Well, good morning church, I cannot tell you how excited I am about being back this morning and being able to preach this morning. It's kind of like being on the pitching staff for a baseball team and having to sit in the bullpen. You don't want to be there, I promise you. And that's kind of what I've felt like over the last couple of weeks watching guys just bring the message, but I do need to just say a couple things. Number one, the Petty family enjoyed our pioneering voyage back to Atlanta breaking down in the middle of nowhere, Alabama. But that's all right, we made it. But number two, I just need to give a couple of shout outs to Eli Laughlin for bringing the word two weeks ago and Marty last week, they did incredible jobs carrying on the torch for our summer series in the Sermon on the Mount. And I love hearing their perspective and how they saw scripture through that.  Incredible, incredible, incredible jobs, thank you to those two guys. Well, this morning, we're going to continue in the series. And we're going to pick up where the thoughts left off last week. And we're going to be in Matthew chapter 6.  

And this morning, we're going to look at this macro theme of prayer.  But I needed to just say something. Before we get to that a couple of things. If you are not reading the Sermon on the Mount at least a couple of times during the week. Please do that. It's Matthew 5-7, I promise you, all we're doing on Sundays is kind of like throwing and skipping a rock across the pond.  That's all we're doing. We're hitting the highlights and we're skipping on; we're not going to get to everything. There's no way.  The last time I tried to figure out how long it would take us to get through the whole sermon on the mount, kind of hitting every spiritual truth, it'd be about 22 weeks in the Sermon on the Mount.  I figured that was a little longer than summer. And we just couldn't make it. So please be reading in it, because we're not going to get to all of it. So, when we look at this major theme this morning on prayer, a couple things come to my mind, just before we get to anything.  And that is if you've been a Christian, any length of time, all right, if you've been a Christian more than just like a day, you probably are not going to hear anything this morning, that is going to just blow your intellectual mind away.  Okay?  It's just not going to be there.  There's not going to be a nuance that you've never heard or you're not going to sit around the table at La Cocina this afternoon and go, did you ever know what that word was? No, you're not going to get that today. All right? It's just not going to be there today. But I just want to tell you, there's some richness in what we're going to look at what Jesus says today that you need to grab a hold to, and I need to grab a hold too. So just don't get out. But also, I just want you to know that there's probably nobody in this room, there's no one around that is listening to this, that there's probably going to be surprised today, when I say that Jesus wants us to be people of prayer.  Alright?   No one’s going to walk out here going man know that. All right? We know that, okay. It's not a new message that Jesus wants you to be a praying believer. He wants it to be part of your life, part of the rhythm of everything that you do, and I also realized today that there's no way that I can shame you into praying. Have you ever been part of one of those messages before, where somebody like me got up in a spot like this and tried to shame you into doing something? It's just not going to work. I know it's not going to work. In fact, you smell it really quickly. And when that begins to happen, you put the hand up and you go back to Angry Birds. I just know that's how it works or Candy Crush or Clash of Clans, whatever you're playing today, because there's nothing happening on your ESPN app right now. All right?  I know I can't shame you into it.  All right?  That's between you and Jesus. That's between you and the Spirit of God, getting that into your life. 

