Sermon Summary

“What I Want Or What I Need?”

This is our fourth week of looking at this prayer and this is the first time that Jesus finally gets to the part where we get to ask for something, He gives us Matthew 6:11. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Now, we’ve all probably said that verse many times. But that verse tells us HOW we’re supposed to ask God for things. It tells us what our attitude is supposed to be when we approach the creator with a request.

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

This short verse gives us four attitude checks when asking for things in prayer.

Your first attitude check is to seek the supplier of your needs.

Lets change this verse to say Lord you Give us this day our daily bread. If you remember who it really is you’re talking to, it will affect your attitude. It will affect the way you ask for things.

And not only does Jesus tell us to greet the Lord in prayer the right way in verse 9… in verse 10, He tells us to recognize and understand that He is the One who is in charge of everything. He is the One who rules and reigns over you personally, over this world, and over eternity. That is the “you” that you are talking to. That is the “you” that you are asking things from. That is the “you” that you are saying, “You give me.” That is the “you” Who is your supplier of your needs.

Your second attitude check is to understand the urgency of your needs. We have a problem with understanding the urgency of our needs. We have a problem understanding that we have to pray for our needs “this day.” Understanding our urgency seems to disappear when we have a pantry full of food. It seems to disappear when we have a little nest egg account in the bank. It seems to disappear when we have a steady check that comes in once a month. Do you have any idea how quickly that could all change?

You need to have the attitude check that says, “Lord, provide for me what I need this day.” “Lord, sustain me this day.” When you quit trusting in the economy for provision… When you quit trusting in the government for provision… when you quit trusting in yourself for provision… when you understand that everything you have could all be gone by the time you get home today… when you understand the urgency of your needs… that’s when you’ve made your second attitude check.

3.Your third attitude check is to figure the frequency of your needs.

What a strange thing for Jesus to tell us to pray “this day” for “daily bread”. If you look at it, it almost seems redundant, doesn’t it? Why does Jesus tell us to pray “this day” for “daily bread”? Because as we’ve just talked about, “this day” speaks of the urgency of the moment. It speaks of the things that we need right now. It recognizes that we won’t survive, even this moment, without the sustaining power of the Lord. That’s what “this day” speaks of. But “daily” speaks of something different. “Daily” speaks of frequency. It speaks of how often we need to present our needs to God. You see, it’s not just that we need God’s provision right this instant. Yes, we need God right this instant. But we also need God just as much an instant from now. And an instant from then. We need God’s provision just as much tomorrow as we need it today. There is not a moment of your life where you can exist without God’s provision. That is what you’re praying when you pray for your “daily” bread.

Finally, your fourth attitude check is to know the nature of your needs. Jesus tells us to pray that God would give us this day our daily bread.

The question is, what are those needs? Food, family, shelter—of course we should pray about those things. But are those our deepest needs? Our most needed needs?

No.

Family isn’t our biggest need. Shelter isn’t our biggest need. Food isn’t even our biggest need. Yes, you are to pray for those things because they are needs. But they aren’t your BIGGEST needs. Your BIGGEST need is the Bread of life. Your biggest need is the food Jesus told the disciples about about in John 4:31-34

Your biggest need is Jesus. He is the nature of your need. You need Him every single day. He is the frequency of your need. You can’t live even one moment without His sustaining grace and power. He is the urgency of your need. And Jesus is the only One who can fill your every need. Food can’t, shelter can’t, family can’t, money can’t, prosperity can’t. The only One who can fill your every need is Jesus. He is the supplier of your needs. Have you asked Him? Jesus, give me this day and every day to follow, the only bread I truly need. Jesus, give me you.

Have you prayed that? Ask Jesus to give Jesus to You this day, this hour, This minute, this very second.

Verse List

• Matthew 6:11

• John 4:31-34

• Matthew 7:7-11

• Matthew 6:11

• Matthew 6:9

• Matthew 6:10

• Matthew 6:11

• Matthew 8:20

• Luke 18:29-30

• John 4:31-34

• John 3:36

• John 3:18

Sermon Summary

Forgiveness

Jesus has once and for all paid the price for our sin. But we daily continue to commit sin. Jesus’ once and for all forgiveness is applied daily—just like our forgiveness many times has to be applied daily.

