(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in Matthew 6. We're continuing verse by verse through the book of Matthew. And the second sermon is going to be about the resurrection and about Easter. But the first sermon we're just going to continue on our series, just going verse by verse. And we're looking at the topic of prayer here in Matthew 6. Now if you remember, the context of Matthew 6 is about not doing your works to be seen of man. We saw that with the almsgiving, and the context is the same here. But the specific topic we're looking at here in verses 5 through 15 is the topic of prayer. So let's start here at verse number 5. The Bible reads, And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. You know, the Bible says right here, and when, not if, thou prayest. Right? Prayer should be a normal part of our Christian life. And I think that if we're all honest with ourselves, prayer is something that's difficult. It is hard to have, you know, just a daily time where you're setting aside all distractions and praying to God. Often we find that when we try to do it, our mind just kind of wanders and thinks about things that don't matter. So I do believe this is an important topic. It should be a part of our life. But the Bible says don't be like the hypocrites. So a hypocrite is someone who's filled with hypocrisy. What is hypocrisy? It is the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. And then Jesus is going to give us an example of this hypocrisy because he says, For they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. So we have people that are making it a point to be seen when they're praying. They're making it look like they're very spiritual. Right? When you're praying, I mean, look, if you just stop in the middle of the street and you're, you know, bowed down, you know, with your hand up and everything, everyone's going to look at you. You're making yourself look spiritual. You're actually the opposite. And prayer should be something that's a humbling thing, right? Because we realize God is almighty God in heaven above. And, you know, we we bow down on our knees or we, you know, bow our head, close our eyes. It's a humbling thing. And that's the exact opposite of what they're doing when they're standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets. And so specifically, you're really kind of looking at two religions that mentions here, although this applies to others. When I think of just making it a point to pray to be seen of man when it comes to the corners of the streets, what are you thinking of? You're thinking of Islam. They literally stop everything and just bow down in the corner of the street and just, you know, everybody look at me. And, you know, I have not been to Muslim countries, but I've heard how basically you just see everybody stop and everybody bow down in the middle of the streets. I had a friend of mine who had a connecting flight in Turkey, which is like a 99% Muslim country in today's world, although it was a early Christian country in Asia. Minor's Bible mentions. And he said, you know, at the airport, it's kind of like you're walking around. It's like you're walking this way to avoid all the people that are like bowed down and they're doing it. Everybody sees what they're doing. Why would they make it a point to pray like that where everybody sees them? Because they're doing it to be seen of man. That's the purpose. You're saying look at me, look at how spiritual we are, and you do it before everybody. But then it also mentions in this verse standing in the synagogues. And when you think about the synagogues, you're thinking about the religion of Judaism. Now when you think about how Jews pray in today's world, what do you think of? You think of people going to the Wailing Wall and what do they do? Right? I mean, if you're not aware, this is what Jews do when they go to the Wailing Wall. They go up to a wall and then they're just doing this weird little thing. You can go to YouTube and look at it. It's like, what are you doing? I mean, is that like a really bad old-fashioned dance? You know, this is how they danced in the 50s or something like in Israel. Like, what are they doing? Why would they do that? They're doing their works to be seen of man. Why else would you do such a bizarre form of dance for everybody to see? And I didn't actually know this until recently, but the term for it is shuckling. And it comes from Yiddish, but when they're doing this, what they're doing is shuckling. And if you read kind of the philosophical idea, they're getting in rhythm with the prayer, which kind of tells me that, you know, the people that are originating this and really into it, they're probably possessed when they're doing that. And then it's kind of like everybody else. You know, you see everybody else doing this. I guess I'm supposed to go like this, too. Right? Kind of like in a Pentecostal church, you have people genuinely possessed and speaking in tongues, and then the other people are like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Should have bought a Honda. Should have bought a Honda. Should have bought a Honda or whatever. Right? And you know what? I believe that's why people do it. They just kind of follow the example of everybody else, because you're going to kind of stand out if you don't just do this also. And it's like, why would they possibly do that? They're doing their works to be seen of man. When they're shuckling or when they're in the streets, bowing down before everybody. Now, some of the other examples of this outside of Islam and Judaism, you know, I think of pro athletes. You know, the pro athletes that are lifted up as being these great Christians in this world are often the people that are doing their works to be seen of man. Where basically, you know, after a game, they'll just like bow down, you know, and just go like this, and everybody will look at them as being some great example. The most famous example in the U.S. is a man by the name of Tim Tebow. And I found out he's actually not famous in the Philippines, but he was born in Mindanao, actually, because his parents are