Sermons | FBC Boerne
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Sermons | FBC Boerne
Sunday Sermon | Prayer: Approaching the Throne
Drawing from Matthew 6:9-10, Pastor Jason unpacks Jesus' teaching on prayer, revealing how "hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done" forms a unified call for believers to passionately seek revival and God's movement in our world. Through a compelling contrast of Peter's prayer life before and after following Jesus, we see how our prayers naturally expand from self-focused requests to kingdom advancement when we truly understand our role in God's mission.
All right, good morning, church family, good morning. If you're a guest with us, let me welcome you. It is a huge privilege that you are visiting us. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jason Smith, I'm the pastor here and we are really glad that you are here. Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 6. Matthew, chapter 6. Matthew, chapter 6. We're in our second sermon in our new sermon series on prayer. On prayer, Hold your spot in Matthew, chapter 6. We'll come to it in just a second.
Speaker 1:So I came here before my family moved to Bernie. We were in Plainview. It's a small town out in West Texas, in the Panhandle and when I was at when we were in Plainview, I participated in this thing called Leadership Plainview where we went around and we learned about the town and we visited kind of key influential places and met a bunch of people. But one of the coolest things that we got to do the very last stop on our leadership plane view is we got to go to the local airport and one of the guys that was in our leadership plane view took us up in a little prop plane and we got to circle around plane view and just come back down. It was like a 15-minute flight, but it was the first time that I had ever been in like a small little two-engine plane and it was amazing. Okay, it was amazing Like when you fly in commercial planes it's like a hotel is flying through the air and you really don't feel it or anything. When you're in these small little engine planes, you're like in a chair that's just flying through the air and you know you're flying. You're like, oh my goodness, it's just a chair flying. But when I was up there, I'd lived in Plainview for two years and suddenly when we were up there and we circled around, I was allowed to see the city for the first time with a perspective that you just can't get on the ground. You can see, you have a perspective and an understanding of the way that everything is fit together, how it all begins to make sense. It's that saying like finally you can see the forest right instead of just the trees.
Speaker 1:Okay, this morning, as we continue we're going to continue our prayer series You're going to see Jesus is going to take us up and allow us to see with perspective. So last week we zeroed in on approaching God. Okay, as his child covered by the blood of Jesus. A child has complete access to the Father to bring everything, all your full emotions, everything come as you are. Okay, if you are not here, I genuinely urge you to go back and to listen, because the way that we approach God in prayer is fundamental. You come in the name of Jesus. Okay, I also in the prayer series.
Speaker 1:I want to do some practical things, okay. And so last week, the practical thing was to write your prayers down in a journal. Right, write them down Because, again, you don't remember what you had for dinner last night and you are terrible at remembering things you've prayed for. So the other practical, the next practical tool I wanna give you today, this morning, is walk and pray. Okay, walk and pray. Yes, you can go and pray in your prayer closet. Scripture talks about that, but you don't have to only pray in your prayer closet.
Speaker 1:It is very good for me to walk and pray. One, you need to walk. Two, it keeps you awake and attentive. Okay, you don't fall asleep, all right. It keeps your bodies moving, it's active. So it's a practice that my wife and I began back when we were in Plainview, and it is great. It is great to do by yourself, it is great to do with a prayer partner. We love to walk and pray for each of our kids. Right, it's very easy to do together. Put that into practice. It livens so much up. Okay, you can walk and you can look at things. You can pray for your neighborhood. You can prayer, walk your neighborhood, walk and pray, all right.
Speaker 1:So this morning my aim is to be your pilot, okay, to take us above to see how Jesus compels us to see with perspective what God is doing and then invites us to join in. Think about that. Invites you to join in to God's kingdom work, because when you see it, you will simultaneously realize that you are called into it and you will begin to ask God how do you want to use me? So listen as we read Matthew 6, 9, and 10. Jesus teaching his disciples to pray. He says pray then in this way Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Will you pray with me, heavenly Father, as we open your word this morning? It is our prayer that your spirit would compel us, god. Your word, jesus, was so full of encouragement and impact, begging your children to pray, to realize the authority and the task, the ownership that you have given to each of us, as now your sons and daughters and, father, I am certain across this room, so few of us genuinely believe that are genuinely taking hold of that. Father, would you stir us with passion, would you compel us this morning through your spirit? God, if it is just me up here ranting, that won't change anything. But, father, if your spirit gives us a glimpse, through your word, of the power and the importance, the necessity, the calling that you have put on prayer, father, it'll change things. Lives will be changed, communities will be changed, families will be changed, and we pray to that end In Jesus' name. We pray Amen.
