(soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (audience chattering) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good evening, church family.

Welcome to our praise and prayer night. Let me open us up in a word of prayer and then we can get started. Father God, we come before you, Lord, and we thank you for your sustaining grace in our lives, your kindness, your faithfulness, your sovereign hand over every season of our lives.

We thank you for this night that we get to come as a church to pray to you. And despite or regardless of how each of our weeks have been may we come before you now, desiring to come before you humbly and to seek you with our whole heart to come before you, Lord, with an undivided attention and devotion to you, Lord.

I pray for tonight, even if some of us may be tired or whatnot, that we would be engaged in prayer and in these praises, Lord, to you, both in our mind and our hearts. Father, that our true desire would be to seek you, to know you, to have a deeper affection for Christ in all things.

We thank you, Lord, in Christ's name we pray, amen. - Let us all rise as we sing these praises. (soft piano music) (soft piano music continues) - May the words. ♪ May the words of my mouth ♪ ♪ And the meditations of my heart ♪ ♪ Be pleasing to you ♪ ♪ Pleasing to you ♪ ♪ May the words of my mouth ♪ ♪ And the meditations of my heart ♪ ♪ Be pleasing to you, my God ♪ - You're my rock.

♪ You're my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ You're the reason that I sing ♪ ♪ I desire to be a blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ Every hour and every moment ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be your servant ♪ ♪ I desire to be a blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ In your eyes ♪ ♪ In your eyes ♪ - May the words.

♪ May the words of my mouth ♪ ♪ And the meditations of my heart ♪ ♪ Be pleasing to you ♪ ♪ Pleasing to you ♪ ♪ May the words of my mouth ♪ ♪ And the meditations of my heart ♪ ♪ Be pleasing to you, my God ♪ ♪ My God ♪ ♪ You're my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ You're the reason that I sing ♪ ♪ I desire to be a blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ A blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ Every hour and every moment ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be your servant ♪ ♪ I desire to be a blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ A blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ You're my rock ♪ ♪ You're my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ You're the reason that I sing ♪ ♪ I desire to be a blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ A blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ Every hour and every moment ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be your servant ♪ ♪ I desire to be a blessing in your eyes ♪ ♪ In your eyes ♪ ♪ In your eyes ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Lord, you're calling ♪ ♪ Lord, you're calling to come ♪ ♪ And behold the wondrous cross ♪ ♪ To explore the depths of grace ♪ ♪ You came to me at such a cost ♪ ♪ Where your boundless love ♪ ♪ Conquered my boundless sin ♪ ♪ And mercy's arms were open wide ♪ ♪ My heart, my heart is filled with a thousand songs ♪ ♪ Proclaiming the glories of Calvary ♪ ♪ With every breath, Lord, how I long ♪ ♪ To sing of Jesus who died for me ♪ ♪ Lord, take me deeper ♪ ♪ Into the glories of Calvary ♪ ♪ Sinners find ♪ ♪ Sinners find eternal joy ♪ ♪ In the triumph of your wounds ♪ ♪ By our Savior's crimson flow ♪ ♪ Holy wrath has been removed ♪ ♪ And your saints below ♪ ♪ Join with your saints above ♪ ♪ Rejoice, sing in the risen lamb ♪ ♪ My heart is filled with a thousand songs ♪ ♪ Proclaiming the glories of Calvary ♪ ♪ With every breath, Lord, how I long ♪ ♪ To sing of Jesus who died for me ♪ ♪ My heart is filled with a thousand songs ♪ ♪ Proclaiming the glories of Calvary ♪ ♪ With every breath, Lord, how I long ♪ ♪ To sing of Jesus who died for me ♪ ♪ Lord, take me deeper ♪ ♪ Into the glories ♪ ♪ Lord, take me deeper ♪ ♪ Into the glories of Calvary ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ You are beautiful ♪ ♪ You are beautiful beyond description ♪ ♪ Too marvelous for words ♪ ♪ Too wonderful for comprehension ♪ ♪ Like nothing ever seen or heard ♪ ♪ Who can grasp your infinite wisdom ♪ ♪ Who can fathom the depths of your love ♪ ♪ You are beautiful beyond description ♪ ♪ Majesty enthroned above ♪ ♪ I stand, I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ I stand, I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ Holy God to whom all praise is due ♪ ♪ I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ You are beautiful beyond description ♪ ♪ Yet God crushed you for thy sin ♪ ♪ In agony and deep affliction ♪ ♪ Cut off that I might enter in ♪ ♪ Who can grasp such tender compassion ♪ ♪ Who can fathom such mercy so free ♪ ♪ You are beautiful beyond description ♪ ♪ Lamb of God who died for me ♪ ♪ I stand, I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ I stand, I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ Holy God to whom all praise is due ♪ ♪ I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ I stand, I stand, I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ I stand, I stand in awe of you ♪ ♪ Holy God to whom all praise is due ♪ ♪ I stand in awe of you ♪ - Amen, you may be seated.

