The scripture which I read a
moment ago is also recorded in the 11th chapter of Luke. And in the 11th chapter of Luke,
it said the Lord Jesus was engaged in prayer in a certain place. Our Lord had prayed. And when
he concluded his prayer, his disciples said to him, Lord,
teach us to pray. teach us to pray. Now, I don't
claim to be an authority on prayer. Not one whit. I want that understood
as I begin this message. I do not claim to be an authority
on prayer. I know that sounds dangerous
for a preacher to make that statement, but so anyhow, I'm no authority
on prayer. I'm no authority on faith. I'm
no authority on anything in this book. The Holy Spirit is our
authority. I'm just telling you what God's
taught me. I'm a person who is seeking to know Christ. That's
my heart's cry, to know Him, to win Christ, and be found in
Him. I have no authority on prayer. And then I'll tell you this secondly.
It won't shock you too much. I'm not pleased with my prayer
life. Not at all. I will not stand before you tonight
and say that I pray as often as I want to pray, or ought to
pray, or should pray. I do not. I wish that I do. I'm not pleased with my prayer
life, and that's one of the things that has motivated this message
tonight. I want a deeper and richer prayer
life. Do you? If you do, I believe
we can do something about it tonight. Do I boast of great
victories in prayer? I've had more prayers not answered
than I have answered. I've had more prayers turned
down than I've ever had accepted. That's just so. I don't know
about you. But everything I ask God, He
doesn't do. Everything I pray about and claim
in Christ's name doesn't happen, Cecil. It just flat don't happen.
Some of the things that I don't pray about do happen. But that's
just so. I could go back and pick up some
incidences in life and exaggerate them and have you awed by my
great prayer life, but it just doesn't exist. Just not so. I don't boast of great victories.
But this I do confess before God and before this congregation. I confess this. I want to pray. And if anybody in here tonight
wants to pray, here's one that wants to pray. I want to pray,
Charlie. I mean pray. I don't mean play
at it. I don't mean act at it. I don't mean go through the ritual.
I want to pray. I want to pray. And I want to
learn how to pray from the Scriptures. I'm not pleased with what I hear
in this day as I travel around. I rejoice here. I hear some praying
here. Most places I go, they're playing
at it. Just flat playing at it. The
request of these disciples in Luke 11, when our Lord, they
knew He prayed. They heard Him pray. Now, no
doubt the Lord prayed, talked to His people. When He got through,
they were so impressed and affected. That first thing they said, teach
me to pray. Teach me to pray. And I believe
it's a two-fold request, and this is the way I divided this,
and what I'm feeling in my own heart right now. Lord, teach
me to pray. Teach me to pray. Teach me the
value of it, the importance of it. Teach me to pray. And then
secondly, teach me how to pray. You see what I'm doing there? I think that's what they were
saying. Lord, teach me to pray. Impress upon me the importance
of it, the value of it. and teach me how to pray. Now,
I want him to teach me to pray because I know this, a prayerless
life is a graceless life. Now, you can put that, a prayerless
life, if you have a prayerless life, as I said, we don't pray
as much as we should, we don't pray as often as we should, we
don't pray as enthusiastically, as seriously as we should, but
we do pray. If a man doesn't pray, he doesn't
have any grace. John Bunyan once said this, what
breath is to the natural man? Breathing. Prayer is to the child
of God. And a prayerless life, he said,
is a graceless life. A man without prayer is a man
without grace. And then the scripture exhorts us in this fashion, it
says in everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. This
is the will of God for you. In everything give thanks. In
blessings, in failures, in successes, in troubles, in health, in sickness,
in joy, in sorrow, in life, in death, in everything give thanks. Listen to this scripture, Colossians
4, to continue in prayer. Continue in prayer. This is what
I'm talking about. Continue in prayer. This is what
I covet. And Ephesians 5.20 says, giving
thanks always for all things to God. Giving thanks always
for all things to God. And then the scripture, pray
without ceasing. Now, there's nobody who can talk
without ceasing. My mother almost could, but not
totally, you know. Nobody can talk without ceasing.
So this is to live in an attitude of prayer. Pray without ceasing. You hear what I'm saying? That's
what's pray, live in an attitude of prayer. Now then, Lord teach
us to pray. Now, Lord teach us how to pray.
