Red Letters - Prayer And Fasting

Why do we pray? Why do we fast? In Matthew 6 Jesus strips away every layer of performance and invites us into a family conversation with the Father. Pastor Scott Wiens unpacks this potent passage by contrasting two identities: boarder and child.

A boarder treats God like a landlord—pay the rent of good behavior, expect prompt service on life’s leaky faucets. When prayers go unanswered, resentment bubbles up and faith erodes. Jesus warns that this transactional mindset leads only to fleeting human applause: you’ve “received your reward” already.

A child, however, belongs by birthright. Children don’t schedule an audience with Dad; they barge in, confident of love. Scott illustrates this with a vivid image: only a child wakes a king at 3 a.m. for a cup of water. That’s the access Jesus grants when He teaches us to begin, “Our Father.” The Lord’s Prayer then reshapes priorities—honor God’s name, seek His kingdom, trust Him for today’s bread, release and receive forgiveness, rely on His protection.

Prayer’s sibling discipline, fasting, suffers the same performance trap. In Jesus’ day people disfigured their faces to telegraph how spiritual they were. Today we’re tempted to do the digital equivalent. Jesus counters: wash your face, smile, keep it between you and Dad. Fasting becomes an inward hunger for God, not an outward badge of piety.

Key takeaways Scott covers:

• Secret place > public stage – Real reward happens where only God sees.
• Simplicity > verbosity – Fancy words don’t bend God’s will; honest words bend ours to His.
• Identity > transaction – Romans 8 says the Spirit of adoption makes us cry “Abba.” Prayer is family talk, not rent negotiation.

Scott ends with the gentle story of an elderly man who set an empty chair for Jesus during prayer; when he died, his head rested on that chair—picture of perfect trust.

Press play to let these truths recalibrate how you approach God this week. Then share the message with someone who needs to trade performance for peace.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Chapters

• 0:00 Defining Righteousness
• 4:56 Jesus Challenges Public Prayer
• 12:31 Praying as Children, Not Boarders
• 19:07 The Lord's Prayer and Our Identity
• 28:31 Forgiveness and Our Relationship with God
• 37:32 Fasting in Secret and the Empty Chair Story

Transcript

Scott Wiens: 0:04

So I'm going to begin the sermon this morning by asking you a question, and the question is fairly simple. I want to ask you to think about somebody that you know, that you consider a true follower of Jesus, someone that you would consider a righteous person. Someone you know, not someone in the past, someone you would know Now. Don't put your hand on anybody or don't high-five somebody, but I want you to seriously think about that person, get their face in your mind. Okay. Now I want you to ask yourself a question why do you consider that person righteous? Why do you consider that person righteous? Why do you consider them righteous? Is it because of the way they live their life? Is it maybe because of how they've interacted with you over the years? Is it maybe because you happen to know a little bit about their relationship with God? Why are they righteous? Now, the reason I wanted you to go through this exercise is it's really it's applicable to what we're going to talk about today. In the scripture that we're going to cover, jesus is challenging his disciples and their definition of righteousness, and I wanted each of us to think about that because it's really important how we measure righteousness. It is important because you see how we define righteousness is going to be how we pursue righteousness right. So your model is very important. So I just want to read the text for today. We're in Matthew, chapter 6, beginning in verse 5. We're going to go through verse 18. Matthew 6, verse 5 through 18.

Scott Wiens: 1:52

Verse 5, and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Don't be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray like this then our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Scott Wiens: 2:42

Verse 11,. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your faith that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father, who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Scott Wiens: 3:34

Let's pray, father. We thank you for this passage of Scripture, jesus. We thank you for this amazing teaching, for these words that have lasted these thousands of years and how we read them afresh today. Father, as we go through this passage and as we examine ourselves and what our definition of righteousness is, god, I pray that you would work with each one of our hearts. I pray that you would help us to dare to be vulnerable to you this morning, that we would dare to lay ourselves before you with humility and to learn anew sometime for some. Learn anew what you were talking to us about, what true righteousness means. Father, we pray this in the name of Jesus, amen. True righteousness means Father. We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.

