This sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer, focusing on asking God for His glory, gifts, grace, and guidance. It highlights the need for continual confession of sins, experiencing God's forgiveness, and seeking His protection amidst temptation and trials. The sermon encourages a deep desire for God and His will, leading to a life of intimacy and dependence on Him.

Well, good morning If you have a Bible and I hope you do let me invite you to open with me to Luke chapter 11 We're gonna do things a little different somewhat like we did last week this morning and instead of Having some time and song Kind of sets the stage for the word We're gonna let the word set the stage for time and response but we're gonna do it a little different even the last week in that we're gonna have some time and study and And then we're gonna have some time in prayer and then we're gonna come back to study and have some time in prayer We're gonna kind of weave in and out of this text that we're going to study You'll have to know that there might be some people that are sitting next to you that are pretty tired this morning We had about a hundred and fifty of our people get off a plane at 6 a.m. From Venezuela this morning We had about a hundred that left yesterday to go down to Venezuela. So they swapped We've got about 70 people in Ecuador this morning. We still have our 23 students over in Ukraine I'm just sorry that you're here this morning These folks making the gospel and the glory of Christ known and all those different areas We do have some variety of folks that are visiting with us especially a group from Avondale many of our small groups have been going down to Avondale and Beginning to get to know folks down there and being a part of Kings kids and some of the camps that are going on down There and in the last week, I think my understanding is about 28 kids have come to faith in Christ down in Avondale So we've got a lot to celebrate But since we're here, let's go ahead and study the word and I want us to see what I want us to see this morning Is is a facet of prayer that I know in my own experiences Serving in context overseas. God has taught me the most about and it's it's desire in prayer Two particular situations or circumstances come to my mind one was the first time I had an encounter with with house church believers in Asia believers gathered in underground locations to Study the word in a country where it was illegal to be a follower of Jesus Christ and illegal to gather Like we had gathered I remember we were sitting there just in this small room a circle of about 20 or 30 believers sitting on little stools Sitting in a circle there and we began to pray they were sharing testimonies about what God was doing in their lives And they said we need to pray and all of a sudden They fell down on their knees and on their faces and they began to weep just audibly weep before the Lord and for the next hour All they did was pray and and weep and they weren't praying. I was having their prayers translated to me They weren't praying big theological prayers they were praying things like God, thank you for not forgetting about us. God. Thank you for loving us. God. Thank you for knowing our names and For an hour, that's what they prayed Nonstop just weeping before him and I know preachers have a tendency to exaggerate. This is no exaggeration when we got up off The floor because I lost it. I was right there with him. We got up off the floor and literally there were Or puddles of tears around the room for a people who were so Passionate about their God and prayer the other Situation or circumstance that comes to my mind is in the middle of Sudan Where they were on the heels of 20 years of persecution and we would pray and These guys would call out to the Lord These women would call out to the Lord with such passion and then we'd finish praying and we'd immediately go into dancing They had these dances that they would do and it was wild sitting there dancing with these Sudanese brothers and sisters and looking across the way and seeing war-torn buildings seeing their church building that had been ravaged by helicopter gunships and to see them dancing in the middle of it What causes you to pray like that? What causes you to fall on your face and just weep before the Lord to let your Praying lead to dancing in the middle of a war zone. How does that happen? I think Think it has something to do with desire and prayer and based on those circumstances I began to study prayer and scripture and began to see and experience prayer in Entirely new ways that I had never experienced before I believe desire and prayers all over scripture And so I want us to see that this morning. I want to lay down kind of two Foundational primary truths from the start that are going to guide our time together I think these are truths that we see all over scripture, but especially in the passage. We're going to study this morning Here's the two truths. You've got them in your notes number one desire for God is the heart of prayer Desire for God is the heart of prayer Let's know what Jonathan Edwards said preacher back in the Great Awakening who wrote a book called religious affections He said a person who has a knowledge of doctrine and theology only without religious affection Has never engaged in true religion. I Am bold in saying this but I believe that no one ever seeks salvation No one ever cries for wisdom. No one ever wrestles with God No one ever kneels in prayer with a heart that remains unaffected in a word There is never Never any great achievement by the things of religion without without a heart that is deeply affected by those things last week we saw in Luke 11 1 that we pray because we need God But I want to remind you this morning that one of the fundamental reasons why we pray is not just because we need God It's because we want God because we Long for God because we yearn for God because our souls Crave God That's why we pray because we want him and desire for God is the heart of prayer and not just the emotion of prayer What I mean by that is that without desire prayer cannot survive Our prayer lives cannot survive apart from desire deep Intimate desire for God and that leads to the second truth That desire is not just the heart of prayer, but I'm convinced that desire for God is the secret to prayer Even last week when we began thinking about prayer We began thinking