independent, fundamental Baptist missionaries. Now, from my understanding, they're not King James only today. I cannot give you a dogmatic opinion on his salvation. Others might be able to. I don't know for sure. I do know he has a Baptist background, but the reason why he's so famous is because he would be in the middle of the football field just bowing down and just praying, and everybody sees what he's doing. And everyone's like, what a great Christian that he is. What a great Christian that doesn't go to church on Sundays because he's playing pro football. Wow, that's a great Christian. Now, I do believe that... I mean, because when I think of Hollywood and, you know, the famous musicians, I mean, most of these people are just, you know, demonic, wicked, evil people. But I do believe in the sports realms. These are kind of just normal people that there's definitely people that are pro athletes that are saved, but are they right with God when they skip church? To do their job? I mean, I always tell people that, you know what, you put church before job. You put church before work. And they do their works to be seen of man, and they're lifted up as these great people when in reality they're doing their works to be seen of man. It's wrong. The Bible says that when you pray, you do it quietly. You do it discreetly, okay? Now, I do want you to understand I'm not saying all public prayer is wrong. I mean, if we go to a restaurant, I think it's good that we pray before we eat. We go soul winning, you know, we pray. But, you know, we don't make it a point to be seen either. It's not like we gather together and it's like, here ye, here ye, here's Verity Baptist Church praying for our food today, right, to make sure everybody knows what we're doing. We just kind of do it quietly because we're not trying to speak to man. We're trying to speak to God, right? Another example that's kind of similar, doing your works to be seen of man, is the old-fashioned altar call. Old-fashioned as in, it's so old-fashioned that it predates Genesis 1. I don't find it. It's not in the Bible. But what do they do? Well, at the end of the service, everybody, you know, close your eyes, bow your head, nobody's looking around. You know, if you know for sure you're going to heaven, please raise your hand. If you're not sure, you know, then, you know, please raise your hand so I can just pray for you. I'm not going to point you out. I'm not going to embarrass you. I just want to pray for you, right? And then they'll say, you know what, and if anything in this sermon touched your heart, you know, come down and pray. They'll start specific, but then they'll basically word it to try to get everybody to come down and pray before everybody else to see them. Now, look, I think it's great if sermons touch your heart and you want to make changes. You know how you do that? You do that in your seat when you pray to God. You do that in your heart, and then you go home and you make the changes. You don't do that before everyone to have your work seen of man. And you see these Baptist churches that do the same thing as the Pentecostals and the non-denom, and I would like to ask them, where did you learn that from? Because you certainly didn't learn that from the Bible. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, don't pray to be seen of man, and then at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He does not have an altar call. Because people say, this is the most important part of the church service. This is your opportunity to respond how God has touched your heart. Then why did Jesus forget to do it? And why did He speak about the opposite? Even in Matthew 5, He said, first be reconciled to your brother and then bring your gift to the altar. Not come down to the altar to get right with God, but get right before you come down, is what He said. So there is no altar call, but you see that Baptist churches can also be guilty of doing their works to be seen of man. Then it says on you, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. What's their reward? People think they're spiritual. People think they're godly. People think that they're great and they're right with God, when in reality, they're not getting a reward from God for doing this. Now, I do believe you get rewards if you spend real time in prayer and you get a hold of God, but you know what? You don't do that to be seen of man. You do that quietly, as we see in this passage. It says here in verse number 6, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Now, when he says here, enter into thy closet, I don't think he's literally telling you to enter into a closet and shut the door and pray, but I'll just say, I was curious before, and I was like, let me just try this. You know, I'm going to enter into a closet and shut the door. Honestly, I thought it was pretty good prayer. I mean, you're away from distractions. The only thing is, I'm constantly worried about like an e-piece or a mouse that's going to be in there or whatever, so it kind of distracted me from, you know, having good prayer, but I believe he's using exaggerated and, you know, symbolic language to say basically get away from distractions. You know, do it where you're alone with God, and it says, you know, you close your door because you're not trying to do it to be seen of man. What's the result if you do it quietly and do what God says? God is going to reward you openly. Now, of course, he's going to reward you at the judgment seat of Christ when he's actually giving out the rewards to believers as it mentions in 1 Corinthians 3, but he could also reward you openly in this life as well if you do it in the right way with the right attitude and the right heart, not doing your works to be seen of man. Verse number 7, But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. So what the Bible says here in verse number 7 is the heathen, the false religions, they use vain repetitions. You say, what does it mean by a vain repetition? Something you repeat vainly. How about, hail Mary, full of grace. I didn't raise up Catholic and somebody helped me with this prayer. I don't know it, right? But