Pray, because the Father loves us!

[0:00] to have a guest speaker with us, Matt Pope, who is someone I've known for the, I think we've worked out, it was about 10 years, it's been about 10 years since we've known each other, and I'm going to invite him out now, and I'm just going to ask him a few questions so that we can get to know him before he brings God's word to us.

[0:25] Morning everyone. So Matt, can you just tell us a little bit about where you're from, and maybe a little bit about your family? So I'm from the UK, I'm originally from a town in the bottom of England, right by the sea, or near the sea, and for the past 12 years, I've been living in Oxford as a pastor there, and that's where I met Brian.

[0:48] Fantastic, can you just tell us a little bit, oh your family first, have you mentioned your family? So I've got one wife, and she's over there, and I've got two children, Eva and Judah, who's 11 and 8.

[1:01] Yeah, so it's great to meet your family, I remember Eva when she was about two, and it's the first time I'm meeting Judah. Tell us a little bit about your ministry, a little bit more. So I guess, I've met lots of grab drivers, and I say I'm from Oxford, and they go, oh the university.

[1:17] So I guess lots of people know about Oxford University. Oxford's a very small town, and the university is most of the city, and I work in a church in the centre of Oxford. It's a big church, it's about 1,600 people, and we try and reach out to everyone in the city.

[1:34] And in Oxford, there are some people that are very rich, so we try and reach them. There are some people that go to university, so we try and reach them. And there are lots of people that are very poor, and we try and reach out to them.

[1:46] And my responsibility in the church, because I'm not clever, I don't reach out to the clever people. Because I'm not rich, I don't reach out to the rich people. So I reach out to the rest that are left.

[1:56] So that's what I do day to day at the church. I don't believe Matt when he says that he's not clever. He probably doesn't remember this, but the very first or second Bible talk I gave, he was the person who gave me very good feedback on it.

[2:12] So don't believe him. Now, recently we just met for dinner, and you told me that your family is actually going to leave Oxford and going to move to Chile, which is a country in South America.

[2:26] Now, why in the world would you do that? The more I think about it, I don't know. Oxford is one of the most lovely places in the world. If you're lucky enough to ever travel to England, don't just go to London.

[2:39] Do go one hour away to Oxford. It is beautiful. It is lovely. It's green, old buildings. And I don't know why we would leave. But the church situation in Oxford is very good.

[2:50] There are a number of very good churches, lots that are much bigger than this, a few that are the same size of this, quite a few that are a bit smaller. And they're good.

[3:01] They teach the Bible faithfully. They love Jesus. They pray. They reach out to people. And we would love to stay there. But in reality, we look at Chile and we've got friends there.

[3:13] And we're going to move to the capital, Santiago. And there's over 7 million people that live there. And there are more people in the church I go to that I am on the pastorate than there are in good churches in the whole of that big city.

[3:28] So we're going to go in one year's time, God willing. We're going to get better at Spanish for six months to a year. And then we're going to help pastors grow churches and plant churches in Santiago.

[3:42] Maybe I'll just ask you one more question. Is that all right? Just to change topics a bit because we're starting a sermon series in prayer. Now you've been a pastor for quite a long time. But how do you find praying? Is it still a struggle for you?

[3:56] Sometimes. Yeah, so I'm a man of routine. So I like waking up at the same time every day. I do the same thing every day. So when I'm in a good routine, I find prayer easier.

[4:10] And when things are going badly, I find that prayer is very easy. When things go well and things are successful, then I struggle if I'm honest. And I have to be more disciplined and more in the routine.

[4:23] One book helped me more than any other book. It's a book by a man called Paul Miller. And it's called A Praying Life. And you will read it and you will hate it. He speaks about himself so, so much.

[4:36] Oh, this is what I pray like. This is what I do. It's all about me. I hated it, but it changed my life. And it changed the way I pray. Because seeing how he prays helped me realize how I should pray.

[4:50] So Paul Miller, A Praying Life. Do you have Amazon here? No, but that's going to be in our church library. It's going to be in your church library. It's a very good book. Do grab it. Do read it. A Praying Life. I'll just adjust and then you can bring God's word.

[5:03] Okay. Matt will bring God's word to us. Perfect.

[5:17] Why don't I pray and ask God to help us now. Thank you. Dear Father God, thank you for this opportunity to look at your word. Thank you for this passage of Jesus speaking.

[5:31] Please, would he speak to us now as we look at it. Would your spirit be at work in us, changing our hearts to understand more about you so that we pray more and love you more and trust you more.