about questions that many of us have thought all our lives about prayer. How does prayer work? How how do you have the kind of success and prayer that we see all over the New Testament that for some reason if we're Really honest with each other is completely foreign to our lives And I think desire is it it's the secret of this picture of success we see in prayer And you've got two blanks there in your notes If I were to and this might be a little bit of an oversimplification But if I were to summarize a picture of prayer when it comes to desire and it being the secret to prayer in Two steps that I would encourage you with this morning that we're gonna see unfold in this passage The two steps would be this in your prayer life number one make your wants God's wants Make your wants God's wants your desires God's desires desire what God desires. This is this is how intimacy is created Intimacy is created by unity of affection when you and somebody else Anybody else when you the two of you long for the same things or you? Desire the same things or you want the same things it creates intimacy between you and that person That's the way it works with God when we want what he wants when we desire what he desires and that intimacy that we talked About last week the mystery of intimacy with God becomes a reality When the things that are closest to God's heart the thing become the things that are closest to our heart We begin to want what God's want once once you make your wants God's wants it leads to step number two Ask whatever you want Ask for whatever you want and You've got it Jesus says Guaranteed when your wants or God's wants you ask for whatever you want in prayer and you are guaranteed to get it You've already have it soon as you ask for it. You know you have it when your wants or God's wants now again That's maybe a little bit of an oversimplification But I think it's biblical Make your wants God's wants and then have the freedom to go to God and ask for whatever you want And he will give it to you. You see that desire is at the heart of prayer. It's the secret to prayer I want you to see that unfold in Luke chapter 11 verse 2 We studied verse 1 last week and the whole context of Luke and Acts Disciples have asked you just to teach them to pray and this is what Jesus says it says he said to them when you pray Say father Hallowed be your name your kingdom come Give us each day our daily bread Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us and lead us not into temptation How many of us recognize that if not all of us recognize that is the Lord's Prayer I'm guessing some of you're thinking that Luke left out some important things in there We know that Matthew chapter 6 gives us a picture of the Lord's Prayer and he includes some things that Luke is apparently forgotten Luke should have taken better notes when Jesus was talking so he could have gotten it down, right? Well, that's not exact before we harp on Luke. Let's let's realize that when Jesus began to teach them to pray He wasn't saying if you recite these exact words, then you're gonna have success in prayer This is not intended to be some rote religious formula that becomes a ritual or Liturgy for us that we always say and we know we're in there's some kind of magic so to speak and saying these particular words I know my high school baseball team We'd get together before every game before he ran out on the field We would pray the Lord's Prayer and it it just it didn't work. We were horrible We're horrible So maybe maybe that's not the way it was intended to work now that it's bad to pray this word for word It's certainly not a bad thing But that's that's not the point Jesus is not just saying you pray these exact words even in Matthew chapter 6 we get a little confused because when you read the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 it ends with delivers from the evil one and You don't see the thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever what's the deal with that? Did Matthew forget something too? well, actually 1611 King James translation at that time the manuscripts we were using to get the New Testament Had the thine is the king of the power and the glory forever and ever but a lots happened since 1611 and during that time We've discovered a lot more earlier manuscripts that didn't have that part So it's probably added a little later on and so most translations of the Bible today when you go to that part of Matthew chapter 6 It'll have a little note at the end says some manuscripts say this and so we've kind of added that one in there more than more than Matthew forgetting it and I I Think we do it primarily for the sake of weddings. If you ask me, I just think I think we'd like that part in the song at the wedding and it just doesn't seem as right to end on deliver us From evil. Okay. Amen. Y'all have a wonderful marriage. We want that You know just hit the high note and just let it rip It'll be the last time I sing but you just let it rip And that's beautiful and it may be beautiful weddings The only problem is it's just probably not biblical So anyway, we come to the Lord's Prayer and we see not Jesus saying these are the exact words you say instead He is showing us what we're supposed to desire in prayer when he says when you pray This is what you say that word pray original language the New Testament is two words that are put together that basically mean in the context of intimacy or closeness to ask for something to Request something. So what do we ask for you said last week Dave go into your room close the door and pray What do I do when I get there? What do I ask for and I want you to see in Luke chapter 11 verse 2 through 4 for primary requests For primary requests some would say there's five here. We're gonna group the first two together For primary requests and here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna look at each one of these requests and then we're gonna pause We're gonna pray for that Thing that we've just studied What I want to invite you to do when we come to those times in prayer all throughout the service My goal is for us just to have the freedom all across this room To pray we're gonna have music where we can pray as we sing or you can pray as you're sitting there I want to invite you to have the freedom to stand I'll invite you to have the freedom to come down here to the front Kneel or go to the sides and kneel or just go to