This sermon emphasizes the importance of daily seeking God through His Word, especially in the midst of challenging times and the prevalence of false teachings. It highlights the power, direction, and strength found in the living Word of God, urging believers to prioritize daily reading and meditation on Scripture to receive guidance, protection, and transformation.

You know folks, I've got a word for you from Matthew chapter 6, today entitled, Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread. And it comes this morning with a warning. We are living in the last days. Jesus Christ is coming soon for his church. This world as we know it is going to plunge into an unspeakable darkness. I think you're aware of that. Everybody must be aware of that by now. Biblical prophecy is being unfolded daily before us. Soon you'll see Jerusalem encompassed by armies. Won't be that long down the road. But in the Bible, Jesus warned that in these last days many false prophets are going to arise and many are going to be deceived. Now let me tell you why they're going to be deceived. It's a simple thing. They are not in the word of God. That's why they're going to be deceived. They are following books. They're following fads. They're following fancy speakers. They're following trends. But they're not opening the text of the Bible, whether it's on your cell phone or a tablet or a physical hard copy of the word of God. This is a living word. The entrance of thy words gives light, the scripture says. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. All things were created by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But to as many as received him, he gave them the power to become the sons of God. It's truly amazing. There's power in the word of God. There's light in the word of God. There's direction in the word of God. There's strength in the word of God. The word of God is living. The word of God is alive. The word of God has the power to create and recreate the human heart, has the power to give sight and freedom and vision and hope and strength, and maybe most importantly of all in this generation, direction to get through. There will be a myriad of confusing voices sent by hell itself to divert the people of God and those trying to get back to God in this last hour of time and to ensnare the lazy who just simply have...they have let somebody else do the work for them. They don't really read their Bibles. And I'm going to talk about why Jesus told us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Now, Father, I thank you, Lord, for giving me this understanding. I thank you for giving me the heart of a pastor. I thank you, Lord, for your people. I thank you, God, that it's not your will that any should perish or fall by the wayside. It's not your will that seed should be sown in places where it can't grow. God Almighty, in Jesus' name, I ask, Lord, that you put the weight of heaven on this word. Let it rest heavy on our hearts, Lord, all of us, that we can't shake it, we can't put it away, we can't leave it for another day. Lord, it's too important now. God, for people will be looking in every conceivable direction, even in your house, for strength and direction in the days ahead. Many will be deceived. So, God, I ask you to touch this church with a simple understanding that every man, every woman, every young person needs to read their Bible. And, Father, I thank you for this with all my heart, in Jesus' name. Matthew chapter 6. You know, I'm not going to speak anything today that you don't know. It's amazing, but neither did Jesus. The men on the road to Emmaus are heading away from Jerusalem, from the place of victory. They knew the scriptures, but they really didn't know it. It had never really found a lodging place in them. So the scripture says, beginning at Moses and the prophets, he opened everything in the scriptures to them concerning himself. It was already there. They just didn't study it with an honest heart, or they would have been not going in the direction they were going in. Beginning at verse 9, Matthew chapter 6. In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on 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 the evil one. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. This is how we're to pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. This is the cry of every true Christian heart. It's the cry of my heart. It's the present-day cry of my heart, not just the cry of the past. It's the cry of this week. It's the cry of this morning on the way here. Oh, God, it is only right that your name should be honored and glorified in every generation. And you have chosen to do that through me and through a people that you call your church and your body on the earth. And so, God, I'm asking that your kingdom would come and take up residence within my heart, that you would drive out the old value system. You drive out contrary thought to truth. You would drive out anything in me that might lead me astray in the days ahead, things that I'm not aware of. I'm not afraid to pray as King David once prayed and said, search me, oh, God. Know my heart. Try my way. See if there'd be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of life everlasting. That's the prayer of a heart that is a heart after God. We don't assume that everything we're doing or thinking is right. And we know that our own thinking can very easily lead us astray. So there's a cry in our heart that says, God, not my will but thine. Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done in me as it is in heaven. God, turn me to what I need to be turned towards in my thinking, in the pursuits of my life. Help me, Lord, to have heaven's value system. Whether or not you really value heaven is quite often dependent on how much time you spend in the word of God, how much time you spend actually praying in this book as you read it and saying, oh, God, even just these few verses of scripture, if you prayed as I do, I like to pray with an open Bible. And you're reading these words, your kingdom come, your will be done. You can stop right there and say, God, has your kingdom really come into my heart? Have you fully occupied my life? Are there parts of me, Lord, that are muddying the water where you're not clearly seen, you're not clearly heard? God, especially now at this stage of my life where I have studied and learned so much, don't let it all come to nothing at the end. There should be a greater glory in the latter temple than there was in the former. And so, Lord, I'm asking, examine my heart. Don't let me assume that everything that I'm doing is right. Then we go to verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, in order to accomplish this, there has to be a daily provision which Jesus promises to be in us and he promises to give to us. Now, listen to what he said in John 6. I'll read it to you beginning at verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead, but this is the bread that comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh which I shall give for the life of the world. I am the bread. I am your strength. I am your vision. I am your redemption. I am your freedom. I am your protector. I am your guide. I am everything that you need for life and for godliness. The apostle Peter said, we're given exceeding great and precious promises in the word of God, and by these, we become partakers of the divine nature of God in Christ. You can truly say, biblically speaking, you are what you eat. If you choose to go on a diet from the Bible, you're going to become real lean, and you're going to become real confused, and your hearts are going to get magnified, and wrong thoughts are going to start guiding you, and you never know where that's going to lead. In your desperation, you start turning on the internet, you start listening on television. If anybody still has a television, you listen on it, you start listening to voices that claim to be doing the work for you. They stand before you and say, I am Christ. In other words, you're looking at me, you're seeing what a Christian life looks like. Come follow me, and because you're not doing the work of God, you're not reading the word of God, you're not digesting, you're not eating this living bread, you end up deceived at the end of your days. Now, everybody who's hearing these words from Jesus, they're very, very familiar with what he's talking about, because they're aware of their own history. Now, let me go back with you to Exodus chapter 16. You might want to follow along if you have your Bible with you. Second book from the beginning. Book of Exodus chapter 16, beginning at verse 14. Now, this was the bread. Now, the people of God at that time, they knew that miraculous bread had been given them. It was a bread that sustained them. It was something that appeared on the ground every morning, and they would pick it up and they would take it home. And it had a supernatural capability to it. It's like all the nutrients the human body could ever require were in this little wafer that appeared on the ground every morning that tasted like wafers made with honey. That's what the scripture says it tasted like. And it had that ability to keep them, and they knew that. So in the context of their own history, now Jesus is telling them, I am the living bread. I am the bread that if you eat of this bread, you will live forever. And of course, the promise of protection and health is in it too as well. Now, Exodus chapter 16, beginning at verse 14. And we're going to see some principles about this living bread. From the Old Testament. And when the layer of dew lifted, there was on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need. And Omer for each person, according to the number of persons. Let every man take for those who are in his tent. Fathers, listen to me. You got to gather some bread from this Bible for your tent. You got to do it every day. You got to get up in the morning and you got to read this word because it will set a tone in your house. You are the covering. You're the covering in your marriage. You're the covering for your wife. You're the covering for your children. Mothers, you got to get up. You got to get the word of God because it is true. The hand that rocks the cradle is the one that rocks the nation as well. Everyone has a part in this. Everyone has to get up in the morning and everyone has to gather from the word of God according to their house. Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. So when they measured it by Omer's, he who gathered much had nothing left over. And he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need. Now, this is incredible when you look at it. Some people like me, you have time to get up in the morning. You got time to spend two, three hours if you want in the word of God. You got time to start your day with prayer for an hour. You got time to open the Bible. I read in four places every day and I just read in those four different places until I feel like I need to stop and move on to the next section of scripture. But I have that privilege, but not everybody here has that. Some mothers, you got to get up in the morning. You got to make lunch for four kids. You got to get them to school. You got to get them on the bus or the subway. Dads, you got to get to work. And you might, if you're fortunate, you might be able to scrape out 10 or 15 minutes in the morning that you can open your Bible. You read a portion of scripture. But the beauty of the word of God is the one who gathered much didn't have anything left over. And the one who gathered little had no lack. God, if we, if, if I get up in the morning and I have a, I read a basket full of scripture, I'm in a basket full, but I may not need the whole basket that day. I'm going to face some circumstances and God knows what those are. And he's able to bring it right down to a verse that I read that morning that, that I need for that day. Praise be to God. And I may get up in the morning and I'm only might have 10 or 15 minutes, but God's able to take that little bit that I have read that morning. And he's able to multiply that to meet my needs throughout the day. Oh, it's so important to establish your thoughts in the word of God. Don't