
to, I'm going to refer to it. So stay with me, just listen to
me. But in Joshua chapter one, it
was right after Moses had died. And God told Joshua he said, my
servant Moses is now dead. And then he tells him this.
He said, you be strong and of good courage.
And then he told him why, How you going to do it?
He said as I was with Moses, I will also.
Be with you. That's number one.
Why else could it be strong and of good courage?
The second thing God said? He said.
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
How about that? It's great to understand.
I got to be strong. Just know where the strength
comes from. It comes from God.
It's not. Us.
And when you're vulnerable to God, when you pray, I believe
with all my heart, that's when God shows up.
When you try to tackle it on your own, you make.
Mistakes Judas Iscariot. Betrayed Jesus, Peter denied the
Lord and all the disciples forsook him and fled when they
focused on their own opinions, their own thoughts, and their
own strength. We need God in everything.
Before we go into the passages that are before us beginning in
verse 11, though, you remember that Jesus taught a lesson about
prayer. Remember that and I'm going to
be. Very brief about our review.
He taught a lesson about prayer and he said this is how you're
not going to pray. Don't do this, don't pray like
the hypocrites do to be seen by men.
Don't do that. He said if you do that, and
that's the reason that you pray, is to be seen by men and get the
Pats on the back from people. He said you're getting nothing
from God. Then he said if you go in your
private place and you pray to God and you do it in secret,
even that which God sees in secret, he's going to reward you
openly. Great stuff, right?
Then he gives a model prayer on things to pray for and this is
what he says. Again, these were words that
were never to be memorized and recited over and over again.
He gave a model prayer and this is what he said beginning in
verse nine of Matthew chapter 6. In this manner, therefore pray.
And then the first thing he says, this is review our Father.
This describes God's paternity. God's paternity is twofold #1 He
is the Almighty Father. He is the Heavenly Father.
He is the great creator of all things.
That's Father. But not only that, he is our
Father. Like Paul said, we cry ABBA
father. That is an Aramaic term of
endearment that children use for their dad.
It's another word we can plug in their dad or daddy.
I said this, Terry, you weren't here when I preached on this,
but your father stood right here many years ago and said he is
our daddy. That's ABBA.
So when you pray to God, that's the relationship that you have
with him in that grade. But remember his lofty position.
He's in heaven. And even his name is to be
praised. We don't ever take it in vain.
His name is to be praised. Then he said this your Kingdom
come or when the Kingdom comes. Now I said this last time, I'm
not going to go very far into this.
It is not appropriate to pray for the Kingdom to come because
the Kingdom has already come. This phrase right here, your
Kingdom comes means when the Kingdom comes.
And we already established that what is the Kingdom?
Well, first of all, Jesus is reigning over his throne, on his
throne over the Kingdom. Now the Kingdom is the church.
Who's the church? The church is the people.
In fact, the word church is the word Ekklesia, meaning the
called out ones. We are called out by the Gospel
Romans 10/17. We obey the gospel when we're
baptized for the remission of sins.
We become Christians and we're in the Kingdom.
Remember this. It's a spiritual Kingdom.
Remember what Jesus said to his disciples.
The Kingdom is within. You.
I love that. Kingdom is within you and he's
reigning now, so we don't pray for a Kingdom to come in the
future. It's already here, all right.
In a secondary sense, the only future reign of Jesus is not in
another Kingdom that's going to come.
The only future reign of Jesus because the word Kingdom
actually means rain. So the only future reign of
Jesus where he is not reigning now but will reign someday is in
the heart of a non believer today that becomes a child of
God down the road and then Jesus can reign in their hearts too.
That's the only future reign of Jesus because the Kingdom is
already here and it's going to be in the same Kingdom that
those people come to too. So anyway.
And Jesus says your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
All right. It's interesting though, before
Jesus says specific things to pray for and ask for, he tells
us to honor God, and that's really important in our prayers.
That we first honor God. Philippians chapter 4 talks
about that very thing too. You begin by praise and
adoration to God before you pour your request out to him.
But we're going to talk about 3 specific things that we need
help with from God that we need to pray for three three very
specific things. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 11.