Speaker 1:All right, I want you to imagine with me Peter as a fisherman along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, mending his nets before he ever met Jesus. Okay, there he is, he's just Peter. He's not the apostle Peter, he's just Peter, just the local fisherman. And now I want you to imagine his prayer life in that state. Right, I want you to imagine him as a regular guy, that his prayer life is going to be pretty normal, just like yours and mine. I would imagine that he prayed for business that he wanted to pay off some of his debts, maybe get ahead. He probably hoped to save enough so that as he aged he wouldn't have to work as hard. He probably prayed in hopeful expectation of that, and I'm sure he prayed for his wife and his kids. If they ever got sick, if they were ever in any trouble, he would pray for them. I want you to see him as a normal man with a normal prayer life, just like you and me, with a normal prayer life, just like you and me.
Speaker 1:But then Jesus comes along and he says hey, come and follow me and I will make you a fisher of men. And Peter drops everything and begins to follow Jesus. He followed Jesus from town to town. He heard Jesus preach and teach. He saw Jesus heal people. He saw demons cast out. He saw his own mother-in-law healed. He saw someone that was paralyzed, brought in on a stretcher, stand up and walk. Peter was invited up on the Mount Transfiguration and he will see the glory of Jesus. He saw Jesus' death and resurrection. He was there at Pentecost, in the upper room, when the Spirit of God fell upon the church. He's the one that stood up and preached, probably on the Temple Mount steps, where he preached to the masses and 3,000 were saved. Peter got to see Gentiles believe and receive the same Spirit.
Speaker 1:And as he ages, peter has a burning passion for the gospel to continue to spread. He cares deeply for the church. You can read about that in the tone of his letters. Imagine his prayer life now, just before he dies for his faith. I imagine it's quite different. I imagine it's quite different. I imagine it's robust Ten times what his prayer life was like before. He's praying for the gospel to continue to go and to spread and to reach new cities. He has truly become a fisher of men. He's praying for the struggles of the church, those persecuted, those that are suffering. He's praying for leaders and for teachers. He's praying for wisdom to be able to address the problems, the unhealth that he sees. He's rejoicing in victories and ways that he's seen God move and answer his prayers. So let me ask you what is the major difference between where Peter started and where Peter ended Now? If you noticed at the beginning, as we imagined Peter, everything that he prayed for was about himself, his own personal needs, his circumstances, which is fine, it's important, but it's so small. But after Jesus had called him to be his disciple into his kingdom work. After Jesus had invited him into the game, the prayer list became unending and it became vitally important.
Speaker 1:John Piper has a poignant statement or image that he uses about prayer. He said here in the West we have made prayer like those intercoms that were installed in homes in the 80s and you're like upstairs and you buzz your mom to make a PB&J sandwich. Hey, mom, can you cut off the crust? I really don't like the crust.
Speaker 1:But in reality, a healthy view of prayer is that it is a wartime walkie-talkie, a radio that you are in the middle of the battle and you need air support. You are desperate for air support and so you radio into your Father. Father, I need you to come in. I need you to shake things up. I need you to bomb. I need you to protect against the enemy. I need you to come in. I need you to shake things up. I need you to bomb. I need you to protect against the enemy. I need you to move.
Speaker 1:Listen to me, let me back off that illustration just a little. Yes, your father wants you to come to him with everything, with all of your needs, with all of your wants. You are his child. He wants you to come with all of your needs, with all of your wants. You are his child. He wants you to come with all of your life. He wants a relationship with you, but he is also calling you into so much more beloved, into maturity, into his kingdom work.
Speaker 1:In fact, when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, before we ever get to the daily needs, before we even get to confession, jesus begins with hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. Now. Those three prayer requests function together as a unit. Now I know that you haven't used the word hallowed in a sentence this week, so let me help us out. Hallowed comes from the word hallow, which is a verb which means to make holy, to make holy See. The reality is God's name is holy, but the disciple realizes that not everyone sees God's name as holy. Very few people actually see God as holy as he is. To be holy is for God to be seen in his greatness, perfect in all of his ways, that he is the one who reigns above it all, that there is no one like you, god. And so the prayer request is that God's name would be lifted up in lights and that more people would see and behold the way that you lift up your favorite sports team or Taylor Swift, that God's name would be lifted up and people would fawn over him because he is worthy.
