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Again, very thankful to be with you all this morning. We had ended up uh last Sunday talking about the doctrines of grace and the want to move on to a different subject and had the subject of prayer on my mind, and so what I've presented you here with this morning is just a blank notebook. There's nothing in it. And so I remember I want to share a little story with you that when I was in college, and I may have shared this with you before a long time ago, but when I was in college before I met Sister Chloe, and when I met Sister Chloe, at that time I was uh attempting to be a diligent young man and honoring the Lord, and uh I kept a prayer list or a prayer journal, and as time went on, you know, some time passed and life happened, and I kind of fell out of that habit. And I was doing some cleaning out in my house, maybe a year or a year and a half later, and I found that old little prayer journal that I had with a prayer list, and I began to thumb back through that. And I remember, brothers and sisters, some of those very same things that I was praying for and when I was praying for them. As I thumb back through those pages and saw those prayer requests that I had pinned down, specific prayer requests, not only about me or Sister Chloe or my friends or others that I was praying for. And the thing that stuck out to me was I remember, because I remember writing the, and that's the other thing. You and I live in a very digital world. And in a world where uh social media abounds, we're also in a world that is very disconnected. Amen. I mean, it's we almost feel that way sometimes. And so when you actually physically put pen to paper, and you have the process of writing something and thinking about something, it actually cements that, and there's research to back that up more in your brain. Well, so I actually remember writing some of those prayer requests, and I remember thinking back to what was going through my mind at that time. Lord, I hope and pray that you will intervene in this situation. Lord, I hope that you will answer that prayer. Lord, I hope you will do something about that. Lord, please help me. I some of them were my own prayer requests. I was struggling with various and asundary things, and some of them I felt at the time were very overwhelming. Well, as I began to thumb through those pages, I noticed that, well, that one has been answered. And the Lord took care of that, and I was worried about that one for no reason, and as I literally went down the list, it just struck me how the Lord had answered my prayers. But I would have never thought about that or revisited that unless I had come across that you know, that little prayer notebook or prayer journal that I had. Now, so this morning, I'm not telling you that you have to start a prayer journal. I'm not telling you that. But whatever, however, what I am doing is this. Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 1, in verse 12, he says, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet or fit, as long as I am in this tabernacle or body, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Brothers and sisters, it's my job to equip the saints for service as a minister. That's my calling. Now, I don't think for a minute that me giving you a little notebook is me equipping you for service. But I am encouraging you this morning that Christianity is a participation sport and that you and I would actively participate in prayer. That I'm encouraging you that you might set up for yourself, just if nothing else, if it's a record of our church prayer requests, or if it's a record of your family and personal prayer requests. And so this morning I want to preach on the topic of prayer. Most likely next Sunday, you and I are going to be looking at the resurrection, and probably the following Sunday I may be back on prayer. So we may spend a couple weeks looking at the subject of prayer in the Bible. And so, but I want to encourage you in that. That so let's just dive right into it. So, by way of an example, I want to tell you a couple things that I have a little bit of OCD, or I feel that I do, and so when I'm writing something or taking notes, I want everything to be uh just perfect and just so uh you may have to put that on hold. In other words, there's gonna be times when you write or do something that's gonna be imperfect. Just scratch it out and keep on writing. I loved years ago that one of the gentlemen that I have followed in my uh ministry, I do not agree with everything. Again, by the way, I want to tell you something that oftentimes y'all will hear ministers or even printed Baptist ministers say. They will mention a name of a minister or another person that's outside of the old Baptist church, and there they'll say a caveat that, well, I don't agree with everything that man says or preaches. Well, by the way, y'all show me a man or woman that you agree with everything that they've ever done. I, other than the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't know of a human, even the Apostle Peter messed up and others. So, so yes, that's a given. But one of the men that I have followed, and again, I don't ascribe everything he believes, is Albert Moeller. He is the president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. And