SPEAKER_00: If I were to ask what you thought was the primary purpose of prayer, what thoughts come to your mind?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what is God trying to do when he asks us to pray?
SPEAKER_00: Does prayer have a purpose in mind in your life?
SPEAKER_00: I want to propose to you that the very purpose of prayer is to build our relationship with God and to seek his will.
SPEAKER_00: To build our relationship to God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that may sound a little strange that, you know, well, Brother Josh, don't we go to in prayer and ask for God to help us?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do that.
SPEAKER_00: But what is the primary purpose of prayer in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: It is to build our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how do we do that?
SPEAKER_00: So when you think about mine and your relationship with God, God is perfect, huh?
SPEAKER_00: That everything He does is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: His word is perfect, His Son is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: So one of the primary purposes of prayer is to help transform you and I and change us to help us be in a better relationship with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because usually you and I are the ones that are at fault.
SPEAKER_00: Usually our relationship is out of sync because of something you and I have done.
SPEAKER_00: Well, where are we going with this?
SPEAKER_00: I want to turn your attention in Matthew chapter 6 to what is referred to as the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We started here a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: We took last Sunday off and looked at the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to point out that, you know, there are things in the scriptures that distinctly teach us things.
SPEAKER_00: How to.
SPEAKER_00: You know, somebody might look at the life of Daniel and think, well, here is a recipe for how a righteous man ought to live, a one, two, three step.
SPEAKER_00: And actually it's not.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if you look at the life of Daniel, he was a godly and a faithful man.
SPEAKER_00: But we're not supposed to just take that and say, all right, well, I'm supposed to do X, Y, Z and 1, 2, 3 and do everything exactly like Daniel did.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel was trying to glorify the Lord, and the Lord was transforming Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a recipe for how we live.
SPEAKER_00: He's just an example of faithfulness in the Bible, and a wonderful example of faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: But my point is that when you have something here like the quote-unquote Lord's Prayer, Christ is actually showing us, one, two, three, how we are supposed to pray.
SPEAKER_00: He's showing us the elements that are supposed to be in our prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And this Lord's prayer is actually not Christ's prayer.
SPEAKER_00: He's teaching us how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to propose to you this morning that this is an example in the scriptures of things that are supposed to actually be in our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: But again, what is the purpose of prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Is it so that you and I can get all of our wants and desires and needs met?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: The very purpose of prayer is to transform you and I and make us more like God, to conform us to the image of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So we read in Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Christ tells us, after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 14 to 15.
SPEAKER_00: Christ says, For if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
SPEAKER_00: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to first notice about this model prayer, where the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching you and I how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: He's literally telling us these are the components that should be in your prayer.
SPEAKER_00: He's giving us a one, two, three-step kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: But I also want you to notice that this prayer is not long.
SPEAKER_00: Have y'all ever felt that, well, the Lord doesn't hear my prayers because I don't pray really well, or my prayers aren't long, or my prayers aren't extremely well worded.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all see how short this prayer is?
SPEAKER_00: That it's not long.
SPEAKER_00: But it's to the point.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord wants us to be sincere in our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: But let's look at the actual things that Christ told us about or taught us how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: So he actually tells us in verse 9, after this manner, therefore pray ye.
SPEAKER_00: And then he tells us these words our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: So in prayer, Christ starts out with a focus on the Father.
SPEAKER_00: That's very different sometimes from how I pray that the Lord, I uh I've got something going on in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I have a financial problem or I'm struggling with sin or whatever that is.
SPEAKER_00: And we go to the Lord in prayer seeking his help.
SPEAKER_00: And we go to him almost in kind of a desperate mindset that, Lord, I this week's been terrible, it's been difficult, and I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: And wait a minute, stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: Our prayers shouldn't start like that.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Why shouldn't our prayers not start like that?
SPEAKER_00: Because our focus is in the wrong place.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not I'm not telling you this by way of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: What I want to show you this morning is something that Christ is trying to teach us because he's actually telling us the way in which to pray, and there's a reason why he wants us to pray this way.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I want you to see is our prayers are supposed to start out with reverence and praise to God.
SPEAKER_00: So instead of me first coming to the Lord and saying, Lord, I have a problem, help my problem.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is saying, wait a minute, Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and I want you all to think about this as well.
