2819 Church - KINGDOM GEMS | Do Not Worry | Matthew 6:25-34 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

In this must-hear message, Pastor Philip A. Mitchell teaches a timely and necessary message on worrying and fear. Welcome to the official Youtube channel for 2819 Church. This channel features powerful and life-impacting messages from Philip Anthony Mitchell and guest communicators. As you listen to these sound biblical messages you can expect to be challenged, stirred, matured and inspired in your faith and walk with God. For more information about us visit 2819Church.org.

I want to welcome all of our family, our 2819 family locally and abroad, watching me right now live in cities across the country in a few pockets around the world. Shout out to all of you, to all of our guests. We welcome you for being here. If you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, we're so glad that you're in the room, that you get to eavesdrop on these conversations we're having as shepherd and sheep. And before I slide into the proclamation of the gospel, I just do want to remind everybody that the name of our church is not just a logo or brand.

It is a vision. It is a vision to remind the body of the great commission of the Lord Jesus Christ. That he has not called us to just have Sunday services and go home. He has called us to a mission. That the church does not have its own mission, but the church exists for the mission of Jesus. And that mission is to spread the gospel. It is to multiply disciples. It is to make christ known and so when we talk about our clothing we talk about 2819 is more than a brand it's more than apparel it is a vision that

we're trying to spread across the body of christ we want people to cop the merchandise and wear the merchandise and make the commission known wherever you are in atlanta wherever you're watching there's an online store you can you can help us move that vision forward that we know that this clothing sparks conversations wherever people are wearing the clothing I get stopped all the time in airports and malls wherever I am we want to remind the body of Christ that God has given us a mission and we need to be more conscious of that as time is running out. So those of you on our family,

shame on you if you don't own anything from 2819. Shame on you. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus because you like everything free and everything you get free you don't value. So buy the merch. Wear it. Make the commission known and stop expecting a handout make help us make the commission known be a walking billboard of the gospel somebody say amen you're offended already

we are in a I love y'all she's had a lot of sensitivity in the room how could he talk to us like that it's love it's love i know like especially black people we don't want anything unless it's free everything that's free you don't value you can't go to a master class for free at least what's coming on the back side of it you value things you invest in invest in your relationship

where am I going with this invest in your relationships your marriages your friendships you value things you invest in invest in your walk with Christ. Pay the price for that. Some of us have a Christianity for free.

No, you don't. Jesus said, if you're my disciple, you're going to carry your cross. There's a price for you to pay. We're going to arrive in glory with some scars. Some stories to tell. some battles we've won i don't even know why i'm talking about this all right mama t some battles we've won uh all right uh we are in a teaching series called kingdom. If you are a guest, we are walking through the Sermon on

the Mount. This sermon was the full-length sermon of Jesus recorded by an outcast Jew named Matthew, and we are walking through Matthew's entire gospel for the next year, year and a half, two years. We in no rush. Every week, Jesus is being glorified the gospel is being proclaimed the scriptures are being taught souls are being won and disciples are being made so we in no rush amen and um for all my note takers uh we're going to be unpacking Matthew chapter 6 verse 5, 18. And for all my note takers, there will be a lot for you to write down in this message. This message will be a little bit more wordy than what I've typically preached in this series, but I need to take my time with what I need to share with you on this one because this teaching is very important for the future of your life. Just a full disclaimer, right?

As I'm walking through this particular teaching, I feel like the word is going to fall on two grounds. For of you as I'm walking through this you're gonna feel confirmed you're gonna feel like wow Lord I'm growing I'm trending in the right direction and then there's others of you as I teach through this message you're gonna feel convicted you're gonna feel like wow Lord I'm really shallow I'm far away from where I need to be. Wherever you land on that spectrum, as I teach, listen to me, you're in a good place. If you have this sense like this teaching is just confirmation

of where I am and where I'm trending, you're in a good place. And if you feel convicted as I'm going through this teaching, you feel like, wow, Lord, I'm really not where I'm supposed to be. You're still in a good place. The only person in a bad place is the person that lands in the middle, the person of indifference, the person that says, I don't care either way, who is a follower. So if you feel convicted or you feel confirmed wherever you land as I talk I want to encourage you to say

that you're in a good place how should I pray spirit of the living God, I pray you would help this earthen vessel communicate these eternal, powerful truths to God's people. I pray, Spirit of the living God, you would bring conviction and confirmation.

I pray you would open up the eyes of the sons and daughters of the Most High. How can I pray? Lord, something must shift today. Something must shift today. I pray after this message, we all would be like the sons of Issachar who rightly discerned the times and knew what to do about it.

Let the weight of the word crush every opposition to the truth of God's Word bring transformation a new spiritual awareness in Christ's name I pray for my note takers we just to title this message the secret of prayer and fasting the secret of prayer and fasting i want to make a confession i'm generally very strategic about how I craft my intros to my messages because I want to be very thoughtful about how we ease into God's word. But I really struggle with how to start this message because I was really wrestling with whether or not to share something that happened to me this week, and it was very this morning, actually, before I left my prayer room, I really felt the Lord telling me to just be transparent and to be honest and to not be afraid of my vulnerability with the hopes that it might help somebody in the room.

So I struggled to begin this message this morning, And I want to actually begin this message with A word of transparency I want to be fully honest You know, I find it not strange that in the week I'm supposed to teach to you about prayer and fasting That I would suffer what I would just call A very strong spiritual attack against my mind and my heart this week.

One that left me with, I guess, a severe bout of discouragement. Discouragement just, you know, in terms of my pastoral ministry and my teaching and my preaching and where I am in my life and am I making a difference in the life of God's people? Is all of this matter? And I was just being pummeled by the enemy this week. I probably hit the basement on Saturday morning where I was really overwhelmed by discouragement. And I remember getting out my bed early on Saturday morning, just overwhelmed by just heaviness, crawling into my prayer room, not even knowing really what to say to God. just discouragement and feelings of failure and feelings like you're not doing a good job and just this onslaught of these negative things that was just pummeling me in my mind you know this kind of battle is not foreign to the people of god we see that even while jesus was in a time of praying

fast and the devil crept into his alone time with the father all right there's really no boundary where the enemy cannot attack when he's ready he will come and attack your mind he can attack your heart he has freedom to attack people's bodies if god allows him that rain and and and the devil was really doing a number on me um just this saturday morning i am generally a very positive person, full of great faith, have great tenacity, great grit. I generally lean on God. I lean on his word. And but, you know, I've never met a person that's never felt discouraged.

And I was very discouraged, to be honest. I was I was very discouraged. And I remember as I was sitting there, I remember that in the past, before I was saved, when I was discouraged, I would use various things as a coping mechanism for my discouragement. So I would tap a bottle for my discouragement. I would get a smoke for my discouragement. I would be driving with one knee and rolling up something while I was discouraged. None of y'all know anything about that, of course.

Because y'all were born saved. Right, I know. So you don't even know what that is right there. You have no idea what the knee on the stand is. I've got many years of doing this right here. Like, you see that? I would go shopping when I was discouraged. I would binge on food when I was discouraged. I would binge on food when I was discouraged.

I would go lay the pipe to something when I was discouraged. Just use them like indispensable apparatuses for my own personal lust and fulfillment. Y'all fill in all the blanks for yourself, which is so ungodly. And being a player is played out. I thought at least the ladies would give me some help on that. Like, it's shameful. It's so old school.

