You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.
Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Greg Laurie says, When we pray, think of the closeness of our Heavenly Father and how He loves us as a Father. Whether we're making a birdhouse or sewing a dress, it helps to have a template, a pattern to follow.
A template helps you learn from those who did the same thing before, those who wrestled with all the decisions that go with the project. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the Lord gave us a template or a pattern to follow for effective prayer. It's what we commonly call the Lord's Prayer. It's really more the disciples' prayer as it shows us how to bring our petitions to God.
This is the day, the day when life begins. Who better qualified to tell us about talking to God than God talking to us? So look at Matthew 6. We're going to read verses 9 to 14.
Why don't we go ahead and just say it out loud together? 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 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And 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. Now this powerful prayer can be divided into two sections. The first three petitions, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, deal with the glory of God, reminding us what the real purpose of prayer is. What is the purpose of prayer? The real focus of prayer should not be on us, but on God. Not on what we want, but on what God wants. So let's come to point number one about how to pray the way Jesus wants us to pray. Here it is. We're taught by Jesus.
We're to pray to our Father in heaven. I don't know about you, but I didn't have a dad growing up. My mom sort of hunted men for sport, and she was married and divorced seven times.
You've heard me say that before. She had a lot of boyfriends in between. My mom was like a guy magnet, and she seemed to enjoy it, moving from relationship to relationship, if you want to call it that. And she would tell me to call these men dad.
Well after about three guys in, it was getting a little old. I'm meeting a complete stranger, and my mom would say, this is your new dad. Call him dad.
I didn't really want to call these guys dad. She did marry one guy named Oscar Laurie who lived in New Jersey, and he was the only dad in quotes that treated me like a father should treat a son, though he was not my biological father. He disciplined me. He taught me values. He took time for me, and I loved him. He also adopted me, and that's why I have his name Oscar.
A lot of you don't know that's my name. No, it's Laurie, but you know, so there was my dad, and I felt he was my dad, but one day getting out of school in New Jersey, my mom has the car loaded up with all of our suitcases, and I said, where are we going? She said, we're going to Hawaii. I said, well where's dad?
She says, he's not coming, and that was the last I saw of Oscar for many years. So we fly and land in Honolulu. Now this was the mid 60s, and it was a super cool place back in the mid 60s.
I mean I have to admit I really loved it. The air, the water, everything. She married this guy who owned a bar in Waikiki Beach, and there was a big window behind the bar there.
You look into the swimming pool. So I spent a lot of time just hanging out on Waikiki Beach in the mid 60s. I made friends with these guys they called the Beach Boys, not the band. These were the guys that ran the outriggers, and I would get free rides on the outriggers. They all knew me.
All the tourists would paddle, and I would just take free ride after free ride. Pretty good life, but there was trouble in paradise, because my mom was a raging alcoholic as was the man she married, and this particular guy who I couldn't call dad, so I can't remember if he told me to call him this or my mom did. I called him Diddley.
Isn't that pathetic? Diddley. So anyway, Diddley was a mean drunk, and when he came under the influence of alcohol he would scream and yell and hit. My mom was the same way.
They would get in these giant fights, and one night he hit her with a little statue and knocked her unconscious. She almost died, so we left Diddley and came to California. So you can understand when I say there is a lot of baggage with the word dad for me. Alright. Now it is not that way for everyone. Some of you have awesome dads, and you know your dad was loving and nurturing and affectionate and affirming and communicative. That is great.
Thank God for that. But some of you had weird dads or maybe abusive dads or maybe you never even knew your dad. Whatever the case, here is what I want to say. Your father in heaven is different than your father on earth. That is not to criticize your father.
He is different. You know because fathers and mothers let their kids down. And children let their parents down.
We all let each other down at times. I mean David knew what it was like to have a dad that didn't love him. David wrote when my father and mother forsake me the Lord will take me up. He said of God he is a father to the fatherless.
So God will be that father for you. But you have to understand when Jesus said to his disciples after this manner therefore pray our father who art in heaven that was a revolutionary thought to a Jewish person. Jews of the first century did not call God father.
In fact they regarded his name with such reverence and respect they would not even utter it. In the entire Old Testament God is referred to as father fewer than seven times and when he is referred to in that way it is either indirectly or rather remotely. When Jesus referred to God as his father they accused him of blasphemy. And one of the reasons they crucified him was because he said my father and I are one. And they said you are making yourself equal with God.
And by the way they had that right. And so they sent him to the cross. So ok we can say I accept the fact that Jesus was God's son. I understand that Jesus could call God the almighty father.
But how can I do it? Because of what Jesus did. See when he went to the cross and died for our sin and rose again from the dead he opened up a new covenant. So when he rises and meets Mary Magdalene there in the garden area around the tomb and she grabs hold of him.
