 Beginning at verse 5, Jesus said this, He said, When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. And surely I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place. And your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as they heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Now Jesus is teaching concerning three disciplines, three basic disciplines that actually were recognized at his time as the disciplines of a religious person. And so Jesus at this point is speaking about charitable deeds, he's speaking about prayer, and he's speaking about fasting. Now last time we were together and we began to look at chapter six, I shared with you out of verses one through four concerning Jesus is teaching on alms or the giving of charitable gifts or charitable deeds. And I mentioned to you that the performance of acts of charity were simply part of the traits of a person who actually has a relationship with God. I was mentioning to you that believers are to be known for doing good and we're to be known for doing good and not evil because in doing good we actually are giving evidence of a God who is good and we're bringing glory to this God. I mentioned to you out of chapter five verse 16 how Jesus had said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. And so part of being a Christian would be being a person who does good things, a person who's known for good works. And doing good is not exclusively for those whom we agree with or are even spiritually aligned with. Doing good is simply what believers do because it reveals that we are children of God and this is a God who actually gives. In Galatians chapter six verse 10 the apostle Paul said, Therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all especially to those who are of the household of faith. But I want you to note he said let us do good to all. Especially those who are believers but it ought to be the trait of our life that we do good. Why? Because the God that we serve and worship is a God who is good. And we're charitable because the God we serve and worship is one who gave to us. We love him because he first loved us. We give to him because he first gave to us. It's just a principle that you find in Scripture. Doing good but doing good to all. Recently I was in a place called Kurdistan and I went with a team. I was invited to go with a team to this particular region in northern Iraq. And we went with a desire to find ways to do good. To do good especially to the refugees who are pouring into northern Iraq. They have been displaced from their homelands, from the home through the terrorism of ISIS. And so we went into a particular region that is becoming a place where many of the refugees are finding refuge, finding security in some sort. And while we were there, we went with the intent of doing good to those in need. We met with a woman for example, actually several women. There was what we would call the matriarch, the mama. And then women who were married to her sons and all. And we met with her in a little place. And it's hard to describe. I didn't take my phone, I didn't take any pictures because it really isn't wise to do that, even a bit dangerous to do that. Because if you take pictures and all, there's a geolocator and the people who are monitoring our movements there are going to be able to find out exactly where we are at. And one of the guys that we went with was saying to me as we were driving into this particular area up in Kurdistan, he said to me, we are presently driving into the mouth of Satan. So we were very close to where ISIS is. As a matter of fact, we could look within a few miles and we could see where they are. And so as we went into this particular place, we went in knowing that we were driving into a place that should the Lord desire not to protect us was a very dangerous place to be. And so as we were there, we went into this particular village, an area where, and it's difficult again to describe, it's very hot, it was like 116 degrees in the shade. And so I stayed out of the shade, it was too hot. But we went into this area that was very, very, very hot and there was a, what I would refer to as a triplex just to give you an idea of a triplex. It's like we'll say motel rooms, three motel rooms that are hooked together. And you have to get out of your mind an image of a city and you have to get more into a rural kind of thing where there's a lot of dirt and no asphalt or anything like that. And then you have these three dwelling places that are hooked together like three motel rooms and each one of those rooms probably are about 200 to 250 square feet, rectangular in shape and all. And so you have a total of anywhere from 6 to 750 square feet and in the 650 to 700 or whatever square feet, you have 23 people living. And so we met with the matriarch and daughters or daughters-in-law really. And she had fled from ISIS, she and her daughters-in-law and we were asking her, what can we do for you? How could we be of help? What do you need? And she said, amongst other things, but it riveted me when she said, what I want is my husband and my son's back. Because ISIS took them, the last thing she saw was them taking her sons and her husband and putting them in cars and driving away. And it's been months since she's seen her husband or her sons. She has one son who is a young teenager who has survived. He's the one who will carry on their lineage, carry on the family name just as one young boy who was there in the meeting with us also. And so we saw these kinds of things, these kinds of needs. And as we were there, I had brought some money from what we call our Church Emergency Fund because I wanted to use it to help some