Good morning. We've got a few
more minutes. Take time to read the article
by Spurgeon in the bulletin. So good. So relevant. So comforting. This congregation is getting
older. Some of you were pretty young
when I came here. Nancy, we celebrated her 50th
birthday when the year we came here. Now she's 80. Time sure flies. I was just thinking how that
if you're over 60, you wake up. four, five, not on purpose. And I was thinking, we ought
to start these services early. Seven, eight. I'm sure ready. OK, let's ask the Lord to bless
the day. Our God in heaven, hallowed,
holy is thy name. Wonderful, gracious, merciful,
kind, Lord, God and Savior. Thank you. Thank you, Lord, for
this day. Thank you for this time. Thank you for this place. Thank
you for your word. What a blessed time and privilege
this is. How glad we are that you have
called us and caused us to approach unto thee, not left us to ourselves
like you have so many, but called us by your truth, by your gospel
to come, sit, hear your word, worship you, gather with the
saints, those who've, in the covenant of grace, by the sacrifice
of Christ, how blessed we are. Lord, make us to know that more
and more each day. Make us to prize this high and
heavenly calling that we have more and more every day. Make
us to see this one thing needful. O Lord, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done. Give us this day, this bread,
the bread of life, the word, Christ himself. Forgive us, O
Lord, forgive us. Lead us in paths of righteousness
for Thy name's sake. Deliver us from the evil one.
It's Your kingdom, Your church, Your people, Your Word, Your
glory, Your honor. I ask in Christ's name, Amen. Luke chapter 11. Luke 11. This is a shortened version of
the prayer The disciples' prayer. This is
not the Lord's prayer. That's John 17. The Lord, when
He prayed, this is the one He gave us to pray. Luke 11, verse
1. It came to pass that as He was
praying. Just stop right there a minute.
Our Lord prayed always. And He knew all things. He knew
the end from the beginning. He never ceased to be God when
He became man. He had all power when he was
a man, yet he prayed without ceasing. What a lesson that is
to us. The disciples saw him pray. They heard him pray all the time. When he told them and tells us
to pray, that men ought always to pray. He did what he told
us to do, didn't he? He led by example, he walked
by faith, and he prayed without ceasing. His needs were not greater
than ours, but he prayed, didn't he? In
a certain place, verse 1, he prayed in a certain place. They would often find him in
one place praying. Where was that? Well, the Garden
of Gethsemane was one of his favorite places, wasn't it? He
often, as Scripture says, resorted there to pray with his disciples. And they had the privilege of
being in on his prayers. My, my. But he often resorted
there into that garden. And that's a type, that's a picture. The Song of Solomon, they asked
the Shulamite woman, where is your beloved? Where will you
find him? She said, he's in his garden. That's typical. The garden is his people. It's
his church. He prayed with his disciples.
He prayed among them. Oh, he prayed privately all the
time, always, without ceasing. But he prayed with them, collectively,
all the time, in a certain way. And that's the church, the garden. And he told us, enter into your
closet. Didn't he? Find a place where
you will not be disturbed and make it a place of prayer. That's
what he told me. Closet. He literally mean a closet?
Well, if that's the only place you can go and nobody will disturb
you, fine. Mine is kind of like the bathroom. The Lord will sanctify anywhere,
won't he? Just get along. What do you say? A certain place. All right. One of his disciples said unto
him, verse 1, Lord, that's what they called him. Lord, teach
us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Lord, teach us
to pray as John taught his disciples. Now, I think the first thing
that they wanted was for him to teach them or instill in them
the need to pray. Our Lord said men ought always
to pray. Do we? No, we don't. Sadly, we rush ahead without
seeking the Lord, without seeking his will, his way, and we get
into trouble nearly every time. And so the first thing I believe,
I hope, and pray the Lord will teach us This is how we need
to pray about everything. Always at all time about everything
before you make a move, before you make a decision, before you
speak a word. Oh, before you speak a word. All right, verse two. And apparently John taught his
disciples. John apparently taught his disciples. We don't have that on record.
