Pillars of Faith

Pray This Way

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C. A. Murray

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Series Code: POF

Program Code: POF000023A


00:24 Well hello and welcome to the 3ABN Worship Center
00:28 right here in beautiful Thompsonville, Illinois
00:31 for the third part in our series of, Walk This Way,
00:35 as we continue in this message that is coming
00:39 to us from, Pillars of Faith.
00:41 So we want to encourage everyone of you to
00:44 get your Bibles, take notes, listen as Pastor Murray
00:47 brings you this third part in this series.
00:50 The first part in this series was, Stay This Way.
00:53 The second part was, The Wise Way.
00:56 Now this one tonight is, Pray This Way.
00:59 So all of these, he's showing us how to walk this way,
01:03 which is walking the way of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
01:06 You know, something I would like to encourage you to do
01:10 is to take the Scripture to heart that says,
01:13 "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word."
01:17 Get every one of these sermons, listen to them over and over.
01:21 Allow Christ to form Himself in you
01:24 as you listen to the anointed Word.
01:26 Pastor Murray has been with us now for 11 years.
01:29 We love him and we appreciate him.
01:32 He has studied to show himself approved.
01:35 And something that we all know is that Pastor Murray
01:38 is a true man of God.
01:39 So receive him now as he comes to present the
01:43 message tonight, Pray This Way.
01:46 Pastor Murray.
01:57 I'm very happy and very thankful once again
01:59 to be able to open up the Word as we look at the subject,
02:05 Pray This Way.
02:07 And I'm going to ask you to turn with me, if you will,
02:10 to the New Testament,
02:13 the book of James, for our consideration.
02:17 The book of James, James 5.
02:21 And we want to consider verse...
02:30 Let me just check.
02:31 I've got two or three I want to look at.
02:33 So let's look at James 5:16.
02:45 James 5:16
02:49 In fact, let's start with verse 15.
02:57 In fact, let's go all the way back to verse 13.
03:00 I think we'll do that.
03:01 Verse 13. So we're in James 5:13.
03:04 But before we open God's Word, let's pray
03:06 and talk with Him for just a moment.
03:07 Father God, we praise You and we thank You
03:12 for Your Word, the power of Your Word,
03:16 for the entrance of Your Word which brings light
03:21 to our lives and to our souls.
03:24 Bless our sitting here just now as we open Your Word.
03:30 Feed us from that Word, fill us with Your Spirit.
03:35 Fit us for heavenly habitation, we do pray.
03:40 And we thank You, mighty Father, in Jesus' name, amen.
03:46 I want to read this particular passage from the New King James,
03:53 then I want to read the same passage from The Clear Word
03:57 to give you just a different shade of understanding.
04:00 So I'm in James 5 and I'm beginning at verse 13.
04:05 Join me, if you will.
04:07 For the Bible says, "Is anyone among you suffering?
04:11 Let him pray.
04:13 Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
04:17 Is anyone among you sick?
04:20 Let him call for the elders of the church,
04:22 and let them pray over him,
04:26 anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
04:30 And the prayer of faith will heal the sick,
04:34 and the Lord will raise him up.
04:36 And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."
04:42 Now I want to read that same passage from The Clear Word
04:48 paraphrase, which I enjoy reading so much
04:51 for inspirational purposes.
04:55 The Bible says, "Are you suffering?
05:00 Are you suffering misfortune?
05:02 Take it to the Lord in prayer.
05:10 He'll give you strength to get through it."
05:13 I like that.
05:15 "He'll give you strength to get through it."
05:17 Now you will note in this paraphrase that the author
05:21 doesn't say He will necessarily remove you from it,
05:26 take you out of it.
05:28 But you do have a guarantee that God, in answer to the
05:33 prayer of faith, will give you strength to get through it.
05:39 "Are you happy?
05:41 Sing about it and praise the Lord.
05:45 Are any of you sick?
05:48 Call the elders of the church and ask them to pray for you.
05:55 They'll anoint you with oil and call on the name of the Lord
05:59 to heal you.
06:02 If the Lord sees fit, this kind of prayer
06:07 offered in faith will heal the sick
06:11 and restore them to health."
06:13 Now you'll note the slight shade of difference here
06:17 as the Word is mined through The Clear Word.
06:20 "If the Lord sees fit..."
06:21 And God is always sovereign.
06:23 God can say yes, God can say no.
06:26 God can say, not now.
06:29 "But if the Lord sees fit, this kind of prayer
06:31 offered in faith will heal the sick
06:34 and restore them to health."
06:36 God does indeed answer the prayer of faith.
06:41 And so in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11,
06:47 both record a particular interlude that we want to
06:52 discuss a little bit today
06:54 between Christ and His disciples.
06:58 And their discussion centered on prayer.
07:04 I like a very important statement that one of my
07:07 favorite writers says.
07:09 She says, "Prayer is the key in the hand of faith
07:15 to unlock heaven's storehouse,
07:18 where are treasured the boundless
07:21 riches of Omnipotence."
07:23 Now that's a short saying that says so very much.
07:28 It says prayer is the key in the hand of faith.
07:32 So prayer and faith must go hand in hand.
07:38 And I'm going to give you a text in just a little bit
07:40 to reinforce that.
07:41 Prayer and faith unlocks the door.
07:47 Prayer without faith is not going to help you.
07:51 Faith without prayer is not going to do you much good.
07:56 They've got to go hand in hand.
