1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,667 2 00:00:00,708 --> 00:00:04,167 [applauding] 3 00:00:04,208 --> 00:00:05,667 All right, howdy Mars Hill. 4 00:00:05,708 --> 00:00:10,250 We are in the fall season and this is for us a great time. 5 00:00:10,333 --> 00:00:13,083 It was 14 years ago, in the fall, 6 00:00:13,167 --> 00:00:16,375 that we got our very humble beginning and God has been, 7 00:00:16,458 --> 00:00:18,708 as I said, very, very gracious to us. 8 00:00:18,792 --> 00:00:21,042 In the coming weeks, you're gonna get to see 9 00:00:21,125 --> 00:00:22,542 all the various campuses. 10 00:00:22,625 --> 00:00:25,542 We're one church in multiple locations, and by God's grace, 11 00:00:25,625 --> 00:00:27,250 many more to come. 12 00:00:27,333 --> 00:00:31,833 In the meantime, today we find ourselves in Luke 11:1-4. 13 00:00:31,917 --> 00:00:34,000 We've been in Luke for about a year. 14 00:00:34,083 --> 00:00:37,500 We've got over a year left and today we are looking at 15 00:00:37,542 --> 00:00:41,500 the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:1-4. 16 00:00:41,542 --> 00:00:43,833 So, while you find that place in your Bible, 17 00:00:43,917 --> 00:00:45,833 I'm gonna go ahead and pray. 18 00:00:45,875 --> 00:00:48,167 It only seems fitting, since we're going to be 19 00:00:48,208 --> 00:00:49,667 examining Jesus' prayer. 20 00:00:49,750 --> 00:00:53,083 So, Father God, we thank you that we get to call you Father, 21 00:00:53,167 --> 00:00:56,083 or Dad, just like Jesus told us to. 22 00:00:56,167 --> 00:00:59,167 And we thank you Lord Jesus that because of your death, burial, 23 00:00:59,208 --> 00:01:02,542 resurrection, you reconcile us to the Father. 24 00:01:02,625 --> 00:01:05,542 You mediate between us and the Father. 25 00:01:05,625 --> 00:01:08,208 And Holy Spirit, we thank you for taking up residence 26 00:01:08,292 --> 00:01:13,208 in every one of the children of God and allowing us, 27 00:01:13,292 --> 00:01:17,875 enabling us, teaching us to pray like Jesus did. 28 00:01:17,958 --> 00:01:21,042 So, as we examine Jesus' Spirit-filled prayer to 29 00:01:21,125 --> 00:01:25,875 the Father, Lord God, we ask that you would teach us to pray. 30 00:01:25,958 --> 00:01:28,458 We come asking what the disciples asked, 31 00:01:28,500 --> 00:01:30,333 "Lord, teach us to pray." 32 00:01:30,417 --> 00:01:32,375 In Jesus' name, Amen. 33 00:01:32,458 --> 00:01:34,500 We'll start by just reading the Bible. 34 00:01:34,542 --> 00:01:37,208 We like to just start with the Bible, Amen? 35 00:01:37,292 --> 00:01:41,208 Luke 11:1-4, "Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, 36 00:01:41,292 --> 00:01:43,708 "and when he finished, one of his disciples said him, 37 00:01:43,792 --> 00:01:46,583 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John'" 38 00:01:46,667 --> 00:01:48,750 --that's John the Baptizer, his cousin-- 39 00:01:48,833 --> 00:01:50,375 "'taught his disciples.' 40 00:01:50,458 --> 00:01:52,708 "And he said to them, 'When you pray, say: 41 00:01:52,792 --> 00:01:54,792 "'"Father, hallowed be your name. 42 00:01:54,833 --> 00:01:56,250 "'"Your kingdom come. 43 00:01:56,333 --> 00:01:59,667 "'"Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, 44 00:01:59,750 --> 00:02:03,458 "'"for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. 45 00:02:03,500 --> 00:02:07,417 And lead us not into temptation."'" 46 00:02:07,500 --> 00:02:10,958 Four initial observations before we unpack the text, 47 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,500 in succession. 48 00:02:13,583 --> 00:02:16,333 Number one, some of you, in hearing this prayer, 49 00:02:16,417 --> 00:02:20,167 might find it to be a little different than the way 50 00:02:20,208 --> 00:02:22,167 you are accustomed to. 51 00:02:22,250 --> 00:02:23,792 Let me explain to you why. 52 00:02:23,833 --> 00:02:28,000 This prayer of Jesus is also recorded in Matthew's gospel. 53 00:02:28,042 --> 00:02:31,583 In Luke, we have a more succinct summary of the prayer. 54 00:02:31,667 --> 00:02:35,792 There's a longer version of it in Matthew's gospel. 55 00:02:35,833 --> 00:02:39,250 Luke is writing after Matthew, already knowing that Matthew 56 00:02:39,333 --> 00:02:42,000 has written his gospel, and so I think, 57 00:02:42,083 --> 00:02:43,667 rather than including the whole prayer, 58 00:02:43,708 --> 00:02:46,333 he gives us a brief summary of it. 59 00:02:46,375 --> 00:02:49,167 So if you are familiar with the Lord's Prayer, you say, 60 00:02:49,208 --> 00:02:51,667 "Well, this doesn't sound like the way I learned it." 61 00:02:51,708 --> 00:02:53,167 That is probably why. 62 00:02:53,208 --> 00:02:54,833 The longer version is in Matthew. 63 00:02:54,875 --> 00:02:57,833 And some of you may have grown up going to churches that 64 00:02:57,875 --> 00:03:00,417 perhaps said the Lord's Prayer aloud and you were accustomed 65 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:03,667 to concluding it with this line: "Thine be the kingdom, 66 00:03:03,750 --> 00:03:05,833 "the power, and the glory forever, Amen." 67 00:03:05,917 --> 00:03:09,167 And you may go home or to your community group and read Luke 68 00:03:09,250 --> 00:03:11,583 and read Matthew and say, "They don't include it. 69 00:03:11,667 --> 00:03:13,417 Where did that last line come from?" 70 00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:16,250 Well, it was actually borrowed from the Old Testament book of 71 00:03:16,333 --> 00:03:19,208 Chronicles by the early church in some expressions of 72 00:03:19,292 --> 00:03:22,333 the Lord's Prayer, added to it for corporate worship. 73 00:03:22,417 --> 00:03:25,500 So it's not bad, but it's taking one verse and connecting it 74 00:03:25,583 --> 00:03:27,083 to the section in Matthew. 75 00:03:27,167 --> 00:03:30,625 That's one thing that you may be curious about. 76 00:03:30,667 --> 00:03:34,167 A second initial observation is that prayer is simply 77 00:03:34,250 --> 00:03:35,875 communicating with God. 78 00:03:35,958 --> 00:03:39,500 And so for us as Christians, Scripture is how God primarily 79 00:03:39,583 --> 00:03:44,458 speaks to us, so Bible reading, Bible study, Bible memorizing. 80 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:47,167 Also, the hearing of God's Word in prayer, 81 00:03:47,250 --> 00:03:52,333 as faith comes by hearing, so preaching is very important to 82 00:03:52,375 --> 00:03:57,042 us as a people that God speaks to us through his Word 83 00:03:57,125 --> 00:03:58,875 and we speak to him through prayer. 84 00:03:58,958 --> 00:04:02,417 So prayer is, by definition, communicating with God. 85 00:04:02,500 --> 00:04:06,417 So don't let this become overly complicated to you. 86 00:04:06,500 --> 00:04:08,750 You could pray to God, communicate with God, 87 00:04:08,833 --> 00:04:11,667 by speaking and God hears your words. 88 00:04:11,750 --> 00:04:14,500 Your prayers can be silent and from the heart, 89 00:04:14,542 --> 00:04:16,750 because God knows your thoughts. 90 00:04:16,833 --> 00:04:19,458 Prayers can include journaling where you're thinking 91 00:04:19,500 --> 00:04:22,625 and talking with God. 92 00:04:22,667 --> 00:04:25,333 In addition, it can include singing, 93 00:04:25,375 --> 00:04:29,583 and as we sing congregationally, primarily after the preaching of 94 00:04:29,667 --> 00:04:32,917 God's Word, so God speaks to us through his Word in the sermon, 95 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,375 and then we speak to him through singing together corporately 96 00:04:36,458 --> 00:04:39,625 and congregationally, that is another form of prayer. 97 00:04:39,667 --> 00:04:42,083 So we are speaking of prayer in the broad context 98 00:04:42,167 --> 00:04:45,750 of communicating with God, who communicates with us. 99 00:04:45,833 --> 00:04:48,708 Number three, Jesus prayed. 100 00:04:48,792 --> 00:04:52,167 And Jesus is, for us, the perfect example of 101 00:04:52,208 --> 00:04:54,000 the perfect prayer. 102 00:04:54,083 --> 00:04:57,208 And as we hear Jesus pray in this and other sections of our 103 00:04:57,292 --> 00:05:02,208 Bible, we are eavesdropping in on sacred conversation 104 00:05:02,292 --> 00:05:05,000 held among the three members of the Godhead, 105 00:05:05,083 --> 00:05:07,667 one God in three persons, the Trinity, 106 00:05:07,750 --> 00:05:10,375 and here it is Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit. 107 00:05:10,458 --> 00:05:12,708 We've already learned in Luke's gospel that he's filled 108 00:05:12,792 --> 00:05:14,208 with the Holy Spirit. 109 00:05:14,292 --> 00:05:16,375 Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, 110 00:05:16,458 --> 00:05:19,000 speaking to God the Father. 111 00:05:19,042 --> 00:05:21,875 So this is Trinitarian dialogue. 112 00:05:21,958 --> 00:05:23,708 Our God is not lonely. 113 00:05:23,792 --> 00:05:27,958 He speaks in and of his own essence, one God, three persons, 114 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,292 in the Trinity, and when Jesus prays aloud, 115 00:05:31,333 --> 00:05:35,417 we are getting this sacred glimpse into the discussion 116 00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:37,625 and prayer life of the Godhead. 117 00:05:37,667 --> 00:05:40,667 It's amazing. It's amazing. 118 00:05:40,708 --> 00:05:45,333 What a sacred opportunity God has granted to us today, 119 00:05:45,417 --> 00:05:50,333 to eavesdrop on a conversation among the Trinity. 120 00:05:50,375 --> 00:05:53,542 Number four, people don't know how to pray 121 00:05:53,625 --> 00:05:55,250 and they need to learn. 122 00:05:55,333 --> 00:05:58,583 People are not naturally born as prayers. 123 00:05:58,667 --> 00:06:00,167 We have to learn. 124 00:06:00,208 --> 00:06:02,667 It's a skill that has to be developed over time. 125 00:06:02,708 --> 00:06:05,500 So here, even though they've been with Jesus for some time, 126 00:06:05,542 --> 00:06:07,833 they have already prayed, they have heard Jesus pray, 127 00:06:07,917 --> 00:06:10,042 the disciples themselves come to Jesus and ask, 128 00:06:10,125 --> 00:06:11,917 "Lord, teach us to pray." 129 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,458 Because it doesn't matter how long you've been a Christian, 130 00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:16,708 there's always something new to learn about prayer 131 00:06:16,792 --> 00:06:19,083 and it's something that, in our relationship with God, 132 00:06:19,167 --> 00:06:21,042 we can always humbly grow in. 133 00:06:21,125 --> 00:06:24,208 And so, in hearing this sermon, we all come at different points 134 00:06:24,292 --> 00:06:25,708 in the prayer continuum. 135 00:06:25,792 --> 00:06:29,208 Some of you are not Christians and you don't know how to pray 136 00:06:29,292 --> 00:06:31,000 like Jesus prayed. 137 00:06:31,042 --> 00:06:33,000 Don't be embarrassed. We're glad to have you. 138 00:06:33,042 --> 00:06:35,000 In addition, some of you are new Christians 139 00:06:35,042 --> 00:06:36,833 and you're just figuring it out. 140 00:06:36,917 --> 00:06:39,667 Some of you are Christians and you've been Christians awhile, 141 00:06:39,750 --> 00:06:42,167 but you don't pray that much or that great. 142 00:06:42,250 --> 00:06:43,667 And even in hearing about prayer, 143 00:06:43,750 --> 00:06:46,167 you immediately feel guilty because you may be used to 144 00:06:46,250 --> 00:06:49,167 a lot of teaching about prayer that just makes you feel bad. 145 00:06:49,250 --> 00:06:51,167 I remember this as a new Christian. 146 00:06:51,250 --> 00:06:54,167 People would say, "Oh, I read this book about this guy who 147 00:06:54,250 --> 00:06:57,000 "prayed so often that the wood floor next to his bed 148 00:06:57,083 --> 00:06:59,833 had deep rivets where his knees were for hours." 149 00:06:59,875 --> 00:07:03,625 "Yeah, my floor doesn't look like that," right? 150 00:07:03,667 --> 00:07:06,750 You hear these stories of prayer warriors and intercessors 151 00:07:06,833 --> 00:07:10,208 and all it makes you feel is like a total loser. 152 00:07:10,292 --> 00:07:12,958 My goal today is not to just make you feel guilty 153 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,917 and guilt you with prayer, but to help you learn how to pray. 154 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:18,917 Perhaps starting prayer or growing in prayer. 155 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,042 And let me say this, I'm really sympathetic, 156 00:07:21,125 --> 00:07:22,875 because I didn't know how to pray. 157 00:07:22,958 --> 00:07:25,667 I was raised a marginal, jacked, Irish-Catholic boy. 158 00:07:25,750 --> 00:07:29,167 So the prayers I knew how to pray were all formal prayers 159 00:07:29,250 --> 00:07:30,750 by important dead people. 160 00:07:30,833 --> 00:07:33,917 So I knew how to pray the Act of Contrition--can't say it, 161 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:35,417 but I can pray it. 162 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:37,250 The Act of Contrition, the Hail Mary. 163 00:07:37,333 --> 00:07:40,750 I did learn the Our Father, the Lord's Prayer. 164 00:07:40,833 --> 00:07:43,292 I also did learn the Prayer of St. Patrick, 165 00:07:43,333 --> 00:07:45,292 the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, 166 00:07:45,333 --> 00:07:47,917 but I didn't know how to pray from my heart. 