The Grove 10 Years – Week 7

All right. Good morning, guys. It's nice to see you today. Thank you for joining us for worship. My name is Jason. If we haven't met, I have the privilege here of serving as one of our pastors and elders, and it's really good to see you. Thanks for coming. Today, we're going to be continuing in a sermon series that is focused in on our DNA as a church. And so it's been a four pillars series, and it's been good. It's been good for us just to kind of be reminded about what we're trying to do here at The Grove.

And so we have four pillars. And Pastor Scott and Pastor Amir, Pastor Robert, and myself, we have so far preached on biblical preaching as well as intentional worship. And today, we're going to be continuing by looking at persistent prayer. And so I'm going to be in Matthew chapter 6. And so if you have a copy of God's Word, why don't you go ahead and turn there now. And if you don't have a Bible, you're going to need one. And so we have some ushers now moving around, passing those out.

Go ahead and raise your hand if we can get a Bible to you. This would be our gift to you if you don't have one of your own. If you don't have one, feel free to keep that. Use it, read it, study it, and open it. Matthew chapter 6, and we're going to be in verse 5 through 15 or so. Thank you, ushers. Now while you're turning there, isn't this true when it comes to prayer, that's what we're going to be talking about. When it comes to prayer, most of us, it seems like it's just common, isn't it, that we get really, really serious about prayer when something goes terribly wrong.

Is that right? And so life can be cruising along fine, and life is going well, and things are going great. And typically, if you're like me, sometimes prayer just kind of gets pushed down the priority list a little bit. And then the doctor calls, and everything changes, right? Or maybe the job gets shaky, or the kids, one of them are struggling. Maybe the marriage hits a rough patch or something like that, and then all of a sudden, prayer shoots right up that list of priorities, right?

And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, per se. Honestly, some of our most sincere and powerful prayers that we ever pray happen when we're pressed and when we're out of options. And so the question is, well, what about in normal, everyday life? What happens if the house isn't on fire? What happens if a hurricane isn't coming? What happens if there isn't a crisis? How do we pray then? Well, that's where Jesus meets us today. In Matthew chapter 6 today, Jesus is going to teach his disciples to pray.

And tucked into that passage is what we know as the Lord's Prayer, probably the most familiar prayer in all of Christianity. And honestly, my entire life, I don't remember how old I was. I was probably a kindergartner by the time I had memorized the Lord's Prayer. Maybe that's your story as well. And so today, I don't want to just remind us to admire the Lord's Prayer. I want us to listen to Jesus teach us how to pray. And so I tell you what, before we get to work, why don't we do just that.

Can we do that? Why don't we pray together. Let's go before the Lord, and let's ask Him to teach us how to meet with us and how to pray now. Father in Heaven, we do thank you. Thank you for this time. Thank you for this morning. Thank you for the opportunity to lift up high your name and to worship you. God, I'm so thankful that this is one of our convictions and one of our priorities here at The Grove. Persistent prayer. Help us to do that well.

God, as we open up your Word today, help us to listen carefully to your Son, our Savior, Jesus. Teach us, Lord, to pray in a way that honors you and trusts you and reflect and really depends on you. God, protect us from empty words and empty hearts and empty minds. And would we be humble and attentive this morning, and that you would teach us. Grow us in this area, God. That's our desire. Meet with us now. We pray in Jesus' good name. Amen. All right.

Here we go. Big idea. I want to keep it before you all morning long. Big idea is this. In everything, pray for God's glory and depend on Him completely. All right? That's Matthew chapter 6, verse 5 through 15 in a nutshell. In everything, pray for God's glory and depend on Him completely. This is such a great passage. I can't wait to share it with you now. Starting in verse five, my first point is this. Come to God as your Father, all right? Notice here Jesus says, "And..."

What's the word? What does he say? What's the word? "And when." You guys see that? It's not if. It's when. When you pray. That's what Jesus is talking about. When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites. It's when, not if. And now by way of context, maybe some of you are familiar, Matthew chapter 6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount, greatest sermon ever preached. Jesus is now teaching on prayer. He just finished teaching about giving to the poor, and now prayer.