Grown men lock it down. You know, but I've found since I've been saved, probably the greatest coping mechanism I have now for discouragement is God's presence. I've been high. I've been drunk. I've been hopping out of personally, Philip Anthony Mitchell, probably the strongest coping mechanism I have now for any kind of heaviness, weariness, discouragement, stress, depression, thoughts of suicide. The best coping mechanism I've learned that exists to humankind is the presence of God. for me there's no stronger coping mechanism for pain than god's presence and probably the greatest thing i get in this presence is not the things i'm begging him for

but him himself that i know what it is to creep into his presence heavy and not say nothing and my eyes just filled with tears because I can feel him all around me right like wrapping me in his arms although I do not know what to say because I'm so heavy I don't know who to call I might be kind of going through social media looking for an encouragement word and can find none but I could feel his presence around me I could feel him like wrapping me in his arms and then I don't know what you know but I know what it is to just burst into tears because although I feel unworthy in that moment I feel ashamed in that moment I feel

like I sinned against you in that moment I've dropped the ball in that moment I don't even know what to say to you in this moment yet you wrap me in your arms anyway and because he can read my mind even things i can't get out of my mouth he see the torment of the heart man and i've grown to learn, man, the presence of God is the best coping mechanism. It is, in my opinion, the most satisfying thing for the human soul. I wish I had like eight

witnesses. I wish I had ten witnesses. Maybe twenty, fifty, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred. I wish I had five hundred witnesses 300, 400, 500. I wish I had 500 witnesses that knew that the spirit of God

was the best. And so when I'm heavy, I carry myself into God's presence. I don't know what you do. This did not originate with me, to be honest. I remember being a little boy in Queens, and I learned this from watching my parents. Immigrants from Trinidad, but had a vibrant, powerful prayer life. Shout out to Trinidad.

I don't even know how that happened. And I remember being really little, five, six, seven. And if you've been around me, I've shared this before. And every time I think of prayer, I think about this. The fondest memories I have of being a little boy and waking up in the middle of the night and going and sitting on the top of my stairs. And I could hear in the basement my parents crying out to God. I could hear them crying out to God for guidance and for strength

and for wisdom, especially my mother. She had this old wooden cross and she would, she'll be banging that cross on the floor. And I could hear her screaming and crying out to God for strength and crying out to God for wisdom and for guidance. It was there I realized she found strength. It was there I realized she was fighting battles in that basement, banging that cross on the floor. She was warring against demonic forces over our family. I would hear her banging that cross and calling the names of family members who were far away from God. I would hear her calling my name. I would hear her calling the name of her children as she banged that cross on the floor, crying out to God for our salvation, crying out to God

to rescue, crying out to God for the church. I would hear her banging that cross, and I would rarely hear her just praying for herself. Most of her they were filled with the names of other people, people in the church, people I didn't know, my own name, my sister's name, names of her siblings. I heard just banging her, and she'd be down there for hours crying out to God. These were my first images of somebody talking to this being who I knew not of, had no idea that he existed for real for me until a toilet seat in November 2003 when he rescued me in a bathroom. But I would hear, and she would keep going back to that place every day, early in the morning, late at night,

banging that wooden cross and crying out to God. These images remained in my mind that some way, somehow, my mother was tapped into someone i did not know but she had faith in and i will never forget those images and so it was just natural for me when i got saved man i was saved in in a in a bathroom and because i didn't know no better i would just keep running back to that bathroom meeting god over that toilet seat that toilet seat became my altar it was just so convenient because the toilet paper was right there. And when you prop, it rolls out from the top and not from the bottom.

It's supposed to roll out from the top. You've been to a good hotel. It never rolls out from the bottom. You got to reverse that and be men and women of excellence. The toilet paper is supposed to roll out from the top. Where my top roller's at? Say amen. Amen. The difference between the Four Seasons and the Motel 6 is supposed to roll out from the top. Where my top roller's at? They're going to check your toilet paper. said i gotta check my toilet paper i'm trying to live me out from being ghetto for the rest of your life if you're pulling it out from the bottom

you ain't never been to a five star with the toilet paper rolling out from the bottom. I said, why are you talking about that? God gave us toilet paper to wipe the liquid tears, the liquid prayers that come from the eye ducts. What is prayer? What is it really? Why are we talking about it? It is communication and communion with God. Prayer is the highest activity any human being in this life would ever engage in. There is no higher activity you will ever engage in outside of prayer. Prayer affects the way that God moves in the earth. People have prayed and changed God's mind.

God has sought to do something in the scriptures record people who prayed and God changed his mind because of someone's prayer. God has kept back evil from cities because of people's prayer and have destroyed cities because he could find no one to pray. Prayer affects the way God moves and moves his heart and moves his hand. I believe that if more of us believed what the scripture taught about prayer, we would pray more and we would pray more intensely if we really believed what the scripture taught about prayer we would pray more and we would pray more intensely if we really believed what the scripture taught us about prayer if we really believed and understood how prayer affects the spiritual world the world that you can't see that's more real than the world that we're in more people would pray and you would pray more it was paul who wrote we should pray

without ceasing that prayer should be like a lifestyle. It should be like breathing. This is this constant, unbroken dialogue that I got running with God all the time. It was James who wrote, some of you are jealous all the time and always full of envy. You're always looking at what other people have, and the reason is you have not because you ask not. You don't praise why you don't have. Otherwise, man, there's some things God will give you or do for you that he otherwise does not do because you don't pray about it. The most valuable thing we get in prayer is god himself it's intimacy with god now family listen to me carefully there is no way in one message on the space of 40 50 minutes that any human being can cover everything in the word about prayer i did a whole series about prayer called access

you can go and listen to that on the 2819 app. But no one can cover everything about prayer. This teaching is not an exhaustive teaching about prayer. That's not what this is. But in this next section of Matthew that we're about to look at, we are about to explore the apex of all teaching on prayer. That is, if we take all of the teaching on prayer in the Word of God, this is the apex of all teaching. That is, there is no greater teaching on prayer than what we're about to look at right here. And so the historical setting, you remember,

Jesus' fame is blowing up. He burst onto the scene after John the Baptist. His fame has spread throughout all these different cities. A crowd comes to him. He goes up on a mountain and he calls his followers to himself and begins to teach them what we call the Sermon comes to him. He goes up on a mountain and he calls his followers to himself and begins to teach them what we call the Sermon on the Mount. He teaches them the Beatitudes. We preached about that, which is about kingdom character. Then he teaches them about being salt and light, which is about their kingdom identity. Then he teaches them about the law and the prophets, the word of God, god the old testament which is our kingdom foundation and now he pivots now from character identity foundation to kingdom disciplines okay kingdom disciplines okay what was christ doing in the sermon this is

very important for you to understand this before we jump into the text as he's preaching if you pay and matter of fact you should just read this on your own time just read Matthew 5 through 7 this week read the whole sermon on the mount he is contrasting the false religious practices of the religious elite of the day the pharisees describes their perverted practices of religion and he's contrasted that with what pure faith is supposed to look like so it's all this correction about what they do you've heard it said but i say to you and in this section he talked about three things they're giving their prayer and they're fasting and last week you heard pastor kenny about broken trumpets, the perversion and the giving of the Pharisees and the scribes. And now he comes to bring a correction to two more spiritual

disciplines. He talked about their giving. Now he talks about their perverted praying and their perverted fasting. And what we're about to unpack, what I'm about to read to you is perhaps the most well-known and most beloved teaching on prayer anywhere in the scriptures there is no teaching on prayer in the scriptures more important than the text we're about to read i just want to set up jesus's teaching by reading first matthew chapter 6 verse 1 which is really the the intro for his teaching on giving fasting and prayer matthew chapter 6 verse 1 just bringing you back to what kenny taught last week said, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.

And then in the next couple verses, he teaches them about inappropriate giving, about broken trumpets don't give to be seen just be seen giving you missed that right they missed that don't don't give to be seen just be seen being generous right so he talked about motive okay he talked about motives verse two through four and then continuing his contrast between the perversion of the Pharisees and the scribes and what he wants his followers to do, he continues now with a prayer on teaching. Matthew chapter 6, the most important teaching on prayer recorded anywhere in Scripture. Verse 5. And when you pray, you must not, not you should not you not you should not you not you should not you

that is don't do this is what he's saying you do this all the time when you come to me. Stop doing this. You must not pray like this. And if you find yourself praying like this, the word to you is stop harassing God in this way. He says, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they might be seen by others. The church is filled with this. Truly, solemnly, I say to you, they have their reward.

They've received their reward in full. He says you must not pray this way. Let's unpack this text. First, I want you to see that Jesus assumes that every follower will have a prayer life. It is sinful to be prayerless.

How do I know that, preacher? Look at the text. And when you pray, not if you pray. The word when in the text assumes you must have a prayer life. Therefore, according to the words of your Savior, he expects you to have a lifestyle of prayer. It is not if you pray, it is when you pray. That is, he expects to be hearing your voice on a regular basis.

