As we read from Luke chapter 11, we're going to just read the first four verses. Now it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Our Father, even as we come into your holy presence, we are reminded of the need to pray. And Father, we just ask that you would continue to work in each one of our hearts. Lord, draw us closer to you. Lord, you are the God of heaven and earth. and we petition you this morning as your body and as your people, Lord, to bless, to bless each one who's come out that they would hear the word of God. We ask this in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. Last week we started this section. Luke has been teaching on the kingdom of God. He's switched into his journey to the cross here at chapter 11. It's the teaching ministry of Christ as he comes up. And one of the first things that we run into is this request from the disciples, or at least a disciple, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. We looked at this last week. We just took verse one. This was a second request. The first time this had happened, or Jesus had taught on this, I should say, was back in Matthew 6 during the Beatitudes. And there was an entire sum of teaching there that God had given that men should, was to pray to God. There was before and after quite a bit on this prayer that men were to pray to God and not to pray to be heard by other men. They were to be concerned that they were standing in front of the living God. They were also to pray without vain repetitions. not saying the same thing, not thinking that they would be heard for their great prayers of length or repetitive prayers, but a sincere petition to a God who hears and answers prayer. And then the prayer was to be done in a right relationship with God, that both between God and man and between us and our fellow men, especially within the regards to forgiveness. You see that even in the prayer in Luke. And then prayer must be done from the heart and in truth. And those were the points we kind of looked at last week, just that Christ had already taught on all this. And we kind of looked at how the disciples, they have missed, and I had never seen this until I started to teach through Luke and I saw it so clearly, how the disciples have missed time and again, their eyes are so fixed on an earthly kingdom. They've tried to rebuke Jesus, they've tried to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans, that John and James will come looking to sit on the right hand and the left hand. Their eyes are just so earthly that I wonder even... here in this statement in verse one, and I put it out, this is my feeling, my interpretation, this is not gospel, but they are looking for something special when they are saying this. Lord, teach us to pray as John the Baptist taught his followers how to pray. We want our own thing. Give us something that we would have power with God. And again, God points him back to what he had taught before. There's no special formula. There's no repetitive prayer that you can say over and over again. There's no magic words. It's coming before a living God with our heart in our hand in all sincerity and truth and asking Him for our petitions and starting out with what He needs and what we need to hear from Him. This is what this passage is about. So Christ doesn't point them to a new formula. He points them back to what He's already taught. The teaching is sufficient. It's the application they've missed. You remember after the Mount of Transfiguration, they came down and that happened in chapter 10, I believe, or 9 in Luke. So it's already happened. It's in 9.28 in Luke. And in Matthew, where it's talking about as they come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, you remember they meet a father with a son whose demon possessed, and the disciples have not been able to cast him out. And after Jesus cast him out, they say this in verses 19 through 21, then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast him out? So Jesus said, because of your unbelief. For assuredly I say to you that if you have faith as a mustard seed, and you say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." They had had an opportunity, but instead of continuing to beseech the Lord, to going to the Lord in prayer, they got into a discussion with the scribes. And when Jesus returns from his time on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, they're having a dispute down there, a theological dispute. Well, there is a man in need who has come to Christ for help. Instead of praying, they have literally escaped from prayer for theological discussions. And Jesus is not pleased with them. He says, how long shall I put up with you, you faithless generation? And then he says, it's because of your unbelief. They had not come to God in prayer. And so when he comes here and they ask again, Lord, teach us to pray, I don't see this as some super spiritual moment. I almost look at this as arrogance on their part because God has taught them and they have not followed through. And so he points them back. And this is an abbreviated form of the prayer that he gives in Matthew 6. As we actually get into the prayer, we will be following it from Matthew 6. This is an abbreviated form. And he gives it to them this way, just pointing them back. This is what I gave you before. Go back. Remember what I taught. And today, we want to start looking at this. And the first thing I want to say is this. We need to set the stage for prayer. And that's a term I guess I use often, and yet I think it's needed. In Psalms 14, verse one, it says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. There is no God. And the result of that is, it continues on to say, they are corrupt, they have done abominable works, and there's none that does good. That's actually all in verse one of Psalms 14. As soon as you say in your heart, there is no God, as soon as you doubt the veracity and the foundational truth that God is, you start to do abominable works. You will drift away from, there