Prayer was a pillar, is a pillar in Jewish society. And public prayer, specifically, common, common, common, would have been done in the morning, afternoon, and in the evening. It was a part of life. And if you were connected with God, related to God, trusting in God, a worshiper of God, then prayer is what you did. All right? And there's a warning here in verse five. Jesus warns us that we can do the right thing for the wrong reason. And this is something we need to check our hearts for this morning as well.

Notice there Jesus says, "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love..." They just love it. Jason, what do they love? They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that, you see the problem? So that they may be seen by men. That's the problem. They were supposedly to be talking to God, but instead, what they really cared around is what other people around them thought of their prayer. Do you guys see it?

That's the issue. That's the problem. And so they were like, "Hey, I'm getting ready to pray here. All right? All eyes on me. Listen up. Aren't I so spiritual? Maybe you should pay attention. You could learn something from my prayer." What's that called, Jason? It's called hypocrisy. That's what Jesus says. Hypocrisy is when prayer becomes about performance, and to pray that way is to not pray at all. But Jason, I mean, we don't do that today, right?

Certainly, we don't do that today. I mean, it's almost ridiculous, isn't it, when you stop and think about it. You're supposed to be talking to God. But what you're really focused on is what other people think about your talking to God. I mean, it's almost kind of silly, isn't it? And this wasn't just a them problem. This is also an us problem. Certainly can be. Well, what do you mean? Well, do you ever think this when you get done praying? Maybe you think to yourself, maybe you even ask others, hey, maybe you ask yourself, "Hey, was that a good one?"

You guys ever do that? Was that a good one? Maybe you think it, maybe you never say it. Is that a good one? Did that sound impressive to you? How did I sound? Did it make sense? Was it good? Was it clear? Was it doctrinally sound? I wonder if they noticed how serious I am about God. Has that ever happened to you? Well, what does Jesus say at the end of verse five? Do you see it? He says, "Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." In other words, the reward you wanted was for people to notice you, and so congratulations.

You did it. You got your reward. They noticed. They were impressed. Good job. Now verse six, it says, "But you when you pray..." You guys do this? "Go into your inner room. And when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret." And the part I want you to notice is pray to your Father. And so this is where Jesus begins to reshape our understanding, the original audience's understanding of prayer. Prayer is not a performance before an audience.

Prayer is a child talking with their Father. All right? That's what it is. And again, Jesus is not saying that the only legitimate prayer happens behind closed doors, because obviously in Scripture, there are and there is a place for public prayer. And so what's he doing then, Jason? Jesus is making a point about the heart. All right? And if you haven't learned this yet, it's about the heart, loved ones. It's always about the heart. All right? And so Jesus says, in effect, go somewhere where nobody else is watching and shut the door and talk to your Father.

That's the kind of prayer that I'm looking for. All right? That's what he's saying. And here's why- If you've never thought much about this, or maybe you haven't been taught this before, here's why that is so important. It's because one of the clearest windows into the reality of your relationship with God is the prayer life that nobody else sees. Okay? And so if you want to know how you're doing in your relationship with God, the window into that relationship is how your private prayer life is going.

And so listen, this week when it comes to pray, what do you do? All right, Jason, I'm here at church. I'm looking for a word from the Lord. What do I do? Do you know what you do? You shut the door. That's what you do. All right? Shut the door. As I said, that's one of the clearest windows into the reality of your relationship with God. Go somewhere private, in other words. And this is so important. I don't know. I think you might be getting it, but I'm not totally convinced.

I'm wondering if the neighbor sitting next to you heard that part. And so maybe you guys could help me out. I tell you what, why don't you go ahead and tell your neighbor, "Hey, neighbor. Hey, neighbor. Neighbor! Did you get that part? You got to shut the door, man. What are you standing there with the door wide open when you're praying?" Right? And for all the dads out there who are constantly telling their kids to shut the door, now you know it's biblical, right?