[5:44] And we pray this for your namesake and in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, you're starting a series on prayer and you'll be looking at how you pray and why you pray.

[5:57] I guess the reason Brian and the elders thought of this is because prayer is a struggle. Prayer is a real struggle for lots of Christians. And it's good every now and then to think about things that we struggle with and address it and think about it so that we can change.

[6:17] I guess the aim of this series isn't that we know more about prayer, that we know how to pray. We know what a praying life looks like. I guess the aim of this series is that you and me would actually pray more.

[6:30] And not pray more because we think praying is a good thing to do. But that we pray more because we realize we need to pray. So I guess that's the aim. So that's why I listen.

[6:42] I assume lots of people don't pray. That's the assumption I have of my church in Oxford. It's a big church. It's a growing church. But I talk to people and prayer is a struggle.

[6:52] Prayer is a big struggle they have. But it's a struggle people don't admit to very often. Of course we pray. Of course we give. Of course we read our Bibles. And of course we tell people about Jesus.

[7:05] But I think prayer is one that we're most reluctant to say I really struggle with. Because we know that, well, we should be people that pray. That's an Oxford problem. It's an England problem.

[7:17] It's a UK problem. And I assume it's a Borneo problem. We struggle to pray. Now that could be for many, many, many reasons. Maybe you did pray.

[7:31] Maybe you did pray. But you haven't for a very long time. Maybe that's because, well, as you learn more about the Bible, you realize that the God who made the world is sovereign.

[7:43] He's in control of everything. He's in charge of everything. And you've got thinking, well, if everything happens because God's decided it anyway, what's the point in praying? And, well, you just prayed less.

[7:56] Maybe you've given up praying because you used to really pray for things. And you used to pray for one thing maybe in particular. And you would pray and pray and pray and lift it up to God and say, Dear God, please give me this, grant me this, do this.

[8:13] But he didn't. He just didn't. And over years, maybe less, you just stop praying because what's the point?

[8:24] God does what he wants. He doesn't give me what I want. Maybe for some of us we don't pray because we associate prayer with guilt. We start to pray, but we spend so much time when we pray saying sorry to God for the lack of prayer that, well, it just gets us down and the relationship doesn't grow.

[8:49] Or maybe some in this room have never started praying. Maybe you've never started praying and enjoying that relationship with God. Well, if any of those are you, I assume you don't enjoy what God offers Christians.

[9:05] God offers us peace and joy and contentment. He offers us a worry-free life. And the key to them is a close walk with him.

[9:17] Brian said earlier in the service, we draw near to God and he draws near to us. And that's where that peace and joy and contentment and worry-free life comes from.

[9:28] Being close with God. Walking close with him. Now, whoever you are, whatever your prayer life is like, my prayer is that this talk and this series will liberate you, will inspire you, will help you to start or to restart, to get a deep, close, dependent, joyful, loving relationship with God, your Father.

[10:00] And I don't want you to have it as a job, but I want you to have it out of a relationship with him. And Brian's chosen Luke 11, and in one sense there is no better place to start.

[10:11] Luke 11 is the key thing that we need to know if we're going to have a prayerful life where we love and know and speak to God. So let's dive in.

[10:23] If you've got Bibles, I always say to my church, it's always good to open your Bibles when we're looking at the Bible because the truth is God's the one who speaks. His words are more powerful than my words, so do open it.

[10:36] I also say to my church that I'm aware lots of people sometimes use their phones. Please open it to the Bible, not to Facebook. Let's look at Luke 11 together.

[10:47] Luke 11, verse 1. Let's look at the setting. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. So very regularly in the Gospels you see Jesus going off and praying, and we see it when we read the Gospels, but the disciples saw it close up.

[11:03] Sometimes they went with him to pray. Sometimes they just saw him praying. Well, on one of these occasions, Jesus went away. He came back, and his disciples over the years had noticed something different.

[11:17] They'd noticed something different about his prayer life, the closeness with God he had, the things he prayed for. So the question that comes up in verse 1 is an obvious question.

[11:29] They want Jesus to give them a lesson. They want Jesus to teach them how to pray. They were slightly jealous of John's disciples. They had noticed that John the Baptist, well, he had taught his disciples to pray how he prayed.

[11:44] Well, here they were with Jesus, and they wanted to get a lesson from him. So they say, verse 1, Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.

[11:55] Now, they were Jews, so of course they prayed. But they wanted to have this praying life that Jesus had.

[12:05] They wanted to have this close praying life that Jesus had. And Jesus answers, verse 2, When you pray, say. Now, I think we can skip over that sentence quite quickly onto the Lord's Prayer, but just look what Jesus says prayer is in verse 2.

