So we're there in Matthew chapter six and there's only one reason that I really prepared
to preach this sermon is we had a brother in the Lord on Wednesday say, oh, I'm not
very good at praying.
I'm not very good at praying.
And you know, sometimes we look at these things that prayer, you know, you might think that
it's quite a basic thing.
And I suppose it is, you know, when it comes to some of the staples of our Christian living,
you know, you would say, well, you know, praying is one of our staples, reading our Bibles
and going to church and going soul winning.
You know, these are things that are sort of fundamentals to our Christian living.
And because these are sort of main issues in our life, main fundamental foundations
of our Christian life, it's good to hear sermons on these issues from time to time.
Like I never get bored of a sermon about praying.
I never get bored about a sermon going to church or reading my Bible, going soul winning,
because these are things that we need to be actively doing on a daily basis.
Now when you look at Matthew chapter six, verse number nine, Christ teaches us how to
pray.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Matthew chapter six, verse number nine.
He says, after this manner, therefore pray ye.
So Christ is telling his disciples how to pray.
But I want to show you the parallel passage here.
Keep your finger there in Matthew six, and come with me to Luke chapter 11, come with
me to Luke chapter 11 and verse number one, please, Luke chapter 11, verse number one.
You know, Luke gives us a little bit more information.
It seems like in the book of Matthew, Christ just continues to talk, he just continues
to teach.
But there actually was an interaction with his disciples that we see here in Luke 11,
verse number one, Luke 11, verse number one, it says that it came to pass that as he was
praying, that as Jesus was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
And so look, you know, if you don't feel comfortable praying, you don't know how to pray, that's
fine.
One of Jesus's old disciples went to Jesus and said, look, can you teach us how to pray?
We want to know how you speak to the Father.
Jesus, we see you're constantly praying, you're constantly going to God, we want to be the
same.
We want to be like you, Jesus.
And so look, there's nothing wrong.
If you can say about yourself, look, I struggle in this area, hey, great, Jesus Christ was
asked the same question, teach us how to pray.
And then in verse number two, it says, and he said unto them, when you pray, say, our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done as
in heaven, so in earth.
So anyway, I'm just trying to show you that is a parallel passage.
And one of these disciples asked Jesus Christ specifically how to pray.
And the title for the sermon this afternoon is learning to pray, learning to pray.
Come back with me to Matthew chapter six, please, where the reading was.
Matthew chapter six, let's look at it again, verse number nine, Matthew chapter six and
verse number nine.
So this is not going to be a groundbreaking sermon, it's basics, okay?
It's the things, you know, what you need to be thinking about when you open your mouth,
open your heart and go before God in prayer.
Now you know what's great about being a Christian, when I hear from God, all I need
to do is open God's word and I can hear directly from Him and His words are perfect
to me, okay, to one size fits all, His words, they're perfect for you and they're perfect
for me and we know that when we go to God in prayer, our words aren't always perfect.
That's the part of the communication that kind of fails sometimes is, you know, it coming
out of our mouth.
God's communication is always perfect toward us.
But he says in verse number nine, after this manner, therefore pray ye.
Now this is known as the Lord's prayer.
When I was going to my old Baptist church, my old Baptist union church growing up, every
service will recite the Lord's prayer, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven or whatever it was,
okay?
I hope it was a King James translation, I don't know what we were really quoting from
and you know, it was kind of nice.
I mean, I suppose you are memorizing scripture, you know, you are kind of thinking about how
Christ taught us to pray but one thing that I noticed was it became a vain repetition
like amongst us Baptists and then when I met my wife and she was a Roman Catholic, she
also told her, oh yeah, we learned how to pray, you know, our Father, in fact, we can
shorten the Lord's prayer because she was a Roman Catholic and she had the beads, what
they call the rosary beads, you know, you pray with the rosary beads and instead of
just quoting the whole prayer, all you need to do is move one bead, our Father.
Next one, our Father.
Next one, our Father, our Father, our Father, our Father, our Father, our Father and then
maybe some Hail Marys, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary.
That's how you pray?
That's you speaking to God like what?
You know, and so look, the religions of this world, they don't know how to speak to God.
Even some Baptists think, oh, I just have to quote the Lord's prayer word for word
and that's fine and that's acceptable.
No, it's still repetition.
We'll look at the word, we'll look at the vain repetitions in a moment but I want
you to notice how Christ is after this manner.
So what he's saying is like this, right?
He's not saying just say this word for word.
He says, look, this is a description, okay?
This is an example prayer and if you can just kind of follow the steps of this prayer, you
pretty much have it right, all right?
So after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father which are in heaven.
So the first thing I want you to notice, who is it that we address when we go to pray?
Our Father which are in heaven, okay?
Now look, sometimes as I pray, I will say to Jesus something or I might even speak to
the Holy Ghost and say, Holy Spirit, fill me, whatever it is, you know, but one thing
I started to learn is every time when Christ speaks about going to prayer, he addresses
this issue going to the Father and one thing that I understood, it's not that you're
not dealing with the triune nature of God, the trinity, it's just that there are different
roles played within God's three persons and the one that we speak to in heaven when
we go to pray is our Father which are in heaven, okay?
Our Father in heaven, then he says, hallowed be thy name and the other thing that the Catholics
get wrong, they pray to these images on the earth.
Now our Father which are in heaven, okay, we're praying to the God of heaven and then
hallowed be thy name.