So the text assumes that you're going to have a prayer life. Because when we are prayerless, we subject ourselves to being distant from God. If you don't pray, you will be distant. If you don't pray, you drift away from the Lord. If you don't pray, you will be distant. If you don't pray, you drift away from the Lord. If you don't pray, you grow spiritually weak. Watch this. If you don't pray, you tell God you are self-reliant. When we are prayerless, we communicate to God,

I don't need you for all of my business and affairs. Watch this. I tell God I got this on my own. And it only takes for him to take the hedge of protection down from around you to just say, Satan, get her, get him for him to just unleash trouble in your life, to remind you that you're not stronger than God. Like your money can't protect you from trouble. Your relationships can't fortify you from trouble. Your health can't fortify you from trouble.

All God's got to do is pull down the hedge of protection from around you and let all hell break out in your life. Watch how quick he gets your attention then. So we can either pray voluntarily or circumstances will make us pray no you don't believe that job a wealthy man beautiful children wife was banging bad attitude but beautiful bad attitude but beautiful business blowing up got status social media following off the chain

the devil comes in man if you he just loved you because all that stuff he got he all about materialism man if you take away all that stuff he'll curse you to his face the lord says all right i'm to remove my protection from around him. Because the only thing keeping you is God's protection. That's my pride. It's so ugly to God. The only thing keeping your house, your family, your marriage. The only thing really keeping you is that invisible wall around you from God.

You need to read the scriptures. You are not that strong and you are not that the scriptures you are not that strong and you ain't not that tough and you ain't not that dumb doubt the only thing keeping your life from full destruction is that invisible wall of protection around you so the Lord said to me all right I'm gonna remove my protection from job you can get him but don't touch his body and in one day he lost his children his businesses his money his status he lost everything in a day only because the only thing keeping him was God's protection and the enemy comes back said man he still got his health. All right, go get his health then. Comes back and flicks his body with boils. Missed all of that.

The only reason you're on two legs is because of God's grace. The only reason you walked in here today is because of God's grace. The only reason you drove a car, came out of the house, ate breakfast, got on clothes, sitting in your right mind is because of God's grace. The only reason you drove a car, came out of the house, ate breakfast, got on clothes, sitting in your right mind is because of God's grace. The only reason you're on two legs is because of God's grace. Ain't nobody in here strong enough to keep yourself. You can't even produce oxygen for yourself. That's why he said, let everything that has breath give God praise because even your breath belongs to him. You're so prideful and arrogant. Prideful and arrogant. And let me come for all my wealthy people, all of us who got

a few coins. You think your money keep you safe later in matthew you'll see a man who said man my money i'm bubbling now multi-million and now jeff bezos money now oh i'm gonna get a bigger bank account to put more of my money overseas and the lord rose up on us he said you fool you know what your soul is required of you today now who's gonna spend all them coins because you can't protect yourself from god can't run can't hide let me remind everybody listening. The only thing keeping you.

See, because we don't get this right. When you lose something you put faith in, it destroy your life. Some of you, man, you couldn't even lose your wealth and bounce back. Because all your faith is in your materialism. You couldn't lose everything and bounce back. You ain't got that kind of faith. You got all that confidence in that lowercase g. Your dollars, your house, your cars, all.

Like God is not the one keeping all of that together. The scripture says in Colossians, in him all things are held together I've been married 20 years because of God I'm in my right mind because of God I came out of a warm bed because of God I got on some AJ ones because of God. The more we recognize this, the more grateful we are. Mine is a dangerous word. You're only a steward all right let me get back to the text he says put my verse back up there he said don't pray like these hypocrites who love to stand watch this and pray in the synagogues

and on street corners that they might be seen by others now everybody watch in the days of christ there will be roads running through jerusalem i've been there some of them were real wide not wide enough for cars but wide enough for crowds and what these what these hypocrites would do these pharisees what they would do is they put on their long robes and their phylacteries. And, you know, you think because you got to be dressed nice to be holy. You think holiness is dress. So they put on their long robes and their phylacteries and then they all go out there as a group. And they look for wherever the pack was, wherever there was a crowd.

And they all stand out there on a little box, all of them, and they just start praying all loud and all eloquent of speech, and they got their long robes, and they're saying all these fancy prayers, and they're pulling out their parchments and their scrolls, and they're standing there praying on these three corners, all of a sudden everybody will pass by

and think they're more holier than everybody else. You know, we do the same thing too. God forbid you're in a group and somebody tell you to pray. You don't pray, you preach. He ain't praying,

you preaching. You preaching because you so afraid that they're going to say she, he don't know how to pray so you're doing everything you can to muster up this perfect speech unless they think you don't know how to pray we ain't praying we preaching and he's and when you do that your only reward is that when you finish they say dang she can pray dang he can pray that your reward. The clout from people at the expense of the greater reward, God hearing.

You'll be better off being, now I lay me down to sleep and God hear that than you try to impress everybody who's listening. And the only thing that really happens in that moment is the people say, dang, she can pray. But it hit the ceiling and came back, though. Jesus later would tell a story of two men that walked up to the temple to pray. One man, a Pharisee, standing there, Oh God, I'm so thankful that I'm holy and I'm righteous. I'm not like this worthless pig standing over there, this Pharisee. I fast five times a day. I give alms to the poor.

I read the word all day long. And then this little man over here, he said he didn't even look up to heaven. He just put his head down because he felt so ashamed he beat his chest and said lord have mercy on me a sinner and jesus said who do you think god heard in that moment so here's what jesus is saying's saying, don't pray to impress people. Can we go deeper? Don't pray to impress God. Now, understand the text contextually.

Jesus is not condemning public prayers. Because later we'll hear that, man, we're called to pray in the gathering of the saints. We're called to pray when two and three come together. So he's not condemning public prayer. He's condemning prayer in public that has bad motives. He's also not condemning standing and praying. I don't want you to miss that in text he's not saying you can't stand and pray if you read the scriptures man we'll see people standing and praying kneeling and praying sitting and praying some of you think it's unholy to sit in prayer

like the scripture didn't say about david he went into God's presence and he sat down before the Lord and prayed. Some of y'all think this is unholy. So if your knees hurt, you feel like if you can't get there, God is mad at you. Like David didn't go in, the scripture says, and sat down in the presence of the Lord. I'm only getting up right now by the grace of the Lord. I'm only getting up right now by the grace of the Lord. Let's continue. Verse six.

He says to them, but when you pray again assuming that you will pray go into your room shut the door pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you all, let's look at this text carefully. He says, when you pray, so he assumes you have a prayer life. He says, go into your room and pray to your father who is in secret. Go into your room and pray to your father who is in secret. Go into your room and pray to your father who is in secret.

So Jesus is teaching us about secret places i.e this is a tagline for he expects the majority of your prayer to be alone he said well i prayed when i was at my squad praise god and i prayed when i was with ronda praise god but did you pray this week alone? The secret place is your time with you and God alone. It also gives off vibes of you should have a place to pray. You should have a regular place where you go and you meet with God so that when you come into that place, you start to sense, man, that he is already waiting for you when you get there.

That the room don't have to be a physical room. It could be a room. It could be the car. It could be your office, a basement, a park. It could be outside behind the house. For me, it was a bathroom and a toilet seat. It doesn't matter, but he assumes you would do the majority of your praying alone and in a set-apart place. Watch. Undistracted, undivided from the stimulus of the world, away from noise,

that you would shut away and know how to go away and be alone with God. Jesus prayed alone in the wilderness and on mountaintops. He had designated places to pray. Isaac prayed alone in a field. He would go into a field and pray. Daniel prayed alone in front of a window. He would open it and three times a day, he would pray to God in front of that window. Peter prayed alone on a rooftop and God gave him a vision that would pray to God in front of that window. Peter prayed alone on a rooftop and God gave him a vision that changed his life. Let me repeat that.