[12:24] When you pray, say. Prayer is speaking. Now, in the UK, and I guess in Borneo, there's lots of confusion in churches and in the world what prayer is.

[12:40] In England, something big at the moment is called mindfulness. And people talk about mindfulness being like praying. Mindfulness is where you empty your mind of everything and you just sit there with God.

[12:53] That's the idea. Or mindfulness can be where you empty your mind of everything and just concentrate on one thing. Now, that's not prayer. Prayer is, when you pray, say.

[13:08] Speaking to God. Other people in England, they feel prayer is saying a mantra over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

[13:19] That's not prayer. That's not prayer. That's just saying something over and over again. Jesus says, prayer is speaking. When you pray, say.

[13:30] Now, why is that? Well, God is a relational God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. They have been in a relationship forever and ever and ever.

[13:41] God the Father. In heaven, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They loved each other and they communicated with each other. They communicated with each other in ways that we can't understand.

[13:54] But they definitely communicated with each other with words as well. And God made us, in His image, to be like Him. And the key thing about us being made in God's image isn't what we look like.

[14:07] It's that we're relational too. Relational with each other. But above all, we're made to be relational with Him. And what does God do? Well, He communicates to us.

[14:19] He shows us what He's like in so many ways. God shows us what He's like in the world He's made all around us. The Bible says God made us a wonderful world. And as we look at it, we can understand some things about God.

[14:33] That He's powerful. That He's wise. That He's big. That He's mighty. The Bible says God's given us a heart that knows right and wrong. Our hearts, God says, well, they tell us that He's a God who knows and loves right and wrong.

[14:48] The way we really know what God's like is if you lived 2,000 years ago, you could have met Him as He walked in the world. Jesus came to do lots of things.

[14:59] Above all, Jesus came so that we could know God personally. The disciples, they were walking along talking to God Himself. Now, Jesus isn't here.

[15:11] And the way we know God, the way God speaks to us most clearly is through the Bible. That's what God does. He shows us what He's like. He shows us what He's like in the world, in our hearts.

[15:24] As Jesus came to the world, as we read our Bibles by His Spirit in our heart, what's our part of the relationship? Well, we say things to God.

[15:36] He speaks to us. We speak to Him with our words. Now, this relationship isn't something we should assume. It's not something we should take for granted.

[15:47] The truth is we were made for a relationship with God. That is how we were made. But my sin and your sin gets in the way of that relationship. Sin stops us being able to have a close walk with God.

[16:03] And that's why Jesus came. Jesus came into the world to get rid of our sin. He bore our sin when He died on the cross so that we can have a friendship, a relationship with God.

[16:18] He removed that sin in order to bring about that relationship. Therefore, if you're not a Christian here today, if you're not someone who knows what Jesus has done for you, well, when you talk to God, He doesn't listen.

[16:32] We need to be forgiven by Jesus in order to have that relationship with God. That's why Christianity Explored is so important. That's why that mission trip is so important.

[16:46] People need to know about Jesus. People need to know how to be forgiven. People need to know how to be saved so that, not so they can spend forever in heaven, so that they can spend forever in heaven as friends with God.

[17:04] Well, that said, what does Jesus say? When you pray, verse 2, say, Father. When you pray, say, Father.

[17:16] Now, this is a big shift in the Bible. This is a massive thing that happens in that one word. In the Old Testament, every single one of God's people, all together, as a whole nation of Israel, they, when they came together, they could talk to God and call Him Father.

[17:36] But individually, they couldn't. They couldn't approach God and say Father individually, only when they were together as a group. Verse 2, the word Father here, in Greek is Pater, in Aramaic is Abba.

[17:54] Now, the word here, in English, when you pray, say, Daddy. Now, the Malaysian word for that is a word I don't know, and I don't know the Mandarin for it either.

[18:07] But the word here is, Daddy. When you pray, say, Dad. It's a very close, loving word. Daddy.

[18:19] Now, this is amazing, isn't it? Jesus is talking about praying to God. He's talking about praying to God, the maker of the world, the ruler of the world, the one who keeps the world going, the one who's going to judge the world.

[18:34] And Jesus says, when you talk to Him, the one who is big, and massive, and mighty, and beyond all understanding, when you talk to Him, say, Daddy.

[18:47] Father. Father. That is why Jesus came, to bring us into this close relationship with God. A relationship of a father, a dad, and a child.

[19:02] Prayer is very simple. And if you understand this truth, it will change your life. Prayer is simply, being someone who is like a child, who needs help, from a really good, and kind, and powerful dad.