07:58 You've got to believe in Him and you've got to talk to Him
08:02 if you want to get things from God.
08:05 "Prayer is the key in the hand of faith
08:09 to unlock heaven's storehouse..."
08:11 So if you want to get in and get the goodies,
08:14 and get what God has to offer you,
08:17 you need to pray, and you need to pray in faith.
08:22 "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,"
08:24 as Mollie said so rightly said some time ago.
08:28 You need to believe.
08:29 So Matthew and Luke both record this intimate discussion,
08:38 this little interlude, between Christ and His disciples.
08:42 You will find, interestingly enough, Christ did not
08:46 address His disciples directly many, many times.
08:51 He allowed them to glean from His discussions
08:55 with the public the truths that He wanted them to know.
08:59 There were times when He said things rather cryptically
09:02 in parables, and the disciples were asked to, or encouraged to,
09:08 take from that and make application.
09:10 But in this particular instance a question was asked,
09:14 and Christ took the time to answer that particular question.
09:19 And the subject was the subject of prayer.
09:21 Now what I like about everything in Jewish life,
09:28 there were always times when Christ had to,
09:35 how shall I say, demystify or de-mythologize.
09:42 You know, just about everything in Jewish life,
09:45 by the time of Jesus, had become enshrouded in
09:49 or darkened by man-made traditions.
09:53 Matthew talks about teaching for doctrine
09:56 the commandments of men.
09:57 Or teaching for commandments the doctrines of men.
10:01 And so everything that Christ had given for
10:03 the benefit of His people had been...
10:08 Oh, what's the word I can use?
10:10 ...had been clouded over by a lot of man-made tradition
10:14 that turned a lot of the freedom given by God
10:18 into bondage given by man.
10:22 So the sentiments expressed in the model prayer,
10:26 not necessarily the words, are what Christ gave to them
10:31 in answer to their particular query.
10:37 Prayer is a way of contacting God.
10:41 Prayer is a way of communing with God.
10:43 It is an essential discipline when it comes to
10:48 walking with Jesus.
10:52 So let's look at what inspiration says.
10:55 All that Christ had given was good.
11:01 And Jesus acknowledged that in Matthew 5:17.
11:05 This was true of this prayer that we're going to discuss.
11:10 And perhaps I should have you turn with me now,
11:11 even now to Matthew 21.
11:16 Matthew 21
11:20 And we'll use that as our entrance into
11:25 our discussion of prayer.
11:27 I'm in Matthew 21.
11:30 This prayer, this model prayer that we call, the Lord's prayer,
11:35 was really modeled on prayers that existed
11:41 since Old Testament time.
11:43 Prayers that had come from the rabbis
11:47 and Old Testament times.
11:48 People taught them to learn, recite and repeat these prayers.
11:54 But I need to say here parenthetically.
11:57 A repeated prayer or a learned prayer
12:00 or a ritual prayer doesn't really help you.
12:04 Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.
12:09 When you talk to God, you want to talk to God
12:13 as somebody who loves you and who knows you,
12:16 and who you know and love.
12:19 You don't want to just repeat words.
12:21 You don't want to just repeat phrases.
12:23 And one of the mistakes that the Old Testament rabbis
12:26 had made, and which we do sometimes, is you say a prayer.
12:31 There is a difference, brothers and sisters,
12:33 in saying a prayer and praying.
12:38 Saying a prayer is a ritual recitation
12:42 of a bunch of words.
12:44 But praying is talking to God as to a heavenly Father and Friend.
12:52 So in the Protestant dispensation or the
12:56 Protestant churches, we don't say a prayer.
12:59 We don't say a, "Hail Mary," or a prayer.
13:03 What we do is pray.
13:05 And there is a difference between saying a prayer
13:08 and praying.
13:10 Because praying is talking to God
13:12 like you're talking to a Friend.
13:15 So we don't recite prayers.
13:17 And I always get a little antsy when somebody says,
13:20 "Well, just say a prayer."
13:22 No, you don't just say a prayer.
13:23 Pray.
13:25 And you talk to God from your heart rather than
13:28 reciting formal words.
13:30 Even the Lord's prayer.
13:32 When God, when Jesus gave this model prayer
13:37 to His disciples, He wasn't saying, "Say these exact words."
13:43 He was trying to get them to understand
13:46 how a prayer was put together, and how to construct a prayer,
13:52 and how prayers are wont to be made.
14:02 He also tells us that if we have faith and do not doubt,
14:07 then our prayers become powerful and become acceptable
14:11 to a holy God.
14:15 So in a moment or two we're going to parse
14:17 the Lord's prayer and take a look at what the Lord has for us
14:24 in this particular prayer.
14:27 Praying in Jesus' name makes our prayers powerful
14:32 and takes advantage of the work of Christ in our lives
14:36 and the work that He is doing in the course of glory just now.
14:40 So by the time that Christ came, prayer had degenerated,
14:45 it had become opaque.
14:47 It had turned into personal liturgical, phraseology
14:51 which had no real meaning or heart.
14:54 They had nice sounding words,
14:56 but they lacked sincerity or spirit.
14:58 And one of the things Christ came to do when He talked
15:00 with His disciples was to tear down that mindset,
15:05 to tear down that mindset that you just say words.
15:09 What Christ wanted you to do was to pray,
15:13 not just say a prayer.
15:16 Because prayer is effectual communication
15:20 between God and man.
15:23 Jesus restored prayer to what heaven had intended it to be.
