Good evening and Happy New Year. We're going to use these little
white half sheets for our worship music tonight. So if we don't
have enough on that side, we can take one from this side.
We've got extras over here, I think. So anyway, let's all stand together
and we'll sing the number one hymn on the little white handout. Can you believe it? 2014. Another
year has passed and we're standing at the first day of a new year
and I'm very thankful. Thankful for you, thankful for
the Lord's mercy to keep us and pray that he'll be pleased to
bless us in this coming year. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 139 for our scripture reading tonight. Psalm 139. O
Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and my uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Everything
there is to know about me, Lord, you know me better than I know
myself. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and are acquainted
with all my ways. For there is not a word in my
tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast
beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain
unto it. Faith believes so much more than
it's able to understand. Whither shall I go from thy presence,
or from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into the heavens, thou art there. If I make my
bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of
the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold
me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night
shall be light upon me, yea, the darkness hideth not from
thee. But the night shineth as the day, and the darkness as
the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works,
that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from
thee. When I was made in the secret and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth, thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, and in thy book All my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of
them. David's comforting himself in God's sovereignty. And what
a great comfort it is to know that the Lord sits upon the highest
throne in all the universe and he has ordained all things for
his glory and for the good of his people. How precious also
are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the
wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, ye
bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies
take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that
hate thee? And am not I grieved with those
that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. And see, now the if there be
any is in italics. Well, the preposition if is better
translated since. Leave out those italic words
is what I'm trying to say to you. David's not saying, Lord,
search my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me. He's
saying, Lord, search out my heart. And since there's evil in my
heart, Lord, lead me in the way of everlasting life. Lead me
to Christ. That's my hope. That's my desire. And that's our prayer. I want
us to have a special prayer for Joy's son, Bryant. He left yesterday, I think. Joy, is that right? I'm sorry. The other night. And he's in
one of those stands over there. Afghanistan, not Afghanistan,
but one that Joy can tell you. I don't know the name of the
country he's going to be in, but he's going to be in harm's
way. And I know Joy would be very grateful for us to remember
Bryant. Bryant used to be here years
ago, and he's going to be deployed for some time over there. So let's pray together. our Heavenly Father, what great
hope and comfort we have in reading this declaration of your glorious,
sovereign mercy towards your children. We ask, Lord, that
you would bless us this hour with the awareness of your presence. We pray that you would cause
your word to be alive and effectual. We pray that You would speak
to our hearts and comfort us. We pray, Lord, that You would
bathe us in Your forgiving grace, in Your mercy. Lord, that You
would put away our sins, that we would find in the shed blood
of Christ His finished work. all the hope of our salvation,
that we would be able, by your Spirit, to rejoice in Him, to
depend upon Him, Lord, for the forgiveness of all our sin. We
are so very grateful that in Him there is now, therefore,
no condemnation. Thank you for our acceptance
before your throne of grace. We pray for this new year, Lord,
that we've begun here this day and this evening. And we ask,
Lord, that you would be pleased to bless your church, bless your
gospel. We pray for our children, Lord,
that you would cause them to have ears to hear and that we
would have the joy of rejoicing in your mercy toward our loved
ones. Would you pray for Bryant? We
ask, Lord, that you would protect him, that you would keep him
and return him safely to his family, to us. Pray for Joy,
that you would comfort her heart as she thinks of him often, and
that you would set our hearts to remember him and to pray for
him. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Using now Bibles with me to Luke
chapter 11 Luke chapter 11 Lawrence, good to have you back.