of those who are in need, even as the Bible says, let us do good to all, especially to those who are the household of faith. And I wanted to make sure that we, as a ministry, did something tangible. And so I had brought some money to use in that way. And what we did is we helped a young burn victim to receive corrective surgery. There was this young girl, she's 16 years old. And she lives with seven, there's actually eight in total, six brothers and sisters, five brothers and sisters and her mom and her dad. And they live in a tent, in a tent city with refugees of multiple thousands there. And they have a tent that they live in, but they don't have, well, it's a tent. So they have outside of the tent in a small kind of, just a small enclosure. They have a single burner kerosene stove and she was making a meal for the family. I have a picture of the young lady right here. Beautiful, beautiful little girl, 16 years old. And she went out to begin to make a meal for the family and she was lighting the kerosene stove and it exploded and this is what took place. Poor little baby. She's laying on a mat. And they have another picture. And this little one here is shooing the flies off of her. It's about 95 degrees in there. They have a fan that's trying to keep her cool. She's in such a state. And so what we did is I had brought emergency funds and we asked what is it going to cost to do some final repair work on her and amongst the guys, all of us contributing and you did, you did. We were able to collect enough money for her to finish her surgeries to repair her injured skin and that's called doing good in the name of Jesus Christ. She was so touched and so moved by that. I met a courageous pastor. He's been ministering in an area that is extremely hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of his members, a taxi driver, would share with people about Jesus Christ and you need to know that you have different groups there. You have the Kurds. Some of the Kurds are Christians. A majority are Muslim. You have the Yassides who have their own religion and then you have a portion of the people up there in that area who are Christians. And so there are some very radical, radical Muslims and so this taxi driver, whenever somebody would get in the cab, would share the gospel with the people and this radical Muslim, a radical Muslim approached him and said, you need to stop speaking about Jesus Christ. You need to stop. And the Christian said, no, Jesus gave me salvation and it is my responsibility to share with people the good news of the gospel. And the Muslim said to him, this pastor was sharing with us about this. He said, and the Muslim said, you stop speaking about Jesus or you will die. And the Christian man said, I'm going to continue speaking about Jesus and the Muslim pulled out a weapon and shot him 29 times and killed him on the spot, killed him on the spot for speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not an uncommon thing. He is not the only person in this pastor's church who's been killed for proclaiming his faith. The pastor was telling us about how he's an evangelical pastor and he's preaching the gospel and he said that he was building an addition to a structure, a second floor so that he could use it as a church meeting hall so that people in the village could come and hear the gospel. He was warned that he needs to stop building this structure even though it's legal for him to do it. He was warned by radical Muslims against doing it and they told him, you need to stop building it. He said, and I didn't. I need a place to meet with my church. So what the radicals did is they came and they with dynamite blew up the structure but he said, that can't stop me and he built one anyway and he meets with his church in this particular place and while we were there speaking he said, what needs do you have in your church? He said, well we have five families in our church that have no means of support of any sort. They're refugees who've come in and they don't have any food. He says, and we're trying to find ways to be able to supply because the government is supposed to be helping them but isn't able or hasn't done what needs to be done. He said, and I just was meeting with five of them and so we asked, what will it cost to feed them? And he said it would cost X amount of dollars and so what we did again amongst ourselves is we put money together and we gave them enough to feed five families for a year and so this family is going to be taken care of. When we're about to leave we all were we had the pastor seated in a chair and there was a team of several pastors and we laid hands on this man and he had said he goes, I want to preach the gospel I want to expand I want to reach the lost and as he was saying that prayers were being lifted for him but my heart was moved and in this way because even as my friends were praying Father expand the borders of this man's ministry use him mightily for Jesus Christ he wants to be used by you the Holy Spirit was prompting my heart and my prayer and I said something about Father this man just asked to be crucified because in that area they will take you and they will crucify you if you're a follower of Jesus Christ and this man has asked to be crucified he has asked in two ways one is I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live so yes in the ministry sense he wants to be totally sold out to you but there's a very real cost for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and we need to understand that so we prayed for his safety and so as we're doing things and ministering there I need to be careful to stay in line and as the scripture teaches Jesus made it