But I fully realized that if we're honest with each other, which I might add is a tough thing for church people.  If we're honest with each other, we would probably all of us, don't say all they tell me all the time don't say all because it lumps people in and it makes barriers.  Most of us would probably agree, that if we were honest, we would say prayer is hard.   I mean, we would say that it's hard, if we're honest.  Now, if we're good church people we got it figured out. But that's not what I'm talking about. Most of us would say that prayer is hard. And most of us would say, if we were pressed, that honestly, I wish I had a better prayer life. I wish that my prayer life was more vibrant. Most of us would probably say that, in fact, let's test it. Let's just test it. This is a safe space. Can we just designate this as a safe space? You millennials? Okay?  All right, here it is.  Sorry, I don't know why that came out. If you were to say today, Matt, if I was honest with myself, I wish my prayer life was more vibrant. Would you just raise your hand? Would you just, who is that? Who would say today, Matt, I'm being honest? Don't be a good church person, raise that hand. Raise it. I want you to raise it. If that's your heart, I want you to, uh, my hand is up. I'll put both mine up because I need both of them up. Raise your hand, look around, look around the room. Look around the room. Look around. Look around. There's a couple of you Pharisees here. But the rest of us we, um, we know I made the church people and the Millennials mad.  I'm done now, right?!  Most of us, probably 100% of us, just to be honest, if we were honest, we would say that I wish my prayer life was more vibrant.  I really do wish that.  You can't get 100% in a church on anything, not even the carpet color. Right?  But prayer is a big deal. Prayer is a big deal. And it's a deal that a lot of us like to put up a front that we got it figured out. But we're really honest, we don't have it figured out. And we wish we were better at it. So, speaking into that, let me give you a couple just generalities on prayer. Kind of general thoughts on prayer. Number one, I just want you to know that prayer is hard. Prayer is hard, because it's spiritual warfare. Prayer is hard. Number one, prayer is hard. Because it's spiritual warfare. Have you ever thought about this; Satan does not want you to pray.  He doesn't want you to pray at all. That's why every time you start to pray, you get distracted. That's why every time you start to pray, your kid pulls the hutch over on themselves. That's why every time you start to pray, you young mamas out there, your kid starts to cry, or the smoke alarm starts to chirp, or something in the yard starts to happen that you need to see. That's why every time you pray, your phone starts to buzz, or something those of you that are threes on the enneagram, there's a list in your mind that you haven't made all of the checkmarks on, and you can't pray anymore. That's why.  Because it's spiritual warfare. Satan does not want you to pray. Because Satan knows that prayer is the foundation of the fight that we are called by God to have. It's the foundation of what we're called to do. 

And listen to me, prayer is an offensive weapon. It is not a defensive weapon. That's how we treat it most of the time though.  When everything else doesn't work, when we tried all we can try, we'll finally get around to going God, I need you to help me in this. God, I need to do this, I need you to help, I need you to step in. Satan knows that it's foundational.  Satan knows that it's offensive. And Satan knows that prayer is the key to you and me flourishing in the kingdom of God as a citizen of God, as a child of God. Satan knows that. And so, what does he do?  He distracts us, he makes us feel like it's not doing anything. He puts other things in our lives.  And it is spiritual warfare when it happens, which leads me to say number two, that prayer unleashes power from God. It unleashes eternal power, eternal. And here's the difference between eternal power and my power. My power fails me all the time. But the power that prayer unleashes is eternal. It is from the Lord and is given as a gift to us and is given from above that we're going to see in just a minute as a gift to me from the Maker of the universe. So, it's warfare, but it unleashes this power that is not in my good old American self to be able to produce, it's from God. And number three, which leads me to say this, God just wants us to pray what we got. Now, I know, I know, it's not proper grammar. I couldn't get it anywhere else. But here's what it means. God wants you just to pray what you got. Here's how I describe that. He just wants you to pray and to get rid of the thought that you have to have some fancy prayer language to make it happen.

He wants you to, why?  He just wants you to talk to the Father. He just wants you to talk. And you don't have to have a specific pattern. You don't have to have a specific language. And all that thinking does when you think that you have to have a specific prayer language that only you can kind of get is to kind of make you think that you shouldn't be the one praying.  And here's how I describe it. I describe it like this. You know, there's been points in your life where you have heard other people pray, and you have said this, I just wish I could pray like them. It's probably every time you get in one of those prayer circles, you know, when you have to like squeeze and do the chain like around the little thing.  Remember those at camp?  When we were growing up, right after we burned our CDs, remember that?  You had to squeeze your kids. You'll get that later. And we had to squeeze a hand you were praying during that moment. You were just thinking oh man, they just pray what I was going to pray and now what am I going to pray? I don't have a prayer anymore. And I don't sound near as good as they're praying. They know really how to pray and I'm going to sound like an idiot. So, what do you do you give it the double squeeze to kind of just pass you because you don't know what to pray? You don't have to have a fancy prayer language.  You say, Matt what kind, what are you talking about fancy prayer language? You know what I'm talking about if you grew up in church.  I thought about something this week and I'm not making fun; I promise because I say these things all the time. You're in the car, you're going on vacation. And you know, you give it that vacation prayer before you head off on a vacation. And what do you pray for every single time God would you just grant us traveling mercies?  What is a traveling mercy?  I've never said the word traveling mercy anywhere else in my entire life, except for when I'm praying. I'm like, what am I doing? I mean why?  I've heard somebody said that and it's just a good word. Or maybe you're sitting down at the dinner table and you're praying, God, would you bless this food to the nourishment of my body?  Now listen, I'm not making fun of this, but I had Zaxbys for dinner last night and I'm really sure that there was no nourishment in that. None!  I mean, it was eight chicken fingers, a mountain of french fries, some toast and I ate ice cream after it. I cannot pray for the nourishment after that, but you know you pray for God would you bless this food to nourish my body and my bodies to your service. 