[19:18] Now, I mentioned a book earlier, Praying Life. You don't need to read books, really, to learn how to pray. You don't need to look to gurus, and experts, to know how to pray.

[19:29] All you need to do, to understand how to pray, is go out in the streets of Kuching, and just sit there, and watch children, speaking to their dad. Watch a child, speak to their dad.

[19:41] And what do children do? Well, they know some things, about their dad. Not always, but mostly, children know, that their dad loves them. Children know, their dad loves them.

[19:53] And whether this next thing, is true or not, children think it. Children think, that their dads, have an endless supply, of everything they want. They think they have deep pockets, and they can provide, anything and everything, they ever ask for.

[20:07] Now, Eva and Judah, that is not true with me. But it may be, with your dads. Now, kids know they're loved. They think their dad, is the one that can provide them, with everything.

[20:21] And what else, do children do? Well, they know, if they want that thing, they need their dad, to get it for them, because they can't do it. And therefore, what do they do? They say, Daddy, can you give me?

[20:33] Daddy, I want. Daddy, I need. They nag, and they ask, and they pester, and they pester, and they pester, and they cry, and they moan, and they shake, and they stamp on the floor, until, they're told off, or they get what they want.

[20:51] And, that is what you need to know, in order to have a good, close, praying life with God. Now, look around this room, and I, I don't know you, but I imagine, some people here are successful, and some people aren't.

[21:07] I think, if you've been a successful person, or if you are a successful person, it's really hard, to have a praying life. It's really hard, if you've been successful, to pray to God.

[21:22] Why? Well, if you're successful, you've probably studied hard, and you probably, worked really hard, to get the, qualifications you needed.

[21:34] You saw something you wanted, and you set goals, and you went for the first one, you got it. You went for the next one, you got it. You went for the next one, you got it. And the reason you're successful, is because you've worked really hard, to get those things, that you wanted.

[21:50] And that is deadly, for the Christian life. And that is deadly, to have a close praying life. Because the truth is, if you're successful, the only reason you're successful, is because God helped you.

[22:03] The only reason you're where you are, is because that's what God's, done for you. If you want anything in life, that's spiritual, you cannot work towards it.

[22:15] You can only, you can only, you can only, draw near to God. You can only, overcome sin. You can only, see people become Christians, with God's help. And it's not just, spiritual things, we need God's help for.

[22:28] It's absolutely, everything in life. Now we're going to, skip verses two to four, but we are going to, come back to them. We're going to focus on, verses five to, 13, before we come back, to the actual prayer.

[22:42] And we're going to see, one characteristic, that we should all have, when we pray. And that one characteristic, is because of one thing, we need to know about God.

[22:53] So what's the characteristic? When you pray, verses five to ten, we are to be, bold. We should ask God, for things, boldly.

[23:06] Now I'm sure you know, this story in verses five to ten. Suppose you had a friend, and you go to his house, at midnight. And the reason you go, to his house at midnight, is because someone, has come to your house, unexpectedly.

[23:21] A guest, who you haven't seen, since university days, or you haven't seen, since childhood. He's come along, and he's knocked on your door, and he's said, friend, I've come to stay.

[23:32] And you're shocked. But you know, the right thing to do, the right thing to do, is to sit him down, give him a drink, give him something to eat, before you say, well stay a few days.

[23:44] Well, that's the situation. And this man, this man, he welcomes his friend in, he gets him a drink, but he starts thinking in his brain, I've got nothing to feed him.

[23:56] I've got no food. I didn't go shopping, I was going to go shopping tomorrow morning, because, well I didn't expect anyone to come tonight, so what do you do? You smile, and you nod at your friend, and you say, I'll be back in a minute, I'm just going to prepare the food.

[24:11] And you go, and you go to the kitchen, but actually, you go into the kitchen, and you go out the back door, you don't know what to do, but you think of your friend, and you know it's midnight, and you know he's going to be in bed, and you know his children are going to be in bed, but your friends come, and you don't want to look rude, so what do you do?

[24:31] You knock on his door, and there's no answer. So you knock louder, and there's no answer. So you knock, and you knock, and you knock, and you knock, and then you hear your friend's voice saying, who is it?

[24:42] What are you doing? And you say, it's me, and well a friend's arrived, and I need some bread, and I can't be rude, and he says, well he whispers it, because his children are asleep, he whispers, please go away, my children are asleep.

[24:57] But you've got a friend here, and well you can't be rude, so you knock louder, and he says, go away, and you knock louder, and you say, I can't go away, because I've got a friend, and what happens in the story, what happens in this story Jesus tells, verse 8, I tell you, even though he will not get up, and give you bread, because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up, and give you as much as you need.