Scott Wiens: 4:26

Well, we've come to sermon number five in our series that we've called Red Letters, in which we're walking through the most famous sermon Jesus ever gave, the Sermon on the Mount. And today we're going to look specifically at what Jesus teaches his disciples about two things prayer and fasting. Now I hope that through this we're going to see how this passage Jesus was teaching them, not only about how to pray and how to fast, but rather how their identity as a child of God informs both of those disciplines. So let's first get into the context. So if you're new here, if you haven't been here before, maybe you're catching up. We're in this sermon series we're covering on again called Red Letters, and we're talking about this famous Sermon on the Mount. Now, by the way, we had a great Kelly really gave us a good foundation for this whole series and this Sermon on the Mount.

Scott Wiens: 5:22

It does say that he was addressing his disciples, although some people think it was a whole group of people. It really doesn't matter. The reality was he was talking about some very core truths regarding what we as Christians and how we should live our lives. But, beginning in chapter 6, we're seeing Jesus addressing three specific religious activities, three very specific ones giving, praying and fasting. Okay, now it's interesting as he deals with these, all three of these, he uses a very similar technique, and that is the first thing he says is this is how not to do it, and he's using examples that they would definitely know They'd definitely seen right. And then he says this is how you should do it. And he's using examples that they would definitely know they had definitely seen right. And then he says this is how you should do it. All right, because he wanted to help them understand that the religious leaders were doing it a certain way, but the real issue was their motivation, it was their heart, and that's really important.

Scott Wiens: 6:21

And last week, tyler kind of kicked off this section of it by talking about giving and how we, as Christians, should approach the whole concept of giving, and he outlined the truth that practicing our righteousness isn't about earning it, but living like you've received a free gift and how we give that to others. It was really great and we're really going to kind of tie into this because it's all the same context. Right, and Jesus now continues to teach his disciples in the second part of chapter six by addressing now prayer and fasting, and so this is really good. So let's first tackle the concept of prayer. Now, as Jesus did with regards to the act of giving, he now talks about what's the wrong way to do it, and I love this. So, in part of doing it wrong, he says they're doing it wrong in two specific ways, and the first one was this public prayer, this inappropriate public prayer that they were going through.

Scott Wiens: 7:15

So in verse 5 of chapter 6, it says and when you pray, by the way, we should pray, right, he says when, not if you pray. When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say, they've received their reward. Now you have to understand the audience here, these disciples. They would have witnessed this their whole life. I mean, they would have seen this all the time the Pharisees standing on street corners praying, then the synagogues praying loudly. And, by the way, they weren't leading others in prayer, right, they were just praying themselves. It's like if suddenly, you know, kelly, were to stand up and just say and so I start praying loudly for everybody to hear him talking to God, not representing us, but just him and God. That would kind of be a little weird, but there, for their culture, that was commonplace, that's what they saw their whole life.

Scott Wiens: 8:15

And, by the way, he doesn't here mention the scribes and Pharisees. He uses that wonderful term. We love hypocrites, hypocrites, but we know pretty much the audience, because these were the dudes that stood in street corners and in Matthew 23, he literally calls them out as scribes and Pharisees. You hypocrites, you hypocrites. And, by the way, just so you get the concept, they literally would find a busy street corner, not a side street somewhere. They would find a street corner so they could see them from all four directions and then they'd start going in. Can you imagine going up to a street corner and go oh, here, this is the Pharisee prayer corner and have four or five of these dudes, just you know, praying and going like this, like this la la, la, la, la la. That's what they did and that was considered righteous.

Scott Wiens: 9:07

And it's interesting because their focus was not above but it was below. Now you might say, okay, I understand what you mean by not above, but what do you mean by below. Trust me, these scribes and Pharisees looked at anyone else as below them. That's the way they viewed them. They wanted the lowly people, these people that weren't like them, to acknowledge their piety and their righteousness. That's what they wanted. They weren't focusing on God, they were focusing on letting people see who I am. So I love when Jesus said they've received their reward. They've received their reward. Why? Because really, whether they knew it or not, their heart wasn't to gain anything, to draw closer to God. It was to be patted on the back and said yes, you are righteous. They were looking at it from the wrong place.