very clear to do a charitable deed notice in verse 2 but he said do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do and so I'm not sounding a trumpet that we might be seeing I'm rejoicing that we as believers can be of help the Bible tells us in Proverbs 3 27 do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in the power of your hand to do so we need to do some very practical things as we are there and to minister in a very practical way and that's what it's all about isn't it and so Jesus is teaching the earmarks of somebody who loves God include charitable deeds but it also includes prayer and so we're going to look at an outline of prayer right now as we go through our study and I want to show you a few things here because Jesus is teaching some things related to prayer that I just lightly touch on as we go through this portion of scripture now I want you to notice something here in verse 5 because Jesus said it like this he said when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men and he goes on to say assuredly I say to you they have their reward the attention that they garner from doing things outwardly the attention they get from men is their reward because they're doing it to be seen by men Jesus' point is that they've received exactly what they want they're being honored by men now when Jesus is speaking here I want to begin by saying that he assumes that believers pray we need to remember that prayer was very much a part of Jewish daily life as a matter of fact during the time of Christ devout Jews would pray three times a day they would pray at 9am at noon and then a third time at 3 o'clock in the afternoon the Psalmist in Psalm 55 verse 17 says it like this evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry out loud and he shall hear my voice and so at that time they had prayers that would normally be for the devout Jew normally be exercised three times a day they had what they called morning and they had evening prayers also and that would be part of what I just was sharing with you and what they would do there they would repeat first what was called the Shema now the Shema is the most important and ancient statement of faith that the Jews had it's found in Deuteronomy 6 verse 4 where it simply says hero Israel the Lord our God is one Lord so they would recite the Shema they would say that but they also might pray a series of 18 prayers that were basically exercised or prayed for various occasions 18 prayers and so faithful Jews would pray all 18 prayers three times a day but they did it in an abbreviated version wherever there was a faithful Jew when it was time for prayer they would stop and they would pray they were celebrating at first their ability to call on their God but as happened so very often they eventually began to formalize ways to pray now in the formalization of prayers in the writing down of prayers and the memorization and the reciting of these particular prayers those things on one hand are actually very useful because it teaches the young as well as the old the value of prayer as well as the content of prayer and so it can be used almost like a catechism in a sense to teach you these are the things of prayer and this is how we pray there's nothing in and of itself by itself wrong with that but what happened as very often is the case even to this day what was intended for good became corrupted over time there were problems that began to creep into their prayer lives prayer for example began to be a religious ritual they began to recite these prayers that they had memorized and they simply repeated words and the words became meaningless they were just speaking without faith with no expectation they were just reciting words also prayers for every occasion began to evolve so they began to have certain prayers that were written down prayer for rain prayer for a new moon traveling good news bad news they began to recite these kinds of prayers well in doing so that replaced the fellowship you're supposed to have with God a fellowship that is built on on a longing and a desire for Him they began to pray at certain times of the day and when they began to ritualize that it actually corrupted the fact that we should have a prayer life that is a continuation it's like when you pray now it's almost like you may be praying when you're driving I pray when I'm driving all the time Father please get that guy off the road I'm in hurry all the time but the Bible tells us that we should according to 1 Thessalonians 5 17 that we should pray without ceasing it's supposed to be a habit of prayer a communication with God not a set time I'll pray just these three times and these certain ritual prayers but no it's a conversation that you have with the Lord that shows that you have communion with Him Paul in Romans 12 verse 12 said we're to be rejoicing in hope for the salvation continuing steadfast he says steadfastly in prayer as all of this is going on long prayers came into fashion and you had what were called the scribes who were the religious experts the experts of the law of Moses and the Pharisees which were a particular denomination of Jewish faith and the scribes and the Pharisees began to be well known for their long prayers and they began to actually actually sell their prayers and if you wanted a prayer the more you paid the longer the prayer there's a guy by the name of Josephus he was a Jewish historian and Josephus said they were known for their long prayers which they continued sometimes three hours they might have sold them they probably had a job devout widows by the gifts or salaries they expected from them so the more you give the more he'll pray well Jesus said it like this