Participants: Pr. Mike Tucker
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000920
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01:00 You know we're coming to you
01:01 from beautiful downtown Thompsonville. 01:03 I've noticed, that all of us who worked in big cities 01:06 used that term. 01:07 Danny really uses that term 01:09 beautiful downtown Thompsonville. 01:10 But those of us who have come from New York 01:12 or Jim from Dallas, who tend to say 01:14 beautiful downtown Thompsonville. 01:17 Though it kind of rings funny in our minds, 01:19 we say it anyway because we're happy to be here. 01:22 I was back in New York City just a couple of months ago 01:25 and I enjoyed my times there. 01:28 But when it was time to go, I was ready to go 01:31 and come back to beautiful downtown Thompsonville. 01:34 Praise the Lord. 01:36 We've adjusted quite well and quite nicely. 01:39 We want to begin our meeting with prayer 01:41 and talked to the Lord 01:42 and ask His blessing upon us this day. 01:44 Father God, we thank You so very much for Your love, 01:48 Your goodness, Your grace and Your mercy. 01:51 We thank You for the words that we have heard preached 01:53 with power and for the truth in those words. 01:57 And what the word does to bring life to our lives 02:02 and to turn our hearts and minds towards Jesus. 02:05 We ask now for Pastor Tucker, 02:08 Your blessing, Your anointing 02:11 so that he can speak the words of life with power. 02:15 And then we ask that 02:16 You would open up our hearts and minds 02:18 to be receptors of that word, 02:21 that we can be drawn closer to Jesus Christ. 02:24 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 02:28 You know, the directors here are very specific about, 02:31 about lighting. 02:33 There is talking light and there is singing light. 02:37 I am now standing in talking light. 02:40 Now since I'm getting ready to sing, 02:41 I've got to move from talking light 02:43 over to singing light. 02:47 This is singing light. Can you see the difference? 02:49 Sure you can. 02:55 Really is because the monitors are here 02:57 and I have to listen to myself when I sing. 03:00 The song I like to do is in Shady Green Pastures. 03:04 God Leads His Dear Children Along. 03:05 It is a favorite of mine. 03:08 The words means so very much to me 03:10 because, in my life and I'm sure in many of yours, 03:13 you've gone through ups and downs, 03:15 through mountains and valleys. 03:16 You've had good times and hard times. 03:18 But the very first text that I committed to memory 03:22 was Joshua 1:9. 03:24 "Have not I commanded thee? 03:25 Be strong and of a good courage, 03:27 be not afraid, 03:28 neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God 03:31 is with thee whithersoever thou goest." 03:35 It talks about good times, bad times 03:37 that we have the assurance that God is with us 03:40 through all of those times. 03:42 We are never ever alone. 03:44 Amen? And amen. 03:46 Listen to the words. 03:59 In shady, green pastures 04:03 So rich and so sweet 04:08 God leads 04:09 His dear children along 04:16 Where the water's cool flow 04:20 Bathes the weary one's feet 04:25 God leads 04:27 His dear children along 04:33 Some through the water 04:37 Some through the flood 04:41 Some through the fire 04:45 But all through the blood 04:50 Some through great sorrow 04:54 Still God gives a song 04:59 In the night season 05:03 And all the day long 05:11 Sometimes on the mountain 05:14 Where the sun shine so bright 05:19 God leads 05:21 His dear children along 05:27 Sometimes in the valley 05:30 Through the darkest of night 05:35 God leads 05:37 His dear children along 05:45 Some through the water 05:49 Some through the flood 05:53 Some through the fire 05:57 But all through His blood 06:02 Some through great sorrow 06:06 But God gives a song 06:10 In the night season 06:14 And all the day long 06:21 Some through the water 06:28 Some through the flood 06:32 Some through great sorrow 06:36 But all through the blood 06:43 Some through great sorrow 06:47 Still God gives a song 06:52 In the night season 06:56 And all 07:00 The day long 07:25 Now I'm back to talking light. 07:28 We heard from him on yesterday 07:30 and it has been my pleasure to sort of reacquaint myself 07:33 with our friend, Pastor Michael Tucker. 07:37 As I said, I had a chance to preach at his church 07:40 some years ago for an international weekend, 07:42 and he was gracious, has been kind 07:44 and turning his pulpit over to me. 07:46 He pastors the church of some 1,900 members. 07:50 And I remember when I got to Ephesus Church 07:53 and I had someone... 07:55 I was talking with one of the elders 07:57 and I said, boy, 07:59 I have got 2,000 members to teach and direct. 08:03 And he said, well, you may have 2,000 people 08:05 telling you what to do. 08:08 But he has done a very fine job. 08:10 He's been there 16 years. 08:13 So that bespeaks something, he's doing something right 08:15 and God is blessing his ministry. 08:17 He's a nice guy. 08:19 You know, you like to know people 08:21 who are steeped into word, who love the Lord, 08:25 but are humble nice guys. 08:27 And I was teasing with him yesterday, 08:29 but he is indeed a nice guy. 08:32 And someone that I've come to love and respect. 08:36 He and his wife Gayle are pastors there. 08:38 They have a pastoral staff. 08:39 He is the speaker/director for Faith for Today 08:42 which as was said yesterday is the longest running 08:45 Christian television ministry. 08:47 He follows in a long line 08:49 of great leaders of that ministry. 08:51 So without further ado, please hear now 08:54 our pastor, our friend, Pastor Michael Tucker. 09:02 Thank you, C.A. 09:04 He is a fun man to tease with. I wanted you to know. 09:07 He's a lot of fun to, to hangout with. 09:10 Good guy. 09:11 Now, C.A., if I start to move around 09:14 and I move over here, do I have to sing 09:18 or can I continue to preach here? 09:19 Is that all right? Okay. All right. 09:22 I think they would like it better 09:24 if I kept with preaching. 09:27 I asked you to pray for Faith for Today. 09:30 This summer we're going to shoot another 26 episodes 09:33 of Lifestyle Magazine and that is a program 09:35 we'd use to reach secular men and women. 09:38 And we have changed it up a little bit. 09:40 We shot some last year. 09:42 We're gonna shoot some more this year. 09:44 And pray that we will get that right. 