We all could use some encouragement and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton about the greatest needs ever. In just a moment Dr. Don takes us to Matthew chapter 6 for today's Bible study, but while we're preparing you know we're available to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD.
That's 866-899-9673. And now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Today I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6. When I ask you to do that, most of us will immediately say, hmm, he's going to be in the Lord's Prayer today. We've been in a time of prayer, and I want to paint something for you today. I want to just remind you, the people who came to Jesus and asked him this question, Lord teach us to pray.
I want us to be very focused today on what took place here. I'm going to speak to you this morning on the greatest needs ever. So I'm going to go out today and I'm going to make this to you before I read this well-known prayer that we all know, most of us from early childhood.
I'm going to make a bold statement to you. I believe if we understand what Jesus said, that these are the single greatest needs you and I have. This is what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 9. He said, this is how you pray. Pray like this, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on this earth just as it is in heaven. Please, Heavenly Father, give us today our daily bread and forgive us for our sin. In just the same way, Heavenly Father, as we forgive those who have sinned against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, forever. Amen.
Who were these people? I want you to listen carefully. If you don't know Jesus today, you're listening to me right now and you've never given your heart to Jesus. I want you to know what your greatest need is. Your greatest need is to invite Jesus to come into your heart. You do not have a greater need than that. There's the most urgent, serious, critical need ever that you've got right now, my friend, which makes me so grateful that we can gather like this together, that you're listening. Now, maybe you don't want to.
Maybe you're saying, I don't know why I'm listening to this. You can say anything. Man, I don't like Christians. You know, you can have every question, good questions.
You know, well, you use the Bible, but who says the Bible is true anyway? You can question, argue, fuss, fight, push back, but your greatest need right now, nothing greater, is to give your heart to Jesus. Now, you've got a lot of needs, I know. It may be a need to, you know, to get a job. That's a pretty serious need.
If I can do anything to help you find a job, I'd do it, my friend. Maybe to, you know, to fall in love with a beautiful young lady or a wonderful young man. You just long to be married.
That's a real need. You may, you may be facing something, maybe you're carrying a baby today, maybe for the last seven months, and the doctor, that gynecologist, has said to you, you know, we're just not happy. There's something wrong with a baby's heartbeat, and you caught, you're in this terrible struggle, because you just, you're carrying this beautiful child. Maybe you've, you know, we could go through some, but there is no greater need than you have than to give your heart to Jesus. That's why one of the things that we have great joy today is to invite you to give your life to Christ. You can give your heart to Jesus right now.
You can settle that. You can settle the greatest need ever, and I'm going to invite you and ask you to do that right where you are. Give your life to Christ. He'll forgive you for your sin.
He'll make you brand new. I'm going to tell you, when you give your life to Christ, then you get into where we're going to be right now. This group of people that came to Jesus were His disciples.
These were believers. So, if I may say to you, this is me, because I gave my life to Christ. I belong to the Lord Jesus. I'm a Christian man. I belong to Him, but I need you to know that every one of us, we are sinners by nature and we're sinners by choice.
We're stuck in this. We're trapped in this flesh of ours. Jesus identified with us in all points except without sin. That's why He became flesh. He took on us.
He was born as a baby, grew up, was a child, worked in His father's carpentry shop, brick mason, father carpentry. He identified with us in every way. We, I'm not Jesus. I'm not God. I'm filled with the Spirit of God.
I'm a believer. I have the Spirit of God living in me, but I have this flesh, this war going on. Everything about my flesh cries out.
It screams. It wants to be satisfied. It's subject to everything in life.
Everything I look at, everything I see, everything I eat, every place I go, every word I say, I'm filled. You and I are filled with emotions, inclinations, personality dispositions. We get angry and hostile, upset. We want satisfaction. We do things.
We go places. We don't like what we do and we fight. There's a war going on between the Spirit and the flesh, and I'm a believer. Well, these, these people came to Jesus and they said, Lord Jesus, teach us how to pray. Now that word there, prayer, watch this, teach us what it is we need to talk to God about. What do we as believers, we know you, we know you are Jesus. We've accepted that you are the Messiah.
You live in us. We don't understand it all, but we want to know how we can have, how can we, what do we need to say to God? And Jesus identifies 10 things. He identifies 10 things. This is Jesus talking to believers, and these 10 things are the 10 greatest needs. I'm not putting these words into Jesus' mouth, but Jesus was looking at the believers and saying to them, these are your greatest needs. You had better do business with God the Father with these things as believers. What are they?
