Just think. You're one of the inner circle of disciples. You've gone up on the mountain to sit at the feet of your rabbi, your teacher, Jesus, who teaches like no one you've ever heard. And you're sitting listening to Yeshua. You're hanging on every word.
And he's about to teach you how to pray. Welcome, friends, to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. We continue. Our series on the words of Jesus.
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Alright. We're continuing in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew the sixth chapter. And Yeshua has begun this teaching now, saying that we should not be like the religious hypocrites. And by the way, Judaism does not have a monopoly on religious hypocrisy.
You find it in the church, and I'm sure if you hang out with Muslims, you'll find it in Islam. You find it in every different religion, religious expression, because that is human nature. We want people to look at us, and wow, you are so spiritual. Oh, she is so godly. Oh, he is so generous.
We want the praise of people. It's human nature. and hypocrites do what they do, not as unto God. They do what they do to be seen by men. And the reason it's hypocritical is because they're putting on a show.
The drunk Who who gets completely stone cold drunk on Saturday night. and is laying in his own vomit Sunday morning. and sleeps until noon. He's not being a hypocrite because he's not in church. He's not claiming to be spiritual.
He's not saying, look at me. He's messed up. He needs help. He needs the intervention of God. The hypocrite is the one that shows up looking good.
Look at me. And inwardly, they're corrupt. The hypocrite is the one that has a form of religion. 2 Timothy. the third chapter.
But denies Its power denies the power of God.
So Jesus says this, when you pray, not if you pray. Just like when you give, not if you give. When you pray, Do not be like the hypocrites. for they loved to pray standing on the s in the synagogues and on the street corners, to be seen by others. There are times when public prayer is appropriate.
You have it in Acts the fourth chapter, where the apostles or the believers gather together after persecution and pray. You have it in the twelfth chapter, when the believers gather at one house to pray for Peter's release from prison so he won't be killed. Corporate gatherings happen all the time in ancient Israel. There's power in gathering together. It's presupposed in 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul's talking about proper order in the assembly when we gather together.
So here in house groups, of course you're going to pray together.
So it's not saying never pray in public. but never pray in public so as to be seen. Never intentionally draw attention to your praying. Look at me. Even at a prayer meeting where it's appropriate to be praying in public, don't pray to put on a show.
Oh. She was so eloquent. Oh, he was so moving. No, no, the purpose of our prayer is communication with God. He goes on to say, but when you pray, Go into your room.
So the bulk of our prayer is going to be in private. Go into your room, close the door. and pray to your Father who is unseen. This is not about being seen. This is not about being known.
This is about communion with our Father. Then your father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. and in many texts will reward you openly.
So It's fine for God to reward us. And it's fine as human beings we want to see answers to our prayer. When we consecrate our lives to God, we want to bear fruit, that's fine. but let God do the rewarding. If God wants to lift you up, let Him lift you up.
If you try to lift yourself up, what does Jesus say? What does the whole Bible say? You will be brought down. Everyone who exalts himself, Jesus says, will be humbled. The one who humbles himself will be exalted.
It's fine to be exalted, but when God does it, you've died to it. You don't want to be seen. You don't want to be known. It's not about ego. It's not about pride.
So when He does it, Then it's the right time and it's for his purpose. When we do it, it's carnal, it's wrong, it's destructive, it is distracting from his purposes as well. And when you pray, Do not keep on babbling like pagans. for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not belight them.
for your father knows what you need before. You ask him.
Now, Another principle. We know that Jesus often prayed for hours. We know this from the Gospels. We know he'd get up early in the morning. and pray.
We know, for example, in Luke 6 that he prayed all night. Other times he would stay up late praying. We know that Moses spent much time in the presence of God, the tent of meeting. Exodus thirty three, and Joshua, his aide, stayed there. We know that Elijah was a man of prayer.
James, Jacob, the fifth chapter, references it. Paul is constantly talking about praying, praying, praying, praying, praying on all occasions, pray without ceasing. Ephesians 6, 1 Thessalonians 5, other passages.
So we know that there is a place for much prayer. We know that there is a place for separation and getting alone with God. Jesus is not coming against this here. But but what he's saying is Don't think that just by babbling on, you're going to be heard for your many words. Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, help me, help me, help me, help me.