We missed you. She was off working on the West
Coast for a couple of months, but we're glad you're back. I want us to think tonight and ask the Lord
what the disciples ask Him in Luke chapter 11. when they observed
his life and the power of God on his life, they said to him,
Lord, teach us to pray. We know there's something about
this thing of prayer. Prayer is the expression of faith. Prayer is the means by which
God blesses his people. They saw that through this ministry
of prayer the power of God rested upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
they wanted him to teach them how to pray. in another place
our Lord told those same disciples you have not because you ask
not. The Lord is going to see to it
that that we're aware of where the blessings come from and so
as we pray we're expressing our gratitude for what he's done
and we're expressing our dependence upon what we need. James tells
us the effectual That's the powerful, the effectual prayer of a righteous
man. Those who are in Christ have
access to the throne of grace. We have the ability to come right into
the very presence of God in the person of our substitute and
seek His blessing through prayer, the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man does what? It availeth much. My hope for our church is that
God would be pleased to show forth Himself to us individually
and to us as a church. David said, except the Lord build
the house, they labor in vain that build it. Now I don't want
to just labor in vain. I want the Lord to do the work. And prayer is our acknowledgment
of who he is and our dependence upon him to bless us. He's going to see to it that
we're humbled and that we are dependent upon Him. He won't
share His glory with another. Prayer is that expression of
faith that gives to Him all the glory for what we have, for what
He's done, and for what we need. someone has said that that prayer
is to the soul what breathing is to the body as the blood courses
through our flesh we are in need of that life-giving oxygen to
provide life to every soul of our body and so when we pray
we are inhaling if you will the power of God into our souls and
as we exhale we are expelling that toxic carbon dioxide that
needs to be gotten rid of and so it is with prayer that prayer
can't be done by a sinner without that sinner expressing their
need for forgiveness and their guilt for their sin and so prayer
is to the soul what breathing is to the body and it's the most
obvious sign of life isn't it we think that a person may have
expired or passed away what do we do see if they're breathing
if they're breathing their sign of life and so it is with with
our faith you can't separate faith and prayer. Faith expresses
itself in prayer and my desire is that the Lord will set our
hearts to pray and that he'll open the windows of heaven and
pour out upon us His blessing in His power and in His person,
in His grace in your life individually and in our church. And as I prayed
just a few moments ago for our children, I want our young people
to hear the gospel. And I know that that's only going
to happen if we pray for them. And if God's pleased to answer
that prayer in His power, He's going to see to it that he gets
the glory for what he does. It's sort of like a parent has
something to give to a child, but they're not going to give
it to him until they ask for it. And so that child acknowledges
where that gift came from. They acknowledge their appreciation
to the giver. And that's what prayer does. Now, you see our passage in Luke
chapter 11 verse 1. It came to pass that as he was
praying in a certain place, All of the disciples saw the Lord
praying. They watched him pray often. They heard him pray. They
heard him pray in the garden. They heard him pray from the
cross. We have specific prayers that our Lord prayed that are
mentioned in scripture, but they heard him lots of other times.
And they said, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to
pray. If we're going to pray, God's
going to have to teach us to pray. And let me introduce this
by saying this, all men pray. All men pray. I'm sure of it. There's not a single person in
this world that hasn't at one time or another prayed. You know
the big uproar about taking prayer out of schools, which I'm not
for having prayer in schools. I don't want I don't want some
religious organization that's not consistent with the gospel,
giving our children prayers to pray. But I like the bumper sticker
that says, as long as there's tests in schools, there'll be
prayer in schools. And that's true. The problem
is, as soon as the test is over, so is the need for prayer. The most, I'm sure that some
of our young men that have been in battle can attest to this and that is
that the most profane soldier will pour out his heart to God
for protection in the heat of battle. No atheist in foxholes
and yet when the threat of that imminent death, it passes, that
soldier will quickly return to his profane ways. Men do pray. I've witnessed personally that
a lot of prayers take place in hospitals by people who under
healthier and happier circumstances have no interest in the things
of God. The criminal who suffered no
pains of conscience while committing his crime will stand in humble
prayer as he waits for the judge to read his sentence. Men get themselves in trouble,
they pray. If these sorts of prayers are
natural to all men, then what distinguishes true prayer for
the child of God? And the first point needs to
be understood very, very clearly. And that is that true prayer,