Here they are. Number one, to worship. Our Father who art in heaven, that's worship. It's the greatest need you and I have.
We fight that, we battle with it, we get distracted, we quibble, we get tied in knots over it. Our single greatest need is the single issue why God put us on this earth. God put us on this earth created in his image with the express purpose of fellowshipping.
Worship is to fellowship with him. That's, if you think of it in terms of marriage, for example, one of the greatest causes of potential conflict in a marriage is the breakdown of fellowship. Here's what happens. You fall in love, you actually get married, you commit, you say vows to each other, and you begin very well, and then something starts to happen, and you stop fellowshipping. There's very little conversation.
Your answers are just yes, no, I don't want to talk, I'm going to do my thing, you do your thing. You're still married, right? Now what do you suppose happens to your marriage?
Have you ever been in a marriage where you used to really love each other and you are married, and you go back home and your home's like living in a morgue. There's just this silence. It's our greatest need. Jesus, in our relationship with him, to worship. Number two, to revere. Hello be thy name.
To revere the name of Jesus. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word. Please don't go away, he'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment, but he wants me to remind you, we're here for you. We're here to connect on our phone number at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.
Right there you'll see what is our most exciting offer. The Spirit of God within you is a leather-bound devotional that so many people have been asking about. Again, details are on our website at www.tewonline.org, a wonderful tool to help us focus our attention on Christ in the coming year of 2021.
Now let's dive back into today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. I think Jesus was saying to people like you and me, be very careful how you talk about God, use His name, the way you treat Him. Watch out, Christians. God doesn't need you to impress the world using His name to describe how hot things are because the temperature is over a hundred. Jesus was saying to these believers, don't you say that you love me on one hand and then you do anything but revere my name.
Not even when you win Miss Universe do you have permission to put your hand over your mouth and say, oh my, and use God's name. Like, what is God, why have you got to invoke, excuse me, Jesus was saying. This is your greatest need because you human believers think God is just this chap who sits up there that comes out of a box anytime you want Him. Jesus was saying, no, no, no.
You better understand something here. It's your greatest need. Your greatest need, number third, is to anticipate Thy kingdom come. It's your greatest need is the anticipation of the coming kingdom of Christ. I'll put that in real theological eschatological expectation. Jesus said, I'm coming again. The kingdom of God. Your greatest need is to submit.
Didn't stop there. He said, Thy will be done. That tells me Jesus identified my greatest need is the need to submit, to obey. He said, you pray, you talk to God about His will being done. Jesus was saying perhaps to you and to me, to us as a church, do everything you can but never at the expense of the will of God. Number one thing, your greatest need is to just do the will of God because when you do God's will, you're in the perfect place.
You're in a right relationship with Him. Submission, obedience is the hallmark of Christian discipleship. Number five, to request. Our greatest need is to request. Give us this day our daily bread.
We all know that, but I'm not sure we really practice that. And He uses bread because bread is so basic. It's the basic food type known to all people. Give us this day that every day our need is to go to Him and say, what He does here is Jesus identifies the single most basic thing that we need, the core of our very sustenance. That very thing which helps us make it through gives us strength, fulfills our need, removes our hunger.
He's the hunger remover. And in order, it's not just a physical bread, you know, sit down and have a meal which we all love to do. He's talking here about the divine ability of God to completely satisfy us at the very basic need of our lives.
Number six, to confess. Remember we're talking about our greatest needs, to confess our sin. And you and I might look at that and say, well we've given our hearts to Jesus, we're going to heaven.
Well, we are. But where is unconfessed sin in the greatest need of those who do not know Christ will mean you will not be with Christ. Unconfessed sin in the life of these people that Jesus was talking to won't rob them of being with Christ forever in heaven.
But I'll tell you, it'll take the stuffing out of your face while you live. There's nobody more miserable than a practicing, sinning Christian. Jesus identified with us at a very deep level, didn't He? Our sin is ever before us.
We're sinners by nature and we're sinners by choice. And writing in 1 John, He said, if we confess our sin, He, Jesus, is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all our own righteous. Confession is essential. It's the heart of the human need.
And then He takes that one step further. It's not just our need to confess, but then He really meddles with us. He says our greatest need is to forgive others. Just the same as we forgive those who have sinned against us. That's your and my grave. We live in a world of perpetual unforgiveness toward others. You're sitting today and maybe listening to me and you've got a wife, a husband, and there is unforgiveness between the two of you. It's going nowhere. You can go and see all the counselors.