Now I'm going to say something here that may shock you. But
I believe it. I believe it or I wouldn't say
it, John. I believe it. Men and women, don't be alarmed
if you can't pray publicly. Please don't. Will you stifle
that guilt feeling? I want to tell you something.
I confess this and I think Jay will say amen to it. The most
difficult part of my ministry is to pray publicly. Do you agree
with that? Occasionally, I have prayed,
P-R-A-Y-E-D, prayed publicly. Most of the time, I ain't struck
a lick of it publicly. You know why? It's almost impossible
for me to forget there are people out there. I don't care if it's
in a restaurant and a bunch of people around the table. I don't
care if it's at home, just my family. I don't care if it's
in a Sunday school class. I don't care if it's in this
country, occasionally. Now, I know we must have public
prayer. Now, please stay with me. Don't
misunderstand me. We're going to have to start
being honest if we're going to help anybody, Bill. There's been
too much sham in religion. There's been too much pretense
and play-like and put on. There's been folks who haven't
let people in on the ground floor. And preachers are the most guilty
people in the world. They just haven't let folks in
on the ground floor. They've given the idea, they've
given the impression that they're always up here on the mountaintop.
They've given the impression that every time they open their
mouths they talk to God. They've given the impression
that they live without doubt and fear. That's right. They
give that impression. That they're always winning the
victory, always slaying the dragon, always telling Satan to go back
to hell where he came from. And there ain't nothing but a
bunch of human beings. That's all in the world now.
Now, there is public prayer to be offered. Now, don't you misunderstand
this and don't misquote me. There is public prayer to be
offered. The Bible is full of examples
of men who led the congregation in public prayer. Now, we must
have that. whether I can pray totally in
the Spirit publicly, or whether I can pray three-fourths in the
Spirit, or one-half in the Spirit. Still, we've got to have public
prayer. You'll find examples of that.
I can give you just David, Solomon, Elijah. And in 1 Corinthians
14, it talked about, I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray
with the understanding, and those who hear me can say amen to what
I'm saying. You see what I'm saying? And I reiterate what I said. The most difficult part of the
service for me is I know that God is holy, God is on His throne. When we approach His throne,
we must approach it with reverence and fear and awe and trembling. It's so wicked of us to have
our minds somewhere else when we're talking to God. And yet
to open your heart in front of a bunch of people is kind of
hard to do. Now, it's just a little bit difficult. And so I say to
you men and you women who have had a struggle with praying publicly,
it's no easy thing to stand up here and speak publicly. There
are men and women sitting out here who if I called on you to come
up here and say a few words, you'd just be tough, wouldn't
it? And it's the same thing. I don't
know why preachers call on people to pray publicly. Don't do that
unless you know the man has the gift of prayer. It embarrasses
him, it puts him on the spot, it has him unprepared and frightened,
and it's just... I don't know why we do it. But
it's become a custom in the church, if it's a destined preacher,
they call on him to pray. If it's a destined man, they
call on him to pray. Actually, there's some men who
have the gift of speaking, some men have the gift of faith, some
men have, and women too, have the gift of prayer, the gift
of giving. There are a lot of gifts. But
I'll tell you, the gift to pray is a rarity. To lay hold on the
horns of the altar and talk to God publicly for a congregation
is not an easy task. And I give you that word of confession
and that word of exhortation and that word of comfort. You
say, I don't know, maybe I'm just not spiritual enough. If
the pastor called on me to pray publicly, he would just frighten
me to death. It does me too. It does me too. And it does you, doesn't it?
It frightens me to death. I just, I just, I go somewhere
and I was walking, I never will forget when R.T. Kendall was
pastoring the Blue River Baptist Church up in Indiana. And Dr. Magruder and I were there, distant,
and he had another speaker. I forget who the speaker was,
but we had a little round table discussion there. And we had
eaten supper, Louise had picked supper, and we left the house.
We were walking up this country road toward the church. And I
turned to R.T. and I said, R.T., don't call
on me to pray tonight. Just don't call on me. And Magruder
spoke up and said, me either. I said, do you feel that way?
He said, it just puts me under a burden because I realize the
seriousness of it. And I think sometimes I really
do. I think maybe we ought to write an article and get it out.
I believe really and truly men who pray in the service maybe
ought to be notified beforehand that they're expected to lead
and pray. Don't you think it would be a good idea, Cecil?