hail Mary, full of grace, whatever, Mother of God, I don't know, whatever they say. But you just vainly repeat the exact words. Is that what Jesus said to do here? No, He said, don't use vain repetitions. And you know, with the Catholic Church, they will have literal prayers that you're meant to repeat. You can go online, they have a bunch of prayers, repeat this, repeat this, repeat this. Not a template as we see in Matthew 6, but just say these words just vainly, repeatedly, over and over again. I mean, you know, in America, we have the EWTN channel. It's like the Catholic channel. And you see like these people that are, you know, these nuns that are saying the Hail Marys or whatever. I mean, you can tell they're just like, Hail Mary, full of grace, right? There's no heart in it because they're just vainly repeating something over and over and over again. Another example is, you know, the Orthodox. You know, what I consider in 2024, you say, what's the difference between Orthodox and Catholic? Orthodox are like old-fashioned Catholic and modern-day Catholics are kind of like watered-down Catholics. Now, here in the Philippines, you guys are really into the idolatry. You know, as a country, you see it all over. In America, Catholics are like very watered-down, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT. And it's really the Orthodox that are really the old-fashioned Catholic. But Orthodox are very similar to Catholic and they just vainly repeat these chants. There's a place called Mount Athos where they have these, you know, male priests or monks or whatever, where they're isolated from the rest of the world and it's very hard to get to actually go there. There's like a waiting list. And you've got these monks over there from the Orthodox religion over in Athos, over in Greece, and then they literally will have a schedule, say these words for like three straight hours. And literally, they will just repeat the same words. I mean, they have like six hours or something of chanting per day, just vainly repeating it, vainly repeating it over and over again. Yeah, you know what the Bible says? That's what the heathen do. They vainly repeat the same... And they think they're going to be heard for their much speaking. I mean, they want to take it to another level. I mean, I was there for Magdarame, you know, a couple of days ago. Go ahead and cut yourself with lancets and whatever you want to do and just pray to your false god and see if he answers, like in 1 Kings 18. And you're not going to get an answer from your false god. Another example of the Buddhist. It says here, in Buddhism, chanting is a traditional means of preparing the mind for getting possessed by devils. I mean, for preparing the mind for meditation. But in reality, you know what's taking place when people are doing this? Because when you listen to the philosophical reasoning, they will say that when they chant, it helps eliminate the things from their mind and they can focus on meditation more. You're opening up your body and your mind and your heart for getting possessed. That is the actual reality of this. And it says, especially as part of formal practice, some forms of Buddhism also use chanting for ritualistic purposes. How about Islam? Their prayer is called the Sala. When Islam does their prayer five times a day, it's not just, well, we all gather together and pray. No, they have the exact words they have to say. And they go to another level. You can look it up online. They will literally tell you how many degrees. They'll tell you, you start by pointing toward whatever direction Mecca is, if anybody knows, you know. Let's say Mecca is that direction. And then it's like, turn 90 degrees, you know, bow your waist, now kneel down. I mean, like, literally, it's this ritualistic thing. The words they say, their body motions, that's why when you go online, it's all in unison. It's like, here in the Philippines, you got the sodomites doing their dance routines, and then you got the Muslims. It's kind of like their dance routine. It's like, let's make sure it's all in unison. We're trying out for America's Got Talent. We need to make sure we win. It's got to be all in unison. I mean, it's like, it's madness. And they're just vainly repeating the same things. That's not coming from the heart. In Hinduism, it says, the chanting of mantras is the most popular form of worship in Hinduism. Yoga and meditation are also considered as a form of devotional service. In Hinduism, there are three paths or ways for the worship of God. Karma yoga, jhana or nana yoga, and bhakti yoga. I know nothing about these different forms of yoga. What I would say is, hey, if you're a Christian that wants to work on your flexibility, you can stretch, don't do yoga. It's a means of them getting possessed. It's wicked. It's mixed with their false religion. But what I'm saying is, you look at all of these religions, and guess what you see? They're doing exactly what the Bible says not to do in Matthew 6. They're vainly repeating. This is what the heathen do. Now, how could we apply this as actual Christians, people that are saved? Well, look, when we pray, we need to be very careful not to just vainly repeat the same thing. I mean, you're getting down to eat, and you just have this memorized phrase you say right before you eat food. And look, I'm not saying you have to have this long, drawn-out prayer, because you don't even see that in the Bible. You see Elijah having a short prayer in 1 Kings 18. But you want to make sure that it's coming from the heart. It's not just some memorized phrase that you're just kind of doing it robotically that you do without thinking, but that you're actually, when you're praying to God, it's coming from the heart. It's real. It's sincere. And look, I'll be honest. I can be guilty of this, where, you know, your life's busy. You're getting ready to eat. You know, dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the food you blessed us with. Amen. And then you don't even think about it, but in reality, when you pray, it should be coming from the heart. It says in verse number 8, Be not ye therefore like unto