true prayer is the operation of the Spirit of God upon the
heart of a believer. We're not, I'm not standing here
before you tonight to challenge you to make a New Year's resolution
to pray. I know that if we if the Lord
teaches us to pray he's going to have to set our hearts to
pray. We just read Psalm 139 and the first 13 verses of that
Psalm David is basically confessing that there's something in him
that would that would flee from God. And yet, every time he attempts
to remove himself from the presence of God, he finds the persistent
grace of God pursuing him and bringing him back. Let's go to
that Psalm just a moment. Look at it again. Psalm 139. Look at verse 1. O LORD, thou
hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and my up-rising. Thou understandest my thoughts
afar off. Thou compassed my path and my
lying down, and thou are acquainted with all my ways. Lord, I can't
get away from you. For there is not a word in my
tongue, O LORD, that thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset
me behind and before and laid thy hand upon me. Look at verse
7, whether I go, whether shall I go from thy spirit, or whether
shall I flee from thy presence, I'm always, are you, is there
something in you that would flee from the presence of God? David's saying, Lord, if I go
into the very pit of hell, thou art there. If I try to flee from
you to the east, you're there. If I try to go to the west, you're
there. Lord, wherever I go, you are pursuing me. Now look at
the last verse. I made mention of this a few
moments ago when we read it, but I want you to see it. In
verse 23, he says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try
me and know my thoughts and see. Just leave, if there be any,
out. It's not there in the text. And
as is the case oftentimes in the scriptures, the preposition
if and since are interchangeable. So that last verse is not, Lord
search my heart and see if you can find something that's wrong
with me. That's the way it seems to read, doesn't it? With those
italicized words in there. Oh no, that's not what he's saying
at all. He's saying, Lord, search my heart. There's something in
me that would flee from you. Lord, search me. And since there's
wickedness there, lead me back to Christ. Lord, set my heart
to pray. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. As we stand at the first day
of a new year, this matter of prayer is crucial to our faith,
and it is crucial to the hope that we have that God would be
pleased to bless us with his presence. And it is a good work,
but like all good works, like all good works. It's not something
that we do in the flesh. It's not something that we just
determined we're going to be more faithful to pray. It's something
God's got to do in us. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which He has ordained that we
should walk in them. What I'm saying is, when somebody
asks you to pray for them, just say, as the Lord enables me,
I will. As the Lord enables me. You can't
pray if God doesn't enable you to pray. Look at Romans chapter
8 at verse 14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. It's the Spirit
of God that works in our hearts, that causes us to cry out in
prayer to our Father. And we're gonna see in Luke chapter
11, when the Lord answers their question, teach us to pray, what's
the first thing he says? When you pray, pray like this,
our Father, our Father. Look at verse 16. The Spirit
itself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. We are completely dependent upon
God for us to express our dependence upon God. It's all of grace. It's all of
grace. Oh, I want to pray more fervently
and more sincerely. than I have and I want you to.
I know that it's the means by which God will bless your home,
your life, your children, our church. But I also know that
the Lord's got to enable us. He's got to search our hearts
and since there's wickedness in our hearts, He's got to lead
us to Christ. He's got to set our hearts to pray. The second difference in the
believers prayer versus those crisis prayers that I mentioned
a few moments ago is that true prayer, true prayer sees beyond
the immediate crisis. Does all prayer offered in a
crisis? Is all prayer offered in a crisis
nothing more than foxhole religion? No. No. Oftentimes the Lord puts
his children in very difficult and impossible circumstances
to remind them of their need for him in everything. If our prayers are only for deliverance
from the current trouble without any interest in the presence
of God in our lives. In other words, if we're just
looking for the hand of God to set us free out of some trial
or out of some trouble, and that's as far as it goes, then our prayers
are no more different than the unbelievers' prayers who are
just using God as some sort of heavenly bellboy to come deliver
them out of their troubles. But if we seek the face of God
in our troubles, then the Lord oftentimes will
use a crisis. He will use an impossible situation. He will use great difficulties
in our lives in order to teach us to pray. If we're just crying
out for relief, then nothing's really changed. The scriptures
are full of examples of this. Job, we could say, was in a crisis. He was in the belly of a great
fish down in the bottom of the ocean with weeds and seaweed
wrapped around his neck. I mean, that's pretty much of
a crisis. And he found himself in need of prayer. But he knew
that his need went beyond just being delivered from that. He
said, what? Salvation, salvation. Not just deliverance from this
trial, but deliverance of my soul belongs to the Lord. he cried out to God and God delivered
