back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 3/23/25
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In the sight of the world, we fly, hold me still, we hold you. 00:00:13.500 |
Jesus, the Father, to the Lord, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still. 00:00:28.600 |
Jesus, the Father, to the Lord, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still, we're welcome as a Savior, hold me still. 00:04:18.060 |
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. 00:04:27.500 |
Show me your path, O Lord, for I am devoted to you. 00:04:40.500 |
Purify my heart's desire, I long to be your servant. 00:04:53.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:05:07.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, no other God, no other love, no other God's before you. 00:05:27.500 |
Teach me, teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. 00:05:38.500 |
Show me your path, O Lord, and I will walk in your path. 00:05:39.500 |
Show me your path, O Lord, and I will walk in your path, O Lord. 00:05:43.500 |
Show me your path, O Lord, bright and divine to you. 00:05:51.500 |
Purify my heart's desire, I long to be your servant. 00:06:04.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:09.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:20.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:22.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, no other God's, no other love, no other God's before you. 00:06:36.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:39.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:40.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:41.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:48.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:50.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:54.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:55.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:06:56.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:01.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:04.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:05.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:08.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:10.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:11.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:12.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:13.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:14.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:15.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:16.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:17.500 |
Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 00:07:40.500 |
First of all, as you guys know, this week we have our All Church Praise and Prayer. 00:07:45.500 |
And so because of that, we won't be having our regular Bible study, 00:07:50.500 |
So please come to the church by 7:30 or a little bit earlier than that, 00:07:59.500 |
It's scheduled for April 5th on Saturday, 9:30 to 12:00 p.m. 00:08:03.500 |
So they're telling me that today is the last day that you can sign up. 00:08:06.500 |
So if you're planning to come, please sign up. 00:08:10.500 |
So the last session of membership class was finished. 00:08:12.500 |
The next session is starting on April 27th, 9:30. 00:08:16.500 |
So if you are planning to become a member, please sign up for that. 00:08:19.500 |
And it's an eight-week course at 9:30 at the Youth Chapel. 00:08:25.500 |
If you haven't participated in the Passover meal, 00:08:27.500 |
or even if you had and you want to reinforce that to yourself or to your children, 00:08:33.500 |
that's happening on April 17th, the Thursday of Passion Week at 6:30 at the Fellowship Hall. 00:08:39.500 |
There's a small cost involved with that because dinner is provided. 00:08:43.500 |
So please sign up for that as soon as possible. 00:08:46.500 |
It's going to be, I think, about 140, I forget. 00:08:50.500 |
But please sign up for that as soon as possible. 00:08:52.500 |
And lastly, on April 12th at 7:00 p.m., there's going to be a cafe gospel night. 00:08:58.500 |
And so if you have friends, family, co-workers that you want to invite 00:09:01.500 |
where you can meet with outreach team or one of the leaders to be able to share the gospel with them, 00:09:08.500 |
So please, if you are planning to, please sign up for that and let them know that you are planning to bring somebody for that. 00:09:21.500 |
Again, if you have a physical offering, there is an offering box in the back that you can give. 00:09:33.500 |
We thank you for your continued grace that you pour upon us, 00:09:36.500 |
that many things that we are aware of and many things that we are not. 00:09:45.500 |
We pray, Father God, that whatever worries or concerns that we may have been entangled with, 00:09:51.500 |
that your grace truly would be sufficient for us. 00:09:54.500 |
Help us to lift our eyes to the throne of Christ, knowing that this is where we find our refuge and help. 00:10:02.500 |