Scott Wiens: 10:17

Now he follows up this description about the wrong way to pray, this whole public prayer, versus how we are supposed to pray. In verse 6, he said but when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. The most important thing you can pull out of here is this whole concept of a secret. He doesn't say privately, he says in secret, which of course kind of means the same thing. But I think it's interesting. He doesn't say privately, he says in secret, which of course kind of means the same thing, but I think it's interesting. He says and your father, who sees in secret. I really stopped and spent time looking at that and trying to understand that a little bit more. And some translations actually say and your father, who is in secret? He is in secret. Okay, that changes a little bit when you think about that. What's that mean?

Scott Wiens: 11:10

I think Jesus is basically saying that God the Father, is there with you in secret. He's not on that street corner. He's listening to you, not them. He's listening to you. That's where God is. That's where you'll, not them. He's listening to you. That's where God is. That's where you'll find God. Not in anybody else's hearing, but you'll find him in your prayer closet or you'll find him in your chair. I shouldn't brag about that. I got three acres now and I can sit out there with the chickens and I can pray and it's really cool. The chickens don't know I'm praying, by the way, so it's not the same as a Pharisee, by the way, but that's where he is. He's where you are and it's in secret because it's between you and him, and I just think that's so beautiful.

Scott Wiens: 12:06

Jesus is saying that God is with those who pray privately and is listening to those prayers. And, by the way, let me just make it clear and this is really important, you understand this. He's not saying there's not a place for corporate prayer in the church. We corporately pray all the time. We did this this morning. We do it. For those of you who don't know that, don't volunteer. We spend about 10 minutes praying with everybody before the service at 915. Out here in the lobby, we pray together and different people pray. Well, that's different. That's corporate prayer. You're actually praying with everyone else. So that's not what he's talking about here. There's a time and a place for that. But our primary time of prayer should be with God in private.

Scott Wiens: 12:50

The principle Jesus is teaching us is that prayer is an intimate communication between us and God. You know, nobody in the sanctuary knows how long or how often anybody else prays. You know, I have no idea how long Chad prays or when he prays. I don't know and I'm not supposed to know, because that's between him and God. Now, if you're married, yes, you're going to know roughly what your prayer life is for your, of your spouse, right, but that's different.

Scott Wiens: 13:20

But it's this, it's this intimacy that you have and this conversation that you should only have with God. You know my wife and I we have. I can talk to my wife about everything and anything, and there's things I will tell her. I will never have those conversations with anybody else. I mean we leave church and we gossip about all you guys. I mean nobody else needs to know that. No, we don't. We only gossip about the scribes and Pharisees, but nobody else is going to have a part of those. My fears, my hopes, my dreams, the challenges I have, those are with her and I. You don't have those conversations with everybody else. That's why sometimes in group prayer you will hear somebody say some things You're like that should be for you and God alone. Right, let's use a little discretion there, right, but that's what it's supposed to be.

Scott Wiens: 14:14

And Jesus is saying you cannot have this type of intimate relationship with him. If your heart is searching after the accolades of other people, you just can't. And that's why you want to get real, get alone with God, and you will find out really quickly where your relationship is. Will you have anything to say? What were you willing to talk to him about? And isn't it amazing that we have God, the Father, this great being, the Almighty God, that wants to talk to you and wants you to talk to him. I mean, we don't understand how amazing that is. We just don't understand how amazing it is. So he's realigning the subject of prayer, he's realigning his disciples' definition of it and he's saying don't let me find you on a street corner, unless you're preaching. You can preach on a street corner, but your prayer time is with him and his alone, and that's important.

