Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world, so that all may know Christ.

Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. In chapter 6, look at verse 9, and we're going to be reading here for the next few weeks, but just notice if you will. Verse 8 we dealt with last week. Verse 9, After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.

Amen. There's obviously more that we're going to read, and we will deal with that in the days ahead. But I want to start with tonight, as you'll notice on your outline, I want to kind of give you the introduction to the Lord's Prayer.

There's a couple things that we'll notice, and we dealt with this some last week. But I want you to notice first, its relevance. Why is this relevant? And He says, verse 8, Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Why is this relevant? Why is this needed?

Well, first let me just say it's relevant because of this. Obviously, the disciples had prayer problems. And they knew they did. And so they had asked Jesus, you know, how do we pray? Teach us to pray. Now, the reason they said that is because they felt that they had problems in prayer, and they desired to know Jesus's secret to prayer.

And by the way, oftentimes in our life, we will do our best and try our best to figure things out on our own. And then when we can't, then we say, all right, how does Jesus want it done? And the disciples here apparently had tried and had prayed and had tried. So now they say, hey, would Jesus please teach us to pray? So we find that they had prayer problems.

And by the way, that ought to make you feel better. Because if the disciples that lived, ate, drank, you know, lived with them, watched them, breathed around them, was able to touch them, if they had problems praying and yet they were literally person to person with the Savior, you and I can have problems in prayer too. And oftentimes our prayer, our problems are this, the inability to find time. And when we do find time, the inability to focus like we should.

Can I have an amen right there? Oftentimes it's really that we don't have time. It's we don't have the desire.

But then there comes that when we finally get to the point that we do have the desire, then it's difficult to focus. And we say, you know, a lot of times and if you're like me, there have been times in my life I get down. All right. Oh, Lord, I'm going to pray. I'm going to pray for everybody. I'm going to pray for an hour. I'm going to pray for an hour.

And, Lord, you know, bless the weather. And after about five minutes, we have run out of things to pray for. And before long, you know, you can act more spiritual than the rest, but you might you might last 10 minutes sometimes. But there's got to be a plan. That's why I believe in prayer list and planning and prayer. And I have things certain days I pray for certain things. It's good for you to plan. Prayer is important.

So plan it ahead. And the disciples here said, Jesus, all right, we want to pray better. We want to know the secret to prayer. And so this is relevant because they had problems. And it's relevant to you and I because we have problems in prayer. So it's relevant. This is needed. All right.

Let me say this second. It's structure. I want you to know that it's relevant. Second, as we look and again, we're looking at an overview before we begin to dig into piece by piece the Lord's Prayer. I want you to notice the structure. There's three things about it. The outline that he gives the sequence that he gives.

And there's another thing and I'll probably wait for another night on that. But we'll look at these two things in the structure, the outline of the sequence. OK, how does he outline? First, there's the introduction to the prayer. That's where he says after this manner, pray ye.

So he's introducing he's introducing. This is how I want you to pray. Second, we see the petitions in his prayer.

What were the petitions? Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.

Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Deliver us from evil. Those are the petitions.

That's the outline. That's everything that he laid out in his prayer. And then third, we see the conclusion of the prayer. Now, notice, if you would, verse 13 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. That's how Jesus closed his prayer.

All right. Now, let me let me just mention this. What we what you can look at the Lord's Prayer. What you notice first and foremost is that it is probably vastly different from our prayers. As hard as you and I try, our prayers aren't centered on God as much as this prayer is.

There's some things I want to show you about in just a minute, but but that are interesting to me. But oftentimes you and I have so much of us in our prayers that what we find that Jesus prayed. And by the way, if anybody could have mentioned themselves in a prayer and had the right to, it would have been who? Jesus.

He didn't even mention. Notice it is all about the Father. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom. And without saying it in the power and the glory, thine is the kingdom. Thine is the power.

Thine is the glory. So it's all about the Father. And I notice that oftentimes my prayers are not all about the Father.

OK, I want you to notice that. Third, I want you to see its importance, its relevance, its structure. And I'm just analyzing the Lord's Prayer before we even dig into it.