Or maybe we do, but I just don't remember. But Paul later wrote
many times, didn't Paul write, pray without ceasing, watch unto
prayer. Simon Peter said, be sober, the
end is at hand, watch unto prayer. Jude, James, James began his
letter with ask, anybody like wisdom, ask, and he ended it
with the prayer of faith. Jude, on and on. And I tried
to exhort us, myself included, to pray. All right? He said unto
them. Now, this is to his disciples.
Right? And he tells them to call God
their Father. Tragically, sadly, ignorantly,
all people everywhere, when they get in trouble or something happens,
they all start praying what they call the Lord's Prayer. Our Father.
charting him. Right? I remember when I was
on the football team. On the football team, right before
we'd go into a game, we'd be in the locker room. Did you ever
do that, Red? In high school, they prayed to our father. It's not for everybody. He's
not everybody's father. But this is to his people, okay? The majority of everybody in
here is a professed believer. He said unto them, verse 2, When
ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven. And on and on
he says, Give us, forgive us, lead us, our Father. The first thing he tells us to
do is to pray for one another. Pray collectively. Our Father. We are to pray individually.
If anyone does not call on the Lord, they shall not be saved.
If anyone does not continually call and pray and talk to, speak
with, and commune with the Lord, they don't know the Lord. It's
like breath. It's the breath of a believer.
Oh, we have times when we forget Him, like the children of Israel.
We forget Him because we're so taken up with this and that and
the other. Then He convicts us and then we call. We cry. Like a baby crying. Parents,
that's just life. You must, you do. Lots of people
do it. So we do it privately. But he
tells us to pray for one another and collectively. Our. They were
together when he taught them this prayer. Maybe he led them. Our Father. Our Father. Is it not so that, now the Lord
blesses us in private prayer, but does he not bless us more
collectively? Isn't it so? So with me. It is with me. It's never as
blessed, prayer is never as blessed as when we do it together as
a church. And often the Lord leads a man to lead us in prayer,
and the Lord blesses, and we're so blessed, Owen, so blessed.
Even women, I told you, not publicly in the church, not to do that,
but privately in the home. I've asked my wife to pray at
the table and ah, so blessed, so very blessed. Hannah's prayer sure was a blessing. The Lord sure taught her. Well, Manoah's wife, and on and
on it goes. But often the Lord leads a man
in this service and other services to pray and blesses him to pray. One time, more than once in the
study, the men get together and pray and the Lord leads men to
read a certain passage and then pray. Well, more than once I've
told men to You should have heard so-and-so pray. You should have
been there. And I wish all of us could have
heard. It's a blessing, isn't it, when the Lord leads. Try
to imagine Him praying. Just try to imagine. They got
to hear Him pray. Oh, Lord, I'd like to pray like
that. Well, dwell in Him. Dwell with
Him. And you will. Think on Him. Live with Him.
Talk. And you will. It will be like breath. Natural. Come natural. He said, Our Father,
which art in heaven. Our Father. Our Father. Romans 8. Turn there real quick.
Romans chapter 8. Our Father. He tells us That
to call on the Creator of the universe, the Lord of heaven
and earth, the Lord of hosts, the Judge over all, He says,
call Him Father. He's our Father. How is that? Through Christ the firstborn
among many brethren. Through Christ who prevailed
and birthed on the cross to give birth to a people, the Holy Spirit.
