The Village Church
Where is your security? Prayer. - Audio
Every human being labors for, or at least fights to keep, in that security. Who here hates security? No one. I've never heard a person complain about having too much security. Man, I wish I didn't have all this job security. Come on. No. If anything, many of us feel that we have too little security, or at least our security is in the wrong place. I heard a song last night that says, "Gravity is working against me. Gravity wants to keep me down." When your security is anchored in the wrong place, it works against you. It brings you down. So this morning, I asked you, where is your security? In particular, when it wears your security, when it comes to prayer. When it comes to whether or not the Lord hears you, where is your security? What guarantees you that he hears your prayer? The prayers that Richard just prayed. Did God hear those prayers? Well, let's find out where our security lies. If you have your Bibles open in the Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 7. This is Jesus speaking to his disciples and to us. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this, our Father in heaven. How will it 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 of our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation for deliver us from evil. This is God's word. Let's pray. Father, God, as we come every Sunday, Lord, we're coming for your truth. This is not man's opinion. This is not written by man, but the Lord is written by you. It is your truth, your very word. It is not the word of the village church or Alex's word, but it's your scriptures that you have written for your people. And so, Lord, we pray that that your spirit, your spirit, that he has to take this truth and apply it to our lives. Lord, supernaturally, Lord, we ask for him to do this. That you will speak to whatever we are dealing with this morning, or whatever situation that is going on in our life. We pray that the spirit will speak truth into that, that when we leave, here we leave, here's seeing you greater, loving you more. Seeing more of you, and crashing my prayer, amen. Where is your security that the Lord hears your prayers? Jesus answers this question for us, and he begins by calling out a false form of security. Verse 7, when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Gentiles, here's referring to those individuals who worship and serve false gods, pagans, that prayers to false gods are empty phrases, senseless Bible. Their security that their prayers are heard rest totally in them. Am I praying the right way? Is this the right format? Do I need to say it this way in order to get this God's attention? It's up to them or whether or not the God hears them. It's up to them to say the right words, to have the right techniques, to get it right. As one Christian says, the pagan uses many words because he's bewildered, have I found the right God? This pagan is anxious, does this God know my needs? The pagan is also divvious. He says, how long would it take me to wear this God down? I mean, do I have to be here all night? Saying the same phrases for this God to hear me? Remember what happened on Mount Carmel with Baal and his prophet? Are you familiar with what happened in 1 Kings 18? What happened? Baal's prophets cried. They're all day long, they cried for Baal to come down to light the flame. They pleaded, they won, and they did all they can do. They shouted, they danced, they cut themselves. But did he ever come? Did he ever respond? No, he didn't. You know why Gentiles offer up these mindless phrases? These empty words, he becomes the object of the prayers with nothing more than an impersonal, non-engaging, wooden idol. That's why it was fallen on dead ears. And Jesus says to us, do not be like that when you pray. Why? For your father knows what you need before you ask him. Do you believe that? What you're dealing with right now, God knows what you need even before you've been your need asking. Or do you, or do you function like the Baal prophets? Well, I gotta dance, I gotta shout, I gotta cut myself to get God's attention. Which is, how do you approach the father? We don't approach him in prayer like this. He's not a wooden idol made by human hands. We don't approach him like the Baal prophets to use a form or technique to get his attention. Our security that our prayers are heard restorally in who he is, not in your format, not in the length of your prayer, not whether or not you're on your knees or you close your eyes. And not in any of those things. There's nothing wrong with that, when they're saying, it doesn't guarantee that God hears your prayer. We're guaranteed that he hears your prayers who he is. That's why security lies. The father knows what you need even before you ask him. The daughters have a way of wrapping their father around their hands. And yes, Mass had had me the first time I saw her. And you know, when they're babies and little girls, it's cute. But when they get older, they try to manipulate their dad. Oh, daddy, can I go there, please? You know, I love you, daddy. I'll be back in time. You see, prayer is not us trying to wrap God around our fingers. Well, let me bend my knee. Maybe I can trick God and it gives me what I want. Is that your view of prayer? If I just pray this long enough, if I pray it long enough, one day I'm going to wake up, and this nice car is going to be out in the front yard, because I've roused with God in prayer and I know it's coming. It's coming. I've got to wrap him around my finger. Let me do this. Let me say it this way. Let me do the prayer of Dribbiz. I can sit there all day long, enlarge my territory, God. What is that? Is you trying to trick the father, this mechanical approach to prayer? The prayer is this, it's humility before the father, it's dependency upon the father. It's not about you, because you got to realize he knows what you need before you ask him. So when you bend your knee and pray it's you humbling yourself before your father, acknowledging the fact, "Lord, I know you know what I need, so you know what I'm asking you to help me to depend upon you, help me to rest and know that whatever I need in your timing you're going