SPEAKER_00: When you and I come to the Lord with our prayers, doesn't God already know our request before we ask it?
SPEAKER_00: Sure he does.
SPEAKER_00: He already, before the words ever come out of my mouth, he already knows.
SPEAKER_00: And aren't you glad that he already knows?
SPEAKER_00: So if he already knows, then, but you and I run to him, Daddy, Daddy, I've got a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Daddy, daddy, I've got wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: How about we stop and say, I want to, I need to focus on God first.
SPEAKER_00: And so what he says, Christ tells us, our Father.
SPEAKER_00: Well, dear Christian, I want to tell you, you have a heavenly father.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Your prayers are heard by a sovereign God, our Father.
SPEAKER_00: You have a Father who is ready and willing to listen to your prayers.
SPEAKER_00: It's a privilege for you and I just to be able to call on his name.
SPEAKER_00: And also, I want you to notice that this is Christ telling us this.
SPEAKER_00: So Christ's Father is also your father.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, that would mean that if Christ's Father is my father, that means that I'm in the household of faith.
SPEAKER_00: That I'm an adopted son and Christ is my elder brother.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all tell me, is there a better family to be in?
SPEAKER_00: Where do you go with this, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you thankful that you're in the family?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, anybody here, are y'all thankful for the husband or wife or children or mother or father that you had or your earthly brother?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody thankful for your actual earthly family that you I am?
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful for my dear wife and my children and my mother and father and my brother.
SPEAKER_00: Now, so I want to say two things.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, if you and I are thankful for our earthly family, then how much more thankful ought you and I to be that we're praying to our Father in the name of our brother, the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So you and I are just privileged to even be in this company, to even be able to call out to our Father, to have to have audience with him.
SPEAKER_00: So that in and of itself is a grand privilege.
SPEAKER_00: So when you and I think about prayer in these terms, when Jesus says, when you get ready to pray, pray, our Father, which are in heaven, what's he trying to do?
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to help transform mine and your mindset.
SPEAKER_00: Hey God, I need a favor.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, God, solve my problem.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, God, fix this bad situation I've gotten myself into.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to start out that way.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we need to start out our prayers thinking about God and the very privilege that we have to call out the name our Father.
SPEAKER_00: Now, so if you have a wonderful earthly family, a wonderful spouse or children, or your earthly parents were good to you, that is wonderful memories for you, and that gives you a good standpoint by way to be, you know, well, my heavenly father is even better than my earthly father.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what about if your experience is the opposite of that?
SPEAKER_00: What if you had a terrible earthly father or a terrible earthly family?
SPEAKER_00: Then even more so to you.
SPEAKER_00: Now you have a good father.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can call out to your perfect father.
SPEAKER_00: Your earthly family might have been terrible, they might have failed you, or you might have even been an orphan, you might not have even had one.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Brother Josh, my experience in the world has not been a good one.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just so thankful to literally be able to pray, our Father, which are in heaven, because he is my father.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter that I was an earthly orphan or my family was in bad shape, doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: So, either way, you're covered.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all getting excited yet?
SPEAKER_00: I am.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, is that when you come to the Lord in prayer, this is a wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_00: Have y'all ever been excited about prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Most of the time we come, oh God, I'm this is so bad, and everything's so terrible, and I just come with the being all down and doldrums.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Focus is not on me and you, focus is on him.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, which art in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: Well, God, let me just treat you as the servant butler in the restaurant that I want him to go fetch this and I want him to go fetch that.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: How about you treat him as the Almighty God of the universe?
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, my rescuer, my savior, my deliverer, the creator of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, my brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, has enabled me to be able to pray to you by his great grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: God, you actually chose me and adopted me to be in your family.
SPEAKER_00: So the fact that I can even talk to you is the most blessed privilege.
SPEAKER_00: So our Father, which are in heaven, hallowed be your name.
SPEAKER_00: Holy is your name.
SPEAKER_00: You are that man.
SPEAKER_00: You are the one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Don said earlier that there are no other gods.
SPEAKER_00: So by the way, newsflash, I want to tell y'all that as a Christian person, when you are praying to the God of the Bible, you're praying to the only real God.