And Romans 8 says this, verse 14, as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now, what's that? To
be led by the Spirit of God is to convince of sin, righteousness,
and judgment. And I'm not going into all that,
but you know what that means, don't you? Sin, He'll convince
you you're a sinner. Righteousness, He'll convince
you that God is holy and righteous and you don't have any. And he'll
convince you that there's only one way you can get it. Only
one person who has it. Jesus cried. You have learned
he is Jehovah Sikhinim. Surely shall one say in the Lord
have I righteousness. One, here's one. Any more? Go
ahead, raise your hand. Every one of God's people know
that. Without exception. Judgment. There's a judgment
to face. as a judgment to faith. I also
stand before him in a judgment. If Christ didn't bear that judgment
for us, we're going to bury ourselves and be cast out. But all of God's
people by the Holy Spirit are convinced, convicted, comforted
by this blessed gospel that is Christ itself. These three things
are found in one, Jesus Christ, the gospel. Without it, there's
not one single believer that knows those things They may not be able to articulate
them, but they know them in their heart. They know Him. They know themselves, and they
know Him. All right? They're led by the Spirit of
God. Verse 15. You have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear. We're not under the law. Fear? If God the Creator is my
Father, If God is my father. You know, I've told you this
many times. Maybe you get tired of hearing it. I don't. It's
my story. My dad, I used to think he was bigger, stronger, wiser
than anybody on earth. Okay? And I didn't fear anything
until I became a teenager. When I thought I knew something. And here I went like the prodigal
son and got myself in trouble. And what did I think then? Like
to be back home with Dad, where I was safe. God is our Father. And I'm talking to my madness
self, who and what would I possibly be afraid of? God is my Father. If He's my Father, do you think
He's going to let anything happen to me that He doesn't? We're going to see in Deuteronomy
32, he said, Jacob is the apple of my eye. Nothing and nobody
is going to touch him if I don't purpose it. God's our author. In Romans 8, he says, I know
I get stuck if I turn here, turn there, I get stuck. What a sticking
place. 15 says, you cry Abba, Father. Dad. Dad. Only a child can call their father,
Dad. What a blessed term it is. Your
children still call you Dad? What's it do to you? Or maybe a more blessed term,
Pope Paul. What's that do to you, Red? What
do you want? What do you want? I told you,
I'm going to buy Isabella a red Corvette for her 16th birthday.
What are you going to buy? Just kidding. But here, the sky's
the limit. The willing, obedient, loving. The sky's the limit. Our Father. He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for all of his children, how
shall he not with him freely give it?" He's our Father. He's in heaven. Abba Father. Go back to the text. He's our
Father in heaven. Where is he? Where's our God? David said, my God's in the heavens.
What can he do? Well, he can do anything. I'll
tell you what he is doing. I'll tell you what he has done.
I'll tell you what he is doing. I'll tell you what he shall do.
Whatsoever he hath placed, that he did he in heaven and earth,
that's our God. This God, sister, is our God
forever. He'll be our guide to death. He'll carry us. He has carried
us, he doth carry us, he shall carry us to our graves, and then
he'll carry us on wings of eagles all the way to his side. Fear
not. Our God's in heaven. Isn't that wonderful? Hallowed
be thy name. Hallowed be thy name. Holy, holy, holy Lord God of
hosts. It is certain that those who
know the Lord fear His name. It's becoming more and more evident,
it should be, that those who really know Him fear His name. They don't use that name. accepted
reverence and respect and worship. Hallowed be thy name. Reverence
his holy name. David said, you are not my heart
to fear thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom
come. The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom
of Christ it is called, the Kingdom of His dear Son, it's called
the Kingdom of Righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost.