let the news media get your thoughts first thing in the morning. That's what you will end up talking about for the rest of the day. Get your thoughts established by the word of God in all your ways. Acknowledge him. Don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Start your day in the word of God and say, God, give me a thought for the day. He'll take a, and some, I could just see the person that didn't have much. And you come, you will watch how miraculous this word is. I'm telling you, you will meet a situation in the day. And that verse of scripture that you've been thinking about will be your strength. It will be your power to respond. It will be your guard. It will be your guide. It will be your vision. It will be your hope. And at the end of the day, it will be your rejoicing because God has kept you. He's been true to his word. I read a lot most days, but I'll tell you, there's some days that God's got to bring it down to one verse because that's the one that really matters. Those who gathered much didn't have too much. And those who gathered little didn't have too little. I love that God is able to multiply his word. Oh, praise be to God. There's, you know, I could preach on John chapter three, verse 16 for the rest of my life and never touch the depths of the bottom of that one verse of scripture. That's how deep, that's how powerful, that's how wonderful the word of God really is. And then Moses said, let no one leave verse 19 of Exodus 16. Let no one leave any of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it till the morning and it bred worms and stank. That's amazing. I mean, that's the type of person, the promises are there for you to face your day. But if you don't consume them, let me tell you by the end of the day, your victory stinks. What you should have had stinks. You should have had a word for the situation. You should have strength to get through, but you said, ah, well, I'll read when I get home. And so you left the promises of God that could establish your day and establish your thoughts and establish your mind. And you ran into situations, you didn't have the resources. So instead of responding with God's kindness, you gave back word for word, insult for insult, lie for lie, anger for anger. You get home and your day stinks. It's exactly what happened. They had the promises of provision, but they did not consume it in the morning. And by the nighttime it bred worms and stank. And so many people go through their day weak because they don't start their day in the word of God. And verse 21 says, so they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. You can't live on yesterday's bread. Give us this day, our daily bread, because the sun gets hot. All you got to do is go to work and just say, I'm a conservative and watch how hot it's going to get. Go to work. Say, I'm a Democrat. Watch how hot it's going to get. It gets hot at work. When you start trying to speak anything other than the word of God, it gets hot. The sun comes out. You face trials. You face difficulties. You face circumstances. You face ridicule. You face criticism. You face disappointment. And when the sun gets hot, yesterday's bread is not going to keep you. You need a day-to-day thought from God. Give us this day, oh God, our daily bread. The morning lamentations. I love what Jeremiah says in chapter three in verses 22 to 24. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I hope in him. It's by the mercy of God that I am not brought down by my own heart. It's by the mercy of God that my enemies surround me, but they can't take me down. They can't take me down with praise, and they can't take me down with criticism. Because God's compassion is interwoven in his word. And as I get time to get in his word, I rediscover every morning how great is the faithfulness of God to keep me, to keep you, my brother, my sister, how faithful he is. He is my portion, Jeremiah says. Therefore, I will hope in him. And that's why in Matthew, again, chapter six, where we started in verse 12, after he says, 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 the evil one. Now here's my paraphrase of these verses of scripture. It's mine, okay? So don't anybody think I'm quoting from a verse that doesn't exist. This is only my own paraphrase. But this is the way I read it. Forgive us where we have found ourselves with insufficient strength and resource to represent you as we ought to. Forgive us, God. Forgive us for going through our day, not seeking our daily bread, finding that we had insufficient strength to meet the need that was before us or the challenge, getting to the end of our day and what should have been a victory ends up in a defeat. And God, forgive me for finding myself with insufficient strength to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. When you told me to speak and I didn't, when you called me to stand and I wouldn't, when you told me to love and I couldn't because I had no strength at the moment. And so God, forgive me, Lord, for you have provided all the resource that I need to be the person I'm called to be. And forgive me for the ignorance of not knowing that and not being a partaker of not taking it seriously. Forgive me, God, for not occupying my mind in the morning with the strength that I needed to get through the day so that I wouldn't falter or fail in some area of my service to you or some area of just in my own character and in my own life. And help me to be kind with the failings of others, just as you are kind with me. Help me, God, not to hold people by the throat when you have forgiven me such an incredible debt. Help me to be kind to those who fight against their own redemption and hate those who represent the one who died on the cross to save them. Lord, I should have had that knowledge in my heart. I should have had that kind of love inside of me, but I neglected to eat that morning and found myself weak, unable to stand, unable to love, unable to respond the way I should have because my thoughts weren't established in your word. Forgive me, Lord, for the laziness in my life of not spending time reading, studying. I