When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself. ” Is there a more difficult thing that Jesus tells us to do? Is there a more difficult thing to do than forgive those who have wronged us? That’s why Jesus tells us to pray about it.

We’ve been looking at the Lord’s Prayer over the past several weeks. And now we get to a part that most of us just want to skip over. The part where we praise God for who He is—we’re OK with that. The part where we recognize that Jesus is in charge and we pray for His will—that’s OK too. We really like the part where we get to ask for stuff. The part where we get to ask for our daily bread. But this part… can’t we just skip over this part? I mean it would be great if it just stopped with the first part of verse 12. It would be great if it just stopped with us asking God to forgive our sins. As a matter of fact, that’s where we stop most of the time, isn’t it? “Lord, here are all the areas that I have failed you today.” “Forgive me for those things.” Let’s just stop there. But we can’t. Because Jesus said, “after this manner therefore pray.” “Pray like this.” “This is the way you’re supposed to pray—forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

That’s why Jesus has to go on to unpack it in a couple of places. The first place was immediately in Matthew 6:14-15.

Did you notice something? This subject of forgiveness is the only part of the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus gives a commentary on when He finished.

But do you suppose it points out how much of a struggle we will always have with forgiveness? Do you suppose it points out how much we will always want to skip the second part? How much we want to get God’s forgiveness, but how much we are unwilling to give it out? Jesus knows our tendency. He knows our weakness. He knows we are but dust. So He tells us in no uncertain terms how important forgiveness is. He draws a parallel between the way we forgive other people and the way God forgives us. If you forgive others—God will forgive you. If you don’t forgive others—God will not forgive you. Wow—that’s tough. Does that mean that if someone has done me a terrible wrong and I don’t forgive them… does that mean I’m lost? Here’s the scary part Wake up and listen Close—it just might mean that.

When you’re dead, the body decomposes and nothing fights against it. When you’re alive, your body wars against the things that try to destroy it. In the same way, when you’re alive in Christ, your life is completely incompatible with sin. It doesn’t mean you won’t sin any more than it doesn’t mean that your physical body won’t get a cold. What it does mean is that when you do sin, your new life in Christ will war against that sin. If that war against sin isn’t happening in your life, it might mean that you aren’t alive. It might mean that you have never experienced a new life in Christ.

• It might mean that the reason you can’t forgive is because you haven’t been forgiven.

• A complete and total lack of forgiveness in your life shows that you are lost and in need of a savior

If you find yourself in that condition today, you don’t have to stay that way. Jesus has paid the price so that you can be forgiven. If you are living in a perpetual state of bitterness and unforgiveness… ask Jesus to save you right now.

Don’t wait a moment longer!

Verse List

• Matthew 6:12

• Matthew 6:14-15

• Matthew 18:21-35

• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

• Ephesains 2:1-9

• Isaish 53:10

Sermon Summary

God is in control, therefore we can pray for Him to not lead us into temptation and deliver us from evil.

Today we come to the end of our study in the Lord’s Prayer. And we end right back where we started. We end with recognizing God for who He is. We end with praising Him for His kingdom. For His power. And for His glory. But before Jesus takes us there, He takes us to a much more difficult place. As a matter of fact, it can be a disturbing place. You see, it’s fairly easy to say that God has all the power. It’s fairly easy to say that everything is for His glory. It’s fairly easy to tell God that He’s King over all. But what does that mean? How does that play out in day-to-day living? When you get the promotion you were praying about, it’s easy to see God as in control. When you see a miraculous healing take place, it’s easy to see God as in control. When you see things work out just the way you think they should, it’s easy to see God as in control. But what about all the other things that make up life? What about all the things that we see as bad? What about the difficulties? What about sickness that doesn’t get healed? What about hurricanes, tornado's, fires and floods? What about those things? It’s called the question of evil. It’s a question that has caused many people to stumble throughout history.

