God bless your world , wherever you are today . We thank God for your lives . We thank you for joining Mark and myself as we're in for this sharp 15 minutes . We've got a lovely bit of scripture that's coming up . We thank you for wherever you are . In the mighty name of Jesus Christ , the Lord is with each and every one of us . There is power in the greatest name in heaven and earth . Now we got Mark with us and we're in Matthew , chapter 6 , and uh , mark , it's so good to have you with us , my friend , and uh , we're doing these quick 15 minutes and they're great , they're powerful . But , mark , what is the title of what we're looking at at this moment ?
Speaker 2Hi Ben , hi Mark , just calling this Our Heavenly Father , based on Matthew 6 , the famous Lord's Prayer that we find in this chapter , where the Lord teaches us how we ought to pray .
Speaker 1It's a powerful prayer , isn't it ?
Speaker 2Yeah , it's well the well-known prayer . We all learn it in school when we're young .
Speaker 1Do you know what , mark ? I've been doing a lot of funerals recently . You know for quite a while , actually , a long , long time now , and what makes me smile is when I get to someone that's an atheist . They say , oh , by the way , we're not going to have a , a religious service , but , but we're going to go atheist all the way , okay , okay , yeah , sure , whatever you want to do , but but we must have the lord's prayer . It's really interesting where this prayer takes you , even it's , and I say why , why , why do you want the lord's prayer ? If you're gonna poetry , you've got this , we got that and you're telling me you don't want a religious or Christian service whatsoever . What is it ? Oh , we just learned it at school and it's quite nice . I think the Lord works in so many mysterious ways , according to his word , obviously , but this prayer is so powerful .
Speaker 1It's so powerful , yeah , and it's so good , and it is in the majority of the order of services that I do churched , unchurched faith , non-faith , this , that and I have the privilege of leading these services yes , churched and also unchurched as a celebrant , but they don't realize what they're getting when I come to the door , because we always get jesus in . But this prayer is really interesting and it's our father , and to hear people read this out in a funeral service is so powerful .
Speaker 2it's something behind the prayer mark that is beyond human understanding yeah , yeah , there's something behind it and it's like written in us that there's something else that we want , and you know , if you're in trouble , then at least you can pray this as an emergency prayer . If you don't know what else to pray , then you can pray the Lord's Prayer .
Speaker 1I love that what you said an emergency prayer . But when we talk about an emergency prayer , you know , mark , pentecostal background , all the razzmatazz that goes along with elim and all that and I love elim and we understand and we get all that sort of stuff . You know if you were to cut me in half it'd probably say elim like a stick of rock for me . But you know there is something powerful about elim that they are so biblically strong . And this prayer you can hear this , like when I went to the conferences and all that stuff . You can hear the ministers and that praying it . You know this prayer and the pentecostal movement . If , if this is the only prayer that jesus has given us , surely that has to be an indicator for every church , every believer , anyone that calls themselves a christian , that this is the only prayer that jesus gives us . Am I correct ? Am I wrong ?
Speaker 2yeah , I mean he gives , he does pray in other parts , but in terms of teaching us how we ought to pray , this is it , isn't it ?
Speaker 1this is it and this is what you're saying . This is the emergency . This is it . This is the one that will get you out of anything .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , our Father . You know those two words to begin with , like we can easily just roll off those words , but you know who is our Father , who is he , and he's unique . There's something different about this God that we can have access to , because on earth we have our parents , our Father , maybe maybe not , but God is , he's our Father , our eternal Father . If we're in the household of God through Christ , then he is our Father , like he's the Father to the Lord Jesus . We become children of God in Christ . So , yeah , our Father , we are one in him . And yeah , it speaks of the grace of God as well in verses 26 and 27 . The fowls of the air , like even the unclean creatures , god takes care of , he's mindful of them . And yet , how much more will God care for you if he is , is your father , if you know him that way ?
Speaker 1that's really important , what you said there , mark , because everyone wants to be taken care of , don't they ? And when you realize who your father is and we're not referring to the earthly biological father , we are referring to our father in heaven , god yahweh , the creator of heaven and earth , yes , the God that spoke the world into being , and so many of us and I'll say us , and I'm not referring to Mark , but I'm referring to myself and anyone that might join me on this that we can lose our identity . But when we know who our father is , we find our identity in him . We don't find that in church . We don't find that in church . We don't find that in religion . We find our true identity through understanding who our father is in heaven that's right .
Speaker 2Yeah , the thing is a child who who might not have a godly father . It can be painful , it can really damage a child . Um , the lord jesus says in luke 11 , verses 9 through 13 , about the father who knows how to give good gifts . Like which , which of those fathers if , uh , if a son should ask for an egg , should receive a scorpion ? Uh , have I got it right ?