Let a man know beforehand. I don't know. Prepare the heart to pray. You
know, we're prepared to preach, we're prepared to sing, we're
prepared to do everything, we're prepared to teach. What's most
important? Prayer. Most important thing. And if we don't prepare our hearts
to pray... Let me give you an example. I called on a man to
pray one time in the public and he'd had a fuss with his wife
just before he came to church. And he said, I wasn't ready to
pray. See what I'm saying? I wasn't ready to pray. He'd
prayed before. But now this thing of approaching
the throne of God, that's serious business. And I say, don't be
under any pressure if you can't carry on publicly like some other
people can. I tell you this, the prettiest
prayers ain't always prayers. And the wordiest prayers are
not always prayers. Sometimes prayers are nothing
but groaning which cannot be uttered. You know what Scripture
said? Groanings which cannot be uttered. But my thoughts are
on a more personal level tonight. I want us to turn to Matthew
5 now and let me show you something here. Prayer on a more personal
level. You know, the scripture says
men ought always to pray and not to faint. Our Lord says you
have not because you ask not. Now, usually a message on prayer
will go this way, and this is true. Usually a message on prayer
will go this way. Prayer is thanksgiving. It's
thanksgiving. Secondly, prayer is praise, and
it is thanksgiving, and everything give thanks. Prayer, a man put
out a book one time on prayer, asking and receiving. That's
not prayer always. Now there are petitions in prayer,
but prayer is usually, you can pray and not even ask a petition.
You can do nothing but give thanks, give thanks, give thanks. I tell
you, you could pray all day and give thanks. Give thanks for
your health, give thanks for your family, give thanks for
the gospel, give thanks for the Word of God, give thanks for
America, give thanks for your food, give thanks for your home,
give thanks for a nice warm bed, give thanks for your job, give
thanks for your everything. Just giving thanks. And then
prayer is praise, and prayer is an adoration of the attributes
of God. Now, when he started out a while
ago, he said, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come. I know all of this. Thy will
be done on earth as it is. That's praising the attributes
of God. God is holy. God is glorious. God is majestic. God is sovereign. God is all
of these things. We can spend our time just Just
adoring the attributes of God. Just adoring the attributes of
God. We spend our time in prayer doing that. Prayer is heart communion
with God. Just a fellowship with God. You
can pray driving down the highway, sitting in your chair. I pray
sitting right here. While you're singing, you don't
have to have any formality to pray. It's adoration, it's heart
communion, it's fellowship with God, it's just whispering a word.
You're driving along the highway and you turn to your wife and
say something to her and she says something back, you don't
speak for several months, but you talk then. It's communion,
fellowship. And then prayer is petition.
He said, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you. Now turn to 1 Samuel 12. 1st
Samuel chapter 12. I want you to look at this. 1st Samuel chapter 12. Prayer,
I know it's a responsibility. I know prayer is a duty. I know
prayer is commanded. But I'm telling you this, prayer
is a privilege. It's a privilege. And I'll tell
you this, I am blessed to pray, and I'm blessed when I pray,
and I'm deprived of blessings if I don't pray. Now look at
1 Samuel 12, verse 22. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased
the Lord to make you his people. Moreover, as for me, God forbid
that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I'll teach
you the good and the right way." Now, what I'm talking about tonight
is personal, private prayer. This is where the weakness is. This is where the weakness is.
Personal, private prayer. This is where praying is done.
This is where real praying is accomplished. This is where most
of the commandments and to pray and the God exhorting us to pray. He's talking about private prayer.
Talking about private prayer. Your personal prayer. My personal
prayer. Doris and I were driving along
the other day talking about this. I said I'm so weary of most of
what I hear that people call prayer. And I said, I'll tell
you this, in the meeting last week in the motel, I had some
time in prayer. And I was able to talk with God
by myself about every need and every problem and every desire
and every thought. And I believe, Bob, that's where
we pray. And this is what I want us to
do. If somebody says, call a prayer meeting, let's get together and
pray. Well, I've never seen much accomplished. But I'll tell you
this, if us, as every one of us, as individuals, if this pastor,
and our assistant pastor, and these young preachers, and our
elders, and you, and the deacons, will become men and women of
prayer privately at home, it's hard to tell what God will do
here. Now, we're not going to impress God by getting together
here around the clock. You can have that. We're not
going to impress God by getting here and standing up and saying
a bunch of words. But I'll tell you this, if folks turn their
closets into prayer meetings, if they turn their bedrooms into
prayer chambers, if they turn their automobiles into places
of communion with God, it's hard to tell what God would do. The
power that He'd give us to pray. And that's what I'm talking about.