09:47 That we will create programs 09:48 that will truly reach the secular mind 09:50 and bring them to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. 09:53 That is the mission of Faith for Today 09:55 is to reach secular people. 09:56 And that's why our program looks a little different 09:58 than some of the others because we are appealing 10:01 to a secular mind that may not respond to me 10:03 standing up here and preaching. 10:05 But a talk show is less threatening to them 10:08 and they were able to introduce spiritual themes 10:10 through that show. 10:12 So be praying for us if you would please, 10:13 that we'll do that right 10:15 and that we'll be able to reach men and women 10:16 with the gospel of Jesus Christ, 10:18 that's what we want. 10:19 Open your Bible if you would please to Matthew 22 again. 10:22 We've been studying something we've called 10:24 the Jesus Creed. 10:26 What does it mean to live Christianly 10:29 in the world today? 10:30 What does it mean to live 10:32 as a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ? 10:34 What does that look like? What does that feel like? 10:37 What does that mean in today's context? 10:41 And we have found that Jesus has a creed or a mantra 10:45 if you will for living. 10:47 He was asked which was the greatest commandment. 10:49 Which was basically asking, how do you grow spiritually? 10:52 As far as the Jewish mind was concerned 10:54 and Jesus answered by giving us 10:57 what we find here in Matthew 22:37. 11:01 Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 11:05 with all your soul, with all your mind.' 11:08 This is the first and greatest commandment. 11:11 And the second is like it, 11:12 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 11:14 All the Law and the Prophets 11:16 hang on these two commandments." 11:19 We call this the Jesus Creed. The Jesus creed is this. 11:22 We love God by following Jesus and loving others. 11:27 And that is the basis of Christianity. Is it not? 11:31 It boils down to this. 11:33 You want to live like Jesus Christ. 11:34 You want to be like Jesus Christ. 11:37 You understand the Jesus creed. 11:38 We're gonna love God and we're gonna do that 11:40 by following Jesus and by loving other people. 11:45 Now I'd like to focus today on the last half of that first 11:49 and then we'll get back to the first half of this. 11:51 We're gonna talk about right now loving people. 11:53 We talked about that quite a bit yesterday. 11:55 I'd like to add one more thing to this. 11:57 Yesterday, we talked about how it's important to love 11:59 not just the people around you who you like. 12:02 Not just the people you go to church with. 12:04 Although, sometimes that's a challenge too, isn't it? 12:07 I heard a big amen over some place. 12:11 Sometimes that's a challenge as well, isn't it? 12:13 But also to love the bum on skid road, 12:17 to love the drug dealer, 12:18 to love those people the way Jesus loves them. 12:21 That's a challenge. 12:22 But I'm telling you right now that 12:23 sometimes there's even bigger challenge 12:26 and that is to love the new you in Christ Jesus. 12:33 Very often we think of Christianity 12:35 as hating ourselves and loving others. 12:39 That's not really a good translation of this. 12:42 The truth is that we're to love ourselves 12:45 as Christ loves us. 12:46 We've to see ourselves as Christ sees us. 12:49 And He says that, when you come to Him, 12:51 He says you are then a new creation. 12:54 Did you know that? 12:55 You are a brand new creation, 12:58 a brand new person in Jesus Christ. 13:00 The old you has been washed away, it is gone. 13:03 Now, you are a new creature, 13:05 one who more closely resembles Jesus Christ Himself, 13:10 that's the new you. 13:13 Someone who more closely resembles 13:15 Jesus Christ Himself. 13:17 And that means, you are to love that new creation. 13:20 You are to believe in that new creation. 13:25 Believe that God can and will use that person. 13:32 Now you think about that for a moment. 13:34 God can and will use you. 13:37 He has said that He has given you authority. 13:40 You have authority in the name of Jesus Christ. 13:43 One of the places you have authority is over spirits. 13:47 You remember the story of Jesus 13:49 being on the Mount of Transfiguration 13:50 with Peter, James, and John. 13:52 And the other nine disciples were down 13:54 at the foot of the mountain. 13:55 And when they came down, 13:57 Jesus noticed that the other nine 13:59 have been trying to cast a demon out of a boy, 14:01 but they have been unsuccessful in doing so. 14:04 And he chided them for their lack of faith. 14:07 Some commentators look at that and they say, you know, 14:09 it wasn't their lack of faith in God 14:12 that prevented them from doing this. 14:15 It was their lack of faith in themselves 14:17 being an instrument that God would and could use. 14:22 Because remember they had already been 14:23 out on the speaking tour, 14:25 they had already done some miracles 14:26 but this seemed to be a real bad case. 14:29 And they just did not believe that God would use them. 14:34 And so Jesus said, oh, you have a little faith. 14:39 I think that he was saying, 14:41 you need to believe in the new you. 14:43 Believe that God will 14:45 and can work through you, even you. 14:51 From time to time, people come to me 14:53 and they tell me about demonic harassment 14:56 in their lives or in their home. 14:58 One family came to me and they said that 15:00 they were renting a house that had been owned previously 15:04 by drug dealers who are also Satan worshipers. 15:08 And when they had left the house, 15:10 they had left in a hurry and they left a female dog 15:12 and her puppies locked up in a bathroom 15:14 and the dog and the puppies died there. 15:18 And now, as they were living in this house every now and then, 15:22 they would hear scratching and growling 15:24 on the bathroom door. 15:26 And of course they would go there and no one was there. 15:28 They would feel a cold presence rushing to the room 15:31 and then the cat would leave the room, would run away. 15:35 The girl who was a teenager in academy, in high school 15:39 would be asleep and she would awaken 15:41 with a feeling of a cold icy hand on her throat. 15:45 Sits straight up and no one was there. 15:47 And they came to me and said, 15:49 would you come and help us with this? 15:50 I said I'll be happy to. You can do it yourself. 