And what did Jesus say? "And when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret." How about that? Here's the thing about prayer. It's relatively easy to pray before lunch and dinner, right? It's relatively easy. It's relatively easy to pray in small group if you're asked. Honestly, it's relatively easy for me to pray even on a morning like this. It's interesting. It's not that it's hard, but the question is what happens when nobody is listening?

That's the true test. What happens when nobody's listening? What happens then? What happens when there's no small group? What happens when the wife and kids aren't at the table with you? What happens when there's not a microphone? What happens when there's nobody to say, "Hey, that was a really good prayer"? What happens when there's nobody to say that? You see, Jesus takes us into the secret place because the secret place exposes what we really want.

Do we really want God, or do we want people to think that we want God? That's the difference. Notice there at the end of verse six, Jesus gives a beautiful promise. He says, "Your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you." And how great is that? That's our Father. He's good, he's generous, he's kind. He's happy to reward us. Now verse seven, Jesus deals with another wrong approach to prayer. Maybe a little less familiar for some of us. It says in verse seven, "When you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words."

And so here Jesus moves from the hypocrisy of the religious to the empty repetition of the pagan. The hypocrite thinks maybe people will be impressed with my prayer. The Gentile thinks maybe the gods or God will be impressed with my prayer. And there's a good example of this. Maybe you've read it before. It's in 1 Kings 18. It's with Elijah the prophet. I'd love to read this for you. 1 Kings 18. It's Elijah the prophet, the prophets of Baal. It's this big showdown.

Maybe verse 20 or so, I can pick it up there. "And so Ahab sent a message among the sons of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel." This is a big showdown. This is a very big conflict here. "And Elijah came near to all the people and he said, 'How long?' " He's talking to all the people now. He says, "How long will you be limping between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow him. But if Baal is, follow him." The people didn't answer him a word.

Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of Yahweh, but Baal's prophets," you guys see this, "are 450 men. Now let's give them two oxen. Let them choose one oxen for themselves and cut it up and place it on the wood, but place no fire under it, and I will prepare the other ox and put it on the wood, and I will place not a fire under it." And so Elijah's basically like, "You get your sacrifice ready. I'm going to get my sacrifice ready.

You're going to pray. I'm going to pray. And we're going to see which god is actually the true God." All right? And so now it says there kind of fast-forwarding through the passage, in verse 27, "Now it happened at noon that Elijah mocked them and he said, 'Call out with a loud voice.' " And so they've been praying from morning until noon, and now it's noon, and so Elijah's like mocking them. "Call out with a loud voice, for he is surely God. Either he's occupied, I don't know what he's doing, but maybe he doesn't hear you, or relieving himself maybe."

I trust you know what that means. "Or he's on a journey, or perhaps he's asleep and he needs to be awakened." Maybe he's just taking a catnap. Who knows? Keep praying. Get louder. Get longer. Verse 28, "And so they cried out with a loud voice, and they gashed themselves according to their custom with swords." Honestly, this is awful. It's gruesome. "And lances until the blood gushed out of them. And now it happened when noon had passed that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention."

450 prophets of Baal. Nothing. Repeating themselves over and over and over. How sad. Now back to Matthew chapter six. We need to be careful here as we read this. Jesus is not condemning repetition necessarily, because if you remember, Jesus prayed the same words more than once in the Garden of Gethsemane. And I don't think he is condemning long prayers either. The issue is the meaningless repetition. The idea is if by stamina we're finally going to wear the gods or the true God out, we're going to keep going after and after and after it, he's just going to get tired of us.

We're going to be so persistent that he gives up. And then in verse eight Jesus says, "Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." And maybe you need that reminder today. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him. That means you and I have never prayed a prayer where our God has said, "Oh, ha ha. Yeah, thanks. That one slipped by me. Thanks for letting me know." No, never. Not it. Never going to happen.

He already knows what you need before you ask him. And so maybe if you take that in, you're like, okay, so the question is why pray then, right? Like if God already knows, then why pray? Because if prayer isn't about giving God information, what's the purpose of it then, right? You know what the purpose is? Prayer's about dependence. Prayer is the heart of a child that says, "Father, I need you." And that's why God tells us even though he already knows, he wants us to come.

