All right, we're gonna go to Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six this morning and continue in this little short series that I've decided to do in light of our theme for the year is pray without ceasing. And we could definitely see that coming out in our music and it should be coming out in our lives as well. Amen, where we're praying more, we're thinking more about prayer. And we're learning more about prayer and that's my heart as a pastor for us to learn this. Last week we talked a lot about some of the preparation for prayer by getting a secret place, learning how to talk to God. It's not about how many words you speak. Keep things simple. I don't want to take away from the fact of what it means to empty your heart out before the Lord. I'm not saying you should keep it in such a way where you only say certain phrases and that's it. When you pray, you're talking to your Father. And that's something we need to keep in our mind always as we spend time in prayer. I'm gonna go to Matthew chapter six, verse number nine. We're gonna read down to verse number 14, and then we're gonna get into our next message on this particular series on the disciples' prayer life. Verse number nine, it says, after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And I just want to bring in this verse 14 because it's important. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. And I want to point that out because bitterness, I think, is what keeps us from prayer more than anything, and the bitterness of our hearts. And so I wanted just to put a little emphasis on that. I'm gonna look at today the phrase where it says, after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven. And I'm going to be talking about the disciples' paternity in prayer. The disciples' paternity in prayer. That means the Father. Your relationship as a Father. Let's pray. Father, I just ask you that you would help us in this message to bring forth the words clearly, with understanding. I pray your Holy Spirit would make up the difference in my weakness. and that, Lord, you would do a work in each heart here, so that we truly would learn to pray as you want us to. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Notice the first phrase, after this manner, therefore pray ye. It's not saying repeat these words. It's saying after this manner. That means, I know many of you maybe know this prayer off by heart, and as I was reading it, you were kind of whispering it on your lips, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with memorizing scripture. But can I tell you something? Your prayer has to be more than that. because I think many people recite that prayer, but they don't even know what they're really saying. And God's not like that. He wants us to know what we are saying when we are praying. And so our focus is on this phrase, our Father, which art in heaven. The first thing I'm gonna talk about is the route of prayer. And this is just a concept I think I had to cover so we understand this better, especially when we're talking about our God, who is, it's not a simple process thinking about our God. His ways are above our ways, his thoughts are above our thoughts, and what he is is above our comprehension. And yet we can somehow get on our knees before this God and he hears our prayer as the aspect of being our father, our father, which is an amazing thing that God has afforded to us. The route of prayer. So there are three personalities in our Godhead, but there's only one God. There's not three gods, there's one God. But these three persons are the one God, and yet the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father, and the Son is not the Spirit, nor is the Spirit the Son. They are not each other, but yet they are the same, and they are one God. Now, people on this earth, and especially with different doctrines and so forth, I've had people make fun of that. Oh, you've got a three-headed monster. That's what the Jehovah's Witness will say. And other, I've heard United Pentecostals say that because they deny the Trinity as well. Folks, I'm not thinking about God or trying to formulate an idea about God based upon my reasoning. I'm basing it upon the word of God. And there's times when you go to the scripture, you will not be able to reason it. But yet, it's true. And you have to, by faith, receive what the Bible says. No one here can adequately explain the Trinity. I have read systematic theology books. I've read great authors and theologians. I have not yet come across one person that could truly explain the Trinity in an understandable way where we can say, oh, that makes perfect sense. Because folks, it doesn't. We're just not used to the way God is. And this is why I always say to people, folks, if you truly wanna be successful in life, there's two things you need to let God do. The first thing is you let God tell you who he is. That means you stop telling him who you think he is. You go to all your friends, well, I don't think God would do this, and I don't, it doesn't matter what you think. It just matters what God says. So let God tell you exactly who he is, and when you don't understand it, you know what you say? I believe it anyways, because you're telling me this, God. The second thing is, let God tell you who you are. Because the greatest hindrances in a person's life are the ideas that you have, not only about God, but about yourself. When