the aisles and kneel you do you do it every one? I know that's a little different But I want us just to have freedom as we study the word to let it become the prayed word throughout this room However, that looks in your life So what does Jesus tell us to ask for number one? Jesus says ask God for his glory Ask God for his glory He says pray father Hallowed be your name Your kingdom come Now here's what we've got to make sure we don't miss the miss the point here for years I thought that this was a declaration of the glory of God of the holiness of God God You are holy and therefore you start your praying with just saying God is holy and then you go on asking for things But that's not what Jesus is saying the language here. This is not a declaration God. You're holy. It's a request For God to hallow his name the verb is passive the whole Lord's Prayer is requests Hallow your name now. What is that? What does that mean to hallow? His name what does that mean for God to hallow his name? Well, this is a word that we see throughout Scripture that basically means to sanctify something and to sanctify something Just unpack that a little bit can be used in one of two ways throughout Scripture Sometimes sanctify most often is the word that's used to describe how you make something holy as Followers of Jesus Christ. The Bible says we're in a process of sanctification. God is making us holy He's making us look more like Jesus But when you come to hallowing the name of God, there's really not a lot of holiness to be made there He's already got that covered And so the other way we see this word sanctify used in Scripture is not just to make something holy But to treat something as holy And so the prayer here what we're asking God to do is to cause his name to be treated as holy To cause his name to be hallowed to be sanctified cause your name. Oh God to be regarded as Holy that's what we're asking God to do. We're asking God for his glory Now here's the picture of God that we have even in the context of this prayer You see a few different characteristics of God brought to the front forefront Picture our God here in Luke chapter 11 verse 2. First of all, he is the Sovereign Father And we're gonna we're gonna dive a couple of weeks from now in the last week in this series We're gonna look at what it means for God to be father and the implications of that for how we pray But suffice to say at this point don't miss this the God who is sovereign over the entire universe calls you child Let that soak the God Who calls the stars by name? And who created the mountains and the valleys and the hills and the skies and the seas that God calls You his son or his daughter. He is the Sovereign Father We pray to him as our dad our father. He is the Sovereign Father Second he is the Holy One This picture of hallowed make yourself known as holy. This is the characteristic of God We see throughout the Old Testament, especially Emphasized Isaiah chapter 6 comes face to face with the glory of God Choir sing holy holy holy the only attribute of God that is mentioned three times in a row like that in Scripture His holiness means he is completely unique. He is completely other Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 23 God says I will show the holiness of my great name The nations will know that I am the Sovereign Lord declares the Lord when I show myself Holy through my people he shows himself as holy 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verse 22 You are sovereign and great. Oh Lord. There is no one like you There is no God, but you when we pray hallowed be your name We pray God make yourself known as the one there's nobody else like Show to the world that there is no God, but you no one like you that you are great. You're holy Not only is he a sovereign father the Holy One. He is the coming King your kingdom come And this is where that second petition kind of comes in there. He's the coming King throughout the New Testament. We see a picture of The kingdom of God being inaugurated in Christ coming to the earth Him showing what the reign of God looks like with his life But it also looks forward in the New Testament does to the consummation of that kingdom when God will come and he will reign And God will well one day eradicate all evil He will demonstrate manifest his righteousness on the earth And so when we pray hallowed be your name your kingdom come we're praying God Come and make your name known God come and make your reign known. That's what we're asking God to do We're not saying God hallowed is your name Although it is we're saying God make your name hallowed make your name known as holy. That's our cry But who are we crying that out? For what for whom are we praying when we pray hallowed be your name? I think there's a there's a personal dimension to this and a worldwide dimension of this I think we're praying our cry is God make yourself known in my life God make yourself known in my life make yourself known as holy make yourself known as great in my life Cause me to treat your name as holy. I Want to believe your greatness with greater intensity, that's why I'm praying I'm praying that you would cause me to trust in your power with greater intensity You'd cause me to obey you like you are holy It would cause me to be pure as you were pure God make yourself known in my life Think about it every single one of us in this room who has a relationship with Christ. We bear the name of our Father So how is God going to make himself known in the world as holy? Through those who bear his name you and I that's why we pray hallowed be your name in my life But not just in my life God make yourself known hallowed be your name in all the world. I think there's a cosmic Universal dimension to this prayer hallowed be your name your kingdom come and all the world the picture We've got the rest of the New Testament of the kingdom of God coming is a picture of every tribe and every people in every Language every nation singing praises to him as the king. That's where our prayers are headed We want him to make himself known as great and holy and mighty in all the world in every corner of the earth in every Corner of Birmingham. We want God's name to be known as holy In every corner of every country on this planet We want God's name to be known as holy when we pray for these teams in Ecuador We pray God use use these brothers and sisters of ours to make your name known as