I pray, Father God, that our giving would be a reflection of your tremendous love and grace that you've given us, 00:10:10.500 |
that we would give cheerfully, we would give bountifully. 00:10:14.500 |
And may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom. 00:10:50.480 |
Let us all rise and let's spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us before we continue. 00:11:13.780 |
Let us all rise and let's start a few moments. 00:11:43.760 |
Let's sing, I stand amazed, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. 00:11:59.760 |
And wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned, a queen. 00:12:13.760 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. 00:12:31.760 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, how marvelous is my Savior's love for me. 00:13:09.760 |
He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. 00:13:35.760 |
He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. 00:13:49.760 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, how marvelous, how marvelous. 00:13:51.760 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, how wonderful that my song shall ever be. 00:14:05.760 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, how marvelous, how marvelous is my Savior's love for me. 00:14:21.760 |
But with the grants of death glory, His face I am last shall see. 00:14:46.440 |
To be my joy through the ages, To sing others' love for me. 00:15:00.200 |
How marvelous, how wonderful, And my song shall ever be. 00:15:15.120 |
How marvelous, how wonderful is, My Savior's love for me. 00:15:28.880 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, How wonderful is, My Savior's love for me. 00:15:42.640 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, How marvelous, How wonderful is, My Savior's love for me. 00:15:56.400 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous. 00:16:10.160 |
How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous. 00:16:23.920 |
How marvelous, how marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous, How marvelous. 00:16:37.680 |
Jesus, your mercy is all my truth. I have no defense, my guilt runs too deep. The best of my works pierced your hands, I'm not free. Jesus, your mercy is all my truth. 00:16:59.020 |
Jesus, your mercy is all my truth. I promise I claim the grounds of my hope. Whatever I lack, it's still where I live. 00:17:29.340 |
Praise the King who bore my sin, took my place when I set contempt. Oh, how great you've always been to me. 00:18:08.000 |
Praise the King who bore my sin, took my place when I stood contempt. Oh, how great you've always been to me. Oh, how great you've always been to me. Oh, how great you've always been to me. Oh, how great you've always been to me. Oh, how great you've always been to me. Oh. 00:18:16.900 |
in death, Jesus your mercy is all my name, great the King who bore my sin, took my place 00:18:35.480 |
when I stood condemned, oh how could you always sin to me, I will see no 00:18:46.880 |
grace, Jesus your mercy is all my joy, forever I'll lift my heart and 00:19:16.860 |
my voice, to see our treasure no power can destroy, Jesus your mercy is all my joy, praise the King who bore my sin, took my place when I stood condemned, oh how could you always 00:19:46.840 |
praise the King who bore my sin, took my place when I stood condemned, oh how could you always sin to me, I will sing of your mercy. 00:20:16.820 |
With me to Luke chapter 11, we're going to be reading from 1 through 4. 00:21:16.780 |
Let's pray, Father we pray for your Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and our heart, Lord God, to understand your will, help us Lord to be surrendered to you, that we would not simply be hearers of the word, but be doers, in Jesus name we pray, amen. 00:22:07.620 |
Maybe they're doing the truth, maybe they're doing the truth, maybe they're doing the truth, maybe they're doing the truth, maybe they're doing the right things, but if you are not devoted to prayer, we cannot say confidently that we are a healthy church, a healthy church at the center of it, we must have devoted prayer, whether it is as a church or individually. 00:22:23.340 |
When you evaluate revivals and certain movements that come in, we always have to caution, especially those of you who are young, because whenever there is a large crowd of people moving a certain direction, we naturally think that this is a movement maybe from God, especially if it has a certain tag attached to it. 00:22:41.380 |
But when you study church history, at the core of every revival, every movement of God, there is devoted prayer. 00:22:49.300 |
Prayer is what leads to powerful preaching, powerful preaching leads to holy living, and holy living is what leads to genuine conversion. 00:22:59.480 |
So just because we have the right thinking, that doesn't mean it's a movement of God. 00:23:03.040 |
Just because we have large groups of people that are coming to church doesn't mean that it's a movement of God. 00:23:09.060 |