you need to allow the Lord to tell you exactly who you are. in all of the nitty gritty, amen? And when you do that, there's a way for you to succeed. But if you keep coming up with your own answers, you're not gonna succeed. You gotta trust the Lord, amen? And so, three personalities, but one God. The Bible is very clear, there is only one God. In Deuteronomy 6, 4, it says, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. There's never been a time nor will ever be a time where there'll be any other God but this one Lord. In Isaiah 43, 10, it says, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. In other words, Mormonism is out the window. because they believe that the God that made you used to be a man like you that became a God. And they believe that you can become a God just like the one that made you. And the Bible tells us very clearly that's not true. There's no God that is formed before, there'll never be one formed after, there is one God and one Lord only. Isaiah 44, six, thus saith the Lord God, King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. Amen. So that is the one God. By the way, you go to Revelation chapter one, Jesus begins to speak. He says, I am the first, I am the last, I am the alpha, I am the omega. So this one God that we're talking about is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Isaiah 44 verse 8, Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee that from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God, I know not any. He says, Amen? Isaiah 45 verse 5, it says, I am the Lord, And there is none else. There is no God beside Me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me." Amen? So we've got to be settled on this. There is only one God. That's what you can get out of this by God telling you about Himself. So there's no things about pluralistic gods here. There's no two gods. There's no Greek mythology. There's no Zeus. There's no Hercules. There's no this. There's no demigods. There's no Thor. There's none of those things. There's one God, and that is the Jehovah God of heaven. Amen? The Lord is the first and the last. We saw that the Lord is the first and with the last, I am He. The Lord created everything for us in Isaiah 45, 18. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it, He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none else. And you think about John verse number one, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, and by Him, the Bible says, all things were created. The Word, John 1.14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So that one Lord is the Father, that one Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? So there we have it, we have two personalities right there within the Godhead, the one God, the one Lord. The one God is three persons. 1 John 5, 7, it says this, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The three are called God in the Bible. The three have the same authority in the Bible. The three have the same power in the Bible. The three have a relationship with each other as revealed in the Word of God, amen. These three are one. By the way, 1 John 5, 7, if you got the wrong translation in your hand right now, there'll be a little side note, this was not in the older manuscripts. They're trying to put question on it, whether that verse should be in your Bible. But folks, it should be in your Bible, it is in your Bible, and folks, only the King James Bible holds that to be true. The other ones put a little question mark on that, and that's not right, amen? So, how about this root of prayer? What about the channel? What about the direction? How is it that I pray to the Father that's in heaven? Well, the first thing we do is we pray to the Father. Our Father, which art in heaven. Now, I'm not against people saying, dear Jesus. I'm not, you know, and so forth. But you know, really, the way that the scripture plainly shows us is that we pray to the Father. which is in heaven. So we're aiming at the highest point. We're aiming at the throne of God. We're aiming at the temple in glory. Amen? We're aiming at the highest possible way where the Father is sitting now at His throne before us right now. And we know that from the scriptures. Psalm 68 verse one says this. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God. sing praises to His name, extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by His name Yah, and rejoice before Him. A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in His holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families, He bringeth out those which are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Boy, I'll tell you something, when you're going to your God, what power He has to ride upon the winds, to scatter your enemies, to take care of all of the issues and the different problems you face. That's what He's trying to get you to see you here. He's not just trying to write a poem. He's trying to tell you how great power He has, that when you call upon Him and you call upon the throne of God, He says, I will ride the wind. I'll take care of you. I'll take care of the problems. I am a father to the fatherless. And I don't care if you don't have a dad on earth, I will show you what a father is. That is our God. Look at the power of our Father in heaven. When you have no one to protect you, He will protect you. When you have no way to scatter the enemy, He will scatter