15:53 No, pastor, we need your help. 15:55 I said fine. 15:56 So I took one of my elders 15:57 and we prayed in every room of the house, 15:59 finding the demons, casting them out 16:01 and claiming that his territory 16:03 for these sons and daughters of Jesus Christ, 16:06 sons and daughters of God, 16:07 brothers of Jesus Christ, sisters. 16:09 These people belong to Jesus, 16:11 that means this territory belongs to them. 16:13 My elder and I did that in every room of the house. 16:15 We did it outside the house. 16:17 It's been years ago, they've never had 16:18 any other problems. 16:19 It's not because I have any great power over demons, 16:23 Jesus Christ has the authority over all demons. 16:27 He has vested that authority 16:28 graciously in His sons and daughters, His followers, 16:32 that is you and that is me 16:33 because we believe in the priesthood of all believers. 16:36 That means you have the same authority to do that 16:38 as I do. 16:40 You have to believe in the new you. 16:42 So another one of my members heard me preach that sermon 16:45 and tell that particular experience 16:47 and explain it that way, 16:48 that you have authority to do this. 16:50 She called me up. 16:51 She said, I teach, 16:53 I've just been assigned to a public school 16:54 and I'm a teacher there. 16:56 And at this public school it is known that 16:58 the school itself is haunted. 17:00 The elementary children 17:01 will not go to the bathroom by themselves 17:03 because of the noises and the experiences 17:05 that they have in the bathroom. 17:06 And so they are frightened at the school, 17:08 we will hear noises, we hear rappings, 17:10 we hear all sorts of noise 17:12 and children laughing where there are no children. 17:15 Everyone knows this place is haunted. 17:17 What can I do? 17:19 I said, well, I talked to her about 17:21 going through the rooms of that building 17:23 and claiming it as territory for Jesus Christ. 17:26 She said, "Now, are you sure that I can do this 17:28 and I don't have to have you?" 17:29 I said, sister, believe me, there is nothing in me 17:32 that is of value that can make this happen. 17:34 This is Jesus Christ and He can work through you, 17:37 just assuredly as He can through me. 17:39 She said, "Would you write out a sample prayer for me?" 17:41 So I did that and I send her an email with it. 17:44 She went through every room of that school 17:48 and prayed that prayer and cast out the demons. 17:52 So effective was that, that the children now 17:54 go to the bathroom by themselves. 17:57 They hear no more noises 17:59 because she believed in the new her. 18:02 By the way something else interesting happened. 18:04 Some of the other teachers came to her and said, 18:06 we understand... 18:08 She had not told anyone that she had done this. 18:10 We understand you cast out the demons in this place. 18:13 How did they know that? Number one. 18:15 They said and the people you set out 18:18 were actually children. 18:19 These were spirits of children and they don't understand 18:21 why you were so mean to them. 18:24 Isn't that crazy? 18:25 First of all, how did they know? 18:27 Well, you know I think we got a guess here 18:31 and these were teachers. 18:33 That's a little frightening. 18:35 But she held her ground. 18:37 You know, she had claimed that territory for Jesus Christ. 18:42 And she has the authority 18:44 because she is a new creature in Jesus Christ. 18:47 You ought to believe in the new you, 18:51 that new person, 18:52 that new creation in Jesus Christ 18:55 because He will and can and shall work through you. 19:02 When we follow the Jesus creed by following Jesus 19:05 and loving others, 19:07 one of the others we love is us. 19:11 We love ourselves as the new us, 19:13 the new creation that is now following Jesus Christ. 19:18 Now that first part of this, we love God by following Jesus. 19:22 This is not a casual following. 19:23 He's over here, I'm close enough. 19:26 You know I've see him going that way, 19:27 I'll follow in a little bit, I'm busy right now. 19:29 And then I kind of meandered that way. 19:31 No, this is a devoted following of Jesus Christ. 19:34 It is the number one priority in your life. 19:36 I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. 19:40 It even means that I will follow Jesus Christ, 19:44 even if following Him 19:46 disagrees with my previous interpretation of the law. 19:49 Does that make sense to you? 19:51 I grew up at times believing the law sets certain things 19:54 and yet as I examined the life of Christ, 19:55 sometimes He leads me in ways that are little bit different 19:57 than what I grew up believing. 20:00 And I have to reexamine my understanding of the law. 20:04 We find an example of this in Matthew Chapter 8. 20:10 Jesus had just issued a call for disciples. 20:12 He called them to follow Him and to follow Him all the way. 20:16 Follow Me He said. 20:18 And one disciple it says came to Him. 20:21 That means one who wanted to be a disciple 20:23 or one who was following Him from a distance, 20:25 certainly not one of the twelve. 20:27 And said I would like to follow You, 20:28 but he had a condition. 20:30 Look at this, Matthew 8:21. 20:32 "Another disciple said to him, 20:34 "Lord, first let me go and bury my father. 20:38 But Jesus told him, "Follow me, 20:40 and let the dead bury their own dead." 20:42 Now at first that seems rather cold, doesn't it? 20:45 It seems cold until you understand 20:47 the customs of the day. 20:49 And let me explain this to you. 20:51 When a person died on those days, 20:52 they were usually buried the same day that they died 20:56 because it's a dry arid land, 20:58 the body would disintegrate quickly 21:00 and it would be a health hazard. 21:01 So usually the same day that the person died, 21:04 they would anoint the body with oils and spices 21:06 and put it in a tomb 21:08 and that would be the first day. 21:10 Then the family would sit and they would grieve 21:14 and some thing called Shiva for seven days. 21:16 It was rare that they would ever come out of the house 21:18 during those seven days. 21:20 Relatives would bring them food if need be, 21:22 so that they could stay in the house 21:24 and grieve for seven days. 21:25 Then the morning would continue, 21:27 although they would reenter into, 21:29 to public life, 21:30 they would continue for up to one year. 21:32 At the end of the year, 21:34 the bones were then taken out of the tomb 21:36 where they have been laid the first place 21:38 and reburied. 