If you study 2,000 years of church history, where there was genuine revival, a powerful presence of God that brought his glory to the forefront, it was always, always, at the center of it was a group of people who were devoted to prayer. 00:23:26.980 |
That would empower people to preach with boldness. 00:23:30.160 |
And then the preaching of boldness would lead to holy living, conviction of sin. 00:23:34.720 |
And then that would lead to evangelism and mission work. 00:23:39.100 |
You can't point to a single movement where those things were not in place. 00:23:44.180 |
And we can say confidently that that was a movement of God. 00:23:47.180 |
Again, I can't emphasize enough how important this is because it is a weak spot in the Western church as a whole, which we are a part of. 00:23:56.220 |
There are certain parts of the world where the prayer is emphasized and right doctrine is not. 00:24:02.460 |
So they are in dire need of right teaching in many parts of the world where if you ask them what is the greatest need, they would say we need more teaching. 00:24:10.240 |
In the Western church, not to say that the teaching, we have too much of the teaching, but I would say the weakness of the Western church is lack of prayer. 00:24:21.440 |
It is imperative that any movement of God, if it is not coupled, and if we can't pinpoint and say it's because we prayed, it's just an answer to prayer. 00:24:34.160 |
That whatever success or whatever fruit that you see may be the beginning of your ruin. 00:24:42.380 |
Because whatever success that you think, if you think that the church is growing because you've applied certain methods, or you have the right teachers, or you figured out something that the other people did not know, 00:24:53.280 |
automatically you think, if I can apply this method, if I can apply this knowledge, if I can just teach more people this, that revival will break out. 00:25:01.840 |
So prayer is when the people of God recognizes that we are desperate for Him, and that's why His house is called, not a house of teaching, not a house of gathering, not a house of discipleship, 00:25:20.980 |
but it's called house of prayer, but it's called house of prayer, first and foremost. 00:25:23.880 |
That until the people of God recognize that we are desperate, until we ignite Him, until we come to Him, everything that we do may actually end up hurting us. 00:25:35.520 |
All the theology that you are learning may actually end up hurting you. 00:25:39.940 |
All the teaching, all the disciplines, all the hard work may end up hurting you, because it will fill you with pride, because you think that you did it without God. 00:25:53.140 |
So anything that we do, any success that we experience without prayer, will ultimately lead to the downfall of ourselves and the church. 00:26:02.940 |
Again, I can't emphasize enough, and I am not speaking in hyperbole. 00:26:07.700 |
God will oftentimes bring hardship in our life deliberately, so that we can pray. 00:26:17.680 |
Anything good or bad that comes into our life, God's ultimate purpose is single. 00:26:29.340 |
Not to make sure that everybody's behaving a certain way, which is important, that everybody is thinking a certain way or talking a certain way. 00:26:41.480 |
So a church that does not pray, no matter how it looks on the outside, is in danger. 00:26:49.480 |
This is the reason why I believe that the disciples, of all the things that they could have asked Jesus, I mean, think about what Jesus did. 00:27:01.500 |
You know, of all the things that are recorded in the scripture where the disciples ask, He says, teach us how to pray. 00:27:08.600 |
We're told in this text that they were asking because they remember that John the Baptist did this. 00:27:15.700 |
And so, as John did, Lord, teach us how to pray. 00:27:20.100 |
And I think the reason why, one of the reasons why they asked is because the emphasis of Christ on prayer. 00:27:28.040 |
You look at Jesus' life and how often He would break away in deep prayer before His Father. 00:27:46.220 |
So I believe that in observation, they're looking at Jesus and saying, teach us how to pray. 00:27:52.740 |
Not only that, there's an intimacy between Jesus and the Father that they did not understand. 00:27:59.500 |
So another reason why I believe that they were asking Jesus how to pray, they were basically asking Jesus, teach us how to get to the Father. 00:28:08.860 |
Because prior to Christ, we had people who prayed, but they all had to pray in distance. 00:28:16.160 |
Because in the old covenant, a sinner could not confidently come to His presence. 00:28:21.340 |
There was a natural fear that was in the midst of the community. 00:28:26.580 |
So they saw this intimacy with Jesus that they probably didn't see with any other prophet or anything that they've read or anything that they've heard of. 00:28:35.520 |
And looking at all the evidence of who He is, they probably asked Him, Lord, teach us how to pray. 00:28:47.440 |
No matter where you are in your walk with God, if the hardship that comes into your life doesn't lead to praying, something is wrong with your theology. 00:28:58.060 |