What does it mean to hallow?
It's kind of like, it has the same root word as holy.
You know, Jesus Christ is saying, holy is your name.
You know, holy means to be separated, set apart, different from the world.
It's a name without corruption and that name is the Father of heaven and brethren, you
know, when we go to God in prayer, I know it's tempting because we've got all our
concerns and our issues and our sorrows and pain.
It's very easy, dear God, these are my problems.
Can you enter into my problems?
You know, let's get into the habit of just glorifying God in heaven, you know, just praising
God in heaven.
You know, one thing that we do when we come to church and one thing, you know, we've
spoken about this a little bit, you know, I always want our opening hymn.
I know our opening hymn can sound repetitive, but we're actually repeating similar hymns
because I want it to be a hymn that is praiseworthy of God.
Some of that, there's a lot of hymns, there are hymns about reading your Bible, there
are hymns about the blood of Christ, there are hymns about soul winning, all kinds of
hymns, but the first hymn when we open the service, I would just want it to be a hymn
of praise where we're lifting up the name of Christ or we're just glorifying God or
crown Him with many crowns, something like that, because I want us to get into this habit
when we come before God, Jesus Christ gives us an example to praise Him, to hallow Him,
to say that He's holy, that He deserves our worship.
The next thing, verse number 10, thy kingdom come, and again, you don't have to word this
word for word, but I want you to notice, what is Christ's priority?
Is it, again, is it straight to my issues?
Now look, if you go to God and you just say, dear Lord, these are my issues, bang, of course
He's happy to hear your prayer, okay, God wants us to come, but again, we're looking
at a model prayer, okay, teach us to pray, right, you know, Lord, how, what's the best
way, what is the best practice when we go before God and we see that Christ says thy
kingdom come, what is top of the mind of Christ?
The kingdom of God, and you all know Matthew 633, but seek ye first the kingdom of God,
in fact you're in the chapter, aren't you, and His righteousness, and all these things
shall be added unto you, so all these things shall be added unto you, the things that I
need, the things that I commonly go to God in prayer about, they're all going to be given
to me, but I've got to seek His kingdom first and His righteousness, and so Christ gives
us that example, thy kingdom come.
Now one thing that, you know, I've taught this church in the past, is when you look
at the kingdom of God, you know, there are three elements that make up that kingdom of
God, you know, sometimes when you're reading the Bible, you know, Jesus will say something
like, you know, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but then there'll be other
times when He says, oh, when we get to the kingdom of God, we're going to be eating and
drinking, and so that sounds contradictive, you know, and we know there's a literal kingdom
to come, we talk about Christ's kingdom on the earth for a thousand years, but then we
have other passages where Christ says, well, the kingdom of God is within you, see, all
these elements are true, but the kingdom of God is present this very moment, but it's
in the spiritual realm, it's of a spiritual nature.
When you see a soul saved, they enter into the kingdom of God, and that is why the kingdom
of God is within you, it's of spiritual nature right now, and when Christ comes, it's going
to be of a very literal physical nature, for a thousand years Christ is going to rule in
His kingdom, and then the kingdom finally gets its last development, when Christ gives
the kingdom to the Father, and that kingdom becomes eternal in nature, okay, but there
is a threefold step in the kingdom of God, and when Christ says, thy kingdom come, in
the present tense, we're talking about the spiritual kingdom at this point in time.
The importance of bringing people into the kingdom of God is the top of mind of Christ,
the kingdom first and His righteousness.
So brethren, it's not our kingdom, it's not pastor Kevin's kingdom, you know, it's not
our riches and our finances and our desires, no, God, we want your kingdom first, and then
straight away, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven, thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven, and so this is really important, and if you can keep your finger
there, come with me to 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5, so thy will be done.
When we go to God in prayer, I know once again, brethren, we have our things, we have our
requests, we have what we think, or how we desire God to answer our prayer, but before
we even bring a request, how about we say to God, actually God, before I bring my request,
I want your will to be done, okay, you know, ideally I want my prayer to be in accordance
to your will, but before I bring my will, Lord, I want your will to be done, okay, on
earth as it is in heaven.
Now 1 John chapter 5, this is important, 1 John chapter 5 verse number 14, 1 John chapter
5 verse number 14, it says, and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we
ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, brethren, do you notice, we need to ask
according to His will, look, we can have confidence in this, if we know God wants this in my life,
God promised it in His word, this is God's will, and I go to God and say, God, give me
your will, Lord, fulfil your will in my life, Lord, I'm claiming this promise that I see
to me in your word, it's going to happen, 100%, no doubt whatsoever, this is something
we can be confident in, it's like your confidence in your salvation, I'm confident, I have no
doubts, I know Christ did it all, I can stand on Christ, my eyes on Christ, and I go, it
was done, it was finished, my sins are paid for, glory, I'm going to heaven, I have no
doubts, we can have the same approach when we go to God in prayer, and we bring our requests,
but you see, the importance of lining up what we ask according to His will, and then it
says in verse number 15, and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that
we have the petitions that we desired of Him, you go, hold on, I asked according to His
will, no, that we desired, and look, I'm going to give you just a bit of my own testimony
here, okay, nothing, nothing, nothing in great detail, but I've never seen God answer my
prayers as much as He does, like, and I'm talking, this has been going on for years,
years now, you know, I remember I would go to God in prayer as a young person, you ask
foolish things, really, I mean, you don't know that at the time, you think they're serious
and important things in life, and you ask, and you get used to asking according to your
will, would I want God, and look, again, I'm not trying to discourage you, because I think
going to God in prayer and making that a habit is a good thing, okay, but we all know that
we need to grow, we know that when we're saved, we're babes in Christ, we're growing, we're
developing, and you know what, as you develop in the spiritual life, you're going to find
something transition, you know, as you love God's Word, and you hear God's Word preached,
and you read God's Word, you're going to start finding your will becomes closer and closer
and closer to the will of God, to the point when you just open your mouth and you pray,
you have the confidence, I know this is God's will, I know God will answer, and He does,
and He gives you the petitions that we desire of Him, okay, but we desire it because it's
lined up perfectly with God's will.