he is a very diligent student of the Word. He actually consumes books. I think he reads anywhere from six to seven books a week. He is an academic. I am not that diligent. But one of the things he does is he said he purchasely, purposely buys books, Christian books and nature and political books and things, and he he reads these books, but he writes in these books. Well, for some people that's sacrilege. In other words, if you buy a book, you keep it pristine and you want all the corners to be just so and you don't want to mess it up or deface it. But one of the things that I've taken away from his ministry is he said, I take these Christian books or these political books or history books or whatever they are, and he said, I have a conversation with them. In other words, I'm trying to absorb what the author is trying to say, or I literally make notes in the margins. Well, I disagree with this author about this point, or amen, and I agree with what he pointed out here. That's a wonderful thing about history that I never knew that I need to research more. And so one of the things that statements that he made about his reading of books is that he has a conversation with the author, and therefore he buys these books in order that he might write them up and mark them up and make notes in them. And so one of the things I want to encourage you is that the rougher that your prayer notebook is, that's okay. I remember that uh elder uh Mike Seals one time he had his Bible sitting out on the lunch table, and that thing, brothers and sisters, it looked way worse than mine did. It had grown in size to about, you know, twice as much as the original Bible was, because he has handled so many of the pages and he had marked and dog eared so many of the pages and put it back together so it had swollen in size, and I want to tell you, that's a good-looking Bible because it's been heavily used. Your prayer notebook does not have to be perfect. And if you want to just use it as a scratch notebook or write down church prayer requests, that's fine too. But as your brother in Christ, I want to encourage you to participate in prayer yourself personally. So, in so doing, I wanted to give you a few pointers. And again, you take that with a grain of salt. That in your prayer notebook, I would encourage you that if you find helpful scriptures in your Bible study, write them down in your notebook. Well, Brother Josh, I was listening to the radio the other day and I heard a scripture that came across the radio, and yes, I've read that before, but but you know what? It just sparked something in my mind too that I've never thought about before. I was listening to the a preacher-preach, or I or I ran into somebody at the gas station, or they made mention of this, and you know what? It just encouraged me today. Brothers and sisters, write it down. Write it. Lord, thank you that I ran into my old classmates today, and they were so encouraging, and the Lord had blessed their family, and they just, you know what, I need to be more like that. Or maybe, for instance, just like this, you know, uh young lady who got a heart transplant that somebody did pass away, but but that's a praise that you can write that down in your notebook too to make a mark with a big P and circle it. Lord, this is a praise. This is answered prayer. Lord, you delivered that young lady from death by your grace. So you can write down scriptures that are meaningful to you, or you can write down praises or answer to prayer. But you know, at least three categories of prayer that you have personal and family prayers, things that pertain to your life and your struggle and your walk that you are dealing with or your immediate family is dealing with. And yes, those are near and dear to your heart. So you might have a section of this book that's set up for personal and family prayer that pertains directly to you. And then you have a section of this book that's set up for the church of literally prayer requests that you and I mention here at church that we, you know, hear about folks that we need to pray for. That I, Brother Moles, I love the fact that in your prayer sometime that you mentioned that, you know, that we might remember all those, that it is our duty to pray for. You know, and sometimes you mention about our military folks about keeping the home fires burning. I know that these are phrases that we use, but they're encouraging. That we have military men and women that are halfway across the globe and their families are at home without their husbands and without their wives, and trying to keep on keeping on, and one of the mothers or fathers is not there. So not only should we pray for our family and personal things, and should we not only pray for our the church and our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we should also pray for our community and our country. That one sometimes we forget to pray for as often. But those are at least three categories personal, church, and community and country, that you might want to set up in your prayer notebook as a reminder that we need to be praying about all those things. Now, this morning, let's just dive into the scripture. I've given you enough introduction for too long. But I want to turn your attention to James chapter 5 in verse 16. A beautiful verse in