the enemy. God is there for you. And folks, that's what you look for as a son when you look to your dad. Your dad is your protector. Your dad is your help. Your dad is your hero. Your dad is the one that's supposed to be there for you. And dad, that's a high calling for us. But I'm going to tell you something. If you're not there and you forsake your kids, they've got a father in heaven. and they can call out to Him, and He will answer them, and He will help them, because He is a good, good and faithful Father that sitteth in the highest ways of heaven, amen, on His throne up high. We pray to the Father. That's why we pray to the Father. Like I said, I'm not against praying to Jesus. That's fine for you to say that, but there's something about our Father, You're reaching the highest pinnacle. You're reaching the greatest power. You're reaching what identifies as your greatest protector and your strength. The one that you respect more than any other. The one that you care about. The one that is a part of you. Your father, amen. That's who you pray to. You pray to the Father, you pray through the Son. We know that the Word is the Son. And I already quoted this scripture in John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, amen? That is our God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. That means that Jesus was a part of making everything. Everything. He was not made. He's not a created angel. He's not a created being. He was not a created Son. He's an eternal Son. He has always been. He's the Word. Amen. That proves to us right there that He is the Lord Jehovah. He is the one God. He is the Son within the Godhead. Amen. Hebrews 4 verse 14 says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but who is in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need. You pray to the Father, but you pray through the Son. Amen? Through the Son. Because the Son knows what you're experiencing. He took upon, He robed Himself in flesh. He knows the battles of your life. He knows the ailments of your diseases. He knows those hurts. He knows what it means to be abandoned. He knows what it means to be betrayed. He knows all those things. There's not one thing you can go through that Jesus does not understand. And so you must go to the Father, but you have to go through the Son. And not just because He knows your battles and knows your infirmities, it's also because that He provided the way to the Father. It is through His death, burial, and resurrection that you can come boldly before the throne of grace. In Ephesians 2.13 it says, But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments that contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you, which were afar off and to them, that were nigh, for through him we both have access by one Spirit unto our Father." We have access through him unto our Father. Amen. Well, the law of commandments were against you. You were condemned before God. You were condemned before the Father. There's no way you could have gone in God's presence. You would have died if you would have seen the glory of God, but now, for some reason, because of what Jesus Christ did, we can stand boldly before the throne of grace. We can enter into His presence, even today. Every time we bow our heads, even together, as a corporate body, when we pray, we go directly to the throne of God. Folks, we're right up there with the Father, right up there in the throne, amen? Let's not forget that when we're praying. Let it never be just a vain repetition or a religious thing. This is a marvelous thing, the way that Jesus Christ shed his blood on that cross. And the Bible says that the veil was rent in the temple from the top to the bottom. That was symbolic of the fact that now the way has been opened that all can come into the presence of God through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Inside of that Ark of the Covenant were commandments. The commandments that many people think, I'm going to get to heaven by obeying those commandments. If that were true, they would not have been able to... They shouldn't have put them in the box and put a mercy seat above it. If you want to get to heaven by the law, you don't need the blood of Jesus. And many people today, they talk about Jesus, but yet they're trusting in the commandments to get them before the Lord, and they can't. That's why God says, you take these commandments, Moses, and you build a box for them. and you put them in that box, but I'm not done yet. You put a lid on that box, and we'll call that the mercy seat. The word mercy seat in the New Testament is the same word that we use for the word propitiation when we talk about Jesus Christ being the place of wrath for us. All of the wrath was poured upon his son that day. The mercy seat is that place. And that's why the priests would go in once a year and they'd take the blood of the lamb and they'd sprinkle it upon the mercy seat. It's only through the blood that you can have access to God because it redeems us from the curse of the law that was in the box. That's why anybody that's trying to get to heaven by how good you are, it's like you're taking the lid off that box and saying, I'm gonna get to heaven through the law. And you will go to the lake of fire. Oh, I feel sorry for all the, I'm burdened and I'm broken about all the religions of this world that are trying to teach people that they can somehow get to