Scott Wiens: 15:17

Now, second thing about prayer that he corrects is this excessive words, and this is interesting. In verse 7 he says and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Now I just want to confirm something here. Some translations actually say pagans and we throw the term pagan out all the time. It's not all the time, but you know I'm not a pagan, where oftentimes we're referring to somebody who doesn't believe in God. That's not what he's talking about. These Gentiles, these quote pagans. They were very religious people. They had many gods. In fact, pantheism was very prevalent in the Gentiles right. So you have to understand these were very religious people and he was saying when they pray, this is what they're doing.

Scott Wiens: 16:05

He's calling out the fact that these people had this mindset that God would eventually have to acquiesce and respond to them if they prayed loudly and long enough. Anybody see a problem with that? Yeah, it's pretty evident, right? In essence, they thought they could control God. They could control God, they just had to be eloquent and they just had to use lots of phrases and lots of words. That's what they thought he says. In its interest.

Scott Wiens: 16:43

He says for your father. He says don't do this, by the way, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. So if we've got any legalists out here, you can say well, then I don't really have to pray, do I? Yeah, that's right. You don't have to talk to your wife either? Right? I don't think so. It's not what he's right? You don't have to talk to your wife either? Right? I don't think so. It's not what he's saying. We need to understand that.

Scott Wiens: 17:09

Why he said not to jump to that radical conclusion and why we shouldn't jump to that, is that God wants us to talk to him. He wants us to have that relationship with him and he wants us to make that request. But we have to make sure that we aren't going after God with the desire to change his heart or change his mind, or we're going to somehow mold his thinking to fall in line with us, because, after all, we know what the right thing is right. You ever prayed for something and later on said God, thank you for not letting me get that. Yeah, it's really true. I remember praying. I was in love with somebody when I was 19 and I 18, I thought I prayed God, this is the person, this is for me. Thank you, god. Thank you, god that I did not get what I wanted.

Scott Wiens: 18:06

The reality is he's teaching the disciples that their prayers should not be focused on trying to remind or control God with his words. Their words aren't. It's not the purpose. He is saying God knows all. God is sovereign. He's reminding the disciples of the sovereignty of God and we have to be reminded of that often as well of the sovereignty of God, and we have to be reminded of that often as well. But you need to understand we don't pray with an attitude of bending God to our will. But, as a child, you're laying your requests before God. You're expressing those requests to Him with the understanding that God will always do what's best for you and to glorify Him. That is the purpose, and his answers to our prayers are always good, although they're not always answered. And again, if you've been walking with the Lord for a while, you'll understand that. You understand that. Now he goes into the instructions of how they should pray and he actually gives them words In verse 9 through 13,.

Scott Wiens: 19:13

We see this teaching that we've called the Lord's Prayer In fact, as I was reading it, a lot of you were probably just reciting it and this is found also in Luke, chapter 11, and they're the most memorized words of Jesus. Right, and many times, by the way, we read the Lord's Prayer and we're reading it out of context. You see, he's teaching, right, he's teaching on how to pray and he's teaching how not to pray. And he says so I'm going to give you some guidance on how you're supposed to pray. And then he goes into this section. Right, he goes into this model. But a lot of times we forget that that's the context of what he's doing here. You know, he just called out the abuse of prayer and then he taught that prayer is an outflowing of a relationship with God. Right, and now, here we have these amazing words.

Scott Wiens: 20:03

Now, I don't have time to go through everything in the Lord's Prayer, because it deserves 10 sermons all of its own right. That's not the purpose of this message, but I want to focus on one simple thing, and that is how he instructed the disciples to address God, and this is going to be a key for everything we talk about today. You know Jesus in his ministry and we read in the words. So often he refers to the Father. The Father and I are one. I do nothing except the Father tells me right, he always is referring to the Father, and that's really important. But he's now telling the disciples I want you guys to address God as a Father as well. Now, why is he doing that? Well, I heard a great sermon one time and the teacher used a metaphor that I'm going to steal from him because it's so good to help you understand, and it's an analogy that will help you be able to apply why we pray to God as a father.