Jesus says give us this day Our Daily Bread, You know, later on
in this chapter. And verses 25 through 34 is a
beautiful depiction of how God cares for his own He cares for
us. In this verse is one of the
specific things that we pray for, and that is our daily
provision. David even said this in Psalm 37
and 25. I've been young and now I'm old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
descendants begging bread. Jesus says right off the bat,
give us this day, Our Daily Bread.
So I want to say this though too.
Even though God is our provider and all of that, there's a
condition. On receiving, have you ever
stopped to consider that in James chapter?
Four and verse 2. James says you do not have
because you do not ask. I was driving down the road the
other day and I thought of this. My family, and I know it is the
same for all you other fathers too, but my my family is
everything to me and I would give my family anything and
everything and I would do anything and everything for
them. That's just how I feel in my
heart and I will do it regardless.
But I kind of want them to ask if they want something from me.
And then I kind of wanted to thank me when I do now, if I
feel that way, Can you imagine how God feels that provides
everything? In James Four and two, it says
you don't have it because you don't ask for it.
So we have to. Ask, one man said a long time
ago. An unclaimed promises, like an
uncashed check. When there are things that are
promised to us that are dependent on prayer, we need to
ask in order to receive it. God knows our needs.
He knows our needs. He knows our thoughts.
He knows everything. Can you imagine a God that knows
us so well that the very hairs on our head are numbered?
That's an amazing statement there, that the Bible talks
about how well God knows us, but yet He knows our needs.
But. We need to ask first the phrase
right here. Give us this day.
This obviously is depending on God for our immediate needs.
If you drop down to verse 34 and I'm just going to make a
reference to it, it shows that our concern about the future is
unnecessary because God takes care of the things that we need
daily. Israel's journey through the
wilderness illustrates this concept by the way that God
adequate adequately provided each for his daily bread or
portion or manna. You know what happened, though?
Some of them didn't trust God, and they greedily stored up more
than just for their daily provision.
You know what happened? Exodus 16 and 20
notwithstanding, they did not heed Moses.
But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms
and steak, and Moses was angry with them.
I know this is all of us. And I'm going to say before I
make this statement, this is me too.
But sometimes we spend so much time about tomorrow that we fail
to recognize and appreciate and be thankful for what we actually
have today. It's hard.
It's hard because you know why? Because we know we need to plan.
I'm going to get to that in a minute, by the way, right?
Kind of planning. We know we need to plan.
But unfortunately what we do is we add to the planning worry
instead of being focused on what we have today and be thankful
for what God provided today and also trusted he'll provide for
tomorrow. Instead of being thankful for
today, we worry about tomorrow. I love that song that Ivan Kosta
wrote a long time ago. I love this song.
It's called Just A Handful, part of that song says.
Oh, the quiet that we forfeit over wealth and keeping up,
never learning in a hurry. That a handful is enough.
Then it says, Lord, I pray for just a handful and for quiet in
my soul. Help me spurn the greed of
others and use my handful for the Lord.
Beautiful words. God wants us to rely on him for
our daily needs. A great example of this, or a
great illustration of this principle is found with the
shepherd and the sheep. And by the way, in ancient
times, it wasn't the plush green fields of Palestine where you
found the sheep. Listen, this powerful stuff.
Think about it. Where'd the sheep go?
They didn't have the plush green fields of Palestine.
You know where they Had you found them?
That was prevalent to see the sheep.
In the desert of South Palestine wasn't in Galilee plus fields of
Galilee, it was in the. Deserts of South Palestine as we
found the sheep, what's the point?
Every one of those sheep never worried about tomorrow of the
little green grass that would be taken that they would have to
eat for tomorrow. You know why?
They trusted in the shepherd. The shepherd came every day,
took him out of the fold, and took him to some green patch
somewhere where they ate. Don't you see?
That's us. The Lord is our shepherd, and I
shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. He delivers me beside the still
waters. He restores my soul.
When you trust in the Lord as your shepherd, understand we are
the sheep. Don't worry about provision.
God will provide. God provides those needs.
The Lord does not provide abundance or does not promise
abundance. And I'm going to tell you, if
you have abundance, good for you.