them. Be not like the Catholics or the Buddhists or the Orthodox or the Muslims or the Hindus, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. Right? So, look, it makes no sense to vainly repeat the same thing 50 straight times, because he already knows what you need, right? But that's what you see with the heathen religions. Now, what he said here in verse number 7 is don't vainly repeat a prayer. Right? Then it says here in verse 9, After this manner, therefore pray ye. What does he mean by after this manner? In this pattern, in this system. Is he saying in verse 7, don't vainly repeat these words, vainly repeat these words? Is that what he's saying? Because he said in verse 7, don't vainly repeat, but he said here's a pattern for how you pray. In this manner, in this fashion, in this way, and then you see what's known as the Lord's Prayer. And in the Lord's Prayer, let me be clear, he's not actually praying. He's just giving you a pattern. It's not actually a prayer. He's just giving you a pattern. This is a manner. This is a pattern of how you can pray and talk to God. And he says, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now, look, I grew up not Catholic, not Orthodox, not Muslim, but I grew up Protestant. And guess what we said every single Sunday, word for word. And this is exactly how it was done. Everybody's like, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. You're just vainly repeating. He just said, don't vainly repeat. And then you got the Protestant churches that would say, well, you know what? They would criticize these other religions. They would mock, you know, the rosary or whatever these prayers are to the Catholics. But then they say, just repeat this. He just said, don't repeat vainly. And that's exactly what you would be doing if you word for word say this. And you look at these religions and you think, how do you not understand this? And it just shows the mind of an unsafe person. They can't understand the Bible. Look, don't ever get this idea because you might get this idea, well, you know, Catholicism's false, but every form of Christianity under the sun is correct. Well, Protestant is not correct. I grew up Protestant. I grew up United Methodist. Presbyterian, Lutheran, they're not correct. And most of these, the nom churches aren't correct either, right? And so he's not saying, I want you to vainly repeat, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. What is he doing? He's giving you a template. He's giving you a pattern. So what exactly is he teaching them, right? Well, when it starts with, Our Father, which art in heaven, you know what that's doing? It's making a distinction between yourself on earth and Almighty God up in heaven. It's basically recognizing, I am just here on earth, I am just a human being, and God is all the way in heaven. It's showing how powerful God is to start it off, and then we're basically just, I mean, our life is in the hands of God, right? You know, I've heard this example before. Imagine you're in like a tall condo, 30 stories in the air, and you look down at somebody on the ground. They look like an ant. They look so small. They look so insignificant. Imagine how we look before Almighty God that is all the way up in heaven, right? And so, Our Father, which art in heaven, and when he says, Our Father, you know what you're seeing? You're seeing this idea of hallowed be thy name, having respect for God's name, having respect for God. Now look, you'll hear people say things like, the man upstairs. It's like, who exactly are you referring to when you say the man upstairs, because I'm pretty sure that's not being reverent to God. You'll see Christians, or people that will say they're Christians, and then they blaspheme God's name. And I just think to myself, why don't you use Buddha's name as a curse word? You hit your thumb with a hammer, start cursing Buddha, start cursing Muhammad or whatever. Why are you cursing the true God? I mean, literally, in the Old Testament, they had the death penalty, the death penalty for blaspheming God's name. And yet, in our modern day, you'll see it all in the music. You'll see it all throughout the TV, people just not being reverent or respectful to Almighty God, right? Our Father, our Heavenly Father. Look, when you pray to God, yeah, you know what? He is your Father, and you're His child, and He loves you like a father-son relationship. But just as I expect my kids to be respectful to me, we ought to be respectful to God when we're talking to Him, and talking about Him. Now, another way you could apply this, and I don't want to go on too big of a rabbit trail, but there's things that are called euphemisms, where basically you put a word to replace God, or put a word in replacement of something, where it says something different, but what you're actually meaning is this. So, probably the most common you could think of is like, oh my, and then you say gosh. It's like, well, why is it that you happen to use a word that also starts with G-O? It's a euphemism for God. I mean, imagine if, you know what, my kids, when they got really mad, they would use the name Matthew Stuckey as a curse word. Well, that would offend me. What if they said, you know, Matthew Lucky? I'm sorry, but it's pretty obvious that you're still talking about me. I'd still be mad about it. You change the words. I mean, that's a little bit better. It's still not respectful to God. And what I would encourage everybody to do is go online and look at the euphemisms for God and Jesus, and it would probably surprise you. My wife actually pointed this out to me, and I used to say this all the time without realizing it, because I grew up, I've never, you know, I didn't grow up cursing or using the Lord's name in vain, because, you know, my parents didn't. But one phrase I would also say, which is also a euphemism for God, is, oh, my, and then goodness. And then my wife pointed that out, and I'm like, actually, yeah, that is kind of close to God. You look it up online. Yeah, it's a popular euphemism instead of God. And I was like, yeah, you know, that's a good point. I should stop saying that. And I did