Scripture. And this is one of those verses in the Bible that is good for us to mark and to remember. I've lost James. James chapter five and verse sixteen. The Bible says, confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now, so here is James, who was the brother of our Lord, who is the minister at the church in Jerusalem, as he is in his very short little book that he is writing very. James's book is extremely practical in the things that he writes. And he just doesn't beat around the bush. He just goes straight to the point. But I want you to see that one of the things that James mentioned before he talks about prayer is he says, confess your faults one to another. I'm reminded of an Old Testament scripture that also is about prayer. It's in Psalms 66, verse 18. And again, we're going to try to not jump around, but I wanted to get these two things. Psalm 66, 18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Well, I'm not going to read it, but in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ pointed out that if you go up to the house of worship in order to worship God, in order to praise God, in order to sacrifice to God, and while you are on your way, if you remember while you're literally walking to the church house, or to the temple in their instance, that your brother has aught against you. That in other words, you have a grievance, that you have a problem with a brother. He literally says, stop what you're doing, turn around, go and be reconciled to your brother, and after you do that thing, then come back and present your offering in the temple of worship. Well, Brother Josh, what's the point there? What that means is when you and I, as it says here in Psalm 66, 18, if I regard or cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. In other words, minding your own personal sins hinder our prayer life. Because if I'm living in sin, if I have bitterness and unrepentant sin in my life, then how can I come before the Lord in prayer? How can I come to the church house and be in a right relationship with God if I full well know that I have a problem with some other man out here on the earth that I see, and yet I'm going to the church house to worship someone who is unseen. The Lord is saying, you need to take care of your sins and your bitterness with other people. You literally need to go and be reconciled to them so that that does not hinder your relationship with the Lord. Because the Lord is saying, look, this is a priority for you. That don't allow your earthly relationships to be wrong and convoluted in a sinful manner. You go and be reconciled to your brother. You take care of that issue because that's a known issue to you. You have, in other words, you know, and I know that we have a problem here. And I, you know, I have bitterness against that person, they have bitterness against me, and I'm just letting that go on and on and on and on. But yet I come to the church house Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday and think I'm in a right relationship with the Lord. No, we're not. And then, Lord, Lord, I'm diligently praying about all these things, about my family and about my community and about my church and all these people, but yet it seems like my prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Why is that? Because the Lord has asked you by the pricking of the Holy Spirit to do something, and you are ignoring Him. You are telling the Lord, Lord, I know that you're pricking my heart about going to be reconciled with this problem I have over here, but Lord, I don't really want to deal with that. And therefore I'm just going to ignore that and keep on coming to church. And the Lord says, No, you're not. Because, as he says in Psalm 66, 18, if I regard or cherish iniquity or sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So your prayers are being hindered because of your not right relationship with somebody else. Jesus is saying, so the Bible says that obedience is better than sacrifice. So you and I might be coming to the church house Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, but the Lord's saying, but you haven't been faithful in the last thing that I told you to do. I told you you had a problem and they had a problem with you, and you needed to go be reconciled to your brother, but you're not willing to take care of that. Yet you want to come sacrifice and give to the church and spend time in prayer, but you haven't been obedient to the last thing that I ask you to do. So one of the things that I want to point out to you is that sometimes we wonder, Brother Josh, I don't know why my prayers aren't being answered. Well, have you been obedient in the last things the Lord has asked you to do? Because if we aren't, then that can hinder our prayer life and it can hinder our relationship with God. So you notice in James chapter 5, verse 16, on that same note, that the very first thing that James mentions when he, the very practical teacher, is talking about prayer, the very first thing out of his mouth is confess your faults one to another. In other words, you need to deal with the sin that is in your life. Confess your faults one to another. And then after we do that, pray for one another. Oh, by the way, think about this. So if I'm praying for other people, Brother Josh, I've got a