And that's wonderful because it's a blessing from God.
And if you have abundance, great for you.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
But there's no promise at all for abundance, the promises for
provision that we need daily. This phrase right here, Our
Daily Bread, obviously bread is the staff is of life.
It is what we need to physically sustain our needs.
But if you look at this phrase right here, Our Daily Bread, the
context here goes beyond that. And it is talking about all of
our daily needs, everything that we need every day from God.
The Lord's instruction is both practical and necessary.
Why is that The Kingdom that we've been talking about is a
Kingdom of workers. I'm going to say something to
you. I appreciate our brother praying
for me as a preacher and praying for preachers that preach the
gospel, but I'm going to tell you all something right now.
What you said was true and thank you, but you're all preachers
with your life and you are preaching sermons with your life
and everybody's watching and in fact those.
Sermons are more powerful than anything proclaimed verbally
from the pulpit. You know why, 'cause if it
doesn't go along with your life and your example, it has no
value. It has no merit, has no power,
has no effect. The way you live.
The way you act, the way you treat people, are you really
Christ like? Does the beauty of Jesus really
be seen in you in your life? Do you live the life of a
Christian? Do you live a life that
professes what you say? You believe all of these things?
That's the sermon of your life, and that's important and that's
powerful. We are a Kingdom of workers, and
you know what we need as workers.
We need our needs sustained. All of us.
Not just a preacher that preaches for a living, but every
child of God needs provision too, because they are preachers
taking the sermon of their life, their example to everyone that
watches. We can't be preoccupied with the
cares of life too much, folks. I know this.
I know we live in a country right now where we are very
blessed. I know that.
And somebody might say, well, it's really easy to say it
living in the United States about God providing it's really
easy to say that because, I mean, look around.
Us. I drove here today and I had to
turn down the seat because it was too hot.
The heated seat. Tina had it turned.
I don't like that I turned it off.
I was driving her car. I don't like that hot seat.
My point is, look at the luxury we live in.
But I'm going to tell you this, God's promise is to third world
country people too, not abundance, daily provision.
I've been very fortunate and blessed to be a part of the work
in the Philippines. I can't anymore.
I can no longer travel overseas, but I've been there 15 times.
You know what I've found In the poorest places that you can
imagine in the world, They all had something to eat.
All the Christians. Everywhere we went.
They had shelter and they had food.
They had what they needed every day.
That's what God provides. That's what God promises.
OK? So let's not be overly
preoccupied with worrying about our needs.
So what's the difference between planning and being overly
occupied? You know, even the.
Apostles understood that you got a plan, and my dad told me my
whole life. My dad, oh, my dad was
repetitious. Some of you knew him very well.
My dad was extremely repetitious.
And you've heard me say this too, You know he thought you
only had retained 1/3 of what you heard, so he told everything
three times. My dad was extremely
repetitious, but one of the things that he constantly told
me is the phrase that you've all heard people don't plan to fail.
They simply fail to plan. That's a good concept.
You got a plan. The apostles understood that
there's a measure of planning that has to be done, but not to
do it with boastful arrogance. Listen, understand, when you
plan, don't do it with boastful arrogance because such is evil
according to James. Notice in James Chapter 4,
beginning in verse 13. Come now, you who say today or
tomorrow, we will go to such a city, spend a year there and buy
and sell and make a profit. Sounds great, right?
That's called a business plan. And by the way, I got to back up
little history real quick. Back then, ancient cities were
taken in. They were starting all over and
they were taking in whoever would come.
They wanted citizens in ancient cities, OK?
If a person was a vendor or a businessman and they brought a
business, they gave immediate citizenship automatically to
that business in their new city. You know why with business
brings people with people bring money.
So picture this. James is talking about a guy
that's going to make a business plan.
He gets a map out of some sort and he says you don't want to
do. We're going to go to such a city
and we're going to stay a year there.
We're going to buy and sell and we're going to make a profit.
It's going to be great. Sounds great, right.
Watch. Whereas you do not know what
will happen tomorrow. That's number one.
Do you know why you don't just plan like that?