Let's just look at an overview. First of all, I want you to consider its importance. Why is it so important? Well, first, it was given as an example or a sample prayer that that's what it was given. Now, I told you last week, it's really it is the Lord's Prayer, but it's really the disciples prayer because God said after this manner, pray ye. So what Jesus was saying is, I want you as the disciples to pray according to this manner.

It's this sample. Now, notice, if you would, let me read you this verse. Luke, chapter 11, verse one.

Listen to this. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. So specifically, they asked, how are we supposed to pray? And why is this so important to you and to me? Because this is Jesus response to the question, how are we supposed to pray? All right. This is how to pray, not what to pray.

Now, hear me out. A lot of people for a lot of different and other religions recite the Lord's Prayer for just about everything. Now, the Lord's Prayer is wonderful because it's Bible, right? But Jesus did not give that to say, all right, when you pray, you pray this exact prayer. He gave this as an example that your prayer should have these pieces in it. But but he wasn't bringing that so that you don't have to think about your prayer. All you got to do is memorize the Lord's Prayer. And I'm just going to quote that for everything.

That's not why he gave it. That's lazy. He gave this as an example for you to learn how to pray. OK, and notice, you know, I guess under its importance to it provides a pattern. First off, it's simple. The Lord's Prayer is simple. It's concise. In fact, the Lord's Prayer is shorter than most people's prayer when they pray at church. There's nothing wrong with that.

But you understand what I'm saying? It's like, OK, God said, pray after this manner. And he just, you know, gave eight paragraphs of fluent this and fluent that.

And, you know, it would be almost impossible to try to how's just that? How's an everyday working man going to pray this prayer? If you'll notice, the Lord's Prayer is clear, concise to the point. This is the example of how you're supposed to pray.

I noticed this, that it's that's the best way I could say it. In this short Lord's Prayer, it gives place for almost every emotion that a Christian faces. Guilt, need.

I mean, I could go on down the list. Almost every emotion that a Christian has is covered in this prayer. All right. Now, let's dig into, if you don't mind, what we call the invocation. This is the introduction of the actual Lord's Prayer. After this manner, pray ye. OK, notice this in verse nine. Two things we're going to deal with tonight.

I'll let you go. Our Father, which art in heaven. OK, our Father, which art in heaven. Now you have your outline and I want you to notice this. First, there's an expression in this phrase. There's an expression of our relationship. And second, there's an expression of revelation. And what is that? And this was deeper than I had ever gone into the Lord's Prayer.

And I hope that this will be a blessing to you. First, our Father. Now, why is that so important? That's how he begins the prayer. And I believe, dear friend, it's a privilege that we've been given through the blood of Christ to approach directly the throne of God. Now, in Old Testament days, you'd have to, you know, have a lamb for your sins. And then the priest, a Levite priest would have to go into the Holy of Holies on behalf.

And, you know, had to go through all this. And, you know, we know the story when Jesus died on the cross and gave up the ghost, as the Bible says, that veil of the temple that separated the Holy of Holies was written to. Now there's no need for a priest to go on our behalf. We have direct access to the Father. So that's why Jesus said the first thing in your prayer ought to be our Father. OK, now it expresses, number one, sonship. We're sons, the Bible says.

You got it? We're sons. The relationship is He's our Father.

We're His child. Like I told you a couple weeks ago, the expression of Father when referring to God is basically a New Testament phrase. It's not mentioned much in the Old Testament as God being our Father. But when Jesus came, He introduced God as the role of our Father.

And He emphasized that. And, dear friend, that's a privilege that not only is He our God, not only is He our Creator, but He's our Father. That makes it personal. So this expresses sonship.

Now let me explain it this way. The Bible teaches sonship through two things. First, it teaches sonship in creation. Second, it teaches sonship through adoption. Now, because God created all of us, He is the Creator, the Bible says, of every living thing.

You got that? So we are His sons because He's the Father of all living. So He's the Creator. So we are His sons because He created us. But that doesn't mean we go to heaven. It means He's our Creator.