Lest the plane take off and you're not on it. Peter prayed alone and God in prayer gave him a vision that changed his life. God speak to me so you keep running behind prophets I gotta correct this foolishness I see happening all across social media some of y'all you so addicted to prophets because you don't know how to pray you always want a prophetic word about what's next or what God is about to do or this is the

year of this and all this stuff because you don't have a you can't get a vision for yourself and I'm not against prophetic ministry but I am against foolishness and lies that are that why I keep coming here that are taking advantage of God's people Can I repeat this, Daniel? Peter prayed on a rooftop alone and got a vision from God that changed the trajectory of his life. He was praying. He was alone,

and he got a vision from God. Lord, what should I do about this? Pray. Having trouble on my job having issues on my marriage I don't know what to do with my child I got a doctor's report pray

and he doesn't expect you to always do that in a group or in your squad or on your team man he expects you to come alone with just you and him undivided with just you and him set apart time for just you and him morning afternoon night wherever that is just you and i say it the lord man come to me get in here come i want to you. I want to meet with you. I want to hear your voice. I want to see your tears. I want to know what's going on in your heart. Come, come, come, come inside here and talk to me. Lay it all down in front of me. Sit at my feet and cry. Listen, let me whisper something in your ear. Let me whisper to you. You're about to make a bad

decision. You're about to make a bad business deal you're about to walk away from something i did not want you to walk away from your secret place and the blessing of that secret place no matter where it is when it is how we find god there we find god in that secret secret place. And we can come in in silence. Or we can come in with praise. Or we can come in with worship. Or we can come in with music. Or we can come in and sit down. It's that secret place.

For me, I have two secret places, right? One is a park I go to where I, when I want to be close to, I like nature. The scripture says that nature speaks. It proclaims God. So sometimes I go in nature and I can hear God in nature. So I walk around. Other times I just go into my prayer room and sometimes I am on my knees. I'm here. I always got my Bible in my hand. It communicates through his word. Sometimes I'm here sometimes when I just want to I want to just be near him and I don't want to be on my knees and sometimes man I just sit down like this and and I'm here there's times when I really feel grieved and I

just I just find myself here and there's times when I just want rest so I close my Bible and I'll just go like this and I'll just fall asleep in his presence and some of y'all think that is unholy like Isaac didn't lay his head on a rock and had a vision of a ladder set up to heaven and angels ascending and descending while he laid his head on a rock while he laid his head on a rock he had a vision of angels ascending and descending and woke up as I perceived the Lord was in this place the Lord is in this place. The Lord is in this place. That happened while he was sleeping. He says, when you pray in secret, you will be rewarded.

What is the reward that comes from praying in secret? His immediate transcendent presence. You pray in secret, you immediately feel his presence. That is the reward that comes from praying in secret his immediate transcendent presence you pray in secret you immediately feel his presence that is a reward when you pray in secret you get answered prayers that is a reward when you pray in secret you grow in intimacy that is a reward and what is the real prayer about secret man this listen man the real secret of prayer is just praying in secret. The secret of prayer is praying in secret. Verse 7. Let's move through the text really quickly.

Then he says to them, and when you pray, watch. Do not. Don't do this. Don't badger God like this. So he says, when you come into your secret place, here's what I don't want you to do in my presence. When you go into your secret place, do not keep up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you even ask. So he says when you go into the presence of God, don't keep up all this empty speech. Don't weary his ears with empty language.

Don't burn his ears with empty language. Why was Jesus saying this? In those days, man, the Pharisees and the scribes, man, they had long, long, long, long written prayers and they would recite them over and over and over and over and over and over and over at different times in the day. Long, long, long prayers. And they were doing it for hundreds and hundreds of years until it just became a routine. Jesus! And the pagans, man, until they're false gods, they will be muttering the same thing over and over and over.

All kind of foolishness all day long, calling out on their false gods, they will be muttering the same thing over and over and over. Bye-bye, so-called. Bye-bye, all kind of foolishness all day long, calling out on their false gods. And then this behavior crept into the people of God's heart. We've seen the pagans doing this like the prophets of Baal. They was on a mountain all day calling out to their false god against Elijah. And they called out from the sun up to the sun down. And Elijah said, man said man man they're cutting themselves and spilling blood and crying out to a God that does not exist because there's only one God and his name is Yahweh and there is no other God except Yahweh I don't care what name you put

on it there is no other God except Yahweh there is only one God and his name is Yahweh Jehovah God or every other God is an idol they cannot see they cannot hear there is only one true living God and so all day the scripture says they cut themselves and they cried out to the false god and elijah said maybe your god is sleeping yell louder all day crying out to their god who can't hear and this kind of behavior slipped into the practices of people god crying out crying out crying out crying out crying out and jesus was telling them listen to me i'm talking to everybody in this room. When you go into your secret place,

don't worry God with vain, repetitious, boring prayer that's disconnected from your heart. You say, well, is God against written prayers? You know, I write my prayers down. No. Half of the Psalms are written prayers. You can open up your word and the psalms there's nothing wrong with doing that the problem is when we have things written down or we keep uttering things that your heart is disconnected to at some point in time your child has to move on from now

I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep me. You have to teach them how to talk to God for themselves. Whenever your prayer becomes a ritual, God has stopped listening. Whenever you're talking and your heart is not connected to it, God is not listening. Watch this. So you shouldn't even pray about things you don't care about. That's good.

That's good. to even pray about things you don't care about. This does not mean you can't be persistent in prayer. This does not mean you can't keep coming to God with something that's important to you. Later, he would tell a story about a woman who kept harassing a judge and said, man, give me justice. He said the judge was worried by the woman and lest the woman badger him anymore.

He said, let me give this woman what he wants. Will not your father do the same for his children that come before him day and night because sometimes we got to come back like god it's me again about this friend again this marriage again this thing again he's not against that what the problem is when we come to him with long prayers long speech eloquent speech and your heart is disconnected you ain't impressing him and he don't want to hear it he just wants you to get to the point you remember i taught you this god i ain't gonna hold you y'all remember that it's urban colloquialism for just get to the point you ever talk to somebody that's trying to explain something and they're going around the long way

to explain and you already know but they take an hour to explain to you something so simple and you just want to cut them off and be like would you just just get to the darn point like my daughters they're like master manipulators of me i don't even know how they do this right i'm just a sucker and then they'll come to me and easy like daddy you know we had a long week of schoolwork and you know we got an A on that last test and today is Friday and you know we you know we drove by Starbucks earlier and they had a sale that was going on. I'm like, what do you want? What do you want from my life? I told my two daughters, what is it? What is it?

Can we get a drink from Starbucks? Yes. Why you waste 15 minutes building that up? Why don't you just come in and say, Daddy, can I get a drink from Starbucks? You laugh, but you do that to the father, too. How many of y'all go into God's presence and you think you got to build a case to get to what you really want to say? Like you an attorney as if there is there is no ambiguity with sovereignty god knows everything so he already knows what's bothering you when you come in

he wants you man just to have honest speech and just get to the point so the lord says when you come before him, don't busy him with empty words. Watch, it's not about persistence. The key word is empty. It shouldn't be empty. Don't make prayer a ritual. Okay? Prayer should just be, it should be honest.

It should be direct. It should be sincere. It doesn't matter if it's two minutes or if it's two hours. He just wants it to be sincere. Okay? So two things we need to avoid when we pray. Vain glory and vain repetition. Okay?

It's not about you all the time. And it's not about your exhaustive speech. Okay? Now, let's go ahead and get to the back half and land the plane. Verses 9 through 13 if we shouldn't pray those ways because he just taught us how not to pray you don't pray to be heard you don't pray to be seen you don't pray with empty speech you don't pay for vain glory you don't try to busy god with all this nonsense that you just get to the point if you should not pray that way then how should we pray verse 9 nine through 13. Then Jesus says, watch now, now, now family,

this is very important. And this is the part that, listen, I got it. I got it. This is going to affect a lot of your theology. I already know I'm about to make a lot of you uncomfortable and that's okay though. Before you leave, I got it. I'm about to know I'm about to make a lot of you uncomfortable and that's okay though. Before you leave, I'm about to mess up your theology. Okay, now watch. Jesus is telling his followers and you, this is the way I want you to figure this out on your own. I want you to pray the way I'm teaching you how to pray. You know what this is like before I get into this? Anybody, like you've been in a relationship, and you have to tell somebody, don't talk to me this way.