The question is “How could a loving and omnipotent God create such horrors as we have been contemplating.” The sad thing is, he’s not alone. When you talk to people about God, it won’t be very long before someone confronts you with THE question: “How can a good God allow bad things to happen.” People try to skirt the question. They try to dance around it. The worst thing is when people try to make excuses for God.

Several years ago, Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a best-seller that basically said that evil happens because God is powerless to do anything about it. Poor God. Do you see what happens when the Bible isn’t your source of truth? Do you see what happens when you begin to undermine the truth of Scripture? When you remove Scripture as the source of all truth and meaning, you end up with a pitiful, man-made god. You end up with a god who is powerless against evil. Or you end up with a god that many of our TV preachers peddle today. You end up with a god who isn’t sovereign. Instead, they peddle the idea that Satan is sovereign. Of course they don’t say that. What they say is, “you lost your job because Satan made it happen.” “you are sick because Satan made it happen.” “you lost your loved one because Satan made it happen.” Guess what? Satan doesn’t make anything happen. Because Satan is not in control. Satan’s main power is in his extraordinary ability to deceive. And I can think of no bigger deception than that. To convince people that he is in control of anything is the biggest lie going.

Because that is God’s territory. God is in control. God is sovereign. He is not helpless. He is not powerless against evil. Nothing surprises Him. Nothing is outside of His sovereign control or power. Nothing. Not even evil. Not even sickness. Not even disease. Not even hurricanes or tornado's or the Holocaust. Nothing. Whether death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things yet to come, height, depth, or any other creature. God is sovereign over all.

And it takes the mind of an all-knowing God to understand how something that we see as evil will work together for good.

So the question is, why does God allow sin to exist? He allows sin to exist for the same reason that He planted a tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden and then told Adam that he couldn’t eat of it. He planted that tree and made the rule as a test.

But we know that Adam failed that test. So the test wasn’t really there for Adam to prove his love for God, was it? The test was really there so God could prove His love for Adam. It was there for God to prove His love to all mankind through the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

Does God lead us into temptation? Yes, He does. When we see the word temptation, it has very negative connotations. In our language, temptation leads to sin. But the meaning of the original word carries no such connotation. The original word simply means test. A temptation is a test.

The three temptations of Jesus—we’ve read them many times. But there’s something we tend to skip over. We skip over how the passage starts in “Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Who led Jesus to the wilderness? God the Holy Spirit did. For what purpose? So that He would be tested. Satan intended evil for the tests. Satan intended for the tests to result in failure. But Jesus didn’t fail the tests. God the Spirit led Him to be tested and He passed. At the end of His life, Jesus was tested again in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And He wrestled with that test in prayer to the point that He was so emotionally stressed that He actually sweat blood. And what was He asking in that prayer? Father, let this cup pass from me. He was asking that the Father not lead Him into the ultimate test of the cross. But at the same time, He knew that was why He was sent. He was sent to give God ultimate glory by passing that test. And in order to pass it, He had to take it. So He followed up His request that the Father lead Him not into temptation. He followed it up with, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to be tested. I don’t like it when my flesh is tested with a lustful thought or my motivation is tested or my selflessness is tested. I don’t like those things any more than I like it when I’m tested with sickness or grief or loss. But what about other kinds of tests? What about success? I know how many times I’ve failed the success test in the past. I’ve failed it by taking credit for it. Tests come in all shapes and sizes. And we don’t have to like them. That’s why Jesus tells us to pray about them. He tells us that it’s OK to ask God not to test you so much.

So Lord, what I ask is, if you won’t take the test away… deliver me from evil. Don’t let me do anything that will dishonor the name of Jesus.