- I wanna give us plenty of time to pray, but I wanted to pray along with the Lord's Prayer because it is a pattern that's set before us and I know we've gone through it many times and you guys are very familiar with the Lord's Prayer, but I wanted to read the Lord's Prayer and give some guidance and basically to give a structure of how we're gonna be praying tonight.

In Matthew 6, nine, sorry, let me read. Let me just read it off here. Matthew 6, five through 15, it begins by telling us what not to do and Jesus says, "When you pray, "you are not to be like the hypocrites, "for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues "and on the street corners "so that they may be seen by men.

"Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." And so basically, he's saying there's a pattern of prayer that they pray and their prayer is not effective, even though the Pharisees are actually known for their prayer, but their prayers were ineffective because they were doing it for themselves.

So there is a way to pray where God does not answer. Just because we pray doesn't mean that God is pleased. So first, he tells us how not to pray. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

So the natural question is, what are we doing here, right? So why are we praying in public? They focus on prayer so that they can be seen by others. We have the exact opposite problem. Our tendency is because people don't see, we tend to not pray. We tend to focus on things that people can see because they can't see that whether we prayed or not, we have a tendency to not to do it.

So the reason why we gather together for corporate prayer, obviously, God tells us to make this a house of prayer. But secondly, we pray corporately so that you can pray in private, right? Sometimes we have to exercise our muscles to be able to use that when we're at home.

And so our corporate prayer hopefully will help us so that we can pray in private. But ultimately, this is not, if this is all your prayer life is, obviously, you don't have a prayer life. You can't say that because we gather once a month and we pray that this is my prayer life.

This is not your prayer life. It can't be your prayer life once a month. This is only to encourage us so that we can have a habit of prayer, that we can have a life, a pattern of prayer. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

So do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him. You don't need to pray a lot or a lot of words. You don't need to be articulate. You don't need to quote the Bible, right? You just need to be sincere. Sometimes the best prayer is, Lord, help me.

If that's the situation you're in, and sometimes you lack words, and because you can't put articulate sentences together, you say, well, I'm not praying. Sometimes those are the worst prayers because it's not coming from your heart. You're saying things because you think that those things ought to be said.

The most effective prayers are the ones that are coming from your heart. And sometimes when you are desperate, the only words that come out of your mouth are help me. So if that's where you are, don't worry about length of prayer. Don't worry about articulation of prayer. Just be honest in your prayer.

If you were standing before God, what would you say? Maybe you're in a situation, you're caught in sin, and you don't know how to get out, and you come before the Lord, and you don't need to explain the intricate details of what's going on in your heart and how to survive this and quote scripture.

You just need to come before the Lord and say, help me. Help me. I need your help. Help me, right? So God doesn't hear us because of many prayer or because of articulation of prayer, but the sincerity of our heart. So tonight, maybe some of you, all you will do all night is to ask for help.

I need help. I need help. My mom needs help. My brother needs help. My sisters need help. And just come before the Lord and be sincere and cry out to God in prayer, okay? You can go to the next. And then he says, don't pray that way, and then pray this way.

Pray then in this way, our Father who is 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 also forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

And let me just stop right there. If you can go to the next screen. The lines vertical and horizontal, the lines are a little bit too thin, but that's basically what those lines are. If you look at the Lord's Prayer, it's broken down into two categories. You have a vertical prayer between us and God, and then it prays for a horizontal relationship between others and ourselves, right?

Just like in anything that we do, unless our vertical line with God is connected, our horizontal line, you can't be fixed. Oftentimes what we end up doing is, we feel the sense of urgency when our horizontal line is broken. Relational issues, family issues, we have temptation falling to sin, and we have a tendency to come to the Lord in the horizontal line, right?

