Well, let's read once more about our loving father and our relationship to him in prayer by turning to Luke chapter 11. And we'll read those first 13 verses of Luke chapter 11. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place. And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins. We ourselves forgive everyone who's indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. And he said to them, which of you, who as a friend, will go to him at midnight and say, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey. I have nothing to set before him. He will answer from within, do not bother me. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek, you will find. Knock, it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asked for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Let's pray together. Father, we are so grateful to know that you are our loving Father. We've been reminded of that in portions we've read this morning. And we would pray that as we contemplate that even further and our need to come before you in prayer for and with one another, that you would cause us to be ready even more fervently to bring our prayers before you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Please be seated. It's amazing to me that it's actually been six weeks already that we've spent discussing what it means to pray and what prayer is as based, of course, primarily on God's word. But we've used our catechism question to remind us as we've considered various aspects of prayer in the definition that's given to us in question 98 of the catechism. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will. In the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies. And so the very first week, we began with that very first phrase. It's an offering up of our desires unto God. It's heartfelt. It's not just going through the motions, saying a bunch of words that are meaningless. But then, as we consider the next phrase, these things are ultimately not our desires. But as we pray effectively, we will be praying for things agreeable to God's will. In the third week, we were reminded that we pray because of what Jesus has done for us and what he is still now doing for us. The one who died on the cross to atone for our sins is in heaven interceding for us, and that's why we pray in the name of Christ. We then took one week and looked at what our larger catechism adds, our shorter catechism leaves out. This phrase, we pray by the help of the Holy Spirit. And we're reminded for Romans 8, 26 and 27, that even as Jesus intercedes in heaven, God's Holy Spirit who indwells us, intercedes, groans with words too great for us. So we were reminded that it is the work of the triune God and it is our interaction with the triune God that takes place when we pray. And that's why our emphasis has been every week. My wife said, are you going to say that again this week? I said, yes, I am. And I'm going to say it every week for all 13 weeks in the series. Prayer is indeed a reflection of our relationship with God and God's relationship with us. The more we pray, the closer our relationship with him And the closer our relationship with Him, the more we will pray. We've often said in our time together as well, that prayer is where our lives and our God meet together. is what our prayer is all about. Well, week five, we were reminded, however, in the next phrase from our catechism, that we do sometimes in our relationship sin, and we sever our fellowship with our Lord, and we must come with confession of our sins if our prayers are going to be heard and answered. And then last week, as we considered thankful acknowledgement of his mercies, we were reminded that we deserve God's wrath and his curse. But thanks be to God, he has given us instead abundant blessings, temporal and eternal blessings in our Lord Jesus. So we offer up a sacrifice of praise on our lips with that thankful acknowledgement of his mercies. Well, the question's over, question 98. What are we gonna do for the next seven weeks? Our catechism then goes on to remind us, properly so, that we can use all of the Bible to show us how to pray. We can see many examples of prayers in the Bible. Those would be good to consider. We can be reminded, of course, throughout God's word who God is. And the more we know of God, the better we'll be able to approach him in prayer. But we are also reminded that our Lord gave us a model to pray. When his disciples pleaded with him, Lord, teach us to pray, as we read in Luke 11, verse 1. And so Jesus' response there is, when you pray, say these words. Some of you recognized as we went through the portion in Luke, it's a lot shorter than our Lord's version of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, 9 through 13, and we'll primarily be using that longer model over the next few weeks as we consider this morning the preface of the Lord's Prayer. and then the six petitions, as well as the conclusion to the Lord's Prayer. Well, the preface isn't very long. Indeed, it's just six words. And I had to count to be sure. Our Father, which art in heaven. But really, if you look in Luke chapter 11, it's even shorter. It's just one word. It's Father. Now, I know some of you collegians, high schoolers, when you're given a book to read, you