If whatever you are passionate about, this needs to get out, this needs to change. 00:29:03.860 |
But that doesn't lead you to first and foremost to get on your knees and cry out to God. 00:29:12.020 |
If you want a movement of God, if you want to see revival happening, and that doesn't cause you to gather together, to be devoted to praying and fasting, there's something that is missing in your theology. 00:29:26.540 |
It could easily be the work of our enemy to get you to get you to be distracted, thinking that somehow if you put your know-how, if you put your knowledge, if you put your effort, that something can happen. 00:29:44.780 |
So first and foremost, we have to be a house of prayer. 00:29:54.120 |
Before anything else, we have to be praying people. 00:29:57.240 |
And because we recognize that this is a weakness of ours, we keep emphasizing this. 00:30:02.840 |
Because this is not something that, oh, I hope we can get better. 00:30:09.860 |
If I'm coming up here in every single week, I don't even open up the Bible, I think the complaints are going to come. 00:30:19.640 |
There's no word of God being taught, or it's not accurate. 00:30:21.880 |
There's going to be grumbling and complaining. 00:30:23.720 |
Because you already know in your paradigm that the word of God has to be the center of the church. 00:30:28.500 |
But there should also be equal concern and urgency when we are not praying in our lives and in the church. 00:30:36.220 |
And we need to come before the Lord and ask Him the same question. 00:30:43.880 |
I'm going to be looking at this text this morning. 00:30:48.620 |
And a more fuller version, or complete version of this, is found in Matthew chapter 6. 00:30:54.900 |
But we're going to be focused on Luke's text. 00:30:58.080 |
I believe that the Holy Spirit is the author, so it's not like, oh, this is not complete, so we need to find a complete version. 00:31:04.680 |
There's a reason why the Holy Spirit chose to give us this version of it in the Gospel of Luke, so we're going to be focused on that. 00:31:12.160 |
One thing that we need to caution, before we even jump in, is that this is not, what Jesus is teaching here is not a prayer. 00:31:20.380 |
Meaning that if you just say the right words, and if you just follow this, like what He says, that God's going to answer our prayers. 00:31:30.900 |
No, He's teaching us, He's not teaching us a prayer, right? 00:31:36.980 |
So what He is telling us is, these are the principles, these are the things that you need to know before you come to God in prayer. 00:31:43.880 |
So this prayer can be divided into two parts. 00:31:46.180 |
There's a horizontal relationship with God, and then the second part of it is the, is a vertical relationship. 00:31:55.540 |
Okay, vertical relationship with God, and then horizontal with other people, myself and with other people. 00:32:00.400 |
We're going to be focused today on the vertical relationship, and then this Friday, when we have our praise and prayer, 00:32:06.100 |
I'm going to be doing the part two of this in the horizontal relationship. 00:32:10.440 |
First and foremost, He begins by saying, pray, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name. 00:32:19.180 |
Now, right off the bat, if you know the Lord's Prayer, we know, everybody knows, Father, we address Him as Father. 00:32:26.940 |
This is not a common way that a Jew would address God. 00:32:31.920 |
So right off the bat, when Jesus says, pray to Him as Father, it would have stopped. 00:32:39.840 |
And it's not because the term Father was not used. 00:32:42.800 |
In the Old Testament, God is addressed as Father, but always, 100% of the time, it was referred to as a nation, that He is the Father of Israel. 00:32:52.620 |
However, is it a personal, relational, personal reference to God? 00:32:56.620 |
Only when you come to the New Testament, where we see a more personal reference to Him. 00:33:03.480 |
The word Father, reference to God, in the Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is used 65 times, and in the Gospel of John, it is used 100 times. 00:33:14.440 |
In fact, Jesus exclusively uses the term Father when He addresses God. 00:33:20.560 |
The only time that He does not use the reference Father to address God is when He's hanging on the cross, when He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:33:29.900 |
Outside of that, 60 other times when He's referring to God, He always addresses Him as Father. 00:33:41.380 |
Because the way we talk to somebody is very different, depending on who they are in our lives. 00:33:49.540 |
How a parent talks to the child is different than the way a child will talk to the parent. 00:33:56.500 |
There are things that a parent can say to a child that a child cannot say to parents. 00:34:01.320 |
Somebody in authority, or maybe you're the boss. 00:34:04.320 |
So, knowing who it is that we are speaking to, that we're not just imagining who we're talking to, 00:34:10.080 |
that first and foremost, He's not just some beings, He's not some power that we're trying to tap into, 00:34:16.220 |