But the first thing, no matter what situation is, is our vertical line. Am I connected right with God? Before you're concerned about anything else, am I connected right with God? So the two things that he mentions, and we're gonna start praying with this first, and I'm gonna give you a chunk of time to pray, and then we'll deal with the horizontal afterwards.

When he says, "Our Father who is in heaven, "hallowed be your name." If you look at the first part of it, it says, "Hallowed be your name. "Your kingdom come, your will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." So if you look at, go back to the line.

So the first part of the prayer is lordship, right? Is to pray that he would be Lord. Now in the New Testament, the word Lord is used in various ways. Lord could be a way of just expressing honor, like sir, right, and so you can call just some stranger, just in an honorific way, saying sir, sir this, sir that.

Is that the way he's using the word Lord here? Or another way to say Lord is Lord is in somebody who is above you, right? They may not have legal authority over you, but it's just a way of expressing somebody like a rabbi, or maybe somebody higher than that, a governor or king.

Is that the way he's using it? The way that the word Lord is being used here is the way that the Jews used the word Adonai of the Old Testament, and basically it's to express masterhood. To say your name, hallowed be your name, not my name, right? How much of my prayer is about my reputation?

You know, sometimes we think like what kind of, what kind of legacy would you want to leave when you die? That thought in itself is self-centered. You don't need a legacy. Nobody needs to remember you, other than the fact that you loved the Lord, and then you went with the Lord, that's it.

Oh, I want to be known as a humble man. I want to be known as this man. I want to be known as a man who strove for God. No, you don't need to be remembered, you're a servant. If you did a good job, they'll remember Christ, and then that's it.

He said, hallowed be your name, not my name. How much of the headaches do we incur on ourselves because we're so concerned about my life? What kind of life, what kind of meaning, what would I leave behind? Don't worry about any of that. Our single goal is hallowed be your name.

If because of you, other people love Christ, and they don't even remember your name, then you've done your job. Then that's the best servant. A servant is not somebody who leaves behind his name, and his legacy, and they make a monument for you. That's not a good servant. A good servant basically points to his master, and his master gets a credit for everything that you've done.

The first beginning of the Lord's Prayer is a surrender of lordship to him, that he's my master. Hallowed be your name, not my name, not other people's name, not our church's name, but hallowed be your name, and your kingdom come. Your kingdom come. He's my master, and so it is his kingdom, his will, his purpose, his glory, his joy that we are praying for.

So first and foremost, we need to remember when we pray, how much of the content of my prayer is about my will being done? How much of the content of my prayer is a concern that my name is remembered, and my reputation is built up? Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Repeatedly, over and over again, the Bible reminds us that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord. Luke 2:11, "For today in the city of David, "there has been born for you a Savior "who is Christ the Lord." There's no other Lord above him, he is the Lord. Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth "that Jesus as Lord," right?

"Not just Jesus as Savior, but Jesus as Lord, "and believe in your heart that God raised him "from the dead, you will be saved." Now one of the core books that we have at our church, we're reading it through the Bible study, but again, another core book that we have is Gospel According to Jesus, which if you haven't read it, I highly encourage you to read that, because again, our generation, the concept of Lord is offensive, right?

Because it's our will, it's our purpose, it's our joy, but salvation comes when we recognize his Lordship, and it can't be just empty words, right? So the question is, is he Lord? Am I seeking his glory, his will, his honor, right? Or am I concerned, am I using God so that my family can be better?

Am I using God in prayer so that my children will be taken care of? Am I using God for my peace, for my marriage? Or how much of our prayer is coming before the Lord, seeking his will, his glory? Acts 2:36, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel "know for certain that God has made him "both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify." Christ is Lord, repeated over and over again.

2 Corinthians 4, 5, "For we do not preach ourselves, "but Christ Jesus as Lord." Even the gospel preaching wasn't simply, God loves you and wants to save you. He says, no, he preached Christ as Lord. He must be your Lord. That's why we're in the condition that we're in, because we rebelled against his Lordship.

So the whole purpose of preaching the gospel is to bring a fallen, rebellious world under his Lordship, right? And that can't be just empty words. It has to be the life of the church. It has to be the content of our prayer, that we wrestle with our flesh to make him our Lord, right?

Not simply with words, not simply in theology, but is he really Lord? 1 Corinthians 6, 20 says, "You have been purchased "with a price, therefore honor God with your body." This is not our body. This is not our life. This is not my family. This is not my future.