We're the creation. And so there is a sonship there because He created us. But that doesn't get you to heaven. The only way you get to heaven is when He, through the adoption process, becomes your Father.

When you are adopted into the family of God. Listen, so this, our Father, means two things. Number one, He created us. But when you pray to our Father, it means He adopted us.

You ought to get more excited about that even though it's a Wednesday night. He is Father because He created us. But He's Father because He adopted us as sons in the family.

Got that? So this is exciting when we say our Father. That word Father means He created me, but He purchased me. He adopted me. I did not have a right to be in His family because of my sin. But He adopted me out of His love.

That's a blessing. And I'm going to tell you what, our prayers ought to start with that. Because there's nothing like our Father being reminded that we appreciate what He's done for us.

Our Father, that expresses sonship. Second, it implies dependency. Like a child depends on a father, just by saying our Father means this, I'm dependent on you. Now look at me, a person will not have power in prayer until God sees that they are totally dependent on Him. Why is it that a lot of times people don't pray? Because they're not 100% dependent upon God.

They ought to be. But if we think we can cover things on our own, we're not going to get desperate enough to pray. But when problems happen and we're over our head and we find out I can't do this, then we run to God.

You know why? Because now we depend on Him. So prayer expresses dependence. I need you. I can't do it without you, God.

That's why I'm coming to you faithfully. Does that make sense to everybody? Our Father expresses sonship.

It expresses dependency. But I want you to notice thirdly, and this is good, it implies communion. Say, what does that mean, preacher? It means this, notice if you would very closely, after this manner, therefore pray ye, my Father, which art in heaven, didn't say that, did it? Said our Father. So even in your prayer, it's not selfish. You say, but he is my Father. I know, but how did Jesus say to pray? Our Father.

You see, you've got to let loose of the individual. And you and I, what does the Bible say? We're supposed to have others first. And so he says, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Notice this, give us this day our daily bread. This is great, listen, Jesus in his own prayer says, hey, we ought to be praying for others as much as we're praying for ourselves. Give us this day our daily bread, not God, give me my daily bread, I need it. No, it's God give us our daily bread. So his prayer, our Father, expresses communion. In other words, we're a community.

We've been saved by the grace of God, and our prayer should be through the mindset of I'm not the only one alive, there are others that have needs too. Does that make sense? Okay, that's the expression of our relationship. Sonship, dependency, communion. I want you to notice secondly, though, an expression of revelation. You say, preacher, what does that mean? Well, what's very interesting here, if you break the Lord's prayer down in the Greek, and thank God, and I took Greek, two years of Greek in college, you say, what did you really learn out of it?

Not a whole bunch. What I learned out of it was that I got a B minus, that's what I learned. And my sophomore year, my junior year of college, the second semester of my junior year, I took Greek and Hebrew the same semester. Because I was trying to graduate on time, I had transferred in the middle, and certain credits don't transfer, and I wanted to finish on time.

So my last, those of you that have been to college will understand, my last two years of college, I had either between 23 to 26 credits per semester. Now, full load is about 16, 16 to 18, and to fit everything in, I had to take Greek and Hebrew the same year. I'll never forget, I made the mistake one day, I came in, and it was a pop quiz to write the Greek alphabet, and I wrote the whole Hebrew alphabet. I got a zero on my quiz because I was writing in the wrong language. And thank God I had the same teacher for both of them, and he let me take it again. But as I broke down this passage, let me tell you something that was very interesting to me.

Excuse me, I don't know what it is in my throat. Let me tell you this, if you would, our Father, which art in heaven. As you break this down into the Greek, this is not, I'm not saying that, you know, King James Version isn't exact and right, I believe it is. Let me just say, if you break down the Greek words, this is what it's implying, what it's saying. It's saying, our Father, which art in heaven, it literally, through the Greek word, comes out as our Father, who art in the heavens. Okay, now you say, big deal.