it without knowing. And there's probably a lot of people in here that you use phrases where you don't even realize it. And you know what, I've talked to people before and showed them various euphemisms, and they had no idea. They weren't trying to be disrespectful, but they were actually just using a euphemism for God. And look, as Christians, we ought to clean up not just our minds and our hearts, but also our mouths, especially when we're talking about God. Be respectful toward God. And I don't want to go near the line where I'm being irreverent or disrespectful to God. I would rather be far away. You know, for example, you know, think about this. Let's say, you know, you show up for a job interview, and you're wearing a suit and a tie. And then they're like, and I've had this before in the U.S., and they're like, oh, you didn't have to wear a suit. You know, it's okay. What's better to be, you know, make sure you're very appropriate and even overboard than even anywhere near the line where you're going to show up, and they're going to be like, I'm not even going to interview you because you're wearing, like, shorts and sandals, right? It's better to be too dressed up. And look, I think we ought to be as respectful as we can when we talk about God. And so it says, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and then it says, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Now, when you're thinking of prayer, to pray means to ask. You're asking for something. But do you notice in the model prayer, it doesn't start with, God, can I please have this? It doesn't start that way. Now, that's often how we start our prayers. But you notice it starts in verse 10, after giving respect to God's name in verse 9 by saying, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. You know what that's saying? God, I'm about to ask for something. This is something I want. But you know what? If it's against your will, thy will be done. It comes to you first. Now, of course, when you pray and ask for things, God might give you what you want, just as you might give something to your kids when they ask in the right and proper and respectful way when they're right with you. But you know what? It could be that my kids ask for something, and I'm like, no. I like to give my kids a lot of things, but sometimes they ask for things, and it's like, no, we're not going to do that. And we need to realize that as Christians, don't treat God like he's Santa Claus or something. By the way, I hate to break any kids who don't realize this. Santa Claus is a fraud. He's fake. He's not real. But people treat it like, well, you know what? I can just do whatever I want, and then just say, God, can I please have this? Or you mess up your life, and then you ask God to bail you out or whatever. It's like that should not be the way that we treat God, right? So it says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Then it says here in verse number 11, verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. Now, when it says give us this day our daily bread, notice it doesn't ask to be rich. It's not like just give me lots of money or whatever. Give us this day our daily bread is asking for our basic necessities to be reached and matched by God. Now, look, I'm going to be honest with you. I have never had a day in my life where I was like, I don't know what I'm going to be eating tomorrow. I'm literally living off faith for my final meal. I have never been like that. Maybe you have, but I would say probably most of us, although we've been lean on money, we've probably never been to the point where we're literally like, I might starve to death tomorrow. I mean, the reality is that, you know what? If my family became very lean on money, we could make changes to the things we ate and just eat very inexpensive things. Now, it's not a change that I'm going to choose to make unless I would have to, but you can live off very little food on a daily basis. And what you're seeing in verse number 11 is what you're asking for is the daily sustenance to be met. I'm not saying it's wrong to ask for nice things, but we need to be careful and make sure that we're not trying to just gratify our lusts, right? Verse number 12, And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. These things are intertwined. If we want God to forgive us, you better make sure you forgive those that have done you wrong. And so, for example, if you're holding bitterness toward somebody else that has asked for forgiveness, they did you wrong, and then you come to God and say, you know, God, can you forgive me for what I did? You know what? God's going to be like, no. You know why? Because these things are intertwined together. It's the same reason if one of my kids had a bad attitude with one of their brothers or sisters, they had a bad attitude, and they're not willing to forgive them, and then they do something wrong five minutes later, and they ask me for forgiveness, it's like, first be reconciled to your brother. First be reconciled to your sister, and then I will forgive you for what you did. And that's the way that God is. That's what He's saying here in Matthew chapter 6. Now go to Matthew 18. Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. We're not going to read all of this for sake of time, but let's look at verse number 21. Matthew 18, verse 21. Now, literally 70 times 7 is 490 times. Well, here's the thing. You can count up to 7. You can't really count up to 490. I mean, unless you're literally, you got a book and you're marking down, all right, this is the first time they did me wrong. This is the second. This is the third. You're going to kind of forget over the course of a couple years, right? And so when he's using a big number, I mean, 70 times 7 would be the same thing as 5 million times 7. He's saying, you know, it doesn't matter how many times you still forgive them. Then he's going to give this parable explaining what he's saying and go down to verse number 35. And I'll just kind of explain this to you real quickly. But basically this man has a big debt that he cannot pay. And he begs for mercy. Please forgive me from