Speaker 1:Secondly, the prayer. Secondly, pray that God's kingdom, that his kingdom would come. Now, god's kingdom did come when the son came, when Jesus came. He came bringing the kingdom. But Jesus came inaugurating the kingdom, starting the kingdom. But the kingdom has not come yet in the fullness. In the fullness will be when the son comes the second time. We live in the middle between the inauguration of the kingdom and the fullness coming of the kingdom.
Speaker 1:But Jesus teaches his disciples, his disciples to look around and to beg for God's kingdom to come in, to break through. Right, because you look around, at your family, at your church, at your community, at your nation, and you say, god, we need you to break through. We are hard-hearted, we are stiff-necked people. We need the Spirit of God to come and to move in power and might and to shake things up. God, we need you to move in and to reign. Okay, that's the second request. God, put your name in lights. God, when I look around, I want to see you move. We need you to move.
Speaker 1:And then the third request your will be done is a statement of surrender. Is a statement of surrender? Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he says, not my will, but your will be done. God, you can use me however you wish, because I want to see your name honored, because I have tasted just a little bit and I have declared I have seen and I know that you are together and Jesus is calling his disciples to pray for revival. To pray for revival. God, you move.
Speaker 1:And this prayer, if you can't tell, is a prayer that is supposed to be full of passion. Okay, not the Lord's Prayer as Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom, right, no, no, no. Look, that's a framework. That's literally in the section of scripture where Jesus says do not just say words in a repetitive motion, as if that's doing anything. He's giving you a framework to prayer. And those three things are together a calling of God's people to hit their knees with full passion and full just everything to say God, give us more of you.
Speaker 1:Let me behold your glory, like Moses when he said God, would you show me your glory? That's what Jesus is teaching us to pray, god, would you save my family members, god? Would you save my family members, god? Would you save my coworkers, god? If there's one thing that I could have with my entire God, could I see you move in a way that it can only be described as you? That is the one thing I want. The one thing I want is to see a movement of God where there's no explanation except God showed up. God, would you show me where you were working, where you were moving, so that I can join you Now? I have a question for you. What if, right now, god said to you yes to everything that you have prayed for in the last month, yes to everything, everything written in your prayer journal, yes to it all? How many people would be saved? What sort of movement would we see right here in the church or in our community? Or would it all be personal prosperity and success and status and pleasure? Would it all be spent on you Now?
Speaker 1:Initially you may hear this and you may think that this is overshadowing, that God wants you to pray his passions and his purposes first. But listen to me. In reality, god is calling you into maturity. Into maturity, let's say, you're a struggling entrepreneur who's barely been getting by, and one day you finally have that breakthrough, you sell your shark tank idea for millions. And it happens to be that that same day that your five-year-old son is crying because his favorite toy is broken, and you come home and you share the amazing news that everything is about to change, son, where we live, where you go to school, everything is about to get better, but all he can do is cry about his toy because he lacks the capacity to see outside of his immediate need, beloved.
Speaker 1:So often, our prayers reveal that we lack any spiritual capacity because all we do is ask God to fix our toy. Guys, jesus is calling us into more, into greater spiritual capacity, greater responsibility and adventure, more life. He's calling us into that which really matters, that which is eternal. All right, now let's take it a step further, because I want you to listen to Ephesians, chapter six. Ephesians six, verse 12, look at it, it's on the screen.
Speaker 1:For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. So to be invited into God's mission is also to acknowledge the reality of spiritual warfare, that Satan is the prince of this world who seeks to devour your home and your witness, and he fights against the kingdom of God. Now, I know our culture is so sophisticated and addicted to warm, fuzzy feelings that when you hear me talk about hell and Satan and demons, it sends a shockwave up your spine and you begin to think wait a second, is he fear-mongering? But, friend, the same Bible that teaches you about the love of God that's found in Jesus Christ speaks of these realities also. I beg for you this morning to allow the Bible to shape your reality.
Speaker 1:Have you ever wondered why, early on in Matthew's gospel, why God woke Joseph up in the middle of the night through an angel to give him an urgent warning that they must immediately get up and leave and go to Egypt, because Herod's army is coming and they are about to kill him? I mean, he's the sovereign God of the universe. I mean he's the sovereign God of the universe and this is his son, and we're in the middle of unfolding the eternal plan to save mankind. God couldn't, couldn't he have done, like a lot of other things, to kind of stop this plan in its tracks before it ever happened? Couldn't he have just had Herod fall over dead? Or you know, I don't know, a plague go through the soldiers. Aren't there a million other ways God could have moved? And yet his son's in imminent danger. Yes, this is the reality of spiritual warfare.