15:29 Jesus restored prayer to the communication between
15:34 God and man, and not just a bunch of words
15:36 that someone is saying in an obligation
15:39 or in a way to try to wrench something from God.
15:42 The Adventist commentary adds this
15:45 in talking about this prayer that we find in
15:49 Matthew 6, and we begin with verse 8.
15:54 But the Adventist commentary says this...
15:56 It has something very interesting to say.
15:58 It says, "The universal acceptance of the Lord's prayer
16:06 reflects the fact that it expresses more perfectly
16:11 than any other prayer the fundamental needs
16:15 of the human heart."
16:16 That's why God's prayer, the Lord's prayer,
16:19 the prayer that Jesus recited to the disciples,
16:22 was never intended to be something that you just say.
16:26 These words express the need of the human heart,
16:31 of the human soul.
16:32 And when we pray, that's what God wants from us.
16:35 He wants us to express the deepest needs of our heart
16:39 and our soul.
16:41 As long as it takes, as many words as it takes,
16:46 you break through to heaven and you talk to your Father.
16:49 And I guarantee you, your Father in heaven will talk back to you.
16:55 Christ then was addressing Himself in intimate terms
17:01 to the twelve charter members of the nation church.
17:10 They asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray."
17:16 Now you would think that these men already knew how to pray.
17:20 No, they had been taught to say prayers.
17:24 Jesus now was teaching them how to open their hearts
17:29 to the Father in heaven and to pray in a new way,
17:35 saying, "When you pray, pray this way."
17:40 So go with me, if you will, to Matthew 6.
17:48 And while you're doing that, let me say this:
17:51 If James 5 is true, then Hebrews 11:6 must also be true.
17:56 And maybe we ought to just take a look at Hebrews 11:6.
18:00 Because this is a prayer prerequisite.
18:05 So I'm turning over with you to Hebrews 11
18:10 and we want to take a look at verse 6.
18:13 Hebrews 11:6
18:25 "But without faith," the Bible says,
18:28 "it is impossible to please Him..."
18:30 Now I want to stop there.
18:32 Because we read in James that fervent, effectual prayer
18:37 avails much with God.
18:40 So we're getting a little road map for prayer here.
18:44 One, prayer has to be fervent.
18:50 You've got to agonize with God for what you want.
18:53 Not just a casual something thrown up.
18:56 And let me say this also:
18:58 For those of you who have ever fallen asleep during prayer,
19:03 or had your mind wander during prayer,
19:10 prayer does not necessarily have to be the last thing
19:16 you do at night before you go to sleep.
19:22 Usually we wait till we're ready to go to bed.
19:28 Many of us get in bed and then pray.
19:33 And we offer up to God a bunch of words
19:39 that are the product of a tired mind that is ready
19:44 to go to sleep.
19:47 And I've had it happen to me before.
19:49 We use to tease each other when I was dating my wife, Irma.
19:52 We always talked in the evening before going to bed.
19:57 And usually the last part of the conversation
20:01 we took some time out for prayer.
20:03 And I can remember...
20:05 And I'm sort of talking out of school here, but it's the truth.
20:09 I can remember talking to Irma, and then praying with Irma,
20:15 and then getting to the, "Amen,"
20:18 and hearing no corresponding, "Amen," from the other end.
20:24 Unusual for just silence on the phone.
20:28 And that was indication to me that Irma had sort of
20:34 left the building, as it were.
20:35 She had gone to sleep.
20:38 And if I tell the truth, there were one or two times
20:42 when she would pray, and I would sort of exit the conversation
20:47 before her prayer was over.
20:49 And she would say, "Amen,"
20:51 and wait for the corresponding, "Amen,"
20:54 from my side of the phone that never came.
20:57 So prayer does not necessarily have to be the last thing
21:02 you do before you go to bed.
21:04 Because usually when you go to bed, your mind is centered on
21:09 sleeping, not praying.
21:12 So what I invite people to do or encourage them to do
21:16 is to push your prayer up a little earlier in the evening.
21:21 Take a little time with the Lord before you jump in the bed
21:26 so that you can be awake and alert,
21:31 and you can spend some quality time with God.
21:34 Not time that is burdened by sleep
21:37 and your desire to get some rest.
21:39 You will find that your prayer life is sweeter,
21:44 you are more refreshed, and you're not so sleepy
21:49 that you can't concentrate on the Lord.
21:52 Number two, how many have ever had a thought
21:57 come into their mind while they're praying
21:59 that is unlike God or unlike your prayer?
22:02 Sometimes you pray, you say a statement,
22:05 your mind wanders, you come back,
22:06 you say the statement again, and you find yourself
22:08 struggling against your own mind to try to talk to God.
22:12 That is because your mind does not make hard right turns
22:16 or hard left turns.
22:17 Before you go to the Lord, you've got to divorce yourself
22:21 from the world a little bit and then open yourself up to God.
22:26 One good way to do that is to sing a hymn,
22:29 or sing a little song.
22:31 Or to spend a moment or two in praise to God.
22:34 And that ushers you out of the worldly mindset
22:37 and ushers you into the presence of God.
22:41 We've had that happen.
22:42 People who work right up to the edges of the Sabbath,
22:45 and then they try to open the Sabbath.
22:48 And those weekday thoughts, those six days of work thoughts,
22:52 encroach on the Sabbath hours because your mind hasn't had
22:56 any wind down time to separate itself from the Sabbath,
23:02 or from the world, and move into the Sabbath.