problem. There's this person over here that's just bothering me to no end. I've got a problem with my brother, and it's all their fault. You know, they're the one in the wrong. But wait a minute, that's not so so you don't just dive into prayer and say, Lord, I got a problem with little so-and-so, but look what he's doing to me. That's not how you start your prayer. The way James told us to start our prayer is confess your faults one to another. So you start off with what's wrong with you. Because by the way, by the time that you and I really self-examine ourselves, well, Lord, when I really think about this problem that I got with Brother So-and-so over here, well, some of it is my fault. And maybe I didn't do what I should have been doing. And so before I dive in and want to chew on Brother So-and-so, let me take a hard, brutal look at myself. And then after I'm in that right mindset, before I dive into them, when I've actually honestly self-examined myself, then I'm in a position to actually pray one for another. Instead, the Lord changed brother so-and-so to make me more comfortable. Well, brother, I don't know exactly what's going on in brother so-and-so's life. And you know what, I might have judged him too harshly. And you know what, I I see that you know that he's, you know, his truck's about to fall down, or they've been having some family issues or financial issues. Lord, I don't know what all's going on in brother so-and-so's house. I might be sitting here being very well blessed, and he just might be struggling just to get through the day. And I don't know that because I'm not in his house. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another. That ye may be healed. That ye may be healed. Oh. Did y'all know that when you and I have a root of bitterness against somebody else, that you know what, they may not even know that you have that. I'm sitting here just mad at brother or sister so-and-so all the time, and and you know, I'm worried about them and what they're doing, and then they have no clue that you're even mad at them. That's why you and I are supposed to go and be reconciled to our brother before we come to the house of worship. I actually one time I had a I remember this in college that I had a root of bitterness against a young man that I was in college with. He was a godly Christian man. And I finally got up the courage from the pricking of the Holy Spirit because he wouldn't leave me alone, and the Holy Spirit does that by the way. And I went and confessed my you know, that I had something against him, and he had no clue. Clue. What I said, Brother Josh, I have no idea. And he and I were good friends for the remainder of our college career. After I went and confessed to that brother. And that was one of the hardest things I did at that age in my life. But that was hard. But the Lord released me. You know what he did? The Lord healed me. And I didn't think about that anymore. Pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. That word effectual, if I were to give you a good example of it, it just means a man on a mission. Have you ever gone to Walmart and just shopped? Just kind of, I got an hour to kill, and I'll just go in there and kind of meander down the aisles and pick up that thing and pick up that thing. By the way, that's not a good way to go to the store because we end up spending more money than we should. Have you ever run into Walmart? I've got to get three things. And I've got to be home in an hour. So I've got to I've got to have a surgical strike mission. I've got to go in there and get this over in the garden section. I've got to go get this in the grocery section. I've got to go and get some batteries back in the back of the store. I've got to go get those three things, and I've got to make a beeline for the cashier and get out of there and go home. That is effectual. That means that you have focus to what you are doing and you are trying to accomplish. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man available. In other words, those guys I have focus. I want you to make me a more godly man. I want you to shake my life. I want you to change my life. I want you to help me to eradicate bad habits and put good habits in my life. And Lord, make me uncomfortable in my own skin when I get comfortable and doing the wrong things. Lord, I want you to bring godly spouses to my children. I want you to weed out all the other candidates that do not honor the Lord, who do not love the Lord, who do not attend church regularly. I want them to utterly fail. I want them to have absolutely no shot whatsoever with my children. I want my children to have absolutely no interest whatsoever in people who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ more than they love my own child. So when you pray focused, fervently, effectually, Lord, I Lord, this is my heart's desire. I believe, and it is a desire that comes from you that I want my children to marry godly spouses, so on and so forth. The Lord wants us to pray with purpose and with intention. A man or woman on a mission. I know that y'all have all heard, even through modern Christian movies and such, the idea of a prayer warrior. Oh, I'm just kind of meandering down the aisles of the battlefield. I might go and fight with that one over there. I might take 20 minutes