And so, look, if you say, Parasha, I pray, I ask for a lot of things, I just don't see
a lot of answers to my prayer, don't get discouraged, it could just be that it's your will, you
need to grow, you need to see what God wants for you, what He wants in your life, ask in
accordance to the promises He gives in His Word, sometimes I go to God and I say, God,
you know, increase my faith, right, you know, help my unbelief, and I say, Lord, I don't
know if you're going to come through, Lord, but I read that in your Word, I know that's
for me, Lord, can you just answer me according to your Word, because I know you're true to
your Word, I'm not always faithful, you know, I'm not always, you know, on the same page
as you, Lord, but I know you're always on the same page as your Word, you cannot lie,
so Lord, can you please fulfil this prayer request in accordance to your Word, and you
take that to God, and He answers, He answers, you know, and look, this is, we're not just
speaking gibberish, you know, to the ceiling, we're speaking to Almighty God, who controls
the entire world, it's all in His hands, okay, your life is in His hands, the whole world,
the whole universe is in His hands, and He hears your prayer, and He delights the Lord
when it's according to His will, so get in the habit, say, Lord, your will be done, and
you know what is going to give you happiness?
When your prayer doesn't get answered, or it gets answered differently, maybe not the
preferred way that you want it, you say, hold on, oh, God's will was done then, because
it didn't come through the way I wanted, that must have been my own will, okay, so that's
a beautiful thing to be able to say to God, your will be done.
Come back with me to Matthew 6, if you've turned away, Matthew 6, verse number 11, Matthew
6, verse number 11.
Now would I like to contrast with verse number 10 and 11, thy kingdom come, that's a big
issue, alright, that's the priority, God's kingdom, and then we go to verse number 11
about bread, it says, give us this day our daily bread, what I like about the contrast,
we talk about the big things, the important things, the main things, and then God also
wants us to bring to Him the smallest things, the smallest matters, the things that we need
on a daily basis, and I've got to be honest with you, brethren, verse number 11 is probably
something I don't pray about very often, because my daily bread is normally in the pantry,
or in the fridge, you know, of course, back in these days, they didn't have refrigeration
or what have you, you know, in fact, if you have real bread, it's meant to go stale
after a day or two, like proper bread, that's actually good for your health, okay, and so
praying for your daily bread, praying for the smallest things, you know, praying for
your meal, saying God, can you please ensure that my family, that we have everything we
need to be taken care of today and tomorrow and every day is a practice that we should
get into, not just the big things, the small things.
God is concerned about every little detail of your life, verse number 12, and forgive
us our debts, so now what's he saying, hey, look, obviously Christ did not have to pray
this to the Father, Christ had no debts to pay, Christ had no sins, okay, but he's given
us this example, God, we need to go before God and confess our sins, say Lord, I know
we've messed up, you know that I've messed up, Lord, these are some sins that come to
mind right now, please forgive me, and Lord, I'm sure I've done other sins, I've said other
stupid things, I've done other stupid things that I don't recall right now, please forgive
me for those sins, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, so confession of
sin is an important part of your prayer life.
Now again, brethren, look, Christ has given us a model, an example, these are all things
that we should be praying about, look, there can be times where you just, you've committed
sin and you're just feeling disgusting, alright, and you're like, man, I better just confess
this now, and you make that the priority, that's fine, that's fine, okay, I'm not trying to
say that every time you pray, again, it's a model prayer, okay, we don't want to get
into vain repetitions, okay, oh, did I check this box correctly when I prayed, looks, praying
at the end of the day, you're pouring your heart out to God, okay, you're speaking to
God, alright, but what you want to do is if you identify in your prayer life that you're
missing some of these elements, I want you to start adding it in your prayer, okay, adding
it to your prayer, making a habit of it, because Christ gave us the example, he's going to
be the best to teach us how to pray, so let's pray like Jesus Christ, verse number 13, and
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, okay, so Lord, you know, yes, you've
forgiven my sins, but Lord, can you also not lead me into that same temptation again,
Lord, if the devil, the tempter comes, or Lord, if my heart starts to die, can you please
just step in and maneuver me away from that, you know, when I start to be tempted for the
sins that I like, Lord, can you just distract me from that, you know, find me an opportunity
where I can just be, you know, not have to think about that, I'm not even engaged even
in that temptation, like, you know, we know that when temptations come, we have to battle,
do I give in to that temptation, or do I not, but even better, can I just not have that
temptation, I don't want to even deal with it, so I don't have to accidentally, or you
know, have the moment where I would sin against you, but deliver us from evil, so even when
we are facing evil, when we are facing things that will harm us, the sins that will harm
us, Lord, can you deliver us, get me out of this bad situation, and then Christ goes back,
for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever, Amen.