heaven by good behavior or reforming yourself or somehow keeping the commandments. And yet you broke them. Every last one in this room had broken them. That's why we needed a mercy seat. That's why we needed a propitiation, a place of wrath. That's why God had to pinpoint all of his anger towards one person, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ that day. And when he did, and when he shed his blood, the veil was rent from the top to the bottom, and he said, we don't need any more lamb's blood anymore. I don't need any more priests to come here and sprinkle blood on this Ark of the Covenant. People are saying to me, where's that Ark? Where's that Ark? I don't care where the Ark is. The Ark means nothing, folks. Sure, it'd be neat to know where the Ark is. It'd be neat to see a picture of the real Ark, but I'll tell you something, there's a reason it's not around today, because you don't need it. We're in the presence of our Lord. We can come boldly before the throne of grace. Boy, the rituals they did, just to give a symbol of that. Amen. Now we all can come through the Son, to the Father, through the Son, but we pray by the Holy Ghost. Pray by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit that proceeds from the Father. That's what the Bible says, that the Spirit proceedeth from the Father. We call that the procession of the Spirit. The Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son to your heart. What a wonderful truth this is. In Romans 8, 14, it says this, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. That means what this Holy Spirit's gonna do by coming from the Father through the Son to you is going to make you a son, a son. That's why we say our Father which art in heaven. See, just because you're religious doesn't give you the right to say our Father which is in heaven. Just because you're a created man does not give you the right to say our Father which art in heaven. What gives you the right to say our Father is whether you have been regenerated, born again. Born again. As many as are led by the Spirit of God. Romans 8.26 says, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. By the way, please don't tell me about your heavenly language. Please don't tell me about your heavenly prayer. That is not what this is talking about. This is talking about the ministry that the Holy Spirit has as you bow your head in prayer and you can't even form together a sentence because you don't even understand the battle that you're facing. And the Holy Spirit that's inside of you says, Let me figure this out for you. And He takes your burdens, and He puts them into a sentence, and He brings them up to the Father. I'm so glad He's got that ministry in my life, because the Father wouldn't even make sense of what I'm trying to do half the time. But the Spirit of God, because He's inside of you, like it says over there, He maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Amen? You know what it means when cannot be uttered? That means it cannot be uttered. No utter. No uttering there. That means the Spirit of God is going to reach into your soul. And as you're saying, Lord, I don't know what I need. I don't know. I just need your help, God. Please help my family. I don't know what they need. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. The Spirit of God goes into your soul. I know. I know. And He takes all those issues. He says, Father, this is what He's saying. This is what He's saying. And He brings it up to the Father in heaven. Aren't you glad about that? Nehemiah, when he went into the presence of the king, and he was burdened about the walls of Jerusalem, and the king looked at him and said, Nehemiah, there's something wrong. In that moment, while he was standing there, the Bible says that Nehemiah prayed. No, that didn't mean, he said, well, just hold on there, king, I'm gonna get into my prayer mode here, and I'm gonna get on my knees and go through my incantations, That means while he was looking at the king in the eyes, he said, Lord, please help me. Help me tell him. I pray, Lord, you protect me. Because that king could kill him for being sad in his presence. All those things are on his heart, and he couldn't just verbalize that all, but the Holy Spirit of God brought it all up in one millisecond, just like that. Amen. The route of prayer. He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Searcheth the hearts. Oh, I'm so glad. God knows your heart all right. I've heard so many people say, oh, I know I'm doing wrong, but God knows my heart. And that somehow is some kind of what, consolation here. You're sinning and you're making the excuse that God knows your heart? That ought to make you tremble in your boots, that he knows your heart. Why you sin and make excuses for it? By telling people God knows my heart? I've heard that time and time again, as if that somehow makes it that it doesn't matter what I do because God, no, no. God says, I know exactly why you're sinning, because you've got some sin in your life. Your heart has sin. That ought to make you tremble. The Bible says, he trieth the reins of the heart. The desires and everything that's in your heart, he knows it all. He knows every little part of it. But you know what, in a way that's, not a way, that is a blessing. because he knows exactly what you need all the time, all the time. Ephesians 6 verse 18 says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. So supplication in the spirit. Philippians 119, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. That was a part of the answer. Part of the answer was that the Spirit of God is gonna do something here. He's gonna help me through this, amen? And by the way, the Spirit is a person. It's not a force, it's not an it, amen? Even though in Romans chapter eight it talks about it, and that's because of the subject that it's dealing with there, because the scripture says that's a neutral designation right there. But I'll tell you something, he is a person. He feels, he grieves. Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit, amen? In Ephesians 2.18 it says, for through him, Through Christ, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. There you have all three. That's the route of prayer. So when you're praying, just think about this. I'm praying to the Father, but the Spirit of God is taking all my prayers through what Jesus did in the sprinkling of His blood and bypassing everything that hindered it in the past and brings it right up to the throne of God. Amen. That's a powerful thing. Our Father, which art in heaven. Number two, let's look at the relationship in prayer. We qualify for this relationship by the new birth. You must be born again to have Him as your Father. When we're talking about the phrase, our father, we can only qualify if we are his sons and daughters. Many refer to God as father, but they do not share a relationship with him through regeneration. And Jesus said, we must be born again. He was talking to Nicodemus. He was a religious man and he was a good man. I don't believe Nicodemus was a bad man. I believe people looked at him and thought, this is a good man. He was probably one of the good Pharisees that were there. But even Jesus went to him and he says, Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto thee, means truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That means as religious as you are, as much as you do, as respected as you may be, you cannot go to heaven. You cannot have a father in heaven until you become born again. He respected Jesus, he realized God was with him, but he was not born again. I've heard people all the time, they respect Jesus, oh yeah, God was with Jesus, but they're not born again. You gotta be born again. It's very practical. There's no way that you as a sinful person can access the throne room of God. There's only one route, and that's through a relationship, amen? We become children of God by receiving Jesus. Notice in John 1, 11, it says, he came unto his own and his own received him not. They were supposed to be his own. These are the Israelites. These are the religious ones. These are the ones that were waiting for the Messiah. And do you think just their expectation and just their desire to have a Messiah was gonna somehow make them saved? No, because when he came, they didn't receive him. I believe any Old Testament saint that had a saving faith would have received Jesus. I believe Abraham would have been alive when Jesus was born, he would have been the first one to worship him. Because he had a saving faith. A saving faith believes God. So you can say all kinds of things about God that doesn't mean that you're gonna be saved. He came unto his own, his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So there you see, with receiving Christ, there's a sonship. And that's talking about a privilege, it says, has the power to become. The word power there means the privilege or the right. There's only one way you can have the right to be the Son of God, and that is to receive Jesus Christ the Son. But notice the next verse, it says, which were born, not of blood, like the Israelites. Oh, we had Jacob as our father. We had Abraham as our father. Jesus tried to rebuke them of that in John chapter eight. He says, say not that Abraham is my father. In other words, blood alone isn't gonna do this. which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." You have to have a birth of God. So that means anybody that receives Christ, receives Him, has now received the right to become a son. And that's because they've received a birth that was not of blood, or based upon some preacher saying some incantations, or being put into a baptism tank, or anything like that. None of the will of man, none of the will of the flesh, but it's simply a birth of God. A birth of God. And we have the privilege. We have the Spirit of His Son in our hearts. In Galatians 4, verse 5, it says, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." When Jesus went to the Gethsemane and he prayed Abba, that's like going to your dad and say, dad, daddy, It's a term of endearment. It's an intimate term you can only use with your own father. And when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, that's how he prayed. And now he said, if you're his sons, he says, I've sent the spirit of my son into your heart, whereby ye cry, Abba, Father. Now you yourselves have a Father in heaven, just like the Son. And the same way that Jesus came to the Father in the garden is the same way that you can come to the Father in the garden. Abba, Father. Amen? Not this religious term, oh, Father of creation, and da-da-da-da-da. But Dad, I remember one guy, every time he prayed in my ministry there in my hometown in Winkler, he'd always pray, Daddy, Daddy, sure love you. And he took that to the