[25:29] I love that word, shameless audacity. In the ESV version of the Bible, it's impotent. The idea is, he's being rude. His friend's asleep, he knows it.

[25:41] His children are in bed, he knows it. But he nags, and knocks, and knocks, and knocks, until his friend gets up, and says, take it, and go away. That is the idea, going on here.

[25:55] He's not answered, because he's a friend. He's answered, because he's nagging, and rude. He's audacious. He's shameless. Because of that, he gets what he wanted.

[26:09] And verses 9 and 10, Jesus says, we're to be like that, with God. We're to be shamelessly bold, with what we ask God for.

[26:22] Verse 9, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. The idea is, think of the story I've just told. Here was a man knocking, and asking, and nagging, and Jesus says, that man, you look at him, and you think, he was a bit rude.

[26:41] He shouldn't have done that. He should have said to his friend, well, it's a bit late, I'm not going to give you any bread, I'm not going to give you any food. Jesus says, no, be like the nagging man, that knocks, and knocks, and knocks on the door, even when you think, I shouldn't.

[26:56] Knock, and ask, and seek. Jesus says, be like that, with God. Now, I imagine, you're similar to people in England, and your prayer life's not like that.

[27:08] I imagine, you're very polite, with your prayers to God, and you say, dear God, please give me this, if you would want to, if it's your will, if you please, please give me this. I doubt any of us knock and nag, and we're as bold as this man, but Jesus says, be like this man.

[27:26] Why be like this man? Well, remember who God is. God is your daddy, and you go out on the streets of Quching, and you look at children speaking to their parents, and they are just like this man, boldly, shamelessly, asking for anything they want, absolutely anything and everything, they think their dad can give it to them, so they ask it.

[27:50] He says, no, they keep asking. He says, no, they keep asking. Just like this man, Jesus says, we're to get on our knees, and we're to talk to God like that, asking him boldly, for the things that we want.

[28:04] Why should we ask God like that? Well, it's because of the wonderful thing we learn about God, in verses 11 to 13. What's God like? Let me read this bit of the Bible again.

[28:17] Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake and said, or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

[28:37] The point is very simple. Some of us in this room are dads. Some of us have got children that still live at home. Some of us have got children that have moved out of our homes.

[28:48] Now, when our children come to us and ask for everyday, normal things, like fish, what do you do? Well, you go and you get him a fish.

[28:59] You don't do what Jesus says and give him a snake. The egg one in Kooching may be different to what I expect. You may, your child may ask you for an egg, and you may do a horrible thing and give him a century egg, which, for an English person, only tastes bad.

[29:16] Now, you may think that's being kind, but to me, that wouldn't be kind. But, if your child asks for an egg, you do the kind thing. We're meant to laugh at the words Jesus says here.

[29:27] Verse 12, if he asks for an egg, you don't give him a scorpion. I imagine the disciples were laughing and joking with Jesus at this point.

[29:37] It's a ridiculous thing. We know the difference between what's good for our children and what's bad for them. We know that fish and eggs help them. We know that snakes and scorpions hurt them.

[29:49] Jesus says, if we know how to give good things to our children, even though we're selfish and sinful, and the word Jesus uses in verse 13, even though we're evil, even if, and the point is, if we know how to give good things, and we're like that, how much more do you think your father in heaven will give you good things?

[30:16] Now, the best thing everyone in the Old Testament was waiting for was forgiveness and the Holy Spirit. And Jesus says, you ask God for that, you ask your dad for the biggest thing in the world, the Holy Spirit, he's going to give it to you.

[30:31] If he will give you that, well, surely he's going to give you every little thing on the way. What is the point? God is good. What is the point?

[30:43] God is kind. He is so overwhelmingly generous and good. Do you have a God that's like that? Do you see God as kind and good and generous to you?

[30:55] Or deep down, do you think, well, he's probably not because I've sinned. He's probably not because I'm not good enough. The point is, God is your dad.

[31:08] He is your father and he loves you. He loves you. And unlike me with my children, he has an endless supply of things that he can give you.

[31:19] If you ask him for it and it's good for you, he will give it to you. That is what Jesus is saying here. He is super kind, super loving, super generous towards his children who he loves.

[31:32] Now, because he's kind, sometimes you'll ask for things and they won't be good for you. My children, they love sweets and they love chocolates and they ask for them a lot.

[31:46] And sometimes, not because I'm horrible, but sometimes because I know best, I say no. I've seen children with teeth falling out because their parents don't say no.