You've heard the prayer. You're at my house, you've heard this prayer.  Nourishment of my body, will you bless this.  And then what do you do, if you're super spiritual. You bless the hands that prepared it. Yes, that's the prayer language. It's the prayer language. And some of you and I'm not making fun of it, some of you're going to go this afternoon to eat and you're going to be like, I can't even pray for my food no more. I don't even know what to say.  Matt just ruined my whole prayer life right there. But honestly, though, I mean, oh, this is bad. This is going to get me fired. What if you're praying for somebody else? And you start praying that hedge of protection, you know what I'm talking about? I'm not making fun of it, I promise. It's there, God would you just put the hedge of protection around that.  What is a hedge of protection?  I mean, all hedges are in my life is something to trim. Alright, that's it. But we do and we think we can't pray because we don't have that language. Now look, if that's your language, and it's from your heart, hey, you rock that out all day. I know them all. I could do them with you. We could chant them together. I mean, we can do it. But if it's not yours, you don't have to pray like that. You pray what you got. You pray what you got. Listen to me. God is not interested in the eloquence of our prayers. He wants our heart to connect with His heart and to connect into His will to see His power being washed over us so that we can live as flourishing Kingdom citizens. That's what He wants for our life. After all, that's the theme of the whole sermon on the mount, is that we would flourish under the name of God. Remember, the week one was the Beatitudes, the blessed are those in the Lord. Blessed are you in the Lord. That's the whole first week was.  Eli on the second week on the salt and light when we are being the salt and the flavor for people's life and the light that shines on God from God from the hill, we no longer worry about ourselves, and we live a blessed life that takes that off of us.  Last week, Marty brought the idea to us that we live blessed when we realize what Christ has done for us. We live out of that and not to get to that.  It's the blessed life of the kingdom follower.  And what Jesus does today in Matthew chapter 6 is He says, look, if you want to live a blessed Kingdom citizen life, you will be a person of prayer. You be a person of prayer, and he teaches us how to pray. He teaches us right here in the Sermon on the Mount how to pray. But before He teaches us how to pray, He teaches us how not to pray. Why? Because He was a master communicator.  He knows that we're always going to default to how not to's.  It's just who we are.  It's how it happens. So, Jesus teaches us how not to pray. And he continues this compare and contrast through the whole Sermon on the Mount, salt, light, Beatitudes, you can see it all the way through. I want you to see what Jesus says about how not to pray. Matthew 6:5, look at what it says. This is Jesus talking. I know that because it's red.  "And when you pray," Jesus says, now pause there. Notice something. He didn't say, if you pray. He didn't say, if you get around to praying.  He didn't say, hey, if you have time, or there's nothing else going on.  The assumption here is that as a believer in Jesus Christ, as a follower of Jesus Christ, that prayer is part of your life. "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites."  Now, when we think of hypocrites, we think of those people who sit in services like this, and then they go live how they want to the rest of the week, right? Well, this is not what Jesus is referring to. Jesus is referring to a specific group of people, and it is the Pharisees. It's the Pharisees and I might add that Jesus has a bit of boldness about Him because the Pharisees most theologians believe, would have heard these words come out of his mouth. So, he had a little boldness to Him.  