23:05 So before you go to the Lord, it's always good
23:08 to do some exercise that separates you from the world
23:13 or from your thought pattern so that when you come
23:16 before God, your mind is stayed on and focused on Him.
23:20 And a great way to do that is to praise Him
23:24 before you pray to Him.
23:25 Is to talk with Him in praise before you pray.
23:28 And also, praise before you make requests.
23:32 So many people make their prayers
23:34 basically a shopping list.
23:37 "Lord, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me.
23:40 Amen."
23:41 Well thank Him and praise Him.
23:43 And that will bring you into His presence.
23:45 Then you can ask for things.
23:47 But make sure you usher yourself into the presence of God.
23:50 Now it's just a little obiter dictum that I threw in here.
23:53 Not necessarily my notes.
23:54 But I know that many people, and I've heard it from people,
23:59 and I've wrestled with it myself,
24:01 struggle with talking to God and concentrating on God
24:07 and focusing on Him as we pray.
24:10 So we're in Hebrews 11:6.
24:12 Hebrews 11:6
24:15 The Bible says, "But without faith it is impossible
24:19 to please Him..."
24:20 So faith is a prerequisite to coming into the presence of God
24:26 and having the smile of God shine upon you.
24:29 "...for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
24:36 and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
24:43 Now what is the Bible saying?
24:46 One, a prerequisite for having your prayers heard
24:51 and answered is the belief that God will hear
24:56 and answer your prayers.
25:00 God has got to know that you believe that when you
25:06 bow your knee and lift up your voice in prayer
25:10 that there is a God on the other end who is ready,
25:15 who is willing, and certainly able to answer your prayers.
25:20 So before you go to God, "he that cometh unto God
25:24 must believe that He is."
25:27 You've got to believe that God exists.
25:29 That there's somebody on the other end of that prayer
25:31 who can help you.
25:33 More than that, or certainly as much as that,
25:38 you've got to believe that "He is a rewarder
25:43 of those who diligently seek Him."
25:46 Now that's a mouthful.
25:47 What's it saying?
25:50 Got to believe that when you ask, He will answer.
25:57 There used to be an old ball player, I'm trying to think of
25:59 his name, when I was back in New York.
26:01 He use to play for the New York Mets.
26:04 I think it was Tug McGraw.
26:06 And his statement was, on the year that they won
26:09 the World Series, I think 1969 or so,
26:12 "You've got to believe."
26:14 And that was the statement that took them through
26:17 to the world championship of the World Series.
26:20 "You've got to believe."
26:21 Well, Paul is saying in the book of Hebrews the same thing.
26:24 "You've got to believe."
26:25 You've got to believe that when you come to God
26:28 He's going to listen, He's going to hear, He's going to answer.
26:30 And if you don't believe that, why go?
26:34 Why pray if you don't believe that someone's on the
26:38 other end of that prayer that wants to help you.
26:42 So a prerequisite to fervent effectual prayer
26:46 is the belief that God will answer fervent effectual prayer.
26:50 When you're lonely, when you're crying,
26:52 when you're on your knees, you've got to believe
26:55 that God is going to help you.
26:57 And God will indeed help you.
26:59 So you've got to "believe that He is,
27:03 and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
27:08 Now let me parse that just a little bit.
27:12 You've got to believe that when you stick with God,
27:18 God will stick with you.
27:22 That when you agonize with God, that God respects the fervency,
27:28 the agony, the strength, the energy, the exigency,
27:34 call it what you will, that God respects everything you pour
27:38 into that prayer and will give you what you need
27:43 in answer to the energy, the urgency, the exigency,
27:47 of that prayer.
27:50 Not just a casual prayer, "Lord, help me. Amen."
27:55 That's a casual prayer.
27:56 When you really need something, you ask and you keep on asking.
28:01 When you really want something,
28:03 you request and you keep on requesting.
28:06 And so the Bible says God answers prayer
28:09 when you stick to it.
28:11 I'm so sad to see how many times people lose their blessing
28:15 or fall short of their blessing
28:16 simply because they don't stay with God.
28:18 We live in this world where everything comes quick
28:21 and you want to have it your way like Burger King,
28:23 and you want it fast.
28:24 And you want fast food and you want it quick.
28:26 So you pray some little motto prayer
28:29 and you figure, "Well, God heard it.
28:30 Or God already knows what I need.
28:32 That's enough."
28:33 But God says, "No, no, no, no.
28:34 You want a blessing?
28:36 Your fervency, your energy has to be in concert
28:39 with the blessing that you want."
28:41 If you want a blessing real bad, you need to pray real hard.
28:46 Um-hmm.
28:48 And if you want to get a big blessing,
28:51 you've got to pray a big prayer.
28:54 And you've got to exercise a lot of faith.
28:57 And you've got to stay with God.
29:00 You've got to "believe that He is,
29:02 and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
29:10 Be diligent in your prayers.
29:13 Pray, and keep on praying.
29:15 I must admit, I have not done it lately,
29:20 but there was a time in my ministry,
29:22 particularly my pastoral ministry,
29:24 when I would spend all night or most of the night in prayer.
29:28 I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back.
29:30 Because the amount of time you spend in prayer
29:33 really is a consequence of the burden you have.
29:36 And if you want something real bad, you pray real hard.
29:39 And you also pray real long.
29:42 And I've done that.
29:44 I've sat myself in the chair and prayed, and prayed, and prayed
29:48 all night long.