in Matthew 23 verse 14 he said woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers and so they began to actually sell prayers and they prayed long and then with all of this they began to pray in such a way as to gain attention from other people Jesus addresses this notice he says they loved to be seen while praying they'd stand on corners praying synagogues so this was their way of gaining attention for religious practices and Jesus addresses this he speaks concerning a few things three things I want you to notice this notice first he says they loved to pray standing they loved to pray standing many rabbis during the time of Christ taught that the proper way to pray was to pray while standing so Jesus is addressing that he said also they loved to pray in a synagogue well during that time there were rabbis who said that the most proper place to pray would be a synagogue but they also Jesus said loved to pray in the streets when they loved to pray in the streets is that the certain time of the day if they weren't near a synagogue they would stop in a street but the thing is apparently during that time they were finding the most congested streets in order to be seen by the most people so it just so happened at the hour of prayer they happened to be in a very busy intersection and then they would stop and they would do their prayers and Jesus Christ is saying that's hypocritical they did it where people would congregate that gave room for the sin of hypocrisy because Jesus said they loved to be seen while praying they prayed Jesus says in this way in order to be seen by men now their audiences did not detect the hypocrisy the audience has a tendency of saying what a holy and religious and righteous person because they're not ashamed to take their petitions up before God and they'll do so not only in a synagogue but at the hour of prayer they're there doing it in a proper way and all that and so they would see their actions but the thing is that man sees the outside but God sees the heart 1 Samuel 16 7 the Lord does not see as man sees man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart and so he saw the hypocrisy that was taking place there now Jesus of course I should add this is not forbidding us to pray out loud in a prayer meeting or to pray out loud over a meal he's teaching us to pray to God with sincere hearts he's not saying that you cannot pray in a prayer meeting he's not saying make sure that your heart is right before God and that's why he says in verse 6 when you pray go into your room and when you have shut your door pray to your father who's in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly so the solution to the sin of hypocrisy he says go into a room and have time in a prayer meeting with God that encourages me to have pure motive he's not teaching me to ritualize my prayer habit but he's saying to me the father hears me as I go into the secret place notice how he says our father who is in the secret place will hear us when he says the secret place that speaks of what we would call intimate communion someone once said the secret place is our hearts and those praying faithfully will be heard so God he says will answer the prayer of those who pray sincerely and faithfully Psalm 3415 says the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous his ears are open and to their cry so he says go in the secret place of your heart even if it's a physical room that you call your prayer closet or whatever it may be and take your petitions to the Lord doing that and don't be doing it to be seen by men notice how he says in verse 7 when you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they will be heard for their many words vain repetitions are prayers that are patterned after pagan religions the words of these kinds of prayers are used like magic spells and they're not acceptable to God the fact is vain repetition reflects a lack of intimacy and communion with God and so he says don't pray like that do not use vain repetitious prayers God doesn't need you to badger him so when you speak to him just be sincere there are times in your prayer life and I'm certain that I'm speaking to some who have practically understood this what's going on that you're taken to the Lord but you really don't know exactly what to say and so you don't go into this prayer closet kind of atmosphere just with a lot of words just rattling from your mouth there have been times when I have had prayers time with the Lord that was very powerful in the sense of me sensing his presence when I've simply said to the Lord these words I've said you know you know I can't put into words what I'm concerned with Lord you know now it's not as if we don't make our petitions known to him but there are times that the sincerity of your prayer you're just letting him know you're just saying God I'm communing with you in a very personal intimate way and you know the situation and I'm not going to give you a lot of words I'm just telling you Lord you understand and you know Ecclesiastes 5 2 says it like this do not be quick in your mouth do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God God is in heaven you are on earth so let your words be few now notice how he says he knows what we need before we even ask him he knows I'm not informing him of something he doesn't know you know Lord I realize that you're looking over an entire world of several billions of people and many of them are lifting up prayer simultaneously but in the event that you might have a moment for me I'd like to inform you concerning my condition and what's going on and by the way just to save you a hassle I want you to know the solution I've already come up with and