SPEAKER_00: There are no other God.
SPEAKER_00: I actually, one of the things that I pray in my own personal prayer life is I love to tell God that, God, you are the one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: There are no others.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to.
SPEAKER_00: God knows that already, right?
SPEAKER_00: God knows he's the only God.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I like to tell myself that.
SPEAKER_00: That God, I'm praying to the one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: There are no other gods, period.
SPEAKER_00: Satan likes to play one on TV.
SPEAKER_00: He likes to disguise himself as a lowercase G God of this earth.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants everybody to serve him and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: But he's not a God.
SPEAKER_00: He's just an old created, terrible, evil, fallen angel.
SPEAKER_00: There are no other God.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, which art in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Holy is your name.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it holy?
SPEAKER_00: Because you are the one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: That's who you and I get to talk to in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus taught man, he said, When you pray, Christian, when you pray, apostle, when you pray, follower of Christ, pray this way.
SPEAKER_00: He's giving us a step-by-step.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know what else he wants us to do?
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to keep our Heavenly Father in view.
SPEAKER_00: And God's holiness, His reverence, His position.
SPEAKER_00: When you and I come to Him in prayer, He wants us to have these thoughts in our minds that our mind might be on Father God and not on, hey God, I need you to hop to.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to hurry up and fix my problem right now.
SPEAKER_00: No, you and I have got our priorities on the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is putting our focus back on the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: So he tells us, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy now look at what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So right after he got through telling us to focus on God and to praise God, look at the next thing out of his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus is telling the Christian to pray this way.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Why is this significant?
SPEAKER_00: It's significant because you and I have not been mentioned yet.
SPEAKER_00: And you and I have not made any physical earthly requests for you and I personally yet.
SPEAKER_00: So in this, when Jesus himself, the greatest teacher that ever lived, who had a direct access to the throne room of God, when he said, Man, Christian, when you pray, I want you to pray one, two, three, like this.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to start out your prayer with your focus on God.
SPEAKER_00: And you reverence him.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's holy, he's the one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: And then after that, he says, Thy kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Now, wait a minute, Brother Josh.
SPEAKER_00: Um, thy kingdom come, you must be talking about God's kingdom here on earth, right?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, and in the New Testament, we learn that the kingdom of God is the rule and reign of Christ in the life of the believer.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, in other words, Lord, I want the things that you want to be done here in this earth.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, you and I can pray that in a broad sense.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Josh, that seems kind of very vast.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's bring that down to a personal level because you and I are the one that's actually praying.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That literally means, Lord, I want your will to be done in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, Lord, I want your will to be done in the church, I want your will to be done in the community, I want your will to be done in my state and in my nation.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yes, that is absolutely an extension of that.
SPEAKER_00: But let's let's not take it out of the personal context.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just keep it real at home.
SPEAKER_00: And so the next part of this prayer is, Lord, I want your will to be done in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you and I?
SPEAKER_00: I know that I mentioned it before, but does everybody in the church house pretty much know how to lose weight?
SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Do we all pretty much know how to lose weight?
SPEAKER_00: We've got to eat less, we've got to exercise more, look at what we're eating, how much we're eating.
SPEAKER_00: And again, let me not, I'm not trying to oversimplify it or talk about people that have medical issues.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying that for the most part, you and I have a common understanding of certain things.
SPEAKER_00: Well, when we talk about, Lord, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, you and I pretty much know what a large portion of the Lord's will for our life is.
SPEAKER_00: Explain, Brother Josh, okay.
SPEAKER_00: So does the Lord want us to go to church every Sunday?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Bible says, don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
SPEAKER_00: You know, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
SPEAKER_00: So if a Christian is currently not going to church on a regular basis, that's not being obedient to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well, does the Lord want us to read our Bible?
SPEAKER_00: You know, the Bible says in Psalm 119, I have, uh King David, I have hidden thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
SPEAKER_00: That the Lord wants us to know the law, the word, to understand it, the gospel, the good news, the grace, the mercy, all of the above.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants that to, he wants that to be our counselors.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you and I can, I love watching YouTube videos.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it helps me to fix stuff on my car, it helps me to cook.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: YouTube should not be my main counselor for life.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And if I have a bunch of friends that are my age that are running around in the world, they should not be my counselors for life.