29:50 And I've had other prayers, other nights where I prayed,
29:53 dosed off, got up and prayed, dosed off, got up and prayed,
29:56 dosed off, got up and prayed, but I never went to bed.
29:59 I sat in the chair all night long.
30:01 And I prayed for an hour and slept an hour,
30:04 and prayed for an hour and slept for an hour.
30:06 Some nights, prayed straight through.
30:09 But when you've got a burden on your heart
30:12 and you need something from God real bad,
30:15 you find that you pray real hard.
30:18 And the Bible says God answers diligent prayer.
30:23 That's the way to pray.
30:24 Pray this way.
30:26 Pray believing, pray in faith, pray diligently,
30:31 and stay with God, and He will answer your prayer.
30:36 "He that cometh must believe that He is,
30:39 and that He is a rewarder..."
30:43 Matthew 7 and Luke 11 both assert that the God we serve
30:52 is more willing, more willing, to give us good gifts
30:59 than human parents are to their own children.
31:04 And I like the way the Bible puts it.
31:06 "If we being evil give good gifts, how much more
31:16 is God willing to give good gifts to those who ask?"
31:21 You know, I enjoy giving gifts.
31:27 Most people do.
31:29 You know, you get the chance to play Santa Clause
31:32 at Christmas time, and you tell your young children that,
31:36 "There's no such thing as Santa Clause.
31:38 He's not real.
31:39 Daddy went in his pocket and paid for these gifts."
31:44 And you like to do that.
31:46 When we go home to my in-laws, Irma and I tend to
31:52 kid of pool our pennies so that we take some
31:54 gifts down to Panama.
31:56 And we really enjoy it.
31:58 One of the times we have...
32:00 And I'm taking a little side step here, but.
32:02 One of the times we really like...
32:04 See, in Panama they open their gifts, their Christmas gifts,
32:07 the night before.
32:09 Because Christmas day everybody goes to the beach.
32:12 So you have a big dinner, and it's usually pretty late.
32:16 Around about eight o'clock, everybody sits down to eat.
32:19 Which we know that's not good or healthy for them, but
32:21 it's only once a year.
32:23 Well twice a year, because they do it on New Year's Eve too.
32:25 But we sit down to eat, and about midnight
32:30 everybody opens their gifts.
32:32 And it is such fun to see the grand kids opening their gifts,
32:36 and to see the adults exchange gifts.
32:39 And you like to give good gifts.
32:41 And you really like when your gifts are appreciated.
32:45 You know, you give something and they say,
32:47 "Man, that's just what I needed.
32:50 So what we tend to do is we call my brother-in-law
32:53 and ask him what his wife would like,
32:55 and then we call my sister-in-law and ask
32:57 what her husband would like.
32:58 So we get just the right gifts.
33:00 Because you want your gifts to be perfect.
33:02 And of course, when you take a gift down to Panama,
33:04 you can't bring it back and exchange it.
33:06 That's the gift they're going to have.
33:07 So we like to give good gifts.
33:10 It makes you feel good to be able to give good gifts.
33:13 And Ellen White says in her writings, it's pleasant
33:16 to give a good gift to those that you love.
33:20 Well, if we being evil can get such joy out of giving gifts,
33:27 Matthew 7 and Luke 11 are saying, if we who are evil
33:33 like that kind of thing, just think how God feels,
33:38 who is righteous and holy and just, when we ask
33:42 and He, out of the abundance of heaven,
33:44 can give us good gifts that makes our hearts swell
33:49 in gratitude to the God who gave them.
33:52 So if you being evil can do good stuff,
33:56 then God who is righteous and holy can do even better stuff,
34:00 and really enjoys answering your prayers
34:03 and giving you good things.
34:06 And He who sacrificed His Son, the Bible says
34:09 He's not going to withhold anything good from you.
34:10 If He gave up Jesus for you, you can be assured
34:13 that He's going to give you what you need when you ask.
34:18 So the mindset here is that someone receiving
34:22 something good ought to be thankful to God,
34:25 and the recipient of the gift ought to draw closer to God,
34:30 because you realize and know that it was God who gave you
34:35 that good thing.
34:37 Jesus said, "Ask believing."
34:42 Prerequisite number two, faith is belief.
34:47 You've got to believe that God will do this for you,
34:51 and that He's willing.
34:54 You don't have to arm twist Him,
34:56 you don't have to beg as though you're trying to
35:00 wrench something from Him.
35:03 Just ask, and keep on asking, because you're asking a God
35:08 who is willing.
35:12 So let's take a moment and parse the Lord's prayer
35:17 as found in Matthew 6.
35:20 I want to go back to Matthew 6.
35:22 And in our closing moments together,
35:24 I've got a little time, we want to walk you through
35:27 the elements of the Lord's prayer.
35:31 Because the disciples asked Jesus...
35:34 You're in Matthew 6 with me.
35:36 And they asked Him...
35:42 I'm at verse 8, "Therefore do not be like them."
35:47 Now Christ is saying, "Don't get into this vain repetition stuff.
35:51 Just talk to Me. Don't get liturgical.
35:54 And don't do like the heathens do and figure you've got to just
35:57 go into a mantra or some transcendental state.
36:00 Just talk to Me and ask."
36:03 "In this manner, therefore, pray..."
36:06 In other words, I'm in verse 9, "In this manner,
36:09 therefore, pray," He's saying, "Pray this way."
36:14 So let's parse it.
36:16 Again I need to say that Jesus didn't say,
36:20 "Pray these exact words."