Right now the God of this world There's a kingdom of darkness
that pervades this land. There's a kingdom of darkness
and many people we know, even some of our children and grandchildren
are caught, are captive in that kingdom. Oh dear God in heaven,
thy kingdom come. Deliver them from the This kingdom
of darkness, please. They're like me. You delivered
me. I was in it. I was captive to the God of this
world. Oh, thy kingdom come. My sister, Lord, come give my
sister and get her out of this darkness. Is that what we pray? Thy kingdom come. Oh, king of
glory, come fetch this Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. Isn't that
what we pray? Thy kingdom come. Right now. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. David prayed that
all to make haste, O Lord. Hurry, for it's too late. Hurry right now. Operate. So often I'm praying for you
and yours and mine, and I ask the Lord right now. You can right
now, as I speak, you can send an arrow to their heart. Right
now. Do it now, Lord. Tomorrow might be too late. Right? But just don't know. He can snuff out a lot right
now. This is urgent, isn't it? It's
urgent. Pray without ceasing. Oh Lord,
send your kingdom into the hearts. Is this urgent? This ain't no
Bible study. This is prayer. Our kingdom come, thy will be
done. You know, believers hate free
will. They hate it. They deny it. They refute it. They renounce
it. They denounce it, don't they? It dishonors God. It doesn't
glorify God. It glorifies man. Furthermore,
they don't want their free will. I don't want my will. Do you?
Leave us not to our will. This is what I will do. This
is what this old man will do if you let him do it. Don't let
me have my will. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Everybody does your will in heaven.
Lord, make me to thy will. Make me. cement, battle, walk
according to know thy good and perfect will. You know the revealed
will? What is the revealed will of
God? Not here. The secret things belong
unto the Lord, Moses said, but the revealed things are to us
and our children. What's that? Right here. Most people. It's
here to most people. Not to us and our children. Right
now, downstairs, our children are learning the will of God.
The Word of God. The ways of God. The walk of
God. The will of God. Walk in it. Oh Lord. Thy will be done. Isn't that what we pray? Leave me not to my will. Those that know the plague of
their heart, that plague of our heart is, This is what I want. Don't lead me to that. Give us,
verse 3, day by day, or for the day, our daily bread. Give us. He tells us to ask Him for one
thing. Tell me. Give us. Most people When they
call on God, it's gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme,
gimme, gimme. It's all gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. He tells
us, give me one thing. What? Daily bread. Daily bread. Now, do you think he's talking
about physical bread? No. Our Lord Himself showed that. He led by example then. He said, man does not live by
bread alone. They told Him one time, Lord, you need to eat.
He said, I am. He was so strong in the faith
with it. He had such peace, such comfort. His spiritual constitution
and physical was strong. But in every way, mind, heart,
soul, body. He loved the Lord with all his
might, all his soul. But he ate very little. He slept
very little. What's that tell you? What's
that tell you? Man doesn't live by physical
breath. Our Lord didn't. But by every
word that proceeded from the mouth of God. Every word. We need every word. Our Lord
lived on and got His sustenance from, His life from, His strength
from, His joy from the Word, the will, the promises of God. And He tells us to pray every
time. Give us daily bread. This day. This day. Our daily bread. Now, the Word of God is The Word
of God is likened to many things, vital things, things that we
love, things that enrich us. Gold, silver, precious stone,
the Word of God, which is great. It's called honey. Honey out
of the rock. Water. You can't live without
water. You can't live without the earth.
You'll dry up. Ever gone through a drought?
I'll tell you why. Milk. He said, desire the sincere
milk of the Word. Meat. Bread. Bread. Oh, bread. Christ the bread. Christ our
life. Manna. Angel's food. Children of Israel
lived for 40 years on one thing. It came from heaven. Small, round,
white thing. It's like honey on wafers. Small, round, white. What is
it? The picture of Christ. The manna. Christ, our life.
Christ, our joy. And he told the children of Israel
every day, didn't he? Go out and collect it. Nobody
can do it for you. Every one of them were to go
out and, as thy days, so shall thy strength be. From what? Manna. Manna. In Deuteronomy 8, the
Lord said, he reminded the people, he said, I have proved you. See,
after they'd walked for 40 years, Deuteronomy was written. And
he was rehearsing everything. And he told them in chapter 8,
you're going to remember all the way I led you. I did. And he said, I proved you by
manna. That's what he said. I proved
who were my true people by manna. There were some who grew tired
of the manna. You know that? They've been eating it. This
isn't a warning to older believers. It's us, John. Some of them said,
we loathe this light. We're tired of this. We want
something else. And they did not enter the promised
land. God said, I have proved you by
this manna. That's all they had to eat for 40 years, for one
thing. Oh, they lusted exceedingly in
the wilderness. The Lord said, okay, I'll give
you what you want, quails. And it was coming out there.