21:40 So there were two burials. 21:42 This man spoke to Jesus obviously 21:45 not before his father was buried the first time 21:48 because that happened the same day. 21:50 It was extremely unlikely 21:52 that he talked to him during Shiva 21:54 because they didn't come out of the house 21:56 during that time. 21:58 What he was basically saying is, 22:01 at the one year anniversary of my father's death 22:03 we're going to rebury him. 22:04 Could you wait until then? 22:06 He may be asking Jesus to wait for him, 22:09 for up to a year before he followed him. 22:13 Jesus said, it's now or never. 22:16 It's all or nothing. 22:18 Now this man may have thought, hey, listen, 22:19 I'm following the law. 22:21 The law tells me to respect my parents. 22:23 The law tells me to care for them even in death. 22:26 And Jesus said, you have done enough. 22:28 You want to follow Me, follow Me. 22:31 Now that's what Jesus was speaking of 22:33 and that's why that passage tells us that at times 22:36 we have to reexamine our previous understanding 22:39 of what the law required in order to follow Jesus. 22:42 Does that make sense to you now? 22:45 If indeed you're faced with the situation 22:47 of either following Jesus 22:49 or following your previous understanding of the law, 22:52 always follow Jesus and understand this. 22:55 Jesus will never lead you outside 22:57 the precepts of the law, will He? 22:59 I mean, He's not gonna do that. 23:02 He's not gonna do that. 23:03 The laws are expression of his character. 23:06 So you are safe in following Jesus. 23:08 It may mean that you need to reexamine 23:10 what you thought the law taught. 23:13 You may need to reexamine that. 23:16 And this may be an experience of growth for you 23:18 for the rest of your life. 23:20 We have to follow Jesus 23:22 and when it comes down to a choice between 23:24 following Jesus or following our understanding of the law, 23:27 we always chose to follow Jesus. 23:31 Always chose to follow Jesus. 23:33 This, in order for that to happen 23:36 implies a personal relationship between you and Jesus Christ. 23:41 You have to know who Jesus Christ is 23:44 in order to follow Him. 23:47 You have to have a give and take relationship. 23:52 Now there are a lot of tools for doing that. 23:54 You know meditation is one, biblical meditation 23:57 by the way predates eastern meditation by a long shot. 24:00 And basically it should be a part of our Christian lives. 24:03 And we don't meditate by making our minds blank. 24:06 We meditate by filling it with scripture. 24:09 It's a biblical meditation and it predates the other. 24:12 And basically who was it? 24:14 Was asked, why he meditated? 24:18 And his response was because I'm a Christian, 24:21 because I'm a Christian. 24:23 I think it was Bonhoeffer who did that. 24:26 I'm a Christian. 24:27 And basically he thought that meditation 24:29 and Christianity went hand in hand. 24:31 This is a means of knowing Jesus Christ better. 24:35 It's a means of knowing Him better. 24:37 By the way if you like to know 24:38 a little something about meditation, 24:40 I have got a book entitled "Every Good Thing" 24:41 and it talks about spiritual disciplines, 24:44 tools for knowing Jesus better and that's one of the things 24:47 that we talk about in that book, 24:49 showing biblical examples of this. 24:51 So meditation is one of those tools. 24:52 Another tool would be Bible study. 24:54 Another tool is prayer. 24:56 Now I don't know about you but I'm one who has always 24:59 struggled with prayer. 25:00 I'm a doer you know. 25:03 And prayer always growing up seemed like a waste of time 25:06 because you should not be out doing the Lord's work 25:08 until someone pointed out to me that the work of the Lord 25:14 and the work of the Christian begins with prayer, 25:17 that is your work. 25:19 The work of the Christian is prayer. 25:21 God dares not blessed many of you endeavors for Him. 25:25 If you have not first bathed that endeavor in prayer 25:27 because otherwise you might think that 25:29 you did it yourself. 25:32 And you maybe doing the right thing, 25:34 but if you've not bathed it with prayer, 25:36 He dares not bless you 25:38 because you'll get to thinking I'm pretty good, 25:40 look at me. 25:41 Look at what I did for Jesus. 25:43 Now he did nothing for Jesus. 25:45 Jesus is the one who makes things happen 25:47 and you must bathe it with prayer. 25:49 So prayer has always been a struggle for me 25:51 and it was for the disciples as well. 25:52 The disciples watched Jesus praying. 25:55 He would get up early in the morning 25:56 and go out and He prayed for hours. 25:58 And they noticed that there seemed to be 26:00 a relationship between his prayer life 26:03 and the power that he had. 26:05 He had a relationship with the Father through prayer 26:09 and they wanted that. 26:10 And so they asked Him to teach them how to pray 26:12 and He gave them what we call now the Lord's prayer. 26:16 But he borrowed a portion of that prayer 26:18 from a liturgical prayer of the day, 26:21 that is the Kaddish. 26:24 The Kaddish is a prayer that goes like this. 26:27 This is magnified and sanctified 26:29 be His great name in the world, 26:31 the world He created according to His will. 26:34 May He establish His kingdom during your life 26:37 and during your days and during the life 26:39 of all the house of Israel speedily 26:41 and in the near future. 26:43 And say amen. 26:45 Now this is a prayer of praise to God. 26:48 It really focuses everything on God. 26:51 And it looks that everything from his point of view, 26:53 the only request is that His kingdom be established and 26:56 that it will be established quickly. 26:59 There is no personal request. 27:00 Everything is from God's point of view. 27:02 There are times when that is appropriate prayer. 27:05 There are times when that's the way to pray. 27:07 It's times when that's the way to worship 27:09 that everything is from God's point of view, 27:11 but that's not a personal relationship. 27:13 A personal relationship is give and take. 27:17 Now I have a lot of acquaintances. 27:20 Some of my acquaintances whenever they are with me, 27:22 it's all about them. 27:25 Sometimes as a pastor they are telling me their problems 27:28 and I'm praying with them and giving them counsel and all, 27:31 that's not a friendship. 