holy in Ecuador Our brothers and sisters in Venezuela this morning make your name known as holy through them for our students in Ukraine Make your name known as great throughout Ukraine through them Hey, they reported back to us this week that 50 students had come to faith in Christ there in Ukraine God make yourself known as great and Savior in the middle of Ukraine. That's what we pray Now here's the beauty of it Our cry for God's name to be hallowed his kingdom to come the beauty of it is and it goes back to where we started This morning God Wants this to happen He wants his name to be hallowed We've got to remember that when we pray we're not asking God to do things. He doesn't want to do We're asking God to do that which is most passionate on his heart He is not disinclined to make his glory known His whole person is inclined to make his glory known There is nothing that is higher on God's priority list than making his greatness and his grace and his mercy and his majesty his love known and So when we pray for that, we're coming in line with the desires of God This is why we can say make your wants God's wants then ask for whatever you want Jesus is saying he says that throughout Scripture God's name will be vindicated. He will show his righteousness He will show his power and his mercy and his glory to all nations So you pray for that and you're in on the cosmic plan of God to make his name hallowed in all the earth He says you have the privilege of praying this prayer into reality in your life, I'm convinced That if the kingdom of God Comes is consummated in our lifetime God may it be So if it is it will be because the Church of Jesus Christ gets serious about praying the Lord's Prayer Hallowed be your name and all the earth. I'm convinced that if we are going To do what we talked about two weeks ago and we are going to fulfill the Great Commission It will be because the church at Brook Hills Unites and a concerted effort of prayer where we fall on our faces day after day and week after week and we cry out together As a faith family make your name known as holy throughout the earth God wants to answer that He longs to answer that let me give you a picture. I got an email this week from Houston Fifty four fifty one year old man He writes in the spring of 2006 With the encouragement of two of my friends at work I began for the first time in my life to study God's Word and apply it to my life It was during this time that I began to have a burden to go on a mission trip to Brazil. I Began praying and seeking God's direction. I had no idea where to turn for guidance in September I was contacted with an opportunity to go to Brazil in July of 2007 this month Because the team of 22 would come from another place I was isolated from training and had to work and plan via the Internet This is where the Church of Brook Hills plays in an early spring of 2007. I started subscribing to your podcast It was during the spring and early summer that I listened to your messages on sharing my faith with people in different cultures I can remember listening to the messages on preparing and giving our testimonies and sharing with guilt shame and fear-based cultures I didn't realize at the time what God was doing in my life Few weeks ago. Our team went to st. Helena in the northeast corner of Brazil on Saturday morning I was asked to share my testimony. By the way, it was less than a hundred words. I Was asked to share my testimony with approximately 75 local Christians I then shared with them how to write and share their testimonies with others over the next three days So the efforts of those Christians over a hundred Brazilians came to know the Lord in a personal way Now here's where it gets really good now that that wasn't good, but here's where it gets really good I want to personally thank you and the church for all you do for the furtherance of God's kingdom Also, I would like to thank Charles card Jim Shepherd Jean Mason and others at Brook Hills Whom my wife Pam had contacted while I was gone to pray for God's will in our lives Market down guaranteed You pray for the name of God to be hallowed in All corners of the earth and it will happen He will make his glory known. He will show himself faithful. He will show himself the Savior of the world He will show himself the Lord of the nations Let's be a faith family that girl falls on our knees and ask God to do it. Ask God for his glory So that's what we're gonna do Out of the next come a couple of minutes We're gonna come face to face with the glory of Jesus Christ and we're gonna ask him To make his name known as holy in our lives. We're gonna ask him to make his name holy in all the world And Amy's gonna sing over us and while she's singing you feel free to sing along if you'd like you feel free to To just sit in prayer. You feel free to stand in prayer As you sing along you feel free to come to the front you have the freedom, but let's let's do this Let's ask God for his glory God Cause your name to be hallowed in our lives in this room and cause your name to be hallowed in all the world Across the room one of the things that a lot of our brothers and sisters around the world do That we don't often do is just pray aloud together And what I want to invite us to do over the next next just a couple of minutes Just to call out to God across this room in line with Luke chapter 11 verse 2 And instead of calling out God you are we fill in the blank With his attributes and who he is. I want us to call out all across this room God Make yourself known as and you fill in the blank And I want us to call it out aloud over the next couple of minutes Just to say God make yourself known as and you fill in the blank God make yourself known as Savior make yourself known as majestic make yourself known as holy make yourself known as great and in a Concert of prayer across this room. We're gonna call out for God to hallow his name. I Want to invite you to pray aloud and I'll start us and then you just as God leads you all across this room Let's call out to him God make yourself known as and then you fill in the breath, I'll start us God God make yourself known as Father You make your wants his wants then you ask Whatever you want ask for his glory second petition second request and the Lord's Prayer It's to ask for his Gifts ask God for his gifts says give us Each day our daily bread now we come to this point. We kind of ask the question