off and go fight with this. No. You want the soldier who's affectual, who's fervent, who's a man or woman on a mission. They know what their commanders told them to do. They're focused. This is how you and I are to be in prayer. The Bible literally says in Thessalonians that you and I are to pray without ceasing. Brother Josh, how does that work? I gotta pay bills and I gotta do my job, yes? But you know what? While you're doing your job, you might have somebody call you that just sounds bad. They sound struggling. You might run into somebody when you're filling up gas at the gas station and just not having a good day. Brother, can I pray for you right now? You don't have to pray a 10-minute prayer. The Bible says, pray without ceasing. And by the way, if you and I pray without ceasing, or if we are in a mindset of prayer, then that's on our mind and not the things of the world. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The word avail means to be strengthened or to be of an advantage. So when a man is focused in his prayer, it is to his own strength and to his own advantage. And it's also to an advantage of those that are the recipients of that prayer. So, so y'all tell me, in other words, if I made it a point, I have two of my children that are married and thankfully have Christian spouses. Amen and praise the Lord. But I have one daughter who's not here today because she's actually visiting one of her friends at another church who happened to be preaching this morning. But I have one daughter who's unmarried. Y'all tell me, would it benefit my daughter to affectionately and very focusedly pray for her that God would only bring to her godly, qualified, God-honoring men who love the Lord Jesus Christ and will love Christ first and foremost even more than they might love Ivy? And to diligently pray for that, like every day, and not stop. Yeah, that would benefit Sister Ivy. Y'all tell me any of our family members who wouldn't benefit from being prayed for in manners like that. Or if they're struggling with a particular. Well, I know that my family member, they just, you know, they they lost a loved one, they just struggle with loneliness all the time. They not only would it benefit them to literally go take them a meal or visit with them or go, you know, or call them on the phone, but also to pray for them every day and think about them or send them a text message. I'm just thinking about you. So for time's sake this morning, we're going to skip straight to Matthew chapter 6. And again, we'll back up and punt and look at some more of these topics in regard to prayer. But this morning I want to focus on Matthew chapter 6, which is commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer. Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 5. But I want to mention that while it's called the Lord's Prayer, it's actually not a prayer that the Lord prayed for himself. Because in the Lord's Prayer, y'all will know that, you know, well, forgive me of my debts as we forgive our debtors. Jesus didn't have to pray that prayer. Amen. Jesus is the only sinless human being that's ever lived. He did not pray that prayer for himself. This is the model prayer. This is the example prayer for a Christian. That you and I are to pray in like manner. Pray in this manner. Because he certainly didn't have to pray that his sins will be forgiven because he didn't have any. And so, but let's just dive straight into this. And you'll notice these are the words of our Lord. Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 5. And this morning we'll read through about verse 12. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, if they may be seen of men, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. After this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as it is on in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. For if we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Again, that last verse is along the same vein as Psalm 66, 18, that when you and I uh have uh awed against our brother or unconfessed sin or cherished sin in our heart, then the Lord would not have listened. And so here is the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament telling us the same thing. That, but if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Is that going to keep you out of heaven? No. But that will hinder your Christian walk and your prayer life and your service to the Lord here and now, absolutely. That's a biblical fact. So let's dive into this. So here is the model prayer that Jesus taught the apostles to pray. And so I want you to focus. So he tells us in verse Matthew 6, 5, so Jesus tells them, and when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret, and thy father which is seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. So what does that mean? What's the purpose of that? God is saying, when you pray, don't pray pridefully. Don't pray for other people to see you. Instead, pray focused on God, right? Go in the secret closet where nobody else knows about it. And again, that doesn't mean that's fine if you're driving down the road. You can literally be walking around Walmart and praying. That's fine. Focused on the Father with humility of heart. In other words, oh, look at me, look how good my prayers, look how flouty