She is clinging to him. He says Mary don't cling to me. In other words Mary it is not going to be the way it was anymore. I am not going to be here physically walking with you.
It is a whole new ball game. A whole new covenant. Because I am going to my God and to your God. I am going to my father and to your father. Yes Mary you can call him father now too. So Jesus gives us permission.
Even more Jesus encourages us. He tells us to pray. Our father who art in heaven. Now when we think father don't think of a distant supreme being who is disinterested.
Think of a warm loving father because the Bible says God hasn't given us a spirit of bondage again to fear. But one of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. The word Abba means Daddy. Sort of the Hebrew equivalent of Daddy or Papa. My grandkids call me Papa.
The other day one of my grandchildren said, Uppy Papa. Meaning pick her up. How can you say no to that.
Right. So it is a term of affection. Now other people they can't call me Papa. They can but I will slap them. No I won't. But I won't respond. I am not your Papa. I am not your Daddy. I am their Papa. My son can call me Dad.
Someone else can't. But the point is that it is relationship you see. So Jesus is saying you should say my father who art in heaven. What is this father like? Well if you want to know what your father is like just look at Jesus.
Because Jesus said in John 14 9, He that has seen me has seen the father. So what is our father like? Look at Jesus welcoming the little children. That is what your father is like.
Children are drawn to him. Look at Jesus washing the disciples feet. That is what your father is like. Look at Jesus weeping at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. That is what your father is like.
Touched by your sadness and your hurt. But maybe the most vivid illustration is the story Christ himself told about the father on what we call the story of the prodigal son. Now the emphasis of that story is usually on the boy but I think you could just as easily call it the parable of the loving father.
Because it is the story of a father who had two sons as you know. One son goes astray. Wrecks his life. Wastes his inheritance. Comes to his senses. Returns home. While he is still a great way he is off his father sees him.
Runs to him. Throws his arms around him and kisses him and restores him to full sonship. So what is God the father like? What is our father in heaven like?
He is like a father who misses his son or daughter. He is like a father who longs for communication with us. He is like a father that will welcome you with open arms if you will come to him.
That is the picture Jesus gave. We have a father who will always be there. We have a father who listens. We have a father who loves.
We have a father in heaven. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. You know sometimes we can't always make it to church but here is the good news. Church is coming to you.
It is coming to you on your TV screen or on your tablet or your computer or even your phone. We do it every weekend and it is called Harvest at Home. We have worship. We have a message from the word of God.
If you want to find out more just go to Harvest.org and join us this weekend for Harvest at Home. Well today Pastor Greg is explaining how to pray as Jesus would have us pray. Part of a short series on the Lord's Prayer.
Let's continue. Number two we are taught by Jesus to pray with other believers. We are taught by Jesus to pray with other believers.
Circle or underline the word are. After this manner therefore pray our father who art in heaven. That is not to say you can't pray to him personally or individually.
But it is interesting he used the word are. Jesus is teaching us this is a family prayer that we offer together with other believers. When you become a Christian you become part of God's family. It is called the church and we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Listen we are all in this together.
You know it is interesting. There are three moving prayers of confession in the Old Testament. Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9, and Daniel 9. And in every one of those prayers the pronoun we is used frequently. Meaning Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel were not guilty of the sins they were confessing. But they identified themselves with the people who are praying. They said Lord we have sinned against you. We have done this evil because we are all in this together. You know one of the things that saddens me is when I see Christians fighting with each other. Even worse how we divide over theological minutia or even style of ministry. I am reminded of the words of J. Vernon McGee.
You ever listen to him on the radio? Get aboard the Bible bus. And one of the things that McGee said I won't do it in his voice but here is a statement. That is the only exercise some Christians get is running down others and jumping to conclusions.
That is true. Paul issued this warning to the Galatians in Galatians 5. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another watch out or you will be consumed by one another. We should not be biting and devouring one another.
We should be loving and forgiving one another. But some people are lovable. Like me. I am very lovable.
No I am really not. But people are lovable because well they are attractive. Or they are talented. Or they are intelligent. Or they are something we like about that person so it is easy to love.
But other people are not lovable. Are they? They are cantankerous. They are off-putting.
They are irritating. But if they are part of the church they are our brother and sister too. And we are to love them. We can't love unlovable people. How much do we even know about the love of God? Some will say well you know I love Jesus.
I just don't love Christians. How can you love God who you can't see? When you don't love your brother who you can see? And actually the Bible says the earmark of conversion is when you love your brothers. 1 John 3.14 We know we pass from death to life because we love our brothers.
And anyone who does not love his brothers is passing to death. But this shows that prayer and worship go together. Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name. He is our Father. But notice how I am now to give praise to Him. You know if you have the luxury of time in your prayer don't cut to the chase and go to your grocery list. Sometimes we approach God in prayer and it is by Lucy's prayer phrase.