Speaker 1:Now, a few weeks ago, we were in daniel, chapter 10, and we were introduced to a very perplexing scene, okay, one that is mystifying to all of us, because we had the curtain pulled back. Just a little bit about spiritual realities, hear me. Clearly, it is very important that we do not overbuild what the Bible intentionally keeps an arm's length away. And yet, when you look at Daniel, chapter 10, here's the scene. If you don't remember, daniel was praying. He began praying and fasting because of the situation of what was going on with Israel and going back to the land, and God had dispatched an angel to come and to give him a word of encouragement and a final vision of what was going to take place. But the angel shows up 21 days into Daniel's praying and fasting. But as the angel declares to Daniel, he says listen, I was dispatched on day one. On day one I was coming. But then the angel tells us but I was prevented because, while I was on my way, because, while I was on my way.
Speaker 1:A high-ranking demon known as the prince of the kingdom of Persia, where Daniel is, prevented him. Okay. The text literally says, stood in his way for 21 days. The angel is coming to Daniel to give a word of encouragement and a final vision. And a demon stood in his way, in fact, until they dispatched for Michael the archangel by the way, he's a bad mamma jamma. When he shows up, right Skulls get cracked, right Things get wrecked. And he showed up and finally freed him. And then he shows up and says all right, I'm here, daniel, I'm here Now. I will encourage you and now I will give you the vision. This is the reality of spiritual warfare and prayer. Now I need to help our thinking for just a second, because I know in your mind you're like. You know what God could do. Whatever he wanted, he could wreck all these fools at once. Yeah, I know he could, but the reality is is he is also unfolding. This is what is going on in the spiritual realm.
Speaker 1:One other scripture reference Ezekiel, chapter 22, verse 30. God is about to bring judgment upon Jerusalem. He's about to allow Babylon to come in and destroy Jerusalem and destroy the temple. But God does not want there to be any question about why this is taking place. God wants his people to know that the destruction that is coming is due to their sin and that this is God's hand of judgment upon his people. He doesn't want there to be any question about that. And then, as God is unfolding this, he makes this incredible statement. It is mind-blowing, and there's also a description of how hopeless the situation has become, because God says I was coming and bringing judgment.
Speaker 1:This was the plan. This was coming, but I searched plan. This was coming, but I searched. I searched to see if there was even one person who was praying on behalf of the city. I searched to see if there was one person who was praying something like God, your kingdom come, god, could you move amongst us? I was looking to see if there's one person who was praying and standing in the gap on behalf of the city, because God was saying I wanted a reason to relent, I wanted an excuse to bring mercy. I didn't even want to bring the judgment that was planned. I wanted to stop, but I didn't find even one. I couldn't find even one person who was willing to stand in the gap.
Speaker 1:The reality of God answering our prayers and responding to us. This is the reality that scripture unfolds. Talk about being invited into kingdom purposes. You say, pastor, why are Christians called to pray in the name of Jesus? Well, there are a number of passages where Jesus comes along and he begins to teach his disciples that this is how we are supposed to pray, and especially in John, chapter 14, 15, and 16. To pray, and especially in John, chapter 14, 15, and 16. Listen to John 14, 13, and 14.
Speaker 1:Whatever you ask in my name that I will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. So there are two things you need to understand about praying in Jesus's name. The first one Jesus's name gives you access to the throne. We focused on this all last week. Right, you don't come in your own name. You don't come in your own merit. It's not because you are worthy. You are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. He makes you his child and his own. So when you pray in Jesus' name, you are acknowledging I don't come because I'm worthy, I'm praying in Jesus' name, jesus's name. But secondly, to pray in Jesus's name is to invoke his authority, like when that angel that was tied up in the Daniel account and he needed to go get Michael because Michael was bigger and badder, right, and he was a higher rank angel. He's like hey, michael, come help. All right, that's the sword of authority. When you pray in Jesus' name, you are invoking his authority. Okay, the throne above all thrones, the king of kings and the Lord of lords.