see there's a foreword, there's an introduction, there's a preface, there's the acknowledgments, and sometimes those things go on for like 70 pages. And then the textbook goes on for another 700. And you say, I've got a 700-page textbook here. I am not reading those 70 pages of introduction, the preface, the acknowledgment. Forget it. And Mr. Larson's agreeing with this. Well, let me just encourage my brother to know that he can do that with college textbooks, but you don't want to do that with the Lord's Prayer. You don't want to just say, oh, well, Jesus threw in our Father, which art in heaven, because we had to start somehow, some way. So this is the equivalent of, if I can be slightly irreverent for a minute, this is just the slightly a way of saying, hi, God. That's not it at all. We've got far more to learn when we consider these six words, our Father, which art in heaven. And we've emphasized already that prayer is a relationship and a reflection of our relationship. And we see that so clearly in these six words. Our Father, which art in heaven, we are reminded that we are children, he's our father, but notice it's not, and we'll come back and talk about this at the end, it's not my father, it's our father. So we are praying with and for others. Many call this the Lord's Prayer, of course, some say no, the Lord's Prayer is when Jesus prays in John 17, that high intercessory prayer for his saints. We should call this the disciples' prayer because Jesus told his disciples, this is how you're supposed to pray. Let me encourage us to think along these lines this morning, and we can perhaps give it a third title. Let's call the Lord's Prayer for this morning's sake as we reflect on the preface. It's our family prayer, because we are God's children, and we are entering into prayer with our Heavenly Father, and we are praying with and for others in our Christian family. And so as we consider the preface, then let's be reminded of this. Only Christians, if it is a family prayer, only Christians can pray our Father. Now in a very broad sense, it is fair to say that God is the father of all mankind because he is their creator, he is their sustainer. 1 Corinthians 8, 5 and 6 say, although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods, many lords, yet for us there's one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist. And of course, when Paul's at Athens in Acts 17, we read where he reminds the Athenians that they too are made in the image of God. They are his offspring, and he is the one who has all of their life sustained because of him. But it is not true that all people can come to God and say in that intimate way, you are our father. It is only the redeemed in Christ who have a right to gain access into the father's throne. Thomas Watson, the Puritan of the 1600s, not politically correct, would not do well today, I don't think, but he said if you really are outside of Christ, you could perhaps pray our judge, which aren't in heaven, or you could pray our father, which aren't in hell. And those are pretty scary things to think of, right? But Jesus reminds us in John chapter eight that those who are not for me are of their father the devil. But when we pray, we do pray our father because he is our loving Father who gave us His Son. There is no greater example of the love that God the Father has for us than giving up His Son. John marvels at that. Of course, in 1 John 3, we know the verse, I think most of us. Behold, what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the sons of God, and that indeed is who we are. But in Galatians 4, we read this this morning. I'd like for us to consider these verses a little bit, and if you'd like to turn back to Galatians 4, let me remind you. When we think of the love that's extended to us as God's people, we usually think of the love of Christ in salvation. And indeed, Christ does demonstrate his love for us by dying on the cross, but that love also extends to his father surrendering his son and giving him up for us. And so we read in Galatians 4, verse 3, in the same way we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. We obviously were enslaved to the sinful world and its sinful desires. We were indeed slaves to sin. But what happens when the fullness of time comes? God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem, bring us back from our sin, those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And so it's because of our adoption in Christ, because our loving father sent Christ to die for us, that we can come and we can begin our prayers with our father, the one who has adopted us because of the sacrifice of his son. And that would be amazing enough. But then Paul goes on to say, because you are sons, God also has sent, same word that he used in verse four to talk about sending his son, he has also sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The same loving father who sent his son also sends his Holy Spirit so that we who are adopted children can cry out in that most intimate of terms, Abba, Father. I think you probably heard at some point, Abba is the Aramaic word, an Aramaic word, not a a Greek word, and it's an affectionate word. Some have translated it, daddy, but it's not the formal father term. But it's also interesting to note