[31:58] I've seen children that are very fat because their parents don't say no. Because I love my children lots, sometimes I say no to them. Why? Not because I hate them.

[32:09] Not because I want to hurt them. Because I want what's best for them. And that is the same with God. We pray, or we should pray, and we should ask God boldly for things, for anything we like.

[32:22] And God says, yes, no, and sometimes later. He does whatever is best for us. Whatever's best is sometimes an instant answer.

[32:36] Yes or no. Whatever's best could be a delayed answer. Not yet. But what do we need to do? We just need to ask and ask and ask and ask until we get an answer.

[32:52] Until we get yes or no. God is very kind. We need to ask him for things. Now briefly to end, let's look at the actual prayer.

[33:03] But the thing I want ringing in your head is that God is your father who loves you. And he wants you to boldly ask. And he wants you to boldly ask because he is generous.

[33:14] Really generous. And only gives good things to his children. Let's look at the prayer itself now. Verse 2. The Lord's Prayer. A very famous prayer that I hope you know.

[33:26] That I hope you teach your children. When you pray, say Father, hallowed be your name. Maybe you're more familiar with the Lord's Prayer in Matthew's Gospel.

[33:38] Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come is what Luke says. Matthew adds, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[33:49] What are we praying for here? We are asking that God's plan for the universe will happen. Why did God make the world? Well, the Lord's Prayer tells us God in Heaven decided to make the world.

[34:05] Why? Well, God wanted his glory, his name to be known on earth as it is in Heaven. That's why he made Adam and Eve in his image.

[34:16] God made Adam and Eve in his image to take his image around the world. God wanted his kingdom to spread throughout the entire world. That's why in Genesis 1 and 2, Adam and Eve were told, fill the earth.

[34:33] Their job wasn't to stay in the Garden of Eden. The shock in Genesis 3 is that they're not allowed back in the garden. Adam and Eve were meant to go out of the garden all the time, having children and spreading the knowledge of God, the goodness of God all around the world so that his kingdom that can be seen in Heaven would be seen on earth.

[34:55] And what we're praying in the Lord's Prayer is God, your big plan for the universe, the spreading of your name around the world, people hallowing, honoring, loving your name, your kingdom coming would happen.

[35:10] And I guess when you pray it, you should be praying it that it would happen for your children, that it would happen for your family, that it would happen for your neighbours, that it would happen for your workplace, that God's name would be honoured in this city.

[35:29] That's why, please come on Wednesday to the prayer meeting. That's why, please come to that morning of prayer. You aren't going to be praying in a bigger way for this prayer to happen.

[35:40] God's name to be honoured in this city. Please come. Don't you want that? Don't you want God's name to be honoured in Kuching? Don't you want God's kingdom to come in Borneo?

[35:52] I guess we do, don't we? God's kingdom coming will be a good thing for the people that become Christians. It will be a good thing for us. I met a grab driver the other day.

[36:05] By the way, is anyone here a grab driver? Every grab driver I've ever met has been a very interesting person. It is amazing. Just get talking to grab drivers.

[36:15] I met one grab driver, I won't say his name, but he was a Muslim and he grew up as a Muslim and he became a Christian.

[36:27] But he's very secretive about it because the country won't let him be bold about being a Christian. Wouldn't it be good that every country in the world people could become Christians without fear?

[36:39] Without fear of getting imprisoned or worse. That is what we're praying. We're praying for God's kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

[36:51] The rest of the prayer is praying for things that we need really. What are we praying for? Well, the next one. Give us our daily bread. Or give us each day our daily bread.

[37:03] The things we need to live on earth. That's what we're to boldly ask God for. If you need it, ask for it. Keep asking.

[37:14] Keep knocking. Now notice it's daily needs. Give us each day our daily needs. That's not necessarily praying for a big pension, for things for in the future.

[37:26] God says pray for the things you need today. And interestingly, it's pray for bread. Pray for bread and not cake.

[37:38] It's pray for the things that you need, not for the things that you really, really want, things that you maybe be greedy about. Pray for your needs, not your greeds.

[37:49] Your daily needs. It's not just our daily needs. It's, well, our bigger needs. Forgiveness. Pray for the things that keep the relationship with God restored.

[38:01] Pray for the things that mean we can spend forever with God. Pray about your sins and ask God to forgive you. Think of those things since the last time you've prayed and say sorry.

[38:17] Name them one by one. That time when you did that. That time when you thought that. Say sorry to God. And you can say sorry to God boldly knowing that he'll forgive you whatever you've done.