27:33 I'm not their friend, I'm their counselor, I'm their pastor. 27:36 That makes sense to you? 27:38 I've got other friends who it's a give and take. 27:42 Some of it's about them, some of it's about me, 27:44 we're back and forth, that's a friendship 27:46 and that's a relationship. 27:47 The other, I'm a counselor. 27:50 Here I'm a friend. 27:53 Therefore, if we are to develop a relationship with God, 27:56 our prayers have to have a give and take. 27:59 Jesus understood that and that's why He gave us 28:02 the Lord's prayer. 28:03 I don't know about you but when I was growing up 28:05 and they were talking to me about prayer, 28:07 they said you got too many requests in your prayer. 28:10 Your prayer needs to be mainly praise. 28:13 But then I looked at all the biblical examples of prayer, 28:16 especially those that came from Jesus 28:18 and they seemed to be nothing 28:19 more than a long line of requests. 28:22 And if that's my pattern for prayer, 28:24 then it's all right to have request in your prayer. 28:27 And that's what we find with the Lord's prayer. 28:29 It is a series of request. 28:31 Now that request begins from God's perspective 28:33 but then it turns also to an individual perspective, 28:36 a personal perspective. 28:38 Let's take a look at this prayer in Matthew 6:9. 28:44 Because if we are to follow Jesus, 28:46 we must understand Jesus, 28:47 we must have a personal relationship with Jesus 28:49 in order to follow Him, in order to know His mind, 28:53 in order to know His heart, to know His will, right? 28:56 All right. Look at this prayer. 28:59 "This, then, is how you should pray. 29:02 "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 29:06 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth 29:09 as it is in heaven." 29:10 So far this is just 29:12 a reminiscent of the Kaddish, right? 29:14 Now it turns. 29:16 "Give us today our daily bread. 29:19 Forgive us our debts, 29:20 as we also have forgiven our debtors. 29:23 And lead us not into temptation, 29:26 but deliver us from the evil one." 29:27 Now in mine translation the last part of the prayer, 29:30 for thine is the kingdom of power, 29:31 the glory forever is not listed because that last, 29:34 the closing to the prayer is not found 29:36 in the oldest manuscripts. 29:38 It is possible and probably likely that, that phrase, 29:42 that ending was added by a scribe 29:44 at some point along the line 29:45 who just felt like it needed to be rounded out somehow. 29:48 And fortunately it does not do violence to the prayer, 29:52 so it's all right to have it in there. 29:53 It's not a big deal. 29:55 But it does not in the oldest translations, 29:57 the oldest manuscripts, pardon me, 29:59 and so some of the newer translations 30:01 have not included it in the Bible 30:03 that you are reading. 30:05 So that is the prayer that he has given to us. 30:07 Now notice that there is the give and the take. 30:09 We start off from God's perspective, 30:11 but then we go to the personal perspective. 30:13 Lord, I'd like to eat today. 30:16 Lord, I got these bills that are coming due 30:18 and I don't know what I'm gonna do. 30:20 Lord, would You help me manage my finances better? 30:23 Lord, I want a retirement income? 30:26 I don't know how? 30:27 You know what the price of gas these days? 30:29 I'm gonna wear out my tennis shoes. 30:33 Help me out, Lord. 30:34 That's one of the request here, isn't it? 30:36 Give us today our daily bread. 30:38 Forgive me my sins, Lord. 30:40 And, Father, there are people who have sinned against me, 30:42 I need to forgive. 30:44 In fact, I need to led go the grudges 30:46 I hold against them. 30:47 I've got to get over this, Lord, 30:49 and I can't do it by myself. 30:50 That's a personal request. 30:51 It's looking at my life 30:53 from my point of view, is it not? 30:55 And so this prayer that Jesus has given us 30:57 is an interaction, back and forth. 31:00 My perspective, God's perspective, 31:03 but notice how the prayer begins. 31:04 It says our Father, that's the word Abba. 31:09 Now, that is not something that the Jews of Jesus' day 31:12 were used to doing in their prayers. 31:15 A personal address of God as Father or Abba which may... 31:21 Some translator say that, that could be translated, 31:24 something as intimate as daddy. 31:27 That was not in their vocabulary. 31:29 That was not their experience. 31:31 Jesus is here saying 31:32 your relationship with the Father, 31:33 yes, is to be honored 31:35 and there's to be praised in awe and respect in reverence, 31:38 but there's another side to this relationship 31:41 and that is an intimate personal side. 31:44 He is your Father. 31:46 Jesus referred to God as His Father and the Pharisees 31:51 and the priest chided him for it. 31:55 It's too intimate. 31:56 In fact, they thought the name of God was so holy, 31:58 they wouldn't even say it. 31:59 Yahweh, they took the valves out 32:01 so that no one would know how to say it 32:03 and they were not allowed to refer to it 32:05 in spoken word. 32:07 And so the word Yahweh, we're not exactly sure 32:11 how that should be pronounced, that's a pretty good guess 32:14 because it was not pronounced for centuries, 32:16 so no one knows for sure. 32:18 That's how reverence they, they... 32:20 How high esteemed they held the name of God here, 32:23 but that had an opposite effect of distancing them from God 32:27 and taking away any possibility of relationship. 32:30 How do you have a relationship with a God 32:32 that is so holy, you can't even say His name? 32:35 So Jesus said, yes, He is holy 32:37 and He is sacred and He is other 32:39 and you need to be aware of that, 32:41 but He is also personal. 32:44 And He cares for you. 32:46 And He longs for intimacy with you. 32:50 Therefore, you can refer to Him as Father 32:55 because this implies an intimate personal relationship. 32:59 When I began to realize that, 33:01 it really changed my prayer life. 33:04 When I had the freedom not just to make everything 33:07 from God's perspective, 33:09 but to also include my perspective 33:11 and recognize that God is interested 33:13 in every detail of my life, 33:15 it changed my prayer life significantly. 33:19 Now I can talk to Him any day about anything, 33:23 about anything. 33:25 I can cry before Him. I can laugh before Him. 33:27 I can tell Him how angry I am. 33:30 You read the Psalms? The psalmist understood this. 33:32 The psalms are not just songs, they are prayers 33:35 and they are models of prayer. 