Scott Wiens: 21:15

In this message, the teacher stated there's two primary ways in which people interact with God. One is as a boarder in his house and one is as a child. Okay, now let's kind of explore that. When someone's renting a room, a boarder is somebody who rents a room from somebody in a house, right? I don't know if anybody here has ever had a boarder in their house. I had an Airbnb for a long time, but it was a separate apartment, right? So it was still mine, but I didn't interact. Sometimes people would come and go. I would never see them, right? But somebody who's boarding in your house a boarding house they're actually renting a room from you, right? So that's the first concept we're going to focus on. So when someone's a boarder, they actually have a business relationship with you, don't they, right? I mean, and it's conditional, okay, I'm going to pay you $100 a week to rent that room, and from that I expect, number one, to have access to the bathroom. I want access to the laundry at least one hour every week. I want to be able to make sure the lights should be gone. There should be water available when I need it, right? There's expectations that come from that. A boarder expects the homeowner will do certain things for them. Now, keep that in mind.

Scott Wiens: 22:38

Let's talk about a child In that same house. You have a child and that child lives with the homeowner, right? Which, of course, would be their parents, but the child has an entirely different relationship with their parents than the boarder does. Their relationship with their father is not one of expectation, meaning you do this, I expect you to do this, I expect you to do this. No, that's not what it is. It's one of reliance and trust. Their relationship is not conditional. The relationship with the father, the homeowner, is not a conditional relationship. They love them. The father loves the child. They trust them. They're there in that home because they are part of the family and it's expected that they would be in the home. They don't pay anything, although once you graduate from high school and you're still with your parents, you should pay them something. That's another sermon, right, tyler? He dropped his water. Levi took a deep drink. I don't know what that means. I didn't mean to bring anything up. I'm sorry, but you get the idea right A child they live there that's. There's an expectation of love and acceptance.

Scott Wiens: 24:02

Now, if you look at this, it's a familial relationship. So if you look at this and compare the two from a mindset standpoint and you apply it to prayer, you're going to see how this really changes how you pray and how you interact with the Father. So, for instance, if you were a boarder, if you were a boarder, could you go to the homeowner and just start telling them how difficult things are going in your life and how the relationship with your girlfriend has gone bad, or talk about your fears about losing your job because of layoffs and things? Would you go to the homeowner about that if you were a boarder? No, in fact, some boarders excuse me, some people who actually have boarders in their house say that one of the most difficult things they have to do is not get too close to their borders. Anybody want to guess why? Because eventually it's going to happen. They're going to come to you and say I can't pay my rent because my life is this and it's harder to say no and keep it a business relationship. Right, they don't want to do that because it's a business relationship.

Scott Wiens: 25:15

If you're a border, would you approach your homeowner and share your fears, your life dreams? No, it's not. Would you wake up the homeowner at 3 in the morning and ask for a glass of water? I don't think so. You could, but you might not be boarding there for long. No, you couldn't do that Because it would be a violation of a natural understanding of the relationship between the homeowner and the boarder. However, when you think about that.

Scott Wiens: 25:50

As a child, it's a totally different thing. It's a totally different thing. Child, it's a totally different thing. It's a totally different thing. The problem is, whereas a child is receiving from their father love, acceptance, provision, guidance, encouragement, forgiveness, they're receiving all that. You go to the before the Lord and that's what you accept. But if you're a border and you start praying to God like you're a border, that's what you accept, but if you're a border and you start praying to God like you're a border, this is where the problems start to come up.

Scott Wiens: 26:24

And if you want to do a little test of whether you have the heart of a border or the heart of a child when it comes to prayer, let me just throw a few things out there. Let's look at asking God for things. Do you believe that God is going to be more inclined to answer your prayers? If you've been good, if you've been praying and if you've been fighting temptation and you've been studying God's word, do you have an expectation in your heart that God's going to listen a little bit more clearly to you than the guy over there? That's not See. If you do, you're looking at God like he's the homeowner and you're boarding with him because you basically said I've done this. Them Because you basically said I've done this. Therefore, god, you must do this.