How does he end his prayer, again glorifying God once again, glorifying the Father, thank
you God, I know you're a God that answers prayer, thank you God, I know you're a God
that is powerful and mighty, and you can do great things for me, Lord, I just want to
praise you, Lord, you are powerful, you are mighty, thank you Lord, Amen, Amen of course
means truth, so we end with Amen, you know we encourage, if someone is praying at church,
for others to say, if you agree with the prayer, if you don't agree with the prayer, you
don't have to say Amen, but you know if someone gets behind the pool, but hey can
you open in a word of prayer, the Lord please bless the service, in Jesus' name Amen,
everyone says Amen, what you're saying is, Lord I agree with this prayer, this is my
prayer to you as well, okay, so this is the example that Jesus Christ has given us, and
come with me now to John 14, come with me now to John 14, John 14, I guess the first
point that I wanted to cover there, you see how Christ started the prayer, he ended the
prayer speaking to the Father, we go and we speak to the Father when we open our mouths
in prayer, but I want to now speak about Christ, okay, John 14, 13, John 14, 13, why is it
that when we end prayer, and let me encourage you to end prayer like this, in Jesus' name
Amen, in Jesus' name Amen.
Now the word prayer, let me just quickly summarise, we often think of the word prayer as a religious
term, biblical term, prayer just means ask, okay, when English wasn't so, I was going
to say bastardised, but that's probably not the best word, right, you know, I remember
going to high school, learning Shakespeare for example, and instead of saying hey can
I ask you to do this, you know, the Shakespeare thing would be like oh I pray thee, I pray
thee, and when you read your Bible you'll see many times the word pray thee or something
like this because it just means to ask, now to pray is to ask, alright, now in John 14,
13, John 14, 13, Christ says, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that
the Father may be glorified in the Son, if ye ask anything in my name, I will do it.
So this is why we end prayer, we've gone to the Father, we've said these things,
say in Jesus' name, okay, listen, that is the name above every name, that is the most
powerful name, when we say in Jesus' name, we're saying God, by the power of the name
of your Son that saved me from my sins, I come you in Jesus, by Jesus' authority,
Jesus told me to pray this way, can you do it for Jesus, that's essentially what we're
saying, Lord can you do it for Jesus, in Jesus' name, come with me to John 15, John 15, 16,
John 15, 16, John 15, 16, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit shall remain, and then it
says, that whatsoever ye ask, ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
So I want you to notice, we do pray to the Father, and what we saw earlier in John 14,
Jesus Christ is still involved, you know, in our prayer, okay, we're asking the Father
to complete this task for his Son, and we get that benefit, but once again Christ is
telling us, look, ask in my name, this is something that Christ brings up multiple times
in the book of John, come with me to John 16, I'll show you again, John 16, verse
number 23, it's all close proximity for you, these verses, John 16, 23, John 16, 23,
he says, and in that day ye shall ask me nothing, okay, let me give you the context of this,
what is this day that it's all about, so we know when Christ came to this earth, he
had his disciples, okay, and his disciples would, because Christ is there physically
on the earth, they would go to Christ and say, hey, we need this, we need that, you
know, Christ, we've got 5,000, we've got to feed the 5,000, what do we do, how do
we feed them, right, they would go to the Christ, you know, to help him and to do the
work of his ministry, but we know that Christ, the day is coming when Christ will be taken,
he'll be going to the right hand of the Father, and he says, and in that day ye shall
ask me nothing, speaking that context of his disciples, verily, verily, I say unto
you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you, hitherto have
ye asked nothing in my name, ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full, because
look, you've not had to ask the Father in my name yet, but now, this is what I'm
telling you, this day is coming when you're going to have to go straight to the Father,
because I'm not going to be walking on the earth, leading you in ministry here, you
go to the Father, ask in my name, and ye shall receive that your joy may be full, hey, prayer
gives you joy, when you can speak to the Father, it gives you fullness of joy, when you can
go to your Heavenly Father who loves you, say God I have need of these things, and he
says look you'll come, you'll ask, and you'll receive it, okay, but you need to
ask in the power of Jesus' name, okay, so, don't let it become a vain repetition in
Jesus' name, Jesus' name, just understand what you're saying, understand what power
you're invoking, you're saying to God the Father, God the Father I'm asking you, can
you answer this the way you would answer it to your son, I'm going by your son's authority,
by his name, I know you will do anything for your son, and Lord I'm using the power
and the instruction that Christ has given me, so you can answer my prayer.