These are not my kids. We have been purchased. So everything that belongs to me has been given to me as a steward. I'm a steward of my family. I'm a steward of my children. I'm a steward of my possessions. Then none of that belongs to me. No servant stands before his master and says, "That's yours, but this is mine." If he's my master and he's my Lord, everything I have belongs to him.

My children are his. My family is his. My future is his. I belong to him, right? So the first and foremost, he says, "Pray in this way. "Pray to surrender." Before you pray for anything, no matter what's going on in your life, the question we need to come before the Lord and wrestle with is, "Am I surrendered?" Am I surrendered?

And we're gonna go over what specific areas that you need to surrender after. Second part, he says, "Give us this day our daily bread." This is a prayer, again, in the vertical line of dependence. You notice how he doesn't say, "Give me this day enough "so that I don't have to worry about retirement." There's nothing wrong with putting money away for retirement, but you know that the contents of his prayer is that, "Give me this day "our my daily bread, my daily bread." This is also a prayer of surrender, that I will trust you.

It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be responsible. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be good with money, but the content of prayer is a prayer of surrender, that my life, my decisions, what I do, that I rely on him, not to collect more than what I need so that I will be comfortable.

I don't wanna have to depend on him every day. I wanna pray hard today, and then I collect enough so I don't have to pray to him tomorrow, so I don't have to rely on him next year. That's our tendency, but he tells us to pray specifically this way because he wants us to depend on him every single day, because we may depend on him tomorrow and drift today and drift tomorrow.

We may depend on him this year and then drift the next year, and so the principle that he was teaching the Israelites when he told them to only collect manna for that day is because he was trying to teach them, trust me for tomorrow, be faithful today. Trust me for tomorrow, be faithful.

How long do I do this? Until I come, until I come. Not until you have enough for retirement, not until you have a nice house, but every single day. So this is a prayer of dependence. Do I really depend on him, or do I pray so that I no longer have to depend on him?

I will not answer that prayer. He's not going to self-defeat his main purpose, because his primary purpose is so that you will depend on him. So if making you wealthy causes you to be independent, he's going against his own will. He cannot answer that prayer, because if he answers that prayer, you will drift.

You will not pray. You will not come to him. You will become proud. So that prayer is against his will. His will is so that you and I would surrender. Give us this day our daily bread. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.

He who did not spare his own son, how will he not along with him give us all things? Do you actually believe that? It's easy to say Christ died for me. I love God because he gave his only begotten son for me, and then the very next minute we turn around, I'm not sure if he will provide for my finances.

If you really believe and confess that he gave his only begotten son, how will he not along with him give him everything that you need? Why are we so anxious about what we don't have? Does God not have the power to give it to you? Is it because he doesn't love you enough?

How can you believe that he loved you so much that he would give his only begotten son and wrestle so much with trivial things in our lives? He who did not spare his own things, how will he not along with him give you all things? So it says in James, do not say today or tomorrow I will do this or that because we do not know where we're gonna be tomorrow.

So this line, first and foremost, is a prayer of dependence, prayer of lordship. So if you can go to the next slide. So this is what we're gonna be praying for specifically. Is Christ lord over your finances? We can talk about time, people, decisions, but where the rubber meets the road is your money.

This is the reason why Jesus talks about this subject so much because he says where your treasure is, there your heart is. So if Christ is not lord over your finances, he probably isn't your lord. You make him your lord, you'd say he's lord, but he's not actually lord because lordship is expressed through finances, right?

So is he lord over your finances, first and foremost, right? Secondly, your time, look at the way you use your time. Is he lord over your time? Now I'm not saying that every single waking minute that you have to be reading the Bible and studying, but is worship of God something you do on Sunday in a Bible study and then the rest of the time is yours?

Or is my whole life dedicated for his glory, right? The use of your concern for future, right? How much of what we choose not to do today is because we're afraid we're not gonna get it tomorrow. So he's not lord over your future. Whatever tomorrow may bring, because of the decisions and the things that I do today, he's lord over today and tomorrow.

So if he is lord today, whatever that leads me to tomorrow, he is also lord. But oftentimes we don't wanna obey today or we compromise today because we're concerned that tomorrow we're not gonna get what we want. Is he lord over your future? Are you living your life today fully confident that he is also lord over tomorrow, whatever that may be?