[38:33] Whoever you are, God loves you. Jesus' death has done enough to forgive you any sin. Therefore, you can admit it to God and say sorry and then receive the forgiveness that Jesus offers.

[38:50] It's not just our sins that we say sorry to God for. It's also asking God for help to forgive other people. Sometimes that is one of the hardest things to do, isn't it?

[39:02] Forgiving other people. But God says to pray for it. You sin against other people or say sorry to God about that and to them. People sin against you or say sorry or ask God to help you to forgive them whether they say sorry or not.

[39:20] Final thing to pray. Lead us not into temptation. Matthew also adds deliver us from evil. We're God's people. We're God's children and we live here.

[39:33] God's kingdom is growing and it is an amazing growth. The time of Jesus the church was very small. You look at the book of Acts and it slowly grows.

[39:45] You look at the world now and over 2 billion people are Christians. It is growing and growing and growing and growing. In the book of Daniel it says that a rock is going to hit the earth and it's going to spread over the whole world.

[40:00] That is what it that's what looks like is happening now. God's kingdom is growing but God's kingdom is not fully here yet. We are not with God in the new creation yet and this side of dying or this side of Jesus coming back we've got enemies.

[40:18] The devil hates us. The devil hates you and he will work to stop you loving Jesus. He will work hard to stop you praying. It's not just the devil the world is against us.

[40:32] When the world sees you being like Jesus we were singing earlier this little light of mine I'm going to let it shine. When you let Jesus' light in you shine people that live in darkness will hate it.

[40:47] They will hate seeing the light and they will hate you and they will attack you. Probably not physically but they'll undermine your faith. They'll push you and Jesus says because we live in this world and not in heaven because we live in this world and not in the new creation we are to pray that God would give us strength in the fight.

[41:08] The Christian life is a fight and if you don't think it is that's a lie of the devil. The Christian life is hard. We need God's help to say no to sin.

[41:19] We need God's help to let our little light shine. That is what Jesus is asking us to pray for here. Now I'm going to finish in a second but I thought oddly I'm going to pray in front of you.

[41:34] What I'm going to do is I'm going to pray the Lord's Prayer artificially how I pray it at home. I'm not going to pray everything because when I come to forgive me my sins I'm not going to list every sin I struggle with because I've only met you I'm too embarrassed to do that.

[41:51] I won't list everything but this prayer here that Jesus gives us is meant to be a template like a guide to fill in with lots of other things and I thought maybe it's helpful for a couple of minutes to fill it in in a way that I do it.

[42:06] So I won't say pray with me but do listen to see how I pray the Lord's Prayer. I pray it's something like this. Our Father in Heaven dear God thank you that you're my Father.

[42:22] Thank you that I can come to you and speak to you like my Dad. Thank you that you're my Father because of Jesus. Thank you Jesus that because of your death your Father is my Father.

[42:35] And I pray that I would know that today and today I would see your Kingdom come your will be done. I pray that I would see your name honoured in what I do today.

[42:49] So for me today in this church please use me to encourage people so that your name is honoured. Today as I get into different grab taxes as I go to different restaurants and different places please would you use me to help other people to see your Kingdom to honour your name.

[43:09] Therefore today give me an opportunity to speak to someone about Jesus to tell them about Him. I pray that your name would be honoured in my children's life in my wife's life that they would know you and that in their life your Kingdom would come as they defeat sin and the devil.

[43:30] Dear God I pray today for my daily bread and above all I thank you for all the blessings you've given me. You are providing for me. You have provided for me.

[43:40] I'm very thankful. Thank you for the money to come to Kuching. Thank you for feeding me. Thank you for a house to live in. I praise you for that and I pray for my friends in Oxford who don't have houses who haven't got guaranteed food.

[43:58] Please give it to them. I pray for them that you would forgive me and at this point I'd list the things I need forgiving for and I won't tell you the people that I need to forgive myself because that would be gossip but I would then talk about the things that I find hard in forgiving other people.

[44:19] I'd then pray to God for help against temptation against temptations to lie against temptations to be ashamed of Jesus against temptations to lust against temptations to anger and all sorts of things and this can be a prayer that I can pray in two minutes five minutes ten minutes half an hour more but I think that the Lord's Prayer is a brilliant prayer that Jesus has given us to pray and I would challenge you to pray the Lord's Prayer every day and that could be for one minute that could be for one hour a man at the church I go to in Oxford oh he must be in his 80s do you remember David Fletcher a man called David Fletcher he used to be the elder one of the elders at the church the main elder at the church like Brian is here he tells me a story and oh he gives me a challenge and I love it he says

[45:20] Matt I hope you're praying and I hope you're praying something every day and he says there isn't much difference between someone who prays for one hour a day and half an hour a day both are praying there isn't much difference between someone that prays for half an hour a day and 10 minutes a day both are praying in reality there isn't much difference between someone that prays 5 minutes and 1 minute but there is a massive difference between someone that prays 1 minute and no minutes because 1 knows that they're God's child and 1 knows that they need help and one knows that God is generous and will provide what we need.