Scott Wiens: 27:26

You see the problem with that and, guys, this can slip in really, really subtly into our lives, and I've told you many times from stage how I came from a church that was very legalistic, and there's times I feel this come up in me, especially when I'm praying for somebody who's sick. God, this person is a righteous person. They love you, they serve you. Please take this away from them because, after all, they're doing good things for you. I'm going to make a deal with you, god here. Come on, look, he's doing good things. Come on, wait a second. I'm walking into a business relationship with God. God, because this person's done this, you should do this, and suddenly I'm making a deal with God, and that's not the way it works. That's not the way it works. That's not the way it works.

Scott Wiens: 28:22

Another way, by the way, is how do we respond to God's answers To our prayers? If you have a border mentality and God does not answer the prayers the way you wanted them to answer? Well, sometimes you can get angry. If you find yourself getting angry or depressed because God didn't answer your prayers the way you wanted him to. You might have a border mentality Because after all, god, we had a deal. We had a deal. We had a deal, I was going to do good and you were going to give good things to me. I had this illustrated to me in a very, very sad way and I've used this example before, so if you've heard this before, forgive me, but it was so poignant example before. So if you've heard this before, forgive me, but it was so poignant.

Scott Wiens: 29:17

I worked with a man in Florida and he was actually my boss, and when I came to know him, I did not know him to be a Christian. In fact, at that moment, about two or three years before I'd been called back to the Lord. So I was going through a real spiritual renewal at the time. But he was a crude man, cussed all the time, inappropriate jokes, all that stuff. And I was talking to him one time and I happened to express my faith and he said you know, I used to be a children's pastor. I said you, I tried not to be too. You. He said yeah. He said my wife and I were having our children then and my wife got pregnant with twins and she had a difficult pregnancy. The twins were born premature and they both died and I thought I can't serve a God that would take away my twins. After all, I'd been doing for him and following him.

Scott Wiens: 30:31

You see the border mentality there. God, I'd done all these things for you and you wouldn't even heal my children. Now, brethren, I want you to understand I'm not casting a stone at this man, I'm not judging this man. I have never gone through this. I've never, and pray, I never will have to. But you and I both know people in this congregation that have lost loved ones, that expressed it and responded as a child of God. I don't know why that happened and, by the way, I pray that there will be a day that he will come back to the Lord. His story's not done yet. Right, it's not done yet, but that mentality will cause you deep, deep anger and I bet if I asked you how many people have heard stories like that, a lot of hands would go up, because, unfortunately, religion will tell you that that's the relationship with God that you're supposed to have you be good, god's going to do good to you. If you're bad, god's going to come after you and that will destroy your relationship with God Because you're going to run into walls. You're going to run into walls.

Scott Wiens: 31:54

A mature son or daughter trusts that the parent indeed has their best interest at heart and will accept God's answers to their prayers. You know, scripture tells us that when we were born again, we all became sons and daughters of God. I know we don't understand that to its fullest. We're adopted, you know Jesus' begotten son. We're the adopted children and we've preached this message or we've used this Scripture before, but in Romans 8, it's nowhere else in the Bible stated so clearly by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8, verse 14 through 16.

Scott Wiens: 32:40

For all who are led by the Spirit of God, you and I are sons of God or daughters of God. Right, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba, father. You've all heard sermons about this. Abba is the most intimate of terms. The Spirit himself bears witness, with our spirit, that we are children of God and if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him, and part of that suffering with Christ, by the way, I believe, is laying down our selfish desires, our selfish desire to kind of tell God. This is what you have to do, and just accepting what he, what he, gives us, and trusting him.

Scott Wiens: 33:41

King David and it was, it was interesting Evan quoted part of Psalm 103 today. King David said this in Psalm 103, 13,. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. You and I are not borders in the house of God, the kingdom of God. We're family. We're family. The only person that can interrupt a king at three in the morning to ask for a cup of water is a child. You think God is bothered by you, is irritated by you interpreting, and you know, interrupting him. No, we can go to him for a cup of water or we can go to him with a broken heart. He accepts it all. If you embrace this, this heart of a child, your prayers will change. Your prayers will change.