Boy, hadn't he given us so much of this world that it's just
coming out of our nostrils, making us sick. Fat of body and lean
of soul, isn't it? Stop it! Give us this one thing,
Nephi. Oh, Lord. This is the one thing,
Nephi. Do you not find that more and
more the longer you live? This is the one thing, Nephi.
I need this. Like the widow woman who reached
down in the barrel. Every day she used to reach down
in the barrel, barrel of meal, and she'd, there it is, to go
on that day for that day. And then she'd look and it wouldn't
be in there. All right, the next morning, it's always in the morning
first thing, she'd reach down in there, ha, there it is again. Just enough for that day. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst. Boy, if you're hungry, one sweet
morsel, one sweet word, one good message, and go all day on again. Give us this day our daily bread.
Read on. Forgive us. Forgive us our sins. Rather than
I was going to go to 1 Kings 8, Solomon's prayer, All through
that prayer, Lord, if any man sinned, and we've all sinned,
if anybody sinned, Lord, hear, Lord, forgive, Lord, do. I was
going to take you to Nehemiah 9, but Ron's going to read that
a little while later. He said it's because of our sins
that these plagues and pestilences are upon us. That's what Nehemiah
said. That's what Ezra said. That's
what Daniel said. I was going to take you to Daniel
9. It's because of our sins that all of this is upon us. Lord,
what do we need? This nation, this world, the
church. Forgive us! You know what? If anybody says
that, allow you to preach that, to Job and his friends, if any
man say, confess, I'm a sinner, forgive me, forgive me. Forgive us our sins as for we
also forgive everyone that's indebted to us. What do we owe
God? Repentance, thanksgiving, praise,
worship. We cannot repay Him for anything.
We cannot undo, we cannot redeem ourselves for anything we've
ever done. We can't undo it. We can't give him enough to undo
it. But he says, this is what you bring to me. Repentance,
faith, praise, thanksgiving. Just thank me. It's enough. Just
believe on my son. Look to him. I'm satisfied. It's enough. Forgive us, for we forgive. He demands of us. It's required
of us. But it behooves us. Isn't it
befitting to us? If you're a great sinner, our
Lord says, if you don't forgive others their sins against you,
your Father will not forgive you. And if we don't, if we've
not learned anything about ourselves, forgive us. as we forgive others. And lead us not into temptation.
Lead us not into temptation. Oh my. Paul said one time, and
I think about this verse all the time, I need to think about
it daily. He said, put on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the
lusts thereof. Make no provision to the flesh.
And the first way that we do that is ask the Lord, Lord, don't
let me go fall into temptation. We will be tempted, but Lord,
I can't withstand one single temptation if you don't hold
me up. And just deliver me from it. Temptation. This whole world, everything
in it tempts the lusty eye. Bless the flesh and the pride
of life, everything in it. All that we hear, all that we
see is a temptation to keep us from it. Don't let me
go here. Don't let me go there. Don't
let my mind go here. Don't let my mind go there. He
can stop me. We can't. He can't. And he does. And he
tells us, don't let me go there. That's pretty much what he's
saying. Don't let me go there. Leave me now. Leave me in paths
of righteousness for thy name's sake. Read on. He said, deliver
us from evil. Oh, brethren. The God of this world. He's powerful. And he told Satan one time, our
Lord told Satan, Satan, Peter, Satan hath desired thee to sit
you like with him. But what is that? That's right. I pray for you. I pray for you. What's our problem?
Prayer. The lack of it. Because without
Him, there ain't nothing. Oh, this evil one. It insults
me from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep and
even in my dreams. If you, Lord, don't deliver me,
I'm a goner. Right? What a prayer. What a prayer. Okay.