Like looking at Him, I'll just kind of, in my sanctified mind, I can just see Jesus winking at then when he's saying it, but He probably didn't do that.  Alright?   Hypocrite was Jesus's kind of pet name for the Pharisees all through the New Testament. It's one of the things that got him got him killed.  Alright, look what he says. "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites," super-religious, but they have no passion and no God, "for they love" look at what it says, "to pray standing in the synagogues, and on the street corners, to be seen by others."  Now, this is not an attack on public prayer. I just need to say this, okay. I feel like this is just what we need to say right here. Public prayer has its place absolutely shows the name of God and proclaims the name of God; it brings the power of God. But when the public prayer is not about God, and it's about us, then we got a problem. We have serious problem. And that's what it was for these people. It wasn't about God, it was about them in their progression, you're going to see it right here. How do we know that? Like what Jesus says, "For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. I tell you; they have received their reward and full."  What is the reward? It's recognition, status. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen, then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."  What is Jesus doing here? Jesus is telling you and me that we should not pray how the religious people pray.  Wait a minute, Matt, God loves religion.   God, no, Jesus didn't it got him killed. He loves relationship. He loves the fact that he has brought us into relationship. Jesus is saying here, number one, he's like, hey, don't pray like the religious people, because the religious people just pray to use God.  Now, this is important. Because what Jesus is doing here is He is showing you and me that the primary theme of our prayer is not to use God as a genie in the bottle that we're just using to give us some kind of progression, or some kind of blessings in our lives. It's not it. And He's describing these Pharisees that that is what they used God as.  Why?  They stood on the corners, they stood on the streets, they dressed themselves in certain ways, just to be seen as leaders and authority, just to be seen in status. And Jesus is looking at them going, hey, that's not how you do this. And Jesus is not a fan of this wine. Because the only motivation or the primary motivation for our prayers should be not to get something from God. It should be to know God and be with God. 

You see, there's a difference there. And let me describe it like this. You see, there's a difference between a transactional, now stay with me, these are big words.  There's a difference between transactional relationship with God and a love relationship with God. A transactional relationship with God is me coming to God like a business partner. When I don't really like you, I don't really care about you. I don't really want to know your family or know what you think about things. I just want to make money with you. I just want to see the blessings with you. That's transactional relationship with God. a love relationship with God is kind of like me saying, God, I just love you and I want to be with you. You remember those first times you were dating? Remember those first you years that you spent together, you would look at the clock and it will be four hours later and what had you talked about? Nothing. You just enjoyed being in their presence and you still do. Right? You still do. Melissa's right there. Alright, you still do. So, do you see the difference here?  He's saying, look, you if you're treating God to use God then it's just a transactional relationship. God do this, God do this, God do this.  A love relationship is where he's saying, hey, God, I just want to be with you, and then me being with you, you will wash over me Your power, Your Grace and Your love.  And in the rest of these things will be added unto you.  You will see that next week. You see, the question brings up in my mind is, am I seeing God as beautiful or am I seeing God as useful?  Now that's strong. That's strong. Because most of our prayer lives just see God as useful.  And see when our prayer life to God is just useful, we have to discipline ourselves to pray, if it's just transactional, right? I have to discipline myself.  Oh, I need to pray. I need to pray. But when it's love, I get to pray. And I can't wait to pray. What is He saying about the Pharisees?  They don't do it out of love, they do it out of transaction.  Is He beautiful or is He useful to you? How do you know that? Right? How do you know? Well, Jesus says the answer is as you can take a look at what your prayer life looks like. And ask yourself, do I pray in the secret? Or do I just pray when it's transactional?  Look at verse 6.  Look at what it says. "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen, then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.  Do you know that secret prayer is the only thing that we can do as a believer in Jesus that can never have an outward physical reward? Do you know that?  Here, let me describe it like this.  