Scott Wiens: 34:47

I want to address on the way here I was praying. I have a longer drive, so I get to pray more. On the way here I was praying. I have a longer drive, so I get to pray more on the way here and one of the parts of the Lord's Prayer I didn't have really time to go into. But I want to address something I just felt like the Lord wanted me to say something quick about forgiveness.

Scott Wiens: 35:08

In verse 12 he says and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors, right. And then in verse 14 he kind of expounds on that. It says for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Does that sound like a business relationship to you? It kind of does, doesn't it? Does that sound like a business relationship to you? It kind of does, doesn't it? And I've always not liked the way that was phrased Because, coming from a legalistic standpoint, that was just like sugar to a baby. I wanted that. Yeah, see here, if I don't forgive, god's not going to forgive me. Hmm, I think we have the cart before the horse.

Scott Wiens: 35:57

This is a misinterpretation when people say that they are misinterpreting what God's saying here. I'll tell you what God's saying here. If you truly are forgiven and you have repented of your sins and given your life to Christ, you will be someone who forgives, you will be. Someone forgives. And God's simply saying that's the deal. There ain't no deal from you do this, I'll do this. He's simply saying if you're not forgiving, then you're not one of mine.

Scott Wiens: 36:38

And as I was praying for that and that hit me, I just thought well, maybe someone needs to hear that. Do you have unforgiveness somewhere? You have unforgiveness in somewhere in your heart. Maybe you don't say I'm never going to forgive that person, but anytime that person's face comes to your head, you get angry and you get bitter. That's unforgiveness. And I'll tell you when you run into that and you think about that person.

Scott Wiens: 37:01

Here's what you need to do. You need to play back all the sins that you've committed in your life and all the terrible things you've thought and all the terrible things you've done, and realize that God sent his son to hang on a cross for you to be forgiven of that. Who are you not to forgive others? Who are you not to forgive others? So if that's for you, then that's for all of us. But just think about that man. What a forgiving Savior we have. Who are we not to forgive?

Scott Wiens: 37:32

Okay, let's talk about fasting. Anybody hungry? I'm not going to spend a lot of time on fasting. I have a minute and a half left. Everybody's like good, he's not going to talk about fasting, but I am going to tell you about Kelly's sermon, so you have to watch it again Matthew 6, 16 through 18. But he's like good. He's not going to talk about fasting, but I am going to tell you about Kelly's sermon, so you have to watch it again, buddy, matthew 6, 16 through 18.

Scott Wiens: 37:56

He says, when you fast again, when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they just figure their faces that they may be fasting, may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. Again, he's resetting their perspective on what holiness is right and what righteousness is right. So he says this if you fast. Of course we know that he's saying, obviously, that fasting truly is an expression of our relationship with God. So he's grouping us in with prayer and it's important that we understand fasting is not to lose weight. Fasting is truly to draw close. It's an expression of your relationship with God. And he's talking again about the hypocrites and how they respond. They want to make sure everybody's fasting. By the way, if you're fasting, don't tell anybody you're fasting, just fast Now. Maybe it's you know, someone wants you to come over for a meal or whatever. I mean you can come up with an excuse or whatever, but you don't normally tell people that you're fasting. Right, they wanted everybody to know that they were fasting. But then he says how should you fast? And in the same verse, the same section, he says in verse 17,. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father here's that phrase who is in secret, he's there, he's waiting for you, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. Basically, anointing and washing your face means you just act like everything's normal. That's what you're supposed to do. Just keep going about your business. Just don't go buy a salseritas. Just keep going about your business. Just don't go buy a salseritas right Now.