33:37 And in fact, if you don't know how to pray, 33:38 one way to learn is to pray the Psalms. 33:41 Use them as your pattern. 33:43 Change the personal pronouns, make it fit you. 33:45 And you will learn from the Psalms 33:47 how to prayer because 33:48 every human emotion is listed in the Psalms. 33:51 Some of the ancients used to pray five psalms a day. 33:54 That really gets tedious when you're at Psalm 119, 33:57 let me tell you. 34:00 But I have taken one psalm a day 34:03 and I've done that for years, 34:04 where I've to pray one psalm a day 34:06 as a part of my regular prayer life. 34:08 I will also take the Lord's prayer 34:09 and use it as a pattern for prayer. 34:11 By the way, when it says in verse 9, 34:13 this then, is how you should pray. 34:16 A better translation of that might be 34:18 or when you pray repeat. 34:21 He's actually telling us that this is a prayer 34:23 that bears repetition. 34:26 That you can use this over and over again. 34:28 When you don't know what else to say 34:30 or how else to pray, you pray this prayer. 34:33 The other thing that I've used with these prayers, 34:35 I've used it as a pattern for my prayer life. 34:38 One of the best times for me to pray is 34:40 when I'm taking a morning walk 34:42 and I will use the Lord's prayer 34:45 on those morning walks. 34:47 And I'll start off with just the first word, Our. 34:50 And as I think about Our, I think about my fellowship 34:54 with the body of Christ, 34:56 because He is all of our Father, is He not? 34:59 We claim Him together. 35:01 But I also think about my kinship to the world, 35:04 to a world of lost people who are also His children 35:07 and my responsibility to my family members. 35:11 Whoever they are, wherever they maybe, 35:13 whatever country they maybe in, we're all brothers and sisters 35:17 and we all have one Father, one Father. 35:21 So that's, that's one of the things I do with that word. 35:24 I may just stop at that word and say, 35:25 Lord, give me a heart for others. 35:27 Help me to love them the lost, they're difficult to love. 35:31 And then that word Father, Abba, 35:34 that's a word that's difficult for some people to pray. 35:37 If you grew up with an angry or absentee 35:40 or abusive Father, that word may be loaded for you 35:45 and it may be negatively charged. 35:47 One of the things I've had people do is 35:49 to imagine the Father of your dreams, 35:51 the Father you've always wished you had. 35:55 The Father... 35:56 And when you do this, use a sanctified imagination. 36:00 I mean, make Him wonderful. 36:02 Make Him wonderful. 36:04 And when you've got that picture in your mind 36:05 of what that daddy is that you've always wanted 36:07 but never had, take that picture 36:09 and multiply it by a billion 36:11 and you scratch the surface of how good God is. 36:17 That's the Father you're praying too, 36:18 our Father which art in heaven. 36:22 That word heaven... 36:24 There are three things that are usually 36:25 referred to as heaven. 36:27 The dwelling place of God, the starry heavens 36:30 and the firmament, the air we breathe. 36:32 The most frequent use of the word heaven 36:36 was for the air they breathed. 36:38 So it may be that this prayer saying our Father 36:41 who is as close to us as the air we breathe. 36:46 Who is as ever present to me as is the atmosphere 36:48 in which I live. 36:51 Now that's a different picture for this. 36:52 Because our Father who art in heaven, 36:56 a million, billion miles away, trillion miles away, 36:59 that's different than the Father 37:01 who is just as close to me as the air 37:02 that rest upon my skin. 37:05 Who is intimately involved in every detail of my life. 37:09 And so I would take time 37:10 to acknowledge His presence with me 37:13 and to praise Him for that presence and to thank Him 37:15 and to thank Him for His involvement in my life, 37:17 for His caring for every detail of my life. 37:20 One lady went to her pastor and said, pastor, 37:22 shall we take all the things to God in prayer 37:25 or the small things or just the big things? 37:28 And he said, ma'am, what thing do you have 37:30 that God would consider to be big? 37:37 It's all small to Him, isn't it? 37:40 Someone wrote a book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" 37:42 and its subtitled is "It's All Small Stuff." 37:45 In God's eyes, 37:46 you've never known a big problem. 37:49 It's all small stuff to Him, 37:50 so take all of it to Him in prayer. 37:53 Don't try to categorize it. 37:55 Take it all to Him in prayer because your Father, 37:58 your Daddy, your Abba, 38:00 the one who is as close to you as the air you breathe 38:03 is concerned with every detail of your life. 38:06 That's a relationship. 38:08 That's a relationship of intimacy. 38:10 It's a personal relationship of caring between you 38:13 and a God who is intimately and infinitely 38:18 involved in your life, 38:21 that will change your prayer life. 38:24 And don't be afraid to use this prayer 38:25 over and over and over again 38:30 because He is involved with you and He wants to hear from you. 38:36 And the truth is, if you are like me, 38:38 you don't really know how to pray. 38:40 You don't know how... 38:42 You know I've been working at this 38:43 for I don't know how long. 38:44 And I still got to tell you, I don't know how to pray. 38:50 But my Father does and He's given me a pattern. 38:54 And so I use the pattern that Jesus gave me 38:57 and I let it guide my thoughts and guide my prayer life 39:01 and it keeps me on track. 39:03 And sometimes when I pray my mind wanders. 39:05 Am I the only one who has that happen? 39:08 Thank you because you just blessed me. 39:12 I thought I was the only one who was ADD 39:14 or whatever it be is, you know. 39:16 That I would start praying 39:18 and then my mind is on something else, 39:20 you know, the details of the day. 39:21 Oh, why not bring it back? 39:24 He understands that. 39:25 But you know, using a pattern for prayer, 39:28 to guide our prayers, helps keep my mind focused. 39:32 Sometimes I'll even type my prayers. 39:34 I sit at the computer 39:36 and I'll just write God a letter. 39:38 Just write Him a letter and I'll save that. 39:40 Sometimes I'll save a year's worth of them 39:42 and then I delete them all and start over again. 39:44 It just helps me keep focus. 