167 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,625 I had no clue. 168 00:07:49,667 --> 00:07:52,125 And God saved me in college and so I thought, 169 00:07:52,167 --> 00:07:55,458 "Well, I need to go figure out the Bible and how to pray." 170 00:07:55,500 --> 00:07:57,958 And the pastor got up and said, "We have groups," 171 00:07:58,000 --> 00:07:59,458 basically like our community groups, 172 00:07:59,500 --> 00:08:01,333 "and everybody needs to be in one." 173 00:08:01,417 --> 00:08:02,833 "Okay, I'm a Christian now. 174 00:08:02,917 --> 00:08:04,667 I'm gonna go to a community group." 175 00:08:04,750 --> 00:08:06,667 And we were all sitting in a circle. 176 00:08:06,750 --> 00:08:08,667 It was my first ever Bible study group. 177 00:08:08,750 --> 00:08:10,833 I felt more than a little bit awkward. 178 00:08:10,917 --> 00:08:13,000 I didn't know what was going to happen. 179 00:08:13,083 --> 00:08:15,500 I hope we serve you better than I was served. 180 00:08:15,583 --> 00:08:18,000 I was loved at this church and it was awesome, 181 00:08:18,083 --> 00:08:20,500 but this Bible study wasn't a roaring start. 182 00:08:20,583 --> 00:08:23,500 They looked at me and they said, "Okay, well since you're new, 183 00:08:23,583 --> 00:08:25,333 you can open our time in prayer." 184 00:08:25,417 --> 00:08:27,000 "Uh, that's sort of why I'm here. 185 00:08:27,083 --> 00:08:28,500 "I don't know how to pray. 186 00:08:28,583 --> 00:08:30,000 "I have never prayed out loud. 187 00:08:30,083 --> 00:08:33,000 "I've never prayed in a group. I don't know what I'm doing. 188 00:08:33,083 --> 00:08:34,500 You guys pray." 189 00:08:34,542 --> 00:08:36,000 They said, "Oh, okay, sorry, sorry." 190 00:08:36,042 --> 00:08:37,500 They were very nice about it. 191 00:08:37,542 --> 00:08:39,500 They said, "Well, everybody close your eyes, 192 00:08:39,542 --> 00:08:41,000 we're gonna pray." 193 00:08:41,042 --> 00:08:43,333 I was like, "Pssh, I grew up in Sea-Tac. 194 00:08:43,375 --> 00:08:46,167 "I'm not closing my eyes. I'm not gonna close my eyes. 195 00:08:46,208 --> 00:08:49,167 "You'll wake up in a bathtub at a hotel with no kidney. 196 00:08:49,208 --> 00:08:50,667 "You know? 197 00:08:50,708 --> 00:08:52,667 "That's not--I'll pray with one eye open, 198 00:08:52,708 --> 00:08:56,167 "but I'm not closing both eyes. 199 00:08:56,208 --> 00:08:58,625 "So with this eye I'm meditating on the Lord, 200 00:08:58,667 --> 00:09:01,542 "and with this one I'm protecting myself. 201 00:09:01,625 --> 00:09:04,583 I'm new to this Christianity thing." 202 00:09:04,667 --> 00:09:07,583 So they all prayed and over time I learned how to pray. 203 00:09:07,667 --> 00:09:10,875 If you don't know how to pray, ask Jesus how to pray. 204 00:09:10,958 --> 00:09:12,542 The disciples did. 205 00:09:12,625 --> 00:09:15,458 Be with those who do pray. Get into community group. 206 00:09:15,500 --> 00:09:17,333 Build Christian friendships. 207 00:09:17,375 --> 00:09:19,833 Hear others pray as the disciples got to hear 208 00:09:19,875 --> 00:09:21,625 Jesus pray. 209 00:09:21,667 --> 00:09:23,458 And that's how we learn to pray. 210 00:09:23,500 --> 00:09:25,458 And if you're a parent or a grandparent, 211 00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:27,958 pray with your kids and they will learn to pray 212 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:29,458 by hearing you pray. 213 00:09:29,500 --> 00:09:31,167 Prayer tends to be caught, not taught. 214 00:09:31,250 --> 00:09:35,708 Here Jesus is modeling for us prayer. 215 00:09:35,792 --> 00:09:40,625 Now, as we unpack prayer, we're gonna look at exactly what Jesus 216 00:09:40,667 --> 00:09:44,167 said in his model prayer. 217 00:09:44,250 --> 00:09:47,333 And I believe the first is the most important, 218 00:09:47,375 --> 00:09:50,167 and that is that God is our Father. 219 00:09:50,208 --> 00:09:53,500 Luke 11:2, Jesus says this, "When you pray, say: 220 00:09:53,542 --> 00:09:58,333 'Father,'" or Dad, or Daddy. 221 00:09:58,375 --> 00:10:02,000 This cannot be overstated. 222 00:10:02,042 --> 00:10:05,083 Some of you struggle in prayer because you're too focused 223 00:10:05,167 --> 00:10:07,583 on prayer. 224 00:10:07,667 --> 00:10:10,375 If you want to grow in prayer, don't focus on prayer. 225 00:10:10,458 --> 00:10:13,292 Get to know the Father. 226 00:10:13,333 --> 00:10:16,458 In the same way, if you're focused on the windshield, 227 00:10:16,500 --> 00:10:19,000 you will not drive well. 228 00:10:19,083 --> 00:10:20,500 Amen? 229 00:10:20,583 --> 00:10:23,000 The goal is you look through the windshield to see 230 00:10:23,083 --> 00:10:24,500 where you're going. 231 00:10:24,583 --> 00:10:27,000 You don't focus on prayer, you focus on the Father. 232 00:10:27,083 --> 00:10:29,500 It is through prayer that we connect with the Father, 233 00:10:29,583 --> 00:10:31,500 but our focus should not be prayer. 234 00:10:31,583 --> 00:10:33,333 It should be Father. 235 00:10:33,375 --> 00:10:36,208 Let me explain this to you. 236 00:10:36,292 --> 00:10:39,542 Up until this point in the world's history, 237 00:10:39,625 --> 00:10:43,083 God was not commonly referred to as Father. 238 00:10:43,167 --> 00:10:46,667 This is a cataclysmic shift in the history of the world 239 00:10:46,708 --> 00:10:49,167 from the lips of Jesus. 240 00:10:49,250 --> 00:10:52,292 From the 39 books in the Old Testament that covered, 241 00:10:52,333 --> 00:10:56,125 let's say, a few thousand, roughly, years of human history, 242 00:10:56,167 --> 00:11:00,083 on only 14 occasions do we find that God is called "Father" 243 00:11:00,167 --> 00:11:01,542 by his people. 244 00:11:01,625 --> 00:11:04,583 Every time it is national, not individual. 245 00:11:04,667 --> 00:11:09,083 There was not a concept of God being our personal Father. 246 00:11:09,167 --> 00:11:14,458 Jesus comes along, and on 60 occasions says, "Father." 247 00:11:14,500 --> 00:11:18,917 And they actually realize the magnitude of this statement 248 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,292 and they seek to put him to death, saying, 249 00:11:21,333 --> 00:11:23,625 "You keep calling God your Father. 250 00:11:23,667 --> 00:11:26,000 You're making yourself equal with God." 251 00:11:26,042 --> 00:11:29,667 Which, as the second member of the Trinity, he was and is. 252 00:11:29,750 --> 00:11:33,083 And so Jesus teaches us, "Hey, don't just listen to me 253 00:11:33,167 --> 00:11:34,708 "pray to the Father. 254 00:11:34,792 --> 00:11:36,875 You can do it, too." 255 00:11:36,958 --> 00:11:38,792 This is a great invitation. 256 00:11:38,833 --> 00:11:42,542 And of all the words that could have been chosen to reveal to us 257 00:11:42,625 --> 00:11:47,333 who God is, "Father" is the one that was chosen. 258 00:11:47,375 --> 00:11:49,667 And so let me explain this to you. 259 00:11:49,750 --> 00:11:52,000 The more you get to know God as Father, 260 00:11:52,083 --> 00:11:55,167 the easier it will be to talk to your Dad. 261 00:11:55,250 --> 00:11:56,792 I'll give you an example. 262 00:11:56,833 --> 00:12:00,625 Let's say there was a child who was abandoned, abused, 263 00:12:00,667 --> 00:12:03,792 an orphan, neglected. 264 00:12:03,833 --> 00:12:07,167 And one day, a loving father, a gracious, 265 00:12:07,208 --> 00:12:12,833 kind man came to that child, got down on one knee, 266 00:12:12,875 --> 00:12:16,167 and looked that child in the eye with a big smile and said, 267 00:12:16,208 --> 00:12:19,292 "Today, I've chosen to adopt you. 268 00:12:19,333 --> 00:12:22,208 "From this day forward, you're my child. 269 00:12:22,292 --> 00:12:24,792 "You will receive my last name. 270 00:12:24,833 --> 00:12:27,792 "You will inherit everything that I have. 271 00:12:27,833 --> 00:12:29,917 "You're being adopted into a large family. 272 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,417 "You've now got a lot of brothers and sisters 273 00:12:32,500 --> 00:12:35,833 "who love you and can't wait to meet you. 274 00:12:35,917 --> 00:12:39,125 "I love you with a never-ending love. 275 00:12:39,167 --> 00:12:42,333 "There's nothing you can do to make me love you more and 276 00:12:42,375 --> 00:12:45,625 "there's nothing you'll ever do to cause me to love you less. 277 00:12:45,667 --> 00:12:48,250 "I love you with a perfect love that I'll never, 278 00:12:48,333 --> 00:12:50,500 "never take back. 279 00:12:50,542 --> 00:12:52,500 "Additionally, no matter what you do, 280 00:12:52,542 --> 00:12:54,333 "I'll always pursue you and forgive you. 281 00:12:54,375 --> 00:12:57,667 "And I'm gonna serve you and I'm gonna teach you and I'm gonna 282 00:12:57,708 --> 00:13:00,708 "love you and I'm gonna feed you and I'm gonna help you. 283 00:13:00,792 --> 00:13:04,042 "And for the rest of your life, I'm gonna do very good things 284 00:13:04,125 --> 00:13:06,875 "for you and I'll never abandon or betray or harm you. 285 00:13:06,958 --> 00:13:08,667 "Now this is all something called grace, 286 00:13:08,708 --> 00:13:11,500 "and I know right now that's just a word to you. 287 00:13:11,542 --> 00:13:13,000 "You probably don't understand it. 288 00:13:13,042 --> 00:13:16,000 "But I'm gonna love you so much that eventually that word is 289 00:13:16,042 --> 00:13:18,833 "going to start to make a lot of sense to you. 290 00:13:18,875 --> 00:13:20,958 "So, come with me now. 291 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,792 I'm your dad." 292 00:13:23,833 --> 00:13:27,500 Now, do you think that child will ever speak to that father? 293 00:13:27,583 --> 00:13:29,333 Yeah. 294 00:13:29,417 --> 00:13:31,250 Now, if they've had a hard life, 295 00:13:31,333 --> 00:13:34,500 that child will begin tentatively. 296 00:13:34,583 --> 00:13:36,792 "Is this father really trustworthy? 297 00:13:36,833 --> 00:13:38,500 "Is he safe? 298 00:13:38,583 --> 00:13:40,625 What's the catch?" 299 00:13:40,667 --> 00:13:43,542 But as he approaches his father and talks with his father 300 00:13:43,625 --> 00:13:47,625 and he realizes, "My father really does love me! 301 00:13:47,667 --> 00:13:50,875 "I've acted up a few times, he loves me the same. 302 00:13:50,958 --> 00:13:53,000 "Every time I've initiated with him, 303 00:13:53,042 --> 00:13:55,833 "he stops everything that he's doing and he makes me 304 00:13:55,875 --> 00:14:01,167 a priority," over time that child will speak to their father 305 00:14:01,250 --> 00:14:05,542 more frequently about deeper matters of the heart. 306 00:14:05,625 --> 00:14:08,667 And it won't be because the father in any way pushed 307 00:14:08,708 --> 00:14:12,167 the child, but revealed himself to the child and the child 308 00:14:12,250 --> 00:14:15,500 was drawn in by the love of the father. 309 00:14:15,542 --> 00:14:18,708 He sees the father's heart. 310 00:14:18,792 --> 00:14:20,583 See, when I first became a Christian, 311 00:14:20,667 --> 00:14:22,875 I started reading books on prayer that made me 312 00:14:22,958 --> 00:14:24,625 feel very guilty. 313 00:14:24,667 --> 00:14:26,625 And people started saying things like, "Well, there's 314 00:14:26,667 --> 00:14:28,458 "prayers of adoration, there's prayers of intercession, 315 00:14:28,500 --> 00:14:30,500 there's prayers of supplication." 316 00:14:30,583 --> 00:14:33,333 And I'm trying to keep it all straight in my head. 317 00:14:33,417 --> 00:14:35,500 And I'd get, "Oh, is this an adoration? 318 00:14:35,542 --> 00:14:36,917 "A supplication? 319 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:38,417 An intercession?" 320 00:14:38,500 --> 00:14:41,167 I'd get all my -ations and -essions all confused. 321 00:14:41,250 --> 00:14:44,667 And then I look through prayer, "Oh, there's the Father." 322 00:14:44,708 --> 00:14:47,333 It becomes very natural to talk to him. 323 00:14:47,375 --> 00:14:49,000 "Hey, Dad, I really need help. 324 00:14:49,042 --> 00:14:51,000 "Dad, I don't know what I'm doing. 325 00:14:51,042 --> 00:14:53,083 Dad, I blew it again." 326 00:14:53,167 --> 00:14:55,042 It's getting to know God as Father. 327 00:14:55,125 --> 00:14:56,542 So, let me say this. 328 00:14:56,625 --> 00:14:58,542 If you want to learn how to pray, 329 00:14:58,625 --> 00:15:00,500 don't look to religious people. 330 00:15:00,542 --> 00:15:02,833 Don't look to religious-- "Oh, look at that person! 331 00:15:02,875 --> 00:15:05,375 "They're on a rug. They're facing a direction. 332 00:15:05,458 --> 00:15:07,208 They're doing aerobics." 333 00:15:07,292 --> 00:15:10,083 Not that, right? 334 00:15:10,167 --> 00:15:14,958 Look at children with a father who adores them. 335 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,875 Because God is a perfect Father, beyond, 336 00:15:17,958 --> 00:15:22,250 infinitely beyond even the best moment of a great father. 337 00:15:22,333 --> 00:15:25,750 Now, I can tell you this as a dad. 338 00:15:25,833 --> 00:15:29,833 Children approach their father continually 339 00:15:29,875 --> 00:15:33,333 without any apprehension if they're well loved. 340 00:15:33,417 --> 00:15:36,667 I say this because we were at the fair yesterday. 341 00:15:36,750 --> 00:15:39,583 And my kids, they just ask. 342 00:15:39,667 --> 00:15:41,417 "Hey, can I ride the ferris wheel? 343 00:15:41,500 --> 00:15:43,250 "Hey, can I have an elephant ear? 344 00:15:43,333 --> 00:15:46,417 "Hey, can I ride a pony? Hey, can I have a cowboy hat? 345 00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:47,917 Hey, can I have a hamburger?" 