The Lord's Prayer; it's real meaning

The lord's prayer Matthew 6King James Version (KJV)

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, 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.

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.

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

                                         

                                   EXHORTATION

okay Matthew chapter 6 is where we're going to be today the first thing I want to do though is open up with an illustration for you I don't know what it is about riedel snakes but they are part of my life and this week I came home and Nathan was out building a

makeshift tree house just on the other side of the dirt road where we live and if you know anything about where I live you've got basic look you come down the dirt road and then you make a hard 90 degree turn and right in the curve of

that our property is just on the other side of that curve and it forms a little triangle on back side of the road so there's a sliver of our property just on the other side of drying when Nathan was up in a big oak tree trying to build a

makeshift tree house well and I said well you know I'll go out there spend a little time with him and who's out there trying to get it together you know and I said Nathan I really don't want to put up anything permanent here on this tree

but we can try to hang it in the limbs and all that kind of stuff when we were well and Mary Lou was standing there Mary Lou always seems to be around to and and we were standing there and all of a sudden Mary I'm up in the tree and

the two children are on the ground they something wrong with that picture to begin with but I'm up in the tree I'm up in the tree and Mary Lou and Nathan on the ground under the tree looking up at me and all of a sudden mary says Nathan

what is that she's looking down it's kind of like a firebreak dividing the property line from us my God my property another guy's property and just as pretty as you please that little timber rattlesnake was just easing his way

right across that fire break and the wrong problem is he's headed in my direction rather than that direction and so he's coming home to my property well and so you know I immediately said Nathan go give me the gun so he went and

got me the gun and I took care of that snake but that's my job ain't it that's my job as the father they're looking to me because the first thing they said was his daddy did there's snake and it's a poisonous

snake it's a rattlesnake matter of fact it's Nathan's exact words were daddy it's a rattler it's a rattler and so that's southern slang right there but they looked to Daddy for protection now I don't know if you use the Lord's

Prayer all that often but from time to time at my house as we say the blessing at the meal from time to time how it would just be on my heart I said well let's just hold hands and say together the Lord's Prayer and the beauty of that

now is this all the members of my family can call him father that means more to me now than you'll ever know because now I'm not praying for the salvation of my children I'm rejoicing in it and the fact that we are now all a member of the

same spiritual family our Father and we can truly say our Father which art in heaven I want to talk to you today about the Lord's Prayer and Matthew forgive us if we point out you a lot lately Brandi told me while ago and she's going to get

onto me for this but I can handle it she said Brad he may not like being and being pointed out so much but you know it's kind of like when you have a new baby in the family everybody's all about that new baby because he's been burst

into the kingdom so forgive us Matthew but we rejoice in your salvation brother we're glad you're part of the family and so i'll try not to single you out alright but in Matthew chapter 6 that books got your name on it those Matthew

Matthew chapter 6 we're going to start with verse 9 actually I want us to start with verse 6 well 45 when because that's the context okay we're not going to cover except verse 5 except for context begin with me in verse 5 and

in our pressed thou shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men barely I saying to you they have their reward but thou notice the

contrast when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shoved it up my door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly but when you pray use not vain repetitions as the

heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him want to pause right there we let we see in those

verses 5 through 8 this there is a way to pray there is a way not to pray we can pray correctly and we can pray incorrectly Jesus is noticing the contrast bhasin between some people's prayers and other people's prayers the

hypocrites apparently love to be able to be seen in public pray they wanted to be seen they wanted to be known as people of prayer but their hearts were not right with God and so we need to be careful how we pray and Jesus is about

to tell us how to go about praying it takes the image off of us and puts it on him the emphasis off of us and puts it on to him look with me in verse 9 as we complete the reading now after this manner therefore pray ye some

translation say now pray like this pray this way that's what it means by the word manner after this manner therefore pray ye which implies what we should have a life of prayer a life with no prayer is why i quoted samuel this point

far be it from me God that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you in first Thessalonians chapter 5 i believe it is paul admonishes the Thessalonians pray with what out CC so for a Christian not to pray is not to be like a Christian

ought to me so Jesus is emphasizing that not only should we be praying there is a way to pray so look with me he says our Father notice community language already I were father you are to ramira minded all of the time as you come here did you

come here today to be in this building all by yourself worshiping God now that's what you do monday to saturday private worship this is primarily talking about public worship I our Father that's why in many churches you

will hear this prayer recited like in the United Methodist Church with my grandma and granddad Oliver were members it was not unheard of for them to recite the Apostles Creed and to recite the Lord's Prayer publicly because it

reminds us we're a family we are a family brothers and sisters our Father look with me if you will before we finish our reading in first Thessalonians chapter 2 1st Thessalonians chapter to go with me