him Pharaoh on the other hand after
each one of the plagues asked to be delivered and as soon as
God delivered that plague he went right back to his old ways
had no more interest in the things of God did he? The thief on the cross certainly
was in a crisis But his prayer to the Lord was not just to save
his skin, it was to save his soul. Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. Prayer, yes, can be motivated
oftentimes in a crisis. God will set our hearts to pray
when he puts us in trouble. But if it's of the Lord, it'll
go beyond that crisis. it will see our need as more
than just being delivered from the current circumstances it'll
see our need for Christ as our Savior to forgive us of our sin
and to manifest himself to us in the glory of his person. Only one of the ten lepers that
our Lord healed saw that their need went beyond the corruption
of their flesh. Only one came back and worshipped
the Lord Jesus Christ and recognized Christ as his Savior. The others
thought that the only problem they had was the malady of their
leprosy. And so it is. There's a difference, isn't there? There's a difference. If God
uses a crisis to set our hearts to pray, then so be it. But if that prayer is only interested
in being delivered from that crisis, then I doubt that the
Lord has. Well, I would just say that unbelievers
do that, don't they? Unbelievers do that. Turn with me back to our text
in Luke chapter 11. So prayer is the means by which
God blesses his people and manifest his glory. Prayer is the means
by which he... Prayer doesn't change God, it
changes us, doesn't it? It changes us. And oh, how much
we need to be changed. Prayer is the operation of the
Spirit of God upon the heart. God's got to set the heart to
pray for us to truly pray. And prayer goes beyond deliverance
from the immediate trial or trouble and recognizes its need for the
Lord to make himself known and to deliver us from our greatest
need which is our own sin. So our Lord was teaching the disciples how
to pray. Some of you like me grew up in
religious traditions where this model prayer was nothing more
than vain repetition. It was just quoted as if it was
going to bring the blessings of God upon
you because you spoke these words. This is not a prayer that's to
be repeated verbatim. It is a prayer that encompasses
all the aspects of faith. The first thing I want you to
see in this prayer is that our Lord tells us when you pray,
say this, our father, our father. The Lord Jesus Christ addressed
the father many times, but he never calls him our father. The Lord Jesus Christ either
spoke to the disciples as my father or he just spoke to the
father as father. But when he tells us to pray,
he tells us that when we approach the throne of grace, when we
come before God, that we're to address God as our father. What is the significance of that?
The Lord Jesus Christ was the son of God. He was not dependent
upon anybody else in order for him to have God as his father. Whereas you and I have God as
our father only by virtue of our union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. only by virtue of our union with Christ. We stand in
a different relationship with the Father than the Lord Jesus
Christ did in that we are dependent upon Him to have access to God. The other significance of this
is that we're in this together. When the Lord says, when you
address God, you address Him as our Father, you are acknowledging
your dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your advocate
with the Father in order to have God as your Father, but you're
also acknowledging your relationship with the elect of God in the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. this union that we have with
Christ cannot be separated from the union that we have with the
body of Christ we're part of his body so he says when you
come before God address him as our father and acknowledge the
fact that he is your father it's the Spirit of God we just read
in Romans chapter 8 that causes the heart to cry Abba Father
it's his ministry in our hearts that gives us that that that
familial relationship with God so that we're able to say with
John behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the children of God and John said
in John chapter 1 he said he came unto his own but his own
received his not but as many as received him to them gave
he power to what become the children of God oh what what a how do
we how do we even begin to describe the blessing of being a child
of God not everybody's a child of God turn to me to John chapter
1 look at verse 10 he was in the
world and the world was made by him he's the creator of all
men but the world knew him not In another place he tells those
who would stand before him on the day of judgment, depart from
me for I never knew you. I never knew you. You workers
of iniquity. They were dependent upon their
good works to get them into heaven. And the Lord says your works
have stood in judgment of you. But look what he says in verse
11. He came unto his own, his own received him not. but as
many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons
of God even to them that believe on his name how do I know if
I'm if I'm a child of God says right there even to them
who believe on his name believe faith is the substance
of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. When God saves a sinner, He gives
them faith. He causes them to believe. He
causes them to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior
for all their righteousness and all their justice before God.