Do you know that you when you come and you serve at this church, there's always a reward in that right?  People see you do it. You see the kids you're working with, the people you're teaching whatever.  When you give you see this happen? You see things happen when you give.  When you go serve in the mission field. When you bring a cup of water in Jesus’ name, whatever it is, there's a sense of a fulfilling reward that is in front of you. But when you pray, and secret by definition, no one ever knows about it. And it's just you and God. There can't be any ulterior motive in secret prayer. Here's what Jesus is really saying here. He's saying, Listen, if you want to know if your relationship with God is flourishing, ask yourself if you're praying in the secret. If you're not, it's probably not. Why?  Because the rest of the Pharisees stand up in the public and they only pray to do what?  To try to get you set on God.  Number two, He says this, impress God.  He says religious people just pray to impress God. They pray to just kind of bring something in front of God, it seems crazy but keep reading verse 7, I didn't say it.  "And when you pray, do not keep babbling like the pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words." Bring anybody to mind?  "Do not be like them. For your father knows what you need. Before you even ask Him."  What's Jesus saying?  He's saying look religious people, they just keep repeating the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again hoping and thinking that if I just keep saying this maybe God will finally just incline my desires and maybe He will finally just hear me. I mean, think about it.  A couple of things. The Buddhist chants that they have to their little g God, right?  Not throwing any shame they just got the wrong God. What do they do? They keep saying it, they keep saying it, they keep saying it, keep saying.  What about the Muslim call to prayer?  You ever been part of a Muslim prayer service?  Those things go for hours, and hours.  What do they do?  They say the same thing over and over, they bow the same way over and over, time after time after time.  Why?  They're just hoping that one day their God will just break and open the universe and finally hear them.  Some of you grew up in a group that prayed beads and brought beads to mind over and over and over and over in the evangelical world.  Sometimes we sing songs over and over and over just hoping God will hear.  No.  What did Jesus say? Quit your babbling. Quit! You see, really at its core this is based off of feeling that God is hostile to us. And that eventually we could just wear Him down.  Isn’t that right mamas? Have you ever been there? Give me some ice cream? No give me some ice cream. No, give me some ice cream. No, give me some ice cream. Go ask your mom. That's how it works in my house right?  But God says No, quit your babbling!  I love that we're babbling that Jesus uses cause it's the same word in 1 Kings 18 that Elijah uses to describe the pagans as they're dancing around the firepit and he's sitting in the lawn chair. And finally, he has enough, and he comes up and he calls on God. And what does God do? He acts? Why? Look at me. You don't have to earn God's ear. What did we talk about last week? Jesus already did. He already did. And now we have, believer here this, you have full access to King Jesus, and you're not going to impress Him. So come to the Father and bring your stuff to Him. You are not going to impress God with your prayers. 

What does he say? He says don't try to pray to use God and don't try to pray just to impress God. But thank goodness Jesus didn't stop there.  Because Jesus says no, no, no, you pray to no God, you experience God and listen, this separates every other religion from Christianity that we don't have to impress our God, we just get to be with our God.  The good news is, Jesus doesn't stop in the negative. He moves from the negative into how we should pray, how do we pray as a church and if you've been in church in any length of time, or if you've ever been in a sporting event, in any length of time, you've probably heard these next verses spoken. Matthew, chapter 6, he starts to tell us how to pray. Matthew 6:9 says this.  "This, then, is how you should pray. 'Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom common Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.'"  What is that? That's the Lord's Prayer, that's the model prayer. I love what Martin Luther says about this. He said, "This is a prayer that you can pray 1000 times and get something new every time.....but unfortunately, it is a prayer that many people do pray 1000 times yet get nothing from it."  Nothing from it. Tim Keller says it like this, "It's so familiar, we can no longer hear it.  Yet everything we need is written within it."  And here's what that means. That means this morning, I want you to see this prayer in two lights.  I want you to see it as a prayer. But also, I also want you to see it as a model for living the Kingdom life. Because both of them are found inside this prayer. And this morning, we're going to walk through what Jesus says we should do every single time that we pray. Now, disclaimer, we're going to go fast, because every single one of these little elements can be a sermon in themselves, or even a series in themselves. And I'm going to do them all in the next 12 minutes and 27 not going to happen, seconds. Alright, here it is. We're going to walk through the four elements, you better have a snack, four elements of what Jesus tells us in this prayer and how he challenges us.  

Number one: Jesus says this, our prayer should always start with a passionate adoration.  With a passionate adoration.  That's just a really big fancy term. That just means that I should always start my prayer by lifting up the name of God.  By lifting up the name of who God is, lifting up what God has done, putting God in the place that He deserves.  I want you to see this whole prayer does not start with my desires. Otherwise, it will be transactional, right? It doesn't start with what I need. It starts with who God is.   Who He is? Look at verse 9.  "This, then, is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."  Now look at these words. They're specific, our.....our.  What does this mean? That means that we have a sense of community, inside the name of God and the Kingdom of God. This is a communal kingdom. That means that when you go to God in prayer, you are doing the same thing, the same way that 1000s of years of saints have done it from the beginning of time.  You are approaching God in the aspect that you are part of the community of God.  It says two things in my mind. Number one, it refocuses my attention away from just this world revolving around me and number two just shows me that I'm here to operate in the context of a community of God.  It shows me I'm not the center of the universe, as well as shows me that Christianity is not a solo or a solo family sport. Now, let me speak to you guys online for me. You guys. Hold on, you need to get back to church. You need to get back. I'm saying this as sensitive possible if you don't have any health issues, church is not meant to be done in the context of only your family. It is the family of God worshiping together, praying together, seeing the power of God together and serving together. And you can't do that from your home. We're made for community, for community, our father, our father, father's a second word, I love it. What does father mean? It means that it is in a context of a good father loving us.  You see, father's a relational term. It's a relational term. And it means that God wants what's best for us. He wants what's best for us. It means we're adopted, and we're redeemed into God's family, and we have a father that wants what's best for his kids.  Listen, it's amazing to me to see this.  Do you know why? Because I have a father that wanted this earthly for me, too. And I know what this looks like in an earthly father, but I get it when I say, Father, for some of you, there's an incredibly harsh context in this, but I need you to know. 