everything. And his lord, his boss, forgives him. He says, I forgive you the debt. That same guy that's been forgiven in a great way, he goes out and he's demanding money from people that owe him money, and he's not forgiving at all. And here's the reality. All of us have done a lot of wrong things to God, and God has forgiven us. Not just with salvation, but on a daily basis when you ask for forgiveness His mercies are new every morning. And the thing is, what your brother or sister in Christ or whomever has done to you is probably nowhere near as bad as the things that you've done to God. Every single day we break His commandments. Every single day we do wrong. And yet, when we come to God and beg for forgiveness, God forgives us. Well, the thing is, if you want that forgiveness, though, God says, you know what, first make sure that you are just as forgiving with other people because to the merciful He's going to show Himself merciful. But if you have the opposite attitude, then you know what, you're not going to get forgiveness and blessing from God. Then it says in verse 35, So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone whose brother there trespasses. You say, pastor, how is it that I can really forgive people because I want to, but I just am still upset? Well, you've got to do it from the heart. It's got to come from the inside because what takes place is people will say they forgive and then they will gossip about that person a week later. Well, you didn't really forgive because you didn't do it from the heart. You acted like you forgave, but you threw it in your subconscious when in reality you're just holding bitterness toward them and let's just not talk about it. No, you have to actually forgive them and if not, then good luck getting forgiveness from God. That's what the Bible is saying. Go to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4, let's look at verse 32. Ephesians 4, verse 32. Ephesians 4, verse 32, And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. We were forgiven by God when we did not deserve it. We are forgiven by God when we do not deserve it. When it comes to salvation, there is a debt that we could never pay and we are nowhere near that standard. And even after that, what do we do? We sin all the time. We have that guilty conscience and yet God forgives us. We don't deserve the forgiveness from God, but God still forgives us. You say, wow, so and so doesn't deserve forgiveness. What's your point? One example that Pastor Menes mentioned before that's kind of stuck with me is he's talking about the idea of being merciful toward other people. And he was saying, let's say somebody really does you wrong and they really messed up and they really don't deserve forgiveness. One logical reason to actually forgive them and be merciful is because you're basically building up immunity with God when you need it one day. You're building up mercy with God, where basically you're forgiven because, look, you live your life, you're going to have times where you're bitter and you have a bad attitude and you need God's mercy and blessing. Because think of someone like David. Maybe one reason God didn't kill David when he deserved death was because he had built up a lot of mercy with God. He had the right attitude to ask for forgiveness, but he had also built up a lot of mercy with God before that because he forgave Saul that's trying to kill him. He forgave people that did him wrong. I mean, maybe that's why. I mean, I would look at that as a major reason God was merciful because he had built up mercy with God. So instead of looking at it as a bad thing, look at it as here's my opportunity to build up mercy with God by being forgiving and letting it go. And then one day when you hit a hard time and you mess up, maybe God's going to be much more merciful to you because you are merciful toward other people. Turn back to Matthew 6. Matthew chapter 6. And as you're turning there, I'm just going to read you where the Bible says in Lamentations, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because as compassion's fill not, they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. These are certainly some of the verses I think of quite often. Some of the biggest verses that pop through my mind because all of days I wake up and I feel guilty because I wasn't really living for God the day before like I should. And I just think, man, God's mercy is a wonderful thing. That's a great song we have in our hymnal. That's one of the reasons why I think great is thy faithfulness is probably one of the most famous songs in our hymnal because it's something we can all relate to, needing God's mercy, needing God's compassion and forgiveness. Matthew 6, verse 14. We'll go back to verse 13 in a second, but let's look at verse 14. It says, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Now, I want you to realize, I think we all understand this. We're not talking about in terms of being saved from hell. You get saved from hell by believing on Christ. You can have a bad attitude, be a drunk, be really unforgiving with people, and God will still give you the gift of salvation if you believe. But we're talking about being right with God, having close fellowship and a close walk with God, and if we want God to be forgiving to us, we've got to forgive others. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Now, go back to verse number 13. And it says here in verse 13, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. When you see these first six words, And lead us not into temptation, it can seem to imply that if you don't ask for this, God might lead you into temptation, like trying to get you to sin or do wrong. But does that fit with the character of God? Because the Bible says in James, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth thee any man. So that cannot be what the Bible's saying because it's not like, God, please don't try to get me drunk today. Please don't try to get me to do all these sins today. No, of course, God's not going to lead you in that. And I think a better way to look at this is when you're saying, God, lead us and lead me and guide me. If God is the one guiding you, you're going to be away from temptation. But if we're guiding ourselves, we're going to be putting ourselves into temptation. And so really these first three words, And lead us or guide us, if God's the one that's guiding us, guess what is the result? You're not going to be in those situations of temptation. Now, look, obviously if you're in difficult situations, obviously pray to God and ask Him to get you out of it. But I think it's saying that when you're asking God to lead you and to guide you, you're going to be avoiding those situations. And we ought to have that attitude every day. God, please guide me on March 31st, 2024, Easter. God, please guide me Monday morning. Because if we guide ourselves and we let the flesh lead the way, we're going to get ourselves into trouble. Now, go to James 4. And I want to give you just some kind of concluding thoughts on this. James 4. Why is it that our prayers do not get answered by God sometimes? That's a question a lot of people wonder. Why isn't God answering my prayers? Why is God not blessing me more? Well, point one of why your prayers are not being answered is because you didn't pray. You never asked for anything from God. It says in James 4, verse 2, Ye lust and have not. Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight in war, yet ye have not. Why? Because ye ask not. Right? So many times there's things that we want in life, and because we didn't ask for them, they weren't given. You say, well, why is it like that? Isn't that the way you are with your kids? Look, I know things that my kids want on a daily basis. My son's favorite restaurant is McDonald's. My least favorite restaurant in the world. As much as I make jokes about Jollibee, my least favorite is McDonald's. I do not like McDonald's. I know my son wants McDonald's every day. I'm certainly not going to buy it for him or give it to him, though. If he asks for it, I might give it to him. But here's what I'm saying. You have kids. You know the things that your kids want. It doesn't mean that you're going to give them things if they don't ask for them. And so, yeah, you know what? Asking is part of the process. And if you ask, God might give you what you're asking for. He might not. He's not obligated to give you everything you want. I don't always just tell my kids yes to everything. I mean, you'd be insane to just say yes to everything your kids ask. My son and my daughter are asking to go back to Beekle in a week. It's like, no, we're not going back to Beekle. It's like a once-a-year thing. We'll go back for the missions trip next year, but no, we're not going back next week. That costs a lot of money, right? You don't just give your kids everything you want. And so one reason why we don't get what we want is because we don't pray for it. Number two, because we pray for things that are not according to God's will. They're foolish prayer requests or just things that aren't foolish, but it's just not what God wants for you. Verse 3, He asked and received not, because He asked amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. I mean, if you were to pray, God, please help me win the lottery. That's a foolish prayer request that God's not going to answer. God, help me get rich. I mean, we better make sure that the things that we're praying for, that's a bit different than give us this day our daily bread. God, just give me, like, the most expensive bread in the world, right? I mean, it's a big difference between give us this day our daily bread, just provide my needs. Give me neither poverty nor riches, but when you pray, give me riches. Well, that's not something that God is going to answer. And so we need to make sure that when we pray, we pray for things that are according to God's will. Number three, because maybe you're not right with God. I mean, if you're not right with God, God's not going to answer your prayer request. Notice what it says in verse 4. Ye adulterers and adulterers says, Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Look, if you find yourself being the enemy of God, this is right after James 4, verses 2 and 3. Why would you think God's going to give you what you want? I mean, think about this. Imagine your child smacks you on the face, and then 30 seconds later, can I have a Dutch meal? No. You've got to be kidding me. Right? And why would you think that God would be any different? You're not right with God. You're not reading the Bible. You're not meditating upon God's Word. You're breaking every commandment under the sun, and then you're asking God for something. Why would He give you what you're asking for when you're not right with Him? That's not the way that we would be with our kids, nor is that the way that God is with us. And lastly, because you're not forgiving others. Right? We talked about that. I mean, if you're not forgiving others, don't expect that God is going to give you what you want when you're not right with God and you're not forgiving others that have done you wrong. Now, I do want to spend just a couple minutes just kind of giving you some basic tips about prayer. And this is my prayer book that I use, okay? And people can have different patterns and techniques. I'm not saying I have the best techniques. I'm not saying I'm the best at prayer in this room. You might have better ideas than me, things that work, but I want to just kind of give you a template. You know, I mean, Jesus' disciples said, Teach us to pray. What that shows us is a lot of people that really love God can really struggle with prayer, and I'll admit I'm someone who I also struggle with prayer. So I use a prayer book. So, for example, today you can see here at the top it says March 31st. It says Sunday, and it says VBC Manila. You say, Why does it say VBC Manila? And what I do is I divide my prayer into basically seven categories. If you were to pray for everything that's on your mind every single day, you're probably going to find yourself vainly repeating prayers and not putting any heart to it because there's a lot of stuff to pray for. And so this is actually something Pastor Menes suggested