You don't just plan, like I just said, like they were doing and
what James was correcting. Because the first thing you
don't know is the uncertainty of life.
And I'm going to tell you right now, I know by experience and by
God's will. I didn't.
I wasn't taken out of here, but I was almost gone twice.
And you know what? Every time I thought, hey, I got
tomorrow, I'm doing great. Something happens, some people
aren't as fortunate and they are taken out.
When you make your plans, understand there are things that
are beyond your control, one of which is the uncertainty of
life. Let's go further, for what is
your life? It's even a vapor that appears
for a little while and vanishes away.
Instead you want to say, get this, please, if the Lord wills
I talked. To this man right here all the
time, Jose and we study together.
We talk all the time. And I love what he says, hey,
let's do so, he says, God willing, God willing.
We should all be saying, Lord willing, God willing.
Hold that thought. What does it mean about God
willing you've? Heard my sermon of old, the fact
I preached it so many times over the country.
I don't preach anymore. I got tired of it, but I have a
sermon on God's will, and I talk about how God imparts his will
in three ways. And this is the words that I
told you many years ago. I'm going to modify it because I
think it's a little easier to remember.
OK, God imparts his will in three ways. #1 There's God's
determined will. Then I said there's God's
desired will. And then I said there's God's
permissive will. OK, that's true.
But I'm going to change the words a little bit.
I'm going to call it the three PS.
It's easier to understand because I get asked this all the
time. What were those three things?
Again? What are the three ways?
Again here 3 PS God imparts his will in three ways.
Here they are God's providential will, God's preferred will, and
God's permissive will. God's providential will is God's
determined will. That means this God determines.
It and he makes it happen. By Providence, he says, it's
going to happen. That's God's Providence will.
Secondly, God's preferred will. God's preferred will, by the
way, is what God prefers. But it doesn't necessarily
always happen, because he leaves it up to us to do our part.
For example, the Bible says the long-suffering of God is
salvation. Not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance.
That's what God wants. But not everybody comes to
repentance. Not everybody comes to Jesus.
So it is God's preferred will. That's what he wants.
But it doesn't always happen. What did Acts chapter 2 say?
When the gospel is being preached?
They said save yourself. In other words, do your part, be
baptized for the remission of sins, repent of your sins,
confess Jesus as the Son of God, and then live the Christian
life. But this is the one I want to
talk about right here. Permissive When you pray, if the
Lord wills, what you're saying is if the Lord permits or the
Lord allows, that's what you're saying when you make your plans.
Say I plan to do this. But Lord willing, or if the Lord
allows, if I'm still going to be alive, if it is OK with God.
You know, a good example of doing that the wrong way was the
rich fool in Luke chapter 12. He looked at all of his stuff,
all of his crops. He said.
I don't have big enough barns. I'll pull down my barns and I'll
build greater. He had a business plan.
He had a retirement plan. What's the problem?
Notice. He said.
I'm going to pull down my barns, build greater, I'm going to have
all this stuff and then I'm going to sit down and take my
eaves. You know what?
He didn't take any consideration?
The uncertainty of life and the Lord and the Lord's will.
Two things. You know what Jesus said about
that fella? He said, You fool.
This night your soul shall be required of you.
And as I paraphrase, then what are you going to do with all
your stuff? If you're out of here, what's
all that stuff going to do for you?
What was his problem? Planning.
No, no problem. What was the problem?
His plans didn't include God. God's got to be first and
everything falls into place because God is ultimately in
control. So the first thing we pray for
regarding ourselves as our daily needs.
The second one's found in verse 12 and it connects a very, very
important concept. Please get this forgiveness from
God for our debts and we'll get to what debt?
Means. And forgiving others of their
debts. And by the way, we need God's
help for this too. We obviously need help getting
God's forgiveness of our sins. But maybe, just maybe, we also
need. Help getting helping us.
Forgive other people. Some people have a hard time
with that. Some people hold grudges.
Some people can't let go. Don't do that.
Because according to Jesus, there's a connection between God
forgiving us if we want God's forgiveness.
There's a connection between the way we forgive others and God
forgiving us. You know, I think there's
there's a really, I think this is brilliant by the Lord.