You can get all the reasons. You can make all the resolutions until you forgive one another. It ain't gonna happen. There are parents who haven't forgiven children and neighbors and business and, hey, somebody help me. Anyone here find it easy to go and forgive, just forgive people? Jesus wasn't talking about easy.
This is why He's talking to believers, because the Spirit of God is going to give you all that's necessary to do what you cannot do in yourself. There is so much unforgiveness in the church of God. There are congregations that are dying today because there's unforgiveness in the congregation. Just unforgiveness. There's unforgiveness in families. There's unforgiveness in the workplace.
There's just people who just haven't forgiven each other. And none of us can do that. Jesus identified. Number eight, greatest need is to affirm, to affirm.
Here's what He says. He says, and lead us not into temptation. Our greatest need is to affirm the power of God. You lead me not into temptation.
The word they lead is better translated because you are all-powerful. Please place your hedge of protection over me in order that I might not succumb to temptation. Lord, that is just so, it just, I'm battling.
This thing is coming. I just, help me not to be led, not to succumb. I'm affirming the power of God. Greater is He that's in me than He that's in the world. It's claiming the full power and presence of God by His Spirit. It's an affirmation of God's power. Number nine, greatest need, to cry out to Him.
That's a, in the text, it's a cry, deliver us. It carries with it the picture of all of us, men and women and boys and girls who love the Lord Jesus on a daily, hourly, regular basis, pointing our hearts up to the Lord and saying, Lord Jesus, please deliver me from evil. I have a dear friend that I've been praying with and has great physical things dealing with that person right now, and I just this week placed my hands on him and I prayed and I found myself, I mean, I said, Lord Jesus, please take this away from my friend. Our greatest need is to cry out to God. Enough of this soft soap, mumbling, private Christian stuff, sanctimoniously sitting down and saying, my Christianity is a little private, sanctimonious, quiet relationship. Well, it is. It's very personal and crying out to God is not a verbal thing necessarily.
It's not, it's not making a public display or a show out of it. It's a heartfelt crying out to God. And number 10, greatest need is to glorify him, for thine is the kingdom.
He ends this teaching, talking to these believers. Don't you forget, glorify him. Everything we do, whether we build a building, whether we go walk across the road to help a widow whose house has been destroyed by a tornado, it doesn't matter. Jesus ended it to thine, you, Lord, it's all because of you. Thine be the glory.
A people that perpetually glorify God are a people roundly blessed by God. Would you bow your heads with me for a minute? I want you to think about this for a second.
Just think about this. Your greatest need today, if you don't know Christ, is to know him. Now you can do the math, because if you've never given your heart to Jesus, none of this is relevant to you. This prayer is not for you. No, Jesus didn't say this is a prayer I'm going to give to all of America just to pray every time something happens. It's not a recitation.
It's not a school prayer just for everybody to have something nice to say. Jesus was purpose driven. Yes, Jesus was purpose driven, and he is purpose driven.
Using this broadcast right now to let you know he loves you, he is pursuing you because he wants to restore that relationship with you if you've known him in the past or begin a brand new relationship right now if you're ready to say yes to him. Would you open your heart to what Dr. Don's going to share next? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.
This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God. I know some of you in your heart have just prayed to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Some of you, you realize it's time to come home. We would love to walk with you in this path. Whether it's a new beginning, the first time you've ever said yes to Jesus, or it's time to come home, we have specific resources Dr. Don Wilton wants you to have. So call us and let us give them to you, 866-899-WORD.
We'd love to put those in the mail this week. Call us now at 866-899-9673, and we would love to connect you with those resources that'll help you grow. We're also interested in helping you find a local church. It's an important part of who we are at The Encouraging Word. As a matter of fact, let me encourage you to go to our website and discover more of who we are at www.tewonline.org. Many are saying, how can we get involved prayerfully and financially?
Well, here's Liz with all the details. Over the past few months, our viewership and calls to our prayer line have greatly increased. The demand for our quarterly devotional has also increased. We praise Jesus for this. We are reaching more people for Christ. Will you join us in reaching just one more? Your monthly donation of any amount will help us continue the work of the Lord. When things around you seem out of control, you can make a difference. Call today, 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We'd be thrilled if you'd become an encourager, but no, we're called to encourage you. 24 hours a day, you need someone to pray. We're here at 866-899-WORD or online at www.tewonline.org.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-01-09 23:10:40 / 2024-01-09 23:19:18 / 9