that if you were a Jewish slave in those days, you were not allowed to address a free man with this word, Abba, because there's a distinction between those who are slaves and those who are free. And what does this mean for us? We're not slaves to sin anymore. We are free. to call Jesus, or to call God our Father in heaven because of what Jesus has done. We are his adopted sons. We have that special relationship that the world knows nothing about. We have that intimate relationship with our God in heaven. And so we can come to him. knowing that he hears our prayers. And verse seven reminds us of that. You are no longer a slave, but you're a son. And if you're in a son, then you're an heir through God. And we read Romans eight earlier this morning as our assurance of pardon. Verse 15 echoes what we've just read in Galatians four. You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. You've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry that same word again, Abba, Father. And it's interesting to know the only other time in the New Testament we hear the word Abba is when Jesus is crying out in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. That's the relationship that Jesus had with his Father. And it's the relationship that we have with God the Father because of what Christ has done for us. So John's right, isn't he, when he says, behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God, that we can come into his presence and cry out in prayer, Abba. Father, we pray to our loving Father who gave us His Son, who gave us His Spirit. But Jesus doesn't end with just our Father, at least not in the Sermon on the Mount version. He adds to that which art in heaven. Why did Jesus do that? Is he just giving us the address where God lives? Of course not. We know God ultimately is omnipresent. He's everywhere. He's right in our presence this morning, although we do not see him because he is a spirit. But throughout scripture, when God is proclaimed to be in heaven, It's a phrase that's demonstrating his glorious glory, his majesty, his greatness, his holiness. Yes, his omnipresence, but his omnipotence as well. He is superior to us. So when we pray our father, we're praying to our heavenly father who rules over all. We pray to our loving heavenly father indeed, but he is the heavenly father who rules over all. And let's be real clear this morning, brothers and sisters, although I know we are aware of this, we never want to bring God down to our level and say he is our equal. We don't want an equal. We don't need an equal. We need someone who is superior. And we can rejoice in knowing that our catechism is absolutely right when it says that we pray to God as our father because he is able. But he's not just able. He's willing to help us as we come to him in prayer. The one that we come to is the one who is described in the Psalms often as being in heaven. And just hear a couple of those selections from the Psalter this morning. Psalm 115.3 says, our God is in heaven. He does all that he pleases. Psalm 114 says, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes see. His eyelids test the children of men. And in Isaiah, we read in the 66th chapter of Isaiah, and I'll encourage you to turn to Isaiah, because we want you to turn not just to Isaiah 66, but we're gonna look back at a couple other places in Isaiah in just a minute as well. Isaiah 66 reminds us that our loving father is still that superior one who's ruling over all the great God of heaven and earth. Isaiah 66 verse one, thus says the Lord, heaven's my throne, the earth is my footstool. What is this house that you would build for me? What is this place of my rest? All these things my hand has made and so all these things came to be. declares the Lord. The Lord, the great mighty one who makes heaven and earth, isn't limited to a temple, but this is the one, this mighty God in heaven, to whom I will look. He who is humble and contrite in spirit, he who trembles at my word. We are not his equals. We come as one who recognizes, yes, he's our loving father. But he is the great ruler over all of the earth. I recall my very first year teaching, very insecure first year teacher, had the children line up in the hallway. And we had a very clear rule. There was supposed to be no talking as they were in the hallway. So Luis, Katie, I heard him whispering, psst, David, psst, David. And I looked him eye to eye and I said, like I said, I was insecure. Luis, I realize I'm younger than any teacher you've ever had, but you don't ever call me by my first name. And he looked at me and said, Mr. Thiebaud, I was calling David Miller, he's right in front of me. God's not insecure. He does deserve. to be seen as not our equals. We do not dare approach him as our equal, but we do dare approach him as our loving Heavenly Father. And I had you turn to Isaiah 66, because if you'll flip back just a couple of chapters, we'll read what we read earlier this morning. And in many ways, I think this is the Old Testament version of the preface to the Lord's Prayer. because Isaiah has been reflecting throughout chapter 63 on God's mercies to his people. And he realizes at that point, those mercies are not being extended. They are being punished for their sin. And so what does he say? Look down