Everything the Lord did was brilliant, but he just gets to
talking about provision. And just lest we think, lest we
think that God owes us something by our own merit for provision,
it kicks in sin. Oh by the way, you need this.
You're not perfect. All are sinners.
Bible says that Romans chapter 3 and verse 23.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
First Peter 225 for we are like sheep going astray.
But now I've returned to the shepherd and overseer of your
souls. Everybody sins.
The point is, we all need a savior and we all need
forgiveness. Have you ever stopped to
consider that when you ask for forgiveness, you're accepting
responsibility for your actions? Remember, growing up, your
parent might say I'm proud of you because you accepted
responsibility. You took responsibility for your
action. And as a parent, there's always
a softening, isn't there? You can be angry or irritated
with a child when they do something, and if they're
continually rebellious against it and they're not listening to
you, it makes you even. More angry.
But when they accept responsibility, there's a
softening in the heart of the parent.
Always. When you repent and you ask for
forgiveness, you are accepting what you've done.
That's what God wants us to do. Repentance and confession is
required for forgiveness. In fact, somebody said one time,
I love this. Jesus cannot wash the feet of
those that are not presented to him.
We have to take it to him, Take it to God, John.
Said it this way in first John one and nine very familiar
passage. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just. To forgive us our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we need God's
help. We need forgiveness.
This word, confession, means confessing the sin to God with
repentance and godly sorrow. That's what confession means.
Solomon said this Solomon the wise man of old in Proverbs 28
and 13. He who covers his sins will not
prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have
mercy. Jesus adds this about
forgiveness too, by the way. Here we go.
He adds this as we forgive our. Debtors.
Now, Jesus was not saying that if I forgive other people, I
earn forgiveness from God. That's not what he's saying.
What he's saying, though, is if I want the forgiveness of God, I
have to forgive other people. I don't know about you, but man,
I need all the extra credit and the mercy that I can get from
God. I need that.
I don't want to be snake bitten, shoot myself in the foot and
disqualify myself for being forgiven because my heart won't
forgive somebody else. I don't want to do that.
More on that in a minute by the way.
More passages. You can't earn your forgiveness
by forgiving others, but you have to forgive in order to be
forgiven. In Matthew chapter 6, verses 14
through 15, I'm going to drop down a little bit.
There's more said about trying to understand what the word
debts mean in Matthew 6 beginning in verse 14.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men
their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your
trespasses. What is the word trespasses mean
in this passage? It gives us a better idea of
what Jesus means when he talks about debts.
The word trespass here in the Greek literally means to slip or
fall. So in other words, you could say
it like this. And for if you forgive men when
they slip and fall, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you when you. Slip or fall?
In Luke Chapter 11 and verse 4. By the way, this is another
parallel passage when the disciples came to Jesus and they
asked him teach us how to pray like John taught his disciples
and that Jesus gives the same kind of verbiage that he's
giving. In Matthew chapter 6, this is
what he says. So we say in Matthew 6 and 12 he
says debtors or debts. In Matthew 614 and 15 he says
trespasses. But let's look at Luke Chapter
11 and verse four and forgive us our sins.
Folks, the word sin means miss the mark, and everybody has
them. When taken together, these words
paint a full picture about forgiveness.
Every person has a moral and spiritual death that goes beyond
his ability to pay. And if we.
Expect God to forgive us. Then we have to be willing to
forgive other people too. Do you remember in the 5th
Beatitude Jesus's Blessed are the Merciful, for they will
obtain mercy. You might remember months and
months ago when I preached on that and I talked about the idea
that there is a practical application, but there's also a
spiritual application. The practical application is a
5050 thing. The spiritual application is
100%. Let me give you the practical.
If I'm merciful to Terry, good chance he'll be merciful to me
and I think he will be. I think that's 100%.
I think Terry would be let's just grab somebody out that I
don't know and. I show mercy.
It doesn't necessarily mean that that person's going to show me
mercy. What's 100% is the spiritual
application. If I show that person mercy, God
will show me mercy. That's 100%.
That's the mercy that I'm going to get.
For sure. That's God's mercy.