So we have the Father involved, we have the son involved, let's talk about the Holy
Spirit, come with me to Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6 please, Ephesians chapter
6, because ultimately what we want is the prayers answered, that's the big payoff
at the end of it all right, and we learnt a few things, we need to ask according to
God's will, we need to ask in Jesus' name, hey we want to confirm that these answers
of prayer will come through for us, and then we have Ephesians 6 verse 18, Ephesians 6
verse 18, it says Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, let's hit
on the first point, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, okay,
by the help of the Holy Spirit of God, now look you understand and we teach this often,
the battle between the flesh and our spirit that we have, okay, we can do very similar
things, sometimes you may even come to church in the flesh, where you're like oh man I've
been forced to come here, I've got to sit down, I've got to tick the box, I can't
wait to get out of church, man if you have that attitude you're in the flesh, but I
don't know, I can't see that, I'm hoping that when we come to church we're in the
Spirit, we've put on the new man, okay, and you know when it comes to our physical flesh,
our bodies, they're here, they exist, so we can interact in a physical realm, when
we talk about our spiritual bodies, because we're saving the soul, we're soul winners,
okay, we've been given two different vehicles, the flesh to function in this 3D world of
ours, and the spirit, so we can function in the spiritual realm, that our spirit can interact
with the Holy Spirit of God, that we can speak directly to God, and hear from Him,
and His Holy Spirit can bear witness to our spirit, that we are His children, that we
are saved, okay, now if you're unsaved, you know most of the world is unsaved, they
are dead spiritually, so they cannot interact with God, okay, they cannot pick up the Bible
and understand God's Word, alright, but the moment you're saved, you're born again
in the spirit, you're born of the spirit, okay, and God's Holy Spirit can interact
with you in the spiritual realm, in that spiritual vehicle, you can pick up God's Word, you
can understand it, you can talk to God directly, you know, you're born again, this is why
we need to pray in the spirit, like I said, you can come to church in the flesh, you're
not going to get anything out of church, you might say, oh, I've got to say my quick
prayer before I go to bed, dear Lord, thank you, you know, whatever, Lord, I've got
to eat, I'm so mad, I'm so hungry, dear Lord, please, and you eat, you're in the
flesh, and you know you are, you know you haven't really, okay, hold on, let me set
aside the flesh, let me put on the new man, let me be in the spirit, Lord, my focus and
attention is on you, and then you go and pray, you know, through the Holy Spirit of God,
and what I also like about this, when you ask in the spirit, we also have this further
instruction and watching, in verse 18, and watching there unto, with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints, so what's great about that, you know, prayer helps us
not to be selfish, we know we have our needs, we know we go before God, God knows we have
our needs, but we're also instructed here, and when you're the spirit, this is going
to come through, you're going to start remembering the burdens and the struggles
of your brothers and sisters in the Lord, you're going to start remembering the struggles
and the burdens of all saints, and you're going to start bringing their requests before
you.
This is why I love Wednesday night.
I love Wednesday night, okay, like as a preacher, I prefer preaching Sunday mornings and Sunday
afternoons, because I'm kind of fresh, out of sleep, not a lot on my mind, prepare my
sermons ready to go, off I go.
I don't like Wednesday nights to preach, all Thursday nights in Sydney, because it's the
end of the day, kind of tired, you know, mentally fatigued, I don't know if I have any energy
left to preach on a Wednesday night, and then on a Thursday night to double up, but what
I love about Wednesday night is after service, that we bring our prayer requests, that we
hear the needs, the supplications of the saints, and isn't it true when you're together as
a group and we pray for one another, it's much easier to pray for the needs of others.
Usually when you're by yourself, you just kind of think about your own needs, but when
we're in a group and we hear, you know, our brother needs this, and brother needs that,
sister needs that, she's struggling with this, or whatever it is, we go before God in the
Spirit and say, Lord, not just my needs, my brethren has all these great needs as well.
Can we meet to Matthew 21, please, Matthew 21.
Matthew 21, verse number 22, Matthew 21, verse number 22.
We're going to look at the role of the Holy Spirit a little bit further down later in
the sermon, but Matthew 21, 22, okay, it says, and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in
prayer, believe in, ye shall receive.
Okay, so the next one that I have for you, this is a quick one, obviously we need to
be praying in faith, right, believe in, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believe in, ye shall
receive.
You see, when God asks us to go before Him, He wants to see our faith in play and say,
Lord, I can't be the only one where I'm lacking faith, I can't be, because we're flesh and
blood with the same, guys, we have Adam's sin nature passed down to all of us, right,
and this is why I said to you, you know, sometimes I'm like, God, I just, I don't know, this
is what I want, this is what I need, it has to happen, and so I said, Lord, just increase
my faith, Lord, I'm not very faithful, but you're always faithful, that's what I said,
you know, like, it really helps me, Lord, your word says it, please answer it according
to your word.
I believe you, I believe, I'm just struggling with faith a little bit sometimes, but I know
you're always faithful to your own word, and I've given you examples before when I struggle
to pray sometimes, I'll open a book of Psalms, when I feel ashamed or cast down, burdened,
I just feel like I can't open my mouth to the Lord, I'll turn to a Psalm, Lord, you're
reading these Psalms for me so I know how to speak to you, and I'll just find a Psalm
that is my scenario, that I feel like meets the scenario, the emotions that I'm feeling
at the moment, and say, Lord, I'll just read that passage and say, Lord, amen, in Jesus'
name, amen, that's my prayer to you, Lord, you know, but believing, faith, I believe
you're going to come through for me, Lord, you know, that is what pleases the Lord, faith
does.
Come with me to, back to Matthew 6, come back with me to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter
6, now before Christ gave the model prayer, the example prayers, he taught his disciples,
he also told us before that how not to pray, okay, Matthew chapter 6, verse number 5, Matthew
chapter 6 and verse number 5, and when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites
are, amen, I don't want to be a hypocrite when I pray, for they love to pray, standing
in the synagogues, and say, but pastor, you're standing right now in the house of the Lord
and sometimes you open in prayer, well, look, in the corners of the streets, look, they're
not, their desire is not to talk to God, their desire is this, that they may be seen of men,
verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
Reverend, you don't have to impress man in your prayer, look, it's wonderful to glorify
God, but look, never take the view of, my prayer, I'm going to fancy my prayer up a
little bit, because I want to be seen by men, I want men to see that I'm a great, you know,
praying believer, Lord, you know, all I want to do is come and elevate you, Lord, I want
to speak to you, Lord, I want you to hear us, Lord, it's for you, we want to glorify
you and not glorify man, ok?