346 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,000 Ask, "Hey, can I go pee? Hey?" 347 00:15:51,083 --> 00:15:54,167 And they just ask. There's no pretense, no guile. 348 00:15:54,208 --> 00:15:55,958 You know, my 4-year-old doesn't come up, 349 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,625 "Dearest father, I beseech thee for an elephant ear." 350 00:15:59,667 --> 00:16:01,667 No. 351 00:16:01,750 --> 00:16:03,333 Right? 352 00:16:03,375 --> 00:16:04,708 No. 353 00:16:04,792 --> 00:16:06,208 "Hey, Dad!" Pull on the leg. 354 00:16:06,292 --> 00:16:07,708 "Dad! Look! Look, snow cones! 355 00:16:07,792 --> 00:16:09,917 Snow cones! Snow cones!" 356 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,333 "Do you want one?" 357 00:16:11,417 --> 00:16:12,750 "Yep." 358 00:16:12,833 --> 00:16:14,875 "I kinda figured that. Gift of discernment here. 359 00:16:14,958 --> 00:16:16,958 Okay, you need a snow cone." 360 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,542 And what the children learn is, "My dad loves me. 361 00:16:19,625 --> 00:16:22,458 "Anything I need, any time I desire, 362 00:16:22,500 --> 00:16:25,833 "I just walk right up to Dad and ask and talk. 363 00:16:25,875 --> 00:16:28,000 "Hey Dad, we need to talk about this. 364 00:16:28,042 --> 00:16:29,833 "I'm working on that. I'm frustrated here. 365 00:16:29,917 --> 00:16:31,500 What is that?" 366 00:16:31,583 --> 00:16:34,250 I got that all day at the fair with the kids, 367 00:16:34,333 --> 00:16:35,667 especially the little ones. 368 00:16:35,750 --> 00:16:37,167 We're going to all the exhibits, 369 00:16:37,250 --> 00:16:38,667 "What's that? What's that? 370 00:16:38,750 --> 00:16:40,500 What's that for? How did that happen?" 371 00:16:40,583 --> 00:16:42,833 That's just children with a father who loves them. 372 00:16:42,917 --> 00:16:45,167 So if you want to learn how to pray, 373 00:16:45,250 --> 00:16:46,917 don't look to religious people. 374 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,292 Look to children who have a father that adores them. 375 00:16:50,333 --> 00:16:53,917 And here's what it means when we pray to God as Father. 376 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,208 It means we only pray to God as Father. 377 00:16:57,292 --> 00:17:02,125 We don't pray to ourselves because the issue's not prayer. 378 00:17:02,167 --> 00:17:04,583 The issue's the Father. 379 00:17:04,667 --> 00:17:06,417 We don't pray to ourselves. 380 00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:08,833 See, Eastern non-Christian religion says, 381 00:17:08,917 --> 00:17:13,917 "Through yoga and meditation, you go into yourself. 382 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,125 You connect with yourself." 383 00:17:17,167 --> 00:17:18,458 No, no, no. 384 00:17:18,500 --> 00:17:19,833 We don't go into ourselves. 385 00:17:19,875 --> 00:17:21,500 We go out to our Father. 386 00:17:21,583 --> 00:17:26,583 Additionally, some seeming Christians would take even 387 00:17:26,667 --> 00:17:32,333 a pagan practice like a prayer labyrinth and try to use it 388 00:17:32,375 --> 00:17:34,000 for Christian prayer. 389 00:17:34,042 --> 00:17:36,500 And a prayer labyrinth is basically a circle where you 390 00:17:36,542 --> 00:17:39,667 start on the outside and as you pray you walk inward and the 391 00:17:39,708 --> 00:17:42,500 whole point is that you're going deeper and deeper and deeper 392 00:17:42,542 --> 00:17:46,167 into yourself until you stand alone at the center 393 00:17:46,250 --> 00:17:48,042 of your existence. 394 00:17:48,125 --> 00:17:50,000 That's pure paganism. 395 00:17:50,042 --> 00:17:54,083 We start there as sinners and it is through prayerful repentance 396 00:17:54,167 --> 00:17:58,708 that we walk out toward God and the love of others. 397 00:17:58,792 --> 00:18:06,458 This also means that we don't believe that all is God 398 00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:09,667 and God is all and that God is this impersonal force 399 00:18:09,750 --> 00:18:12,500 that's in the mountains and the trees. 400 00:18:12,542 --> 00:18:14,167 We don't believe that. 401 00:18:14,250 --> 00:18:17,042 We don't believe radical environmentalism or Avatar-ism 402 00:18:17,125 --> 00:18:22,458 or pantheism or panentheism or God-is-my-mother-ism. 403 00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:25,000 We don't believe any of that at all. 404 00:18:25,083 --> 00:18:27,125 And prayer, in that understanding, is 405 00:18:27,167 --> 00:18:30,208 that there is no Father Creator God who is separate 406 00:18:30,292 --> 00:18:35,333 from creation, that God is just a force that flows through 407 00:18:35,375 --> 00:18:39,583 everything and so prayer is living in the flow of this 408 00:18:39,667 --> 00:18:42,375 unnamed, impersonal force. 409 00:18:42,458 --> 00:18:44,000 We don't believe that. 410 00:18:44,042 --> 00:18:45,667 We don't pray to a force. 411 00:18:45,708 --> 00:18:50,583 We pray to a Father with a name, who is a sovereign Father 412 00:18:50,667 --> 00:18:52,583 who loves his whole family. 413 00:18:52,667 --> 00:18:55,083 And it also means that we don't pray with members 414 00:18:55,167 --> 00:18:57,083 of other families. 415 00:18:57,167 --> 00:18:58,417 We don't. 416 00:18:58,500 --> 00:19:00,500 We can love Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses 417 00:19:00,583 --> 00:19:03,583 and Buddhists and Hindus, Muslims. 418 00:19:03,667 --> 00:19:06,833 We can pray for them, we can't pray with them. 419 00:19:06,917 --> 00:19:09,208 We cannot pray with them. 420 00:19:09,292 --> 00:19:10,583 Why? 421 00:19:10,667 --> 00:19:13,333 Different father. 422 00:19:13,417 --> 00:19:18,833 Different father means different family. 423 00:19:18,875 --> 00:19:22,167 Those other religions are not our family 424 00:19:22,208 --> 00:19:25,250 because they do not have our father. 425 00:19:25,333 --> 00:19:28,292 We're adopted into the family of God through the death, burial, 426 00:19:28,333 --> 00:19:31,750 resurrection of Jesus, our big brother, and that makes us, 427 00:19:31,833 --> 00:19:34,292 as Christians, the family of God. 428 00:19:34,333 --> 00:19:37,292 And we are spread across many denominations and churches, 429 00:19:37,333 --> 00:19:40,458 but other religions have a different father. 430 00:19:40,500 --> 00:19:42,833 They're part of a different family. 431 00:19:42,917 --> 00:19:47,417 And we can pray for them, but we can't pray with them. 432 00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:50,208 Some of you say, "That's very offensive to those people." 433 00:19:50,292 --> 00:19:56,042 But if we pray with them, we're very offensive to our Father. 434 00:19:56,125 --> 00:20:00,208 And though we don't want to unnecessarily offend people, 435 00:20:00,292 --> 00:20:04,167 our allegiance to our Father is what is primary. 436 00:20:04,250 --> 00:20:07,500 And so we can tell them, "We would love to pray with you! 437 00:20:07,583 --> 00:20:09,333 "Repent of your sin, trust in Jesus, 438 00:20:09,417 --> 00:20:12,083 "become a Christian and pray to the Father, through the Son, 439 00:20:12,167 --> 00:20:13,583 "by the Spirit. 440 00:20:13,667 --> 00:20:15,083 "We'd love to pray with you! 441 00:20:15,167 --> 00:20:17,250 That's how it's going to happen." 442 00:20:17,333 --> 00:20:23,833 So we put evangelism as a primary driving force by which, 443 00:20:23,917 --> 00:20:27,375 as people meet Jesus, we can pray with them. 444 00:20:27,458 --> 00:20:31,375 But until then, we pray for them. 445 00:20:31,458 --> 00:20:35,167 Some of you will struggle with this. 446 00:20:35,250 --> 00:20:37,167 The more you get to know the Father, 447 00:20:37,250 --> 00:20:39,000 the more sense this will make. 448 00:20:39,083 --> 00:20:41,000 The more you get to know the Father, 449 00:20:41,083 --> 00:20:43,208 the more sense this will make. 450 00:20:43,292 --> 00:20:46,458 Your Dad is so great that everyone needs to meet him, 451 00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:49,542 and if you don't remain devoted to him you will discourage 452 00:20:49,625 --> 00:20:52,875 others from investigating him. 453 00:20:52,958 --> 00:20:55,250 And so we want to stay loyal to Dad 454 00:20:55,333 --> 00:20:57,167 and invite others to meet him. 455 00:20:57,208 --> 00:21:03,417 Now let me say a few things as well about God as Father. 456 00:21:03,500 --> 00:21:09,000 Every parent answers the requests of their children, 457 00:21:09,042 --> 00:21:11,333 "Yes, no, and later." 458 00:21:11,375 --> 00:21:13,833 Some of you have been at Mars Hill, 459 00:21:13,875 --> 00:21:15,333 you've heard me say this. 460 00:21:15,375 --> 00:21:16,833 How many of you are parents? 461 00:21:16,875 --> 00:21:18,333 Especially fathers, right? 462 00:21:18,375 --> 00:21:20,833 Do your parents--excuse me-- those of you who are parents, 463 00:21:20,875 --> 00:21:22,833 do your children ask you for things? 464 00:21:22,875 --> 00:21:25,333 Now, would you be a good parent to always say, 465 00:21:25,375 --> 00:21:27,333 "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 466 00:21:27,375 --> 00:21:28,833 "Bedtime? Totally. 467 00:21:28,875 --> 00:21:31,333 "You need a Red Bull and you need bottle rockets. 468 00:21:31,375 --> 00:21:32,833 "For bedtime, that always should happen. 469 00:21:32,875 --> 00:21:35,000 "Yes, yes, yes. Oh, yes. 470 00:21:35,083 --> 00:21:37,083 "You can date him. That's totally fine. 471 00:21:37,167 --> 00:21:40,000 He's almost done with rehab. That's a great idea." 472 00:21:40,083 --> 00:21:42,167 You know? 473 00:21:42,250 --> 00:21:45,333 No, a good parent has three answers, 474 00:21:45,375 --> 00:21:47,833 "Yes, no, later." 475 00:21:47,917 --> 00:21:50,000 Some of you would say, "Prayer's not working! 476 00:21:50,083 --> 00:21:52,083 I asked Dad and it didn't happen." 477 00:21:52,167 --> 00:21:53,833 No, it worked. 478 00:21:53,917 --> 00:21:56,583 Dad just said, "No." 479 00:21:56,667 --> 00:21:59,292 Or Dad said, "Later." 480 00:21:59,333 --> 00:22:01,750 Your father hears and answers every prayer. 481 00:22:01,833 --> 00:22:03,667 Sometimes he says, "Yes." 482 00:22:03,750 --> 00:22:06,750 Sometimes he says, "No." 483 00:22:06,833 --> 00:22:08,917 Sometimes he says, "Later." 484 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:10,375 All right? 485 00:22:10,458 --> 00:22:12,292 We had this discussion recently with Gideon. 486 00:22:12,333 --> 00:22:15,292 He recently got the training wheels off his bike. 487 00:22:15,333 --> 00:22:18,333 So now he is rocking a big boy bike. 488 00:22:18,417 --> 00:22:19,917 He's 4-years-old. 489 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,750 He's going off ramps and he's feeling pretty manly about 490 00:22:22,833 --> 00:22:24,542 the whole thing. 491 00:22:24,625 --> 00:22:27,042 So he came to me recently, he said, "Dad, 492 00:22:27,125 --> 00:22:28,542 "I'm doing good on my bike. 493 00:22:28,625 --> 00:22:30,917 Now I need a motorcycle." 494 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,375 Okay? 495 00:22:33,458 --> 00:22:36,583 I said, "Gideon, you are four. 496 00:22:36,667 --> 00:22:39,542 "You do not need a motor. 497 00:22:39,625 --> 00:22:43,250 Maybe later. Maybe later." 498 00:22:43,333 --> 00:22:46,125 So, he's thinking like, "Later today." 499 00:22:46,167 --> 00:22:48,625 "No, much later than that." 500 00:22:48,667 --> 00:22:51,458 And I tried to explain to him, "You're not ready yet." 501 00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:54,958 But he thinks he is, so he went in to my wife, he said, 502 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,000 "Well, I talked to Dad about the motorcycle, 503 00:22:57,042 --> 00:22:58,542 but it's not working." 504 00:22:58,625 --> 00:22:59,958 "No, it is working. 505 00:23:00,083 --> 00:23:03,000 I heard your request and out of love I said, 'No.'" 506 00:23:03,083 --> 00:23:05,000 So as you get to know the Father, 507 00:23:05,083 --> 00:23:07,625 sometimes you will feel like, "Father, I need this." 508 00:23:07,667 --> 00:23:09,500 And Father says, "No," or, "Later." 509 00:23:09,583 --> 00:23:10,958 "Well, prayer doesn't work!" 510 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,500 It sure does. 511 00:23:12,542 --> 00:23:14,000 Trust your Father. Wait. 512 00:23:14,083 --> 00:23:17,417 In time, you'll see that your Dad was right. 513 00:23:17,500 --> 00:23:19,292 We pray to God as Father. 514 00:23:19,333 --> 00:23:21,917 How fantastic is that? 515 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,167 Secondly, he goes on to teach us our Father is holy. 516 00:23:27,208 --> 00:23:31,833 Luke 11:2, "Hallowed," or holy, "is your name." 517 00:23:31,875 --> 00:23:34,167 This is God's essence and character. 518 00:23:34,208 --> 00:23:37,667 We're talking here about the magnificence of God. 519 00:23:37,708 --> 00:23:41,625 Again, some Eastern lines of non-Christian thinking will say, 520 00:23:41,667 --> 00:23:43,500 "God is good and evil. 521 00:23:43,542 --> 00:23:45,167 "God is darkness and light. 522 00:23:45,208 --> 00:23:46,500 God is yin and yang." 523 00:23:46,542 --> 00:23:49,542 And the answer is, "No, God is holy." 524 00:23:49,625 --> 00:23:53,458 God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. 