Scott Wiens: 39:38

I don't have time, of course, to go into all this thing about fasting, and I wanted to reference Kelly's message from back in March. It was great, one of the best messages I've heard on fasting, and I think, yeah, we got full but not satisfied how fasting brings a kingdom. That's a great sermon and he covered all that. I simply want to point out that Jesus was instructing the disciples that fasting was not about performance. Not about performance. It's about being a child of God and relying on God and seeking God. That's what fasting is about. Okay, so there's a theme running through this whole thing and it's this theme of a child. Now I want to finish up with something I don't normally finish up a sermon with, and that's a story, but I thought this story was very pertinent. So we've spent time. We understand that we should be children of God. We should have the heart of God when it comes heart of a child when it comes to our approach to God, and it's going to manifest inside of us. We have this heart of a child. It's going to manifest inside of us to how we pray and how we fast and how we respond to God when he responds to us. Okay, so that's what we've talked about today, but I came across this story that I think is a beautiful example of reliance and trust in God and having a child's heart, so I'm just going to read it.

Scott Wiens: 41:02

A man's daughter had asked the local pastor to come and pray with her father. When the pastor arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up in two pillows and an empty chair beside his bed. The pastor assumed the old fellow had been informed that he was going to visit. I guess you were expecting me. The pastor said no. The man said who are you? Well, he said I'm the new associate pastor at your local church. When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up. Oh yeah, the chair, said the bedridden man, would you mind closing the door? Puzzled. The pastor, shut the door. I never told anyone this, not even my daughter.

Scott Wiens: 41:45

The man continued but all my life I've never known how to pray At church. I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it always went right over my head and I've always struggled with praying Until one day, about four years ago, my best friend said to me Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here's what I suggest Sit down on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you and, in faith, see Jesus on that chair. It's not spooky, because he promised I'll be with you always. Then just speak to him and listen in the same way that you're doing with me right now. So I tried and I liked it so much that I could do it a couple hours every day. He said I'm careful, though, if my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me to the funny farm. The pastor was deeply moved by the story and he encouraged the old man to continue on that journey and he prayed for them and he returned to church.

Scott Wiens: 42:49

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the pastor that her daddy had died that afternoon. Did he seem to die in peace? The pastor asked yes. When I left the house around two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me one of his corny dad jokes and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something kind of strange. In fact, it was beyond strange. It was kind of weird. Apparently, just before, just before daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed on the chair beside the bed.

Scott Wiens: 43:33

Do you know? That's what God wants you to do. He wants you to rest your head on his lap. That's the relationship he wants with you and he wants with me. Why? Because he loves us and he's called us.

Scott Wiens: 43:52

There are some people that may have never experienced that relationship with God before. And if you're one of them, that's what awaits you. That's what awaits you A loving father who wants to embrace you, not in some border concept, but as a child. He's literally calling you out and he wants you to follow him. And that's what you have. That's what you have in front of you. It requires you to turn your back on your old life. It requires you to repent of your sins and realize that without him I'm lost. But man, to have that type of relationship with a God that you get to spend eternity with, there's nothing that's worth holding on to. So if you're one of those people, we'd love to pray with you after the service, right down front, here you can join us. Will you all stand and let's pray Amen, oh Heavenly Father.

Scott Wiens: 44:59

How often we approach your throne with that phrase, heavenly Father, and how appropriate it is, father, to think that the God who created man and created this universe and all its complexity, the God that created all that wants to hold us in his bosom, is unfathomable.

Scott Wiens: 45:22

Father, I pray that everyone in this room that you would give us the heart of a child. So, when we pray and when we fast and when we come before you, that we know that you're not just accepting us and allowing us to bow at your throne like some great king that you are, but you want to embrace us as well. Father, give us the heart of a child, that we can embrace you as the Father who offers us everything. We pray this, and I pray for the hearts of those that are struggling with this, god. I pray that you would show them your mercy and your love in a deep and binding way and help us to never forget that love and just what you've given us, which we can never put a value on. It's just immeasurable. So I pray for them, pray for all of us, father, that we may have the heart of a child, and we ask this in Jesus' most holy name, amen.