from heaven, verse 15, and see from your holy, your beautiful habitation, our father, which art in heaven. where your zeal, your might, the stirring of your parts, and your compassion are held back from me." And again, I don't think Isaiah's just talking about himself, but natural Israel at this point, God's people as a whole. And then he says this, for you are our father, that one who sits in that holy habitation, that beautiful hill in heaven, you are our father. Though Abraham doesn't know us, Israel doesn't acknowledge us, Israel, reference to Jacob, Abraham, Jacob, of course, are no longer alive, but even if they were present, they could not comfort and strengthen the people of Israel. You, O Lord, our covenant God, Jehovah, are our Father. You are our Redeemer. from of old is your name. And so Isaiah reminds us that as the people of God in the Old Testament were able to approach that holy throne and call God their father, so too it is our privilege this side of Calvary even more to recognize that God is our loving father, our loving heavenly father who rules over all. Well, if he is our father, then we are to pray as children. and children to pray or talk to their dads with confidence. If Romans 8.32 tells us this, he who did not spare his own son, remember Jesus, God, our loving father, gives up his son for us. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, our loving father, how will he not graciously give us all things? See, our loving father's already given up. the greatest thing he could have given up, he gave us Jesus. And so we can be confident as we pray as children that he will give us all those good things that we need both in this life and that which is to come. And we read Luke 11 this morning as well. And I know a few weeks ago we considered portions of these verses, but it's good to be reminded of this portion of God's word as well. We won't read the parable, but be reminded the parable was the backdrop of the one who had a friend who came at midnight. And even at midnight, this friend was so amazed with the boldness that he was willing to give to the one who had need. And so Jesus goes on after the parable and says in verse nine, I tell you, ask. it will be given to you. Seek, you will find. Knock, it will be opened unto you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened to him. And then he goes from argument from the lesser to the greater. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead Give him a serpent. Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? See, fathers love to give children the things of this life when they're capable, when they're able. As you know, Ruth turned 11 last Lord's Day. And we didn't celebrate too much on last Sunday. But we went Monday night. And Ruth, interestingly enough, said, I want my main present to be just a night out for all of us. So let's not do in and out. Let's do something to step up from that. So we went to Claim Jumper, because that's what Ruth wanted to do. And as a loving father, it was a fun thing to know that she had confidence that she could ask. Actually, she probably asked mom first. She was very smart that way. But she had confidence to ask, knowing that we lovingly would do what we could. But I'm feeble, I'm weak, I am not able, and sometimes, frankly, after 10 o'clock at night, I'm never willing to help my children. Thanks be to God, our Father never slumbers, our Heavenly Father, right? Verse 13 says, if you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? We've already read that God gives us his gift of his son and he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. If he's willing to give us these things, he'll give us all that we need. Now we have to trust him for what's good. And sometimes that's hard, but we have to be confident that he will give us all good things. And indeed, Matthew 7, 11 tells us in a parallel passage, father will give good things to those who ask him. And if we wanna pray with confidence, I would tell us that all we need to really do is focus big time for the next few weeks as we gather together to talk about the various petitions of the Lord's Prayer. Because if we take those petitions seriously, then we can be confident our loving Father in Heaven hears us. He does want us to be those who cry out that his name would be glorified on the earth. He wants us to be those who cry out, may your kingdom come. He wants us to cry out. May your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. He wants us to cry out for our physical needs. Give us this day our daily bread. He wants to forgive us of our sins. And he wants us to be led away from temptation. And so the author of Hebrews is absolutely right. Let us then with all confidence draw near to the throne of grace. that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. We pray as children. We pray with confidence. But let me also hasten to add that confident children still need to respect their fathers. They do not demand things of their fathers. And I must tell you, in the day and age in which we live, I'm not sure how much this parallel is often seen because I've seen way too often children demanding things of their parents. Amy, Ruth, and Patty went to the mall this past week and they came back and they told me there was a child