is no morality outside of God. He is the ultimate reality and the power that stands behind all creation is the Word of God alone. There is no natural force, but it is by His power and His might that all things exist. They were created by Him, they exist through Him, and they exist for His glory. And when you understand that this whole world was created by God, through God, for God, and then you think you take God out of it, what do you have left? You have lies, and deception, and emptiness. You have missed the foundation of truth. That is why Proverbs says, to fail to start with God is to be classified as a fool, because there's no hope of truth. in Proverbs 15.8 is kind of the antithesis of that. It says, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. And this is the line that kind of ties it together for us today. But the prayers of the upright are his delight. They're his delight. Because to truly pray with a proper attitude of praying in secret, even when we're together, praying to the Lord alone, is to pray in faith, knowing that God is, that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and that we are calling out to the God who can actually change things. He is not impotent. He is not impowerful. We don't even have the words to describe Him. We have the greatest privilege on earth to come before Him. And when He sees His children finally get over their stinking pride and get down on their knees and pray to God who is and say, Lord, I need your help. He is delighted to listen. I don't know if that moves you, but it should. The God of the universe that sustains all things by the word of His power is that close, but He's looking for reality. He's looking for reality. Think of the privilege it is. Hebrews 4.16 says, therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in times of need. Awesomeness is that. Do you realize that when you need to obtain mercy, why would you need to obtain mercy? Because you had sinned and you were guilty. And he says, let us come boldly. Let us come boldly. to confess our sins, because if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And it doesn't stop there. It says we'll find mercy and grace, the strength to live the Christian life, to leave our sins, to walk with God, to be a child of God. This is who He calls us to be. Hebrews 10, 19-22 continues that thought, it says, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and a living way which he consecrated us through the veil, that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and with our bodies washed with the pure water. Let us draw near with the right actions, the right attitudes, the right heart, and our bodies washed with the water of the Word. This is what prayer really is. I don't know if you can even get a glimpse of it, but I pray you can, because when we pray, while we exist on this plane, we also exist for a moment in glory. And in the very throne room of God, petitioning God the Father, with the Son interceding for us at the right hand, and Spirit calling out with words that cannot be uttered, And we know this, and like the disciples, all too often we don't pray. And when we do pray, we go through a form of prayer, just getting our requests out there, Lord, be with so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so. See, I prayed for you all, instead of realizing whose presence we have just stepped into. Oh. There's so much to be said here. I think when we start this prayer, and especially with these first couple of verses, we are laying foundation stones. All right, this is, I alluded to this last week, and again, this is my interpretation of this, and when I say that, I give you freedom to disagree, but to think about it, consider it. In Matthew 6, when Jesus talks about it, he says, let this be the pattern of your prayer. Now, for the two years since then, the disciples have not been praying. And in Luke chapter 11, he says, you know, teach us to pray. And he says, pray like this. Even if you can't, even if you can't follow the pattern, just take this prayer. At least it's better than not praying. This is the way it should be. And I think we see as he gives us this prayer, that it is a prayer to be prayed together. And it is a prayer that also lays a pattern of how our prayers are to be. And it lays foundations. I was thinking about this foundations and how important it is. And Luke 6 came to mind again, where it talks about the wise man and the foolish man. They built their house on the rock and the sand. Most of you remember this from Sunday school or Bible club where, you know, foolish man's house fell and it went, and we all slap our hands and all the kids go, yeah, smack. Let me read it to you. Luke 6, 48, and this is the conclusion of it. He is like a man building his house, the wise man, who dug deep and laid his foundation on the rock. And when the floods arose and the streams beat vehemently against the house, and they could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock, but he who heard and did nothing is like the man who built his house on the earth without a foundation, and against which the streams beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great." And I just look at it and I say, how many of you would want to build your house without a foundation? You know you wouldn't. We all agree to that. And there are foundations that we must lay in God's word in prayer as well. And it is very similar that if we do not lay these foundation stones, we are trying to build a prayer life on something that is just sand and earth and it doesn't continue. It doesn't persist. We must dig deep. We must study prayer. We must study what God has taught us. And I think what we see, let me point out a couple first. James 4, many of you know this verse, James 4, 2 through 3. He says this, you lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you do not have. Why? because you do not ask. And you ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you might spend it on your pleasures. In other words, we