I think if there's ever a time that we would probably all be in agreement that there's a need and a reason for prayer, it's probably what we are observing in our society today and in our world. As I chatted with my wife on the phone this morning, and I just made the observation, it seems like everywhere I go right now, There is a sense of anxiety or fear. Are you sensing that as you're out and you're in public? There's a spirit, if you would, I think of melancholy, which is the old word for being depressed, a spirit of uncertainty, worry, anxiety. Sometimes there's anger. Sometimes they're angst, sorrow and fear. And we would wonder, where do you go when you are wrestling with those kind of emotions? Where do you go? What do you turn to? And I thought about an old song that was written the century previous to the 20th, I think in the 19th century. And the old believers would sing back then a familiar song, one that we don't hear that much anymore. And it goes like this, what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. I find it sad that sometimes the last place we go is to prayer. We fret and we worry and we complain and maybe we're on Facebook and we're telling everybody about our problems. And you often want to ask people, have you taken time to pray? Would you stand with me? Luke chapter 11, it's a little bit not as familiar, I guess would be a better way to say that. You're more familiar with Matthew chapter 6, which is the one that maybe you have grown up reading and praying. Luke chapter 11 is more of an abbreviated version of that prayer, and we're going to read it together. Luke chapter 11, beginning to read at verse 1, and we're going to stop at verse 3. Let's read together. that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Thank you for standing. You may be seated. As you read it, you realize the wording is a little bit different. I heard some of you wanting to go to Matthew 6 and quote that. Let me urge you, as I open this study here, and it's really going to be a two-week study, but as we open the introduction of this, I want to urge you to study and memorize the Lord's Prayer. Now, the one I would invite you to memorize is the one found in Matthew chapter 6. And so I urge you, do that, because it is a pattern or a framework or a structure. This is how you pray. But you have your notes there, you have your outline. Allow me to walk you through a study. And again, this is just an introduction. But there are four things in opening that I want you to see if you have the outline with you today. The first is this. I want you to notice the subject of Luke chapter 11. It is primarily, almost entirely about prayer. For instance, I'm going to invite you to go back to Luke 11 again at verse 1. And it came to pass that as he, that is Jesus, was praying in a certain place. We don't know what the place was, we just know that it was a certain place. And when he ceased, that is when he ceased praying, One of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach or instruct us to pray and goes on to say as John also taught his disciples let me give you four thoughts to go on that I think it's on your outline the first is this I want you to notice and Luke 11 verse 1 the practice of prayer that is Jesus as you look at him in the scriptures you look at his life you look at his ministry even though he is the perfect only begotten Son of God he sought occasions constantly throughout the scriptures in the Gospels of a time of prayer. Now it appears in Luke 11 verse 1 that the disciples were watching Maybe they were even listening to his prayer. And as they're listening to his prayer, they are thinking, I would like to have that kind of intimacy with God. I would like to pray like that. Have you ever read some of the great prayers that have been written down by other men and women? lived and walked this earth, and you look at the majesty of their prayers. But I would say to you, as majestic as a prayer might be, the heart of God is for our prayers to be that of a child who comes to a father. Our father. And so we have the practice of prayer that you see there. And then at the latter part of verse 1, a disciple who's been watching and listening to Jesus, he comes and he says, Lord, we would like to pray. Now, teach us to pray like John the Baptist. had taught His disciples to pray. And then the second thing on there, I would invite you to notice the pattern of prayer. You're going to see this week that there is the focus in verse 3 that is about God and God in all of His glory. And then when you go to verse 4, you're going to notice that the pattern shifts. Instead of the focus, well actually it's the focus of verse 2 is about God and His glory. And then when you come to verse 3, you'll notice that it shifts from God and His glory to man's needs. And why is that? Because God is glorified in meeting our needs. This thing is really giving me a hard time. Let me pull it up a little bit. Notice in thirdly, if you would, the persevering in prayer. Now, we're not going to read this today, but Luke 5, verse 8 is a wonderful parable about a man who suddenly has guests show up at his house. and he has nothing to feed his guests. Now that would have been a tragedy in that day. You know, as I was growing up, when you would drop in for a visit, to visit someone, you could almost always guarantee yourself that the host or the hostess, especially the hostess, she would say almost before you're seated, can I get you something? Do you remember any of you have grandparents or aunts, uncles, that they always had pie or they had cake? Any of you grew up with people like that? Do you remember how they would get up and they would say, let me go and get you a piece of pie? I'm going to show up at some of your houses this week looking for pie, okay? No, I'm not. I'm going to have all the pie I need. But what I want you to grasp is this. As you look at verse 3 and 4, it is coming to the Lord with our needs, knowing He meets our needs. And then fourthly, I