I don’t know what kinds of tests the Lord is placing in your life right now. Know one thing today. God places the tests there in order that you will bring Him glory by passing them. Not in your strength, but in His. The only way you will be delivered from evil and pass the tests placed before you is with the power of the One who holds all power. Because it’s His kingdom. He’s in control of it all. It’s His power. He holds all power in His hands. And it’s for His glory. You didn’t choose your tests. But you can pass them. And the first place to start is prayer. Do you need to remind yourself that God’s in control today and every day?

The Lord is placing another test before you today. He’s placing a test of response to His Word. Are you going to pass it? Will you respond in the way He’s calling you to respond?

Verse List

• Matthew 6:9-13

• Genesis 50:20

• Matthew 4:1

• Luke 22:44

• John 3:36

• John 3:18

Verse List

• Matthew 5:16

• Eph 2:10

• Titus 3:8

• Titus 2:14

• Matthew 5:14-15

• Matthew 6:33

• 2 Cor 5:18

• Matthew 6:12

• Luke 14:23

• James 5:19-20

Sermon Summary

We’ll Leave the Light on

The light that a Christian shines is so that others might see good works and give God the glory.

Our Christianity is of no value if it is not shining out in our daily lives.

Matthew 5:16 Let’s break down this seemingly simple verse

1.Leave a light on. “Let your light so shine before men”. That means that you personally have a light to shine.

That Light is YOUR INFLUENCE.

2.Leave a light on “that they may see your good works”. That means that you have a task to do.

That Light is YOUR ACTIONS.

3. Leave a light on as men are to see your “good works” and “glorify your Father in heaven”. That means that what you do has eternal consequences. That Light is YOUR MOTIVE.

YOUR INFLUENCE. We will let our light shine. “Let your light so shine before men”

Your light represents the presence of God within you and among those with whom you come in contact. You have something to offer, something that the world cannot offer, the Gospel. You have light to shine in the darkness of their sin. “Let your light so shine”.

YOUR ACTIONS. We are going to do the right thing. “That they may see your good works.“

When Jesus spoke of the light that was to shine He was talking about our good works. Doing good works is not an option. Doing what is right is not an option. You have work to do. It is to do good works. This is the way to make your light shine. This is how you make the light real in the lives of others. You are to do what is right, visibly, before others. In this way you carry Jesus into the lives of others so that they might listen.

Never hide your faith. It is to be visible for all to see. It is to work itself out in everyday life in a thousand ways. You are to walk the walk.

YOUR MOTIVE. So that people will glorify our Father. “That they may see your good works, and glorify (PRAISE) your Father which is in heaven.”

When Jesus was talking about our light that was to shine he was referring to our motives. There are eternal consequences to doing good works. When you do things that are good and right people will praise your Father, which is in heaven. God gets the glory. There are eternal consequences to bringing Christ to people and people to Christ.

You want others to “glorify your Father, which is in heaven”. This is important. This is the motive for good works. This is what makes the Christian different from the secular world in doing good works. The glory goes to God the Father.

Before you take this sermon and run with it let me give you some suggestions. Some tough questions that we should ask ourselves before we go out. This is not to get us to stay home, but rather to get us to prepare.

I. How is your prayer life? We will never be able to reach people seeking God or just Flat out Unbelievers unless we are a people of prayer.

II. Whom did you tell about Jesus yesterday or today? The question is not how do you share, but, did you share your faith. The best way to share your faith is to just do it!

III. How is your family life? Satan’s most effective tactic is to attack the Christian in his/her family life. Is your faith evident in and to your family life?

IV. Do you need to reconcile with someone? We are called to a ministry of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:18 “ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

” Jesus said in Matthew 6:12, And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors. We cannot worship until reconciliation Forgiveness) is made.

V. Are you committed to GOD? It is not “what can Jesus Christ do for me” but rather “what can I do for my Lord Jesus Christ?” He is the Head of the Church.

VI. Do you love others unconditionally? It is easy to write off people who are not like us. Love the unlovable.

VII. Do you have an attitude of gratitude? God was gracious and extended his mercy to us. We should do the same by showing our graciousness and extend mercy to others.

Will you invite and bring someone to God?

ARE YOU A KINGDOM BUILDER