Listen, God is not the reflection of your earthly father. He is the perfection of your earthly father. He's the perfection of it. And as good as your father is, or as bad as your father is, don't drag God into that conversation. He's the perfection. Our Father, it's relational, in heaven, in heaven. This word Heaven is not so much a destination or a location, comment. It's a position comment. It's a position. Yes, it means that he's in heaven. But yes, he is with us. There's both and but it means this when we say that God is in heaven, the father is in heaven. It means that he has a position of authority and a vantage point for my life that I don't have. It's like me, 43 years old, trying to tell God what he should do and God's like, I'm eternal. You got what, like, a couple years on you. I mean, come on. It's like a kindergartener looking at their grandparents saying, hey, I'm going to play with this hairdryer in the bathtub. Is that cool grandpa?  And him God, no!  And they're like, well, I know what's best. That's what we say in heaven is for.  Means that God has an eternal perspective looking at me. So, when I'm telling God, you are ours, communal, you are my father, you want what's best for me. You are in heaven. I'm telling God, that He has an eternal context. Look at the next one. Hallowed be Your name. Hallowed, it sounds really scary, but it's really not.  It just means that I'm saying God your name and your renown is above anything else that I could desire. And I'm giving you that praise. 

John Piper says it like this, "God, you are the supreme, and absolute treasure and all the universe, and over the universe.  All other treasures are as nothing by comparison." You see, when you put all these together, it's me going, hey, before I can ask for anything, God, I just need to tell you how big You are, and how much You've done, and who You are, and what You are. Because before I get that, I can't ask for anything.   Secondly, Jesus says this.  Number two: Kingdom prayer has complete submission. It has complete submission. Now notice, you're still not in a position to ask anything.  That would be transactional and not love. We have to realize who God is. And I have to come to a point in my life where I'm submitting to His plan, before I can ever even think about ask anything. Look at verse 10. I didn't make it up. Look at what Jesus says, "Your kingdom come." Now, that's not my kingdom. That's not your kingdom. That's God's Kingdom. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Now notice this language your kingdom come. Why are we praying Your Kingdom come? What am I praying to God? God, I'm submitting to the perfectness of Your Kingdom eternal, and the perfectness of Your Kingdom that You really wish was happening on this earth, but we invited sin.  You see, it's an already not yet comment. "Your kingdom come." I'm looking at God going God I know that I'm broken. I know that Jesus and I need Him and I'm submitting to Him. Now, I'm submitting to Him forever.  What does He say, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”?  It's not my will, not my desires, not my assumptions. God, it's Your will, that I desire. See the first two areas of this prayer, I want you to notice something.  They are really showing us two truths.  It's showing us that as we believe that we pray, and it's showing me that my secret prayer life reveals who God is to me.  It's showing me who He is. And when you combine those two things together, why in the world would I ever go anywhere else for anything else knowing that God is above all, and He is with me? Why would I go anywhere else to have anything else met? The first two are incredible. Because it's putting me in a position to fully depend on who God is. But then number three, we finally after we submit, get to it.  