And I say that's what's lacking. Our Lord, Matthew 6. Let's look
at this a moment. In Matthew 6. Our Lord warns
us about the common errors The common errors of the religionists
in the matter of prayer. Matthew 6, verse 5. Now look
at it. When you pray, when you pray, don't be as a hypocrite. He loves to pray standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets to be seen of
men. He loves to do that. He likes to be seen of men and
to be heard of men. Look at verse 16. When you fast,
don't be like a hypocrite of a sad, countenance, appearing
to be religious. He disfigures his face. Where
have you been? You're looking terrible while
I'm fasting. He doesn't shave, and he has sad eyes, you know,
and his hair is all messed up, and our Lord said he has his
reward. But when you fast, when you're
under a burden, when you're in prayer, when you're communing
with God, wash your face, anoint your head, look better than you
did otherwise, and don't let it out. Now, our works of faith and labor
of love and prayers are not to gain men's applause. When men
see them and hear them and praise them, if that's what we're looking
for, that's the end of it. God doesn't hear. I think the same thing might
be said of our singing, special music, of our preaching, of whatever
we do. If we're doing, I think that's
what he's saying. Take verse 1, take heed that you don't do
your works, your spiritual work before men to be seen of them.
Our giving. Now, I know that there's a certain
sense in which somebody has to know what you're giving when
they record it, when they count it back there or something. But
just to do a work of love and faith and broadcast it is to
lose the blessing. Because we're letting somebody
else know and it seems like we're doing it for that purpose, for
that reason. We're supposed to do them in secret. That goes
for our prayers especially. Look at verse 6. When you pray,
enter into your closet. Now, I said that's not literal.
A man doesn't have to get in what's called a closed closet.
But he's talking here about, and I know prayer sometimes has
to be public. It must be public. But in the
assembly before the Lord, that's public prayer. But what we're
talking about here is private. When you pray, pray privately. And when you shut the door, pray
to your Father in secret, and your Father will see you and
reward you openly." That's what he's saying. Now, here's another
error to be avoided. Verse 7, when you pray, use not
vain repetitions. Now, you know what vain repetitions
are, and I tell you the reason we use them is because we're
under pressure about what to say. Now, the old timers had
prayers written out. I'm not totally opposed to a
written prayer. No, sir. Not totally. You see,
when you get into things like this, when you say, and this
is the same thing that the holiness and some of the other folks say,
preachers ought not use notes. Well, now, you're making a fool
out of yourself to say something like that. And the same thing
is true if I want to write out a prayer. The Holy Spirit's able
to inspire that just as much as He inspires something spontaneous. This is what you're talking about.
I said people prepare, and I know what's going through your mind.
You want to do it spontaneous, in the Spirit. That don't mean
the man's in the Spirit at all. A man usually is in the Spirit
more who prepares than one who doesn't prepare. This book is
inspired, isn't it? It was written 2,000 years ago.
See what I'm saying? 2,000 years ago, that's a long
time ago. This sermon wasn't written that long ago. I hope
it's inspired. One time there was a colored
preacher. He was a janitor down at the white church. And he came
in to the pastor's study, and the pastor's sitting there writing,
you know. It was on Friday, I think. And he came in, pastor's writing.
And the colored janitor swept around a little while, and he
kind of eased over and said, what are you doing, Reverend? And
the pastor said, well, I'm getting my sermon for Sunday morning.