can pray, but without these foundations of what truth is, we end up just praying for whatever we desire. We look to our own lives, our own pleasures. James was not Happy with that, and the Lord, through him, he writes probably one of the harshest verses ever written to the church. James 4.4 comes after this. I just stopped at three. And verse four says this, adulterers and adulteresses, those that have loved the world and are praying for their own pleasures, are in idolatry. Do you realize that? They're in idolatry. They have chosen to love the world and the things of the world above the things of God. So God, through James, says adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. I just give you this because I want you to understand the importance of laying these foundations. If this is the external foundation, making sure we're going according to God's word and our lives are righteous and that it's done for God, what's the internal part? We must come to God in sincerity and truth. 29.13 is a verse that has stuck with me since I was a boy. It says, and you will seek me and find me when you search for me. How? With all your heart. With all your heart. See, God reads the heart of men. He knows us. In Jeremiah 17.10, he says, I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind. I give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doing. When you come to God in prayer, you must come with your heart. You must come from the inside out, praying to God in truth and asking for help. He is seeking those that pray to Him like this. I want you to notice in Luke 18 verses 9-14, Jesus tells a parable. It's a parable about prayer. and it's a parable about the heart. We're not gonna go into it too much, but let me just read it. Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. This is what we must be watching for. The disciples were obviously on the other side of this. They were looking to see who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They had come with the request just a couple of, literally a page back in our Bibles, but maybe a couple of weeks back in our Bibles, Lord, who is the greatest prophet that ever lived? And Matthew tells us they were actually discussing which of them was the greatest. Because Peter, James and John had seen Elijah and Moses and they wanted to know who was the greatest. And it was that same attitude that produced the spirit in James and John to say, Lord, should we call down fire on the Samaritans? Let's burn them up because they did not receive you. So when Christ looking to them. He has nothing more he can give them. He points them back to this foundation stone. So what is this foundation? Let's just look at the first one this morning. Our time goes fast, but there's four parts. Actually three or four. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Those four. Our Father, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Those I look at it and I see as the foundation stone here. And I wanna challenge you. We go through this prayer and I don't know if you're like me, but we grow up saying this in church and we're gonna say it tonight at the end of this service, but all too often we don't even think about what we're praying, right? And we all know this, but let's just stop and really focus on this. Why the word our? Well, first of all, it's grammatically correct, right? Jesus is talking to the disciples. When you pray, say this. He's telling them to pray together in an organized group, at least, and to say this, our, grammatically, we are all together, Father who art in heaven. So grammatically, it makes sense. But it goes deeper than that. It's not just that it's grammatically correct. Because even in Luke where he says in this manner pray, I'm sorry, in Matthew 6 where he says in this manner pray, he still says are. So why are? Well, it's possessive. That would be the second thing, isn't it? It shows possession. God is our Father. And prayer is a specific privilege only for those that are genuinely believe and know in the Lord Jesus Christ. They've come to Him and they've had the new birth experience where God has given them a new heart and a new spirit resides within them. And they have been born again by the power of God and they have the right then through the blood of Jesus Christ to claim that word, our. God is their Father. So it's possessive. And we all know that. I think it's also bigger than that, though. We come to Him as a group, and I'm not talking about the twelve apostles. I think there is a sense that when we come to God in prayer we should remember we are not lone rangers. We are not individuals who stand out there. This is something that happens particularly in America. We do home church. We do home Bible studies. We do all sorts of stuff that is somehow divorced from the church of the living God. And I'm gonna say honestly, I think this is sin. This is sin. God has told us in Hebrews 10, 20 through 25, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. And let us, it doesn't stop there. Let us consider one another. in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more so as you see that day approaching." We have been called to be a body. We have been called to be together, to support one another, to pray for one another. And that very first word of that prayer, our, should remind us that we are not just a lone ranger out there on our own. I am the only one who stands up. And yes, there is time you pray, and you pray in secret, and you pray alone, and you pray standing for God. And Elijah was one man praying for the people of Israel, and God heard his prayer. But having said that, there were still 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee because God had chosen them and given them the strength to stand. And even today, we talked about this this morning as I looked in and I just tried to do, it was just amazing to me to look around and to see Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Lower Wisconsin, and Milwaukee, and Indiana, and Tennessee, and