demanding of her mother that she buy her something in one of the stores. That is not the way we approach our Heavenly Father. We come with confidence, but we come with reverence. And I will very, very vividly recall when I was at Bible College, one of the chapel speakers very, very pompously said, students, I hope that one day you arrive at the same level of spiritual maturity that I've arrived. I'm like, wow, that's amazing. And he said, I'm at the point now in my relationship with God that I can tell him what he has to do in prayer, and he has to do it for me. I have shuddered. I have recognized time and time again since hearing that, even as I've heard Lynn just groan over there. Yeah, inwardly and outwardly, there were groans. That was presumptuous, but even far more than that was blasphemous. Our confidence never turns into disrespect, never turns into demands. It's always accompanied by reverence. He is our loving father who wants us to come in confidence, but he's still that great omnipotent king who rules over all. Larger Catechism tells us that when we pray, we ought to come with an apprehension of his sovereign power, of his majesty, of his gracious condescension. We read Isaiah 66 just a little while ago. Those he hears are those who are humble and contrite in spirit. Those he hears are those who tremble at his word. Let me encourage you to turn to Psalm 103, where we'll be reminded of another scripture that shows us we come with confidence, but we also come with reverence. Psalm 103. Verse 10, he doesn't deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love. But notice this. Who receives that compassion? Who receives that steadfast love? Those who fear Him. Those who come in awe of His greatness, of His mercy, of His compassion. As far as the East is from the West, so does He remove our transgressions from us. And here's that image of a father. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust and we too need to recognize that we come before his presence in confidence but in reverence as well. Somebody has defined prayer as humble boldness and I know that sounds so contradictory to us but that's it. We need to come boldly before the throne of grace. But we also come every time in great humility, recognizing we don't, in our own self, deserve to be there. And the author of Ecclesiastes has very interesting couple of verses in chapter 5 of Ecclesiastes, where he tells us, guard your steps when you go to the house of the Lord. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth. nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few." The author's not telling us don't pray, don't worship, but he is saying do it with caution, be aware that you're in the presence of that holy God who's in heaven and you are only in earth. In Isaiah 64, we read, again, verses chapter 63 and 64 for Old Testament reading this morning. But that section that we ended with, concluded with, we recognize we're sinners. We recognize he's the potter, we are the clay. And so we come with confidence, but we come with reverence as children to a father. And so this really is a family prayer. We adopted children, prayed to our father because of the work of his only begotten son. And I would add that family reminder to you that Jesus is sometimes, the New Testament indicates to us that he is our elder brother. But he's not just my father. And Jesus doesn't teach us, when you pray, pray my father, but he teaches us to pray our father. And as we pray, We pray with and for others who also come in prayer to God because of Christ's work. Thus, we pray with and for our brothers and sisters. And that's, again, what makes this a family prayer. We pray with our brothers and our sisters. And of course, I'm not saying by this, nor was Jesus teaching by this, when you say, our Father, that it is a family prayer and you should never pray for unbelievers. Indeed, when we pray, thy kingdom come, That is indeed part of what we're praying for is that non-believers will turn in faith to Christ. But we are encouraged in this prayer to recognize the great privilege we have as a family of God to come corporately together and to pray with and for one another. It's interesting in Ephesians 6 where Paul gives us the armor of God, he doesn't particularly say prayer is one of the pieces of armor, of the armor, but rather says you put on all that armor, And in the midst of all that armor, what are you supposed to be doing all the time? Pray at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance. Make a supplication for yourself and yourself only. No, of course not. Making supplication for all the saints. And so brothers and sisters we're reminded of course we need to pray for one another but OPC churches when we hear about them other churches around the globe that name the name of Christ we read from voice of the martyrs often reminded of our persecuted brothers and sisters. And so I would encourage all of us and exhort each one of us to take seriously this family prayer that we pray with and for our brothers and sisters. First Samuel, as the people of Israel are reflecting on the foolish decision they made to have a king, and Samuel tells them that he's about to die, and they reflect on all this and realize that they have made a bad decision, and they're