nth degree. I said, you know what? What a blessing. You know what he's saying? Our Father, which art in heaven, our Father, any time of the day, Dad, can you help me? You know, dads want to be helpful. I really do. The older I get as a dad, the more my children grow up, the more I want them to come to me. Say, dad, can I talk to you? Dad, can I get some advice? Dad, can I ask you something? Dad, I need some help. And nobody else can do that. Just my kids. Very special relationship. Now anybody here could do that, I'm sure they could, but it's still not the same as my children. That's what you say when you're our Father which art in heaven. It's not a religious ritual. It's a conversation with your dad, conversation with the one, the spirit that's in your heart, the spirit of his son. It affords us an intimate relationship. In Romans 8, 15, it says, for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Many have a religious relationship with who they deem as their God. We have a personal relationship through a new birth. W.E. Vine says, Abba is the cry of an infant, the simple, helpless utterance of unreasoning trust, the effect of feeling rather than knowledge. That's your dad. That's your father. And this is made possible by the limitless mercy of our God to you. Just the way that you can come before the Father in prayer is because of his limitless mercy to you. The Bible tells us in Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. by the washing of regeneration, that's the word for new birth, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. It is mercy that we are God's children. It's mercy out of God's love. 1 John 3, 1, and I'll leave you with this. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. It's all out of love. His mercy is an extension of his love towards you. That's why he offered you that. That's how he could offer you that, because there's no way you could have been saved. There's no way you could have been born again without the mercy of God. Our Father in heaven. I'm going to give you just one more point and I'll be done. The rift in prayer. The rift. Notice what it says, our Father in heaven. That's a long ways away. That's far above this world. John 8, this is what Jesus said, then said the Jews, will he kill himself because he saith, wither I go, ye cannot come. And he said unto them, ye are from beneath, I am from above. Ye are of this world, I am not of this world. Wow. He laid it pretty simply there. And he told these Pharisees, where I'm going, you can't come. There's a rift. You know, you got to settle that rift as far as your salvation is concerned. In fact, in Ephesians 4.10, it says, he that descendeth is the same also that ascendeth up afar above all heavens that he might fill all things. Notice that he descended and then he ascended. He came from the highest point and he came down to the lowest point and then he went back up to the highest point. Why did he come down? Because he says, where I am, ye cannot come. He looked at this whole world and their sin. He says, you cannot come. Our Father, which is in heaven, far above all principality and power. If you become born again, that rift has been fixed. Now you can come. Whosoever will come may come, the Bible says, and drink of the water of life freely, he says. So you can come now if you are a son of God, if you've got the Spirit of God, if you are born again. It's not religious, it's not baptism, it's not because you're in church, it's because you have a relationship with the Father which is in heaven through the Spirit of the Son that's inside of you. But there's another rift, the reason why people don't pray, and the reason why heaven seems so far away from most people, the rift of understanding. Don't let your earthly perspective of what a father is limit your view of our Heavenly Father. It says in Isaiah 55, it says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. That is a rift. Romans 3, 10 says, as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. There's such a misunderstanding of God the Father today, because many do not have a true example of a father. Many people think God's an ogre that's ready to just whack him over the head, because that's what their dad did. Or maybe, why do I need a father? Because I've never had a father. Why do I need a father in heaven if I've never had a father on earth? And we somehow have this rift of misunderstanding with our God, that somehow our God is something like our fathers. It's not true. Our father is different. He does not have respective persons as the earthly fathers do. Our earthly fathers have favorites. We learned that from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They picked their favorites. That always ended up with a lot of trouble. But the Bible says, but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, and to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, for there is no respect of persons with God. 1 Peter 1.17, and if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. What that means is this. Everybody in this room has equal access to the throne of God. You can't sit there and suck your thumb and say, oh, God doesn't want to talk to me. He does want to talk to you, but he's a righteous judge and he sees your heart. And the Bible says, if you regard iniquity in your heart, he will not hear you. That means he cannot hear your prayers because you're allowing something