36:22 He didn't say, "Say these words."
36:25 He said, "Pray this way."
36:28 Which simply means, "What I'm going to give you now
36:31 is a template, is a model for your prayers."
36:35 You don't have to say these exact words.
36:37 And when we were young, we learned,
36:38 "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
36:39 Thy kingdom come..."
36:41 We did that.
36:42 That's not what Christ is telling His disciples to do.
36:44 He didn't say, "Say these words."
36:46 He said, "Pray this way."
36:48 So what Christ is giving you now is a model prayer
36:53 along which lines you are to follow.
36:56 You don't have to say these exact words.
36:58 So let's parse this prayer for just a moment.
37:00 "Our Father which art in heaven..."
37:04 Why, "Our Father which art in heaven"?
37:06 Well, "Our Father," is giving recognition that we are
37:10 the children of a holy God.
37:12 And I know in modern days there's this idea
37:17 to think of God as, and even though the Bible says
37:19 call Him, "Abba," which is, "Daddy,"
37:22 but it's still a term of respect.
37:25 God is not your homeboy.
37:28 He's not your buddy, He's not your sidekick,
37:33 He's not your street pal.
37:35 He's a holy God.
37:37 And although He is close and wants to be close,
37:41 and wants a Father-son or Father-daughter relationship,
37:44 let's never make the mistake and think that we're dealing
37:47 with one of our mates, or one of our buddies,
37:49 or one of our homeboys from the street.
37:52 You're dealing with a holy God.
37:54 And so addressing Him as, "Our Father,"
37:57 is your way of saying to God, "I recognize who I am
38:03 and who You are.
38:05 You are holy, I am not.
38:08 You are righteous, I am not.
38:11 You have everything, I am nothing.
38:15 I am coming to You because You've summoned me.
38:18 And in response to Your call, here I am.
38:21 You are my Father."
38:23 Now, "Our Father who art in heaven..."
38:28 Well that's pretty simple.
38:30 He's in heaven...
38:32 ...and you're not.
38:34 So you're recognizing His exalted position.
38:41 You know, we say, "Our Father."
38:44 I really believe in my heart that He wouldn't be upset
38:46 if you said, "My Father."
38:48 In fact, I kind of think He'd like it.
38:50 A little less formal, a little more intimate.
38:53 And I know many people who, when they pray,
38:56 they say, "My Father."
38:58 Because He is your Father.
39:02 So when we come to heaven to God, heaven rejoices.
39:09 It's like the prodigal in Luke 15:21.
39:12 Isn't it interesting, I look at my own dad's life.
39:16 My father only gave his heart to the Lord
39:21 one month before he had a heart attack and died.
39:24 And my wife Irma's dad, he gave his heart to the Lord
39:30 one week before he had a heart attack and died.
39:34 But if you read the story of the prodigal there in Luke 15,
39:38 you will note that when the prodigal turned and came
39:44 to meet his dad, the father came running.
39:47 And isn't it wonderful to know that when you come to the Lord
39:51 in prayer, heaven stops everything
39:54 to listen to your petition.
39:56 And when you give your heart to the Lord,
39:57 regardless of how long you've run after the devil,
40:00 when you make that turn and come to the Lord,
40:03 praise God, heaven rejoices for one soul
40:08 that gives their heart to the Lord.
40:09 So when you pray, when you come to the Lord in prayer,
40:13 heaven rejoices and heaven bends a listening ear
40:17 to hear your prayer.
40:20 So, "Our Father which art in heaven..."
40:27 Heaven is His dwelling place.
40:30 And one day we will be there.
40:35 I need to add also while I'm thinking about it,
40:37 when you say, "Our Father who art in heaven,"
40:39 it inspires reverence for God.
40:44 Ecclesiastes 5:2, maybe I'll take just a moment
40:47 and turn to that for a second.
40:49 Ecclesiastes 5:2
40:52 We'll find it in the Word.
40:58 I'm thinking...
41:02 Ecclesiastes 5:2
41:11 Looking at Ecclesiastes and thinking about Ephesus.
41:15 "Do not be rash with your mouth,
41:18 and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.
41:22 For God is in heaven, and you on the earth.
41:25 Therefore let your words be few."
41:30 What's being said here, what the wise-man is saying
41:33 is that, don't make a lot of promises and say a lot of things
41:37 and try to bargain with the Lord.
41:39 Because He's up there and you're down here.
41:42 You cannot make the sun shine or the rain come.
41:45 You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
41:46 So don't throw a lot of promises to God.
41:49 "Lord, if You..."
41:50 And I've heard people and have done this.
41:51 "Lord, if You get me out of this fix, I promise You
41:54 I'll straighten up, I'll fly right."
41:56 I know a good friend that I grew up with,
41:59 every time he gets sent to jail, he gets converted.
42:02 And when he gets out of jail, he gets unconverted.
42:05 And he's always making promises to God.
42:07 "If you get me out of this fix, oh Lord, I'll take care of You.
42:11 I'll put You first in my life," until he gets out of the fix.
42:14 Then he forgets about the promises that he made to God.
42:16 So the wise-man Solomon is saying,
42:19 "Don't be rash with your mouth."
42:21 Don't try to bargain with God, don't try to dicker with God.
42:23 Don't try to pull some sort of fast one on God.
42:27 Let your words be few.
42:28 Don't let your mouth get you into trouble.
42:31 Just surrender to Him.
42:33 Ask for what you need.