Think about that. He already knows, and yet he wants us to come. He wants us to trust him. He wants us to live consciously dependent on him rather than acting as if we can handle life on our own, because we can't. And so maybe this will help. Think about a little child. Gretel and I were blessed with three children. Maybe for you it's your grandchildren. And this happens so often through the years with little kids, and many times for parents, grandparents.

You guys know this. The little one, they come in crying and we ask, what do we ask? What's wrong? What happened? Why are you upset? If they have a big brother, maybe you say, "What'd your brother do?" Right? And because you're the parent and you're observant, you already kind of know the situation, kind of assess what's going on. Their knee's scraped up, it's bleeding a little bit, and so you kind of figure maybe they fell outside, maybe they were pushed, maybe they fell while they were walking.

You see the tears, you see the need. The child really doesn't even have to explain the situation because as a parent, you know your child is hurting. But what do children always do? They always come running and they say, "Dad, I fell." It's interesting, right? And the reason the child tells his father is that that's what children do. They want to bring what's hurting them to somebody that they trust, because they know that they can do something about it.

And isn't that the point? I think that's one of the humble things about prayer. It's because every time we genuinely pray, what we're saying, essentially, is, "God, I can't do it. I need your help. I don't know what to do here." That's what prayer is. In prayer, we admit it. "God, I don't know everything. God, I'm not in control. I can't fix it. I can't fix this. No chance. Father, I need you." And that's one of the reasons I think prayer is difficult for a lot of us.

And as a reminder, this morning, my first point is come to God as your Father. And maybe that's what you need to do today. Before we move on to verse nine, isn't it right that we take a minute or two right now and practice what we're learning? Can we do that? Let's practice and apply what Jesus is teaching. Some of you are like, "Yeah. I'm ready." Others of you are like, "You know what? Jason, I feel so far away from the Father," or, "The Father feels so far away from me."

And if I could just encourage you, take the things that you're carrying and bring all of that to Him. Let's go to Him now, can we? Go to the Father. Come to God as your Father. It's just you and Him. Pray where you're sitting. Let's go. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful that we can come to you just as we are, and it also comforts us to know that you know what we're carrying. Some of us have heavy hearts, some have fears or burdens. Some of us have questions or temptations that we're struggling with.

Some of us are just discouraged or tired. And so God, we come honestly. Help us to trust that you're near and that you care, and that we don't have to perform to impress you, and we don't have to hide from you. And so Father, today, we come as children. Teach us to come to you as our Father, and would it be our pattern of life to bring what's heavy and to ask for help and to rest in the fact that you already know and that you still invite us to come.

Lord, we do thank you, and we turn to you now in Jesus' good name. Amen. Notice here, verse nine. Let's move on. Second point, put God's glory first. All right? Notice there. Now, when we come to the prayer itself, Jesus says in verse nine, "Pray then in this way." And now here's the prayer. Some of you have been saying this your entire life, the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name." All right? And right away, Jesus teaches us something very important about prayer.

Put God's glory first. That's what He's saying here. And that may seem obvious, but that's not necessarily how we pray. That's not how we pray first. This isn't how we begin our prayers, is it? If we're honest, a lot of us begin our prayers with what? How do you start? Most of us start with us. "God, me, my needs, my problems, my schedule." Right? We begin, "Oh, Lord, my fears, my plans, my family. Jesus, help. My jam, my health, my circumstances."

And again, there's nothing wrong with that, as Jesus will teach us to do just that exactly. But what He's teaching us here is before all of that, before you get to your list, He teaches us to begin somewhere else. He begins with God's glory. And He says at the end of verse nine, "Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done." And it's a clear emphasis, isn't it? This is how we pray. Your name, your kingdom, your will. So how should we begin?

This is how we begin. Prayer begins by lifting up our eyes above ourselves. And maybe that's the most important thing that prayer does. Prayer is not primarily about getting God interested in our agenda. That's not it. Prayer begins with me bringing my heart underneath His agenda. That's what it is. And so notice again, verse nine, Jesus begins, "Hallowed be your name." Yeah, hallowed, Jason. I've never seen that word. I guess it's maybe in this verse, but it's nowhere else in the history of the world.