Why is this the only thing? Jesus tells us to ask God to give to us Give us bread. I Why does he say give us our bread Daily, well, the picture goes all the way back to God's work among his people in the Old Testament Exodus chapter 16 you remember some of you may remember when God's people were wandering the wilderness They had been taken out of slavery in Egypt and they were brought in to this wilderness where they were wandering They were hungry. They didn't have any food So God provided food for them literally bread from heaven manna They would wake up walk outside their tents and there'd be food everywhere There'd be food enough for that day and be able to eat for that day But if they tried to save it until the next day what happened? Bread wasn't so good anymore. So they wouldn't want to eat the bread on the next day They learn to trust God day by day every morning God's gonna provide us the food we need we go to bed at night. We don't have food for tomorrow Wake up the next morning. He's given it to us. Now. Why did God do that? Why did he lead them like that and why would that be so important for how we pray? I think there's two truths that are that are Fundamental to understanding Exodus chapter 16 and especially how it relates to the Lord's Prayer number one. God satisfies our hunger Let me ask you a question. That's gonna seem very elementary, but think about it with me. Why were the Israelites in the wilderness? Why were they hungry? First dogs because they didn't have any food but go deeper than that They were hungry because God created them with that hunger, right? The only reason we are hungry for food. Well, the reason we have cravings is because God has created us that way God has created us to hunger after things and here's the beauty of it to hunger after things that only he can fill He caused them to hunger. It literally says in Exodus chapter 16 He created them that way so that they would look to him to fulfill that hunger He satisfies our hunger and that leads to the second truth. Not only does he satisfy our hunger, but he sustains our faith and He teaches us in the process to look to him to give us the gifts We need to look to him to fill those hungers in us Let me show this to you hold your place here in Luke 11 and go back with me to Deuteronomy fifth book in the Bible Deuteronomy chapter 8 Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers and you'll come to Deuteronomy chapter 8 This is this is when God is explaining why he did what he did in the desert This is after he had done it and he is explaining his motivation what his whole purpose For providing them food in that way was listen to Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 and you're gonna see both these truths The fact that he satisfies our hunger and he sustains our faith look for him here in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 It says he and God humbled you Causing you to hunger there it is causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known To here's the purpose. Here's why God did it to teach you That man does not live on bread alone But on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord These were a people when they were slaves in Egypt. They have had a lot of food to eat And they even grumbled in Numbers chapter 11 said we don't want the man we want the food back in Egypt The reason God did this is he wanted to teach them that they had a hunger That he created them so that he would fill it So that I'm teaching you to trust in me to provide the bread you need Trust in me to provide the gifts that you need man does not live on bread You live on God on every word that comes from the mouth of God. That doesn't mean you're hungry. You eat the Bible it means that You've thought it before haven't you? What does that make sense? Teaching them that God is The provider for them and they're to seek him to provide what they hunger for and they long for That's the whole point of why we get to Luke chapter 11. He says give us today each day our daily bread It's that picture of us saying on a daily basis God we have a hunger for food a physical hunger for food and only you can provide for that hunger we have a Thirst for water only you can provide that we have a longing for air on a moment-by-moment basis We don't even think about it. We've got it Soon as it's taken away from us. We begin immediately to long for it. Only you can fulfill that We have all kinds of hungers desires thirst longings in our life for for peace for love for intimacy for meaning for purpose Jesus is saying you go to God you say only you can provide these things for me Now this this whole request seems really strange in our culture today Because let's be honest we don't We don't very often ask God to give us bread today To give us food today Not one of us in this room was worried about the fact that we may not have anything to eat today so why would our main request for God to give us something be for bread when in Our culture most if not, all of us need less food not more Why do we ask? For daily bread Because Jesus is saying That you need to pray And prayer will be the guard in your life To guard you against thinking that you can provide bread for yourself on your own apart from him And get prayer will be the the hedge of protection to keep you from thinking That you can provide what you need you can provide for your hungers by going to the things of this world instead of going to God I'm convinced I Look at my own life when I look at the state of Christianity in Western culture the one of the reasons that we are so flippant and so casual with prayer is because We actually believe that we can We can do this thing on our own and we can sustain our lives on our own And we believe that because we've got the things to prove it and we have bought the bill of goods The materialism has sold us that said we don't need God We just need our things and we can make it without God because we've got all our things and Jesus says the core of prayer Is you realizing that you have a father in heaven who desires to give every good and perfect gift to you and you need him? Not bread you need him Not water not air not all of these things that you hunger and long for you need him and he will provide those things For you and prayer brings us back to that realization we have We've got to ask God to deliver us in this culture that we live in To deliver us from self-sustaining