39:46 Whatever keeps you focus 39:48 on this relationship of intimacy between you 39:51 and the God who loves you is, is usable. 39:55 And God understood that, that's why He gave you 39:57 a 150 prayers in the Psalms, 39:59 that's why He gave you the prayer of Jesus and John, 40:01 that's why He gave you the prayer of Jesus 40:03 here in Matthew, the Lord's prayer. 40:05 All the prayers of the Bible 40:06 are fit for you to use this way. 40:09 Look at them, examine them 40:11 and use them as a pattern for your relationship 40:14 with this God who cares for you. 40:15 You see this is the Jesus creed. 40:20 As a Christian we love God 40:23 and, we love God by following Jesus 40:27 and loving others. 40:29 And you know the longer I live, the more I realize 40:34 that I've got to make Christianity 40:35 just real simple or I'll never get it. 40:39 You know, when I was a young man, young pastor, 40:43 I used to pray that someone would ask me 40:45 about the 2,300 days. 40:48 Because I can do that. 40:51 Man, I could explain that. 40:53 I used to pray that someone would ask me about the Sabbath 40:55 because I can do that, 40:56 that's an Adventist preacher specialty you know. 40:59 We can do that. 41:01 I used to pray that someone would ask me 41:03 about the state of the dead. 41:06 But I also pray that no one would ask me 41:08 how to have a relationship with Jesus Christ 41:10 because I did not have a clue. 41:13 Did not have a clue. 41:16 It was not until I met Jesus personally. 41:19 It was not until I devoted myself 41:22 to finding relationship with Him, 41:25 that now I invite that question. 41:28 I'm open to that question. 41:29 You bring it on because what I can share with you is 41:33 how I found relationship with Him 41:34 and how it has changed my life. 41:37 And whether be the use of the Lord's prayer 41:39 that Jesus has taught us? 41:40 Or whether it would be my ability 41:44 by believing in the new creation 41:46 that He has made me, 41:48 to exercise the authority that He has given to me, 41:51 to even cast out demons. 41:55 I'm happy to share that with you 41:57 because that's a part of this give and take, 41:59 this relationship that grows 42:02 out of living daily the Jesus creed. 42:05 I've got to keep it simple because otherwise 42:09 I'm going to be a wash in a sea of confusion. 42:13 And every piece of doctrine then, 42:15 every doctrine that I believe in 42:18 and by the way a Seventh-day Adventist 42:19 we got a list of 28 that we accept. 42:22 Used to be 27, now it's 28, so I'm up with 28. 42:28 But every one of those doctrines 42:29 must be seen in light of this 42:32 because this is the heart of God's law, 42:34 it is the heart of God's character, 42:37 it is the heart of who we are as His sons and daughters. 42:41 And when I begin to look at it that way, 42:42 it begins to make sense. 42:44 And if something seems too harsh to me, 42:46 it usually means that I don't understand it. 42:48 I remember as a young pastor, 42:50 I had to go visit with the family 42:53 because they have just lost a child to death 42:55 and I was brand new with this, I had no clue what I was doing. 42:59 Not that I have any more of a clue now, 43:00 but I surely didn't back then. 43:04 And so before I went to visit them, I found out that 43:06 they were asking questions about 43:07 why would God let this happen to our baby? 43:11 So I called up an older retired pastor, 43:14 one that I knew and I thought well, this guy can help me. 43:17 And I explained the situation to him 43:19 and I said, now I've got to go visit them, 43:20 so what I'm gonna say? 43:22 And there was silence on the other end of the phone. 43:25 And then finally he said, you know, Mike, 43:28 I don't know what you're gonna say. 43:30 But remember this, whatever you say, 43:33 God's got to look good. 43:36 And I thought, this man is senile. 43:41 This man is lost... No wonder he's retired. 43:43 He has lost it long ago. 43:45 What do you mean, God's got... What does that mean? 43:48 He said just remember God's got to look good. 43:51 That was the end of the conversation. 43:54 I did not understand what he meant. 43:57 I've been in ministry now for about 33 years. 44:01 I understand now. 44:02 I heard someone say that. And you're right, brother. 44:05 You know sometimes you have to live a little life 44:07 before you began to understand something, don't you? 44:10 Sometimes you have to have a little heartache 44:11 before you understand. 44:14 And what I understand now is this. 44:16 Regardless of the question, 44:18 regardless of the topic I'm studying, 44:21 when I look at that picture, 44:22 if God does not look good to me, 44:24 it means I don't understand it yet. 44:30 Because when I truly understand it, 44:32 God is going to be absolutely positively irresistible. 44:40 Jesus cried and said, I be lifted up, I will, what? 44:44 Draw all men to me. 44:46 That's because He is irresistible. 44:49 When you see Him in His beauty and in His love, 44:52 He is absolutely positively irresistible, 44:56 that's our Jesus. 44:58 That's the God we follow. 44:59 That's the Jesus of the Jesus creed. 45:03 He is irresistible. 45:06 I grew up with the very different God than that. 45:09 I grew up in this church 45:11 and I cannot blame the men and women who raised me. 45:14 First of all my parents or the people who taught 45:16 my Sabbath school classes or even my elementary teachers, 45:19 they were doing the very best they knew how to do, 45:21 God love them. 45:23 They didn't know any better either. 45:26 But when I began to see a different God, 45:28 a different picture of God, 45:29 when I saw Him as He truly is... 45:31 And even now I don't know that I can say 45:33 I fully see Him that way. 45:36 I have a clearer picture of who He is. 45:38 I think it's gonna be the eternity for me. 45:41 But when I began to see that, 45:43 I thought, this is a God I can love. 45:47 This is a God I've got to know. 45:50 This is a God I long to serve. 45:56 I love God by following Jesus and loving others. 46:02 Because the truth is, God is in love with you. 46:07 And I don't care how bad the past has been. 46:11 I don't care how many times you have fallen. 46:13 He is in love with you and He will not let you go. 46:20 No matter how bad the sin, He will not let you go. 46:23 I think about a named John Newton, 46:27 a former captain of a slave ship. 46:29 Now he had quite a... You read his story. 46:31 He had a tough childhood himself. 