all I'm going to do is ask you to do that which you and I both understand is the right thing for this moment none of us have ever done that I used to I'd read the Bible in the Bible it said I was a brand new Christian and it said whatever you ask ask in my name and I will do it and I had to learn how to pray according to the will of God and how to share my heart with him and all and but the Bible says whatever and then I asked and I was a brand new believer and I was a single man at that time and a little Christian girl would come into the Bible study and I'd say well you said anything in Jesus name I claim her to your glory hallelujah praise you Lord no we learned to pray according to the will of God in the intimacy of communion and he knows what you need before you even ask when I was a little boy seven eight years of age I was going to catechism at that time and our catechism teacher said that God is omniscient a nice big word that simply means he's all knowing God knows everything and he knows past present future simultaneously and I thought man and I'm a seven eight year old little guy and I'm thinking that's amazing that the God of this universe knows everything everything Jesus just made that very clear he said to us that God knows what we need before we even ask and so I would go to bed and I did this for quite some time and I can still remember saying something like this God my teacher told me that you know everything even before I ask that means that you know what I would ask for if I were to ask it and seeing that you already know what I would ask for before I ask it then I'm going to say to you good night I did that for months because I was taught he already knows so why should I ask the Bible says to us in Isaiah 65 24 it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer while they are still speaking I will hear well you see by praying when we pray in reality we're really instructing ourselves not informing him prayer evidences a sincere faith prayer reveals communion it reveals relationship with God when you're having a conversation with God it reveals prayer reveals your love for God and your awareness of the love that he has for you prayer reveals humility that you even come to him prayer also reveals a child like faith and trust that God is able to provide now when Jesus is speaking here he's not giving to us a prayer to ritualize memorize and repeat mindlessly though sometimes unfortunately that happens but he's actually giving to us a model that's why he says in this manner therefore pray in this manner is another way of saying along these lines so he's not replacing ritual prayer with another prayer intended to be repeated what he's doing is he's giving us insight into who we are actually speaking to when we do pray and notice what he says and I want to take this apart I can't give you as thorough a study I was telling my wife earlier that I could actually make this into probably a 10 week series I'm just going to touch on some things very quickly here so forgive me if it's brief but let me give you some basic things so he says again in verse 9 in this manner therefore pray our father in heaven hallowed be your name our father our father he's my heavenly father he loves me I trust him he's my father many in this room many in this world cannot say that they had a father that loved him that provided for them and protected them it seems to be a growing number as a matter of fact it is a growing number of fatherless children God bless the single mamas they can it's just a sad situation for the children because daddy doesn't love him daddy's not there for him I prayed for a little boy he couldn't have been more than 6 years old 7 years old many years ago now he's a young man now but he was a little boy then when a mama came walking up with him beautiful little guy still remember a little blonde guy little guy and I still remember a mama bringing him up and of course what can I pray for and the little boys looking at his feet and mama says his father yesterday his father told him I don't love you and when she said that repeated those words I'll never forget this little boy's shoulders slumping and his little head going down and I took him in my arms and I pulled him to me and I held him and I was staying my heart breaks for that little boy I was at a men's breakfast many years ago now when a music minister was sharing his songs and leading us in worship I was teaching at another fellowship and the music ministers stopped and kind of shared a little bit from his heart with the men and he said I was 6 years old my dad was walking through the front room and as he was about to walk out the front door I asked of daddy where are you going my father says oh I've got to go out for a little while he said I said to my dad can I go with you daddy and my father says no son no I'll be back in a little while and he walked out the door closed the door behind him and he said I never saw my father again he left the family and left this little boy when he said that some of the men in the room began to laugh they laughed and I'll never forget this music minister as he looked at us and he shook his head and he said I guess you're right I wasn't worth coming home to and it touched my heart how many how many people could say the same kind of thing my father didn't love me but you know what I have a heavenly father and when my father and my mother forsake me the psalmist said you will pick me up I have a heavenly father and that's what Jesus is teaching me he says our father the word father our father speaks of intimacy it speaks of relationship throughout the Bible when you read your Bible God has identified various titles descriptions