And so hallowed. What does hallowed mean? I know that Hal and Vicki, they go to the first service, but I don't know hallowed. Hallowed. Which is it? Hallowed. It's to treat as holy. That's what it means. Holy, sacred. It's regarded with reverence. In other words, it's a prayer that says, "Father, make your ways known. Make your greatness known. Let people see you for who you really are. Let people see your holiness, your power. Let your glory be recognized."

And really what this does is it's teaching us to lift our eyes above our circumstances, right? Right? Most of us live with what we can see. My troubles, my aches and pains, my issues, my diagnosis, my bank account. It's the vanity of life that keeps us frustrated. So much of life is like an assembly line of disappointments, and that's what I focus on. And what Jesus is here teaching us is to lift your eyes above all of that. That's what He's doing.

But it's not just about hallowed be your name for the world out there, but it's also hallowed be your name, Father, in that you also be honored in me, too. It's personal. And so once again, the question is, how do you pray? Is this how you pray? And I admit, this is a different way to do it. It's probably not the way that you do it naturally. Before the, "Lord, fix this," before the, "Lord, change them," before the, "Lord, I need a new..." Jesus teaches us to pray hallowed be your name.

Moving on, verse 10, Jesus continues, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." You guys know this part. I've been praying this part since I was a kid. I don't remember not praying this part. This means when we pray, we are praying for God's rule and reign to advance. That's what we're praying. We're pushing ahead. That's what we're doing. It means that we're praying for saving purposes to move forward. Is that how you pray first?

You see, when we pray, "Your kingdom come," we are praying for hearts to submit to the King of kings and Lord of lords. That's what we're praying for, which is beautiful. It's a wonderful thing, because by nature, what do we focus on instead? We're tempted to focus on our little kingdom that we're trying to build. Am I right? We're tempted to focus on my plans, my reputation, my comfort, my control, my preferences, the little kingdom that I'm trying to build.

But yet, what does Jesus say? He says, "Your kingdom come." That's the concern of our hearts. Your kingdom come. And that right there. That right there. If this settles in your heart, that right there is freedom. That's what prayer looks like. It's freedom from me. Freedom from my. Sweet freedom. Taking the eyes off of me and my circumstances. It's lifting them up so much better. That's freedom. That's life. That's the kind of prayer that Jesus is after.

Freedom in prayer means that I want Christ to rule more fully in me. Is that how you pray? It means I want people to come to faith. It means that I want the gospel to advance. It means that I want sin pushed back. Is that how you pray? It means I want the church to be strengthened. I want disciples to mature. It means that I want truth, righteousness, mercy, obedience to flourish under Christ's reign. It means that I'm anticipating, and I'm looking forward to the day when the kingdom comes in its fullness and Jesus makes all things right.

Freedom. It's a beautiful thing. It's refocusing my eyes. It's setting our hearts northward. That's what it is. It's getting my eyes off of my plans and it's just focusing on God's kingdom. It's a beautiful, wonderful thing. This is how we pray. Now notice how he continues in verse 10. He says, "Your kingdom come," and then he says, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Wow. If you haven't written your Bible yet this morning, that's what I would write in my margin if I were you.

Right next to verse 10, wow. Maybe the hardest prayers that you could ever pray. I dare you to pray verse 10. You want to pray a prayer that for most people is impossible? Simply pray to God from your heart. I dare you. I dare you to pray, "Your will be done." That's a hard prayer to pray, and yet that's what Jesus is teaching us to do. Jason, why is that so hard to pray? It's because sometimes God's will is not what we would have chosen. Have you learned that yet?

It's true, and that's why it's hard. That's why it takes guts. Praying for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, that's not an easy prayer. But that's how our Lord is teaching us. Do you see this? Not my will be done, instead, your will be done. Because sometimes we want healing, and God allows weakness. Sometimes we want an open door, and God closes it. Sometimes we want an answer now, and God says, "Wait." Sometimes we have a plan that seems good, and God redirects it.