He causes them, He gives us faith. And that's what prayer is. Prayer
is an expression of faith. even to them who believe on his
name. We do believe him. Our faith may be small, but we
have an object to our faith that we can't avoid, can we? The Lord
has made us to depend upon him. Look at the next verse, verse
13, which were born. We're children of God by adoption,
but we're also children of God by birth. He's adopted us in the covenant
of grace and in the person of Christ, but he's also caused
us to be born again. He's given us a new heart. He's
caused us to believe. which were born not of blood
nor of the will of man they weren't they didn't they didn't decide
that they were going to be born again they were born by the Spirit
of God nor of the will of man nor of the will of man but of
God born of God look at back to our text when
we pray all that the Lord would set our hearts to pray That yes, he might use a crisis
in our lives to cause us to pray, but that we would pray far beyond
being delivered from that temporal circumstance. That we would seek his face with
all of our hearts. He said, if you seek me, you'll
find me. Knock and the door will be opened unto you. Ask and it
will be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. You
seek Him with all my heart, you'll find me. That's the Lord's promise. That's His promise. And so He
tells us, are you interested in knowing me? Are you interested
in experiencing the presence and the power of God in your
life? Then pray like this, Our Father, which art in heaven,
I am in the heaven and you are upon the earth. Therefore, let
your words be few. We're acknowledging His sovereign
control over His creation. Lord, You occupy the highest
throne in all the universe. Lord, You hath done whatsoever
whatever You will. There's no limit to Your authority,
to Your power. We are subject to You and dependent
upon You. You're in the heavens and we're
upon the earth. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. This matter of prayer is a matter
of worship, isn't it? It's a matter of worship. You
can't worship God without prayer. The Lord told that woman at the
well in John chapter four, the day cometh and now is. when they
who worship God will worship him in what? In spirit. This is the spirit of God that
must set the heart to pray. The spirit of God must cause
us to worship. We are dependent upon the, this
isn't a matter of, you know, we're gonna, you know, like,
I'm gonna, I don't make New Year's resolutions anymore. I can't
keep them, so I just, you know, quit. but I know a lot of people
do and if you, I mean that's fine but we're not, that's not
what we're talking about here not talking about making a new
year's resolution Lord enable me to worship you hallowed be
thy name if I'm gonna worship you I've got to worship you for
such the father seeketh after is what the Lord told that woman
in John chapter 4 Now that doesn't mean that he's going all throughout
the earth trying to find somebody that's worshiping him. No, to
the contrary. He seeks after his own. He gives
them his spirit. He provides them his truth. They that worship me must worship
me in spirit and in truth. The truth of the gospel. The
truth of who God is revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The truth of who we are, sinners, dependent upon His grace
and mercy. The truth of how it is God is
pleased to save sinners through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You can't worship God apart from
that. Those who have no love of the truth don't know anything
about prayer. Not true prayer. prayers worship
when you pray pray like this our father which art in heaven
hallowed be thy name what is his name well he has he has many
doesn't he you know I was thinking about this all the names of God
all the names of God in the scriptures confirm and complement one another
as to who God is. The more you understand the truth,
the more convinced of it you are. And the more God makes himself
known to you in one or another aspect of his character and nature,
the more consistent the revelation of him becomes to your heart.
It's just so convincing. when when our Lord revealed himself
to Moses at the burning bush he said Moses said who do I say
send him what did he say I am Jehovah is how that's translated
I'm the self-existent one I am the I am the independent one
I am the one the creator and sustainer of all of life I'm
not I'm not like you in any way I'm Jehovah the glorious self-existent
I am and then he reveals himself in so many ways doesn't he you
shall call his name Jesus why for he shall save his people
how do we come to him we come to him based on how he's revealed
himself in his names so many names he's given to us he's called
he's called the word right there in John chapter 1 where we were
a moment ago the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and
we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the father the one
who himself is full of grace and full of truth with God and is God the faithful
and true one how are we going to know God? through the word
of God expressed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the anointed one. He's the
one who came to accomplish everything that God purposed in the saving
of his people. Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed
be thy name. Lord, you are to be worshipped. You're to be adored. You're to
be hallowed. he's the the Alpha and the Omega
he's the beginning and the end everything in salvation he is
in election before the foundations of the world in the covenant
of grace where he where he agreed with the father to be the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world in all that he did
to put away our sin through the sacrifice of himself in sending
his spirit in order to call us out of darkness into his marvelous
light to keep us in the faith to give us the gift of his spirit
to give us the faith to believe him he's everything in salvation
hallowed be thy name if we're to pray we will come to him for
who he is he calls himself Emmanuel God with us the Redeemer think
about that for just a moment Jesus Christ the Redeemer now
Redeemer means that he's redeemed it doesn't suggest that he's
trying to redeem or make an offer of redemption he is the Redeemer
he's redeemed his people from their sins When he bowed his
head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. Everything necessary
for our salvation was accomplished in the sacrifice of himself on
that cross. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. He's the bread of life. He's
the water of life. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. He's the resurrection. He's so many names that He gives