words I have. Do y'all know that some of the most wonderful prayers that I have heard in my life have been prayed by children and by women and by men who don't talk a whole lot. That they pray simple, pointed, sincere, earnest prayers. There are many prayers of ministers over the years that I've just totally forgotten. That I don't remember. But there are prayers that children and women and blue-collar working men that's never stepped foot in a pulpit in their life have prayed at funerals or over meals or to begin a service that I actually remember some of the things that those people have said because they were so sincere, because they were so genuine, because they were so pointed, because they were talking directly to the throne room of God, and there is elaborate prayers that probably I've prayed or attempted to pray or have heard other ministers' prayer that I've long forgotten. So when you pray, we don't pray to be a show to others. We pray to talk to God. There's a Christian, a modern Christian song that a contemporary Christian music, well, Brother Josh, I don't believe in contemporary Christian music. That's okay. But at times it speaks truth. And one of the things is it's a praise song or whatever, and he's just so excited. He said, He said, I spoke to the Lord just this morning. And he was talking about praying to him. And I was like, Amen. The Bible says that he's honey on our lips in the Psalms. And that's what that communicated to me. That's what he was trying to express. That it's sweet to talk to God. Brothers and sisters, I don't like when my wife and family leaves the house. And what I mean by that is I'm not trying to be a controlling husband. I'm just saying that I don't like the silence. I'm used to the conversation and I'm used to the fellowship. And when they go somewhere to visit other folks for a week and I'm just there by myself, when they get home, I just want to hug their neck and I just want to hear their voice. I just want to feel their presence near me. Well, it's the same thing with God. Is it when he's silent, brothers Josh? I just I hadn't heard him. I just feel so estranged. Well, when was the last time you sat down and read your Bible for an hour? When was the last time you sat down and had a literally listen to what his words are filling your life with? Or when was the last time when you've been private, when nobody else is around, when you're in the woods or the shop, in the flower bed, or driving down the road, when you just poured your soul out to him for an hour? Lord, I just, Lord, I haven't heard from you lately, and I'm just I'm scared to death, or I'm worried about this, or I'm thinking about so and so. Lord, I just I just love you, and I just need to I just need to get it off my chest, and there's nobody better to talk to than you. When was the last time you did that? And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret, and thy father which as seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. I've had some of my best prayer time just driving down the lower the road when nobody else hears. Just crying out to God. Lord, help me, change me. Make me the man that I'm supposed to be, and my family needs, and the church needs, and change me, shape me, make me different than who I am. Because I'm not good, but you're good. So burn the sin out of my life. And mold me into your image. Oh, and by the way, that's another thing. When you spend a whole lot of time with your spouse or whatever, you know, somebody says, Well, you know, I ran into your son, I ran into your daughter, you know what? They act just like you. They think just like you. You had an impact on your children, didn't you? Maybe their political bents, maybe the church they go to, maybe the faith that they have. You you kind of uh affected them. Well, spend a whole lot of time with God. You don't think he'll affect the way you think, and the way you act, and who you hang out with, and the priorities you have, how you spend your money, who you Yes, 100%. And the more you and I spend time with him, the more time you and I spend in the refiner's fire, and he just burns Josh King out of Josh King and makes me more in the image of Christ. Would be to God that I'd spend more time with him and less time on whatever other interest that I have. He goes on to say, verse 7, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Now, that doesn't mean that you're not to ask the same prayer request more than once. That's not what he's talking about. Because the Bible does tell us we are to ask and to seek and to knock, that the door might be open. We are to persist in prayer. But the heathen, like for instance, let's just say, and again, I'm not trying to pick on people, but a Buddhist monk or a Muslim who says the exact same rote prayer over and over and over and over again. Well, I'm gonna say this prayer a hundred times a day, and it almost becomes so mechanical, like you're putting on your shoes or you're you know you're doing a repetitive something at a factory, you're cranking the wheel just over and over and over and over again. In other words, it's a meaningless operation. Like the heathen saying, all right, well, I prayed a thousand Hail Marys. And this day that doesn't mean anything. How about you in your own language, as a little child who's