Your career, right? How much of you are striving, praying, working, compromising to get ahead in your career, living in fear that you might lose your job or you might not be able to advance in your job? Or do you not believe that he is also lord over your career?

That what you have and don't have is in his hands, right? I do what he wants me to do and whatever that leads to, whether that leads to poverty, whether that leads to wealth, he is lord. Is he your lord? Is he lord over your family and your children?

I can be, I don't have a problem making him lord over my life, but is he also lord over your children? That if you commit your children to the lord, you're afraid that they might not be able to get to the school that they want to. They might not get married to the person that you want them to get married to.

You may not have the career or the future that maybe you want. And so you don't have a problem surrendering yourself, but maybe he's not lord over your children. If he's lord, he's also lord over your children. Wherever God takes you and wherever God takes you, wherever God takes your children, he is also lord, right?

Is he lord over your reputation? Right? What other people think of you. Are you paralyzed because you're concerned that if you do certain things or not do certain things that people will view you a certain way and you do certain things because you're concerned about the reputation of how people view you.

You want to be known as a godly man, a man of the Bible. You want to be known as a gracious man. You want to be known as a hard worker. And so much of you is being driven because of your reputation or how people will think of you, whether good or bad.

That's not up to you to decide. We just obey. We just obey. And even if you obey, you may get a bad reputation. Even if you obey, people may criticize you, question your motive. How much of our lives are paralyzed because we're concerned about what other people will think of us and we can't live in full obedience.

We can only obey in the things that keeps us in a safe zone. Is he Lord? So the first part of prayer is established lordship. Am I seeking his glory, his will, not mine? Am I depending on him? So when he says, if you abide in me, in my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you.

In other words, there's a condition to effective prayer. We can be here all night crying out and praying passionately and God does not hear a single word because it has nothing to do with his will. We're praying against his will and God will not answer that prayer because God knows what is best for you and what is best for me and what is best for our church is for his will to be done, for his glory to shine because the moment we seek our glory, we will drift from him and that is the worst place for any child of God to be.

So first and foremost, as we surrender these things, as we pray, let's be honest with ourselves. Don't skim over these things. As you think about these areas, is he truly Lord? Maybe you focus so much energy on what other people are not doing and you become blind to the areas and you just kind of excused certain things because certain things you deemed more important.

Don't focus your prayer on what other people need to do. Tonight, when we pray, at least for the first part, pray along these lines. If there's any part of it that I'm wrestling with that I did not give to the Lord, come before the Lord. Lord, hallowed be your name, that your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So let's pray for the next about 15 minutes and then I'll come back and I'll get us to the horizontal line and then we'll bring us back together, okay? So let's pray for about 15 minutes and I'll bring us back together. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) - Let's get to the second part.

If you can go back, yeah, to the second part. First part of the prayer is our horizontal relationship with God. And then the second part where it says, "And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." And so this is a prayer of our relationship with other people to practice grace.

And then, "Do not lead us into temptation, "but deliver us from evil." And this is a practice of self-control. And so, first and foremost, if we're not surrendered before God, whatever horizontal relationship that we have, it may be a result of not surrendering. It may be a result of being selfish and seeking our own glory.

And sometimes, even as we're doing God's work, so much of it is we want our face to be seen. And even as we are preaching, even as we are doing God's work, so much of it, if we're not careful, is seeking our own glory. But as that is established, the other part of it is, he says, "Ask for forgiveness." But there's a condition to that, right?

Don't ask God to be gracious if you refuse to be gracious, right? Don't expect grace from others if that's not what you're practicing. He says, "Forgive us our debts "as we also have forgiven our debtors." This is a practice of love with one another, right? If you have a habit of surrounding yourself with people that you like, you're not practicing Jesus' love.

You're practicing love that the world practices. It's no different than the world, right? But this is a love that makes us different from the rest of the world. The world will know we are his disciples if we have love for one another as Jesus loved us. Then they will know we're his disciples.

So if all we practice is love toward people who are lovable, that's not a Christian love. That's just love that the world practices. So he says, "First and foremost, "we have to make an effort, "and nothing will kill your pride "more than loving somebody "that you don't think deserves it." Nothing will kill your pride and your will more than when you are actively pursuing somebody who doesn't like you.

But that's what he tells us to do, right? "Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors." Maybe some of you are just nice people and you don't know a single person that they don't like you or you don't like them, right? That may be, that may be, again, I'm not saying that it is, that may be because you live in fear of a man, right?