fearful that Samuel's not going to pray for them anymore or work on their behalf and hear what Samuel says back, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. And those of us in positions of leadership must take that very seriously. Dads, moms, you need to be praying for your children. All of you know that your elders need to be praying for you and would to God that we had government officials who took that seriously. Wouldn't that be great? Knowing that government officials were praying that God's will would be done for us. And so there it is, Samuel's. example. But also, we know that the 3,000 on the day of Pentecost gathered together in Acts 2.42. Among the things they devoted themselves to were the prayers, not just prayer in general, but the prayers that were going on on behalf of one another. And we know that that is part of what Acts 2.42 is talking about. Because in Acts 12, remember Peter's in prison? And when he gets out of prison, he goes to John Marks and Mary's house. And what are they doing there? They're praying for Peter. Of course, Rhoda doesn't believe in Peter. We question how strong, at least, her faith in those prayers were. But nonetheless, they were praying for one another. And it's interesting, too. And this is, again, I must confess, this is Thomas Watson, nothing that I thought of on my own. But in Matthew 20, where we read about two blind men coming before God, praying, and they don't say, Lord, have mercy on me. The two blind men say, have mercy on us. Even in their blindness, they're concerned about each other. And that ought to be our brothers and sisters, our attitudes, as we come together in prayer. Because it is a family matter. It is a prayer. for one another. Paul told the church at Corinth that he had suffered much in Asia. God had delivered him from that, but in 2 Corinthians 1.11 he says you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of Many of you. So brothers and sisters, take seriously then our call to pray for one another. We're about to pray in corporate prayer, and I hope and pray that all of us will have united hearts and minds. And children, I know sometimes 10 minutes seems an incredible long time for anybody to pray. But you try your best to follow along with me. I really try my hardest not to use big, long words. And if any of you children want to tell me there are some words I prayed you didn't understand, let me know. I'll try to make it so that we can all come together corporately as we pray, because it is our corporate time of prayer. We even label it that way. Sometimes it's called the pastoral prayer, but we have purposely called it the prayers of God's people, because we want corporately to come together in prayer. And I know this sounds like the weekly announcement and the attempt at making you feel guilty. It's not. It really isn't. But honestly, if you're able to make it for prayer meeting, do so. And if you can't make it for prayer, I mean, let me suggest this. Take the prayer list. We have them every week. Take the directory. You all have new ones. If you don't, I've got a whole bunch more in my briefcase. And at home on Thursday night, while some of us are gathered together, you can pray on your own. We need to take seriously our need to pray with and for one another. And I'm fearful. I know in my life it happens way too often. We share with one another our concerns, especially in the next hour or so that may happen. And we say, in all sincerity, I'll pray for you. And then we kind of forget. So I would encourage you, as fanatical as this may seem, if someone before the morning's over says to you, would you please pray for this? Don't just say, I'll pray for you. Go ahead and stop right now and pray. Even while the rest of us are loud and smacking our lips with whatever refreshments, it's OK. God can hear. What a wonderful thing. What a wonderful thing to know that we have this privilege of family prayer. Because as we pray for our brothers and sisters, we can cry out, Abba, Father. Because our loving Heavenly Father. cares for us. He sent his son, he sent his spirit, he will not withhold any good thing for us. He wants you to come in confidence and in reverence and so I encourage you to pray with humble boldness of adopted children whose father is both able and willing to help us. Remember the words of Jesus, God's son, your elder brother, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? Let's come before our loving Father and ask for those good things now. Father, we do thank you for being our loving Father. Even though you rule the entire world and you sit in heaven and here we are on earth, You have given us Your Son, You have given us Your Spirit, and You promise to give all good things to us as we come humbly and boldly, as we come confidently and reverently before You. And Father, we are so foolish, we don't do that. We fret, we worry, we complain. And we would pray that you would forgive us for that. And that because of our time together this morning, you would cause us more and more to be fervent in our prayers, knowing that you do hear our prayers for ourselves, but our prayers for our brothers and sisters here and around the world. We pray that you'd hear us in this prayer because we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.