Well, he said, you get your sermon on Friday for Sunday? Well, he
said, yeah, I do. Well, he said, the devil already
knows what you're going to say. And knowing he was a preacher,
the white preacher said, well, now, don't you prepare your sermon
before time? Oh, no, no. He said, when I get
up to preach, the Lord, the devil, me, or nobody else knows what
I'm liable to say. And that's where those sermons
usually wind up. So when you run down, when you
say, well, he read his prayer, don't be too quick to criticize. He may have got that prayer from
God. He may be a man of great timidity. He may be just like this patron,
this one back here, who feels a great burden to pray, and he
wants that prayer to be glorifying to God, and just don't be too
critical. And you can carry that thing
too far. You can swing that pendulum and sit around and read prayers
and not have the consciousness of the Spirit, you know. You
get this thing, it's a narrow razor's edge. You have to be
so careful. But now don't speak unkindly
of a man who reads a prayer. Because you can't judge his motive
and you can't judge his preparation. They can't do it. But in vain
repetitions, here's what we get into in vain repetitions, and
I've heard, you know, sometimes we can pray and we pray the next
thing, say the same thing, we get into a rut of saying, and
then here's the danger, you try to get out of that rut and you
can't think of anything to say. Vain repetition, and that's what
he's talking about, repeating something over and over and over
and over again. That's what the heathen do, they have their ritualistic
prayers. Now he said, they think they
shall be heard for their much speaking. A man can pray even
who can't talk. This is what I can't quite digest
when I see these bumper stickers, don't forbid our children to
pray. How can you? The only way you can forbid anybody
to pray is put him under sodium penicillin or something. As long as he's got a mind, he
can pray. He may not be able to speak. He may be in a classroom
where they forbid any religious conversation, but he can pray.
He can't preach, but he can pray. Brother, he can pray. Prayer
is not talk. Prayer is not words. That's what
Christ is saying here. We're not heard by much speaking.
Verse 8 says, don't follow the example of the hypocrite. Don't
be like them. Your Father knows what things
you have need of. He knows exactly what you need,
even before you ask Him. Now, I've looked at this model
prayer, beginning with verse 9, and I think I've got something
tonight that'll help us. I've looked at this model prayer.
And as I said, to avoid the usual type of message, it doesn't seem
to motivate anybody. We divide it up and say, now
there's a celebration of the divine attributes, and then there's
the desire for the coming of the kingdom, and so forth, and
then there's a request for daily bread, and we divide this thing
up, and it doesn't motivate and doesn't encourage anybody. I've
come up with something that blessed my heart and gave me some comfort
and a challenge, And what I'm going to present to you tonight
is eight reasons to pray. And I believe I can present to
you a cause to pray, a call to pray, a challenge to pray, a
comfort to pray. And my objective, here's my objective,
is to motivate myself to pray, to pray more, and to motivate
you to pray, to motivate you to pray. And I believe this,
I say this, if after I finish giving you these very simple
things, If we're not spending more thoughts in prayer, more,
I'm not saying time now, I'm saying thoughts in prayer, after
these words, it's our greatest condemnation. Now let's look
at this model prayer. First he says, Our Father which
art in heaven. I ought to pray first because
I'm his child. I'm a child of God. I'm a child of God. By his sovereign
election, By His sovereign adoption, by the merits and sacrifice of
His Son, by the call of His Divine Spirit, I'm His child. I should talk to my Father about
everything. You see what I'm saying? I'm
a child of God. That should motivate me to pray.
Turn to Matthew 7. Let me show you something here.
I'm a child of God. You're a child of God. The youngest
believer in this building tonight is a child of God, a child of
the King. Look at Matthew chapter 7, beginning
with verse 7. Our Lord says, Ask and it shall
be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened to you. Everyone that asketh, receive
it. He that seeketh, find it. To him that knocketh, it shall
be opened. What man is there of you whom if his son ask bread,
will he give him a stone? If your boy, you... Some of you
have more than one boy, but if that boy asks you for bread,
will you give him a stone? What man is there if you ask
a fish, you'll give him a serpent? Now, verse 11, if ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
shall your Father, which is in heaven, your Father, which is
in heaven, give good things to his children? That's what it
says. And I say that's the first reason to pray, because I'm His
child, and He's my Father. Here's the second one. He says,
Hallowed be thy name. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Not only am I a child of God,
but I am a worshiper of God. I am a worshiper of God. Turn
to John 4. If I can do nothing else, I can't
preach, I can't sing, I can't teach, I can't pray publicly,
I have very little to give, I can worship God. And the scripture
tells me here the Father is seeking somebody to worship Him. That's
what this verse... Watch this now, John 4, verse
23. John 4, 23. Our Lord Jesus said,
"...the hour cometh, and now is, when true worshipers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship Him." God is a spirit and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit that God seeketh man
to worship. I can do that. I can do that. One of the things so lacking
in our religious activities today, in our religious programs today,
one of the things lacking is serious, solemn, sincere worship. I can worship God. The Lord is
in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent.