That you're speaking love, but you're not speaking the truth in love. I don't know anybody who lives, tries to live a righteous life who doesn't have conflict with some people, even with good intentions. And so if we're not in the habit of practicing grace with one another, there's no way that you can have a relationship with other sinners.

And so this is not a prayer for just a few people who happen to have hard personalities. Anybody who wants to live a righteous life, anybody who is living in a sinful world is gonna have conflicts with people. Some of it may be genuine, some of it may be misunderstanding, some of it, they may deserve it.

But he calls us, he says, "Forgive us our debts "as we have forgiven others." In other words, you've done that first. Before you come to the altar, he says, "To reconcile with your brother first." Get that right, if anything, in your heart that you are committing to be gracious, to be loving.

So the question naturally is, if you're gonna ask God for forgiveness, we have to remember what he's forgiven us for. How faithful have you been? If you're concerned about the faithfulness of other people, how faithful have you been? Did you deserve, when you asked for forgiveness, were you asking for something that you deserve?

Did you earn that? No, you're begging for mercy. So there's somebody in our lives that don't deserve your forgiveness. They don't deserve your grace, just as you and I did not deserve it. If we think long and hard about our position before this holy God, every single one of us is here because God showed mercy to us.

All he's telling us to do is to practice what we preach with other people. And then he says, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So the question is, usually the temptation comes often because what we covet. We covet, if you're struggling with purity, you're coveting something that God didn't give you.

Belongs to somebody else, and you want that. And that's where lust comes from. God didn't give it to you, that's not yours until God says she is yours at the altar. But until that happens, she's not yours, God didn't give that person to you. And so usually temptation comes when we covet what other people have.

That could be money, that could be time, that could be reputation. But when we covet what other people have, some people are married, some people have children, some people have good jobs, some people have a nice house. And so the temptation comes when we begin to compare. If you're living out in the desert with nobody around you, none of that matters.

If you're living out in the desert and you're doing fine, you have food to eat and you have a shelter, you're not freezing to death and you can take a bath, you're not coveting to have a nice car, you're not coveting to have a nice house. You covet because you live among other people who have it.

And so we watch those things and then we allow it to come into our eyes and then we allow it to percolate and then we convince ourselves something that we want is a need. And then that's what leads us to temptation. And so the self-control part of it is one, the natural question is, what are you doing that causes you to allow coveting to be normal in your life?

You know, we talk about window shopping. Like long time ago, people would go to the mall and say, "We're gonna window shopping." Window shopping basically is going to see what I want. I have no intention to buy it, but I'm gonna fill my heart and my mind with things that I'm not intending to buy, right?

But I'm gonna go take a look and put it all in my mind and in my heart. Of course, you're gonna eventually buy it. When you come home, you're gonna be thinking about it, you're gonna be saving money with it, you're gonna watch if they have it. And so you deliberately placed yourself in a place where you're gonna end up coveting things that you're telling yourself you're not gonna get it, of course you're gonna get it, or at least try to get it.

The problem with today is the coveting is on your phone. Right? It's on Instagram, you see what other people are doing, and they're highlighting the best parts of their life, and then you watch that and you covet it, and the next thing you know, you convince yourself that you also need it.

They went to this place, I need to go there. They ate that food, I need to eat that. And so we fill ourselves with coveting. And so we live every single day coveting. And so the natural question that we need to ask ourselves is what am I doing to allow the coveting to be normal in my life?

What am I watching? What am I comparing with? So this next part of it, the prayer, next one. No. Yeah, so pray, pray that God will give you strength to forgive anyone who may have wronged you. My guess is almost anybody in this room will have somebody that you have been harboring some kind of bitterness, okay?

Maybe you just swept it under the rug, but when you think long and hard about it, I think almost everybody in this room could think of somebody that we feel like, maybe I need to let this go, right? Ask God for strength to practice what we're asking him to do for us.

Pray that God will deliver you from grudges or bitterness that you have been harboring in your heart towards someone. And you do not realize when you harbor bitterness and you don't let it go, how much of that affects the way you look at scripture, how much of that affects your evangelism, how much of that affects your theology.

You don't even know. That it taints, it's like reading the Bible with sunglasses on, and everything is seen through that lens when you allow bitterness and hatred to harbor in our hearts, okay? So ask the Lord to remove that, and you would actively try to remove that. Pray for deliverance against anything that you have been coveting.