SPEAKER_00: You know what needs to be my counselors for life?
SPEAKER_00: The Word of God and the Holy Spirit, that should be, and other brothers and sisters in Christ that have my best interest in mind, that love the Lord, those should be my counselors in life.
SPEAKER_00: And we all know that, right?
SPEAKER_00: We know we should read the Bible, we know we should go to the church, we know we should look for wise counsel, not on the internet, but from godly people who love us and have our best interest in mind.
SPEAKER_00: We all know that, right?
SPEAKER_00: We all know that we should pray.
SPEAKER_00: We know these things.
SPEAKER_00: Well, so when Jesus is telling us when we pray that our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It means that you and I should be doing the things that we.
SPEAKER_00: Already know to do that the Lord has told us to do.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, when we pray to God, God, thy will be done on earth, thy will be done in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how is thy will accomplished in my life?
SPEAKER_00: By me as an individual Christian, reading my Bible and praying and going to church and walking in literal physical obedience to do the things the Lord has told me to do.
SPEAKER_00: And then, Lord, I want you to give me strength to walk with you, to pray better, to memorize the scriptures, to be faithful in going to church, to be faithful to pray for my friends, to be faithful to be a wise counselor, to love other people, and to share the word of God with them.
SPEAKER_00: So that's literally what Christ is telling us that after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's literally saying you need to pray, be praying that God's will would be done in your life.
SPEAKER_00: So you're praying, Lord, transform me personally, that I would be obedient to do all the things that you've already told me to do.
SPEAKER_00: And then additionally, I hope that my church grows and that our community is more Christ-like and so on and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, we're praying to all those ends.
SPEAKER_00: But you notice that in that prayer, you and I have not made mention yet of what you and I thought we needed, right?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I need you to fix this problem.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to correct this bad situation that I'm in.
SPEAKER_00: That hasn't even been mentioned yet.
SPEAKER_00: And this is Jesus Christ telling us how we're supposed to pray.
SPEAKER_00: One, two, three.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's read on.
SPEAKER_00: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 11, Jesus says, give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: You and I do need to eat.
SPEAKER_00: You and I do need in our world a car that runs to be able to get back and forth to our job.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be able to protect our families, feed our families, clothe our families, house our families, pay our bills if we have medical bills and medical problems.
SPEAKER_00: Give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: So Christ here is telling the Christian, 100% Christian, I recognize that you have earthly needs, right?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord and our Heavenly Father knows what you and I stand in need of.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what every single Christian in this church house and what your family, he knows the things that you need.
SPEAKER_00: And he didn't ask you to pray to him one time a year.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: I want you all to notice something in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: There is an assumption here that you and I are praying every day.
SPEAKER_00: See that?
SPEAKER_00: Give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: There is an assumption.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is saying, I'm assuming, Christian, that you're coming to the Father day in and day out, day after day after day after day.
SPEAKER_00: Every single morning.
SPEAKER_00: Thy mercies are new every morning.
SPEAKER_00: You know, yesterday you might have failed.
SPEAKER_00: Yesterday you might have had a great day.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord, you need grace today.
SPEAKER_00: You need grace to help in your time of need.
SPEAKER_00: Yesterday might have been a great day.
SPEAKER_00: Today you don't know what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: So there is an assumption that you and I are coming day after day after day.
SPEAKER_00: So Christ told us to first focus on God and honor Him, and to second pray that the Lord's will would be done, and that first and foremost says, Lord, I want your will to be done in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to transform me and make me more like you, so that my focus is on your glory.
SPEAKER_00: And then he's also assuming that you and I are coming and praying to him on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00: So after we got all that out of the way, look at the next thing.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want y'all, I want to point this out that so our daily bread is actually what you and I need to survive, right?
SPEAKER_00: We need food, we need oxygen, we need shelter, we need clothing.
SPEAKER_00: You and I haven't even gotten yet, most likely, to the things that you and I were thinking about in our prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Most likely.
SPEAKER_00: Now that it might have come in that concept of our actual needs, it might have fallen under that.
SPEAKER_00: But even before we get to some of those requests, he says, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: That word debts means sins.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things I want to show you is that part of prayer is a confession.