42:34 And then, ladies and gentlemen, when you're finished praying,
42:38 stop talking and listen.
42:42 That's the part of prayer that so many people fail upon.
42:46 "Lord, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me."
42:51 And then you're gone.
42:53 And you never let God have a chance to talk to you.
42:57 Listening to God is as important as talking to God.
43:04 Spend some time in listening.
43:06 Because God has much to say that we need to hear.
43:10 So Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5:2,
43:12 "Don't be rash with your words.
43:17 Because God is in heaven and you are on the earth."
43:21 "Our Father which art in heaven,
43:25 hallowed," or holy, "is Your name."
43:30 God is holy.
43:33 Never forget that even in the face of Abba,
43:37 you're dealing with a holy God.
43:39 "Holy is Your name."
43:44 In today's world names don't really mean too much.
43:48 It's kind of just a handle that you call people.
43:51 You get named after aunts and uncles.
43:54 You get named after different kinds of things.
43:57 People name their children some pretty strange names.
44:00 I am a junior; my father was Clement Augustus Murray.
44:03 I am Clement August King Murray, Jr.
44:07 You know, so names don't really carry that much weight.
44:11 It's just a name.
44:13 But in Bible times, names were intimately connected
44:17 with character.
44:19 When a parent saw a character trait in the child,
44:24 or perhaps a character trait that they hoped would exist
44:29 in that child, they associated the name with that identified
44:35 or perceived or anticipated or revealed character trait.
44:42 So God's name is holy.
44:47 "Holy is Your name."
44:50 God is holy in two ways.
44:52 He is holy, one, because of what He is.
44:56 He is holy.
44:59 He is holy, two, because of what He does.
45:03 He acts holy.
45:06 God is holy and He acts holy.
45:09 Now He is not holy because He acts that way.
45:14 He acts that way because He is that way.
45:19 So holy is God's name.
45:23 You recall in Exodus 34:5-7, the Bible says
45:29 God's name stands for His character.
45:30 Now I want to take a moment just to go to that.
45:32 Come back with me to the book of Exodus 34.
45:36 I like this. Exodus 34.
45:38 I'm in Exodus 33, and now we're in 34.
45:41 And we want to pick it up at verse 5.
45:44 The Word of God says, the Bible says,
45:46 "Now the LORD descended in the cloud
45:50 and stood with him," that is Moses,
45:53 and proclaimed the name of the LORD."
45:55 Proclaimed the name of the Lord.
45:57 So we get a little context here.
45:59 "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed,
46:02 'The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious,
46:07 long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
46:12 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
46:15 and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty,
46:21 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
46:23 and the children's children unto the third
46:26 and the fourth generation.'"
46:28 So God, in declaring who He was, in declaring the pedigree
46:35 of His name, said, "The LORD, merciful and gracious,
46:42 long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth..."
46:47 So God is worthy of praise.
46:51 God is holy because of what He is and what He does.
46:57 As a holy God, God can only be holy.
47:03 And He can only act holy.
47:06 And He can only relate to us in a holy way.
47:10 So when you ask God His name, what you're going to get is,
47:16 "...gracious, long suffering, abounding in goodness and truth,
47:23 and keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving
47:26 iniquity and transgression and sin..."
47:29 So why is God holy?
47:31 Because He acts holy.
47:34 Why does God act holy?
47:37 Because He is holy.
47:40 And so when we pray, we have to acknowledge
47:43 early on, early on, that we're dealing with a holy God.
47:48 Now you'll notice, everything that we've done so far
47:50 in this model prayer precedes asking for stuff.
47:56 So if your prayers are what we like to call,
47:59 shopping lists, then something is wrong.
48:04 Because it's not God's will that you just come and request.
48:09 Before you request, you've got to acknowledge
48:11 who God is and who you are.
48:14 You know, if you had a friend, and every time you saw that
48:17 friend his hand was out, after a while you'd start
48:23 trying to find someplace else to go.
48:25 If every time you saw your friend he's always
48:28 asking for stuff, after a while I doubt if
48:31 he'd be your closest friend.
48:33 Because every time you'd see him, you know, "Here he comes.
48:35 Here she comes.
48:37 She's going to ask me for something."
48:39 You know, if every time you see that person, they're borrowing
48:42 money from you and never paying back,
48:45 never saying thank you, after a while you're going to
48:47 get a little irritated.
48:50 Always asking for stuff.
48:52 Well God doesn't get irritated, because He's
48:54 too loving for that.
48:55 But if you want an intimate relationship with God,
48:58 you've got to spend a little time acknowledging who He is
49:03 and who you are before you start asking for stuff.
49:09 Pray this way.
49:11 "Our Father which art in heaven, halloweth, holy is Your name.
49:20 Thy kingdom come.
49:22 Thy will be done..."
49:24 Jesus came to bring entrance to the kingdom of heaven.
49:31 Revelation 11:15, "The kingdoms of this world will one day
49:36 become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ."
49:42 Jesus' message, the message preached by John,
49:48 is that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
49:53 And this is repeated in Matthew 3:2, Matthew 10:7
49:59 and Mark 1:15.
50:02 John came to preach, and Jesus came to affirm,
50:07 that you can participate in the joys of the
50:11 kingdom even now.
50:13 "Thy kingdom come."
50:15 And I submit to you, brothers and sisters,
50:17 that the kingdom comes the moment you get Jesus.
50:21 Now you may not get entrance into heaven at that point,
50:25 but you get entrance into heavenly realms
50:29 and into the heart of Jesus, and Jesus into your heart.