will invite you, and we're not looking at it this week, but God's promise to pray, to answer prayer. And so that individual in the parable, he goes to his neighbor's house and he knocks on the door and he says, I have guests and I have nothing to feed them. Can you give me some bread? And the person within says, no, go away. I've put my family to bed. I'm already in bed. I'm not going to give you any bread." Well, in that parable, the individual keeps knocking on the door again and again and again. And finally, the guy who is the head of the house gets up, and he gives the man what he wants, and he takes it to his home. Here's the point. God desires that you and I pray. Pray again and again and again. But always with the understanding that our prayer is for God's will to be done. Now, I don't know which side of the political spectrum you might be on. And I don't know what you're praying about. But I want you to grasp this. God is sovereign. And it doesn't matter who's going to be president. It doesn't matter who's going to be a head of this. It doesn't matter. Because God's going to accomplish His plan because He is sovereign God. Here's what you and I need to do. Lord, your will be done. Amen? Now, let's dive into the notes here. All right, now I've given you the subject. I want you to look at the setting. Now, the setting is found in verse 1 again. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place. So I want to give you two thoughts with that. First of all is the primacy or the primacy of prayer. You know, as you look at prayer in the Scriptures, prayer has always been an important part of the believer's practice of worshiping God. Let me give you some more instances on that. In the Old Testament, Moses prayed for Israel after that nation rebelled. We find in 1 Samuel that Hannah prayed for a son, and God gave her Samuel. David prayed for forgiveness after he committed adultery. In the New Testament, We open up in Luke chapter 1, and Zacharias and Elizabeth are praying for a son, and God answers prayer, and John the Baptist is conceived, even in their old age. We find in Acts chapter 12 that the church is praying, and Peter was delivered from prison. And we could go on and on and on. The point is this, God's saints, Old Testament and New Testament have always been characterized by a season of prayer. Let me ask you this morning. How central to your life is prayer? How important is prayer for you? for your family. You might be like a lot of believers. I think a lot of believers are like ambulance chasers. Know what ambulance chasers are? You live out in the country, you hear the siren, right? And everybody jumps in their car and they go chasing the ambulance. They want to see what's happened. And I think a lot of our prayer lines are like that. We wait until there's an emergency and then we say, I think we need to pray. And we don't stop and think, maybe you should have prayed before there was an emergency. Think about it. How many of us have gone to the doctor and he said, you know, or she said, we need to do some more tests. I think I see something. Why, but you have a holy revival season of prayer after that, don't you? Why do we lose the urgency for prayer. You know why? It's not the primary thing in our hearts and our lives. Let me share another thought with you. The preeminence of prayer in the life of Christ. We read in Psalm 109 and verse 4, the messianic promise that the Messiah would be given to prayer. Jesus prayed at every crossroads. Let me give you some of the examples of that. Every time there was a crossroads, there was a crisis. He prayed at his baptism, Luke chapter 3. He prayed when he was in the wilderness, Luke chapter 5. He prayed in Luke chapter 6 when he was calling his disciples. He prayed in Luke chapter 9 on the Mount of Transfiguration. He prayed in Luke chapter 10 when he sent the disciples, and then they returned with a report. He prayed. Luke chapter 22, he prayed for Peter knowing that Peter would deny him. Luke chapter 22 and verse 39 through 46, he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane even as he knew that Judas was leading his way, the soldiers of the high priest. Luke chapter 23 and verse 34, he prays on the cross of Calvary for those who were his enemies and were putting him to death. Prayer was the practice of Jesus Christ. And yet, He was the Son of God. How much more should prayer be a part of my life and of your life? Then thirdly, on that outline, notice the sincerity of the disciples' request. Lord, teach us to pray. Why such a request? I think because they had seen in Christ that prayer was important. They had also heard the Lord teach, and He emphasized praying. And I think they also wanted the intimacy that they could have with God that they saw in Jesus Christ. Lord, teach us to pray, and it goes on, as John taught his disciples. Now, would you notice with me, then, the Lord's Prayer? If you grew up, like I did, in a church that was, I guess, more high church in its practice, you would have recited the Lord's Prayer probably at every service that you went to. But what was the purpose of the Lord's Prayer? Notice, and it might be on your outline, I can't remember, the Lord's Prayer was not given as a prayer to recite, but as a model of prayer. The disciple in Luke 11, verse 1, the disciple did not ask, Lord, teach us a prayer. The disciple asked, Lord, teach or instruct us how to pray. My goal this morning is to lay out for you four thoughts or four elements in a prayer that is a prayer of worship. Now follow with me. You have your Bible there. Luke 11 and verse 2. I want you to notice then what I'm calling the standard or the model for prayer. Here's how you pray. Luke 11 and verse 2. And Jesus then, in response to the disciple, said unto them, When ye pray, say. Now, he is going to begin unfolding, here is what you say, here is the content, here is the focus of your prayer life. Now, I wanted to point out, just because sometimes there can be a debate, what is important