Speaker 1um , yeah , but yeah , we , we have whoever yeah , whoever asked for a . Yeah , you are right , you're completely right there . You know the father will give you , you know what is correct for you at that particular point . So it's really important , you know . And but funny enough , an earthly father can be quite horrible , and I'm not talking about my dad . So , please , whoever listens , that I'm not referring to my own dad , because I I've got a beautiful dad . Um , I love my dad and he really has been a beautiful father figure to me , so I've been really blessed with that .
Speaker 1But we are referring to a heavenly father . You know our father , uh , in heaven . So that that is the key we're not referring to . If we've lost the father from this earth that is in heaven . We're not referring to our father , our fleshly , earthly father in heaven . We're referring to yahweh , we're referring to god , we're referring to our father and and it's interesting how christ brings this to the first four words of this prayer our Father in heaven .
Speaker 1So , straight away , it takes the weight off of our biological .
Speaker 1We might know our Father , we might not , but that is what is so powerful about this scripture it's raising the pressure of having or not having a earthly father , because every one of us has a common father and has the same father , and that is god . So , whether we are blessed with an earthly father or whether we are not blessed with an earthly father , however that looks the biological process of life where . However we came into this earth , let us remind you that our father in heaven brought you in . It's so important , isn't it , mark ? Because so many people have earthly fathers that are controlling , narcissistic , uh , not good fathers , and there are human beings out there that have great fathers , really beautiful fathers . So there is a mixed bag , but one thing is for sure whatever way we go , with a good father or a bad father , there's one common denominator that brings everyone us under the same umbrella that we have a heavenly father , and it's really important to understand that that heavenly father is with you wherever you are at this moment in time yeah , that's right .
Speaker 2That's right , ben and uh . You know , we , we approach him , god the father , direct through jesus christ . You know , we don't pray to saints or to angels , we , we pray to god the father almighty and um . In acts 17 , 28 , um it says how we live and move and have our being . A certain also of your poets have said for we are also his offspring . So in a we we make a profession in the lowest sense , bodily , but also it's it's a proclamation profession in the highest sense through the death of his son um jesus christ , which I've got noted here in colossians .
Speaker 1One um yeah as mark is just flicking this scripture and he's getting himself ready for what he's going to share . Mark has made a very , very important point that that we do not lift up any human being , and then we cross over into certain religions that we're all pretty familiar with . We don't lift up Mary , we don't lift up Joseph , we don't lift up saints . What is very , very clear ? That we only lift up Jesus Christ . The Bible does reference him as the man , christ Jesus , but also king , fully God , fully Christ , fully king , fully living word . Mark , have you got that reference ?
Speaker 2I don't know if that's this text . Let's see , I've got here Colossians 1 . If I can read a couple of verses , it says in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works , yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight . You know this is through the lord jesus christ , where you were once alienated from god , being brought in and made heirs of God . You know , this is an assurance . He is our Father , but he's also everything Like when you pray this and you pray our Father , you know God , the Father Almighty , can be your personal God . He can be your Father . He can be everything eternally for you .
Jc Royal says about his power , wisdom , holiness , justice , mercy and truth . Like everything , that's just the name of God , who he is , but our God is in heaven and he is perfect in every way . So yeah , our earthly parents . We can even have great parents on earth , but they're still human , like us .
Speaker 1Human form , yeah , like us , with all our faults , with all our failings , the idiosyncrasies that human beings carry . The Bible says the human heart is . Enmity is between us and God , but through the power of the Holy Spirit , through salvation and through , as Mark was talking about , we , you know , this text has thrown open up so much through justification , through redemption . God is sovereign , god is sovereign . God is sovereign , he is sovereign . His ways are just . He is our heavenly father , but he is also , you know , he is the coming king through the image of Christ . There is so much when you look at them . First four words in Matthew 6 , verse 9 , sorry , not the first four , but where it starts to reference our Father in heaven . So when you look at that , you know we've got 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , and then the 8th , 9th , 10th , 11, . You know them words our Father in heaven , our Father , just froze up . So much in the world of doctrine .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , our Father . I mean , yeah , we could talk more about this , but it's all done through Christ . We must trust in his work alone and as Paul writes in Romans 8 , 15 , you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear , but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba , father . And that's the beauty of of this is that we are adopted as children of God and we've received not the spirit of bondage against fear , but we receive the spirit of adoption . So if we come to the Father and ask him through Jesus Christ , for him to save us , that we are , that we can be saved and born again , he'll bless us with the Holy Spirit and that comforter . It just gives us such assurance , such a blessed hope , that my eternity is sealed forever .
Speaker 1That seal of adoption enables us to cry out to God from from the depths of our heart , as abba to abba , father mark , you've said something really , really important that we are adopted , that we're grafted in and we are going to cut this in 30 seconds . Sisters and brothers , wherever you are , this is the 15 minute , but we've literally just dived in and this is . We're learning something new here . But you know , 15 minutes , mark . We want to thank God for your life . We're out of here . We will continue this on . May God bless you and strengthen you , but call on our Father in Jesus' precious name . Amen , god bless .