to provide it. I'm not here to trick you, not here to control you, I'm here for your spirit to draw me deeper into dependency upon you." That's prayer, that's prayer, it's rest totally in who he is, and when you believe that and when you live that way, it changes your whole prayer life, to be like what Jesus says here to get into verse 9, "And when you pray, pray like this, our Father in heaven, how Lord be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done as it is in heaven, on earth as it is in heaven." In the light of knowing that your father knows what you need before you ask him, Jesus wants us to pray like that, and this prayer does two things, first it is God exalting and God on him, it is God's center, it begins with him, him, not your need but it begins with him, secondly it is what you need or what you think you need, but it always starts with the Father who is in heaven, your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So that's why security lies, this is who God is, and Jesus, as we saw last week, Jesus taught a lot about the Father, you remember the sermon for last week, do this, for this reason and your Father in heaven reward you, again he's picking up on this theme of Father, and our God is not Allah, that's not our God, Jesus uses Father to talk about God to us, he's just not some deity in heaven who's not personally involved with his people, he's Father, many Christians have what I call daddy issues when we come to the earth of dads, and what many of us do, I'm guilty of this too, is that we transfer our daddy issues until our heavenly Father when you become a believer, we all do it, if your daddy was hard to please, you felt like you could never please him, when you become a Christian guess what, you're going to thank God that way too, I could never do enough, if your father was a hard man or always critical of you, then guess what, when you become a Christian you're going to thank God that way too, if he daddy was a pushover, he gave you everything you want and you become a Christian, well you're going to expect God do the same thing too, well I'm his child, he owed this to me, give me what I want, we all transfer our redirect to our good and bad emotions from our earthly father to our heavenly Father, we all do it, the question is do you see it, because we all are guilty of it, and if your dad was never there, or if you grew up without a dad or felt abandoned by your dad, you're going to struggle with one of God's ever there, does he even hear me, we all do it, but do you see it, his spirit in my own life has reshaped my opinion and attitude toward this concept of God's father, he has changed it over time and he does it to all of us, having a good understanding of what the Bible means by calling God our Father is very important, as a believer, very important, he is personally engaged in our life, he cares, he sees, he compresses, he disciplines, he heals, there is intimacy between the Father and his child, according to one Christian, I love this, he says if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the Father being God's child, having God as his Father, if this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers, his whole outlook on life, it means that person does not understand Christianity very well at all, let those words sink in there, if you don't understand who God is as Father, you're not going to understand Christianity very well at all, you ain't going to understand anything about it, the gospel, grace, forgiveness, all those things are gifts from the Father, if you don't understand him, you ain't going to understand this, theology, you know what theology means, it's study of God, and what Jesus is telling us here, he's Father, and you've got to understand the Fatherhood of God, it will radically change the way you view your life, Christianity, it all goes back here, everything goes back to that, have your heart fully embraced that, God is Father, because when you pray, you pray into your Father and whom you have a personal relationship with, but at the same time, this Father, this God that you're in a relationship with, he's also holy, he's also infinite, he also transcends us, he is in heaven, how will be your name, this means he is unlike us, he's personal, he's relational, he's engaging, but he's not weak, he's not inadequate, he's not efficient, he's great, he's awesome, he is not limited like us, all human beings are limited, limited knowledge, limited space, limited power, limited abilities, even those who don't think they have their limits are delusional, because we're finite beings, sinful, finite beings, but God is not, he is infinite, he is infinite, in him is no darkness, he is not bound by the limits we're bound by, he is just outside of our world and time and he controls all of them, he transcends everything, he is above all, he's made all, he's the source of all, and think about that, you and I are codependent beings, well what do you mean by that Alex, it means we depend upon other things to exist, if you didn't drink water, eat food you die, you die, you need transportation to get from point A to point B, God is not depend upon things like that, if he was depend upon anything for his existence guess what, he's not much of a God at all, is he, no, he's not codependent, we are, Paul says in Romans 11, 32, oh the depths of riches and the wisdom and knowledge of our God, how on such a broad his judgments how impossible it is for us to understand his ways, you and I are in relationship with a God who is not like us in so many ways, but he personally engages, it's not a relationship between equals, God know that, it's not a relationship between equals and when you come to him in prayer you realize my God is father, he's personal, he's intimate but at the same time he's finite, majestic and transcendent too, you see imagine it gets upset with me which is quite often, one of her favorite things to say to me is I'm not your friend anymore, and I say baby girl I'm not your friend, I'm your dad, I'm your father, I'm not one your classmates at school, I'm not your friend, you see every child has intimacy with their parent, but that intimacy does not destroy the parent's role in the