46:34 And one time was even held as a slave himself 46:37 by the wife of the captain of the ship 46:40 that he was serving on as a boy, 46:42 was chained in the yard like a dog. 46:48 He came out of that abusive situation 46:50 and finally went to see... 46:52 He eventually became the captain of his own ship, 46:54 but it was a slave ship. 46:56 Now in those days there were a lot of people 46:58 who were working for the abolition of slavery, 47:01 especially in England where Newton grew up 47:03 and where his ship came from. 47:06 And they worked hard and finally, 47:09 finally they got a law passed that said 47:10 it was against the law to transport slaves by sea. 47:15 So it didn't outlaw slavery, 47:17 but it said you can't transport them. 47:19 But what this meant was that basically 47:23 if you were the captain of a slave ship 47:25 and you saw a British man, a war coming your way, 47:28 you knew that you were about to be arrested 47:30 or fined or your vessel seized 47:32 and you would take all the slaves on board 47:34 and throw them overboard. 47:36 Because that way you would avoid the fine 47:39 and you would avoid losing your ship 47:41 and maybe even your license to be captain. 47:44 You would start off 47:45 with a certain number of slaves on board, 47:47 but the disease was so bad and the conditions were so bad 47:50 that by the time you got to the point 47:51 where you're gonna sell them, half of them were dead. 47:55 And you would have thrown bodies overboard 47:57 and it would have been a mess living in that ship. 48:00 That was John Newton. 48:02 That's what he did for a living. 48:06 He was converted then eventually. 48:09 Became a Christian and even became a Christian pastor. 48:13 But for years he struggled with the idea 48:16 that God could forgive a worm such as I? 48:21 How could God forgive me? 48:23 People who were working in the abolitionist movement 48:27 begged him to write a story. 48:29 To write the accounts of his captaining the slave ship. 48:34 To give the names, the dates, the voyages, the ships 48:38 and he said I cannot, I cannot, I'm haunted by 20,000 faces. 48:45 And he struggled with those people 48:47 who had died under his charge, 48:48 the thousands who had died under his charge. 48:51 And he wondered how could God ever love or wretch 48:54 such as I? 48:55 How could He forgive me and yet he preached God's grace, 48:58 but to receive it himself, loving himself... 49:01 Oh, man, 49:02 it was easy to say that God's grace is good for you, 49:05 but to look himself in the mirror and say, 49:06 it is good for me? 49:08 He couldn't do that. 49:10 He just couldn't do it. 49:11 And so he couldn't write that book. 49:14 Finally towards the end of his life, 49:16 he was losing his eye sight 49:19 and he finally came to the point 49:20 where he believed that God really was that good, 49:24 that God really could forgive him. 49:29 And so he began to write the book 49:32 and he wrote it and he included names and dates 49:36 and the names of ships and the numbers, 49:39 he put it all in a book form. 49:41 And he gave it to Wilberforce who was the man in parliament, 49:44 who was working for the abolition of slavery, 49:46 who worked tirelessly for that in the British parliament. 49:49 He gave it to him. And he said it's all here. 49:52 It's all here. 49:53 Everything that I can remember, 49:55 all the names, all the dates, all the slave ships, 49:57 all the people, all the numbers, 50:00 all the ports, all the voyages, it's all here, 50:02 everything that I can remember it's here, 50:05 it's here, take it and use it. 50:09 My memory maybe failing he said, 50:12 but I do remember two things. 50:16 I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. 50:24 Folks, it's true for you today. 50:28 You're a great sinner, but Jesus is a great Savior 50:34 and He has forgiven you. 50:36 He has redeemed you. 50:38 He's washed your sins away so thoroughly that 50:41 God cannot even remember them any longer. 50:43 Praise God. 50:44 He says, I will remember your sins no more. 50:47 He can't remember. 50:49 He has chosen to, 50:50 to wash them in the sea of forgetfulness. 50:53 In one place the scripture says, 50:55 He's buried your sins at the depths of the ocean. 50:57 We know there's one place for the ocean 50:58 it's seven miles deep, that seven miles of salt water 51:00 covering your sin 51:01 and God puts a sign says no fishing allowed. 51:05 He's removed them as far from you 51:07 as the east is from the west. 51:09 He didn't say the north from the south 51:10 for a very specific reason. 51:11 You go do north and eventually you hit the North Pole. 51:13 Which way do you go from the North Pole? 51:15 Only one way to go from there and that's south. 51:18 North meet south but you can travel due east 51:20 throughout all eternity and you will never meet west 51:22 and you will never meet your sin again. 51:25 That's how completely our God forgives you. 51:28 That's how completely and how thoroughly He loves you. 51:33 That's a God worthy of your love, 51:35 worthy of your admiration, worthy of your service, 51:38 worthy of your trust. 51:40 And He calls you into relationship with Himself. 51:44 He says I want you to be fully devoted followers 51:46 of Jesus Christ. 51:48 And here's what you do, I want you to love God. 51:51 By following Me and loving others. 51:56 It really is that simple. 51:59 Would you pray with me? 52:01 Lord Jesus, today we claim You as the Lord of our lives. 52:05 We confess our sins before You Lord, 52:07 and we give glory to Your name that we're forgiven. 52:09 That our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. 52:11 Praise God. 52:13 Thank you Lord. 52:16 But today, Lord, we long to be Your followers, 52:18 we want to live Christianly in this secular sinful world. 52:22 So make us Lord adherence to the Jesus' creed. 52:25 Let us love God more deeply everyday and to do so 52:30 by following Jesus and by loving others. 52:34 And Lord one of those others is us. 52:37 May we love the new creation You have made us to be 52:41 and we promise, Lord, we will give You the glory 52:45 and we will give You the honor. 52:46 And on the day You claim us as yours 52:48 and we stand on the sea of glass, 52:50 we will sing praises to Your name, 52:52 we will cast our crowns at Your feet 52:54 because You and You alone are worthy. 52:57 For we prayed in the name of Jesus our Savior, amen, amen. |
Revised 2016-01-11