Because watch, when you talk to me this way, watch when you talk to me this way i don't respond well if i'm trying to have a conversation and all you're doing is yelling i don't respond well to that watch if i'm trying to have a conversation you always got to turn your back on me every time i'm talking i don't respect some of us know what it is to be in a relation with somebody i have to teach them how to communicate with us. Some of you have good parents. You have to teach your children how to communicate with you. Mommy, I want. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Abby.

No, Malachi. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Abby. No, Malachi, no. Daddy, can I have? You do your children how you want. Can I have? Because you're not entitled. Not I want. Can I have? You're going to ask and allow me to respond with a yes.

You don't tell me what I need to do. And you're only three feet tall. I ain't getting no amen from you. I need only my seasoned saints know something about that. Right, Mama T? Right, Karen? You don't tell me. You three feet tall. My grandparents, I brought you in this world.

Watch. Graham my grandparents I brought you in this world out watch so Jesus did not want his disciples just pray how they want he actually wants you to pray a certain kind of way now this is gonna ruin a lot of your theology because you read this before but you haven't read it right. Okay. Now, everybody watch. Watch. Verse 9. Now, pay attention.

Okay. I want to teach. Pay attention. You don't get to freestyle. Watch. If you're freestyling, that's poor training. So he trained his disciples how to pray and Luke's Gospel they see him doing all these miracles and they come to me say Lord can you teach us how to pray they never asked them teach us how to do miracles teach us how to raise the dead teach us how to multiply Popeyes

they never they never asked him I had Popeyes the other day was banging teach us how to they never asked him how to how to do anything to ever ask them Lord teach us how to pray that's Luke's version so watch you don't expect you to freestyle and pray he actually gave you a model a blueprint a booklet watch no one says build a house without blueprints if you build a house without blueprints. God. If you build a house with blueprints, you're going to have pipes missing and things missing and the house will fall down. So the Lord did not

want you to build a prayer life without blueprints. Now I'm not to mess up your theology because some of you have known this since you was a child, but you haven't read it right. You ready for this? Are you sure? Are you ready for this? Sit up. Are you ready for this are you sure you ready for this sit up are you ready for this verse watch this verse nine don't do all that other stuff instead pray then like this what this is the way i want you to pray all my children our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven you know the record give us this day our daily bread

and old school and forgive us as trespassers as we forgive those who. You know this old school. And lead us not into. But deliver us from the evil one. Now the last part was not in the original manuscripts. It was added later by a scribe. But it doesn't hurt the prayer. For thine is the. And the power. And the glory.

Forever and ever. Amen. Somebody say amen. Amen. Now watch. Some of us have known this since we was a child. Like me. And you've been taught it.

And we can recite it. And we know it. We pray it at family events. Some people pray it at funerals. And there's nothing wrong with praying it verbatim if your heart is connected to it. But family, I want to draw your attention to a key word in verse 9. Okay? Verse 9.

Key word. The key words are like this. Okay. The key words are like this this he did not say pray this i'm about to mess up your theology there's nothing wrong with praying which we call the lord's prayer which is really a disciple's prayer. Nothing wrong with reciting it. This is the first thing I ever learned from my time when I was a little child. My mom taught me, nothing wrong with that. But I want you to pay attention to the key words in the text.

He did not say, pray this. I'm teaching you how to study the scriptures. He said, pray like this. Watch. The word like this is a sign to you that this is not a formula. It is a model. It's not a formula to be recited after every meal or every barbecue or every funeral. It's not a formula to recite. It is a

model to follow. It is a model to follow. It is a model to train your mind how to have an effective prayer life. So if we're students of the word, we're not just leaning in to what he said. We're leaning into what he was trying to communicate with what he said. So what Jesus was teaching his followers,

I'm about to mess up your theology, your prayer life should be filled with the elements of this prayer. If it is not, you're not praying well. I don't know anyone that wants to do anything and not be effective and there's a lot of praying but it's not effective because you're freestyling and you're praying according to articles on google and what your last prophet told you to pray now I'm about to mess up your theology this is a model not a formula so that means a proper

prayer life should be everybody look right at me look look at me this is important this is for the rest of your life a proper prayer life should be filled with the elements of the model. I need to repeat this one more time before I teach. I'm almost done. A proper, in God's sight, prayer life should be filled with the elements of the model. One more time. And effective, proper. And when this is done,

go in the scriptures in the New Testament and read every prayer recorded in the New Testament. Go read how Paul prayed. Watch. A proper, effective prayer life should be filled with the elements of the prayer and not just the words of the, you don't even gotta never say these words ever again,

but your prayer life should be filled with the elements so now you should be asking me a question verse 9 10 11 12 13 five of them can i give you the five elements of the prayer? Okay. Verse nine. Okay. Our father in heaven hallowed be your name. So Jesus was teaching us that when we kneel, stand, walk, sit, run, whenever you go to pray, you need to think about who you're talking to first. Don't just come in and start running off at the mouth he says when you come in slow down and put your mind on who you are talking to when you pray our father not our boss just help some of you not my task master not the person who made me, not my boss, not the person who's out to get me. My, our father. In Arabic, Abba.

Which translated English, Daddy. Not like the earthly fathers who failed us. For some of us, we hear the word father, it's a bad taste in our mouth. Because when we hear father, we hear absent, we hear distant, we hear quiet, we hear abusive. That's the trick of the word father, it's a bad taste in our mouth. Because when we hear father, we hear absent, we hear distant, we hear quiet, we hear abusive. That's the trick of the devil. You want to destroy society, destroy the man. So blind. You want to ruin a society, destroy men. Make them effeminate. Take them away from houses houses remove them from their children you want to ruin just give a society a few generations without real men and watch what happened to our society without fathers that's why the first person the devil's coming for in the house is a father God did not make Eve first.

I can't even get into that. Oh my God. I should touch that for a second. I know the emails are coming. God made a male first. And spoke to a male alone. Gave a male instructions alone. Then gave him a help meat from a rib.

The only bone in the body that can grow back on its own. So he left his fingerprint inside your body. Side note. You remove a rib, it can regenerate on its own. And that's why when Eve wild out with the fruit, God, he blasts her first. You notice God didn't roll up on them until Adam ate?

Eve ate. God quiet. She hands it to her husband who's standing right there while she's talking to the serpent. He eats. All hell break loose. The male was the foundation.

Men, that's why we're not on top we're the foundation you want to wreck a house wreck a male I should repeat that, right? You want to wreck a house, wreck a male. As soon as he's wrecked, everything else is out of order. Y'all need to wake up. Why do you think the enemy is always after the male first?

That's why the majority of us, whether they're basketball players or rappers or people in the church, we were raised with our... They don't want me to. I already know because they're attacking me on social media every week. I don't want me to. I already know because they'll be attacking me on social media every week. I don't care. Care? They've been trolling me all week from the last thing I said last week, two weeks ago. They was talking about,

oh, that's somebody trolling me. Like, God want people to come out of sin. You was telling people not to come out of sin. You weren't listening. You wasn't listening. I didn't say Jesus don't want people to live holy. I said that's not the first thing he whispers to the sinner. The first thing he whispers to the sinner is come.

Then he works on behavior. Y'all don't listen. All you got, you keep nagging me on social media. You trolls, but you don't listen like a bunch of gnats always buzzing on my page you don't listen I didn't say Jesus don't want people to live holy he'll roll up on a sinner and correct everything in their life, the first whisper the sinner hears is come. Then go and sin no more. Like a bunch of gnats all over my page.

Like these mosquitoes now, they've been in the gym, they big. I've seen them floating around my house. They've been in the gym all winter. Like a bunch of mosquitoes buzzing all over my page. I just want to spray y'all with truth. Everybody watch. So watch. He wants you when you pray to watch to watch think about who you're talking to you're praying to a god who is personal is why he called him father this is gonna make sense you're praying to a god who is limitless is why he told you he's in heaven you're praying to a god who is holy is why he told you always respect his name when you come into his presence his name his

Character respect him when you don't just talk to him any kind of way I don't let my children talk to me any kind of way He's trying to train you to have respect for the father when you go into his presence So if you're no take a watch he's telling you you need to pray with a consciousness of intimacy because he called him a daddy, a father. You should be praying with a sense of intimacy. He doesn't want you going into prayer and thinking God is far away from you. If you're taking those, watch. He wants you to pray with a sense of sovereignty. He wants you to know that God is above you. He's unlimited in power and scope.