all the places God has brought here Why? Because we are one body, we are one faith, we have one hope, one calling, one God. And we support each other in prayer. And we love each other. And no matter how far we go and how few times we come, when we come together, we are that family of God, one body. When you tell me about the problems you have, my heart hurts. When I tell you about the problems we have, your heart hurts because we are one body in the God. We have experienced this. What God has prayed that we all may be one is He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, that we might be one in them. A oneness that the world does not know. I think there's another reason as well, not just that we look out, that it's not just us, but that when we pray, we are also not to be always, and again, I'm not saying you're not to pray alone. That's part of what Matthew 6 taught. You go into your room, you pray to your Father who sees in secret. There is to be private prayer, but by God's name, there's to be public prayer. And that prayer is to be a prayer of faith. In Matthew 18, 19 through 20, it says, if two of you agree on earth concerning anything they ask, it will be done for them. For my Father who is in heaven, for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Yes, I know that's in the context of church discipline, but it is clear that it is for a church who is to be praying together. If two of you, and then skipping a bit, call on me. They can ask anything in my name and I will do it. Not that I agree with anybody wholeheartedly, but I have enjoyed reading some on Mark Deaver, some of his hints on church and evangelism and discipleship and different little books that he has written because he so integrates the church into it. And truly, if we have the church outside of evangelism, outside of discipleship, we have lost the picture of what it is. He went back to Matthew 28, 18 through 20, all authority is given, the Great Commission, you guys know it, all authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. And at the end of that, it says what? Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Where does that happen? Baptizing them in the name of the Father. Where does that happen? In the church of the living God. It is not to be done on the side. It's to be done in front of witnesses. It's to be done with the body. It's to be done with rejoicing as the people of God come together to praise his name for the one who wants to turn his life over to God. I love that his emphasis always holds the church as a center point because I believe that's something biblical that God does. This is his body. When we meet together, we meet as the called out ones, the body of Christ, to worship Him and to pray before Him. Look also at James 5, 16, even if it's just in your minds. Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. What does that mean? You know, most of us get real cautious around that verse. We have too many thoughts of the Roman Catholic Church in our mind and we, I'm not sure about that. But I'll tell you what I believe that means. I believe that means that when you find yourself in bondage of sin and you cannot break free on your own, that God has appointed a place of love, a place of authority, and a place of power. If you're willing to come, Call the elders of the church, get together, doesn't have to be all of them, and confess your sin and say, I need help. The God himself has promised that if they will pray for you, he will hear from heaven and deliver you from your sin, from the bondage that has held you. Ephesians 6.18, you can't have one and praying together without this, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. See, this is one of the problems of getting out of the church. You don't even know who's in the body. You're not helping one another, you're not encouraging one another, and you're not praying for one another. You look at what happened in Acts. when God gave life to the church. And we look at that church, and it's not a perfect church, but we see a purified church that even when Satan tries to get Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Spirit, they are judged publicly for because the holiness of God is held up. And revivals happen again and again. And what do we read about them? They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayer. See, it's part of the church. It's part of our privilege, our joy, our responsibility, and our power. I remember there was a day, I can't remember what the need was, but we heard about it. Whether it was similar along the lines of 9-11, something that happened. My brother Jess was home, and I remember feeling a burden from the Lord that we should pray. Now, you've been in our church service and we pray a lot in our church service. And we got to 15 minutes after we had finished our two songs. I don't think I even read from the Bible that day. I had called seven men in the church. I had written out a prayer request. I turned it over to them to lead to the Lord in prayer. Quarter till we were still praying. Wasn't a dry eye in the church because God was present. because his body had called out in a time of need to the only source of help, and he was listening. He was listening. That's the first word. We haven't even got to the second or the third word. Our, I don't know, I've been thinking about this for three weeks, and it just gets deeper on my heart Because somehow we have missed this in America. Oh, I don't think it's just us that have missed it. I think you can go to a lot of other countries and they've missed it too, but we have certainly missed it here. That we are a people called to be together. It should be the joy of his saints to assemble. I remember a statement in one message and it was talking about remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And I don't know if it came from the Puritans or someone else, but it went back and it compared the Old Testament requirements for the Sabbath day. And what was it? Well, it was not to work. That