Christian lives. You can't that goes against the whole point of Christianity We're only sustained by God We are only satisfied by God and he gives us that which nothing else in this world No matter how big our house is no matter how nice our car is no matter how great our 401k is no matter how great Our job our salary is the possessions that we own no matter how great they are. We don't need things. We need God and And spending time and closed doors with God saying with none of us I'm guessing none of us have asked today. Give me my daily bread. Maybe very few of us Because we think we've got it on our own and we don't we don't have it on our own We can't do this thing without him He alone is our provider and so we go to him and we say give us give us the core needs I mean, I need you to provide these things for me And it's why it's why our Sudanese brothers and sisters in the middle of the African jungle are dancing when they pray It's why in a war-torn community. They're celebrating because they They've seen their friends and their family members Taken taken by militant Muslims miles into the desert and left there to starve without food or water And they've seen those trucks go back every day to those people in the desert those Believers in the desert and say if you will renounce your faith We will take you to food if you'll renounce your faith will take you to water water And they've seen their friends and family members died there in the desert Because they wouldn't renounce their faith. Does that mean? That God did not give them their daily bread Absolutely, not that means our brothers and sisters in the Sudan know that man does not live on bread alone But on every word that comes from the mouth of God God is their sustenance He is their satisfaction, and it's why when you go to Sudan today, and you say I'm sorry about all that's happened around you They'll look back at you, and they'll say the same three words every time their favorite phrase is God is greater We don't have food God's greater. We don't have drink God's greater our homes are ravaged. God is Greater he gives us what we need he satisfies us. He sustains us and he is All we need and so we need to pray for our daily bread We need to pray for God's provision We need to pray for God's gifts like we want God to give them and like we can't We can't get what he offers anywhere else and so over the next few minutes I Want to invite you to let this soak in in your life and prayer Again you have you have the freedom you stand If you'd like to sit there and pray if you'd like you sing along if you'd like the whole purpose of these songs is to guide us in prayer You kneel if you would like but across this room and this Materialistic wealthy culture that we are all immersed in Let's ask God to give us our daily bread And let's confess that we we are desperate For him to provide his gifts to us But help us to come out in the middle of that and say apart from God. We have nothing Teach us to pray like this in Jesus name. Amen We ask God for his gifts because only he can give them Ask God for his glory and his gifts then we ask God third petition or request in the Lord's prayers for his grace for his grace Forgive us our sins for Simple words that absolutely Blow open the storehouse of heaven's mercy May we never lose sight of Beauty and the wonder of coming before the Holy God of the universe Saying forgive us our sins and knowing that we have a hearing with him What an incredible thought don't Don't go over that quickly so you can go out on the baseball field Don't go over that quickly So you can go on to the next thing that you really want to get to and ask God to do this Let that soak in forgive us our sins We we want his grace we asked for his grace God I need your grace The more I'm convinced the more we walk with God in prayer the more we connect with him in prayer The more this will become a fundamental part of our praying You'd think it'd be the opposite You'd think that the closer you get to God in prayer The less you need to ask for his grace the less you need to ask for his forgiveness Because you're getting things taken care of in your life, right? I Think the opposite is true in Scripture as well as in personal experience. I Think the deeper you go in your relationship with God and the deeper you walk with him in prayer the more you become aware of Your need for his grace and the more he exposes the things in your life that you never saw before That you want to get rid of so that you can live the Christ life And you need his grace So you experience his forgiveness forgive us our sins and we have the privilege in prayer of Experiencing his forgiveness of in that moment of praying to this God knowing that our sins are forgiven we experience it this is not just a Theoretical truth on the pages of Scripture. This is a reality in your life in prayer. Forgive us our sins You experience his forgiveness. He looks at you and he says not guilty slate wiped clean That's reason to pray Once you want his grace He's ready to pour it out. We experience his great and his forgiveness in a couple of ways I think in Luke chapter 11 first of all continually whole picture is whenever you pray This is what you say forgive us our sins The Lord's Prayer Jesus seems to imply or assume that we're always going to need to ask for this one Seems to assume that we're in constant need of forgiveness that even our best works need to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ Even the best things we have to bring to the table in prayer filthy rags that he cleanses with his righteousness So we ask continually Over and over again God forgive me of this God forgive me of this God forgive me of this and we know ladies and gentlemen You cannot exhaust the mercy of God You just keep coming back to the well and it'll keep covering you time after time after time Again, you ask for his forgiveness continually and then you ask for his forgiveness to experience his forgiveness Specifically, there's a definite article this sins forgive us of the sins We've committed It's a prayer there. It's not just saying God. I know I messed up somewhere So I'm just gonna cover my bases and say forgive me and that'll cover it You know that there's a point in our salvation. Well that where that's certainly the case we come to God and we realize our Sinful nature and we realize our need for him our whole life has been Been headed towards