525 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:55,792 God is holy. 526 00:23:55,833 --> 00:23:58,958 Now, the Bible does say things like God is love and God is 527 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,750 sovereign and it speaks of what the theologians like to call 528 00:24:01,833 --> 00:24:05,000 the attributes of God, but the attribute of God that is 529 00:24:05,042 --> 00:24:07,333 mentioned more than every other attribute of God 530 00:24:07,417 --> 00:24:10,667 in the whole Bible is the holiness of God. 531 00:24:10,750 --> 00:24:14,125 This means that God is distinct and different than us, 532 00:24:14,167 --> 00:24:18,292 that God is altogether, continually, and only good, 533 00:24:18,333 --> 00:24:22,167 that there is no sin in God. 534 00:24:22,208 --> 00:24:26,167 And this is very important because, were God not this way, 535 00:24:26,208 --> 00:24:28,708 you couldn't really trust him. 536 00:24:28,792 --> 00:24:31,542 He might be good today, bad tomorrow, tell the truth today, 537 00:24:31,625 --> 00:24:35,417 lie tomorrow, love you today, but harm you tomorrow. 538 00:24:35,500 --> 00:24:37,208 God is not that way. 539 00:24:37,292 --> 00:24:41,958 God is only, altogether, consistently holy, righteous, 540 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,333 just, and good. 541 00:24:44,417 --> 00:24:48,083 So when we pray to God, we pray to a God who is unchanging 542 00:24:48,167 --> 00:24:50,417 and altogether perfect. 543 00:24:50,500 --> 00:24:55,042 And as we pray to God, acknowledging him as holy, 544 00:24:55,125 --> 00:24:58,833 it invites us to examine our own lives and the ways in which we 545 00:24:58,917 --> 00:25:03,208 are unholy and we have sin that we need the Father's help for. 546 00:25:03,292 --> 00:25:06,667 And so it glorifies God and it humbles us to begin with 547 00:25:06,708 --> 00:25:11,583 an acknowledgement of how good our Father truly is. 548 00:25:11,667 --> 00:25:17,000 He proceeds from there to tell us that our Father is a king. 549 00:25:17,083 --> 00:25:20,833 Again, in Luke 11:2 we read, "Your kingdom come." 550 00:25:20,917 --> 00:25:23,125 Now, back to my original analogy, 551 00:25:23,167 --> 00:25:27,375 how fantastic would it be if you were a kid who got adopted 552 00:25:27,458 --> 00:25:30,208 and your new dad was taking you to his home, say, 553 00:25:30,292 --> 00:25:32,042 "Okay, it's time to come home now." 554 00:25:32,125 --> 00:25:33,542 "Well, where do you live?" 555 00:25:33,625 --> 00:25:37,750 "I have this huge palace and I sit on a throne and I'm a king." 556 00:25:37,833 --> 00:25:41,833 The kid would be thinking, "This could be a huge benefit for me. 557 00:25:41,917 --> 00:25:44,375 "This is quite a bonus. 558 00:25:44,458 --> 00:25:46,333 My dad's a king." 559 00:25:46,417 --> 00:25:49,667 He's a benevolent, loving, good king. 560 00:25:49,708 --> 00:25:51,958 The perfect king. 561 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,708 Our Father happens also to be the King of Kings. 562 00:25:56,792 --> 00:26:00,083 He rules and reigns over all kingdoms. 563 00:26:00,167 --> 00:26:04,167 His authority is over angels and demons and presidents 564 00:26:04,250 --> 00:26:08,833 and politicians and races and nations and the past 565 00:26:08,875 --> 00:26:10,625 and the future. 566 00:26:10,667 --> 00:26:13,375 He has a kingdom that cannot be thwarted 567 00:26:13,458 --> 00:26:15,917 and a kingdom that will never end. 568 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,875 That's our Father. 569 00:26:17,958 --> 00:26:19,875 And right now there's a great war between 570 00:26:19,958 --> 00:26:23,000 the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light, 571 00:26:23,083 --> 00:26:25,583 and there's a great enemy who has declared battle against 572 00:26:25,667 --> 00:26:30,625 our Father, but our Father has and will prevail. 573 00:26:30,667 --> 00:26:35,000 He will crush the uprising of Satan and demons 574 00:26:35,042 --> 00:26:38,750 and there will be a day when the nations come to an end 575 00:26:38,833 --> 00:26:43,167 and all there will be is the unveiling of the kingdom. 576 00:26:43,208 --> 00:26:47,333 That's a fantastic gift that the Father is going to bring 577 00:26:47,375 --> 00:26:49,667 us his kingdom. 578 00:26:49,750 --> 00:26:53,125 And in that kingdom, there will be justice and love and mercy. 579 00:26:53,167 --> 00:26:55,167 The hungry will be fed. 580 00:26:55,250 --> 00:26:57,500 The poor will be provided for. 581 00:26:57,542 --> 00:27:01,708 The marginalized will be esteemed. 582 00:27:01,792 --> 00:27:06,250 Those who have wept will have every tear wiped from their eyes 583 00:27:06,333 --> 00:27:11,458 and every unrepentant bully and thug and dictator and abuser 584 00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:15,042 will be cast out of that kingdom forever and we will all, 585 00:27:15,125 --> 00:27:17,167 together, as the children of God, 586 00:27:17,208 --> 00:27:20,958 enjoy our Father King in his resurrected, glorious, perfect, 587 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,917 eternal kingdom forever. 588 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,333 [congregation applauding] 589 00:27:27,375 --> 00:27:30,667 And so Jesus says, "When you pray, pray, 'Father, 590 00:27:30,750 --> 00:27:33,083 "'show us the kingdom. 591 00:27:33,167 --> 00:27:34,833 "'Show us the kingdom. 592 00:27:34,875 --> 00:27:37,667 Your kingdom, come!'" 593 00:27:37,708 --> 00:27:40,667 And this is the heart's cry of the believer, 594 00:27:40,708 --> 00:27:43,667 that the world as we know it will come to an end 595 00:27:43,708 --> 00:27:45,875 and the kingdom of God will be unveiled 596 00:27:45,958 --> 00:27:47,792 at the second coming of Jesus 597 00:27:47,833 --> 00:27:50,458 upon the resurrection of the dead. 598 00:27:50,500 --> 00:27:52,500 And this means that, in the meantime, 599 00:27:52,542 --> 00:27:56,833 we live as the church seeking to make, as John Calvin says, 600 00:27:56,875 --> 00:28:00,833 "the invisible kingdom visible," by fighting injustice and 601 00:28:00,875 --> 00:28:03,500 feeding the poor and caring for the marginalized and loving 602 00:28:03,542 --> 00:28:09,583 those who hate us and forgiving those who do evil against us. 603 00:28:09,667 --> 00:28:12,292 When the question is asked, "Why?" 604 00:28:12,333 --> 00:28:17,000 the answer is, "You should get to know our Father 605 00:28:17,042 --> 00:28:19,833 "and his is a glorious kingdom. 606 00:28:19,875 --> 00:28:23,333 "It's a kingdom of love and light and truth and forgiveness 607 00:28:23,417 --> 00:28:27,458 "and respect and generosity and anything good that you see 608 00:28:27,500 --> 00:28:31,458 through his people is simply a reflection of him." 609 00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:34,292 "Thy kingdom come." 610 00:28:34,333 --> 00:28:37,292 There will be an end, friends, when there will be no elections, 611 00:28:37,333 --> 00:28:39,083 there will be no politicians. 612 00:28:39,167 --> 00:28:43,792 There will be one king on one throne forever. 613 00:28:43,833 --> 00:28:47,792 He goes on to say as well that our father is generous. 614 00:28:47,833 --> 00:28:51,583 Luke 11:3, "Give us each day our daily bread." 615 00:28:51,667 --> 00:28:53,167 Our Father is generous. 616 00:28:53,250 --> 00:28:55,417 He is not stingy or greedy. 617 00:28:55,500 --> 00:28:57,333 He is generous. 618 00:28:57,375 --> 00:28:59,292 And in praying for our daily bread, 619 00:28:59,333 --> 00:29:03,333 Jesus is acknowledging that there are those who are hungry, 620 00:29:03,417 --> 00:29:06,000 struggling, and suffering. 621 00:29:06,083 --> 00:29:08,625 In our world today, there are many who are praying 622 00:29:08,667 --> 00:29:10,333 for their next meal. 623 00:29:10,417 --> 00:29:13,833 There are people in our city who are praying for their next meal. 624 00:29:13,917 --> 00:29:16,917 But among many of us, our problem is not starvation 625 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:18,917 but gluttony. 626 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,250 We've had our daily bread and tomorrow's daily bread 627 00:29:22,333 --> 00:29:26,125 and we ate next week's daily bread today as well. 628 00:29:26,167 --> 00:29:30,208 We probably should cut back on the bread. 629 00:29:30,292 --> 00:29:34,000 And so for us, we may miss the significance of this prayer. 630 00:29:34,083 --> 00:29:36,667 "Why do I need to pray for my daily bread? 631 00:29:36,750 --> 00:29:38,333 "I have food in the fridge. 632 00:29:38,417 --> 00:29:41,000 "I have food in the pantry, food in the cupboards. 633 00:29:41,083 --> 00:29:42,500 I have lots of food." 634 00:29:42,583 --> 00:29:45,917 That's because the Father has already provided. 635 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:52,333 And as we acknowledge that some of us do need daily bread, 636 00:29:52,417 --> 00:29:55,667 the Father then sends the Holy Spirit to compel us 637 00:29:55,750 --> 00:30:00,250 to be part of the answering of that prayer. 638 00:30:00,333 --> 00:30:03,625 Mars Hill, this is where soup kitchens, food banks, 639 00:30:03,667 --> 00:30:07,000 homeless shelters, and also just the simple work of 640 00:30:07,042 --> 00:30:11,333 community groups and individual Christians giving money, humbly, 641 00:30:11,417 --> 00:30:15,708 giving groceries, provision, meals for the mom who just had 642 00:30:15,792 --> 00:30:20,583 a baby, those kinds of practical demonstrations of love, 643 00:30:20,667 --> 00:30:22,792 those are kingdom works. 644 00:30:22,833 --> 00:30:24,958 Those are kingdom works. 645 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,458 And we acknowledge that the food that the Father has given to us 646 00:30:28,500 --> 00:30:32,542 need not all be consumed by us, that he has entrusted extra 647 00:30:32,625 --> 00:30:36,333 to us that we might share it in love with those who right now 648 00:30:36,375 --> 00:30:38,333 are praying for their daily bread and, 649 00:30:38,417 --> 00:30:42,792 were we to help provide it, then we would be part of the prayer 650 00:30:42,833 --> 00:30:45,958 being answered through God using us, which is to his glory, 651 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,125 their good, and our joy. 652 00:30:48,167 --> 00:30:50,500 How's your generosity, Mars Hill? 653 00:30:50,583 --> 00:30:53,000 How's your generosity? 654 00:30:53,083 --> 00:30:56,333 Because what he's asking us to do here is to bring our needs 655 00:30:56,417 --> 00:30:57,833 to the Father. 656 00:30:57,875 --> 00:30:59,333 But let me distinguish this. 657 00:30:59,375 --> 00:31:02,083 He is asking us to bring our needs to the Father, 658 00:31:02,167 --> 00:31:04,667 not our greeds. 659 00:31:04,708 --> 00:31:08,375 Not our greeds, but our needs. 660 00:31:08,458 --> 00:31:11,667 And we find ourselves economically as a nation 661 00:31:11,750 --> 00:31:14,542 in what has been called the great recession. 662 00:31:14,625 --> 00:31:17,167 People are struggling and even today on the front page 663 00:31:17,250 --> 00:31:19,875 of the newspaper, the lead story is, 664 00:31:19,958 --> 00:31:22,833 as we head into election season, 665 00:31:22,875 --> 00:31:25,333 Americans are struggling financially, 666 00:31:25,375 --> 00:31:27,208 they have grave concern about their future, 667 00:31:27,292 --> 00:31:30,208 they don't know who to blame, they don't know who to trust, 668 00:31:30,292 --> 00:31:32,750 the Democrats or the Republicans. 669 00:31:32,833 --> 00:31:34,875 I'll tell you who we can blame. 670 00:31:34,958 --> 00:31:37,000 Ourselves. 671 00:31:37,083 --> 00:31:41,167 And it doesn't matter who we elect--Democrat or Republican. 672 00:31:41,250 --> 00:31:44,500 If we don't repent of our sin and pursue our needs instead 673 00:31:44,583 --> 00:31:47,708 of our greeds, then no functional savior 674 00:31:47,792 --> 00:31:51,375 will save us from ourselves. 675 00:31:51,458 --> 00:31:54,333 No functional savior in the form of a politician 676 00:31:54,417 --> 00:31:56,500 can save us from ourselves. 677 00:31:56,542 --> 00:32:00,375 As a people who have lived beyond our means, 678 00:32:00,458 --> 00:32:04,000 pursued our greeds not our needs, 679 00:32:04,042 --> 00:32:07,958 we have to acknowledge that repentance is the only way 680 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:09,917 to make change in life. 681 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,208 But see, this is not politically expedient. 682 00:32:12,292 --> 00:32:14,833 There is no politician running for office who would get 683 00:32:14,875 --> 00:32:17,667 on television and say, "America, you're all greedy. 684 00:32:17,750 --> 00:32:20,458 "You worship mammon, most of you are fat as well. 685 00:32:20,500 --> 00:32:22,833 "You're not generous, you've lived beyond your means, 686 00:32:22,875 --> 00:32:25,917 "your credit cards are racked up, and as a people you all 687 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,042 need to repent," and then win an election. 688 00:32:29,125 --> 00:32:32,333 That's not much of a sales pitch for a politician. 689 00:32:32,375 --> 00:32:34,667 The Democrats will say, "You're victims. 690 00:32:34,708 --> 00:32:36,167 The Republicans ruin everything." 691 00:32:36,208 --> 00:32:39,167 The Republicans will say, "The Democrats ruin everything. 