Oh, listen to me, dear friend, it's a big deal. When we say our Father, which art in heaven, my mind and your mind oftentimes will automatically go, my Father, our Father, which art in heaven. Okay, that's not what this verse is saying. This verse is saying, our Father, which art in the heavens, plural. This word heaven in the Greek is a plural. So you say, preacher, what is it you're trying to say? I'm glad you asked. Are you ready to do just a little bit of a hunt?

We're almost done. Look at Jeremiah Chapter 4. Some of you have always wondered about this, and I want to show you the verses. If you're like me, I got to have things, I'm not saying I have the answers to everything, but if you're like me, I got to have them explained to me pretty well.

And so, you know, I've studied enough to where I can understand it and try to explain it, I don't have the answers for everything. But look real quickly at Jeremiah Chapter 4, look at verse 25. Let's begin at verse 24.

I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. Remember that, birds of the heavens, birds.

So the heavens where you and I see birds, that is one heaven. Now, look if you would at Matthew Chapter 24. Let's go back to the New Testament. Look at Matthew Chapter 24, and I'm sure some of you have seen this, but I just want to make sure everybody's on the same page. Look at verse 29. Again, I'll start a verse or two before so you can understand it more. Look at verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

Notice that. The stars shall fall from what? Heaven. So there's a second heaven mentioned. So there is the atmosphere right above the earth where birds fly and different things, that's the first heaven.

The second heaven is the solar system where our stars and different things are. Now, notice 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Again, most of you have seen this.

I hope if you haven't, this will be very educational for you. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Look at verse 1.

It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. This is Paul speaking.

And Paul was given access to briefly view something very special. Verse 2. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such an one caught up into the third heaven, and I knew such a man whether in body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Paul was given access to the third heaven. That's where the throne of God is.

You all got that. So that's when you hear there's heaven in the second heaven, the third heaven, what in the world, where does God live? Where is heaven at? Heaven is in the third heaven. You and I can't see it.

The most powerful telescopes cannot even get to the end of our solar system. They can't even get beyond the second heaven. The third heaven is where God is. Now where is hell? We believe hell is in the center of the earth. That's what we believe. But now, okay, so what are you saying preaching?

Now listen. Our Father who art in the heavens, our Father which art in heaven, what is Jesus saying here? Why is that heaven a plural word? Because Jesus was saying our Father, you're in the first heaven, you are in the second heaven, and you are in the third heaven.

Now let me tell you why that is important to you. Because that means he's with you everywhere you go. That proved right there that Jesus is the Son of God because he was God on earth, he's God in heaven, and he's God in the third heaven. So that means God is in the atmosphere, God is in the solar system, God is in the third heaven. There's nowhere you can go that God is not. This right here teaches the omnipresence of God. There's nowhere you can go that God's not there. So you've got to understand when you're praying, let me tell you why, to me, why this is an expression of revelation. Jesus reveals something here. Our Father which art in all the heavens. That's your Father. He made the solar system.

He made gravity where we could literally stay on the ground. Not only that, remember what the Bible said? He sees if a sparrow falls. How can he see that? Because he's in the first heaven. As the Bible gives information about the solar system, the sun, the moon, and the stars, how does he know that? Because he's in the second heaven. And when he says I'm on the throne of God and talks about Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, how do they know that?

Because he's in the third heaven. Dear friend, wow, and he's your Father. Jesus says, you want to know how to pray? Let me tell you how to pray. Start by realizing and acknowledging that your Father is everywhere.

He made it all, he controls it all, he owns it all, and he's your dad. Father, we thank you for teaching us to pray. Lord, we have to be taught.

Many times we want to learn, but we have to be taught. Thank you for giving clarity in your word. Thank you for loving us enough to give us the example. Lord, thank you that we are sons by adoption. Lord, we have nothing inside of us that would make us worthy of your holiness and purity, except for the blood of Christ. And it's because of him that we can literally come straight to your throne and say, Father. Lord, I pray you'd help us to see what a privilege, an undeserved privilege it is to be able to say Father to you.

We've been given a great gift. Lord, I pray you'd help our people as we continue to try to learn to pray. Lord, I don't know why you have led to preach this much, this long, this often on prayer, but I know you've led. piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you. piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly piano plays softly