there to verse 11 first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 11 and we will get the image of what Paul thinks a father ought to be doing this is what Paul feels is the role of father because he took it upon himself

when he was dealing with the Thessalonian believers by the way I love the book of Thessalonians it's just so very practical and very good i just read it a lot from time to time just to be encouraged first Thessalonians chapter 2

verse 11 says this as you know how we exhort it and comforted and charged every one of you as a father dothe his children now if there's no other responsibilities a father has as he got at least those three rather a father

should always be exhorting that's encouraging he should always be comforting is to comfort his children but he's also to charge those children and monish them this is what you're to do this is how your to do it now look at

the attitude of Jesus he's comforting the people in the Sermon on the mountain take no thought or need for your life for your father knows you have meaning of these things we act so many times like we are in control of our own

destiny we are not in control God is in control as a matter of fact we're studying one of the most misunderstood books in the Bible right now in our and our Sunday School lesson in the Book of Daniel and if you see anything at all in

Daniel you see God in absolute 100% control of Nebuchadnezzar's life of all the kingdoms that will come into existence but his kingdom his kingdom will reign supreme forevermore that is who our Father is we can brag on our

father because he does encourage us he does comfort us and he does charge us with things to do so at the very least that is one of the roles of being a father so that gives you a beautiful image of what our Father is like and in

verse 9 we finish the reading our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive

our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen I want to tell you some stuff about this verse if you look at commentaries and you look at how

to various outlines of the Lord's Prayer you'll find that there's three admonitions about God and three admonitions about man the first for God is this after this manner pray thee our Father which art in heaven hallowed be

thy name thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread that has to do with our admonition to God now look with me for just a moment I want you to notice in back at verse 8 when he says

this be not ye therefore likened to them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before we break this message down i want you to see the omniscience of god in your life a father knows best if you ever watch that movie

It's a Wonderful Life the guys in the drugstore and he looks up and he realizes there's something going wrong inside that drugstore the man is drunk in a stupor and he realizes he's caught the guy doing filling the prescription

wrongly and the guy was going to die if he took that medicine so the kid who was the young guy who later grew up in the movie he looked over to a sign and what did the sign say father knows best so what did the young boy do he ran home to

ask father what to do the Bible teaches the omniscience of God and young people that simply means he knows it all science means knowledge Omni means all he has all knowledge all knowledge so when you go to pray you are not

informing God of what's going on for example FF Bruce said this prayer is not intended as a memory jogger for God you're not there to remind God of your needs he knows what you have need before you even ask but as a means by which the

Christians desires are brought under God scrutiny because you're revealing your heart not only the helmet to yourself when you go to prayer and the one who prays is reminded of the character will and purposes of God so

you have the assurance that when you go to God as your father he knows your needs before you even come do you know why Nathan and Mary said there was a snake out there they knew I could take care of it do you know that God can take

care of your needs or do you just simply offer up a prayer like you're playing a slot machine I hope I get something out of this I hope something happens you are talking to the Almighty when you're talking to God the one who said in the

book of Daniel about the Ancient of Days that we read just this very morning in Sunday school he says this is a description of who you are talking to when you approach God he says this and I beheld the same hornet met that made war

with the Saints and prevailed against them until the Ancient of Days Kane and judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High and the time came that the Saints possessed the kingdom thus he said the fourth beast shall be for

fourth kingdom upon the earth which shall be diverse from all kingdoms that should devour the whole earth I shall tread it down and bring it to pieces and the ten horns out of this kingdom or the ten Kings that shall arise and another

shall arise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he showed to subdue three kings and he shall seek great words against the most high and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High and think to change times and laws

and they shall be given unto his hand until the times of the times and the dividing of times but the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his Dominion to consume and to destroy it into the end and the kingdom and the

Dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given unto the people of the Saints of the Most High whose kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey Him

hitherto is the end of the matter the end of the matter is is that Kingdom we know that king who has that Kingdom and we are his subjects it is a privilege to be a part of the kingdom of the Most High God so our Father which art in

heaven let me tell you what this tells us God knows it all before you even pray and you need to remember his character his will and his purposes in your life you remember that he says not one sparrow falls to the ground without his

notice he says every head on your hair is numbered that's how much he knows about you he knows your needs we are a family we've already addressed this hour we are no longer slaves but sons when we address him as father turn with me to

Galatians chapter 4 we've seen this passage multiple times Galatians chapter 4 this is mine in your position with Christ we God the Father in verse 4 he says but when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son made of

a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of what sons and what does it say and because your son's God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba

Father wherefore thou are no more a servant that word in the King James always mean slave there aren't no more a slave but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ we are sons through Christ he is a son by eternal

generation we are a son by adoption now look with me at some few things I want to point out about the Lord's Prayer notice this he is our Father his place is in heaven who art in heaven in the Greek it's actually pouring our Father

who art in the heavens that teaches his expanse in his vastness he is above us he transcends us is over us our Father his place our final abode where he is at we shall be because in John chapter 14 he says if I go and prepare a place for

you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also so we get a glimpse of our Father his place is heaven and it is our final abode look with me at the rest of it his name his name is our reverence we

are to revere god that's why it says Halloween be thy name Malachi says this I love this passage of Scripture you've heard me quoted several times but I love this passage of Scripture as it relates to father's as God is addressing the

people of Israel to the Prophet Malachi just before the Old Testament Canon closes he says this a son honoureth his father and a servant his master if then I be a father where is my honor and if I be a master where is my fear this

teaches us who God is He is God our Father and he has a beautiful name a name so holy I was sharing with Chad as he was home this weekend this past weekend I mean with me yesterday I'm trying my best to learn Hebrew it's

gonna take me forever to learn it but I'm trying and they give you 1,000 cards to look at and you have to look at him all time you know like a little test like get kids hold them up can I say that word do I recognize what I word is

or like when you put a picture when you're learning in kindergarten this is a house this is a dog this is a cat this is a bat this is the mall I'm still at that level in Hebrew about the fourth or fifth card

you pull out in the index out of this thousand looks like like if you've ever ordered business cards that's what it looks like just a whole pile of them and you start at one end of the box and you're trying to get the number one

thousand they want you to learn at least a thousand words you get to about number four and you pull out one and i right and as I learned my letters I recognized it it was y'all way it was y'all way yo hey and another letter yo died thinking

hey that is the name they could not pronounce and could not say it was so holy now let me ask you do you honor and revere God's name like that did you know when it says thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain you have the name

Christian labeled on you not only in that day did it mean you're taking the Lord thy god's name in vain if you set it wrongly but if you represented it wrong are we representing our Father which art in heaven whose name is to be

held I hope we are his name is to be revered he says that kingdom come Thy will be done did you know that of all the verbs in the Lord's Prayer we often say it as a plea it's not a plea there in the imperative mood in the Greek

which means the kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven it's not a prayer it's a proclamation the kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven because you're not asking a king for his will to be done

it's going to be doing else he's not keen but in the imperative mood and that's why I want to learn Greek that's why I want to learn Hebrew because when you read it in English it don't give you

that sense but when you read it in the green that's exactly what it means thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and that's why said in verse 8 you don't need to be bunch of having a bunch of repetition in your

prayer life to god you don't need inform him he is the great king of the Most High God you just simply proclaimed thy kingdom come so we are his subjects we're in submission to his kingdom and his will and his way his will ought to

be our desire we want to see it fulfilled as we live on earth as he will be done in heaven his domain is our reminder look where his domain is my kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven he is in charge of

both the earth and the heavens that is his domain I know of no one else can he claim that authority what did Jesus say before he left his disciples I want you to look with me at the end of this book because we often forget this we often

think that his kingdom and it was actually mentioned just this morning about the millennial reign in Sunday school how does that all play and I want to choose you to see something in Matthew chapter 28 the last words of our

Lord to his to the apostles before he ascended it's not his last word because we know he talked to Paul and John later after he ascended to heaven but this is his last words as he ascended to heaven and i want you to see just how much

authority our King has already been given and Jesus came and spoken to them saying in verse 18 of Matthew 28 all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth he is already raining as the king of wards king of kings and Lord of lords

he's already raining did you know in the Greek that's what that means that's why we don't we say he is the king or he is the Lord but in the Greek you had to say to emphasize it he is king of kings he is Lord of lords he is the

king all power and authority has been given unto him and so what does he say go therefore make disciples so all authorities already be given it given unto him his domain is our reminder he's been given all power and all authority

in heaven and in earth what a wonderful way to think about God as you approach him in prayer you know when we pray for brother Pete this week as he went to the doctor we didn't have to say Lord I hope you do something with such a somebody no

we already know he's in complete control in charge of everything and that's what we can do when we go to him is have assurance he's already got full control of heaven and earth we're simply reminding him of it and have his majesty

and we get to praise him for it and we get to take assurance in the fact that we talking to someone who is in full control his provision our dependence look with me at verse 11 give us this day our daily bread I didn't know this

till I studied this passage that word daily is only found one more time in Greek literature anywhere that was written at this time and it's the only time it's found here in the Bible so there's a lot of misunderstanding what