What is it in your heart right now that you're coveting, that you somehow convince, I need to have that? I need to have that house, I need to have that car, I need to have this vacation, and it's always in the back of your mind, right? And you're looking at it, you're looking at advertisement, you're looking at online, you're making jotting notes, and you don't realize how much of that has filled your heart and you don't realize how much of that is affecting the way you're looking at scripture.

You don't realize how much of that is affecting you bearing fruit, right? And you think, well, I'm coveting, nobody knows, it's in my heart, right? But the Holy Spirit illuminates us, and if we have blinders on because we allow coveting to be normal, you don't even realize how much of that is causing you to be blind.

You're not seeing scripture, you're not seeing God with pure eyes. You're seeing God through a lens of coveting. And even the way that you project what is right and what is wrong is coming through your desire for something that has nothing to do with God. Pray that God would deliver you from whatever coveting that you recognize in your heart.

Pray for deliverance of specific temptations that you need victory over, right? At a young church, and even in an old church, sexual sin is always at the top of the list. Don't ever normalize. Don't ever normalize sexual sin just because we all struggle with it. Don't ever let anybody tell you that that's okay.

It is not okay, right? All other sins, you sin outside your body, but this sexual sin, he said, you sin against your body. Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? God says he made this his dwelling, and we cannot use this, right?

You cannot use this in an unholy manner, and so struggle, fight. Like Jesus said, even if you have to cut off your left hand and gouge out your eyes, he said, to that extent, we should be fighting against this sin. In your struggles against sin, you have not shed blood.

You did not shed. In other words, this sin, in particular this sin, you must fight, even if you have to fight, even if you can only gain an inch, you have to fight. Don't ever, don't ever allow anybody, any pastor, any friend, any church, to ever tell you that that's okay.

It is not okay. It taints us in our prayer. It taints us in our witness. It taints us in the way we see Scripture. So any temptation, especially this sin, right? Struggle, struggle. Say, well, I feel guilty all the time. You should feel guilty. That guilt should lead you to repentance.

Don't normalize sin, right? It's sin. Don't call it anything else but sin. And sin is something that we need to struggle, even if we struggle to the day we die, right? 'Cause perfection's gonna come when he comes. But don't ever, in between now and the time we get to heaven that we somehow, because it's hard, we somehow change the title of what we do so that we can normalize this and be accepted so we can live in peace.

You cannot have peace with sin. Period. So pray that the Lord will deliver you from whatever you're struggling, that God will give you the strength to continue to fight, fight, fight. And pray that God will give you a heart of contentment in all circumstances. Coveting comes when you're not content, right?

Coveting comes when you're not content. Think about it. Even sexual sin oftentimes creeps in when you're not content about something and you start looking for something else to satisfy you, and that's how temptation comes. So if your heart is not content with what God has given you, coveting, grumbling, complaining, bitterness, all creeps in, right?

So pray, ultimately, that God will give you a heart of contentment, that you would be a man and woman of worship because what God has given me is enough. Period, right? Everything I need for the life of God has been given to me in the knowledge of his son, Jesus Christ.

I have everything. I have everything today. Not tomorrow, not if I work hard, but I have everything today in Christ. That's where contentment comes from. Can you say that? And if you can't say that, that's where we need to pray. Pray that God would give us, open our eyes, so that I would live a life of contentment, so that I would be delivered from temptation and coveting.

So for the next 15 minutes, let's take some time to pray over these topics. Then afterwards, we have some group prayer that I want to pray for, and then we'll wrap up this evening. Okay, let's pray. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Okay, if I can have your attention.

If I can get you guys to be in groups of three people, and there's three specific prayer I'm going to be dividing, and to just to pray for those topics, and afterwards if our praise team can come up and they'll wrap us up for tonight, and those three topics is one, tomorrow there's an outreach volleyball that's being sponsored by our outreach team, and I heard that there's over 20 non-Christians that are being brought to the park, and so last time when they did this, they had a lot of great conversations and a lot of interest.

There's a lot of stirring of interest for the things of God, and so if you can pray for them, pray for our outreach team, pray for the people who are coming, pray for the people who are there to be able to share the gospel with them, that we'll have very deep conversations with them about Christ and that these conversations would lead them to Christ.