OK, so when we pray for ourselves, we pray for daily
provision. We also pray for God to help us
with forgiveness. And also, if we're struggling
with forgiving others and holding grudges, we ask God to
help us with that too, so we can let that go.
By the way, I got to slip the sand.
He's got to do it. Just make it very brief.
But remember, when you forgive somebody else, even when they're
not worthy of your forgiveness, you're not letting them off the
hook. You're letting you off the hook.
You're saying I'm not going to be negatively influenced by this
anymore. You're letting you off the hook.
Just remember that they've got to answer to God, by the way,
and they can't get forgiveness from God without repentance and
confession to God. But you can do anything you want
to, and you can let yourself off the hook.
OK, now we come to a phrase that we got to take a look at here.
Then Jesus says this. After he said two things to pray
for, they said this the third one.
And do not lead us into temptation, OK?
Some foundational things that we have to notice.
First of all, God is a God of protection.
Two, God cares for it provides for His children.
David actually sang a beautiful song when he was delivered from
the hand of King Saul. Some foundational passages that
describe that in Second Samuel 22 and two.
And he said, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my
deliverer. In Psalm chapter 18 and verse
two, he said More. He said he is my God, my
strength in whom I trust, my shield, and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold. OK.
If that's the case, then why would we ask God not to lead us
into temptation? Why would we do that if God is
our fortress? If God is our stronghold, If God
is our deliverer, if God is our refuge, why would we feel the
need to ask him not to lead us into temptation?
Especially when James says that God does not tempt anyone?
Notice James 113 and 14. Let no one say when he's
tempted. I'm tempted by God.
For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt
anyone. But each one is tempted when
he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
So why, if that's the case, do we pray for something that God
never does? OK, the answer to that question.
Comes down to the word temptation.
I'll get to that in just a moment.
But remember this though. There are trials in our life.
James talks about trials that come our way and that we should
have joy in those trials because of why, knowing that the testing
of our faith produces patience, we are tested, we are tested in
our life. It should be noted though, when
you talk about the word temptation, the word temptation
there in the Greek is morally neutral, meaning this.
It has no inherent connotation to good or evil.
It doesn't. So the word could actually mean
two things. When it says temptation, it
could mean one of two things. It could mean testing and
proving. And it can also mean inducement
to evil. We know God does not induce us
to evil, so what's my point? The context has to bear it out,
has to determine the meaning. What does the scripture?
Say that tell us about being tested.
Yeah, the Bible talks about We are tested.
And we are tested as God allows certain situations in our life.
And sometimes we look at those things and we say, that's not
fair. That's not fair.
It's not for us to know what's fair.
Remember my sermon on God pruning us?
God only prunes the good. And sometimes things happen in
our life. Situations happen in our life.
We are being tested by those situations and through those
tests that come our way, that and those trials that come our
way. When we make it through to the
other side of that trial by manifesting proper conduct,
exercising proper will on our part, we emerge victorious
through it and stronger and more refined.
Yeah, we all, we all have that. It's called maturity that
happens in our life. And I'll tell you this too.
I would imagine there's something in your life that you
have had to endure, that you made it through, and you're
better now because of it. I guarantee it, because
everybody has that. You've had a hard thing.
You dealt with it, you got through it, you got God's help.
And you know what happens? You got through it.
And because of that, you're better on this side of it.
Way better. It's called maturity.
Another example though, of how someone was tested.
How about Genesis 22? God told Abraham, take your son,
your only son Isaac, that you love, and offer him as a
sacrifice unto me Takes him to the.
Place the Bible says these exact words.
God tested Abraham. Abraham passed the test.
God said don't touch the boy and he provided a a substitute, a
ram that was caught in the thicket for the sacrifice.
He passed the test. We have things that happened in
our life too, that we are going to be tested.
It's the way that it is. However, please get this.
God does not on a whim induce his children to do evil.
Furthermore, what else does God know as our refuge?
He knows our weaknesses. And he also provides a means of
escape so that we can emerge from the trial more refined and
not be destroyed. First Corinthians 10/13.
No temptation has overtaken you as such, as is common to man,
but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted.
Beyond that, you're able, but with the temptation will also
make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.