his name and if you do even a basic reading of how God is described or identifies himself you'll see that there are certain words that are translated for us by the word God or something similar for example from the very beginning in Scripture from Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 the Bible says in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the word God there is the Hebrew word Elohim and that's a word that is used about 2500 times in the Bible referring to God as a creator and the judge he's also referred to as Adonai the word Adonai speaks of the Lord or a master the word Jehovah though there is a discrepancy as to how to actually pronounce this word because the Hebrew does not have vowels and vowels are supplied in the reading and this is the forbidden name you're not to use that name and all so they really don't know whether the name is Jehovah or what it actually really is but we translated Jehovah 3321 times then you have what are called composite names Jehovah Elohim which speaks of the Lord God you have Jehovah Jireh which means the Lord will provide you have Jehovah Rafa the Lord my healer Jehovah Nisi the Lord my banner Jehovah Shalom the Lord my peace Jehovah Raah Jehovah Sidgenu the Lord our righteousness Jehovah Shama the Lord is there Jehovah Sabaot the Lord of hosts he's called Al Shaddai the Almighty God Al Elion the Most High God Al Olam the Everlasting God but the most precious name that he ever gave to us his father he's my father Jesus is teaching me that God is my father our father now that's a relationship that those who have been born again can have with him those who have not been born again cannot refer to him in that way you're not part of his family but when you've been born again you are brought into the family of God and thus he is your father as many as received him to them gave he the power to become sons of God and on his name John 1.12 so you are brought into you are adopted into the family of God and that's why you can now refer to him as our father and he says who are in heaven our heavenly father, Hollywood holy is your name he is to be holy he is to be reverenced and his name hallowed be thy name your character is revealed reverenced because God you are holy and we acknowledge that you are holy and when you acknowledge the holiness of God this is something that's really important for us as Christians when you acknowledge the holiness of God it results in us realizing that without him we are nothing and it actually leads us to confessing our sins which results in purity of a life and that produces in us a heart for worship in 1 Peter 1 verses 15 and 16 as he who called you is holy so also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I am holy so your life is not to be lived loosely you don't go out on Saturday sleeping around or bar hopping and then come and worship him on Sunday you know that was what many of us did that's what I would do church for me was a place that I would go to for weddings but especially for the reception afterwards so you could drink baptism same thing you have the baptism and of the child and then you go to your friend's house and you drink so it was more of an excuse and all and yet if you'd have spoken to me I'd have said to you oh yeah I'm a Christian of course I'm a Christian I just went to a wedding I just went to a funeral I just went to a baptism of course I'm a Christian but I didn't live a life that was set apart the word holy means to be set apart my life was not set apart because I did not belong to God he was not my father I was not part of his family and therefore his character was not being revealed in me I have a grandson I have two beautiful grandsons let me boast for a moment forgive me my Josiah who is the apple of my eye all of my babies I love and I don't want to give one more attention than the other but I will say this I have a newest addition my my grandson David Aaron and he looks like his dad but when you when I'm holding him my son and my daughter-in-law will say this they say he really looks like you and he does and I like it I like it I do if you're a Facebook friend go to my Facebook page I have a picture of my Zoe and my David on it I posted it and they're seeing their very first fireworks display and it's just beautiful but you'll see my little David baby David I mean he looks like me and all in there is a family resemblance there's a family resemblance and so you are to have a resemblance to God and so his character is revealed in you as believers I hope that makes sense your God is holy undefiled separate from sin and that's what you and I are in him so our lives are to show that so that when people look at us there is enough evidence that we belong to God simply by the way we live and then when we share why we live this way it connects and people say so that's why you're that way because you've got a relationship with God you're different and so our father who art in heaven be thy name your kingdom come our desire should be for his rule on planet earth and our desire in our prayer should be that that would take place soon may Jesus Christ rule and reign may he destroy forever the works of Satan that's the longing of my heart and I think it's the longing of ours may God rule and may the evil end I mean a refugee camp there's no pavement it's all dirt it's very organized it looks like a neighborhood 10 by 12 square foot tents and all it's very organized but there's no streets there's no green belt of any sort there's nothing to cool you down you're just in a tent city and as I'm standing children are coming around and being communicated with and all my eye falls upon a little girl between two and three