Speaker 1:Now, one of the clearest examples of this in the scripture is in Acts, chapter 3. In Acts, chapter 3, peter and John are walking into the temple and there is a beggar who has been lame his whole life sitting right there begging for alms on the way in the temple. And they asked Peter and John for money. He asked Peter and John for money, and this is Peter's reply in Acts 3.6. But Peter said I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you In the name of Jesus Christ. The Nazarene, walk In the name of Jesus, get up and walk. And what unfolds in the next chapters of Acts is the apostles standing before the Sanhedrin and saying you don't understand. The reason this man was healed is because of the name of Jesus Christ. It's repeated over and over again. So listen to me.
Speaker 1:When you pray in Jesus' name, believer, you need to pause and seriously contemplate what you are doing, that you are praying in faith, not a magical formula that you tack on to the end of your prayers so that you can get a new pair of shoes. You are invoking the authority of Jesus Christ and his throne, all right. So, in closing, what should this look like for us? What should this look like for us, on a regular basis to pray? First of all, one I want you to notice at the end of the Lord's Prayer, jesus says lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. I want you to notice this is a daily prayer, a daily prayer.
Speaker 1:Fathers, I'm going to speak to you for a moment. I want you to look at me. I want you to hear me as a spiritual head of your home, as one who is called to protect. You need to lead in praying over your family for protection against the enemy and the evil one. Fathers, why does a fisherman bait a hook? You say, oh, to catch a fish, to hide the hook, because no fish would just swim and bite a hook.
Speaker 1:Satan isn't going to attack your family by coming in and saying, hey, do you want to destroy your marriage? Do you want your kids to be depressed and anxious and overly fearful, or care way too much about what other people think? Listen to me, beloved. Pray that God would expose the lies that you and your family are believing. Expose the hooks. Pray that the Holy Spirit would give you discernment to know and to understand what each of your children are believing and how they are being attacked. And then go and find scripture that you're gonna hide in your heart that answers the way you're being attacked. Because if, when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness three times, and if Jesus replied to Satan all three times with scripture as a response to Satan, then, trust me, you need Scripture hidden in your heart that you can say back to your enemy about the ways that you're being tempted and about the ways that you're being attacked. Okay Now do you see the way that praying this and the way that this is going to work itself out and get tentacles? Do you see the way that praying this and the way that this is gonna work itself out and get tentacles? Do you see the way that this could cause your prayer life to really become alive? Secondly, as Jesus said, right, praying for God's kingdom to come and for God's purposes, for you and I to pray.
Speaker 1:God, give me a heart for the things that you care about. Search me, reorient my desires. I am so prone to love the things that benefit me. I am so prone to be addicted to pleasure and my own promotion. I'm so prone. Reorient my desires, god, for what is ultimately important, for what is eternal. God, take hold of my heart, grow me, father, mature me. Demand that I have a passion for your glory. I see it in Scripture. I know it's not in my life. God, give me a passion for your glory. Let me see more of it. Jesus, help me to love people the way that you love people, with my words, with my actions, with my thoughts.
Speaker 1:Father, would you give me eyes to see, to see where you are moving and what that looks like? Would you captivate me? Would you captivate me with where the kingdom is breaking through? Would you allow me to see it? I want to see it and then, god, I want to join it. I will go to where you are moving. I want to join you. God, would you allow me to see that, the experiences that you've given me, that the passions that I have, that, the giftings that I. Will you allow me to see how that fits into your kingdom work, god, could you use me, god? Could you use me, god, when I look over this city, when I look over our church, when I look over my own family? Jesus, could you give me a passion for how you want to move Jesus? If I saw it, for how you want to move Jesus, if I saw it, if you stirred my heart, I would beg you for it and I would chase it. Would you allow me to see how you want to move in this city?
Speaker 1:Believer, believer, believer. There are things that God wants to do in your life that will not happen any other way than you getting passionate and begging the Lord in prayer. And five minutes isn't gonna do it. Did you hear me? There are things God wants to accomplish, is willing to accomplish, through you in your life, but you're going to have to pray and church. There is a movement of God that he wants to accomplish here, but it'll only come when we get desperate in prayer.
Speaker 1:Will you pray with me, heavenly Father? Give us a heartbeat for you, above above even our own personal interests. Allow us to see you moving. Father, again I pray. I hope every child here knows and understands it is not because you are not interested in our own personal life, in our own cares. You are. You are our Father, but you are calling us upward to more. Help us to see that In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Church family, the praise team is going to come and lead us in one, maybe two songs. I went a little long, but this is a time again for you to respond. Respond to whatever the Spirit of God is stirring in you as we worship, as we pray together. We'll have ministers down here at the front who would love to pray with you. Whatever the Spirit of God has spoken to you, you be obedient and respond.