this word may mean so it's been translated daily it could mean tomorrow's bread it could mean what we need right now the emphasis is this you are utterly dependent upon God for your provision every day all day today and

tomorrow is basically the emphasis of the word we don't really know a whole lot about the word the scholars tell us because it's not found much in Greek literature and it's only found once here so they don't so when you only see a

word I've used it that small of a time you don't really know exactly what the word may mean you can only drive what it means from the context and the context seems to imply because he gets on later into the chapter and verse 6 yr

you worried about the food and the raiment that you'll put on God clothes the birds of the field and and he closed the grass of the field and he takes care of the little bird so you should not be worried about your what your provision

that God is going to give you did you have it all figured out when you were 20 and you knew exactly what she's going to do when you were 70 older folks absolutely not brother Wayne says the same God who took care of you when you

was 20 and had absolutely nothing is the same daughter's going to take care of you to your dying day you need to remember that this lesson teaches us our dependence on God and look our forgiveness and forgive us our debts as

we forgive our debtors it reminds us we are sinners before a holy God whose name is absolutely holy did you know did you notice in that word it says and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debt tours I will take two things about this

verse that you may not know the Bible says that we're sinners for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God so we recognize we're sinners and we're in depth to God the Jew thought of sins as debt like me and you think of

financial debt they owed it they knew they were sinners before a holy God but you may not know this about this passage when it says and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors as we forgive our debtors in the Greek language it's in

the past tense you've already forgiven your debtors because you would never approach a holy God knowing you had sinned harbored in your heart toward a god who's already forgiven you that's in the past tense I am coming to God asking

him to forgive me my dance because oh god I've already forgiven mine because I knew they'd done me wrong but I would never approach you're harboring sin I get someone else in my own life know what I need

forgiveness to don't that bring you out so good how blasphemous is it and how hypocritical it is for us to say Oh God forgive me I've sinned against you and while I Harbor sin and dead against my fellow man who's made in the image I

made in the same likeness so we are to forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors the second thing I want you to know about this verse is oftentimes you'll hear this set and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who

trespassed against us that's an incorrect way to say that that's in the English common prayer book that's not what's really going on their debt is really the best way to say it because you owe it and they have sinned against

you and you need to forgive them of that dent let it go let it go let it go and lead us not into temptation we see here not only do we need his forgiveness is our need his deliverance is our only hope who is the appealing to in the

prayer who are we to appeal to for our deliverance and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil and that can be translated the evil one I want you to turn with me to Colossians and see what has happened as far as

being delivered turn with me to the little book of Colossians Georgia electric power coming is the way I remember that so it's right after the book of Philippians Colossians chapter one notice the word father in verse 12

this is the end of Paul's prayer thanking God for what he's done and this is his prayer for the colossal church at Colossae now look with me at this verse giving thanks unto the father look at that word again giving thanks

unto the father now remember the prayer is and deliver us from the evil one or from the evil look what it says giving thanks into the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in life who

hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son if you are here today and you a child of the Living God you have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and have been translated

into the kingdom of his dear son Jesus Christ King hallelujah amen glory to God I have been delivered from the power of the devil the old sermon used to say I'm not only going to be delivered from the presence of sin I'm going to be

delivered from the power of sin as well and so look at his power in that last verse our kingdom and to be totally honest with you even though it's here in our Bibles it's not found in most manuscripts this last verse but you can

you can find it in other places in Scripture that also teach the same thing so whether it's not whether or not it's in the early manuscripts or not if we find it here in our Bible as 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 now we haven't exhausted all of the Lord's Prayer this morning there's so much more we could teach about the Lord's Prayer but what you

need to remember is this right here about it today his place is our final abode he's our Father so we're gonna go home with the father his name is to be revered and everything we say into his kingdom we are to be subjects in his

kingdom his will should be our desire his domain is our reminder he's in charge of it all heaven and earth his provision we are dependent upon his forgiveness is our greatest II his deliverance is our only hope and

his power he is our King our King aren't you glad you serve a king who's able to conquer anything that comes against you and me aren't you great great for that now maybe you have a new perspective on the Lord's Prayer pray it this way our

Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give me this day my daily bread and forgive me my dance as I forgive those I've already forgiven those who trespass toward it

had debts against me and lead me not lured into temptation oh my god thank you and deliver me from the evil one for the high Lord is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen let's pray our Father thank you for

your prayer we found here in Matthew chapter 6 Oh God you've told us how to pray I've my fear Lord as if we don't pray enough o God teach us to pray as we bring these needs before you each and every month about the people on our

prayer list knowing that your will will be done but our desire ought to be to see it done as we worship a worthy and Most High God whose kingdom will last forever thank you Father for all you're going to do in our life in Jesus name I

pray amen