692 00:32:39,208 --> 00:32:40,708 You're victims." 693 00:32:40,792 --> 00:32:43,708 And everybody has to lie so that we'll vote for them because 694 00:32:43,792 --> 00:32:45,542 otherwise we'd need to repent. 695 00:32:45,625 --> 00:32:48,375 And the truth is, as Christians, we've got to look at 696 00:32:48,458 --> 00:32:52,500 our finances and ask, "Are we stewarding the resources that 697 00:32:52,583 --> 00:32:56,417 "the Father has entrusted to us in a way that shows that we 698 00:32:56,500 --> 00:33:03,167 "believe that the kingdom starts coming in our lives 699 00:33:03,208 --> 00:33:06,292 by our obedience and stewardship?" 700 00:33:06,333 --> 00:33:10,375 How's it going? How's it going? 701 00:33:10,458 --> 00:33:14,125 And it allows us to live simply and generously, 702 00:33:14,167 --> 00:33:18,333 helping others get their daily bread. 703 00:33:18,417 --> 00:33:23,167 In addition, he then tells us that our Father forgives sin. 704 00:33:23,208 --> 00:33:24,792 It'll take awhile to unpack this. 705 00:33:24,833 --> 00:33:27,208 Luke 11:4, Jesus prays, "Forgive us our sins, 706 00:33:27,292 --> 00:33:31,000 for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us." 707 00:33:31,083 --> 00:33:34,625 Jesus prayed a lot and we need to pray like Jesus, 708 00:33:34,667 --> 00:33:36,125 with one exception. 709 00:33:36,167 --> 00:33:39,333 Jesus never prayed for the forgiveness of personal sin 710 00:33:39,417 --> 00:33:42,000 because Jesus never sinned. 711 00:33:42,083 --> 00:33:44,500 And it's something we have to do all the time. 712 00:33:44,583 --> 00:33:46,000 Right? 713 00:33:46,083 --> 00:33:50,417 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin." 714 00:33:50,500 --> 00:33:54,792 1 Peter 1, "He's the lamb without spot or blemish." 715 00:33:54,833 --> 00:33:56,875 Jesus has no sin. 716 00:33:56,958 --> 00:34:00,292 So he is teaching us how to repent of sin, which is something 717 00:34:00,333 --> 00:34:03,083 that he himself never had to do. 718 00:34:03,167 --> 00:34:04,667 So let's unpack this. 719 00:34:04,708 --> 00:34:07,708 First, let me start with a definition of sin. 720 00:34:07,792 --> 00:34:11,917 Sin includes thoughts because God knows your thoughts; 721 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,000 words because God hears your speech; 722 00:34:14,083 --> 00:34:16,917 deeds because God sees your acts; and motives, 723 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,542 God knows why you do what you do. 724 00:34:20,625 --> 00:34:24,792 Sin includes commission, where you do what God tells you not to 725 00:34:24,833 --> 00:34:31,500 do, and omission, where you do not do what God tells you to do. 726 00:34:31,542 --> 00:34:35,542 The result is that we're sinners by nature and choice and when 727 00:34:35,625 --> 00:34:39,667 the Bible asks, "Who can say, 'I have kept my hands pure 728 00:34:39,708 --> 00:34:42,333 and clean and I'm without sin,'" 729 00:34:42,375 --> 00:34:45,750 well, the obvious answer is no one. 730 00:34:45,833 --> 00:34:48,958 So we're all sinners. 731 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:53,792 And when we sin, we sin against God and others. 732 00:34:53,833 --> 00:34:57,042 Psalm 51:4, he says, "Against you only, Lord God, 733 00:34:57,125 --> 00:34:59,042 have I sinned." 734 00:34:59,125 --> 00:35:02,375 When you sin, you sin against God, friend. 735 00:35:02,458 --> 00:35:05,708 And we sin against others. 736 00:35:05,792 --> 00:35:08,875 And so Jesus here is saying that we need to be forgiven 737 00:35:08,958 --> 00:35:11,167 for our sin. 738 00:35:11,250 --> 00:35:15,083 We need to be forgiven for our sin. 739 00:35:15,167 --> 00:35:18,042 And he likens our sin to a debt. 740 00:35:18,125 --> 00:35:21,125 Now, how many of you, you don't have to raise your hand, 741 00:35:21,167 --> 00:35:24,000 but how many of you right now, you're in debt? 742 00:35:24,042 --> 00:35:25,667 You're in debt. 743 00:35:25,750 --> 00:35:27,167 And that debt just keeps growing. 744 00:35:27,208 --> 00:35:29,417 And every month there's a reckoning. 745 00:35:29,500 --> 00:35:32,458 You get a statement in the mail or in the e-mail. 746 00:35:32,500 --> 00:35:35,167 Oh, my college loans, my car loan, my house loan, 747 00:35:35,250 --> 00:35:38,375 my credit card debt, my light bill, whatever it is, 748 00:35:38,458 --> 00:35:40,583 you get a reckoning. 749 00:35:40,667 --> 00:35:44,792 You say, "You know what? I'm in debt." 750 00:35:44,833 --> 00:35:51,333 Now imagine if every month God sent you a letter of reckoning, 751 00:35:52,917 --> 00:35:55,167 "Here's all the sins you've ever committed. 752 00:35:55,208 --> 00:35:57,333 "Here's how in debt you are. 753 00:35:57,375 --> 00:36:00,542 "Oh, and by the way, that thought you had at 3 a.m.? 754 00:36:00,625 --> 00:36:04,000 I saw that. I'm up at 3." 755 00:36:04,042 --> 00:36:05,375 "Oh, you're kidding me." 756 00:36:05,458 --> 00:36:07,833 "Nope. 757 00:36:07,917 --> 00:36:09,417 "You don't believe me? 758 00:36:09,500 --> 00:36:11,083 Well, there's another one." 759 00:36:11,167 --> 00:36:15,208 "Oh, no!" 760 00:36:15,292 --> 00:36:19,167 Imagine if every month you got a statement from God. 761 00:36:19,208 --> 00:36:21,125 "Here's how in debt you are." 762 00:36:21,167 --> 00:36:22,625 "Oh, no." 763 00:36:22,667 --> 00:36:25,000 You say, "I gotta do something about this debt. 764 00:36:25,083 --> 00:36:27,583 "You know what? Karma. 765 00:36:27,667 --> 00:36:29,625 "I'll do like Earl did, I'll karma this. 766 00:36:29,667 --> 00:36:31,417 That's what I'll do." 767 00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:32,833 Karma's dumb. 768 00:36:32,917 --> 00:36:34,667 Karma makes no sense at all. 769 00:36:34,750 --> 00:36:38,167 Karma is, "You did a bunch of bad things so come back 770 00:36:38,250 --> 00:36:40,708 "and do more bad things. 771 00:36:40,792 --> 00:36:42,917 That'll fix it." 772 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:44,458 Really? 773 00:36:44,500 --> 00:36:47,583 See, if you sin, die, come back, and sin some more, 774 00:36:47,667 --> 00:36:49,167 that doesn't pay off your debt. 775 00:36:49,208 --> 00:36:51,250 It adds to it. 776 00:36:51,333 --> 00:36:53,458 Right? 777 00:36:53,500 --> 00:36:57,208 I mean, okay, I can tell that you're not a deep thinking 778 00:36:57,292 --> 00:37:01,500 audience, so just ponder this with me. 779 00:37:01,542 --> 00:37:05,667 Karma says, "You do bad things, die and come back 780 00:37:05,708 --> 00:37:07,167 to do more bad things." 781 00:37:07,208 --> 00:37:09,667 All you're going to do is add to your debt. 782 00:37:09,708 --> 00:37:12,750 And if karma were true, the number of people on earth would 783 00:37:12,833 --> 00:37:15,250 be going down because somebody'd be working off their 784 00:37:15,333 --> 00:37:17,917 karmic debt, going into nothingness. 785 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,958 As it is, the population is increasing. 786 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,167 Karma doesn't make any sense functionally, theologically, 787 00:37:22,208 --> 00:37:23,667 practically. 788 00:37:23,708 --> 00:37:26,000 Some of you tried karma for a while, you realized, 789 00:37:26,042 --> 00:37:27,625 "That's not going to work." 790 00:37:27,667 --> 00:37:29,625 So you're going to try religion. 791 00:37:29,667 --> 00:37:31,125 Some of you get very religious. 792 00:37:31,167 --> 00:37:32,625 "Well, you know what? 793 00:37:32,667 --> 00:37:35,625 "I'm going to go into church, I'm going to be very religious, 794 00:37:35,667 --> 00:37:37,125 "and I'm going to stop sinning. 795 00:37:37,167 --> 00:37:39,125 "And tomorrow, I'm going to stop sinning. 796 00:37:39,167 --> 00:37:40,958 I'm never going to sin again." 797 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,292 You realize, "Man, I can't stop sinning. 798 00:37:44,333 --> 00:37:46,292 "And even if I think I stop sinning, 799 00:37:46,333 --> 00:37:49,167 then I'm being religious and that's the worst sin of all." 800 00:37:49,208 --> 00:37:51,333 That'll really bum you out the next month, 801 00:37:51,375 --> 00:37:53,875 after you've been really religious for a whole month, 802 00:37:53,958 --> 00:37:56,250 you get a bill and it's bigger than ever 803 00:37:56,333 --> 00:37:58,708 and the largest category is religion. 804 00:37:58,792 --> 00:38:00,208 You're like, "Oh, man! 805 00:38:00,292 --> 00:38:02,500 "I was in major debt until I became religious. 806 00:38:02,542 --> 00:38:04,708 "Now I'm really upside down. 807 00:38:04,792 --> 00:38:06,875 "Apparently God hates religion. 808 00:38:06,958 --> 00:38:08,333 "Oh, no! 809 00:38:08,375 --> 00:38:10,875 How am I going to pay my debt?" 810 00:38:10,958 --> 00:38:14,208 And see, we tend to be very keenly aware of all of our 811 00:38:14,292 --> 00:38:16,000 financial debt and conveniently unaware 812 00:38:16,083 --> 00:38:17,750 of all of our spiritual debt. 813 00:38:17,833 --> 00:38:22,833 And Jesus uses the language of indebtedness to explain sin. 814 00:38:22,875 --> 00:38:25,167 And so Jesus comes, our great God and Savior, 815 00:38:25,208 --> 00:38:30,542 he lives without sin, he dies in our place for our sin to pay 816 00:38:30,625 --> 00:38:34,708 our debt to God because the wage for sin is what? 817 00:38:34,792 --> 00:38:36,958 Death. 818 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,833 So payment in full is death. 819 00:38:39,917 --> 00:38:43,167 And so Jesus goes to the cross as our substitute and savior. 820 00:38:43,208 --> 00:38:45,417 This is the good news of the gospel. 821 00:38:45,500 --> 00:38:48,333 And he suffers and dies in our place, for our sins, 822 00:38:48,417 --> 00:38:50,125 as our savior. 823 00:38:50,167 --> 00:38:54,042 He pays our debt to God and he rises as the pattern 824 00:38:54,125 --> 00:38:55,833 of our new life. 825 00:38:55,917 --> 00:38:57,500 And he cancels our debt. 826 00:38:57,583 --> 00:39:00,833 So all of our debt, past, present, and future, 827 00:39:00,875 --> 00:39:02,667 sin we haven't even committed yet, 828 00:39:02,708 --> 00:39:05,417 is forgiven at the cross of Jesus. 829 00:39:05,500 --> 00:39:08,667 That's why, as he is being crucified, Jesus says, 830 00:39:08,708 --> 00:39:12,292 "Father, forgive them." 831 00:39:12,333 --> 00:39:15,958 It is only through the cross of Jesus that sin can be forgiven 832 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,042 because the debt must be paid. 833 00:39:19,125 --> 00:39:21,708 And this is in the context of Luke's gospel, 834 00:39:21,792 --> 00:39:24,792 where Jesus had been working in the rural region of Galilee. 835 00:39:24,833 --> 00:39:27,958 Chapter 9, verse 51, it says that he set his face 836 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:29,625 toward Jerusalem. 837 00:39:29,667 --> 00:39:33,625 Here Jesus is moving toward Jerusalem on a few-month walk. 838 00:39:33,667 --> 00:39:39,417 He is literally going to his cross to pay our debt. 839 00:39:39,500 --> 00:39:41,458 To pay our debt. 840 00:39:41,500 --> 00:39:45,042 And so not only does Jesus teach us that we must repent of sin 841 00:39:45,125 --> 00:39:51,458 and be forgiven, he makes that forgiveness possible. 842 00:39:51,500 --> 00:39:54,250 That's what we do with sin. 843 00:39:54,333 --> 00:39:58,125 We apologize to God and people, we call that repentance, 844 00:39:58,167 --> 00:40:04,333 and we through faith have Jesus pay our debt. 845 00:40:04,417 --> 00:40:09,208 Number two, Jesus also here deals with sin that is 846 00:40:09,292 --> 00:40:11,167 committed against us. 847 00:40:11,250 --> 00:40:12,667 Now let me explain this. 848 00:40:12,708 --> 00:40:14,417 What tends to happen when preachers preach 849 00:40:14,500 --> 00:40:20,625 and teachers teach is they only explain half of the gospel, 850 00:40:20,667 --> 00:40:23,292 and that is, if and when you sin, 851 00:40:23,333 --> 00:40:25,417 repent to Jesus and he will forgive you. 852 00:40:25,500 --> 00:40:26,958 That's totally true. 853 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:30,292 But what happens when you're not the one who sinned but you were 854 00:40:30,333 --> 00:40:33,500 the one who was sinned against? 855 00:40:33,583 --> 00:40:35,833 You weren't the rapist, you were the victim. 856 00:40:35,875 --> 00:40:38,250 You weren't the adulterer, you were the betrayed. 857 00:40:38,333 --> 00:40:42,333 You weren't the thief, you were the one who was robbed. 858 00:40:42,375 --> 00:40:44,667 You're not the one who lied, you're the one 859 00:40:44,708 --> 00:40:46,917 who was lied about. 860 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,708 You're not the one who walked out on their kids, 861 00:40:49,792 --> 00:40:52,625 you're the kid who was walked out on. 862 00:40:52,667 --> 00:40:55,167 What do you do then? 863 00:40:55,250 --> 00:40:58,000 What do you do when you are the victim of sin? 864 00:40:58,083 --> 00:41:02,333 Because the truth is we all sin and we're all sinned against. 865 00:41:02,375 --> 00:41:05,875 Jesus says that those who have been sinned against 866 00:41:05,958 --> 00:41:08,667 must forgive. 