So what's the Lord's point by saying do not lead us into
temptation? Here's the point.
The Lord's point is we should pray that we can escape those
things that, in view of our weaknesses and Satan's deceit,
might bring us to sin. JW Mcgarvey said it this way.
The petition expresses our natural desire not to be this
LED, but at the same time by adding deliver us from evil.
It indicates that we expect to be brought more or less in a
conflict with evil, notwithstanding our expressed
desire to avoid it. And then we have this phrase
right here. But deliver us from the evil
one, you who that is, That's Satan.
Deliver us from Satan and all of his devices need to pray for
that. I'm going to say something about
the devil, and this is really encouraging because I know what
the Bible says about the devil. He's a roaring lion.
He's seeking about. He's all those things.
He's the father of lies. He's terrible.
He's all those things and all that's true.
But I'm going to say something very encouraging to somebody
that's when washed in the blood of Jesus, been baptized for the
remission of sins is a Christian.
Let me tell you some very encouraging things.
Satan cannot do anything to you that you will.
Not allow. You know why?
Because Satan took a weapon at the cross.
I like what one? Guy said one time He says Satan
is a vanquished foe, He's limited.
He was destroyed. He was whipped at the cross.
Let me give you Bible Colossians 215.
Having disarmed principalities and powers he made, Jesus made a
public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it.
Another passage here, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14.
This is talking about Jesus, Jesus, death, and the devil in
as much then as the children have been partakers of flesh and
blood. He himself likewise shared in
the same that through death he might destroy him who had the
power of death. That is the devil.
So the word destroy in your mind may think blew up and gone with
the devil still there. So what's the word destroy mean?
The word destroy means remove the power or.
Dominion. Who did that?
Jesus. Jesus did that.
So what's the encouraging part? If you're a Christian, guess
what You share in that same victory.
And Satan has no power over you that you will not allow.
It's kind of like I just heard it described like this.
The devil is like a dog, a vicious dog on a chain.
As long as you don't come in the realm of where that chained dog
is, you're in good shape. But if you get inside the realm
of that chained dog, you're in trouble.
Years ago, we had a dog. His name is Barney and Louise.
My sister had this fella come over for the afternoon and me
and Scotty and this guy were throwing the ball around.
We kept telling the guy Barney's chained up, he's a Queensland,
he will bite you. He's a watchdog.
Stay away from the dog. Kept telling him over and over
and over, kept going over where the dog was and Barney would get
real close to Barney would just leap out and just, I mean just
on the end of that chain. Well, the ball flew over there
and he just runs over there. Instead of just pulling up and
letting one of us go over there, he runs over there and he falls
on the dog. Barney jumps up and bit him on
the calf. I mean a good one, Stitches and
all. And we got sued.
So what they do is, by the way, small claims court, the People's
Court, Judge Wapner, I don't know if you remember that, but
Judge Wapner and the People's Court back in the day called us,
said you want to go to People's Court and have them settle the
case. We said sure.
So they paid off whatever, whatever it is, the case, and
then they pay you 100 bucks for losing.
That was us. We lost because dogs can't bite
people and get away with it, right?
We tried to explain. My dad got up and explained with
it, with a guy attacked the dog and the judges attacked the
dogs. Yeah, he fell on and he went
right inside the chain. The entire point is this.
That is a picture of the devil, and it doesn't matter what the
devil is if you stay outside. The realm of the chain.
You're fine. If you enter into his realm with
temptation and you allow that to be overcome, and you surround
yourself with people, for example, that are the wrong kind
of influence, you're going to fall back into temptation again.
You got to avoid that, got to stay away from that.
That's how you do that. Got to do your part.
James 47 here, you got to do it. This is our part.
Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. I'm going to tell you this, and
I'm almost finished. There's a big difference between
a couple of things. Like, well, everybody's got
their own thing. I get it.
And everybody has their own struggle.
And if you don't think you have a struggle, I'm telling you
you're wrong. And if you ever get to the point
where you think, man, I've been a Christian for 50 years, I'm
good, be careful. Because now you just took the
humility out again. And that's the humility we need
for life. Sometimes we are really good at
garnishing our own traits and tarnishing the traits of
everybody else. We're great at that.