to cause a rift between you and him. It's not because he's a respective person. He wants to equally spend time with you as the person next to you. He doesn't love you more than the next person. He loves us all the same. We can all pray the same. We can all get the same answers to prayer if that's what we want. But I'm gonna tell you something, there's a problem in our hearts. and he makes righteous judgment in every situation. He doesn't judge one son different from the other. You know how that works at home some, well, my brother got away with everything and I always got in trouble. You know how many times I've heard that? That's your idea of a father. You need to get that out of your head. Because that's not how our Heavenly Father is. If you need to be in trouble, he'll deal with you. If he needs to be in trouble, he'll deal with you. If you're doing well, hey, he'll help you. But don't think that you can just do what you want and think what you want and be what you want and think your God is some kind of a wish machine that's supposed to give you whatever you want. It's a relationship. There's nothing you're going to do that's going to change the relationship of your father with yourself. Your dad is always your dad. My dad's always been my dad. But you know what? There's something that can be hurt, and that's called our fellowship. When you're not doing right, you and your dad don't see eye to eye. Maybe it's your dad. Maybe it's you. Fellowship. All I know is this, with my father in heaven, he's never wrong. If there's a rift in my fellowship, it's because of me. It's not my friend, it's not my parents, it's not anybody else, it's because I'm not right with my father in heaven. He's no respecter of persons. You can't apply those same judgments to our father in heaven, you can't do it. He blesses equally, He chastises equally, in Colossians 3.25, he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, for there is no respecter of persons. That means he's not, well, I'm gonna let the preacher get away with it, because he's working so hard. No. We're all in the same playing field. He becomes a father to those that have no loving father. I'm gonna give you one passage of scripture, we'll be done. Matthew 7, verse 7. Ask, it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, who if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? He's wanting to give you good things. Some of us here today, all the Lord is waiting is for you to ask him. You've been facing trials, you've been facing situations, and you're just not asking him. Or maybe you're coming to him religiously instead of saying, father, I'm going to strip away all this religiosity and I'm just going to come to you as my dad. I need your help. And you've got to strip away all those ideas of what you think a father really is and understand that your dad is listening to you. He cares about what's on your heart. 1 Peter 4, 7, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. You know how it is? This is the way I thought for a long time, that I know God loves, and I know God cares, but for some reason, I don't believe he cares about me. I don't know how many of you have been in that same boat. I have felt that way. And it kept me away from my father. Because for some reason, I understand, God, how you love that person. They're way better than me, or they're doing this, or they're doing that. But I don't think he cared about me. It's because I had a wrong view of who my father was in heaven. He gave me a promise. He says, I can take all my cares and throw them, throw them at his feet. because he cares about every single one. Amen? Our Father, which art in heaven. Let's bow our heads. I just want to get across the importance of being a born-again believer. Your religion will not save you. Your baptism means nothing as far as your relationship with your father in heaven. To become a son of God, you need to receive Christ. You need to be born of God, not born of your blood. It's not because you got a Christian family. Every person here has got to make their own decision to receive Jesus. And if you've never received Christ, you need to do that. because you'll have no access unto the Father until you do. And I would encourage you to get that settled today. Maybe you're sitting there and say, Pastor, I feel I need to be saved today. I need to be born again. I don't believe I'm a child of God. I may be gone to church, I've been baptized, I've been trying to do good, but I'm not born again. And you'd say, preacher, could you pray for me? I'd like to get this settled. Is there one like that today? Just raise your hand so I can see it. I won't point to it, I see your hand, God bless you. Is there another? I see your hand, kids. Thank you very much. Thank you for your hand, son. We have a lot of children here, they know exactly what they need. Is there anybody else? Say, I need to be born again. Christian, how's your idea of your father? There's something in the way. Right now, as you pray and you ask the Lord, is there something between me and you that keeps me from getting my prayers answered, where you will not hear me? And as he puts that on your heart, will you confess that to him as sin and saying, I'm wrong, Lord? You're right and I'm wrong and I want you to cleanse that and forgive me of that. And I want to be able to pray and say, Abba Father, and have you answer my prayers. Humbly before the Lord.