867 00:41:08,750 --> 00:41:11,333 You can't say, "God, I want you to forgive me, 868 00:41:11,417 --> 00:41:14,667 but I refuse to forgive them." 869 00:41:14,750 --> 00:41:17,708 So for this to be helpful and practical, 870 00:41:17,792 --> 00:41:22,833 I need the Holy Spirit now to bring to mind for you the name, 871 00:41:22,917 --> 00:41:27,542 the face of the person who has sinned against you most 872 00:41:27,625 --> 00:41:32,292 grievously, perhaps even most repeatedly, 873 00:41:32,333 --> 00:41:34,958 wounded you most deeply. 874 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:36,958 And what I'm about to share with you, 875 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:40,042 I need you to apply to them. 876 00:41:40,125 --> 00:41:43,458 There are only two options: forgiveness or bitterness. 877 00:41:43,500 --> 00:41:46,750 And if you choose unforgiveness, which leads to bitterness, 878 00:41:46,833 --> 00:41:50,792 you will become like the person who hurt you 879 00:41:50,833 --> 00:41:53,708 because the same root that is in their life 880 00:41:53,792 --> 00:41:56,000 will take root in your life. 881 00:41:56,042 --> 00:41:59,500 The Bible calls bitterness a root. 882 00:41:59,542 --> 00:42:03,125 Unforgiveness causes us to become like the people 883 00:42:03,167 --> 00:42:05,625 who hurt us. 884 00:42:05,667 --> 00:42:07,417 And God loves you. 885 00:42:07,500 --> 00:42:09,583 He wants you to be freed of that. 886 00:42:09,667 --> 00:42:12,333 And I say this pastorally and lovingly. 887 00:42:12,417 --> 00:42:15,500 I'm not just a theoretician and a clinician. 888 00:42:15,583 --> 00:42:18,333 Even today, in talking about forgiveness, 889 00:42:18,417 --> 00:42:22,333 I have had women crying on me, I have had snot all over me 890 00:42:22,375 --> 00:42:25,250 from people who absolutely were losing it, 891 00:42:25,333 --> 00:42:29,458 I have talked to women who have been raped and abandoned 892 00:42:29,500 --> 00:42:33,333 and abused, I have met women who were held hostage and knifed 893 00:42:33,375 --> 00:42:37,000 and left for dead, I have met husbands who were betrayed 894 00:42:37,083 --> 00:42:41,708 by their wives, I have heard horrendous evil. 895 00:42:41,792 --> 00:42:44,083 I'm a pastor. 896 00:42:44,167 --> 00:42:47,500 I in no way want to just make this cold and clinical 897 00:42:47,583 --> 00:42:49,583 and categorical. 898 00:42:49,667 --> 00:42:51,750 Not at all. 899 00:42:51,833 --> 00:42:54,917 So I come with a tremendous sense of love and empathy 900 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,417 and compassion and hope for you. 901 00:42:58,500 --> 00:43:02,500 But you need to forgive that person or those people 902 00:43:02,583 --> 00:43:05,333 who have wounded you most deeply. 903 00:43:05,417 --> 00:43:08,167 And some of you will have resistance and let me try 904 00:43:08,250 --> 00:43:10,833 and disarm that resistance by telling you 905 00:43:10,875 --> 00:43:13,333 what forgiveness is not. 906 00:43:13,375 --> 00:43:16,667 Because I think many Christians do not rightly ascertain what 907 00:43:16,750 --> 00:43:19,458 forgiveness truly is and is not, 908 00:43:19,500 --> 00:43:21,833 and so I've got a long list for you. 909 00:43:21,917 --> 00:43:25,000 Forgiveness is not approving or diminishing sin. 910 00:43:25,083 --> 00:43:26,583 It's not saying, "Well, it's okay. 911 00:43:26,667 --> 00:43:28,083 "Nobody's perfect. 912 00:43:28,167 --> 00:43:30,917 Everybody makes a mistake," or, "It's not a really big deal. 913 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:32,417 Worse things have happened." 914 00:43:32,500 --> 00:43:33,917 No, it is a big deal! 915 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,042 It's so big that God died for it. 916 00:43:37,125 --> 00:43:41,083 So don't dishonor the cross of Jesus and approve or diminish 917 00:43:41,167 --> 00:43:45,917 something that required the death of God. 918 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:49,708 Number two, forgiveness is not enabling sin. 919 00:43:49,792 --> 00:43:51,375 It's not. 920 00:43:51,458 --> 00:43:55,708 I see this frequently with wives who misunderstand submission. 921 00:43:55,792 --> 00:43:58,000 "Okay, the husband is the head of the home, 922 00:43:58,042 --> 00:43:59,667 he's supposed to lovingly lead." 923 00:43:59,750 --> 00:44:01,250 Great. 924 00:44:01,333 --> 00:44:04,625 He's supposed to lovingly lead by following Jesus, 925 00:44:04,667 --> 00:44:07,458 and if he's not following Jesus, the wife shouldn't follow him 926 00:44:07,500 --> 00:44:11,542 because her ultimate allegiance is to Jesus and the first 927 00:44:11,625 --> 00:44:15,875 job description of the wife is to be a helper. 928 00:44:15,958 --> 00:44:18,333 And sometimes husbands are foolish. 929 00:44:18,417 --> 00:44:20,667 They make stupid decisions financially. 930 00:44:20,708 --> 00:44:23,542 They make reckless decisions spiritually. 931 00:44:23,625 --> 00:44:26,208 They buck godly, spiritual authority trying 932 00:44:26,292 --> 00:44:28,542 to correct them. 933 00:44:28,625 --> 00:44:30,375 And in the name of forgiving them, 934 00:44:30,458 --> 00:44:33,375 the wife comes along and enables him. 935 00:44:33,458 --> 00:44:37,667 She just is complicit in his rebellion and sin and folly. 936 00:44:37,750 --> 00:44:40,833 You can forgive someone without enabling their sin, 937 00:44:40,917 --> 00:44:43,500 participating in it. 938 00:44:43,542 --> 00:44:46,833 You can have a friend or a family member who is an addict, 939 00:44:46,875 --> 00:44:50,375 for example, you can forgive them without enabling them. 940 00:44:50,458 --> 00:44:52,708 Forgiving is not enabling. 941 00:44:52,792 --> 00:44:56,417 Forgiving can even include confronting and rebuking, 942 00:44:56,500 --> 00:44:58,333 and sometimes it must. 943 00:44:58,417 --> 00:45:01,042 Forgiveness is not, number three, denying a wrongdoing, 944 00:45:01,125 --> 00:45:02,625 "It didn't happen. 945 00:45:02,667 --> 00:45:04,125 "I forgot all about it. 946 00:45:04,167 --> 00:45:05,625 "I just moved on. 947 00:45:05,667 --> 00:45:07,292 "I pretend like it never happened. 948 00:45:07,333 --> 00:45:08,958 I didn't let it affect me." 949 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:10,458 That's not true. 950 00:45:10,500 --> 00:45:13,083 It's not the denial of a wrongdoing. 951 00:45:13,167 --> 00:45:17,833 Forgiveness is not denying that you were sinned against. 952 00:45:17,875 --> 00:45:21,167 Number four, forgiveness is not waiting for an apology. 953 00:45:21,208 --> 00:45:23,167 Some of you say, "I will forgive them 954 00:45:23,208 --> 00:45:25,000 as soon as they say they're sorry." 955 00:45:25,083 --> 00:45:27,000 I hate to break it to you, 956 00:45:27,042 --> 00:45:28,833 some people are never going to apologize. 957 00:45:28,875 --> 00:45:31,167 Some people are going to continue in their destructive, 958 00:45:31,208 --> 00:45:33,000 rebellious, and foolish life course. 959 00:45:33,083 --> 00:45:35,917 Some people will be stubborn and religious and self-righteous 960 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,500 and they'll never confess or admit. 961 00:45:38,542 --> 00:45:40,000 Some people will move away, 962 00:45:40,042 --> 00:45:41,708 you'll never speak with them again. 963 00:45:41,792 --> 00:45:45,833 Some people will die before they articulate repentance. 964 00:45:45,875 --> 00:45:52,167 And so you forgive them before they apologize. 965 00:45:52,208 --> 00:45:54,708 Forgiveness, number five, is not forgetting. 966 00:45:54,792 --> 00:45:56,667 This is one of the great Christian myths. 967 00:45:56,750 --> 00:45:58,375 "Well, we forgive and forget." 968 00:45:58,458 --> 00:46:00,625 No we don't! 969 00:46:00,667 --> 00:46:03,167 You can't forgive and forget. 970 00:46:03,250 --> 00:46:05,000 You can't. 971 00:46:05,042 --> 00:46:07,458 You were raped, molested, abandoned, beaten, abused, 972 00:46:07,500 --> 00:46:10,292 cheated on, betrayed, lied about. 973 00:46:10,333 --> 00:46:11,833 Forget it? 974 00:46:11,917 --> 00:46:13,417 You can't forget it. 975 00:46:13,500 --> 00:46:14,917 It's impossible. 976 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,583 And some will appeal to Bible books like Jeremiah, 977 00:46:17,667 --> 00:46:20,583 where it says that God will remember their sin no more. 978 00:46:20,667 --> 00:46:22,083 And they'll say, "See? 979 00:46:22,167 --> 00:46:23,583 God doesn't remember our sin." 980 00:46:23,667 --> 00:46:26,417 And let me tell you this, God does remember our sin. 981 00:46:26,500 --> 00:46:28,417 He's omniscient, he's all knowing, he forgets nothing, 982 00:46:28,500 --> 00:46:30,625 he knows everything. 983 00:46:30,667 --> 00:46:32,292 Right? 984 00:46:32,333 --> 00:46:34,292 It's not like God's in heaven going, 985 00:46:34,333 --> 00:46:36,375 "I forgot a whole bunch of things." 986 00:46:36,458 --> 00:46:39,875 He would cease to be God. 987 00:46:39,958 --> 00:46:43,000 What does it mean that God remembers their sin no more? 988 00:46:43,042 --> 00:46:46,708 It means that God chooses not to interact with us based upon what 989 00:46:46,792 --> 00:46:49,708 we've done, but instead interact with us based upon 990 00:46:49,792 --> 00:46:52,375 what Christ has done. 991 00:46:52,458 --> 00:46:55,333 It means that he chooses to see us as new creations 992 00:46:55,375 --> 00:46:58,292 and he chooses to work for a new future. 993 00:46:58,333 --> 00:47:01,333 It means that at the forefront of God's thinking toward us 994 00:47:01,375 --> 00:47:04,875 is not all of the sin that we've committed, 995 00:47:04,958 --> 00:47:10,292 but all the work that Jesus has done for us and in us and, 996 00:47:10,333 --> 00:47:13,583 by grace, will do through us. 997 00:47:13,667 --> 00:47:17,542 But it's not like God has no idea what you did yesterday. 998 00:47:17,625 --> 00:47:21,250 He forgets nothing. 999 00:47:21,333 --> 00:47:23,250 And I see this sometimes in counseling, 1000 00:47:23,333 --> 00:47:26,167 where one person will sin against another person 1001 00:47:26,250 --> 00:47:30,500 and they'll say, "Well, you shouldn't even remember that." 1002 00:47:30,542 --> 00:47:32,208 It's impossible. 1003 00:47:32,292 --> 00:47:33,750 I had one situation recently. 1004 00:47:33,833 --> 00:47:35,750 I looked at the husband, I was like, 1005 00:47:35,833 --> 00:47:37,708 "You slept with her best friend. 1006 00:47:37,792 --> 00:47:40,750 "She's not going to forget that ever. 1007 00:47:40,833 --> 00:47:42,958 "Now, she can choose not to interact with you 1008 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:44,542 "in light of that. 1009 00:47:44,625 --> 00:47:46,208 "She could choose to forgive you. 1010 00:47:46,292 --> 00:47:49,125 "She can choose to not be stewing on that every minute 1011 00:47:49,167 --> 00:47:51,917 "of every day and seething. 1012 00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:54,333 "But she's never going to forget that this happened 1013 00:47:54,417 --> 00:47:58,208 because it was cataclysmic." 1014 00:47:58,292 --> 00:48:03,167 Number six, forgiveness is not ceasing to feel the pain. 1015 00:48:03,250 --> 00:48:07,417 Just because it hurts doesn't mean you've failed to forgive. 1016 00:48:07,500 --> 00:48:09,667 It still hurts. 1017 00:48:09,708 --> 00:48:12,167 Some of you have had horrible things done to you. 1018 00:48:12,250 --> 00:48:14,708 Horrible things done to you. 1019 00:48:14,792 --> 00:48:17,375 With all sincerity, I'm sorry. 1020 00:48:17,458 --> 00:48:20,708 And it would be so cruel to say, "Well, if you've forgiven them, 1021 00:48:20,792 --> 00:48:22,417 it shouldn't hurt anymore." 1022 00:48:22,500 --> 00:48:25,083 Well, sure it does. 1023 00:48:25,167 --> 00:48:28,417 See, we don't hear in the Bible that all the tears are wiped 1024 00:48:28,500 --> 00:48:30,750 from our eyes until the resurrection of the dead 1025 00:48:30,833 --> 00:48:32,583 in the final unveiling of the kingdom. 1026 00:48:32,667 --> 00:48:35,208 It means people are crying all the way to Jesus. 1027 00:48:35,292 --> 00:48:37,625 It still hurts. 1028 00:48:37,667 --> 00:48:42,708 It's okay for it to bother you. 1029 00:48:42,792 --> 00:48:45,833 Number seven, forgiveness is not a onetime event. 1030 00:48:45,917 --> 00:48:49,167 It's not like you forgive someone and it's over. 1031 00:48:49,208 --> 00:48:51,750 Sometimes, they keep sinning, so you need to keep forgiving. 1032 00:48:51,833 --> 00:48:55,583 Or sometimes you forgive them, but there are emotional moments 1033 00:48:55,667 --> 00:48:59,875 where it feels fresh. 1034 00:48:59,958 --> 00:49:01,917 There's one woman that I know, 1035 00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,333 her husband committed adultery on her. 1036 00:49:04,417 --> 00:49:06,917 And he earnestly repented and she honestly forgave him 1037 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:08,792 and they have sought biblical counseling 1038 00:49:08,833 --> 00:49:10,333 and they have worked it out. 1039 00:49:10,417 --> 00:49:12,958 But she confesses there are times, sometimes even at church, 1040 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:14,667 where her husband is doing nothing wrong, 1041 00:49:14,750 --> 00:49:17,500 and it's been some years, that she'll just see him talking 1042 00:49:17,583 --> 00:49:20,583 to another woman, maybe even a mutual friend, 1043 00:49:20,667 --> 00:49:25,542 and just the sight of him with another woman causes her to feel 1044 00:49:25,625 --> 00:49:29,042 all of that betrayal again and it rises up in her soul. 1045 00:49:29,125 --> 00:49:31,875 And she needs to forgive him again for what he did 1046 00:49:31,958 --> 00:49:34,167 in the past. 1047 00:49:34,250 --> 00:49:36,625 Sometimes forgiveness is something 1048 00:49:36,667 --> 00:49:40,667 that is regularly required. 