Hmm, that's a minute I pray that I'll keep going. I remember talking to a very sincere Catholic gentleman one time. And he told me when he was really struggling that he kept praying a novena, and I said, I'm not familiar with that. And he took out a card. Had a picture of Mary on it and And And there was a prayer written on the card.
and he said he would just pray it. all day. I said, what do you mean all day? Eight hours. You literally pray that out loud.
He goes, yeah, eight hours straight.
Now If that was how he poured out his heart to God, forget the content of the prayer. Forget the novena, forget that. But if if pouring out your heart to God causes you all God to say, oh God. Oh God, all day to say, oh God, oh God, I need your, oh God, and you're just pouring out your heart. And that's just your communion with him.
all day. That's not he's not against that. What he's saying is, don't think that by saying the thing over and over and over and over, you're going to be heard. That's a pagan concept. It's an earthly, worldly concept.
That that's... That's human religion. I'll just sacrifice more by saying it more and saying it more and saying it more. No, no, no. Just think of it.
If you have a legitimate niche as a child, And you come to your parent, your parent didn't know. that you had this legitimate need. And When they find out Oh, let me take care of that. I didn't real I told you to take your medicine, but I didn't realize I didn't give you water to swallow it. I'm so sorry.
Here's water. By saying it 10,000 times, if it's a legitimate need when your parent hears you, you don't have to keep saying it.
So we're not going to wear God out. By Telling him over and over and over and over. We'll talk another time in the words of Jesus about the lesson of the persistent widow in Luke 18. But he's saying that, look, you're talking to your heavenly Father. He's right there.
He's listening. He's attentive. Yes, there is spiritual warfare. Yes, there are battles. Yes, we have to persevere in prayer.
but our many words don't make us heard. or just jabbering on with meaningless words, hour after hour, with vain repetition, does not get our prayers answered. What gets our prayers answered is faith. What gets our prayers answered is praying in harmony with the will of God. and having faith.
Because he Who listens is faithful. and he knows what we need before we ask him. You say, well, why do we ask? Because it's a relationship. He wants to teach us to come to him.
He wants to show us that he's the supplier. He wants us to relate to him. as an all-sufficient Father. Also, as we pray and we see answers, it makes us conscious of his acting. When we don't pray and we don't see answers versus when we do pray and we do see answers, we realize what comes out of this relationship.
And now He's going to give us directives. This, then, is how you should pray. And the Lord's Prayer in many ways. is a revolutionary prayer. When we refer to the Lord's Prayer here in Luke 6, excuse me, Matthew 6 and then Luke 11.
It's the prayer the Lord gave us. His own prayer His lengthy prayer, his high priestly prayer, is in John 17 as he goes to the Father. But Here is the prayer that he gave us. This is a pattern. of prayer.
It's fine to pray it verbatim. Many Christians do this daily. Church gatherings do this weekly. It's perfectly fine. But it's also a pattern.
Now, notice this.
So You go alone, you get in your closet, you get in that room. get alone with God. But notice this. You begin by praying, Our Father. Our Father.
Now, this would make perfect sense. in Jewish thought. because Jews think communally. Jews pray communally. When you read a Jewish prayer book, it's constantly us, we, us, we, our Father.
Our sins. Redeem us. Have mercy on us.
So even though you're praying alone, You're praying to our Father.
So it's meant to be prayed together? With a group? That's also a way we can pray privately.
Now think of that. Think of praying and saying when you're alone, Our Father. Who's the us? Who's the we? Who's it talking about?
So it's the body of believers. We we are part of something bigger. Then ourselves. Our Father in heaven.
So Prayer to Jesus. is legitimate. There are examples of it in the New Testament. And sometimes that's just our heart cry, oh, Jesus, you understand. You were here, you're on this earth, you understand, you're with, and you pour out your heart to him.
It's legitimate. But the normal pattern of prayer that Jesus gives us is to pray to the Father because again He's our all-sufficient one. He's the one on whom we depend as the source for everything we need, and he is in heaven. What's our first prayer? Hallowed be your name.
May your name be regarded as Holy. I've often prayed this. and then break it down. Lord in my own life. May your name be may I see who you are in your holiness.