It's true. And in those moments, prayer becomes an act of surrender. You want to change your life? Start praying this week, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I dare you. I dare you to pray, "Father, I have desires and I have preferences, and I have things that I'd love to see happen, but above all that, I want your will to be done." Praying like that, that'll change your life. And if, as you hear all this this morning, and you're like "That's not the kind of prayer talk I was hoping for today.

I have some stuff that I'd love to get. Why don't you teach us how to pray like that?" Right? Like the prayer of Jabez or something. Teach us how to do that and get stuff. That's what I want to do. Right? You haven't covered any of that yet. I haven't heard Jabez's name mentioned one time. And the thing about prayer is, prayer can expose us. Because a big part of prayer is a heart check. It's true. Sometimes we come to God with a plan that's already developed.

Do you guys do this? One person does this. Eh. You all do it, and so do I. All right? We know what we want to happen. We know how we want it to happen. We know when we want it to happen. And then when we pray, we basically just say, "Lord, just bless it." Right? It's kind of like, I don't know if your kids do this. My kids do this, my goodness. It's kind of like when your kid walks up and they have the form from school, it's like the permission slip.

Your kids ever do this? It's all filled out, and they say, "Hey, Dad, Mom wants you to sign this." And you're like, "Mom said that? Uh, well, what does it say?" "No, it's fine. You just got to sign it." "Wait, what?" And if we're not careful, as silly as that is, that's how we end up praying a lot of our prayers. And today, Jesus teaches us a better way. This is a better way, loved ones. He teaches us, "Your kingdom come and your will be done." Now, if that sounds familiar, you're like, "Yeah, it does sound familiar.

Who prayed that before?" Jesus did. In the Garden of Gethsemane, facing the cross, Jesus prayed. Do you guys remember? It says in Matthew 26:39, "And he went a little beyond them, and he fell on his face, and he prayed." You guys know the situation. This is a hard night. "My Father," my Father, "if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will." That's it, loved ones. That's what it means to put God's glory first. Yet not what I will, but as you will.

That's what it means to put God's glory first. Jesus is our example to follow. In the garden, our Lord entrusted himself fully to the Father's will, and that's what he teaches us to do as well. This is what it looks like. And the way we apply this is to really examine what's driving our prayers. So this is personal. This is between you and God. Today, the text is challenging us. We need to stop asking God to just simply bless our agenda. Instead, we must put our agenda on the altar and ask God for His.

Do you see the difference? That's how we apply this. Before asking God to change your circumstances, ask Him to glorify His name in your circumstances. You see the difference? Before asking God to make your life easier, ask Him to advance His kingdom through your life. Now, before we move on to verse 11 here, isn't it right we just take a minute and practice this and apply it for ourselves? Can we do that? Let's just apply what Jesus is teaching.

Let's not just hear Jesus say, your name, your kingdom, your will. Let's put it into practice. Can we do that? Let's take a minute now. Let's pray. You go ahead. Go before the Lord. Bring whatever it is that you're carrying, and then go one step further and say, "Father, more than what I want, I want your name to be honored." Can you do that? Let's pray. Let's go. Father, you know what each of us are carrying right now. And you know the outcomes we want.

You're fully aware of the doors we want opened and the situations we want fixed. We bring that all to you. But Father, above all of it, we really do want your name to be honored. That's our prayer. We want your kingdom to advance. We want your will to be done, and so, Lord, we trust you. We trust you when your will is different from ours. God, give us hearts that want your glory more than our comfort. And so we surrender. That's what this is. It's a prayer of surrender.

You're a good Father, and so we trust you, and we lift you now. In Jesus' good name, we pray. Amen. Let's move on. Last point. Just a few more verses here. Verse 11, third point this morning. Depend on Him for everything, okay? That's the point. Jesus begins verse 11, "Give us this day our daily bread." Without exaggeration, I've been praying this my entire life. And it sounds simple, but it's actually profound. Give us. And so for those of you who are like me, and you're like, "I've prayed this prayer my entire life."

