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well it's great to be together once
again as we are continuing our
chronological study through the entire
new testament right now in the heart of
the sermon on the mount matthew chapter
six and in the heart of the lord's
prayer now we're right smack in the
middle of the important things here if
you've got your bible if you could open
it to matthew chapter 6 and how about
let's start in verse number 11.
jesus
is teaching us not only a prayer that we
could pray verbatim as long as we're
praying with meaning he's teaching us a
pattern for prayer and he starts with uh
what we should start with you know
of all of our requests before we pray
for our own personal needs or desires we
should pray for what should be our
greatest desire which would be a
spiritual desire that god's name would
be hallowed that was found in matthew
chapter six and verse number nine and
right along those same same lines you
know pray that his kingdom would come
and that his will would be done on earth
as it is in heaven and as i said you
previously boy those are convicting
prayers because how can we pray those
prayers that the whole world would be
doing god's will
if you know we're not doing god's will
ourselves right right okay so those are
the most important things
that comes before even our most basic
physical material necessities such as
food
because
you know if you don't get food you just
be hungry for a while you can go without
food for weeks
and still survive in fact you might even
do better than you've been doing because
you give your body a break and a chance
to clean itself up a little bit but uh
nothing is more important than that
god's name behalf than his kingdom come
because that's a forever prayer right
that's what uh life and eternity is
really all about so no doubt that's why
jesus listed this next request as being
secondary and third actually to the
other prayer requests in verse number 11
he says
give us this day our daily bread a
couple of things that that reflects it
certainly doesn't reflect any greed does
it it reflects quite a contentment i'm
not praying for yachts
i'm not praying for that hundredfold
return
on that thousand dollars i just gave to
that tv preacher last week
you know
uh i'm not praying for bigger barns
where i can store all my goods in co you
know in contradiction to what christ
commanded me so i can lay up treasures
on this earth oh my goodness this is not
a layup treasures on earth type prayer
give me this day my daily bread that's
really what i need that's all i need i
just need some food for today and it
shows a level of trust that most of us
have never really been tested on this
have we i mean most of us
how do we really need you know
in the fullness extent to pray this
prayer i recognize we always need to
pray this prayer to acknowledge our
dependency upon the lord for our daily
needs but probably if you're like me
you've got food not just for today
you've already got food for tomorrow and
a few other days stored away in your
refrigerator or in your pantry right so
god's doing a wonderful job at meeting
our needs and uh
boy you know it shouldn't be hard for us
to trust him but if the situation comes
down to it where all we have is well if
we're having to pray in the morning for
that day's bread god is faithful and
he's able to supply the need even if
your circumstances are that dire and you
probably heard testimonies of people who
got down to that place in their lives
where they didn't have food for that day
and they prayed and god met their need
that day
sometimes you know the lord seems like
he's running a little bit late but he
only said i'll supply your needs and you
don't need food for tomorrow you need
food for today right all right so it
shows a real level of commitment and a
degree of spiritual maturity to pray
that prayer lord you know i'm done
chasing after stuff and things and
laying up my treasures on this earth man
you know more can i'm just content and i
i i don't want much for myself okay that
that that's there's a lot packed into
that i think we're we're missing it and
it's it is it
should cause us like the other requests
to examine our own hearts you know what
am i all about what am i seeking first
the kingdom because i just prayed you
know god's kingdom would come his will
would be done am i doing that or am i
all about what the whole world is about
seeking after you know more material
things because he who dies with the most
toys and wins as one bumper sticker said
which of course is completely false and
contradictory to what jesus wants us to
believe
all right now uh the next verse
verse number 12
forgive us our debts
or some version say trespasses
as we also have forgiven our debtors
now obviously the debts of which he is
which he is talking are not
uh literal debts because we don't
actually literally owe god money and we
didn't pay him money and so we're asking
him to forgive us what we owe him and so
it stands to reason that if it's not
literal debts in the first part of verse
number 12 it's probably not literal
debts in the second part of verse 12 as
we have also forgiven our debtors
because you could stay out of that as
long as you don't lend money to anybody
and even if you do as long as they pay
you back it doesn't make any difference
you know you can say well i don't really
need to apply that to my life because
i've not lent any money or if i have
lent money they've paid me back and so
i'm safe and secure no he's talking here
about just getting forgiveness for
the the offenses and the sins that we've
committed against the lord and we're
asking for forgiveness so here's
something we can learn from that
people who can call god their father
people who are praying your kingdom come
your will be done
these are still people who are not yet
perfect and they still need to pray
maybe every day
forgive me
because i haven't reached the
peak of perfection yet oh yes i have
been filled with the fruit of
righteousness oh yes the fruit of the
spirit is growing and emanating out of
me oh yes i'm a new creature but i'm not
perfect perfectly walking a hundred
percent in the will of the lord and so i
still
have a need for forgiveness in my life
at times okay so that should be a
comfort it's all in the same prayer you
know the same folks are praying your
will be done
are the same people who are praying
forgive me for my sins now this is one
of those prayer quests that's
conditional that is it's guaranteed not
to be answered unless you meet
the condition i'd like to talk about
that i will talk about that
so
i'll see you next time
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you