He's in heaven. There's no resources he can't get into your life on your hands. See, you need to pray thinking about this. How many of you actually think about this when you pray? See, this is training for your mind. Can I go deeper? Look verse 9 all the pronouns in this entire prayer are plural never singular it's powerful he wants you to pray with a sense of community watch so whenever you kneel to pray he wants you to think no matter what I'm going through I am never alone someone else is there for me or going through what I'm going through because he's our father so I know Milton and I have the same problems because he's my brother in the faith gosh this is so powerful so this is where when you pray you never feel like I'm alone in whatever I'm going through

just trying to make it plain and the reason he says hallowed be your name because he wants you to know that god is holy like let me give you a good example of this i i gotta speed through this but give me a second please it's gonna change your life i remember at the end of our consecration this year we had just finished watching an episode of the chosen and then we should all right and then um we we shoved the tv and uh and and i said to izzy my daughter israel i said israel pray us out pray everybody bowed their heads and she just started saying god and i said no no no no no stop stop izzy she started praying the holy spirit told me make, stop. Stop Izzy. She started praying. The Holy Spirit told me, make her stop.

I said, Izzy, stop. And I said, Izzy, I want you to think about who you're talking to. I want you to think about where he is and who he is. Take as long as you need to think about that. Then pray. We're going to wait for you. And we bowed our heads again. Now watch. A minute went by and nothing. Two minutes went by, nothing. Three minutes.

Maybe four minutes. Then out of nowhere, I hear whimpering. I hear crying. I hear sobbing. And I know in that moment, Izzy got a glimpse of who she was talking to and where he was

and who he is as a loving father. And she burst into tears. And then she began to pray over our family And who he is as a loving father. And she burst into tears. And then she began to pray over our family. With power and authority. Viction. And conviction. And she prayed. And as she prayed, I cried.

And her mother cried. And Malachi cried. And Joey burst into tears. And we're all just sitting there bawling. Aszy is praying she's praying down to heavens the only thing that changed was her focusing on our Father who art in heaven, whose name is holy. As Izzy began to focus on who he was and where he was and all of what he was, she was overwhelmed by his holiness

and by his presence and by his love as a father. And as she was overwhelmed, she began to pray from the depths of her soul as she thought about who she was praying to. It wasn't running and run out. It was go in, let me think about who she was praying to it wasn't running and run out it was go in let me think about who i'm talking to so she sat there for a moment see this is what jesus want this is what he wants from you when you go into prayer stop for a second. Think about who you're talking to. Where he is.

Who he is. What is at his disposal for you. Meditate on that for just a moment before you start running off at the mouth. And get a glimpse of a God that is all powerful. Limitless. Who loves you like a father loves a child. Get a glimpse of where he is and where you are from his vantage point and where you are that he sees you and he knows and he can hear get a glimpse of

that then pray so jesus is saying when you pray think about who you're talking to you're talking to your father verse 10 really quickly then he says watch then pray like this he says your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven notice he ain't get to you yet it's about to mess up your theology he says pray your kingdom come and you will what is the kingdom it is it is the rule and the reign of god that came in Jesus Christ that is forcefully advancing through the ages. It is conquering the lives of men. It is conquering people all around the globe. It's coming like a tidal wave and it's going to envelop the whole world. It's going to consume everything until every kingdom has fallen and the only thing left is the kingdom of Jesus. That's why Isaiah said, unto us a child is born, a son is given,

the government will be upon his shoulders and of the increase of his government, there will be no end. Watch. He says, pray your kingdom come. Where is the kingdom? Watch. It's in the hearts of men.

It's going to register to you in a second. He says, I want your prayer life to be filled with you being consumed about caring, about the spread of the reign of God in the hearts of people. Do you pray like that? He said, pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What is God's will, right? He says, I want you to pray for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. He says, I want you to pray for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. He says, pray for God's will to be done. Pray for the spread of God's values. Pray for God's will.

The erosion of biblical values, that's not God's will. The erosion of marriage, that's not God's will. Changing the laws to go against the Bible, that's not God's will. Changing the laws to go against the Bible, that's not God's will. Are y'all listening to me? These things are not exalting a sinful lifestyle and making it a day that we celebrate every year. That's not God's will. Or like when I go to funerals, I get so sick and tired of going to funerals. Like he was a drug dealer.

He was banging mad chicks. He died in an accident. We say, oh, it was God's will to call him home like this. Or a little baby was shot in her head. And we say, oh, it was God's will for her to take a bullet in her head at four years old. No, that's not God's will. It's not. I want to mention, we live in a fallen world.

It's not God's will to put a bullet in the head of a four-year-old. There was a girl who went to this church my wife and I loved, and her boyfriend blew her brains out. It was her children in the backseat of a car. And at her funeral, they had the nerve to say, oh, it was God's will for him to call her home this way. No, it was not God's will. It was bad decisions.

Some of you say, it's not good. Lord, help me. When he says, pray your will be done, that's the believers, the Christians in the world, looking at everything that is foolishness

against God's will and praying against it. It's us seeing all the foolishness in the world and being conscious to pray against it. No, you can't change marriage. No, you can't glorify a sin and make it a day of the year that we celebrate. No, we won't do that no we don't pray you out of office we're gonna pray you out of here we're gonna pray for marriages we're gonna pray for this we're gonna pray I'm gonna pray for my unsaved loved ones I'm gonna pray for everybody to know God y'all be pretty

little compulsive I was like nah pretty little soft prayers God I pray for every person who I love and know that don't know you I pray you break them get their attention strip them bring them to the end of themselves. Whatever you got to do to save them from going to hell, save them, Lord. Lord, I pray against the things that they're passing in the government. I pray against these things. It is the Christians saying,

where there's foolishness that goes against the will of God, we pray against these things in the earth. See? Put the whole sermon together. That's where salt and light makes more sense. On your knees. See? Now watch.

How many of you pray like that? How many of you are crying out for people to be saved? Crying out for righteousness in this nation. Crying out for the church to advance. Crying out for the church to have the resources it needs. How many of you are crying out for God to send laborers into the harvest? You're not praying like that. You're only praying for what you want.

Notice, he didn't even get to you yet. That he wants your prayer life to be filled with, watch, his business. God wants his children's prayer life to be filled with his business. He wants your prayer life to be missional. Some of you, your prayer life is boring because you're at the center of it all the time. It's why you said, I don't know how to pray. How could you not know what to pray or don't know what to pray when you have people you know who are not saved, but you don't know what to pray. You see them changing laws in the government to

go against the scriptures, but you don't know what to pray. You see them changing laws in the government to go against the Scriptures, but you don't know what to pray. You see them redefining marriage, but you don't know what to pray. You see your girlfriend going through, but you don't know what to pray. How do you not know what to pray? Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven, everything bows to God. In heaven, everything is perfect. In heaven, the angels are submitted. Pray what is in heaven to be on earth. God, I pray the church will be submitted. I pray that you will save souls. I pray you raise up laborers for the harvest. I pray for every pastor who's weary. I pray for every missionary who has needs. I pray, God, you plant churches all around the world. I pray for every loved one by name that does not know you. I pray for every friend by name that does not know you.

I pray for my mother and father by name that do not know you. God, I pray you take that president out of office if they can't honor the kingdom of God. Father, I pray against politics that's coming against the Bible. God, I pray that you raise up righteous politicians. And righteously, when are you gonna run out he says he hates the shedding of innocent blood God I'm praying against Planned Parenthood that was created to destroy black people to begin with. You need to read eugenics, population control. We pray

God you shut down every Planned Parenthood. No, shut it down. I drive by strip clubs and I say God I pray you shut down the strip club and deliver every woman in there. Help her to know she has worth and value and she can be loved by a man. I pray when I drive by strip clubs

because I'm thinking in my mind, your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth. There's no abuse of the bodies of women in heaven. There ain't no polls in heaven. There ain't no men throwing dollars at women, abusing them in heaven.