sin given over to sin and we come to that point where we make a decisive Trust in Christ and he cleanses us of all our sins Then at that point on and think the picture here and Luke chapter 11 is we're no longer coming before a judge to be declared Guilty or innocent for all of eternity now There's a picture of a child coming before father sitting down at the table with a father and saying, you know There's some things that I've let come between me and you and I need to specifically just get those out on the table Land him out there as if he doesn't already know As if you're hiding You come to those points where you say God I need you to forgive me for and you fill in the blank and you say things That you would be ashamed for anybody else to hear But you know that you have a father in heaven who hears you and he forgives you specifically He covers that sin with his righteousness We can be specific with him And we let God in this thing called prayer take hold of those areas We don't want him just to wash the outside of the cup and leave the filth inside do it Wash the whole thing This and this and this sometimes we just need to camp out at this part of prayer and ask for his grace And have him say to us over and over and over again, you're not guilty anymore. You're not filthy anymore So we experience his forgiveness and then it's not where this whole picture stops in Luke 11 says you extend his forgiveness Forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven those who sin against us now the danger here in Luke chapter 11 is to think that what Jesus is saying is that The basis or the ground for our forgiveness is our actions with others. That's not what scripture teaches The basis for our forgiveness is obviously the grace and the mercy of Christ and trusting in Christ So we asked him to forgive us based on that. But here's what Jesus is saying very clearly If you ask God to forgive you of your sins, and yet you are not forgiving others around you That unforgiveness is a sin. And so you really haven't asked God to forgive you of your sins Unforgiveness The roots of bitterness The grudges the desires for revenge that That we hold on to at work and we hold on to at home and we hold on to in the church Jesus calls it out. It's sin Because failure to forgive is a complete contradiction of the gospel that you have trusted in It's a complete contradiction of what you're asking God for in prayer And so he says you receive my forgiveness and then you radiate my forgiveness You show my forgiveness in a way that makes no sense to the world around you And so Jesus says to us in her praying Even goes so far as to say if you come to pray and you realize that your brother If there's something in between you and him you need to go get that right Then you come back and pray and the challenge is for all of us in this room to consider What areas of bitterness are still there in our hearts what grudges or desires for revenge or whatever that may be unforgiveness in our lives in our Relationships with other brothers or sisters and we have got to get those right if we are going to progress in prayer plain and simple Now this this thing called confession is not not where we like to camp out a lot But I'm convinced That as God works in our faith family He leads us deeper and deeper into his word and deeper deeper into this mission. We will need more and more time in confession not less we will need more time to fall on our faces corporately and as individually and to say got a I I need and I want your grace And so over the next few minutes, that's what we're going to do Again, the goal this morning is that there were there would not be spectators in corporate worship But as we've seen this in the word, okay And we need to pray We need to pray all across this room as individuals God God forgive me of and you fill in the blank And you be specific with God And forgive us there's a corporate nature that the whole Lord's Prayer God We have fallen short in this and this and this as your people And if there's things that we're holding on to roots of bitterness or unforgiveness that we need to get those right whether that's even right now Turning the person beside us or going to someone else and say hey I need to I need to get this right with you or if that's saying God I'm gonna resolve that today The result of my praying is I'm gonna go and handle this I want us to spend some time the corporate confession Again, you you bow and pray where you are. You sing along if you'd like you stand or you kneel Let's just spend time becoming honestly before the throne of mercy saying forgive us our sins Let's ask God for his grace This is how you pray You ask God for his glory and his gifts and you ask God for his grace and then the final petition The Lord's Prayer is you ask God for his guidance? lead us not into temptation It almost seems to imply that God wants to tempt us The God wants to entice us, but that's not at all what scripture is teaching We know James 1 just debunks that whole idea. So what is this saying? I think it it comes on the heels of a need for grace for a reason I think I Think the picture we're seeing here in prayer Is that we come before God as a people who are? All prone to sin we are all prone to wander to our temptation Every single one of us including myself you need to know that your pastor in His flesh is prone to wanders Prone to leave the God. He loves we all are every single one of us in this room without exception And so we pray because We need him to redirect us We need him to lead us not into temptation But to lead us in a way that honors and that glorifies him Lead us in the path of holiness and righteousness. We need him to do that because we can't do it on our own He gives protection amidst temptation He gives protection from temptation Christ does and apart from him. We are powerless against temptation We need to realize that We have this tendency and it goes back to our self-sustaining Christianity, then this is the whole point of Christianity We have this idea that we hear people have fallen into this sin or that's and we think I would never do that And the Bible tells us take heed lest you fall You can't overcome temptation on your own not one of us in this room. Can I can't you can't only Christ Only Christ has the power to overcome the snares and the schemes of the adversary only him And so it's only when we are in him that we can overcome