It would look something like this. Hey God how is it going? Good to see you.
Hey here is what I need today. Amen. Or we would pray along these lines. Our Father who art in heaven give us this day our daily bread. But the Lord's prayer, the template for all prayer, the model prayer does not teach us to pray that way. It teaches us to pray our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name. Hallowed means set apart.
Glorified is your name. So just stop and contemplate the glory and the awesomeness of God. And I think if you do that it will change the way that you pray. It will give you perspective.
You will see everything you are facing differently. When you pause to contemplate the greatness of God you get perspective. See because when you have a big God you have relatively small problems.
But if you have big problems do you actually have a small God or at least an improper view of Him? When the 12 spies were sent into the Promised Land 10 came back with a negative report. They said they felt like grasshoppers and the inhabitants were giants. And by the way they were exaggerating everything. They were looking at their obstacles instead of their great God. Joshua and Caleb two of the 12 spies saw the same things and came back with faith.
And they said, let's go conquer the land. It is all how you look at things. And sometimes we can come to church and we are just overwhelmed by our problems. And we worship the Lord. And then we hear a message from God's Word and we walk out and our problems are still there. But we see them differently because we have seen God in His power. That is why church is so important. That is why fellowship is so important.
That is why praying together is so important when we say our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Your name. It really becomes a game changer as you see things as you ought to see them from a proper perspective. I am reminded of a story years ago. My son Jonathan was going to learn how to scuba dive and go out with an instructor. This is off of the coast of Maui. And I am a certified scuba diver.
I have been for years now. I don't dive very often. But I am technically certified which means I can go and get a tank filled with air and go drown somewhere. Which is probably what would happen because I don't dive enough. So he was taking this little course and they learned how to put their mask on and the fins and how to use the tanks and the regulators and all that.
And so I kind of watch them at distance. But I didn't go through the course because I am certified. So when they had their dive the next day I asked the instructor can I go along for the dive because I am certified. And he said sure.
Come on. And so I showed up the next day but the problem was a storm came. And the water was super choppy. And the boats were pitching back and forth. And I was hoping they would cancel it.
Not a chance. He gets everybody in the boat and we are going out and we are just pitching back and forth. You have got your vest on. You have got your weight belt on. You have got your tanks on. Your regulator in. And the way you get in the water is you have fallen backwards. That is the last thing you want to do when you have all that weight on your body. But you know I was getting a little nervous.
I will be honest. And we went in the water and I started to panic a little bit. And I looked over at Jonathan and his eyes were as big as saucers. He was freaking out.
But I had no words of encouragement because I was scared too. I love what the instructor did. He said, Jonathan look at me.
Jonathan looked at him and I looked at him too. What? The instructor said, remember your training. Remember your training. And then they started breathing.
You went under and once you were under the water it was great. So here is my point. The reason we start sinking in despair is we stop looking at our great God and instead we looked at stormy seas. And we need to realize He is in control. Remember your training. Remember what the Word of God says. So as I pray, my Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. I am just taking my time to contemplate the awesomeness of God. Now look. If you are in an emergency situation it is ok to cut to the chase. If you are out swimming and a great white is approaching and you know because you hear the theme music of Jaws playing.
You don't have to ramp up to the jet. God help. That will be fine. But if you have the luxury of time, contemplate the greatness and the glory of God. But listen. This prayer, the Lord's Prayer, this access to God is only possible through Jesus Christ.
And it is from relationship. How do I come into this relationship with God? Will being born in a Christian home help? Well maybe if you believe the message you learned there. But you can't live off somebody else's faith you see. There has to be a moment in your life where you say, Lord I know I am a sinner. And I am sorry for my sin.
And I turn from it. And Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sin will come and live inside of you. And you can have this new relationship with God where you now call Him Father. And you can know that your prayers are heard in heaven. God has this plan for you. He wants to reveal it to you. God wants to speak to you. God wants to hear from you. But this can only happen through Jesus. So we have to come to the Father through the Son. Good works won't get you there.
Living a good life won't get you there because you are just not good enough. No one is. But God will forgive you if you will admit your sin. And I want to just close now with prayer and give an opportunity for anyone that has joined us. Anyone that is watching or listening who does not know God in this personal way. God seems distant. God seems disinterested in you.
Nothing can be further from the truth. God will come and take residence in your heart today if you will ask Him to and turn from your sin. If you have not done that we are going to close in prayer and I will give you an opportunity to get right with the Lord.
To have your sin forgiven and go to heaven when you die. And start this relationship with your Father in heaven. Let's all bow our heads. Father we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for what Jesus has done for us. And now I pray for any that don't have this relationship with You. Help them see Lord that they can have it today by coming to You and believing.
Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with her important invitation today. And if you would like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment. And if you would be in prayer right now for those who are making this kind of decision. Well did you hear all of today's study here on A New Beginning?
If not you can catch up by going online to harvest.org. Look for the title Pray This Way. Well Pastor Greg we're talking about Billy Graham. Of course many of our listeners are reading your new book Billy Graham The Man I Knew.
And you've been revealing some surprises to us based on the content of the book. One of them is that he knew how to use media like few other people of his time. He used it not only to help spread the gospel but to build a platform for his ministry. Yeah and that started early on in his ministry when he was having a short stint as a pastor. He was on a radio program that was simply called Songs in the Night. That's where he met George Beverly Shea who went on to become his song leader at his crusades. And they were a team of Billy Bev as they called him.
George Beverly Shea, Bev and Cliff Barrows. But Billy understood the power of media. You know Howard Stern likes to call himself the king of all media.
The fact is Billy was the first king of all media. As his ministry was taking off he went on radio. Now we're used to hearing Christian radio. There were no Christian radio stations for the most part back then. But he was going out in major radio stations with his program called The Hour of Decision. Some of our listeners may even remember it.
This is what his show sounded like. The Hour of Decision. Let's go back in time.
Listen to this. America. For you America.
America. The Hour of Decision. The greatest word in all the world is forgiveness. Are you forgiven? Are you sure of it?
Are you certain that God has forgiven you? But then he also was one of the pioneers of Christian television. I don't even know if you would call it Christian television. He was a Christian on television. But he would buy time in the major networks locally, nationally and broadcast the gospel. And so many of us remember watching Billy Graham on TV.
I remember I was living with my grandparents in Southgate in California. And we would watch Billy Graham on our black and white television set. And if that wasn't enough he also started a film studio in Hollywood called Worldwide Pictures. And they made films that they released in theaters. And they were beautiful films that always had an evangelistic message. In addition to that he wrote a column called My Answer that ran six days a week in newspapers across the United States and reached 20 million people. He founded two monthly magazines, Christianity Today and Decision Magazine. And he also was an early adopter of satellite tech and the Internet. I remember I was with him in Puerto Rico for an event that they called Mission World.
And they took these satellite dishes and beamed them all around the planet. So Billy utilized all forms of media to reach as many people as he possibly could. So that's just one of the many things I bring out in this book that I wrote about Billy called Billy Graham the Man I Knew. I also tell a lot of personal stories, conversations we had, things that he said to me, impressions I got from watching him up close and personal.
And I want to share that with you. I feel after you've read this book you'll feel like you kind of knew Billy Graham as well. So if you want to order a copy we're offering it right now for your gift of any size. Whatever you can send to support Harvest Ministries will then send you in return a copy of Billy Graham the Man I Knew. Now some of you can send a lot and that's appreciated because we'll invest it in teaching the Bible and getting the gospel out here in the New Beginning.
But some of you maybe can only send a little. We'll send you a copy as well. So order your copy of my brand new book Billy Graham the Man I Knew. Yeah it's a landmark overview of Billy's life with exhaustive painstaking research that literally took years.
In spite of how well Pastor Greg knew Billy personally he found out so much more during that in-depth research. And you'll benefit from these deep insights so we hope you'll get in touch for your own copy of Billy Graham the Man I Knew. As Pastor Greg said we'll send it to you to say thank you for your donation of any size. Thanks for your investment right now and to thank you tangibly we'll send you a copy of the new book Billy Graham the Man I Knew. Just write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300.
We're here to take your call around the clock at 1-800-821-3300 or just go online to harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg I know there are some in our audience who felt God speaking to them today through your message. And they want to make a change in their relationship with the Lord.
Could you help them with that? Yeah you know Dave the Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So I want to lead you in a prayer where you will be doing just that calling on the name of the Lord. So listen if you want your sin forgiven if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven. If you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and take away your guilt and your shame. Then just stop what you're doing and pray this prayer with me right now.
Pray this after me if you would. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner. I have broken your commandments.
I have fallen short of your standards. But 2000 years ago you died on that cross for me then you rose again from the dead. So Jesus come into my life and be my Savior and my Lord and my God and my friend.
I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Amen. And listen if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and meant them sincerely. The Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin. And we want to welcome you into the family of God. And we'd like to send some follow-up materials your way to help you begin to live this new life of faith. Let us send you our New Believers Growth Packet. Just ask for it when you write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.
We can talk to you anytime 24 hours a day at that number 1-800-821-3300. Or go to Harvest.org and click Know God. Well next time Pastor Greg continues his practical studies of the Lord's Prayer.
We'll consider those things we should avoid but things that so many of us do. Good insight coming next time on A New Beginning. Hey everybody thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others. Or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner just go to Harvest.org.
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