1049 00:49:40,708 --> 00:49:45,667 Number eight, forgiveness is not neglecting justice. 1050 00:49:45,708 --> 00:49:47,792 You can forgive someone and call the police 1051 00:49:47,833 --> 00:49:50,167 and have them arrested. 1052 00:49:50,250 --> 00:49:53,333 You can forgive someone and testify against them in court. 1053 00:49:53,417 --> 00:49:56,875 Romans 13 says to obey the government. 1054 00:49:56,958 --> 00:49:58,875 They'd say, "I thought you forgave me." 1055 00:49:58,958 --> 00:50:00,542 "I do. I forgive you. 1056 00:50:00,625 --> 00:50:06,625 "But you've committed a crime. You've broken the law. 1057 00:50:06,667 --> 00:50:11,667 And so these are the consequences." 1058 00:50:11,750 --> 00:50:14,667 If you've stolen, you need to pay it back. 1059 00:50:14,750 --> 00:50:17,333 If you've lied, you need to go tell the truth. 1060 00:50:17,417 --> 00:50:19,083 It's not a neglecting of justice. 1061 00:50:19,167 --> 00:50:22,375 You can forgive and pursue justice. 1062 00:50:22,458 --> 00:50:25,667 Number nine, forgiveness is not trusting. 1063 00:50:25,708 --> 00:50:27,500 I get this all the time. 1064 00:50:27,542 --> 00:50:29,625 "My dad molested me. He said he's sorry. 1065 00:50:29,667 --> 00:50:31,417 Can he babysit my kids?" 1066 00:50:31,500 --> 00:50:34,375 Answer? No way. 1067 00:50:34,458 --> 00:50:36,083 No way. 1068 00:50:36,167 --> 00:50:39,500 "My boyfriend or husband hit me, but he said he's sorry. 1069 00:50:39,583 --> 00:50:42,792 Should we just pick up where we left off and keep going?" 1070 00:50:42,833 --> 00:50:46,000 No way. 1071 00:50:46,083 --> 00:50:48,833 See, trust is built slowly. 1072 00:50:48,917 --> 00:50:51,333 It's lost quickly. 1073 00:50:51,375 --> 00:50:53,167 Trust is built slowly. 1074 00:50:53,208 --> 00:50:56,625 Those of you, now hear this, I'm your pastor who loves you. 1075 00:50:56,667 --> 00:50:58,458 Let me put an airbag around this. 1076 00:50:58,500 --> 00:51:01,333 For those of you who are naive and gullible, 1077 00:51:01,375 --> 00:51:08,125 trust is to be given slowly, lost quickly. 1078 00:51:08,167 --> 00:51:11,583 Some of you give your whole heart away 1079 00:51:11,667 --> 00:51:14,083 and never take it back. 1080 00:51:14,167 --> 00:51:17,708 Give it away slowly and if someone sins against you 1081 00:51:17,792 --> 00:51:22,333 grievously, trust has to be rebuilt over time. 1082 00:51:22,417 --> 00:51:26,708 It's not trusting. It's not trusting. 1083 00:51:26,792 --> 00:51:31,250 Some people can be trusted in time with fruit and keeping 1084 00:51:31,333 --> 00:51:35,292 with repentance after they've gotten help. 1085 00:51:35,333 --> 00:51:38,250 Other people should never be trusted because the risk is 1086 00:51:38,333 --> 00:51:41,000 simply too high. 1087 00:51:41,083 --> 00:51:45,000 This is particularly true with children who are vulnerable. 1088 00:51:45,042 --> 00:51:49,333 We need to be exceedingly careful with who we trust. 1089 00:51:49,417 --> 00:51:51,833 And number ten, forgiveness is not reconciliation. 1090 00:51:51,917 --> 00:51:54,167 It's not that you're friends and you hang out 1091 00:51:54,250 --> 00:51:55,667 and everything's okay. 1092 00:51:55,750 --> 00:51:57,667 You're close and it's back to normal. 1093 00:51:57,750 --> 00:51:59,167 Not at all. 1094 00:51:59,250 --> 00:52:00,917 It takes one person to repent. 1095 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:02,583 It takes one person to forgive. 1096 00:52:02,667 --> 00:52:05,250 It takes two people to reconcile. 1097 00:52:05,333 --> 00:52:08,750 That's why Paul says, "In as much as it is possible with you, 1098 00:52:08,833 --> 00:52:10,875 seek to live at peace with all men." 1099 00:52:10,958 --> 00:52:12,500 Here's what he's saying. 1100 00:52:12,542 --> 00:52:15,333 Do your best, but you can't be at peace with everyone. 1101 00:52:15,375 --> 00:52:18,333 But if it doesn't work out, make sure it's their fault, 1102 00:52:18,375 --> 00:52:20,167 not yours. 1103 00:52:20,208 --> 00:52:21,667 Right? 1104 00:52:21,708 --> 00:52:23,333 It takes two people to reconcile. 1105 00:52:23,375 --> 00:52:26,583 This is where I've got a friend right now who's in the midst 1106 00:52:26,667 --> 00:52:29,083 of a divorce because she is acknowledging her own sin, 1107 00:52:29,167 --> 00:52:32,667 her husband really is the problem, and she's saying, 1108 00:52:32,750 --> 00:52:34,333 "I love you, I forgive you. 1109 00:52:34,417 --> 00:52:36,833 "If you'll meet with counselors, if you'll submit to 1110 00:52:36,917 --> 00:52:39,667 "the authority in our church, I extend a hand to you 1111 00:52:39,750 --> 00:52:41,667 and we can reconcile and save this marriage." 1112 00:52:41,750 --> 00:52:43,333 He's saying, "No. 1113 00:52:43,417 --> 00:52:45,167 "I don't think I did anything wrong. 1114 00:52:45,250 --> 00:52:47,667 "I don't think I need to listen to the pastor. 1115 00:52:47,750 --> 00:52:50,000 "I don't need to meet with a counselor. 1116 00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,750 I don't need to listen to anyone. It's your fault." 1117 00:52:52,750 --> 00:52:57,625 There will be no reconciliation. Not with a man like that. 1118 00:52:57,625 --> 00:53:01,000 Repentance takes one, forgiveness takes one, 1119 00:53:01,083 --> 00:53:03,333 reconciliation takes two. 1120 00:53:03,417 --> 00:53:05,833 Now, in hearing this, some of you, like me, 1121 00:53:05,917 --> 00:53:07,375 will have strong sense of justice. 1122 00:53:07,458 --> 00:53:10,833 You say, "But if I forgive them, where's the justice?" 1123 00:53:10,917 --> 00:53:14,500 Justice comes, friends, ultimately from Jesus. 1124 00:53:14,583 --> 00:53:17,833 Either they will come to faith in Christ and you will get your 1125 00:53:17,875 --> 00:53:21,625 justice at the cross, where Jesus' blood was shed in their 1126 00:53:21,667 --> 00:53:26,625 place for their sins as Jesus' blood was shed in your place for 1127 00:53:26,667 --> 00:53:32,417 your sin, because Lord knows we've hurt people too, or, 1128 00:53:32,500 --> 00:53:37,208 if they remain unrepentant, your forgiving them does not mean 1129 00:53:37,292 --> 00:53:40,083 that they are ultimately forgiven. 1130 00:53:40,167 --> 00:53:43,625 They've sinned against you and God, and as you forgive them, 1131 00:53:43,667 --> 00:53:46,333 you're leaving them to Jesus. 1132 00:53:46,417 --> 00:53:49,708 And if they live in a state of unrepentance 1133 00:53:49,792 --> 00:53:53,792 and they don't come to Jesus for forgiveness, 1134 00:53:53,833 --> 00:53:57,792 they will stand before Jesus in the end. 1135 00:53:57,833 --> 00:54:01,083 And they will be judged and sentenced to the conscious 1136 00:54:01,167 --> 00:54:05,667 eternal torments of hell to suffer forever for all of 1137 00:54:05,708 --> 00:54:11,958 their sin, paying their eternal debt to the living God. 1138 00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:15,958 So, in forgiving someone, we are not neglecting justice. 1139 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:20,125 We're leaving it to the perfect judge to enact perfect justice, 1140 00:54:20,167 --> 00:54:23,667 either at the cross or in hell, but either way 1141 00:54:23,750 --> 00:54:26,333 justice will be served. 1142 00:54:26,417 --> 00:54:29,625 And we forgive in light of that. 1143 00:54:29,667 --> 00:54:33,000 He closes then with this. 1144 00:54:33,083 --> 00:54:35,375 Our Father leads well. 1145 00:54:35,458 --> 00:54:38,875 Luke 11:4, "And lead us not into temptation." 1146 00:54:38,958 --> 00:54:41,708 He is not here inferring that God the Father leads us 1147 00:54:41,792 --> 00:54:43,208 into temptation and sin. 1148 00:54:43,292 --> 00:54:46,125 James 1:13, penned by Jesus' own brother in the book 1149 00:54:46,167 --> 00:54:49,000 bearing his name, says, "God is not tempted 1150 00:54:49,042 --> 00:54:51,083 and God doesn't tempt anyone else." 1151 00:54:51,167 --> 00:54:54,250 But what he is saying here is that the world is filled 1152 00:54:54,333 --> 00:54:56,292 with trouble and sin and temptation and folly, 1153 00:54:56,333 --> 00:54:58,625 and the kingdom of darkness is at war against 1154 00:54:58,667 --> 00:55:00,375 the kingdom of light. 1155 00:55:00,458 --> 00:55:03,125 And our enemy is out to harm us because we're members 1156 00:55:03,167 --> 00:55:04,625 of the Father's family. 1157 00:55:04,667 --> 00:55:07,625 And so the picture here is like a child grabbing the hand 1158 00:55:07,667 --> 00:55:11,500 of their dad, saying, "Dad, just lead me. 1159 00:55:11,542 --> 00:55:13,333 "Because you see what I don't see 1160 00:55:13,375 --> 00:55:15,167 "and you know what I don't know. 1161 00:55:15,208 --> 00:55:18,375 "And rather than being anxious and stressed and distressed and 1162 00:55:18,458 --> 00:55:22,833 troubled and tempted, I just wanna stick close to Dad." 1163 00:55:22,875 --> 00:55:25,333 We talked about this a little bit last week, 1164 00:55:25,375 --> 00:55:30,208 with those Mary moments of life where, like her, 1165 00:55:30,292 --> 00:55:33,708 we get time in prayer and community and study 1166 00:55:33,792 --> 00:55:35,542 and time with Jesus. 1167 00:55:35,625 --> 00:55:37,542 That's taking the Father's hand. 1168 00:55:37,625 --> 00:55:39,667 And let me close with an analogy 1169 00:55:39,750 --> 00:55:41,542 that I think illustrates this well. 1170 00:55:41,625 --> 00:55:44,208 As I told you, yesterday we went to the fair 1171 00:55:44,292 --> 00:55:46,542 and we go to the fair every year. 1172 00:55:46,625 --> 00:55:48,208 I don't like the fair. 1173 00:55:48,292 --> 00:55:53,250 I don't like crowds, mullets, corn dogs, none of it, right? 1174 00:55:53,333 --> 00:55:56,250 But my kids like the fair and my wife likes the fair, 1175 00:55:56,333 --> 00:55:58,417 so I go to the fair every year. 1176 00:55:58,500 --> 00:56:01,000 That's what I do because I really love my family 1177 00:56:01,042 --> 00:56:04,000 and I'm not sending them to the fair all by themselves. 1178 00:56:04,042 --> 00:56:07,042 And so we get out of the car and we're heading toward 1179 00:56:07,125 --> 00:56:09,208 the main gate, where it's very busy, 1180 00:56:09,292 --> 00:56:10,750 and instinctively and immediately 1181 00:56:10,833 --> 00:56:13,333 my two youngest children, Gideon who's preschool and Alexie 1182 00:56:13,417 --> 00:56:15,375 who's first grade, they just walk right up 1183 00:56:15,458 --> 00:56:17,625 and they each grab a hand. 1184 00:56:17,667 --> 00:56:19,292 I'm like, "Oh, this is fantastic." 1185 00:56:19,333 --> 00:56:23,000 All of a sudden, though I really didn't want to go to the fair, 1186 00:56:23,083 --> 00:56:25,750 all of a sudden I'm really happy because I realize, "Well, 1187 00:56:25,833 --> 00:56:29,750 "this is just an opportunity for me to enjoy, protect, lead, 1188 00:56:29,833 --> 00:56:34,917 love, serve, and fill with junk food my children, whom I adore." 1189 00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,417 So I'm cool with that, actually, because I really love 1190 00:56:37,500 --> 00:56:39,167 being a dad. 1191 00:56:39,208 --> 00:56:42,042 And so my children instinctively knew, 1192 00:56:42,125 --> 00:56:44,542 "We don't need to know our way around the fair. 1193 00:56:44,625 --> 00:56:46,042 "We don't need a map. 1194 00:56:46,125 --> 00:56:48,375 "We don't need to see over all the people 1195 00:56:48,458 --> 00:56:49,875 "who are far taller than us. 1196 00:56:49,958 --> 00:56:51,375 "Our dad'll keep us safe. 1197 00:56:51,458 --> 00:56:54,208 "We just need to hold Dad's hand and we'll be fine. 1198 00:56:54,292 --> 00:56:56,167 "We'll get through this complicated place. 1199 00:56:56,250 --> 00:56:58,833 "We'll get through these crowds of people and these potentially 1200 00:56:58,917 --> 00:57:00,667 dangerous scenarios." 1201 00:57:00,708 --> 00:57:02,333 And they weren't distressed at all. 1202 00:57:02,375 --> 00:57:05,333 They kept laughing and smiling and asking for things and having 1203 00:57:05,375 --> 00:57:08,500 fun and asking questions and literally for hours I just 1204 00:57:08,583 --> 00:57:12,083 held my kids' hands, their little hands in my hand. 1205 00:57:12,167 --> 00:57:15,708 And I get the picture here, when Jesus is saying that our Dad is 1206 00:57:15,792 --> 00:57:19,000 God and we need him to lead us. 1207 00:57:19,042 --> 00:57:22,000 It's kinda like a kid just grabbing their daddy's hand. 1208 00:57:22,042 --> 00:57:25,500 And so it started raining and we went into all the various barns 1209 00:57:25,542 --> 00:57:28,833 and we go to see the, you know, the cows and the rams 1210 00:57:28,875 --> 00:57:31,667 and the horses and the bunnies because we're from the city 1211 00:57:31,708 --> 00:57:33,167 and that's all fascinating. 1212 00:57:33,208 --> 00:57:36,292 And we were coming out of one barn and it's kinda where 1213 00:57:36,333 --> 00:57:38,000 all the barns came together. 1214 00:57:38,083 --> 00:57:41,167 There's this big open area, where there is a lot of people 1215 00:57:41,250 --> 00:57:44,000 in this open area, dozens, maybe a hundred or more. 1216 00:57:44,083 --> 00:57:46,000 I mean, there was a lot of people. 