Worship. Worship. Hallowed be thy name. I'm a worshiper. I'm a worshipper
of God. That gives me motivation and
encouragement to worship God. Hallowed be thy name. Praise
God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here
below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly
hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. I'm a worshipper. And then thirdly, thy kingdom
come. I'm a subject of the King. I'm
a subject of the King. Paul talks about us coming boldly
before the what? Throne. Now it's grace and it's
mercy, but it's a throne that dispenses that grace and mercy.
He's a King. He is a King. Turn to Acts, if
you will, chapter 17. Acts 17. He is a King. Our Lord is a King. In Acts 17,
listen to this, verse 24 and 25. God, this is Paul talking
to those philosophers and educators and so-called wise men of Athens,
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands, neither is worship with men's hands, as though he
needed anything, seeth he giveth to all life and breath and all
things. He's the King. And I'm a subject
of the King. I'm a subject of the King. And
His subjects come frequently to His throne through the Mediator,
Jesus Christ. Turn to Psalm 95. Let me show
you a scripture here. We're subjects of the King. The
King is worthy of worship. He's worthy of praise. He's worthy
of adoration. He's the King of kings and Lord
of lords. In Psalm 95, verse 1 through
6, listen. O come, let us sing unto the
Lord. Let's make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation. Let's come before His presence
with thanksgiving. Let's make a joyful noise unto
Him with songs. For the Lord is a great God and
a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places
of the earth, the strength of the hills is His also, the sea
is His, He made it, His hands formed the dry land. O come,
let's worship, let's bow down, let's kneel before the Lord our
Maker. Oh, Barney, you say down, center
down, bow to the royal claims of the king. Bow to the royal
claims of the king. I'm a subject. I'm a subject
of the king. And he's worthy of praise. You
know, if a good king who rides down the street will hear the
cheers of his subjects, they will. They'll hear the cheers
of a bad king. The subject remains silent. In
fact, when he goes by, they turn and go on about their hoeing
or their raking. But a good king, everybody wants to see him, everybody
cheers, everybody lifts their hands, everybody bows, and everybody
ascribes glory to him. He's a good king. And I'm his
subject. All right, what's this? Fourthly,
he says here in verse 10, Thy will be done in earth as it is
in heaven. I am a servant. He is my master. He is my master. That ought to
motivate me to find out what He would have me do. To pray,
to seek His will. Over here in the book of Romans
it says that we know not the things for which we should pray
except the Holy Spirit should teach us. Well, we need to commune
with the Holy Spirit and find out what His will is. Turn to
Exodus 21. Here's one of the favorite scriptures of Brother
Rothbard, and he used to use it frequently years ago, and
that is the scripture on the bond slave. One of Paul's favorite
terms for himself was this, a bond slave. I'm a bond slave of Jesus
Christ. I'm a bond slave of Jesus Christ. In Exodus 21, verse 2, if you
buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve. In the seventh,
he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he
shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a
wife, and she has borne him sons and daughters, the wife and her
children shall be here, and her masters, and he shall go out
by himself. But if that servant, now here's a man that's served
all these six years, he's served as a slave. And his seventh year
he's to go free. But if he shall plainly say,
I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out
free. Then let his master," notice
who he names first, my master. I love my master, my wife and
my children. "...I will not go free. His master
will bring him to the judges. He will also bring him to the
door, or unto the doorpost. His master shall bore his ear
through with an awl, and he will serve him." What is he now? He's
no longer a slave that's kept by force. He's a bond slave. He's a willing slave. A willing,
loving serpent. And that's... He's free to go.
But he doesn't want to go. The only freedom he wants to
enjoy is the freedom to serve his master. And that's what I
am. I'm a servant. I'm a servant
of the King. And that's what our Lord is saying
here. Your will be done. Your will
be done. Now look at verse 11. Here's
the fifth reason to pray. I said first, I'm his child,
I'm a worshipper, I'm a subject of the king, I'm a servant, he's
my master, and here's the fifth reason. I'm a beggar. Give me
this day a daily break. And I can't help, but when I
see that, I live back during the depression. And I know that
today, I get a Saturday, I got six calls here for food. Six
calls. Free in person, free on the phone.
People coming back for help. And I really don't know who to
help. It's really a burden. I wish you'd pray about that.