wasn't meant to be a burden. That was meant to be freedom. That was meant to be a time of preparation so that you could genuinely have a holiday for the Lord, a holy day for God. It was to be a holy convocation, a holy assembly of the people. See, we have no idea what this even means. In Kenya, where people could not come to church easily, they would walk, some of them for 45 minutes and an hour. Sometimes it took them that long to come to church. I would often arrive at church at 8.30, and it was not rare for me to arrive home at 3.30 or 4 o'clock. And we would not stop worshiping God. We would have an early morning time of fellowship as we waited for Sunday school to start. And the elders would get together for a prayer meeting in the back. Then we'd have our Sunday school groups that would split up and we'd have an hour Sunday school. We'd have a 15 minute break, then we'd start the church service. Those of you who think I go along, the scene sometimes would go to one o'clock, the pastor could go to two, starting at 11. starting at 11. Then we're going to feed you. We're going to bring out Wonder Bread and margarine, and we're going to let you take two slices each, and we'll give you some Kool-Aid to drink. Seriously, that's the food. And then we're gonna continue on, because we've come a long way, and we don't wanna leave. We're gonna have a time of singing, and we're gonna practice songs, and we're gonna organize so that when the choir is called, those that feel able can come forward, and they can have a special number and song, and it doesn't end there. After that, we might have another time of the word, and we might have the Lord's table at the end of it. And that was a normal Sunday. The people come together to worship God because He is worthy of our worship. He is our Father and we are His family. And we come in love for each other and love for God. We offer our lives there on that altar before the Lord. We come into this church and we don't come to lead, we come to listen. We don't come to be entertained. We come to be taught. We come to bless and to be a blessing and to hear from God. We come to find out if there's something in God's Word to challenge us. And we also come to pray for ourselves, for our brothers and sisters. I'm not even halfway. I'm gonna close out here where our time is up, but let me ask you some questions. How was your prayer life? Are we like the disciples here who, you know, they want something special. They want something special. You know what I am amazed of is there's nothing all too often, it is the basic and the simple things of God's Word. It is the reading of the Word, the proclamation of the Word, the proclamation of the Gospel, the coming together to pray. It's the simple things that God chooses to bless. Paul would say, I've determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why? Because he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation. He knew that the power was not in himself, not in words of wisdom. It was simply in obeying the Lord. So we come together to fellowship. We come together to pray. We come together to hear. How's your prayer life? We all struggle with our prayer life. I want you to know that. Let's be honest here. We all struggle with our prayer life. We wish it was warmer. We wish it was longer. We wish it had more vitality, more life. But do you realize the privilege you've been given? Do you realize it? Set aside a time for prayer, five minutes. Why a time? So you don't rush through it. So you take time for God to talk with him. You take time for God. Without this foundation, you're gonna find yourself becoming unstable, slowly getting cold, drawing away from God. Spend your time calling out to him. You know, we didn't talk about it, but he is our father. He is our father. There's so much there. but know that He loves you. He delights in having His children come with the right heart, seeking Him. That's His delight. Make a list in your Bible of the times God says He delights in something. I'm going to tell you something. There's not many. There's not many. All right. I'm going to ask you to stand as we close in a word of prayer. When we finish our time of prayer, when I finish and say amen, We're gonna pray the Lord's Prayer together. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our Father, we come before you this morning, and Lord, we wanna thank you for all that you have done for us. Lord, we ask you to open our hearts to the duty of prayer, to the privilege of prayer, to the joy of prayer, to the beauty of prayer. Lord, that anywhere and anytime we can call out to the God of all the earth, to our Father who is in heaven. Father, I ask you this morning that you would bless each person here and that their hearts would be warmed with the intensity of your Spirit. Lord, that we would be drawn closer to you in love, not in guilt, but Lord, in love. And Lord, that we would confess our sins on a regular basis. Lord, that we would ask for your help on a regular basis. God, that we would call out to you to lead us, to guide us, to strengthen us, to teach us. Father, and that we would walk with you. Lord, we want this church to be a light. We're coming up on 75 years. Father, if there's anything I would ask, let us be a light for you. Let us shine forth the glory of the gospel of God, that there would be truth proclaimed in this land from at least here. And Lord, I would pray for every person who's here who's not from this area. Lord, that you would bless their churches and their pastors. Lord, that you would anoint them from on high and that you would fill them with your spirit, that the message of the gospel would go out, not only in Eagle River, but for each town. And Lord, that we would not hold back on what is true, but Lord, that we would worship you and in spirit and in truth, and we would declare all that you have taught us. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Let us pray together. Our Father, who 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.