SPEAKER_00: What is the thing in this world as Christians that you and I deal with the most that causes problems in our life?
SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: If I ask you as a Christian, who you already know a lot of the answers, what is the thing in this world that causes you and I the most problem?
SPEAKER_00: Is it other people?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the government?
SPEAKER_00: Is it our financial situation?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the fact that our car breaks down or we have other family issues?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: The thing in this world that causes you and I the most problem is me.
SPEAKER_00: And you.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother John?
SPEAKER_00: Our own sin.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not right?
SPEAKER_00: Minding your failing to walk with God, failing to be obedient to God.
SPEAKER_00: If you and I are really honest with ourselves, you and I are the worst problem in our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to show you this.
SPEAKER_00: Look right here.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus tells us when you and I pray, Lord, forgive me my sins or my debts, as I forgive those that sin against me.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that you and I were mentioned first.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Lord, forgive me because I'm the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he mentioned our debts first.
SPEAKER_00: He said, you know, Lord, help me to forgive so-and-so who sinned against me.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not what Christ said.
SPEAKER_00: Christ said, Lord, forgive me my debts.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, forgive me my own personal sins where I committed and I did wrong.
SPEAKER_00: So before you and I ever get to the real meat of the issue, the thing that most likely you and I were coming to pray about, God said, First, I want you to honor me and glorify me.
SPEAKER_00: Second, I want you to pray that my will would be done in your life and that my kingdom would come.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to focus on my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: You know, after that, yes, Christian, understand that I know your needs, that I'm fully aware of the things that you stand in need of.
SPEAKER_00: And then after that, Christian, I want you to pray about your own spiritual bankruptcy.
SPEAKER_00: Christian, I want you to recognize and confess your own sins and get that out of the way before you come asking for anything like the great grand waiter in the sky.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to acknowledge your sins.
SPEAKER_00: King David said in Psalm 51, this was when he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, in Psalm 51.
SPEAKER_00: King David said in verse 1, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my.
SPEAKER_00: Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it was just a little sin.
SPEAKER_00: That was just a little.
SPEAKER_00: When we're offended by other people, we make a big deal about it.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, look how big this world is, look how what was their intention.
SPEAKER_00: But when you and I sin, we try to minimize it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that was just a little thing that I did.
SPEAKER_00: King David's not trying to cover this up.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Lord, what I did, it was a great evil.
SPEAKER_00: It was terrible.
SPEAKER_00: It was horrible.
SPEAKER_00: And I did it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm guilty.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't try to cover up his sin.
SPEAKER_00: He fully, like a man, admitted to it.
SPEAKER_00: Said, I did this.
SPEAKER_00: I did wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It was evil.
SPEAKER_00: Against thee, you know what he was?
SPEAKER_00: He was honest about his own sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he was.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, King David is saying, Lord, your word is right, and your word condemns my sin.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Behold, I was shaping in iniquity and sinned did my mother conceive me.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't mean that his mother sinned.
SPEAKER_00: He was talking about his own character.
SPEAKER_00: He was talking about his own fallen condition, is what he was talking about.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Look, I'm a fallen man.
SPEAKER_00: He said, My character is of a fallen nature.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.
SPEAKER_00: Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
SPEAKER_00: Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities.
SPEAKER_00: Create in me a clean heart, O God.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, God is the creator.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I need you to transform my life and make me more like you.
SPEAKER_00: You're the creator, God, and you're just and you're right, and your word is true, and I'm the problem, God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the sinner, I'm the one who moved away from you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I need your help to change my life.
SPEAKER_00: Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou broken may rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Hide thy face from my sins, blot out mine iniquities, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
SPEAKER_00: Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the Holy Spirit from me.
SPEAKER_00: Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all get the picture here that David is crying out to God?
SPEAKER_00: That David is willfully confessing his sin to God?
SPEAKER_00: Now you're getting the picture.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, forgive me my debts.
SPEAKER_00: As I forgive my debtors.
SPEAKER_00: That's what King David was doing.
SPEAKER_00: And what I want y'all to see in Jesus' model of prayer is that we haven't even really got to the requests where that you and I came to pray about yet, right?