So if you can pray for the team, pray for the people who are coming, number one. Number two, pray for our Taiwan missions. Our Taiwan mission team is having our first meeting in a few weeks to prepare for, to connect with the church out in Taiwan. So Pastor Alex and Jen are leading the church over there, so if you can pray for the team, pray for the work, that the Lord would open the door so that we can come alongside what they're doing and to be able to support their ministry.

And so if you can pray for the team, pray for the work that we're going to be starting over there in Taiwan. And then three, pray for our pastors who are out in India. As I've mentioned, every letter I get now is some sort of information about how they've been attacked, how they're actively doing work, but they're being attacked wherever they go.

So it's a common thing now. I mean, this happened before, but now it's happening every time I receive a letter. So if you guys can keep them in prayer. We are planning to go. A small team of us are still planning to go in January. So if you can pray for our Indian pastors and for the work that they're doing.

So if you can get together with a group of three and just designate who's going to pray for what, and then once you're done, again, if a praise team can just come up and they're going to wrap us up in the worship, and then I'll pray for us, and then we'll end the meeting.

So just grab three people around you. (audience chattering) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) If we can begin to wrap up our prayers.

(audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) Okay, if we can stand up for our closing praise. Let's sing "He Who Was." ♪ He who was before there was light ♪ ♪ Walked across the pages of time ♪ ♪ He who made every living thing ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who heard humanity's cry ♪ ♪ Left His throne to wake as a child ♪ ♪ He became like the least of us ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The Lamb, the Roaring Lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who dined with sinners and saints ♪ ♪ Healed the blind, the lost, and the lame ♪ ♪ Even now He is in our midst ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ He who chose a criminal's end ♪ ♪ Paid with blood to settle our debt ♪ ♪ Buried death as He rose to life ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The Lamb, the Roaring Lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Alpha and Omega ♪ ♪ Our God, the Risen Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, be still ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ To receive all praise ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ To receive all praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ The Lamb, the Roaring Lion ♪ ♪ Oh, be still ♪ ♪ Behold Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, Alpha and Omega ♪ ♪ Our God, the Risen Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, be still ♪ ♪ And behold Him ♪ Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for your patience with us. We thank you for persevering. We thank you for the grace that sustains us. Help us, Lord God, to know each day what it is that we have in you, that we would not fill our hearts with coveting or discontent.

Help us, Lord God, to be worshipers, both in speech and in conduct, that the world would know, Father God, that there is new life in us and that this life that you've given us abundantly, Lord God, would be a witness to the world, Lord, what it truly looks like when people function the way, God, you have intended.

So we pray as the wickedness around us is increasing and our love would not grow cold. Help us, Lord God, to be a church that is passionate for your name, to be able to confess that we love you above everything else, and that our love for you, Lord God, would be a catalyst for everything that we do.

So we pray that you would help us as a church to pray, continue to pray, to be devoted to prayer, both in public and in private, when we are resting, when we are weary, and when we are hurt and we are desperate, that you would be the first one that we turn to, that you would be our refuge.

Lord, we pray that you would help us in our weakness. Lord, we, in various ways with different people, we wrestle with different sins and different things, but in the midst of all of this, Lord God, we know that you are our hope. Help us, Lord God, to fix our eyes upon Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith, that each one of us would long for the day that we would be delivered from this body, that we would be with you in eternity, that all our hope, that all our energy, and all our striving, Lord God, would be for that day.

So we pray, Father God, that whatever it is that we have been entangled with, help us, Lord God, to be untangled, that we may live lives worthy of the gospel that you have given. Bless us, Lord God, that we may in turn bless you, that we may be a blessing wherever you send us.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Oh, I forgot to make an announcement. The books that we're reading, book that we're reading for our Bible study, it's going to be sold on Sunday as well, but if you need to get one, there is a station that is stationed outside. So if you visit that table, they'll be able to take your Venmo or Zelle.

I forgot what they're taking. But you can go there and pick one up. It's for $10. If you pick it up on your own, it's going to be about $16, $17. So if you pick it up here, it'll be $10, okay? Those of you who have old books from 1991 or 1993, the original one, it has been updated, so the pages are not exactly the same.

The chapters are the same, but the pages are not the same. So you can still use the old one, except when we say page 75, you might be page 71, okay? So other than that, you can still use that other book if you have it. Otherwise, you can go visit the table.

And if you can't get it today, it will also be sold on Sunday. We're trying to make it so that the traffic-- we don't get a traffic jam out there. So if you're able to get it today, we encourage you to get it today, okay?