But there are people like this, right, they stand, they want to be seen of man, oh, how
holy, it says, verily I say unto you, they have their reward, look, they're not going
to get their prayers answered, ok, our reward is our prayers getting answered, their reward
is men going, wow, what a great man, look how much he preaches, look how well he preaches.
Verse number 6, but thou, when thou pray'st, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly, look, we don't need everybody to see us when we pray, do we?
Just find, sort of love prayer, my favourite place to pray is driving, because I can kind
of switch off, don't have to give driving too much attention, I'm there, got nothing
else to do, I'm bored, you know what, now I'm going to use this time to pray to God,
I'm going to use this time, you know, I'm not distracted by anything else, you know,
I love praying as I drive in the car, it's my secret time with the Lord, alright, when
I'm driving to the airport for example to go to Blessed Up Baptist Church, I'm driving,
like Lord, please help me to prepare my sermon, to be equipped not to be tired this Thursday
night as I go to see your people, help me to be encouragement, you know, and I speak
to the Lord these things or whatever is heavy on my heart, I love praying to the Lord in
secret and so entering into your closet is a parallel here to going into your bedroom,
going into your private chambers when no one sees you, but look, no one needs to see you,
God sees you, God sees you, God sees your heart and He's going to reward you for that.
Verse number 7, and this is what we touched upon earlier, but when you pray, use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do, our Father, our Father, our Father, you know, Hail Mary,
Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, you know, I mean how, how, I mean the Catholic
Church have Bibles, that's in the Bible, like how, you know bishops must be the husbands
of one wife, how, how do you say don't get married, what, it's like did you read the
Bible and just say, we're going to do the opposite, but once again it tells you that
hey, that's why you need to pray in the Spirit, you know, if you're not saved, you
cannot know God, you cannot know His Word, you can read it and end up believing the complete
opposite, it says that's the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking, so look, you don't even have to have much speaking, I mean Christ's
model prayer, that wasn't a lot of speaking was it, but it hit on the major things, you
know, it showed God His heart and His desire to glorify God and for His kingdom and His
needs big and small, you know, but what I also found, when I was thinking about this
passage a lot, and then let's finish it there, verse number 8, be not therefore like
unto them, for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask Him, God knows
even before you ask Him, don't take the view, oh he already knows, therefore I'm
not going to ask, no God wants you to ask, God wants to see your faith in action, you
know, where you go before Him and say Lord I have need of these, but God of course already
knows what you ask, but when I was thinking about this vain repetition, you know, for
many years I often thought about, you know, it's not just Catholics, there are Buddhists
that have vain repetitions in their prayer, pretty much every religion, Muslims have vain
repetitions in their prayers, but then I thought, no, Baptists, even me, even I can
have that vain repetition in my prayer.
Like I said, a Baptist that might just quote the Lord's prayer, every single Sunday,
every single Sunday, every single Sunday, it's just vain repetition, loses meaning,
loses purpose, can happen even with us.
Like I said, the quick, oh Lord please bless the food to my body, thank you for your food,
thank you for the food, amen, and you just say that again and again and again and again
every time you eat, and it's just repetition, it's vain repetition, we can do the same
mistakes, you know, I encourage you to try to mix your prayer up a little bit, you're
talking to God, you're talking to somebody, I think I used this example before, but if
I was having the same conversation with my wife every single day, the same half an hour
conversation every day, she's going to be like, why are you telling, like, it's pointless,
it doesn't mean anything anymore, there's no heart, there's no love, we talk to God,
and I'm just saying, mix it up, change it up a little bit, you know, I don't know,
my father which art in heaven, great, dear heavenly father, great, almighty God, I come
before you, great, mix it up, try to get into the habit, you know, and as you start to change
it up, it becomes natural, you'll be able to play it up a little bit, change it up a
little bit, you know, I don't want church to be Roman Catholic church lights, we have
the opening prayer, the opening prayer is always the same, and we have the prayer before
the preaching, the prayer before the preaching is always the same, we have the ending prayer
and the ending prayer is always the same, you know, some churches pray over the offering
when they get collected, and the prayer is always the same, I feel like it becomes vain
repetition, and we think, oh, but we're not doing our father, our father, our father,
our father, okay, it was a little bit more complex, but the cold heartedness of that
prayer can creep into us as independent Baptists as well, being cold hearted in the way that
we speak to our heavenly father, so be careful of the vain repetitions.
Now come with me to 1 Timothy 4, 1 Timothy 4 verse 1, 1 Timothy 4 verse 1.