want to be a workman, as Paul said to Timothy, who's not ashamed. That means not triumphed over in my day. I want to know the word of God in such a way that it becomes the source of strength in my life. And then he says, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Don't let me be so discouraged by my failure that I get to the point where I start to agree with the devil's condemnation of me. Deliver me, Lord, from the one who would condemn me because I failed in some area of my life. So God, don't let this happen to me. Give me now for tomorrow the daily bread I'm going to need. And especially now, my brother, my sister, we live in such a volatile, a verbally offensive time, such an anti-Christian moment in the history of this nation, such a moment of godlessness that I never thought I would live to see, to be honest with you. We would preach about it when I was young and I would hear preachers talk about it, but I've never thought it would ever be in my lifetime. I have to be honest that I would ever live to see and hear what I'm hearing today. Without the word of God as the center core of my life, I would be swallowed in this river of opinion and vilification and evil speech and lies. There's no truth anymore. As Isaiah said, truth is followed in the street. Nobody's under the requirement to speak truth anymore. It's accepted that everybody lies. It's just a matter of what degree of a liar are you. And those that depart from evil, as Isaiah said, become a prey, those who want to do right, those who want to believe that certain things that are written in the word of God can't be violated without consequence. They stand under those convictions, but they become a prey of that society as if they are some kind of a scourge that needs to be eliminated from it. I never thought I'd live to see this day, but we're living in it now. You need to get into the word of God. You need to get into the word of God and the word of God needs to get into you. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Yours, O God, is the only kingdom that will last. Your words are the only words that are eternal. All of the blah, blah of humanity is one day going to be gone. All men's opinions, gone. There will be no record of it in heaven, gone. All the accolades of men, gone. All the boastings of men, gone. All the cursings of men, gone. There will not even be a memory that it ever existed, gone, gone. In heaven, there's no sorrow. There's no evil speaking. There's no memory that causes pain, gone, gone forever. The only thing that cannot be destroyed is the word of God. It will rule and reign and live forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. It is the only kingdom. The praise of man is worthless. The criticism of man is worthless. God, help us to understand that. All that matters now is the word of God. That's the only thing that you will take with you into eternity is the word of God. Your opinions will not go with you. They won't matter there. Praise be to God. And the power. Your promises are true. And your voice has the power to cancel the authority of death and give me abundant and everlasting life. Yours is the kingdom. Your word has power. Power to recreate me. Power to take me where God wants me to go. Power that I might represent him in my generation. Power that my speech might have weight and touch the hearts and the minds of fallen humanity. Power to keep me from my enemies. As David said, even in the midst of my enemies, your word is a banquet table before me, fills me to overflowing to the point where the only thing they can do with their swords is pass the bread, please. And the glory. And the glory. The glory of a heart that knows God. The glory of knowing that Christ abides in you. The glory of having a transformed mind. The glory, the glory, the glory, the glory, the glory that belongs to God alone. Of a life, of a heart, of a voice, of a future that belongs to him. It's all because of him. It's all in him. It's all through him. Everything is about Jesus Christ. And it all ends this prayer where it all began. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Yours is the only kingdom that lasts. Yours are the only thoughts that matter. God, would you glorify your name through me? The one thing that came out of Jesus' mouth when John the Baptist baptized him and he came out of the water and he said, Father, glorify your name. The father's voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. That's got to be your hope and that's got to be mine now. Oh God, feed my soul from your word. Establish my thoughts in your ways. Refine my character with truth. And glorify your name again in my home. Maybe you've lived a life that's been a disgrace before your family, but it's not too late. You see God's still alive and you're still breathing and those two things can come together and the Lord can still do something in you that will glorify him in the midst of what looks to be a disaster and almost something irretrievable. Don't give up. We serve a God of miracles. We serve a God who restores. You feel so weak, you feel so insignificant. But just get into the word of God and drop the ideas of greatness. Become a servant and watch what God will do. Watch the words he will give you to speak. You're not going to be speaking your own words. They're words that you have learned from him. They found a lodging place in your heart. Watch what will happen when somebody curses you. You know, I was talking to Mark Gastineau the other day. He wouldn't mind me telling this story. And he was on his way to church last Sunday and he was standing out in the street and somebody ran down the street and started cursing him out. I mean, big time cursing him out. Big time. Big time. Now years ago, if you cursed out Mark Gastineau, you're just going to be ashes in a drain somewhere on the side of the sidewalk. I mean, he was a New York Jet. He was famous for how he sacked quarterbacks and stuff on the field. And yet that same man, he looked at this man who was cursing him out and just said, God bless you, sir. God bless you. And came to church. Only God could have done that. That's