50:33 And so the kingdom of heaven visits you,
50:37 resides with you, when you accept Jesus into your life.
50:43 That's what John's message was, as the forerunner of Christ.
50:47 The kingdom of God is at hand in the presence of Jesus Christ.
50:53 So, "Thy kingdom come."
50:55 Not only is that a request for the second coming of Christ,
50:59 that's a request for Christ to come into your heart
51:01 and dwell there here and now.
51:05 And praise God, when we surrender ourselves
51:07 as a living sacrifice, as Romans 12:1 says,
51:11 we get Christ in all of his fullness through the power
51:16 of the Holy Ghost, and we begin to experience
51:21 the joys of the kingdom even before we get
51:25 residence in the kingdom.
51:27 Because at that point, the kingdom becomes
51:30 resident in you and in me.
51:35 So the quickest way to get into that kingdom
51:38 or to get that kingdom in you is to ask God for it
51:44 through prayer.
51:46 Is to request God to give it to you through prayer.
51:51 "Deliver us from evil."
51:54 Lord, don't we need to be delivered from evil?
51:58 There are two deliverances from evil.
52:03 One is deliverance from the power of evil.
52:08 The other is deliverance from the presence of evil.
52:14 Um-hmm.
52:16 When you give your heart to the Lord,
52:19 when you ask Jesus to come into your life,
52:22 you get deliverance from the power of evil
52:27 right then, right now.
52:31 That's the justifying experience,
52:35 moving into the sanctifying experience,
52:38 of God in answer to your prayer.
52:40 When you say, "Jesus, come into my life.
52:44 Take residence on my throne.
52:47 Take control of my life,"
52:50 He gives you deliverance from the power of evil
52:56 so that the old man is slain, the old desires are destroyed,
53:03 the old life is put to bed, and you become new in Christ Jesus.
53:09 So sin no longer has dominion over you.
53:14 It no longer has power over you.
53:17 It no longer has an attraction to you.
53:21 You are delivered from the power of evil.
53:26 The Bibles says if we sin, if we make a little mistake,
53:30 we have an Advocate with the Father.
53:33 Deliverance from the power of evil: immediate.
53:36 Deliverance from the presence:
53:38 probably take a little while longer.
53:40 Won't get that until Jesus comes.
53:43 But you can overcome it by being delivered from the power.
53:46 One day when sin is destroyed, the presence will be gone.
53:50 We'll be sitting with God in heavenly places.
53:53 But for now, we can crush the power of sin
53:58 and be delivered from the power of sin
54:01 through the indwelling Jesus Christ,
54:03 who will one day takes us away from the presence of sin
54:08 when sin will exist no more.
54:12 "Deliver us from evil."
54:15 "But keep us in Thy way."
54:19 Let's go back to Matthew.
54:20 I want to go back before our time runs away from us.
54:22 I'm looking at the last few minutes here.
54:24 I want to run to Matthew real quick.
54:26 Go back to Matthew 6.
54:29 "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
54:31 Thy kingdom come.
54:32 Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
54:37 Give us this day our daily bread.
54:40 But deliver us from evil.
54:43 Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
54:45 When I was young, we learned it as, "Forgive us our trespasses,
54:48 as we forgive those who trespass against us."
54:50 Basically the same thing.
54:52 Basically you're saying, "Lord, forgive me,
54:54 and then help me to pass that forgiveness onto others."
54:58 That's like, "Give me a forgiving heart,
55:00 just like You have a forgiving heart for me."
55:03 Forgive me my sins, and then help me to be big enough,
55:07 grown enough, Christian enough,
55:09 to forgive those who trespassed against me.
55:12 Because just as I wound You through my actions,
55:17 there are going to be those who wound me through their actions.
55:20 And as You are so kind and gracious to forgive me
55:23 of my misdeeds, allow me, Lord, enough Christ in my life
55:28 to forgive others of their misdeeds.
55:31 In fact, the Bible says you're going to be forgiven
55:33 in proportion to your willingness
55:36 and desire to forgive others.
55:37 You forgive, and you will be forgiven.
55:39 If you don't forgive, then it's going to be hard for heaven
55:42 to give you a break if you're not going to give others
55:44 the same kind of break in their lives.
55:46 So Lord, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
55:50 Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
55:53 who trespass against us.
55:56 "For Yours is the kingdom, the power,
56:01 and the glory, forever. Amen."
56:06 It's just stating a fact.
56:09 Yours is indeed the kingdom.
56:11 Now you'll notice that I did jump over one verse.
56:16 It's verse 11.
56:18 "Give us this day our daily bread."
56:22 That's the request list that's tucked in the middle
56:26 of that prayer.
56:27 It's just one line.
56:30 How interesting it is that for so many of us
56:33 the request list takes up most of our prayer.
56:38 But I submit to you, if you praise God,
56:43 if you worship Him, if you acknowledge your
56:46 dependence upon Him, your praise will get longer,
56:50 your requests will get smaller, and your prayer will draw you
56:55 closer to the power of Omnipotence.
57:00 Then He closes that prayer with these wonderful words,
57:03 "For Yours is the kingdom..."
57:06 You're surrendering your heart.
57:08 "...and the power," praise God, "and the glory..."
57:13 All glory belongs to Him.
57:15 "...forever," from now on, "and ever. Amen."
57:21 And amen.
57:23 Pray this way.


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Revised 2016-12-05