years of age and she's standing wearing a little sun type dress and it's 116 like I was saying it's very hot she's got some flip-flops and a little sun dress her hair is brownish and her skin is light because she's a Euclidean you see these actually are very many of them have green eyes or hazel eyes and light skin they're very much my coloring and I see this little this little girl standing by herself on a street where all the kids are somewhere else but this little girl two or three she could be one of my granddaughters age standing in the middle of a dirt path that's a street and I'm looking at her and from behind it could very easily she could pass for my Stella and the Lord touches my heart these children they're out there with nothing with nothing and so the reason that baby is there is because of the evil of this world it's because people have displaced her in her family and she is now and has been in this camp since she was probably just an infant they're in this camp probably up to a year living in that way in a 10 by 12 foot tent little girl no place to play, no parks no pool even a small pool that you could put her in so she could cool her little body down if that doesn't anger you about what the enemy has done I don't know what will if that doesn't bother you I don't know what will to see these children without anything and it's all because of the enemy and sin may Christ rule thy will be done, your kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven your will be done may your will be performed in us may your will one day be done in all the world and may our will be submitted to yours especially that we might not ask is that what you do not desire us to have well in northern Iraq following the news supreme court makes a ruling several of them that were very questionable obviously and americans get upset a couple of things I'll say very briefly I know you got a great you had a great teaching last week and I know that that's I don't have to add to that I'm coming from me to you just because the supreme court refers to something as marriage doesn't make it marriage I don't answer to the supreme court I answer to God I'm under the law of the land and I'm certainly not going to go out of habitual felon but in issues of such as that that's a question of conscience and so of course I don't agree with that I was secondly I was say are you going to perform marriages will this church continue to do so and the answer is I'm called by God to do what God calls me to do and should I be asked and should I be able of course I'm going to perform marriages and of course we're going to make sure that they're biblical marriages will you marry a homosexual couple and the answer is if they're repentant and as a male and female yes but they're unrepentant males or unrepentant females the answer as a church no of course not why you bigot because God said that it's a male and a female and that is what scripture teaches and that's what I do and so no I'm not going to perform homosexual marriages and but I also will I also want everybody who's hearing this and this will go out over the air so I want it to be very clear that I don't hate sinners I don't hate homosexuals I don't even know why they're being separated in the way that they are as a class God hates all sin he hates gossip he hates gluttony he hates it when we're drunk all kinds of sin so I don't see that as a special class I just see it as people who need Jesus Christ so the gospel goes out to everyone that's what it does and it's not with hatred in my heart at all it's love because I actually believe in eternity I believe that there is a God I believe that there is a heaven and I believe there is a hell and I want people to go to heaven that's why I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ so that the sinner can be set free from gluttony from gossip from lying from murder from all those sins you can be set free and so that's a bottom line one of the things and I don't know if this will make sense to you as I say this but we're not trying to make America into a Christian nation and you might say wait a minute I'll say it again we're not trying to make America into a Christian nation we're trying to make Americans into Christians and there's a difference there's a difference we want all men to be saved and when people come to faith in Christ that's the answer the answer isn't going to be found in a new president you see I don't worship a president I have a king and I worship the king Jesus Christ and so I look to him for my leadership and so we need to understand that thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven may God's rule be in our hearts so that this nation changes to follow Jesus Christ listen and remember this that when the gospel was birthed during that day it was birthed in some areas that were very very sinful and perhaps we forget I'd remind you read the book of Ephesians read the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians read Romans especially chapters 1 2 and 3 and you're going to see the environment look in Acts chapter 17 where the apostle Paul is there in the city of Athens and his heart is grieved because he sees that the entire city is wholly given over to idolatry and the spirit of God begins to move in him and he begins to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ you see that that's what the church was birthed into we need the power of the Holy Spirit and we need the word of God working together to cause lives to be transformed so we can be the salt so that we can be the light in a tasteless and darkened world and the gospel of Jesus Christ will be quenched the light of God will go forward because God gives