what Mark said to me on the phone. He said, only God could have done that. Years ago, that man would be at the throne now. He can change us. He can give us grace for the moment to not respond when the devil gets ahold of somebody and starts trash talking us through them. He can give us grace to be moms and dads. And to be forgiving people. He can give us grace. Praise God. Father, glorify your name. And that's my altar call this morning. So simple. Father, glorify your name. Folks, it's a cry of my heart now. It's a prayer. I'm almost thankful for being sick all week at home because it's a prayer I've been praying every day. Oh, Jesus, would you glorify your name? Would you just stretch me? Would you just help me? Would you take me a little farther than I've gone before? Do you help me not to rest on the past, but to look forward to the future? Glorify your name. And would you help me? That should be somebody's prayer this morning. Would you help me to get in this book? And, folks, don't start in the book of Leviticus, okay? I had a friend, his name was Eric in Canada, came to Christ. He came to Christ and he was a Jewish man. He got saved and he started reading the Old Testament. Ended up in a hamburger joint preaching to the people that they were going to hell because they were eating pork. Got arrested and then told the police officers that I had taught him everything. That he knew. So I told him, I said, Eric, I want you to be quiet until you've gotten in and read the New Testament. So start in the book of Matthew. Read Psalms and Proverbs, okay? Then go into the book of... If you're going to be a Bible scholar, then go into the Leviticus. But if you're not a Bible scholar, Psalms, Proverbs, Matthew to Revelation. And be careful with Revelation, okay? Psalms, Proverbs, Matthew to Revelation. Psalms, Proverbs, Matthew to Revelation. Until it's so in you. And read a translation you can understand. If you don't understand the King James, get yourself another Bible, read that one. Read a translation. There's some good modern ones out there that you can understand. You can even buy Bibles that have four and five translations across the page. So you can get the full sense of a verse of scripture. And begin to read it. Folks, we have to read our Bibles. And so if it's your desire, God, would you... You know, because a lot of people think that the volume reading, they're going to be holier. You're not going to be. You have to believe what you read. And let it be a quality time that you spend with God. Even if it's only 15 minutes you can get in the morning. But let it be quality. And let it be something. Say, God, speak to me today. Speak to my mind. Speak to my heart. Guide me. Guard me. And let me see. Let me see throughout the day how your word will keep me. And you watch what God will begin to do. So if it's in your heart, you say, I want to read my Bible. I want to read it with a spiritual heart. And I want God to glorify his name through my life. I'm going to ask you to make your way down to the front of this auditorium in just a moment as we worship, and then we'll pray together. Would you stand, please? In the balcony, the main sanctuary. If the Lord's speaking to your heart, just come. Join with me here. And let's believe God together. I think it's only befitting that we have a baby dedications this morning because what you and I choose to do matters now. Matters for a lot more people than just ourselves. And the Lord is pleased with you. I want you to know that. That you are making the choice to say, God, I want to spend time in your word, and I want my life to count. I want to make a difference. I want you to glorify your name through me. It's where it all begins. And this is the beginning for some of an incredible journey. You watch where God will lead you. Watch the strength that he will give you. Strength that you don't have. And you know you don't have it, but he doesn't expect you to have it. It's not about you. It's about him. You'll know he lives. And suddenly, there's a thirst to get in the word of God because you've had victory after victory after victory after victory. And you realize, God, you spoke to me in advance about what I was about to face. Your word really is alive. And you gave me thoughts to get back to the situation. Even when you find yourself falsely accused or you find yourself in terrible situations, God gives you the word to speak back to those situations. And Father, I just want to thank you, God, with all my heart, Lord, for the honesty of your people. Lord, I pray, God, in this church and those that are with us online that none of us would be lazy spirited, especially now at this time. You've given us rational minds. And we understand we have to eat to survive. So God, help us to even more understand we have to eat your word to survive spiritually at this time. God, deliver us, Lord, from getting lazy and letting other people try to do the work for us. Give us a victory, Lord. We don't want the victories we could have had to be spoiled at the end of the day because we didn't take the strength you gave us. So God, I just thank you, Lord, for all of us, Lord, for we are all equally as dependent on you. It doesn't matter how long we've been a Christian. None of us are strong without you, Lord. None of us can get through tomorrow without you. None of us have minds sharp enough to keep us, Lord, for our hearts are deceitful. You are the only one that can protect us, Lord. And so God, we thank you for it, Lord. Praise you, God, for meeting with us so powerfully. Even through the worship today, there's been a soberness in this house. It's as if you're saying to your own people, come, let us reason together. And so Father, I thank you with all my heart. I ask you to bless this congregation, Lord, with strength, discernment, biblical knowledge, and understanding of the times. And that which could only come from you, Lord, the ability to bring glory to the name of God in Christ Jesus. And so Father, I thank you for this with all my heart this morning. And I praise you for it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Amen.