Now we saw that Christ gave us the example of praying for the daily bread, and that's
great, pray the Lord will provide for our provisions, and I also strongly encourage
here in 1 Timothy 4 verse 1, let's start with verse 1, now the spirits speak of expressly
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron, now what are some of these doctrines of devils, these are listening to
seducing spirits, it says forbidding to marry, you know someone says no, don't get married,
bishops are not to be married, to say celebrate, you know, say celebrate, is that right, celebrate,
you know that's a doctrine of the devil, and then it says and command it to abstain
from meats, hey don't eat meat, become a vegetarian, become a vegan, that's a doctrine
of devil, which God have created to be received, look with thanksgiving of them which believe
and know the truth, brethren we're allowed to eat meat, okay, and you say well is it
just you know that we have to be careful and look at the Old Testament practices of the
unclean and the clean animals, well verse number 4 says for every creature of God is
good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by
the word of God and prayer, brethren let me encourage you to get in the habit of praying
before you eat, whatever it is, whatever animal you're about to partake of, say Lord thank
you for your provisions, Lord please bless this food to my body, Lord give me the energy
that I need to get through the day to serve you, to serve my family, to do my job, whatever
it is, you know, and it's so easy to forget and look if you're like, you're hungry,
it's lunchtime, oh I forgot to pray, oh I forget about it, you took a bite, okay whatever,
thank God anyway, thank you Lord for the early bites, Lord I just sanctified this food with
thanksgiving and prayer, thank you for your provisions, bless it to my body and I get
in the habit, brethren, just even the smallest thing, you don't have to have much speaking,
but get in the good habits, you know, what God has instructed us in how we should pray,
so before eating, okay, now Romans chapter 8 please, Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter
8, verse number 26, Romans chapter 8 verse number 26, so I had mentioned how we got to
pray in the Spirit, right, I told you we're going to touch upon this a little bit further
down the track, the Holy Spirit plays such a pivotal role in our prayer life, Romans
chapter 8, verse number 26, it says likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, that's
the Holy Spirit, our infirmities, you know, infirmities are sicknesses, alright, but the
Lord kind of does an interesting turn here, alright, what are some infirmities, like so
we know Lord, especially you know when you have health issues, you're going to go to
God and say God I've got this health issue, can you please heal me, you know, or lead
me to the right medical, you know, advice, or you're going into surgery Lord, please
bless and guide the hands of that surgeon, or what have you, right, but then it says
this, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, that's kind of what I open
up with, right, when we hear from God, He speaks to us, perfect words, when we go to
God in return, we know that we have unclean lips, we know that man, oh man, I'm speaking
to Almighty God and sometimes we don't say or speak the right things that we ought, but
this is what's wonderful about praying in the Spirit, it says but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us, we've groanings which cannot be uttered, the Spirit groans
for us, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us, when we pray for things we ought not,
when we pray for things that are not according to God's will, okay, and this is why I said
don't get upset if you pray for something and you don't get your way or it gets answered
a different way, get to the habit of saying well that was God's will then, and we say
what happened, why God, why didn't you give me exactly the way that I wanted it, because
the Holy Spirit came in and said look we don't want this prayer and this time and
His sincerity and love to go to waste, let me intercede, let me just chop out those areas,
okay, let me fix this up, the Holy Spirit knows God's will then, so let's make sure
this prayer lines up with God's will and then He can go to the Father, I love that,
we got a helper in our prayer, that means if we mess up, alright, I'm not talking about
praying in the flesh or something like this, right, or just praying against God's will,
I'm talking about us just sincerely going before God, we have these needs, Lord I'm
praying in my spirit, Lord I'm asking Jesus' name, but we still say something that doesn't
line up with what God wants, the Holy Spirit takes it and goes we're not letting it go
to waste, let's fix it up before it reaches the ears of the Father, you know, and then
God the Father will answer that prayer.
So you know, don't take the attitude, look, I don't pray very well, well, neither did
some of the disciples, that's why they needed help, just pray in the Spirit, pray to the
Father, ask in Jesus' name and let the Holy Spirit do the rest of it for you, okay, He
will take care of that prayer, He will make sure that it's a perfect prayer that reaches
the ears of the Father and it says in verse number 27, and he that searcheth the hearts,
that's God who searcheth the Father, searcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God, there
it is, I kind of said before we read it, okay, the Holy Spirit changes it according to the
will of God, okay, and we know, and this is, and verse number 28, look, verse number 28
gets quoted a lot of times, it's a very famous verse, one of the most famous verses in the
Bible, but this is context, the direct context is our prayer, okay, we know the direct context
is the Spirit of God changing our prayer to be lined up with the will of God, and then
it says and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that
are called according to His purpose, so the direct definition or the direct application
of verse number 28, all things work together for good, that's the Holy Spirit changing
your prayer, going to God's, you know, lined up with God's will, God answering according
to His will, and whatever way we get it, even though it's not exactly how we want it, God
says that's worked together for our good, Reverend, you don't get your prayer answered,
it's for your good, okay, if we got our selfish desires, we become spoiled children, that's
what spoiled children are, they get what they want, no, we want to get what God wants to
give us, and so God will work all things together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose, so, brethren, you know, I don't know, if
you feel a little bit inadequate to pray, maybe you don't have the words, look, you
have the Holy Spirit, you have your Father, you have the name of Jesus on your side, you
know God's will, you know His kingdom, all right, you go before God, take those things
and say, Lord, I'll leave it with you, Lord, you answer according to your will, I'm sorry
if I asked a little bit messy, I'm sorry if my speech isn't quite there, you know, I'm
sorry that if my understanding doesn't exactly line up with your will, but I know your Holy
Spirit's going to take care of that for me, come with me to James chapter 5 very quickly,
I want to show you just a few small things here, James chapter 5, James chapter 5, I
don't preach about this a lot, but we're on the topic of prayer, so I just wanted to
hit on it, James chapter 5 verse number 14, James chapter 5 verse number 14, now I don't
know, I don't see why this has to be controversial, controversial at all, this passage, okay,
James 5, 14 says, is any sick among you?
Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the
Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him, let me just
quickly say, brethren, if you have sickness, like look, if I get a cold, I'm probably
going to brush it off within 24, 48 hours, if I get a stomach bug, again, 24, 48 hours,
I'm probably going to get over it, alright, but look, if you have an issue that continues
that, you know, maybe it's even a chronic issue in your life, God gives us a direction,
I'm the elder of this church, I'm more than happy to pray for you, okay, it says
verse number 15 and the prayer of faith, this is the prayer of faith, you know, this is
not a time where I want to, when I want to do this prayer and I've done it a few times,
I want to do it when I'm very faithful, whenever I'm at the top of my spiritual
game and usually that's on a Sunday, because like I've prepped myself, I'm asking
the Lord to use me, I'm preaching his word, you know, I feel like I'm in the zone,
I feel like I'm, you know, I've got it, so I feel like that's the time, you know,
when someone wants me to pray over them, you know, it's a Sunday or even a Wednesday
night service, but this is God's promise, you know, anoint me with oil, anoint you
with a bit of olive oil over your head, I'll lay my hand on your shoulder and I'll
pray over you, pray over your sickness and God make the promise that you'll be healed,
okay, look, it doesn't say necessarily you'll be healed immediately, but believe it or not,
I've done this with some individuals and believe it or not, they've been healed immediately
and we're not some charismatic Pentecostal, that's what God's word says and there
are some that said, oh pastor, a few days later, I did feel better a few days later,
or pastor, I felt better a few weeks later, or pastor, yeah, I got over it a few months
later and some say, pastor, it's still the same, nothing's happened, so I'm not saying,
you know, but look, this is an instruction that God gives us and if you may recall, Paul
mentioned sometimes that he had a thorn in his flesh, he asked the Lord to remove it
three times and then he realised, you know what, God's grace is sufficient for me,
okay, I'm strong in his weakness, sometimes God allows a struggle in our flesh, okay,
for whatever his purpose is, so we can rely on his strength and not rely on our own strength,
but I wanted to bring that up because I don't want anyone to ever feel
weird when they read this or if they want to practice this, again, I've done this multiple
times, multiple people in both churches and I'd say, 25% of the time, someone's been
healed immediately, okay, I'm just putting it out there, like, you know, if you're sick,
I'm not going to go to you, hey, you want to do this, it says, let them call for the elders,
that's a decision for the person who is sick and then finally, verse number 16, let's end on this
one, confess your faults one to another, this doesn't say confess your sins one to another,
we don't need to confess our sins only to God, but on a Wednesday night when we come together,
hey, we have faults, brother, I've got this issue, can you pray for me, I've got this issue,
I've got this coming up, okay, it says pray one for another that ye may be healed,
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So it's important, brethren,
that we get in the habit of praying for one another, Wednesday night, like I said, it's
my favourite because we can share some concerns and look, you don't even have to get into any
major details, it can be, you know, as comfortable as you can be to share some issue, I've got this
issue at work, you know, I don't want to go into the details but can you just pray that I can get,
you know, do better at work, whatever it is that your situation, you know, and we'll pray for that,
you know, with you as a church and look, if the Lord sees all his children coming together for
that prayer request, how much more, you know, would he come through and do a great work for
our church. I lied to you, one more passage, can we turn to one more passage, Philippians chapter
four, Philippians chapter four, verse number six, very familiar one, I was going to quote it to you
but I'd rather you just read it with me, Philippians chapter four, verse number six,
you know, we were just talking about it, sorry sister, I forgot your name, Sandra, Susan,
we're just talking about this between service, you know, Susan and I were talking about how
do people live life without the Bible, without God, I don't know, I don't know but we have such
an advantage as God's people, in verse number six, Philippians four, six, be careful for nothing,
it says don't be full of care, don't be full of care for anything but in everything,
everything, big, medium, little, seemingly insignificant things but in everything,
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God
and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus, brethren, when we have concerns and we have issues, it affects our
hearts and it affects our minds, it causes stress and worry, sadness, hurt, whatever it is, right,
worries but when you are able to say, you know what, I have an almighty God who wants me to go
to pray for him, that wants me to bring all my concerns, all my issues, where I don't have to
be careful for nothing, man, can you get to that point where I'm just woohoo, right, the peace of
God which passeth all understanding, no one can understand, it is beyond comprehension how God
can give you great peace when you come to him in prayer, all those burdens you've got on you
through the weeks and months and years, all the issues where God says thank you, hand them over,
you know God can carry them and you're like, oh wow, I've got nothing more to worry about,
it's all under God's control, again, I don't know how people live life without this beautiful
ability to go to God and say, God, it's all over to you now,
I'm not going to worry myself anymore because you know I've given it over to you,
Lord, just give me your peace and I'll get on with life, that's what's wonderful about your
prayer life, brethren. Learning to pray, again, you know, you might be saying, hey,
these are basic things but we can forget, we can get a bit lazy, you know, and forget even the most
simple things in life, so I hope there was something in this sermon that can
increase or enrich your prayer life, let's go to a word of prayer.