[46:04] So my challenge to you is please start. If you've never prayed before, just start and start with one minute a day. Pray the Lord's Prayer.

[46:15] And my prayer is actually one minute is never enough because your life is more complicated than that and your God is so kind and generous.

[46:26] He'll provide for you. And when you pray, don't just pray and leave it there. Pray and watch. Watch for an answer.

[46:37] It is amazing. When you pray, because God's kind, time and time and time and time again, God answers prayer. Funny that, isn't it? But we should be looking for answers to prayer.

[46:49] And I find nothing inspires me to pray more than looking at the Bible and realizing God is good. And looking for answered prayers and realizing God is kind. I've got one prayer that I, well, lots of prayers that I hold on to that God's answered.

[47:05] One is very special. There was a neighbor called Harry. And Harry was dying of cancer for a very long time. And Harry was quite shy.

[47:16] And you could talk to Harry for about 30 seconds. And then he would say, oh, I've got to go. But Harry was dying. And he wasn't a Christian. And because he was dying, I prayed a lot.

[47:30] And I got other people to pray. Day after day, come on, dear God, please give me an opportunity to talk to Harry about you. Please save Harry before he dies. Now, Harry's cancer that should have killed him lasted a long, long time.

[47:46] Harry had cancer for about nine years. And I was praying very often and getting other people to pray for maybe the last seven years of Harry's life. Praying, praying, praying. What are you doing, God?

[47:56] Come on, answer this prayer. Give me one opportunity to talk to Harry about you. Save Harry. Have mercy on Harry. Two weeks before he died, his wife came up to me and said that Harry's in hospital and he's dying.

[48:14] Harry wants you to go and talk to him about God. And on that day, before I went to see Harry, I knew how that conversation would go. Me, my wife, lots of other people have been praying that God would give me an opportunity to talk to Harry so that Harry could become a Christian before he died.

[48:34] So that he could spend forever with God in relationship with him. Two weeks before he died, Harry said, could Matt come and talk to me about God? I went and talked to him.

[48:46] Before I walked in the room, I knew what would happen. I just felt like God was answering all those prayers. In I went. We started talking and I started talking about Jesus and forgiveness.

[48:57] And Harry said, I need that. I want that. And there, within a very short period of time, Harry prayed and he became a Christian and he changed as a man.

[49:10] In the last two weeks of his life, he read and he read and he read in his Bible. He wrote notes in it. I've got that Bible in my car. I'm going to give it to his wife before I move to Chile. She's not a Christian yet.

[49:21] I would love you to pray for Linda. That in the next year before we move to Chile, me or my wife has an opportunity to talk to Linda about Jesus. And that Linda becomes a Christian.

[49:33] The reason I say that is God loves you. He's your father. And he's good and he's kind. And he answers our prayers. Yes, no or later.

[49:44] Harry was a later prayer. But it was a yes. Let's boldly ask God for things. Sometimes I look at the Psalms. The prayers that are prayed in the Psalms, they are bold.

[49:56] Sometimes they are rude. Let's just nag God. Ask him for things. And then stop and look and see the answers that God provides.

[50:07] Now let's pause there. And I want to give you a minute. Just what I was going to say by yourself. Not by yourself. A minute with you and God. Praying.

[50:18] If you haven't prayed for a long time, pray. If you're someone that is a prayer, pray. Let's have a minute and then I'll close in prayer. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[50:29] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[51:05] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[51:15] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. insec İstanbul. Amen.

[51:27] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Dear Father God, I pray, we pray that this would be a church that is a prayerful church, a church that knows that you're their dad, that you're their father, a church that asks you for things all the time, a church that looks for your answers, and a church that doesn't just ask for things, a church that asks for things and grows closer to you, their Father in heaven. I pray that you would be a real blessing and a joy to this church family as they grow in prayer. And I pray for that meeting on Wednesdays and that half day of prayer that you so work in this church family, that that Wednesday monthly prayer meeting would be absolutely packed because the people here realize that we are children in need, children in need who come to you a good and kind and loving and generous Father who loves to give us good gifts. Amen. Amen.

[52:54] Amen.