Normally I'll end there. And I'll start more broadly. Lord, may the people of this world recognize who is holy. May the people on this earth recognize you as as holy. May may your name You know, right now the name of Jesus is mocked in the world.
The concept of God is so mocked in so many ways. Lord, may that sacred name, and I'll pray into the name of Jesus as well. May people regard it with awe and wonder. Lord, your church, your church. Help us, Lord, in your body.
to regard your name as holy, to recognize who you are. His name represents his character, his being. And then break it down, maybe your home congregation. Then your family. Then your own life.
Then what does he pray? Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Unearthed. As it is.
In heaven. Uh Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This truly is a revolutionary prayer because it means the displacing The displacing Of all other kingdoms. and the rule and reign of God alone. Out with the old.
What is revolution? Out with the old, in with the new. You know, revolutionaries want to get rid of the corrupt government and set up a new government. And it's human beings do it. They only get rid of one bad government and set up a A different bad government.
No, no. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as is in heaven. Get. rid of the bad governments of the entire human race. and replace it with your kingdom government.
It it is happening little by little every day. the kingdom of God advancing as more people come to faith. His kingdom is his reign and his rule.
So whenever someone comes to faith, they come into his kingdom. Romans 14, 17, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
So What happens is As the kingdom is extended, the rule of God over someone's life is extended. And as the gospel spreads, the kingdom of God is spreading. Bush. the full coming of his kingdom. We're praying for his return.
We're praying for him to come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that don't know God. We're praying for him to come and establish his kingdom here on earth. Earth. Your kingdom come Your will be gone. Unearthed.
Is this in heaven? What? Exactly does that phrase mean? I'll explain it. On the other side of the brake, First, a quick word from our great co-sponsor, Trivita, and then we'll be right back.
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So What does Jesus mean when he says, your will be done on earth? as it is in heaven. I'm going to answer that. And then we'll pick up here in our next broadcast as we continue in the Lord's Prayer. There are some who say Well, there's no sickness in heaven.
Therefore, there should be no sickness on earth, so we always pray in faith for healing.
Now, I absolutely believe in divine healing. I believe that everything we need was purchased at the cross, including our healing. And when I pray for healing, I don't say, Lord, if it be your will, heal. I ask the Lord to heal. I believe it's his revealed will, that his ideal will for his obedient children is.
is health and healing.
So I feel very strongly about divine healing. My doctoral dissertation was written on the Hebrew word for healing because I had so many questions about divine healing. I have a scholarly monograph, Israel's Divine Healer, which came out in 95, which is the most comprehensive book in English, academic book in English about God the healer, especially an Old Testament text.
So it's something that I absolutely believe in. But I do not believe Jesus was saying your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, meaning whatever happens in heaven is supposed to be what happens on earth, because there's no death in heaven. There's no death in heaven. Does that mean we just keep raising people from the dead until Jesus returns? No, there's going to be death on the earth.
We understand it. Every so often God raises the dead. That's not a guaranteed thing. It happens. It's a very rare, exceptional thing when it does happen.
And praise God when it does happen. And Look there. in the world to come Husbands and wives are obviously going to have a unique relationship, but it's not going to be a sexual relationship. That's in heaven.
So, does that mean there should be no sexual relationship with husband and wife on earth? Obviously, not. We're not going to Procreate in heaven, does that mean we shouldn't procreate on earth? and on and on we could go.
So that's that's not what it's saying. What he's saying is Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Meaning... In heaven, there is perfect obedience to your will. In heaven, whatever you desire is instantly carried out by the heavenly host.
Let it be the same on earth. That your will be done the same way on earth.
Now I believe that will includes healing and deliverance. I believe that includes that.
So in that sense, when I'm ministering, It's similar to the person that says, well, there's no sickness in heaven, there shouldn't be sickness on earth, but that's not a right theological argument. And it's not what Jesus is saying here. What we're saying is Let it be our prayer. Your will be done on earth, just the way it's carried out in heaven, with perfect obedience. Let it be on earth.
And how about... Lord, starting with me. Starting with my life. That's the way we can pray and boy, it will have a revolutionary impact on. our own lives.
We'll continue with the words of Jesus on the next broadcast. Right.