Number three: Jesus says that Kingdom prayer always has wholehearted petitioning. Now, we probably don't have to talk about this one a lot, because this is where most of our prayers start first, petitioning is just a big word that means I'm asking God for something. I'm begging God for something. I'm pleading with God for something. This is where the asking aspect of prayer starts.  Now, I want you to know, unless we have understood God, and seen our relationship with God and view God correctly, we don't ask for the right things. But when we do, it shapes our dependence.  Look at verse 11. He says, "Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us of our debts as we also forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." Jesus gives us four quick petitions here. We're not going to spend a lot of time on but they're important. The first one He says is give us our daily bread. Obviously, keto is not from the Lord. It's all its saying, right?  It's Mediterranean, they eat food, bread was with every meal. But notice when it says daily.  Daily is the bigger word there. But the bread that He's mentioned here, brings reference to the Jews because it's the manna right, the manna that sustain the Jews?  It was every day; you couldn't store it up. You had to go every day to the Lord and ask Him to give you what you needed it for today. That's what it means that God is a God that desires to bless you and to provide for you daily, physically, that's what daily bread is that God I'm coming to You and I'm saying God, I have a constant reliance on my everyday needs. These people understood this because they didn't know where their lunch was coming from sometimes.  We have it in the pantry or we already made reservations, right? What does he say next?  "And forgive us our debts."  Debts is a word that just means sin. Alright?  It's not that they borrowed five bucks from someone. It just means sin. God, forgive me for my sins.  Isn't this the greatest need that we can ever have met is for God to forgive us?  And bless us with forgiveness. Now, we easily see these two sides, we either say we are so much of a sinner that God couldn't forgive us. Or on this side, we say that we don't send and don't need God to forgive us. So, he’s debunking both of these right here and saying, look, we all need massive forgiveness. And we should pray, God, forgive me, forgive me. Meet my physical needs, but I need my spiritual needs, which is my sin met.  But then, it keeps going.  It says, "And lead us not into temptation." God, I don't know where today's going, but I just need you to put that hedge of protection around me, right?  

I just need you to put it up. I just need you to protect me today, because there's some things that could trip me up today God, put the barrier there. And He says, "but deliver us from the evil one."  What's does this mean? That's us recognizing that we've got our toe in evil right now and I just need you to get me out of it. God, get me out of it God.  There's an honesty in these petitioning that I really wish that I had in my life sometimes. What is He saying?  My physical needs, my spiritual needs, my sin needs that I don't even know that's coming, the sinning that I know that I'm in right now. But I want you to notice something about this prayer, it's going to take it up from the 101 to the 201 level for just a second. This prayer has an incredibly Trinitarian nature about it. Which means that that it represents God the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. Notice we're lifting and submitting to the father’s name. We're recognizing what Jesus has done for us on the cross by giving us forgiveness. And the third thing: we're asking the spirit, there it is, to lead us, asking Him to lead us.  Why?  Because the ultimate petition is that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, begin to wash over us and walk with us. And then here's what happens. Number four: The last one, this is a quick promise is that always leads to an obedient response. Kingdom prayer always ends up with me responding somehow, with me living out a new nature that God has put me with Him, putting a conviction in my heart with Him putting an action in my heart. Look at what Jesus says in verse 12. I'm not making it up.  "And forgive us our debts, as we have also forgive our debtors." What is that? That's me, receiving God's forgiveness, but me walking into nature, me acting out on what He's not one when we experience God's forgiveness. What is God saying? He was Jesus saying, we point our lives in a posture of forgiving and living, the new nature of who God has created me to be with was the litmus test that He gives a true believer. But if you forgive other people, when they sinned against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others of their sin.  But God, they don't deserve it.  Neither did I.  Your father will not forgive you. And I love this one. Because what Jesus does masterfully here, and in what eight verses, is He shows us how to walk in the power and the presence of Jesus. What do we do?  We recognize who God is. And we know God.  What do we do?  We give our hearts and lives to God.  That's like the life of the follower of GOD. What do we do? We ask God to continually step in, and bless and show and teach and model and disciple who I am. And what do we do?  We respond by living out that new nature, this is the life of the follower of Jesus. What are we to do? Jesus just gave it to us right here. What are we to pray? Jesus just gave it to us right here. How are we to do it? Jesus just says it right here we adore we submit, we ask and we respond. That's all.