That's okay. Slow down. Think about what you're actually saying. Give us. That's profound. Two words where we admit that ultimately everything comes from God. Our food, our strength, our work, our opportunities, our health. It means that we live as dependent creatures, whether we recognize it or not, and Jesus teaches us to recognize it. That's what he's saying. Recognize it Once again, he says, verse 11, "Give us this day our daily bread." You ever stop to consider what you're actually saying?

The implication of verse 11 is there's nothing too small to bring to your Father. Bread, that's not a big deal. Yeah. There's nothing too small to bring to your Father. You can bring Him whatever. You can bring Him big stuff. You can bring Him little stuff, right? You can bring Him the rent payment that you're concerned about, or the mortgage. Just bring it to Him. You can bring big or little, both. You can bring Him the grocery bill, which if you guys noticed, it's pretty much the same as your rent nowadays.

When did that happen? And then you can bring Him the cost of filling up your gas tank, which coincidentally is pretty much the same cost as your mortgage payment and your grocery bill combined. All right? The point is, bring Him the big stuff. Bring Him the little stuff. God is not irritated by the ordinary needs of His children. And notice the word "daily." Jesus is teaching us to live one day at a time, right? If you're familiar with the Old Testament, you know this is true.

Reminds us of God's provision of manna for Israel in the wilderness, where God's people had to depend on God every single day to be fed, day after day, after day, after day, after day, for years and decades during their time in the wilderness. And they couldn't store it up, right? They couldn't store it up to eliminate their need for God the next day. And so every day was a reminder that God must provide. How real is that? And it's still true for us, isn't it?

Sure, we may have refrigerators, we may have savings accounts. All those things are wise, but none of them make us independent. We still need God today, and you'll need Him tomorrow, too. Therefore, we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." That's what you're saying. And now, as we take this to heart, I don't know, just be honest with yourself, but have you ever noticed how easy it is to feel independent or maybe in control when everything in your life is working well?

Have you guys, you know what I'm talking about? And so when the refrigerator's full, and when there's money in the bank, and the cars are running, and everybody's healthy, it's like, man, that feels really good, right? It's like, I kind of know what I'm doing. Right? It's like all working, just like I planned. It's great. And it feels pretty good. You have all the bills paid, and you start feeling like, "I got this. I figured it out." Right? You guys do this kind of feel that you know that feeling?

It's like, "Me and my bills getting paid." Right? "I've got it." And then all it takes is one phone call to change everything. And then we're reminded about how little control we actually have. All that false confidence that we have, it just vanishes, where we again realize that I was never as secure as I thought. Now, just to be clear, I'm not saying that we should stop planning. That's not the lesson. Scripture commends wisdom and preparation, for sure.

But He's teaching us, here's the lesson. He's teaching us that we should never confuse wise preparation with self-sufficiency. All right? Now, moving on, verse 12, "And forgive us our debts." This next part, I warn you, might be tough for some of you. I'm just going to say, as one of the shepherds here of the sheep at The Grove Bible Chapel, I can tell you, some of you, I just know, are resisting the truths Jesus is now going to unfold for us. But just know these aren't my words, they're His.

And so my hope for all of us, myself included, is that we can take this to heart and begin praying and living as our Lord is teaching. And so what does Jesus say in verse 12? He begins, "Forgive us our debts." You see, sin creates chaos, havoc in every single way. And among other things, it creates real guilt before God, and therefore, we owe what we cannot pay. And Jesus teaches his disciples to come honestly before God and to ask for forgiveness.

And this tells us something about the Christian life. Becoming a Christian doesn't mean we no longer need to confess our sins. It means we now have a Father to whom we can honestly bring our sin, which means we don't have to hide. And some of you, right now, you're hiding in plain sight. You don't have to hide. We don't have to pretend. Some of you right now are pretending. We don't have to clean ourselves up before we come. We just come. He's our Father.