1217 00:57:46,083 --> 00:57:49,167 And I'm walking with my kids, we're going to see the pigs 1218 00:57:49,250 --> 00:57:51,000 because my kids love the baby pigs. 1219 00:57:51,083 --> 00:57:54,500 And we're going to see the baby pig and I hear a dad yelling, 1220 00:57:54,583 --> 00:57:56,000 cursing, "You little eff-er, 1221 00:57:56,083 --> 00:57:58,000 you need to blankity-blank you son of a--" 1222 00:57:58,083 --> 00:57:59,625 I'm, "What the heck?" 1223 00:57:59,667 --> 00:58:03,000 I turn around, I see a dad grab a little boy who's about 1224 00:58:03,083 --> 00:58:05,750 2 or 3 years of age by the wrist and literally 1225 00:58:05,833 --> 00:58:07,958 yank him up in the air. 1226 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,792 I mean, I don't know if this kid's shoulder came out 1227 00:58:10,833 --> 00:58:13,125 of socket, but if not, it was a miracle. 1228 00:58:13,167 --> 00:58:16,125 And the kid is hanging and I counted six blows from 1229 00:58:16,167 --> 00:58:18,083 the father, full, over the head, 1230 00:58:18,167 --> 00:58:20,583 full blows to the back of the child. 1231 00:58:20,667 --> 00:58:23,417 Not just to the bottom, which would have been bad enough, 1232 00:58:23,500 --> 00:58:25,500 but to the lower back as well. 1233 00:58:25,542 --> 00:58:27,667 I counted six blows. 1234 00:58:27,750 --> 00:58:32,000 Full strikes from a grown man to a boy. 1235 00:58:32,083 --> 00:58:35,500 And as he hit his boy, his boy literally just swung, 1236 00:58:35,583 --> 00:58:37,500 and he'd wait for him to swing back 1237 00:58:37,583 --> 00:58:39,667 and then he'd hit him again. 1238 00:58:39,708 --> 00:58:44,333 And his boy cried out, and he said, "You need to toughen up!" 1239 00:58:44,375 --> 00:58:48,500 And I could not believe it. 1240 00:58:48,542 --> 00:58:51,875 I mean, the thought that this man would do this to his child 1241 00:58:51,958 --> 00:58:54,042 in public--I was thinking to myself, 1242 00:58:54,125 --> 00:58:56,833 "What happens at home when nobody's looking?" 1243 00:58:56,875 --> 00:58:58,750 And everybody recoiled 1244 00:58:58,833 --> 00:59:00,542 and Alexie immediately grabbed my leg. 1245 00:59:00,625 --> 00:59:02,375 She was very scared. 1246 00:59:02,458 --> 00:59:06,000 I mean, all she knows is tea parties and snuggling. 1247 00:59:06,083 --> 00:59:08,167 She's never seen a violent man. 1248 00:59:08,208 --> 00:59:11,208 She doesn't understand this at all. 1249 00:59:11,292 --> 00:59:16,000 And everybody was recoiling away from this man, sort of shocked, 1250 00:59:16,083 --> 00:59:19,208 and so I told Alexie and Giddie, "You stay here with Mom. 1251 00:59:19,292 --> 00:59:21,167 Daddy's gotta go take care of this." 1252 00:59:21,208 --> 00:59:23,583 So as everybody else was walking away from him, 1253 00:59:23,667 --> 00:59:24,917 I'm walking toward him. 1254 00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:26,875 And I'm trying not to escalate things. 1255 00:59:26,958 --> 00:59:32,083 I know that he's obviously got some serious problems and I know 1256 00:59:32,167 --> 00:59:34,875 everybody's got a camera phone and I'm going to end up 1257 00:59:34,958 --> 00:59:40,500 on Larry King if I go Bully Beat down on this guy. 1258 00:59:40,542 --> 00:59:44,000 And so I looked at him and I said in a--actually, 1259 00:59:44,042 --> 00:59:47,042 for me it was a good voice. 1260 00:59:47,125 --> 00:59:48,833 [congregation laughing] 1261 00:59:48,917 --> 00:59:50,375 Grace confirmed that. 1262 00:59:50,458 --> 00:59:52,333 She said, "That was really good." 1263 00:59:52,375 --> 00:59:54,958 I said, "Sir, that needs to stop right now. 1264 00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:57,292 You're done." 1265 00:59:57,333 --> 00:59:59,125 He looked at me, said, "So what? 1266 00:59:59,167 --> 01:00:00,958 You don't believe in disciplining your kid?" 1267 01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:02,958 I said, "Sir, I have five kids. 1268 01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:05,000 "I do believe in correcting your children. 1269 01:00:05,042 --> 01:00:06,500 "But you're beating your child. 1270 01:00:06,542 --> 01:00:08,417 "You're assaulting them. You're abusing them. 1271 01:00:08,500 --> 01:00:10,167 That's not correction." 1272 01:00:10,208 --> 01:00:13,167 "Well, he'll just wander off, stupid little son of a what." 1273 01:00:13,208 --> 01:00:14,667 I said, "I've got five kids. 1274 01:00:14,708 --> 01:00:16,667 "Hold their hands. You've only got one. 1275 01:00:16,708 --> 01:00:20,500 Hold his hand. Be his dad." 1276 01:00:20,542 --> 01:00:22,833 Then he said, "Mind your own eff-ing business." 1277 01:00:22,875 --> 01:00:25,833 I said, "Sir, you made it my business when you beat your 1278 01:00:25,875 --> 01:00:27,875 "child in front of my children. 1279 01:00:27,958 --> 01:00:31,083 You made it my business." 1280 01:00:31,167 --> 01:00:34,208 I said, "Sir, put the child down. 1281 01:00:34,292 --> 01:00:36,000 "You're done now. 1282 01:00:36,042 --> 01:00:38,875 You have a serious problem. You need help." 1283 01:00:38,958 --> 01:00:41,542 And he said, "You want me to beat you next?" 1284 01:00:41,625 --> 01:00:45,167 Here we go. Here we go. 1285 01:00:45,208 --> 01:00:48,417 Because, see--and in the moment, man, I was conflicted. 1286 01:00:48,500 --> 01:00:51,625 Because my first thought was, "I grew up in the hood. 1287 01:00:51,667 --> 01:00:54,000 "I fought a lot. 1288 01:00:54,042 --> 01:00:56,667 "I've slammed Marines' faces into the trunks of Impalas 1289 01:00:56,750 --> 01:00:58,500 "and split them wide open. 1290 01:00:58,583 --> 01:01:00,167 "I've never picked a fight. 1291 01:01:00,208 --> 01:01:01,833 "I've never lost a fight. 1292 01:01:01,875 --> 01:01:03,583 "I'm immediately sizing this guy up. 1293 01:01:03,667 --> 01:01:05,542 "He's got reach on me, but he's skinny. 1294 01:01:05,625 --> 01:01:08,167 "I need to get inside, get my hands on him, 1295 01:01:08,208 --> 01:01:10,542 close the distance." 1296 01:01:10,625 --> 01:01:13,542 And I'm literally thinking in the moment, like, 1297 01:01:13,625 --> 01:01:17,000 "He's beating his child in public. 1298 01:01:17,083 --> 01:01:20,667 "So out of love, for discipleship purposes, 1299 01:01:20,708 --> 01:01:23,000 I should beat him in public." 1300 01:01:23,083 --> 01:01:26,500 [congregation laughing] 1301 01:01:26,542 --> 01:01:27,833 But then I'm thinking, 1302 01:01:27,875 --> 01:01:30,167 "Aw, man, but everybody's got a camera phone. 1303 01:01:30,208 --> 01:01:32,000 "My daughter's going to freak out. 1304 01:01:32,042 --> 01:01:35,833 My family's going to freak out." 1305 01:01:35,917 --> 01:01:40,333 And then the Holy Spirit showed up and I thought, 1306 01:01:40,375 --> 01:01:43,042 "You know, two things. 1307 01:01:43,125 --> 01:01:46,750 "Number one, I had very short temper that God convicted me of 1308 01:01:46,833 --> 01:01:48,917 "when I first became a Christian. 1309 01:01:49,000 --> 01:01:51,250 "Very short fuse, and the difference between that guy 1310 01:01:51,333 --> 01:01:53,583 and me is Jesus." 1311 01:01:53,667 --> 01:01:55,958 I would have been a lot like that guy. 1312 01:01:56,000 --> 01:01:58,583 I think that's why it bothered me so much. 1313 01:01:58,667 --> 01:02:01,458 And so, since my conversion, other than a little boxing and 1314 01:02:01,500 --> 01:02:04,667 the occasional football game, I've not put a lick on anybody. 1315 01:02:04,708 --> 01:02:06,792 And it's only by the grace of God 1316 01:02:06,833 --> 01:02:09,125 that I'm not a guy who's violent. 1317 01:02:09,167 --> 01:02:12,667 Number two, it was obvious to me that he just was not teachable 1318 01:02:12,750 --> 01:02:16,375 and this was not going to go well. 1319 01:02:16,458 --> 01:02:19,292 And the woman who was with him, kind of an enabler, 1320 01:02:19,333 --> 01:02:22,208 gets in the middle and tries to break it up--and I'm walking away. 1321 01:02:22,292 --> 01:02:24,833 I'm saying, "Sir, you just need help." 1322 01:02:24,875 --> 01:02:28,333 And I told him, I said, "Please get some help." 1323 01:02:28,375 --> 01:02:31,750 And he kept blowing up and asking me to fight him, 1324 01:02:31,833 --> 01:02:35,500 and I said, "Sir, I'm not gonna instigate or escalate this. 1325 01:02:35,542 --> 01:02:38,458 "But if you wanna finish it, I'll be over there. 1326 01:02:38,500 --> 01:02:40,875 Otherwise, I'm done with you." 1327 01:02:40,958 --> 01:02:43,417 And Alexie came up and she grabbed my leg. 1328 01:02:43,500 --> 01:02:44,917 She was really scared. 1329 01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:47,417 And she grabbed my hand, and I looked down. 1330 01:02:47,500 --> 01:02:49,917 She's got big blue eyes, she looks like Tinkerbell, 1331 01:02:50,000 --> 01:02:52,917 and she says, "Daddy, thank you for standing up to that man. 1332 01:02:53,000 --> 01:02:54,417 "Thank you for loving us. 1333 01:02:54,500 --> 01:02:55,750 "Thank you for protecting us, 1334 01:02:55,833 --> 01:02:58,625 and thank you that you don't hit us or scare us." 1335 01:02:58,667 --> 01:03:00,792 And I got very choked up, like, 1336 01:03:00,833 --> 01:03:03,750 "Man, the thought of assaulting your own child." 1337 01:03:03,833 --> 01:03:05,667 I said, "You're welcome, sweetie. 1338 01:03:05,750 --> 01:03:08,000 Daddy loves you very much." 1339 01:03:08,083 --> 01:03:11,000 And, see, I want to love my kids with the Father's love, 1340 01:03:11,083 --> 01:03:13,083 but apart from the Father's love, 1341 01:03:13,167 --> 01:03:15,542 I don't think I could love as a good father. 1342 01:03:15,625 --> 01:03:19,208 And she said, "We need to pray for him that he would meet Jesus 1343 01:03:19,292 --> 01:03:20,708 because that man is scary." 1344 01:03:20,792 --> 01:03:23,042 "Yeah, he is. We need to pray for him." 1345 01:03:23,125 --> 01:03:24,542 A couple things in closing. 1346 01:03:24,625 --> 01:03:26,875 Number one, for those of us who are fathers, 1347 01:03:26,958 --> 01:03:30,375 or one day God would give us the great gift of being a father, 1348 01:03:30,458 --> 01:03:33,625 gentlemen, we share a sacred, divine title with God. 1349 01:03:33,667 --> 01:03:36,042 And we want to love our children, protect, 1350 01:03:36,125 --> 01:03:40,083 lead our children with the Father's love so when they hear 1351 01:03:40,167 --> 01:03:44,875 God is a Father, that sounds like a good thing. 1352 01:03:44,958 --> 01:03:47,833 I shudder for that little boy, thinking when he hears that God 1353 01:03:47,875 --> 01:03:53,500 is Father, he would be prone to run from God rather than to him. 1354 01:03:53,583 --> 01:03:58,083 Number two, some of you come here and you have been 1355 01:03:58,167 --> 01:04:02,333 considering God to be an abusive, violent, mean, 1356 01:04:02,417 --> 01:04:05,917 unstable kind of dad. 1357 01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:07,750 He's not. 1358 01:04:07,833 --> 01:04:10,000 There's another father, the Bible teaches. 1359 01:04:10,042 --> 01:04:14,333 John 8, Jesus says that the devil's a father too and there 1360 01:04:14,417 --> 01:04:17,375 really only are two families, and those families really only 1361 01:04:17,458 --> 01:04:19,458 have two fathers. 1362 01:04:19,500 --> 01:04:23,208 And Satan is a horrible father and God is a perfect, 1363 01:04:23,292 --> 01:04:25,417 loving father. 1364 01:04:25,500 --> 01:04:27,958 And I do believe, even for this man, 1365 01:04:28,000 --> 01:04:31,250 the real issue is not a war against flesh and blood, 1366 01:04:31,333 --> 01:04:34,125 but powers, principalities, and spirits, that for him, 1367 01:04:34,167 --> 01:04:38,708 his father is the devil and his father the devil abuses him, 1368 01:04:38,792 --> 01:04:40,625 sometimes through the hands of others. 1369 01:04:40,667 --> 01:04:45,958 And as a result, he is harming his own child. 1370 01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:50,083 And the answer to that is repentance, faith in Jesus, 1371 01:04:50,167 --> 01:04:52,833 forgiveness of sin, newness of life, 1372 01:04:52,875 --> 01:04:55,542 through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father's love, 1373 01:04:55,625 --> 01:04:59,333 to allow us to love as he has loved us. 1374 01:04:59,417 --> 01:05:01,833 For those of you who are not Christians, 1375 01:05:01,917 --> 01:05:04,833 this is the day when you take your Father's hand. 1376 01:05:04,917 --> 01:05:09,667 And by faith, you walk with him until he safely leads you 1377 01:05:09,750 --> 01:05:12,167 into his kingdom. 1378 01:05:12,250 --> 01:05:15,458 And so, Father God, we pray against the enemy, his servants, 1379 01:05:15,500 --> 01:05:17,500 their works and effects. 1380 01:05:17,583 --> 01:05:22,292 Father God, we take your hand and we ask you to lead us. 1381 01:05:22,333 --> 01:05:26,083 Father, we pray for those who don't know you as Father. 1382 01:05:26,167 --> 01:05:29,042 We pray against the father of lies and the father of deception 1383 01:05:29,125 --> 01:05:31,542 and the father of death. 1384 01:05:31,625 --> 01:05:35,750 And God, we pray for that man and that little boy. 1385 01:05:35,833 --> 01:05:42,500 And God, we pray that you would teach us to pray as Jesus taught 1386 01:05:42,542 --> 01:05:44,292 his disciples to pray. 1387 01:05:44,333 --> 01:05:47,958 Lord Jesus, teach us to pray to the Father who loves us. 1388 01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:49,500 Amen.