us to describe who He is. And they all, the more He makes
Himself known to us through the manifestation of His Word and
His names, the more we are convinced of who he is he's just consistent
isn't he thy kingdom come thy kingdom
come I love that passage in John 18 where our Lord is standing
before Pilate Pilate asked him are you the king of the Jews? Are you the king? And what did
the Lord say? Are you asking this because you're interested
or is it because somebody may have told you? What's your motive
for asking this question? For this cause was I born and
for this reason came I into the world that I would bear witness
to the truth. Then what did he say? Well before that he said my kingdom
is not of this world. if my kingdom were of this world
my disciples would fight my kingdom is a heavenly kingdom it's not
an earthly kingdom it's a spiritual kingdom those that are of the
truth I came to bear witness to the truth and those that are
everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice in another place he said the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink but it's righteousness
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost the kingdom
of God the Lord the Lord tells us when you pray pray like this
Lord let your kingdom come your righteousness Lord let me find
in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ all of my righteousness
before God Lord I pray that the peace of the Holy Spirit would
cause the joy of the Lord to comfort me and encourage me. Our Father which art in heaven
hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done Now that's
what, that's true prayer. Hey, foxhole religion prays for
God to just, you know, deliver them from a
particular problem or situation that, in other words, you direct,
you're giving God directions. Here's what I want you to do,
Lord. But true prayer, true prayer comes before the God of glory
and says, God, your will be done. Your will be done. if God has
made you to be his then you have been made willing in the day
of his power and you can come before the throne of grace believing
that whatever God has ordained for you is good and right and
best so with great comfort and with great with great encouragement
you can say thy will be done on earth even as it is in heaven give us day by day our daily bread oh
how weak and dependent we are Lord I need you to provide for
me my material things and I need for you to provide me with Christ
the bread of life we're gonna celebrate the Lord's table here
in a moment and and the Lord said to the disciples he said
that when you know that he told that he told the Pharisees he
said that that manna that your father's ate out there in the
wilderness that I'm the bread of life Moses didn't give you that manna
God gave it he gave it as a as a picture of what would happen
when the bread of life came my body is meet in deed. As often as you do this, do it
in remembrance of me. Lord, give us this day. And what
happened when they tried to store up? You do this. I do it all
the time. Try to live off yesterday's grace,
don't you? Try to reflect back on something
the Lord taught you or some great, some comforting moment you had
with Christ. And it's just, it's not sufficient,
is it? It's like the manna. It just
gets worms and it stinks. You've got to go back every day. Lord, give me this day our daily
bread. Forgive us our trespasses. We
come before the Lord in prayer as sinners, don't we? Always
in need. Always in need. Acknowledging
that everything about us before God is sinful and in need of
being forgiven. forgive us our sins even as we
forgive those who have sinned against us there's no such thing
as being forgiven by God without you being a forgiver it just
you can't separate the two if you harbor an unforgiving spirit
in your heart it's only evidence that you don't know the forgiveness
of God for yourself can't have one without the other they are
inseparable the Lord makes that clear right here doesn't he forgive
us our sins for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to
us and lead us not into temptation now temptation the word temptation
is used in the scriptures to describe two things it's used
to describe trials and it's used to describe sin and both are true if you know
anything about yourself you know that you don't handle trials
very well Lord, deliver me from Tim. Lord don't send me any more trials
than are absolutely necessary. Lord don't, don't. Please. I'm so weak and you send me a
trial and I just, I fail and fall. What is the expression of our
weakness? Lead us not into temptation.
Lord, don't let me be tempted by the devil, because I can't.
I'm no match for him. No match for him. Deliver me
from the evil one. Deliver me from the evil of myself.
what did the Lord not say if you being evil know how to give
good gifts unto your children how much more we have any father
give his spirit unto them that ask him Lord deliver me from
myself deliver me from the evil of my own flesh deliver me from
Satan deliver me from the evil of this world the lust of the
flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life Lord deliver me
don't we're not looking for temptation whether it be in trial or in
sin we're asking God to deliver us from those things Lord if
you put me in it I'm sure to succumb I'm sure to fail deliver
me prayer true prayer is the operation
of the Spirit of God in the hearts of His children causing them
to desire Him. To desire Him. And it's the means
by which He opens the windows of heaven and pours out His blessings
upon His children. I pray that the Lord would teach
us to pray. Let's pray right now. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for your word, for the simplicity
of it. We ask, Lord, that you would
set our hearts to pray, that you would cause us to be faithful
and fervent in prayer. that you would do as you did
even for David in all of our attempts to hide from you and
to flee from you that you would not let us go that you would see Lord in our
hearts the evil and lead us in the way of everlasting life Lord, teach us to pray. We thank you for this table,
for the bread, how it reminds us of the sinless life of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is all our righteousness. We thank you
for the wine and how it reminds us of the shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross as a covering for our sin. We
pray, Lord, that we would be given the grace to observe the
simplicity of this table in remembrance of Christ. For it is in His name
we ask it. Amen. Number 75 in the Sophek Tendon. We could get a couple of men
to... Jared, can you help us? I bend my knees and bow my head
And shut my eyes to all without