That's all. Let me just say this. We're going to walk into a time of prayer. If this church would do this, God's presence, His power would be incredibly evident.  Incredibly evident and we would see things happen here that none of us could take credit for. That's great, right? That his presence would rule. So, here's how I want to end the service this morning. A little bit different than normal. Alright?  A couple ways. Number one, I just need to tell you that if you've never trusted Christ, if you've never submitted and given your heart to Him, allowing Him just to wash and forgive you of your sins and come into your life. That's your first step to Kingdom praying. Because otherwise, there's a gap between you and God that has not been filled. The wages of your sins are still evident to God. But He wants to give you forgiveness through Jesus this morning. Would you trust Christ today?  You say, Matt how do I do that? Hey, lord, Jesus. I know I'm a sinner. I know I need you to forgive me. And today I'm giving my life to you. Listen, if that's your heart and prayer today, if that is where you're coming to today. Welcome to the kingdom of God.  You say, Matt, whoa, whoa, what are you talking about? That's what it means to give your life to Jesus right there. Well, Matt, I didn't pray the magic prayer? That is the magic prayer.  It's you saying, God, forgive me and come into my life. Give me hope and give me life. Listen, if you are praying that prayer right now, something in you is going, Maybe I need to do that. And after the service, I'm going to stand right here. I want to talk to you.  I just want to talk to you.  I'll have some other guys around me. So, there's a bunch of you, that's cool. We're ready. Or you can respond online to the next step text and just say, hey, I want to trust Christ today. Well, you already did. I mean, it's right there by saying that.  But you know, potatoes, potatoes, we'll talk to you. Maybe today. For the first time ever. You realize that you can pray?  All I can say is hallelujah! You can pray. That's it. That's all of it.  You say, Matt, I'm not sure I can do that.  Yeah, you can. But I don't know the words?  Doesn't matter. Matt, I don't know the secret words, there are none.  No matter what your grandpa said. Doesn't matter. Pray what you got.  But Matt, it's hard. Yeah, it is.  That's how Satan wants it.

But listen, God's available. He's available. And we're going to be a praying church. Now I'm inviting you to use this as a model. It's not my model. It's Jesus's, it's way better. But here's how I want to end the service this morning. I just want us to pray. When it's right. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to lead you and I'm going to pray. But I want you inserting where you're at personally, as I pray.  Matt, can I talk while you're praying? You can to God, it's cool. He can hear us above. But I'm going to walk you through what this looks like to pray.  Just right here, every day of your life. And then after that we're going to be dismissed. And we're going to use this as a model. 

Lord, God, we adore You above all, we lift You.  Above all, we put You on the throne that you deserve to be on. You're the Maker.  You're the Creator.  You're the Sustainer. And God today, I'm just in awe of Your presence that you would be involved with a guy like me, in a church like this. God, we adore You, as a community, we adore you personally. We lift You up as the King, as the Savior, as the Healer, as the Counselor, as our Father, who wants what's best for us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.  God, you see so much better than I see, don't let my stuff get in the way of Your stuff. God today, I'm submitting to Your plan. For my family, for my vocation, for my job, for that project that I'm on, for my friends.  I'm submitting to Your will with my finances, with my servanthood.  I'm submitting to your plan for my kids, for their future.  God, I'm just telling You that I'm yours. I'm asking Your Kingdom to come. And I want to live like it's already here.  God, I'm asking Your will be done in my life, as it will one day be done in heaven. God today I'm just going to ask You to bless, God, I'm asking you to step into situations in my life, God for my family right now.  God bless them.  God, they're hurting.   Meet their needs. Comfort them.  Give them hope. Give them life. Give them joy. God for this church. God, we pray that Your spirit is rich. Send us just a massive outflowing of your Holy Spirit.  God, forgive us.  God forgive us of the sins that we know we have, and God forgive us of the ones that we don't even know that we have.   God they're there. We're really good at hiding them, but they're there. And God help us to be your people.  God, will You just help those around us that are struggling financially, struggling emotionally, struggling physically?  God there's so many names that come to mind.  So many that are in hospitals right now.  God, we pray for those who need to know you.  God put us in their path. Send your Holy Spirit to them.  God, lastly, send us.  God, I don't know what you're calling all of us to do, but God our answer is yes. Give us the strength, the fortitude, the time, put words in our minds. And God let us say no to things that are not of Yours.  Jesus, we invite Your presence in every single step that we take. And we know God that You are faithful.  Thank you, Jesus.

I want you to know something this morning. You just prayed for seven minutes, six minutes. That's praying. It's easy. It's easy. Follow the model. God's presence, His power, His protection and his grace. Continue to flow.  Lord walk with us this week, Jesus. God I'm so excited about VBX starting tomorrow.  Bless it.  In your name we pray King Jesus, Amen. Amen. You guys have a fabulous week. We'll see you next week.