We say, "Father, I sinned again. Please forgive me." Have you come to that place for yourself? Have you, are you repenting of your sin? Are you walking in the light? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ for your soul's salvation? Are you abiding with Him fully today? Which reminds me of a beautiful truth in Hebrews chapter four. You guys got to see this. It says in Hebrews 4:16, this is such a great reminder. It says, "Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace."

We draw confidently, come near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I love that. I love that because we need mercy. We come because we need help. We are not self-sufficient people. Some of you have convinced yourself otherwise, but you're not. It's not our impressive resume. It's not us. We are needy children in great need for a gracious Father. That's us. And then Jesus adds halfway through verse 12, "As we also have forgiven our debtors."

And this is where the prayer gets real because Jesus connects the forgiveness we ask from God with the forgiveness that we extend to others. And then notice in verse 14, after the prayer is finished, Jesus comes right back to this point. Verse 14,15, "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." That's the part I warned you about.

Here at the church, as shepherds of the flock, we are not simply preachers who deliver a strong message and then disappear. Some churches are like that. Guy stands up, he's sort of a celebrity. You never see him. Powerful message, and then he just kind of disappears. That's not us. We're pastors. We're shepherds. We're amongst the people. And I can tell you, as one who is amongst the people, real life gets messy. And so what I'm about to say, I say lovingly, but also truthfully.

So listen carefully. Jesus made Himself abundantly clear here. This is as clear as it gets. And He wants us to stop and pay attention. So listen up. He says, "If you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Jason, does that mean what I think it means? Yes, it does. The person who understands his or her own forgiveness should become increasingly forgiving of other people.

The question is, is that happening for you? Is it happening? I know even in this room, some of you are carrying a grudge, and you won't let it go. Others of you are nursing old wounds. Some of you right now choosing not to forgive others. And yet, what does Jesus say? In short, He says, "Do it." It's a non-negotiable. Forgive. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Serious words, church. Does that mean forgiveness is easy?

No, it's not. But it does mean that the Christian cannot cling to bitterness as though mercy is something we deserve, but other people don't get it from us. God, have mercy. Forgive us, Lord. This is a word of our Lord. We live by grace. And people who live by grace should become people who give grace freely. Amen? Jason, I think you skipped verse 13. I didn't. Don't worry. This is the last verse. Verse 13, "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen." Does this mean that God tempts us to sin? No. James chapter 1 makes it very clear that God does not tempt anyone with evil. The point is that we are to ask our Father to preserve us when we face temptation and testing. It's a humble prayer because you and I are very vulnerable, right? You may not realize it, but we are all temptable. And so this is the prayer that you should be praying if everything up to this point, you're like, "I'm doing okay there."

This is the one you need to hear. And so now back to our third point. What was it again? Depend on him for everything. And the way that we apply this is when you wake up tomorrow, we consciously admit our need. We ask the Father for today's bread. We confess today's sin. We ask him for today's protection. We live dependent on him. It means we pray over our work. We pray over our marriage. We pray for our children, our temptations, our finances, our words, our decisions.

This is how we live. This is how we pray. And so the passage is done. But isn't it right that we just take a minute and apply this to our lives, ourselves? Can we do that? Let's practice it. Let's not just talk about dependence. Let's do it. What do you need from your Father today? What do you need? Maybe there's something practical that you need for him to provide. Maybe there's sin you need to confess. Maybe there's a temptation you're fighting.

Bring that to him. Do it now. Ask him what you need. Confess what you need to confess. Ask him to guard you where you're vulnerable. Go ahead. Let's do it. Take a minute. Let's pray. Father, the needs are many in this room. And you know exactly what each of us needs, and so we ask you to provide what we cannot provide for ourselves. Give us what we need today, oh, Lord. Father, forgive us where we've sinned. Help us to be honest with you. Oh, Lord, would we be a people who are quick to repent, quick to extend mercy and grace, quick to extend forgiveness, the same forgiveness we've received from you.

And Father, we pray, help protect us where we're weak. Guard us from temptations. Deliver us from the evil one. Lord, keep us from trusting in ourselves. Teach us to live every day as the child who says, "Father, I need you." And so God, we depend on you completely. We love you, and we give you thanks in Jesus' good name. Amen.