temptation. We need him to guide us To protect us amidst temptation there There are people all across this room Who are dabbling and flirting with this temptation or that temptation this center that's in thinking Well, it would never go beyond that it would never get worse than that And the greatest need for us is to go home today this afternoon go into the room close the door and pray lead me not into Temptation for some of us that is the most urgent need Because the adversary is somewhere along the way convinced us that we can overcome temptation on our own we can't We need his guidance and the picture here is not just in temptation to sin But in the temptation that comes in the middle of trial Jesus says pray Lead us not into temptation in a way that we would turn away from God in the middle of trial And so he gives protection amidst temptation. He gives perseverance amidst in the middle of trial He gives the sustenance that you need to continue to seek him and to trust him in the middle of our trials The golden thread we've seen it throughout the Lord's Prayer that knits it all together that golden thread is a prayer Not not my will but yours be done We see it in Matthew chapter 6 and it's it's over different places in the New Testament But let's be honest in the middle of trial Let's just be honest. There's times where it's easier to pray not my will but yours be done than it is other times in our life and I'm guessing there's a whole host of people who are sitting in front of me this morning who are thinking Not my will but yours be done Dave. I'm I'm just not there I'm having a real hard time praying that in my life that whatever God wants to do In the middle of this trial. I I wanted to do and if that's you I Want to encourage you this morning I've just got a feeling that God understands that The Christ understands that you look at Jesus prayer lies comes to the garden Gethsemane and He doesn't pray just casually not my will but yours be done. Whatever you want. I'll do it. It's not easy He agonizes in prayer and there's times in our walks with God in prayer that we need to camp out here a little longer than other times Maybe for a long time God. I'm just not there and Know that he understands that and the beauty of this picture in prayer is that he leads us to get there Even though we started make your wants God's wants. Well, how do I do that? You ask God to lead you and to guide you to want what he wants you ask him to take you there You don't have to get there on your own now. You're ready. He guides you and leads you to that point So So if life has taken a turn for the worse and your family and your health and your job or when that does happen Ask God to lead and to God ask him And he'll bring you to the point where you can say not my will but yours be done. This is This is what happens in prayer. This is part of that intimacy and And we all know We all know that it's not in times of triumph But in times of trial when the beauty and the intimacy of God in prayer is so much more Real than any other time in our life and he's designed it that way so that he would guide you in the middle there is there's a phrase that Puritan believers used back in the 16th and 17th century called the valley of vision And talk about how it was in the middle of the valleys where God gave Clearest vision of who he is and how he leads and how he guides the Puritans Are known in the history of Christianity is Leaving some of the greatest legacy example of prayer and devotion and I'm convinced it's because Puritans were really born in the picture of the church in England during that time frame when they were They were trying to bring the church back to what the word taught and the purity of the word in the church And they were facing persecution their homes were being burned and Archbishop was taking their leaders aside and torturing them literally cutting off their ears. They were being threatened many of them fled Ended up founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony founded by Puritans who were Living in the middle of persecution. They left this legacy of prayer and devotion. I'm convinced because they knew What it meant for God to lead and guide in the middle of the valley And so as we think about praying asking God for his guidance, I want to let them lead our prayer time And what you're gonna see on the screen is prayers Puritan prayers that they prayed That I hope will encourage us as we pray and ask God for his guidance and then in between those prayers We'll have an opportunity to Sing prayers to God Asking him to be our guide and a song that I'm guessing is familiar to many of us. Let's Let's ask God for his guidance lead us not into temptation This then is how you pray Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come ask for his glory Ladies and gentlemen think of as many ways as you can possibly think of to phrase that just ask for him to make his name No Over and over and over again. Let that be the perspective that now counts as you asking for his gifts With complete and total dependence on him For his grace and complete need before him and ultimately for his guidance It all brings us back around to making his greatness no, this is how you pray So my challenge for you For us all as we've seen this in Scripture this morning. My challenge for us is To be rid and done With desireless praying with affectionless praying. Let's be ridden down even when we sit down at the table Let's be ridden done With a rote praying and this is the heart of prayer a desire for him and let's let Desire for what he desires be the secret to discovering his power in prayer And let's see what he does So you have the offering baskets on the side I want to invite you to pass those toward the middle As you're passing those toward the middle light. I want to encourage especially those of you who are here this morning and Maybe you've never come to the point where you even have a desire for Christ the desire to know Christ I want you to know his His desire is to draw you to himself God's desire so much so that he sent his son to die on a cross to draw you to himself And so I'd invite you Prayer is the avenue through which we enter into a relationship with God and we say I trust him Maybe for the first time today in this room now or as you go home to pray God I want you. I want your grace. I want your gifts. I want your guidance and ultimately I want your glory in my life