We are really great at examining everybody else, and we never
examine ourself. Have you ever had a conflict
with your spouse? I have.
I've been guilty of this. I've been wrong in this.
What happens is when two people have a conflict, when they're
both angry. In the conflict or the argument,
each person is thinking about what the other did and not what
you did and not what you need to change.
That's what we do. We point the finger at what the
other did in a conflict instead of looking inside at ourselves
with a retrospective idea of what we are.
That's the point. As Christians, let's be more
proactive and looking at us and not necessarily be so proactive
in examining the faults of others.
And by the way, I got to make this point.
Is there anything wrong with judging?
No. There's a difference, though,
between judging and being judgmental.
And I'm going to get to that difference in a moment.
Big difference. Sometimes somebody judges
something or makes a judgment. Somebody says, oh, you're being
judgmental. No, they're not.
I'm going to make another bold statement.
Every one of you, you make judgments.
Every day, every one of you. Somebody might say, well, I make
judgments. I don't judge people.
Yeah, you do. Somebody commits a horrible
crime, does a terrible thing. We all say that was terrible.
That man was awful. That was a horrible thing.
He's wrong. He should be punished for that.
Just judged. No problem.
That's not judging by appearance.
The Bible says judge not according to appearance, but
judge righteous judgment based on facts, right?
And evidence big difference. So what's the difference
between? For example, the difference
between. Judging and being judgmental.
Here's the difference. Making a judgment is an action.
It is a decision based. On evidence, that's a judgment.
Being judgmental is an attitude that's being overly concerned.
This is a direct definition, being overly concerned with
judging. That's what it means to be
judgmental, by the way. Not that you just made a
judgment. It's an attitude.
So yeah, we have to make judgments, but be careful of the
attitude. And let's not have the attitude
where we condescend to other people because guess what?
We may not think that we're have all these weaknesses, that
everybody else has to be careful because you just became the
Pharisee that poked fun at that tax collector.
Be careful that, well, I don't do it either.
Don't do that. Because when you have that
attitude, you guess what you just did.
You just send, and when you pray for the evil, deliver us from
the evil one. Maybe that's your weakness.
Pray about that. Whatever your weakness is,
Whatever that is, though, one final passage.
The Lord's going to help us through Hebrews 2 and 18.
For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, He is
able to aid those who are tempted.
We got the Lord by our side all the way.
So in conclusion, today we've talked about 3 specific areas,
three things to pray for specifically for ourself because
we need God's help, our daily provision.
Trust him that he will provide that and ask him for it, and
thank him for that forgiveness for our sins, and also as we.
Forgive others. And if we're struggling in that,
ask us to help him. Ask him to help us forgive
others, and finally to deliver us from evil or the evil one.
I'm through this morning. Thank you so much for your kind
listening. I hope these were things that
were helpful to you. These were things that were very
helpful to me. These are very practical things.
These are things that you can apply to your life 'cause you
know what? These are things that apply to
everybody. They just do.
We never know the hearts and minds of those that are present.
We always want to extend an invitation to someone that might
be subject to the gospel call. I don't know how it is with you.
Are you here and you're not a Christian?
The steps to become one are very simple.
Romans 10/17 says you got to hear the word of God.
So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Then we must believe with all of our heart.
Hebrews 11 and six. Without faith it's impossible to
please him. For he who comes to God must
believe that He is and that he is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him. Then we must repent of our sins.
Acts 17 and 30 Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but
can now commands all men everywhere to repent.
Then Jesus says, we got to confess him as the Son of God.
In Acts 8 and 37 Philip said this, If you believe with all
your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God upon taking these
steps. You are now a fit candidate to
go to the point of salvation to be baptized for the remission of
your sins. Mark 1616.
He who believes in his baptized will be saved, but he who does
not believe will be condemned. If you've never taken these
steps of obedience, we'd love to assist you in that today.
Maybe you have. Maybe there is something in your
life that you need to correct. If we can assist you in any way,
come forward while we stand and we thank you.
For listening to our podcast put on by the Church of Christ at
2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield. If you would like any additional
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