us power to do that we need to understand that we need to understand that hold fast to him the best is yet to come God wants to do a work and so yes they will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread teach us day by day dependence on you because God you're the only one that we truly need day by day may we learn the secret of contentedness keep us from materialism and keep us from fear that we don't have enough teach us what you taught Paul where Paul said I've learned in whatever state I am to be content teach us the secret of contentedness day by day dependence on you and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors now that means simply that I'm a sinner and I need humility forgive me my debt because I owe you a debt forgive me that cuts out all opportunity for prideful self-righteousness making demands on God I am a debtor to God I'm a sinner in need of forgiveness and God needs to forgive me of my sin debt and sometimes we can demand from God what we think he owes us and we get angry with them when he denies us but no he owes me nothing but judgment but he gives me his grace but notice he says even as we forgive our debtors we are sinners not deserving his provision but we do receive his grace and if I have received his grace I extend it to others I'll show you something in just a moment do not lead us into temptation deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen deliver us from the evil one Lord and by the way Father help me to not be presumptuous thinking I'm being led by you and to enter into an arena that will stumble me where I think you led me there when in reality you were saying I ought not to go there there are guys for example how do I illustrate that there are guys who had drinking problems they get saved and then they say well God has called me to go back to the bars I used to go to and win them if you were an alcoholic and you were always in there drinking and getting drunk with your friends that is not a place for you under normal circumstances that is not a place for you and if you say well God is leading me there it can also be a place where you are stumbled and can fall so help me to know when you are actually leading me somewhere Lord and not to presume that you're leading me simply because I came from a certain background or know a certain thing help me not to enter into temptation thinking I'm following your spirit now he says again and we'll conclude with this in verses 14 and 15 if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will forgive you but if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses this is his final instruction here on forgiveness you see an unforgiving heart reflects a heart not acquainted with forgiveness if you truly have received God's grace then truly give it to others it's been said no prayers can be heard which do not come from a forgiving heart when you understand when we understand what great sinners we have been and still can be it produces humility be very careful never to fall into the trap of saying things like I don't understand how they could do that I do understand how you can do certain things I do because I've done them because I've done them so I'm not here to judge anyone my mom taught me something a long time ago she said David always remember when you point your finger at somebody you got three pointing back at yourself and that's true that's why I always just point my thumb at people with my hand never forget that who am I who are you sinners saved by God God is gracious and he's loving and he's forgiving he restores us strengthens us and powers us transforms us he has forgiven us I was just sharing that with Marie we're talking about forgiveness and I was saying to her honey you've got so much for me to forgive you of you're fortunate that I'm so forgiving I was saying to her you know may God make us, may God fashion us into people who remember who we are may he always remind me not with condemnation because there is no condemnation those who are born again who are in Christ there's no condemnation but may I never forget where I came from may I never forget what it's like what my life was like without Jesus Christ may I never forget that may I never get to the point where I say I don't understand how you did that I remember what it's like to wake up in a pool of vomit that I poured on myself I remember what it's like to be so hung over I didn't even know where I was to do things that I won't repeat I haven't forgotten I haven't forgotten the hatred that I had in my heart I haven't forgotten what I did to my parents and how I treated them and how I treated my sisters and how I embarrassed my family with the things that I did and the way that I was I haven't forgotten, I never will never let me think that I'm something because I'm not all I am is a sinner saved by grace and may I always remember that and may I love the people that Jesus died for help me Lord to be forgiving because I can hold a grudge oh I forgive it never forget well you're not forgiving then are you because God doesn't remind me of my failures God has made me new in Jesus Christ old things have passed away behold all things have become new I once was lost but now I've found I once was blind but now I see I was that but I'm not that now but I never want to forget what I was nobody who's where I used to be and I can be a beacon of light I can say look what God can do in a life if you give your heart to Jesus Christ again just yesterday Marina we're talking about and I was driving with her and I said God has been so good to us he is so good what a God we worship what a loving father we have praise you Jesus for your goodness to me praise you Jesus