relationship, there is a role, the child should respect the parent because of that parent's role in the relationship, the child does not have authority over the parent, the parent has authority over the child, and in our relationship with God, we don't have authority over him, he has authority over us, one theologian says we do not live an intimacy with God in a way that destroys our reverence for him, what does that mean, it means hollow his name in your life, that's what that means, God is not your boyfriend, God is not your girlfriend, he's your father, that's the relationship, and in that relationship there's reverence for him because of who he is, hollow God's name means you have a reverence for him in your life, it's not lip service to God, but it's a genuine from the heart in which you say what David says in Psalm 115, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us O Lord, but to your name, give glory for your steadfast love and for your faithfulness, it's all about you, father, our father's in heaven, how will it be your name?" And the next thing Jesus says, "Will to pray is your kingdom come," you see how this flows when he has this prayer here, "Our Father who is in heaven, now he's talking about the Father's kingdom and his will been done on earth as it is in heaven," you got to understand this, to understand the kingdom and his will, you got to, because it all flows for who he is, when you pray these words here you are petitioning the Father for his kingdom coming to your life, you want to see Christ the King glorify his rule to be more evident in this world, the kingdom of God points to his kingship, his rule over all creation. Psalm 113, 19 says, "The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all." His kingdom, and when you pray your kingdom come, you are saying to the Father what David said in 1 Chronicles 29, it says, "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and the earth is yours." I love that. "Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, you are exalted as head above all, both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all, in your hand, or power and might, in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all." That's the king, that's Jesus, and for believers this means you should have a desire for Christ to reign in your life, to be the sinner of everything it is about you, your family, your career, your life situations, your struggles, whatever it is you're doing in your life, Jesus is to be the sinner of that, be the sinner of the Father, and your prayers for the spirit to be in your will toward the Father's will. His will be done in your life as a believer. It also means your praying for Christ's return, your kingdom come, your will be done. You want Christ to come, you want the second coming to come. You also are praying for the Father to bring healing and restoration to this broken and fallen world, when you pray His kingdom come and His will be done, and you're asking the Father to bring more and more people to saving faith in Christ, His kingdom come, His will be done. When you pray that prayer, these are the things you're asking the Father to do. Amy Carmichael who was a missionary to India once said, "In acceptance lies peace, in acceptance lies peace." You have to accept that it's not about you, or there's about Him, His kingdom, His will. And you know what this means, this is not Alex's church, this is not the elder's church, this is not Alex's ministry, this is not your ministry, it's Jesus's ministry, Jesus's church, Jesus kingdom, and Jesus's will. And when you accept that, there's peace. When Waikita and I were just dating, I made a lot of mistakes. And one of my problems was, you know, I felt a call to ministry when I was in college, and because I was going into a particular denomination, I felt like I had a house wife that looked a certain way. And so every girl I dated, I tried to mold her until a while I thought she needed to be to make me look good as this type of pastor within this certain denomination. But what I meant, Waikita, things started changing. You know, I sent her books to read because I tried to reform her. We had Bible study over the phone, and we talked about all these different theological terms because this is why I thought I needed, but she kept fighting me. And one day, I was walking around Best Buy, talking to one of my mentors, and he told me something that really convicted me. He said, "Alex, you have to start believing the Father is sovereign in your life, particularly when it comes to marriage." You have to start believing that because I wasn't believing it because I was in control of it. It was this way, but when he spoke those words to me, the Spirit used that moment to convict me of what I was doing because me trying to mold her stem from the fact I was not believing that God was going to take care of me, that he knew what I needed before I asked him. And so over these six years, no, there's going to be six years next month, the Father has shown me that he knew what I needed in his life, long before I thought I knew what I needed. And that's the God you're praying to, that you believe in, your security that he hears your prayers was told in him, "Your holy, Kingly Father knows, knows perfectly what you need in your life before you ask him." To me, that's security and prayer. It makes me want to pray more. That's awesome, and most importantly, that's love, amen, let us pray. Father God, I thank you, Lord, that you give security to us. When I look back over my own life and how I tried to do things myself because I didn't trust you, my relationship changed, but Raquita, because my view changed, because I started trusting you more, and I pray, Lord, that for all of us, that we will know and rest more securely in the fact that you are our Father, help us to know what that really means, help us to help you. I pray that your spirit will come in and show us in which we have transferred different things unto you that are not true about you as Father, and as we go out to the Lord today, I pray that your spirit will bring us to a deeper level of repentance, humility before you, dependency upon you, and I pray for all this in Christ's name, amen.