about prayer? Well, first thing I want to give you in this version here that we're reading in Luke 11, there were three things that the Lord did not emphasize. Here's the first one on the focus of prayer. When you pray, say. So the Lord doesn't emphasize the posture of prayer. We might get into a debate today. How do you pray? Do you pray when you're kneeling? Do you pray lying down on your face? Do you pray with your eyes closed? Do you pray with your head tilted down, how do you pray? But the Lord doesn't address that. As you look at the scriptures, there's many different postures for how you pray. I had, several years ago, I had a knee replacement. And so one thing that I don't do is get on my knee anymore, because it becomes very uncomfortable, very fast. But I pray. I pray at my desk. I pray at the table. I pray in the bed. I pray. I pray driving down the road, but I don't close my eyes. I know what it is to pray. And my Heavenly Father is always there. Not only the posture of prayer, notice the location of prayer. The Lord doesn't talk about where do you pray. I think some people wait to pray until they come to church. But as you look at prayer in the scriptures, here's where you see people praying. Especially the Lord prays on a mountain, some pray in a cave, some pray in a garden, some pray in a closet, some pray on the seashore, some pray in the temple, and one even prayed in the belly of a great fish. You get the idea? It's not the location of prayer. It's not the posture of prayer. Here's another question. When do you pray? In the Scriptures, some pray in the early morning. Some pray before dawn. Some pray late in the evening. Some in the afternoon. Some pray at midnight. Some pray three times a day. Morning, noon, and evening. Some pray and fast. Others pray and feast. So when do you pray? You pray any time, you pray at any place, and you pray with any posture. So, Lord, teach us how to pray. Let's go through your outline, and I'm going to give you today, really, the first of a two-fold look at prayer. The first part, then, we're going to look at is in verse 2, and that is the focus of prayer. When we pray, our focus begins looking to God and seeing His glory. Let's look at it. You have your Bible there, Luke 11 now, verse 2. Here are four elements of prayer. Number one, adoration. Adoration Luke chapter 11 in verse 2 and he said it to them when you pray say our father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come thy will be done as in heaven So in earth, so let's begin with the first one adoration our father which art in heaven. The word Father there, in the Aramaic language, which is probably the language that the Lord would have spoken in common everyday walk, would have been the word Abba. In fact, when you read in Mark chapter 14 and verse 36, and the Lord is in the garden of Gethsemane, and He's crying out to the Lord the night in which He is going to be betrayed, and the next day He will be arrested, He will be tried, He will be sentenced to death, and He will be found hanging on the cross within 12 hours of this prayer that we find here. And He's praying in the garden of Gethsemane, and He is praying, Abba, Father. It is a very intimate, a very loving prayer. It would translate for us in modern day, daddy. Daddy. I've listened to my wife over the years, and I think she's listening online, unless she's listening to somebody else, I hope not. But, she's probably listening because she just wants to see what's going to come out of my mouth, right? But, as I've heard her say, refer to her father, and she has a particular lilt when she would say, Daddy. Some of you have that, don't you? Especially with girls. And you grew up and you had a great relationship with your dad. And daddy just, even in the expression of the word itself, you sense and you feel the affection that's there. Abba. The intimate relationship of a son and a daughter with a father. Look again now, Luke 11 and verse 2. And He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father. Now here's a question. And the question is this. Whose relationship is so intimate with God that they have the right to approach God with Abba? Father. You know, there are three children in my life and three spouses of those children that have the right to be more intimate with me and say, Father or Dad, than anyone else. Because we have a bond and we have a relationship. So the Lord says here in Luke 11 and verse 2, when you pray, say, Our Father. Well, let me tell you who can't come to God and say, Father. The first is this, and that is lost sinners. If you're here today and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have no right grounds of coming to God and saying, Father. Because you're outside of the family. In fact, the nature of a father, we understand, carries on to the children, right? I've told you about having a discussion as a husband and wife, and maybe one of the kids is misbehaving, and you start saying, well, that's your side of the family coming out in them, right? You ever had that discussion? It's your side of the family. Why? What you're saying is they are acting like the nature of your family. Well, the family of God have a different nature. The Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, and the old things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new. And so as we come to our Father, we recognize that those who are lost cannot come to God intimately and say, Our Father. In fact, let me give you a couple of verses that prove that. John chapter 8 and verse 44, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. What is the Lord talking about? He is confronting the Pharisees and He's saying your nature and your character is not the character of God, it is the character of the devil. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. I know what it was to have a loving dad that would give me a good, what we used to call a good whipping. Now, the neighbor didn't give me a whipping, otherwise my dad would have whipped him. There was only one man in my life that had the right to give me a whipping, and that was Ted Smith. Why? Because I was his son. And a loving father disciplines his son. And no, I'm not talking about beating for anybody that might be watching in a line. I'm talking about loving discipline. Now, let me take you now to the next verse. Hebrews 12, verse 6. So, a child of God expects that the Lord is going to chasten us. When we do wrong, God is lovingly going to discipline us. But what about the laws? Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 8. But if ye be without chastisement, that is instruction or correction, whereof all, all of God's children are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Now that's a strong word. Here's the point. If you are a believer and you sin, you know what it is to bear the guilt and the weight of that sin. You know what it is that if you continue in that sin, that you know that God is a loving God and He's going to discipline you if you continue down that path. But if you're a lost sinner, you might sin and feel a little bit guilty. But you're not going to feel the conviction of a child of God when he or she sins. Because it is your nature to sin. And so a lost sinner, you're here today, and you would say, preacher, well, you know, I pray. Well, who do you pray to? Well, Pastor, I even pray our Father when I go to God in prayer. But if you are lost, you're not a child of God. Therefore, you do not have the conduit, if you would, the grounds to come before a God who is holy and say our Father. You have the right to do this, though, or the opportunity, and that is to turn from your sin and to trust Jesus Christ as Savior. Now, then let's look at the believer, and I hope you're staying with me on this. So a believer can come to God with the intimacy of a child. God is my Savior, God is my Sovereign, God is my Lord, God is my King, but God is my Father. Let me give you some verses to go with that. Here's one. John chapter 1, verse 12. Look at this. As many as received, that is to take, to trust Him, that is Jesus Christ, to them gave He power, authority, to become, watch this, the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. So why would the Lord instruct His disciples and say, now when you pray, pray our Father, because through Jesus Christ, you are a child of God. Here's another verse that goes with that, Romans 8, verse 15. But for ye have not received the spirit of bondage, that is slavery, again to fear. But ye have received the Holy Spirit of, what's the word, can you read it? The Holy Spirit of adoption. Now listen, when a child is adopted into a family, legally adopted, in the eyes of the law, you have been legally adopted into a family. You take on yourself the name of that family. Do you understand legally you have equal standing with a natural-born son or daughter at that point? Adoption makes you a child. with the rights and the privileges of a child of that Father. Galatians chapter 4 and verse 6, Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Father, Father. Let me give you a quick illustration of this. Years ago, We had a Christmas Eve candlelight service. We've had them for many years now. And I don't know if any of you remember it, but it is my favorite Christmas candlelight service. And once we come to the point in the candlelight service, I've always done over the years, where I will read a Christmas story. On this particular year, my granddaughter was probably about three. Maybe she was getting ready to turn four years old, but probably about three years old. And Sheila and I are sitting down front here, and I have a Christmas storybook. And all the children were invited to come forward, and they did. They filled up this whole area here. Well, my little granddaughter comes forward, and she's sitting down on the floor. The next thing, she's sitting on grandma's lap. Now, I'm reading the Christmas story, and those kids are, I mean, they're literally all the way up around my feet. And the light goes on in my granddaughter's three-year-old head. It's like, now wait a minute. This is my papa, it's not your papa. And as I'm reading the story, she literally gets out of grandma's lap, she slides over and she gets in my lap, and now she's looking at all those kids that are congregating. What did my granddaughter pick up on? Intimacy. I'm not their papa. And in her thinking, she's thinking, He's my Papa. He's not your Papa. And when you pray, pray this. Our Papa, our Father, which art in heaven. I'm going to ask you a question as I close. And I ask it in love for you. Is God my Heavenly Father? Is He your Father? You know, it's interesting, this thing of our relationship with God. That you and I are supposed to go through life, and unlike my granddaughter, who plotted her ground, my Papa, unlike my granddaughter, we're supposed to invite the unsaved. to come to my Abba Father. How can you do that? Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I came to know Jesus Christ as my Savior just before my 13th birthday. I had worshipped. I had been the acolyte in the services. I had put on my white robe and I had made sure that the candles were aflame. I was playing the piano in the church. I was singing in the choir. But there was something that was missing. And that is, I was not a true child of faith. I would have gone out into eternity lost, condemned by my sin, thinking I had been good enough for God to accept me. The reality was this, that I was a sinner. And it was that sin that had come between me and a God who is holy. But the gap between my sin and God's holiness was bridged by Christ's sacrifice. By faith through Him, believing that He was crucified for my sins, that I had been purchased out of the slavery of sin, I was adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ. I ask you, as I close this morning, is my Abba Father your Father? He can't be. By simply putting your faith in the fact Christ died for your sins, now won't you receive Him? Let's pray.