It's a burden to me. You know it's a burden. And Jay knows
it's a burden for you. I'd hate to turn somebody away
if it's hungry. That just tears me up to know
we have money and we have God's blessings and we have so much
and somebody comes by here and you turn away. But I remember
back during the Depression, it does not so much now as it was
then. Now, folks, I know they make
a full-time job out of begging. I know that. I know there's some
real con artists out there. And they make a habit of going
by different places and getting things and food and money and
all this stuff. But they wasn't doing that back
in 1929 and 30. They were hungry. We lived on a railroad track.
And many a time, I've been out in the yard playing, just a little
kid, four, five, six years old, out and down in Alabama in the
country, barefooted, standing out there in the yard, and some
fella would come walking through the yard, and I'm telling you,
ragged, dirty, and he'd come up to the porch, and wouldn't
come up on the steps. He'd reach out and knock on the
floor. And my mother would come to the door, and he'd say, If
you got something to eat, I'd be much obliged. I'm so hungry. I'm so hungry. And I remember
mother, they'd sit down on the steps, and my mother'd always
get a sandwich or some soup or beans or something. We had enough
to eat. And she'd bring it out there,
and I, my brother and I, and sister, we'd stand there and
watch that fella sit there, and his dirty hands and fingernails
and matted hair and old hat. He'd used to take his hat off
and put it, and he'd just gobble that food, you know, and eat
that bread. Well, now I'll tell you this. That's me before God's
throne. I'm a beggar. And I'm not ashamed,
I don't apologize for that term. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. I'm a beggar. I think about that
woman that came to the Lord and she said, Lord have mercy on
my daughter. And he didn't even answer. And
she kept crying, Lord have mercy. He said, I'm sent to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. She said, Lord have mercy. He
said, it's not right to give children's bread to dogs. And
she said, but dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's hand.
I'm a beggar. And I tell you, verse 11, I'm
hungry. And I'm not talking about for
food. I'm talking about for His presence and power and blessing.
And I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a beggar. A beggar. The next six reasons to pray.
Forgive us our debts. Now over in Luke 1, this is forgive
us of our sins. The sixth reason, I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner. I was born a sinner. I was born
a sinner. By nature, I'm a sinner. By practice,
I'm a sinner. I know I'm redeemed by the grace
of God. I saw us riding down the road the other day, and I
saw a bumper stick on the back of some religious nuts car, and
it said, if you still sin, you're not saved. Oh, I'm checking his
speed to see if he's going 58 miles an hour or two. Oh man, I wish I didn't sin.
I wish you didn't either. I wish some folks didn't think
they didn't. I need constant forgiveness. Turn to 1 John 1.
1 John 1. 1 John 1, but I know this, I know
this, 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And so I'm a sinner, I've got to pray, I've just got to pray.
And notice the seventh reason, and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. I'm a dependent. I'm a dependent. Poor old Peter, he sat there
and he said, Lord, he said, I'll die with you. I'll stand, I'll
never falter. Lord said, oh, you'll deny me
three times. I prayed for you, Peter. You're
just like a loose leaf before the wind. In the clutches of
Satan, you have no strength. And I tell you, I know that,
and you ought to know it. We're like a leaf before the
wind without his grace. without his grace. And I need
to pray constantly for strength. Lord, lead me not into temptation. Do not turn me over to myself.
Do not turn me over to Satan. I don't want to learn these lessons
at his hands. I just don't want to. I just
don't want to. I need strength and perseverance
and protection. If you're his child, you do too.
You may not be his child, and Satan may leave you alone. There's
no problem. You don't have any problems.
But those who know Christ, who are sons of the King, they are
the objects of Satan's wrath. He's not the accuser of hypocrites.
He's the accuser of the brethren. And the roaring lion is going
about seeking whom he may devour, and he's not touching those who
are not on God's side. He's after those who are carrying
the banner of the cross. That's who he's after. And I'm
a total, complete, dependent, like a baby in the arms of a
mother, the eighth raising I'll close. He said, for thine is
the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. I'm a glorifier. You know what
the chief end of man is? What is the chief end of man?
The old timers used to say, to glorify God. I want you to turn
to Jeremiah, I believe it's chapter 9. Jeremiah chapter 9. And those are the eight reasons
I give you for praying. I'm a child of God. I'm a worshiper. I'm a subject
of the King. I'm a servant of the Master.
A servant. I'm a beggar. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm dependent. And I want to glorify God. And
he says here in Jeremiah 9 verse 23, Thus saith the Lord, Let
not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. All those things are just such
fleeting, fleeting soap bubbles and air castles. But let him
that gloweth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me, I am the Lord,