hurting, cry out to the Father and say, Father, help me, I don't know what to do. And the next day you come up and you ask the same thing, but you might ask it in a different way. The heathen, those would say repetitive, rote prayers that were meaningless, they were not sincere, they were not genuine. They just they thought they would be heard for their many repetitions. I said a thousand of these today, therefore God must have heard me. No. How about that one prayer of a genuine child who's crying out to God, God heard that. He tells us, Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. Now, wait a minute, Brother Josh. That verse right there said, Jesus said, he told the apostles, your father knows what you need before you ask him. Full stop. Well then why do I need to ask him? Can't God just give me everything I need for my, you know, Lord, I need a higher paying salary, or Lord, I need this cancer to go away, or I need you to heal my loved one. I mean, God knows what you and I need before we ask him. Why can't he just give it to us? Christianity is a participation sport. Amen. He wants you and I to ask him. Oh, your husband or your wife knows you better than anybody else. Your children. Well, Brother Josh, I just don't talk to my wife anymore. She knows what I like to eat. She knows how I like my shirt starched. She knows what I like to wear, therefore, she can just go to the store and buy whatever kind of shoes and clothes I want. How will that work out for you? You don't even talk to her anymore. Well, my children know me, they know my mind, they know what I think, what I say, you know what they're just gonna they know where I'm at. I'm in this house, they can just come and see me over here. That's not a relationship, brothers and sisters. That's you trying to be a dictator and letting everybody come to you. Christianity is a participation sport. The Lord wants you to talk to him not because he doesn't know what you're already going to ask him, because he does know what you're already gonna ask him, but he wants you to be involved. The Lord is not only concerned about the end goal, he's also concerned about how you get there. Literally the idea of the road less traveled, in other words, if you and I lied and stealed and cheated and finally got our way, well, you know, we got that church built, but it was by the hardest because we had to swindle that contract and we had. No. The Lord is not only concerned about the end result, he's also concerned about the road you took walking all the way to get there. And by the way, on the road, he molds you, he taught you and I, he shaped us. He is making us in the image of God as he is burning the sin out of our lives and all along the way. Well, Brother Josh, we had to wait for 40 years in the wilderness. You know, our parents and our grandparents, they literally died in the wilderness. Yes, and the Lord taught him a lesson that you stood in need of him. See, even in the waiting, even in the long-suffering, even in the trials, even in the darkness, even when the path is hard, even when it's thorny, even when we get off on a side trail and have to backtrack and get back on the road. Brother Josh, what is the Lord doing to me? He's changing you? He's shaping you, He's reforming you and me in his image, he's making you less like you and more like him. And the Lord, amen, do more of that in my life and in yours. Because by God's grace, you and I have been signed up for this mission. And let me ask you a question. Would you rather be on the hard Christian path, or would you rather be, would you rather be on the wide and easy road of the wayward world? Y'all tell me. Projaja's path, his Christian path, it's a hard, heavy mountain trail full of rocks and thorns and darkness and robbers and whatever. And I just this path isn't easy. Narrow is the way. But it's the better way. Amen. It's not the wild road that leads to destruction. Oh, it's so comfortable. Oh, I can just meander around the Walmart of this world, just take my good old easy time. No, you're involved in warfare. And you need to get up every morning and put on the armor. And you need to persist in prayer because it's part of the spiritual armor and defense mechanism that the Lord has given you. Because while you're on the road, Satan wants to devour you and rob you and steal your joy and wreck your family and wreck your Christianity and run it off in a ditch. He wants to do that to you. It's mine and your job to walk with him, to participate, to persist. Not to get to heaven, but to glorify him right here and right now. After this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're about to run out of time, or we are out of time, but I want to point out something to you to chew on till Sunday afternoon. When Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, taught me. Oh, and now y'all also notice that this prayer is not very long, right? Brother Josh, I hear sometimes people pray in church and they pray so long of prayers. Brother Sister, you and I don't have to pray long prayers. He just wants us to pray genuine and sincere, earnest, focused prayers. Now, if you want to cry out to him and just take time and visit with the Lord when you're in secret and nobody else is around, you go right ahead and you and I should do that. But there are times when that