Lord, shut down that strip club. Deliver all those women, Lord. All those women that didn't have fathers that loved them. Help them to know you love them. That they have worth and value, Lord. Shut them down. When I drive into the city, I pray against every strip club. Lord, I pray against sex trafficking.

There's no shortages of his will to pray for. How many of y'all pray like that? You don't. You don't pray like that. And then we wonder why society is a mess. But the ones responsible for keeping back the cave don't pray like that. So we just let things just keep decaying on up I got a pastor friend in the city who said man a man came to pray in his church from Europe he said in Europe man less than 5% of the population go to churches I don't

know if that's true or not but he said the majority of people go to mosque now you hear that and you don't care because you don't pray the way jesus taught you to pray my mind has been trained like this so i care i think to myself well christianity landed on our shores from europe and now europe what used to be a christian stronghold has fallen to a to a another religion the same thing will happen in the united states if the children of God are not praying for the will of God to be done it will only take a few laws for them to say you can't preach this Bible but you keep putting them in office

because you have more allegiance to your party than to the kingdom of God so we're not praying for God's will to be done and for his kingdom to come we're not praying for his reign his rule let me let me just finish I already know how you feel verse 11 I already know oh watch watch now he gets to you and give us this day our daily bread and that day they live hand to mouth so he said i want you to pray with a dependency that everything you have comes from me any need you have it comes from me so he wants you watch to pray with a sense of dependency on god so that you never live a life of self-sufficiency. Whether it'll matter

if you're wealthy or poor, he wants you to always be praying with a sense of dependency. God, I know all that I have comes from you. All that I need will come from you. I need strength. I need guidance. I need wisdom. I need resources. I need this door to open for my job. I need to feed my family. This is where you talk to him about you. But notice the whole prayer is not filled with you. The majority of the prayer is about him and his will and his kingdom. Okay. Verse 12, I already know how you feel and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. So he wants you to constantly be confessing sin in his presence and letting people go in his presence. This is not about salvation. This is about, if you want to feel a release from God, you need to be constantly releasing people. So when you're

holding people and you're having grudges and somebody's pissing you off keep releasing them in God's presence so God can release you that in God's presence you need to keep confessing sin and releasing sin in his presence his presence is a place of release verse 13 and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil so this is when God wants you to be praying for strength to go through trials. And wants you to have a consciousness that you're going to go through trials. And then verse 14 and 15, he says, For if you forgive those who trespass, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others who trespass, your heavenly Father will not forgive you.

Your trespasses. Okay. Family, look at me. Did you see those verses? How much of that was about you? One verse. The rest was all about God and others. What is the Lord saying to you? Somebody talk to me.

Your prayer life should be filled with what? The bulk of your prayer life shouldn't even be about you. It should be about God's will, his kingdom, and others. How many of you pray like that? You don't.

But then you'd be mad why he don't answer. Because if you really want to mess up a child, give them everything they want. So I'm going to keep stalling you out until you learn how to pray some of you the things you desire will actually come to you when you start focusing on God's business

what if the spouse you're believing for comes when you stop focusing on it so much ruth wasn't praying for a spouse she was gleaning in a field is it wrong to pray for a spouse no but the lord said i want you i want the bulk of your prayer to be focused on my kingdom my will i want you to talk to me like i have your best interest at heart i want you to know that i'm holy i want you to respect me and revere me i want you to be forgiving and releasing others i want you to do more about my will and others and it's like it's like god your kingdom god your will god forgive me god your kingdom God your will God forgive me God your kingdom

God your will God forgive me oh God I need a job God your kingdom God your will God forgive me God save this person God turn them around God fix that marriage oh Lord I need this God your kingdom come God take them out of office God save, save my mother. God, save my father. God, push back evil. God, let your kingdom come. God, plant churches. Oh, Lord, I need a new job. God, plant more churches. God, save more souls. God, open up their minds. God, open up their eyes. Open up blinded eyes. Win my father. Win my mother. Save my children. Move on my block. Save my neighborhood. That Muslim I know, God, at the gym. Save that Muslim at the gym. Oh, Lord, I need strength.

God, that atheist I know at the gym. Save that atheist. Save these people at Walmart. Save this person, God. Let your kingdom come. Forgive me for this person. Forgive me for this sin. I'm sorry for what I did.

Move on my mother, God. Move on my son, God. Move on that church, God. Send roosters, God. Raise up labor to harvest. Oh, God, I'm depressed. Can you help me? God, plant more church, God. Send roosters, God. Raise up labor to harvest. Oh, God, I'm depressed. Can you help me? God, plant more churches. God.

I'm done, Sam. Jesus. You know what happens when your prayer life starts to look like that you become powerful everybody look right at me you know what happens when your prayer life becomes like that you you you will have you will spend so much time thinking about god's will his kingdom you will start you will start noticing the brokenness in society. You will start thinking about evil and darkness. You will be shedding tears. You will start paying attention to everything going around you that's dark and evil and wicked.

And you will be crying out to God for his will to be done so much so, you won't have time to focus on yourself. You won't be done so much so you won't have time to focus on yourself you won't be down so much when you're self-absorbed and you only focus on yourself you will be depressed a lot here's the bottom of it the Lord is trying to deliver his children from our natural bent towards selfishness. Wow. I got that. Some of us are so selfish.

We're the same way in our prayer time. We ain't praying for no one else except ourselves. And in this last little section about fasting, he ain't even spent a lot of time there because fasting makes no sense apart from prayer. He says, when you fast, don't look gloomy. Put oil in your head. You know the verses. I ain't got to read it.

He's trying to say, when you fast, you should be doing that in private, in secret. You should be fasting and people don't even know. And it don't got to read it he's trying to say when you fast you should be doing that in private in secret you should be fasting and people don't even know and it don't make no sense to fast and not pray because fast is not a hunger strike against God

it is abstaining from food to weaken the flesh to strengthen the spirit that you grow closer to God that's all it is Jesus in this section is talking to his followers about giving

praying fasting I want to read to you a quote somebody wrote about this segment a theologian named A. Plummer wrote this about verses 1 through 18

he says the light of a Christian character will shine before men and win glory for God without the artificial aid of public advertisement. Ostentatious religion. Always searching for clout it may have its reward down here but it receives none from god christians who judge successful ministries by external statistics such as attendance figures and membership and baptism and offering, should seriously rethink their criteria in light of Jesus' words here. God judges the greatness of his servants by searching their hearts, examining their inner attitudes,

seeing their deeds that are done in secret. They're given, they're praying, they're fasting. Doubtless his evaluations of who most honors him will invert or switch or change substantial majority of his people's evaluations of who y'all think is winning in God's eyes. My brothers and sisters, I was that selfish prayer. I was the person in the beginning always praying for myself and everything that I want. All my prayers was filled with me.