to me when I talked to him about it. This is what he does. He divides into categories. I think it's a great idea. Tomorrow I primarily pray for myself. On Tuesday I primarily pray for my family. And I divide it into seven different categories. Now obviously if a major thing comes up, like let's say your spouse is going to be having surgery in a couple days, that's probably something you're going to be praying for every single day. So obviously there can be certain things that you pray for every day that come up or maybe things that are very important to you that you want to pray for every single day, but the reality is some of your prayer requests are more important to you than other prayer requests. And if you have a list of 100 things that you want to pray for and you try to pray for them every single day, you're probably going to be vainly repeating it to get through them because you don't have enough time to put your heart and emotion into each of those prayer requests. And so I thought it was a great idea. I tried it. It works very well for me. So I divide into categories. And of course since this is the church day, Sunday for VV Simanilla, this is my primary thing that I pray for on Sundays. I also have three things here at the top that are things that are very important to me right now that I'm praying for basically on a daily basis. But I pray for the families here in Manila. Now as our church is growing, I'm contemplating dividing this into two days because our church is a lot bigger, and it's getting hard to pray for everybody at the church. But under this, I have it under categories. So like singles, married couples, and just things regarding to the service. So one thing I would suggest is get a prayer book. And then in the morning, you just write down. And so for me, Sunday, I can go to the front and say, Well, on Sundays, this is what I pray for. And then as I write it down, I just write for the things that I'm going to pray for. And it's not that I just repeat what this is, but it's like this is the template that I'm praying for. And then I do it from the heart of those things. One thing I personally do, and I don't know others that do this, but it works well with me, if they had diagnosed me as a kid, I would certainly be ADHD because I don't sit in one spot. I can't really stand to be still. And so when I do my prayer, I go out for a walk with my prayer book with me, and I will just walk and just go through these things. And so I just pray through this. It's also how I do my Bible memorization. It works better for me, actually moving. And I'm just going out with my prayer book, and of course I'm doing it silently in my head, and I look up every once in a while to make sure I don't get hit by a car, you know? Right? But I would just kind of look at these things, and I just pray for these things. And you know what? I find this to be helpful to be very organized with it. I think it's a bit dangerous if you're too organized because then you can start vainly repeating, so I would be careful of that. But I do think it helps to have basic categories. I personally would not suggest that you have all of your prayer requests, and every day you're praying for just the exact same list. I used to do that, and it kind of frustrated me because I didn't really have time to pray for them. And it's like five seconds. I pray for this. I pray for this. I pray for this. I pray for this. And I didn't even think about it. And then Pastor Minna suggested that he does it by categories. I find that to be very helpful. Your categories could be different than mine, and maybe there's a category that's very important to you that you pick for Monday and Thursday, right? You know, sometimes I change up my categories because I'm in a different stage of life or things aren't working as much as I want, but I recommend for all things be organized. I'd recommend that you buy a prayer book or just on pieces of paper just write it down, and then you wake up and you know, okay, Sunday morning, this is the category or the things that I'm going to be praying for. And of course, do not vainly repeat them word for word, but it does kind of give you guidance on what you can pray for that day. This works very well for me. Maybe you have better techniques, better ideas. Maybe what you're doing is working well for you, and that's fine. I'm not saying you have to do what I do. It's just kind of some suggestions that I found. But I would just say that we need to make it a point that it's when thou prayest. Because if it's kind of like on a daily basis, God's like, well, maybe they're going to pray to me today. Maybe they're not. And then you go day after day, and then the only prayer you do is like five seconds before you eat and 30 seconds before you go to bed. You need to make some changes in your life. You need to make it a point to have some personal time with God where you're talking to Him one on one. And yeah, you're asking for things from God, but also with the idea that He's my Heavenly Father, making sure that you're getting right with people. One of the big things that kind of forces me to try to get right or forgive people is just when I'm praying to God, I'm like, wait a minute. God's not going to give me something I want if I'm unforgiving with others. Right? And really, when you pray, it's a humbling thing that puts the perspective back on life and puts you in the right frame of mind. So you want to make sure prayer is a part of your life. It's not a vain exercise. We're not Catholics either. We're not Catholics vainly repeating. We're not Calvinists where it means nothing. But no, actually, God can give you what you want, and He might give you what you want, but you need to make sure you're doing it in the right way. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, help our church family, all the members here. Help us to be not just zealous with soul winning and reading the Bible and the doctrines we believe, but help us to be zealous in our personal walk with you. Help us to be zealous to spend time in prayer with you every single day, God. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.