that if we can somehow say the right words and do the right things, that we can get His power to come and to address our present situation. 00:34:23.600 |
He says, first and foremost, that it is our Father that we are addressing. 00:34:32.600 |
How my children address me and how just random people that I meet on the street address me is very different. 00:34:40.340 |
There's things that they can ask that other people cannot ask. 00:34:45.400 |
If a random person comes, I don't know them, they say, can I borrow your car? 00:34:53.420 |
A normal person wouldn't just ask a random person to do them a favor. 00:35:07.120 |
First and foremost, He says, our salvation wasn't simply to prevent us from judgment. 00:35:17.720 |
He says, He did it so that He can bring us and to become His children. 00:35:23.500 |
In John 1, 12 to 13, but as many as received, and to them He gave the right to become children of God. 00:35:30.740 |
Not to simply be preserved from damnation, but to be children of God. 00:35:35.680 |
For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters, by which we cry, Abba, Father. 00:35:48.320 |
And I think many of you know that Abba is the Aramaic term for the word father, and it is an intimate word. 00:35:55.200 |
Not just a father, but the father, my father. 00:36:03.700 |
In many languages, the word Abba is used to refer to father. 00:36:08.440 |
I think it's because that's maybe the first sound, maybe that comes out of the mouth. 00:36:11.800 |
You know what the Aramaic word for mother is? 00:36:26.280 |
So not only, He says, when you come to address Him, to recognize that this is a loving father. 00:36:35.680 |
Now, if you understand what He's trying to say here, first and foremost, right off the bat, when you come to Him, know that this is your father that you're coming to. 00:36:50.040 |
He's not just a being who's powerful, who can answer your prayers. 00:36:53.800 |
But this is a father that gave His only begotten son to adopt you as His child. 00:37:01.020 |
In Romans 8, 16, 17, the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. 00:37:06.460 |
And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. 00:37:10.540 |
That everything that belonged to Christ, He says, we become fellow heirs with Christ. 00:37:17.040 |
He said, when Jesus Christ was crucified and was resurrected, He was the first fruit. 00:37:23.800 |
Meaning that He paved the way that the path that He went, we're going to be following. 00:37:30.520 |
And as He was exalted, we will be exalted with Him. 00:37:33.240 |
As He is the heir of God, He says, we will be co-heirs with Christ. 00:37:38.300 |
And it is this Father, this Abba Father, that you are coming to address. 00:37:43.500 |
Does that change the way that we speak to Him? 00:37:48.900 |
And that's why we can come to Him in confidence, because we're not just coming to a being. 00:38:06.720 |
He's not a schoolmaster who's saying that if you do all these right things, 00:38:10.220 |
and if you get an A, then I'll give you what you want. 00:38:13.940 |
His default setting, because He is our Father, He desires what's good for you. 00:38:18.760 |
Those of you who are parents know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:38:22.000 |
And I don't think you need to be a parent to know this. 00:38:26.760 |
The moment that you become a father or a mother, 00:38:32.100 |
you know, what's the happiest thing that a newly parent experiences? 00:38:38.160 |
Like an infant getting up and, you know, cooking you something. 00:38:45.800 |
Like one day if I invest in him, he's going to grow up, make a lot of money, 00:39:01.540 |
just the fact that they're happy makes you happy. 00:39:08.420 |
Because someone that you love is experiencing joy. 00:39:13.740 |
Every mother, every father experiences that when a child comes. 00:39:19.640 |
That's a blessing of experiencing parenthood. 00:39:34.220 |
If He loved you that much to make you His adopted children, 00:39:41.740 |
What does He mean by that, call Him Abba Father? 00:39:44.440 |
Is it just, from now on, I want you to address me this way? 00:40:01.120 |
That's why it says in Matthew 6, 26, He says, 00:40:04.800 |
Look at the birds of the sky that do not sow, nor weep, 00:40:28.540 |
And the only reason why He may not give you something 00:41:51.100 |
Not simply because of deep theological learning 00:42:14.460 |
It is not to come to Him with a check-off list. 00:42:23.140 |
because we feel like there's nothing urgent to pray. 00:43:00.260 |
You know, the people that you feel the most loved, 00:43:04.620 |
are people that you don't need to say anything. 00:43:58.800 |
Hallowed basically means holy, honored, reverence. 00:44:13.380 |
you kind of have the best of both worlds, right? 00:45:50.160 |
Now, I know that even in the Western culture, 00:46:06.840 |
Because you don't address your dad like that. 01:14:55.380 |
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling 01:15:00.320 |
And to make you stand in the presence of His glory