person talked to you at the gas station, Lord, help brother so-and-so's family. They're just struggling right now. I see that, I hear that in their voice. And Lord, I hear that they're just hurting. And Lord, I pray that you would be with them and near to them and help them as only you can. If there's any way I can help them, please make that plain to me. Lord, I pray you would bless this brother day and help him to have a better day than he's had in the last two weeks. Lift him up, Father. In Jesus' name, amen. That's not a long prayer. But you might have made that person's day. I heard a minister say one time that he was driving down the interstate and he saw a car on the side of the road, as a lot of times you and I will, and he saw there was a lady and some children in the car, and they were pulled off the side of the road. There wasn't hazards on or nothing. They were just pulled off the side of the road. And when he drove by that car, he just felt an overwhelming sense of dread. And an overwhelming sense that the Lord said, Stop, stop, stop, stop the car. And this minister, about 150 yards down the road, flying down the interstate, stopped his car. And he, with his hazards on, backed up a football field and a half and backed up to that car where there was a young lady sitting in the driver's seat and had two or three young kids in the back seat, and he got out and said, Ma'am, said, Look, I'm I don't, he said, Look, I just drove by and I saw your car there. I'm not some crazy guy, I'm a minister, and I I just felt that I needed to stop and ask you, are you okay? And she in a trembling voice said, No, I'm not okay. And he said, he looked in the car and there was a revolver laying in the seat. She said, uh She said, My life is falling apart. And she said, I pulled off the side of the road because she said, I just don't know if I can keep going. And she said, I was about to take my life. She said, Why are you here? She said, I'm here to hug your neck and tell you that it's gonna be okay. That we can get you some help. That lady was fixing to commit suicide on the side of the road with her children in the backseat of the car. Because her life was in channel. And the Holy Spirit pricked that man to stop. Now, ladies, I'm not telling y'all to stop and pick up hitchhiker. I'm not telling y'all to do that. I'm not even telling you men to do that. But I'm telling you there are times in your spirit when the Holy Spirit will prick you to do something. And you and I need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. And as we close this morning, I just wanted to point out to you that when the Lord Jesus Christ taught men how to pray in the model prayer, he told them warnings about, hey, don't be like the heathen, don't do what those other folks are doing. But he the first words out of his mouth were, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Lord, I need you to do so-and-so for me, and I need you to fix this, and Lord, I need you to fix that. I need you to be the great uh uh uh waiter in the sky. I need you to solve all my problems today, right now, yesterday, Lord, you hadn't showed up. Lord, I need you to fix this. Lord, why am I going to- No, that's not the first words out of the Lord Jesus Christ's mouth. It's not about you and me. The first words out of the Lord's mouth was, our Father which art in heaven, holy be your name. God, you are the first words out of his mouth were praise and respect and reverence for God. Lord, you are God. Lord, you are holy, Lord, you are on your throne. Lord, you are able, you are capable. Lord, I am coming as your weary, lowly, chief adopted child who've been adopted into your household to don't even have a lot of people. That's how we start prayer. That is the moment in which we get into prayer. Oh, and when we do that, oh Lord, I need you to do one, two, three, X, Y, Z. And Lord, I need you to do today. All that kind of falls by the wayside, doesn't it? When you come into the presence of the holy God of the universe and the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, we stop asking for our pitly wants and needs and desires. We first get, Lord, I'm just thankful to be here. Lord, I'm just thankful that I know who you are and I can call on your name. I don't even deserve to speak to you, but oh, I'm so thankful to be speaking to you. Our Father. Jesus, we know that Father God is Jesus' Father. But y'all know this prayer starts with our Father. That's my Father, and that's your Father. You and I are praying to our Father, and He is our Father because of the great grace and mercy that He's shown us. You and I are in the household of God because He's been gracious to us. Our Father, which art in heaven, holy, hallowed be your name. That's how we start in prayer. I hope this has been an encouragement to you. We're gonna close today in a word of song. I'm gonna ask Brother Don if he would come and help us. The church doors are always open if you desire tonight with a membership of our church.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Number 154. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me. I once was lost, but now have found was lying, but now I see was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears really that grace appears, they are my first feeling to make your story.