SPEAKER_00: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
SPEAKER_00: And then just as soon as he got through praying and confessing his own sin, he says, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are sinners, and you and I have a propensity to sin.
SPEAKER_00: God, I have a tendency to fall back in my old ways, so therefore lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I need your help to walk with you and glorify you every day.
SPEAKER_00: For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Christ is saying, we have God's glory in mine.
SPEAKER_00: What is the purpose of prayer?
SPEAKER_00: And again, if y'all don't get anything else out of the message today, I want you to get this.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you and I pray to God according to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: It is to transform us and make us more like God.
SPEAKER_00: It's not so you and I can get all of the things that we want answered and the Lord be a great waiter in the sky.
SPEAKER_00: Just give us what we want.
SPEAKER_00: That is not what it's for.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose of prayer is to change us, to make us look more like Christ, act more like Christ, think more like Christ, want the things that God wants.
SPEAKER_00: That's why that's what the purpose of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Look at uh, so after he got through asking for help, and I want y'all to see too that we prayed about our debts and we confessed our sins.
SPEAKER_00: We prayed about the Lord's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We did pray about daily bread, Lord, meet our needs.
SPEAKER_00: But then at the end of this prayer, for thine Lord is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, our eyes are always on Him.
SPEAKER_00: And then after He got through praying this prayer, look what He said right after that.
SPEAKER_00: Look in verse 14 to 15.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, For if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
SPEAKER_00: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Christ interject this after the prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Because I want you all to see that our needs in this world actually are more spiritual than they are earthly.
SPEAKER_00: So after Christ taught us how to pray, he said that after our mind has been focused on God and prayed to God and focused on God, but he's telling us, Christian, look, you have a tendency not to forgive men their trespasses.
SPEAKER_00: You have a tendency to hold grudges and to be bitter.
SPEAKER_00: You have a tendency to just migrate back toward the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying you literally need help in your life to get outside of yourself, to be more spiritual, and to be more like Christ, and because our tendency is to want to not to forgive other men.
SPEAKER_00: You literally need help from the Lord to forgive men when they sin against you.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't even want to recognize the sin in ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But when we pray in a right manner, like David, and we cry out to God, oh God, I'm a fallen man.
SPEAKER_00: In sin, I was shaping in iniquity, and Lord, I've committed sin against you, and Lord, I want your will to be done in my life first, and then in the world, in your kingdom, my community, the state, my family, and so on and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: When we have that mindset, Lord, I want you to be glorified in my life, and then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit starts pricking my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Josh, you need to go to church, you need to pray more, you need to read your Bible, you need to give, you need to help other people.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, our mind is pricked to do all the spiritual things that you and I should have been doing to begin with.
SPEAKER_00: And then once we get through praying, all those things, oh, wait a minute, why was I coming to pray about you?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, yeah, my car's been having some problems.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, can you help me with the car thing?
SPEAKER_00: That request gets put way, way, way on the back burner.
SPEAKER_00: That's an aside, that's a byproduct.
SPEAKER_00: Because, Lord, my real problem is my own personal sin and the fact that I hold grudges against other men.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, what I really want is for you to transform my life and make me more like Christ, and for me to be in a better relationship with you and to walk with you better, and to get sin burned out of my life, and that's what I really, really want.
SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, by the way, please, please help me with this other situation too.
SPEAKER_00: The very thing that you and I came to pray to him about is not the primary thing.
SPEAKER_00: The primary thing is God transforming you and I in prayer to make us more like him, to think like him, to love like him, to show mercy like him, to give like him.
SPEAKER_00: So, my my simple question to you is this as we close have you ever thought about the fact that the purpose of prayer is not so that you and I get our prayer request and get stuff here in this world.
SPEAKER_00: The actual purpose of prayer is to transform you and I to make us more like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So that we want what he wants.
SPEAKER_00: God is trying to make us more in his image and less like the men and women that we are.
SPEAKER_00: We love y'all very much.
SPEAKER_00: We will continue in prayer next time.
SPEAKER_00: There's even some more beautiful thoughts in scriptures, very vast subject.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're going to close in a word of song.
SPEAKER_00: The church doors are always open.
SPEAKER_00: If you desire to unite with a membership of our church, I'm going to ask Brother Don if he would come and help us in closing a word of song.