I'm 20 years in. Most of my prayers, I would say 90, 95% of my prayers, I'm crying out for you. I'm crying out for the global church. I'm crying out for people who are not saved On their way to hell I'm crying out against the things that the government is doing That's anti-Christ I'm crying out against laws that's being passed

That's exalting sin I'm crying out against evil and darkness And wickedness I'm crying out for the strength of the church The spread of the gospel I'm crying out for all these things Because my mind is thinking about the kingdom and if your mind is thinking about the kingdom you're always aware that time is running out. So I'm not just

a busybody with everything I'm doing and not thinking about God's business. There's a lot of people who call ourselves believers but our minds are not occupied with God's business God is not against you doing you but it is a problem when you're doing you at the expense of not doing him at all and you said well I don't want all that responsibility then give back your salvation then face hell on your own without the blood of Jesus get into heaven on your own righteousness we got Christianity wrong in this nation you think God saves you to be a genie

and to only give you what you want when we're not thinking about the fact that the kingdom is coming like a tidal wave to envelop everything. And that time is running out. And that the Lord is trying to get his children to be busy about his business. If you don't believe that,

go do your own study and read the prayers of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians and Colossians. Read all the prayers that have been recorded in scripture and see who's at the center of those prayers. Not the prayer. God's kingdom. God's will. The advancement of what God wants in here is at the center of all the New Testament prayers. The reason we don't pray like this is because we live in a humanistic society in which we're drowning in selfishness

and we're self-absorbed and we actually think God saved you for your glory. Where he rescued you for his glory. That no man can come to the Father except the Lord draw him. Watch. So if you're saved, he chose you. He rescued you from damnation,

brought you into the kingdom. He wants you to be an agent of change in the world and in the prayer room. Salt of change in the world and in the prayer room. Salt and light in the world and in the prayer room. He wants you to be conscious that time is running out, the kingdom is coming, and what are you doing to advance that from

your knees? When you start praying the way Jesus taught you to pray, your prayer life would explode. Your heart would start to burn. Your spirituality would catch fire. You start shedding tears from them dry eye ducts that you got. You start caring about things all around you that you walk by

that God has grieved over. Like at one of my kids' school, they hung an ungodly flag in a window for everybody to see in the, what's that called? The pickup line. And every day we got to drive by that ungodly flag. And when I saw it last week, I'm saying, I'm going up to that school on Monday and I'm going to sit with that principal. And I'm going to tell them, why is this in the window? If the Christian flag is not in the window, y'all need to take this down. I'm bringing the full wrath of the county to this school. You know what that is?

That's being salt and light. That's caring about the message y'all trying to tell our children. You can look at me cross-eyed if you want. That's what we're here for to care about darkness and evil and sin and decay if the people of god don't care who's gonna do that if you're not praying about it who's gonna do that if you got unsafe loved ones and you ain't crying out for them who's going to do that your hell is forever there people go in there every day and they're not getting out

some of them have been in your family and you lied at a funeral saying man they love god and they never had a walk with God. They're lost forever. And more are going to go there if you don't start praying your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See, you don't want to hear that. And you don't want to say amen. You don't want to stand to your feet. You don't want to clap that. And you don't want to say amen. You don't want to stand to your feet. You don't want to clap because we're full of ourselves. And all of your prayer is centered around you.

You are the object of all your affection. And that's why Europe fell. And that's why the Middle East, where Paul planted all the Christian churches, fell. And the United States will follow if you and me don't wake up. You're going to hand off to your grandchildren a world where they know not the Lord. Where Allah will be their God.

Like Europe. And it's going to happen on your watch. It ain't going to happen on mine, no. where Allah will be their God like Europe and it's going to happen on your watch it ain't going to happen on mine though not on mine, on yours, not on mine pray then like this our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses that we forgive those who trespass lead us not into temptation deliver us from evil you fill your prayer life

with those elements, your spirituality would explode. Listen to me. It'll change your life forever. Let me pray for you. You need us here again. All I want is all you are. Will you meet us here again? please don't look at me father in the name of Christ your son

I pray over all of these who are your sons and daughters. Oh, God. Help us. Deliver us from being self-absorbed in our personal lives and especially in our prayer. Teach us how to pray according to your will. Open our eyes to see the darkness and the sin that's enveloping our nation. Move us in our hearts to care deeply about what's happening in our nation. Let it bleed out in our prayer time.

Let us be concerned about the loss, concerned about the state of marriage, concerned about the state of the male, concerned about the state of the female. Let us be concerned about the state of family. Let us be concerned about the state of the church. I pray right now for everyone under the sound of my voice

that God you would rob us God from just being in a love of fear with ourselves and that our eyes would be opened that we would start to feel your love for humanity we would start to feel the brokenness of your heart against sin

we would mourn like you said blessed are those who mourn, that we begin to mourn of our sin and the sin of the world. Open our eyes to see, burn us in our hearts to care, move us in our prayers to cry out. The church in America, God, is so perverted and so selfish and so dead and so self-centered. Lord, I pray that a revival of heart will be born right

here, right now, in this room, in the hearts of your children. And even when they drive home, God, they would see the moral decadence of society and be grieved in their heart. And I pray, God, Lord, from prayer closets and secret places all across the city children God will cry out all around the world in these last days you will hear the voices of your children crying out your will be done your kingdom come Lord crying out God for the things that's in the world. Crying

out. Lord, I pray for these that you teach them to pray. In Christ's name, I pray. While heads are bound, my brother, my sister, I want to talk to you really quickly before you leave. I'm talking to you who have gone to church, but you don't have a relationship with the Lord.

You don't know him. You, my brother, you, my sister, you've been in church. You don't have a relationship with the Lord. You came in here, but you're not here by accident. The greatest prayer you will ever pray is not for your needs. The greatest prayer you ever ever pray is not for your needs. The greatest prayer you will ever pray for is for forgiveness. Right there as you sit in your chair, a sinner, you are an object of God's wrath. And the scripture says if you die in your sin, you're going to be separated from God for all eternity.

But God in his love, not wanting you to perish, sent his son into the earth. He died a death in your place. He says if you would turn from your sin, put your faith in him, he will forgive you of your sin. He'll make you a brand new man, a brand new woman. He's doing it right now. He knew you would be here before the foundation of the world. He's saving you right there in your seat. And we just want to acknowledge who you are. You came in here a sinner. You're about to walk out here a brand new man, a brand new woman, forgiven, set free with God as your heavenly father, that you can

talk to him about anything that's going on in your heart. You say, I've been praying. He ain't been listening to you. The first prayer he wanted prayer. He wants to hear is I surrender my brother, my sister. I'm talking to you. God is calling you to a life of purpose, a life of destiny, a life of forgiveness. He's about to change your life the way he changed mine in 2003 over a toilet seat in a bathroom. If that's you, I just want to acknowledge you all. I want to pray a special prayer. You feel like God is doing something in your heart. It is divine.

It is supernatural. It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. You stand preacher. Just pray for me. I feel God doing something in my heart in this moment. He is my father. I'm surrendering.

I'm walking out of here saved. I'm walking out of here a brand new man, a brand new woman. If that's you, I want to pray for you. I'm going to count to three. Just throw your hand in the air. Throw it back down. I just want to see who I'm talking to. Believers, I'm praying.

One, God is calling you. You don't have to go to hell. Two, today could be the beginning of a brand new life. Three, throw your hand in the air. Leave it there. One, leave it there. Two, three, leave it there. Four, five, six, leave it there.

Seven, leave it there. Eight, nine, ten, leave it there. Eleven, twelve, thirteen, leave it there. Fourteen, fifteen, leave it there. Sixteen, I see you, my dude. Sev there. 16, I see you, my dude. 17, 18, I see you, my sister. Leave it there. Leave it there.

19, I see, 20, I see that little hand creep up. It's all right. Oh, 21 in the back. I see you, my sister. I see you. I see you. God sees you. God sees you.

Right there in your seat, all 21 of you, just confess to the Lord. Tell him you're sorry. Put your faith in him. Tell him you're forgiven for your sins. Ask him to forgive you for all your wrongdoing. Just surrender to him right there. He's already working in your heart.

That's why you put your hand up. Ain't got nothing to do with me. Just surrender to him right there. He was already doing this before the foundation of the world. You belong to him. You're part of his chosen. And now, Father, I pray for these 21 brothers and sisters. That was assigned to you.

You already knew their name before the foundation of the world. I pray, God, even right now, as you're filling them with the Holy Spirit, they will walk with you more intimately than ever before. I pray, God, you would teach them how to pray. You would draw them to yourself. You give them a love for your spirit and for your presence and for your word. I pray, God, they will walk out of here knowing that they are forgiven, that they are a brand new man and a brand new woman, that they can cry out to you. You are their heavenly father. I pray they would feel your love and your presence all around them. They

would know you, God, in a brand new way. I pray in the name of jesus god lord that you would draw them there even right now god as tears are falling from eyes i pray you would wrap them in your arms but father we know that time is running out you have come to seek and save that which was lost we thank you that the devil just lost 21. We thank you, Lord, that 21 addresses have just been changed from hell to heaven. You said that one sinner repents, all of heaven rejoices. So, Father, right now, we rejoice,

God. We rejoice. We rejoice, God, for those 21 people. We rejoice.