to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. This is our third or fourth, I think our fourth lesson in our series on Wednesday night of Could You Not Tarry One Hour? Talking about prayer. Tonight, I want to talk to you We're going to title our lesson, Ask the Expert. We're going to start just momentarily in Luke 11. On the back of your scripture sheet, there's a worksheet. And get yourself familiar with the questions there, and as we talk, I want you to answer these questions, if you don't mind. You may want to take some notes, but for sure answer these questions. It will help you to retain what we're going to be sharing with you tonight a little bit more, if you'll do that. Luke 11, verse 1, it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, the he there is Jesus, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. I think a well-known business axiom goes something like this. If you want to know something, ask an expert. I mean, if you've ever heard that before, if you want to know something. Ask an expert, for instance. If you want to know something about, say, the sport of football. Ask a Mike Ditka or a Tom Landry or a Don Shula. Ask somebody that knows the game very well. If you want to know something about raising children. Ask an expert, ask a James Dobson. Say. If you want to know something about Christian principles to govern the use of your money. Ask an expert, ask a Larry Burkett. Or somebody like that. And likewise, if you want to learn about prayer. If you want to learn how to pray. Don't you think it'd be a good idea to follow that reasoning and ask an expert? In fact, ask the number one all-time great expert on prayer. That one is none other than Jesus Christ. In all of history, there's never been anybody that could pray like Jesus. I'm convinced of that. He believed in prayer. He practiced prayer. Jesus prayed. Here in Luke 11, one day Jesus was doing just that. He was praying. His disciples happened to come upon Him. They heard His prayer. They were moved, I think, by his, for lack of a better word, expertise in prayer. This guy knew how to pray. He was no beginner. They had been around people that prayed all their lives. The Pharisees prayed three or four times a day. They'd stop in the middle of the street where they were in prayer time, came and prayed. The disciples themselves had prayed. But they'd never prayed like this. And they'd never heard a prayer like this. They were moved. They were stirred. And by the time Jesus got done, they said, Lord, would You teach us how to pray? Now watch. They saw the Master at work. And in comparison to Him, they felt like beginners. After listening to Jesus pray, they felt like, man, we don't know how to pray. This guy knows how to pray. We don't know how to pray. And so they said, Lord, would You Mind teaching us how to pray like you do. Have you ever been around somebody that really knew how to pray? I mean somebody that really knew how to pray. I've been around praying people all my life. I was raised in church. I know I've heard 10,000 prayers in my lifetime. But I've been privileged to be around a few people that I felt like really knew how to pray. And what a thrill it is, and how convicting it is for that matter, to be in the presence of someone that really prays. I think that's how the disciples felt as they came upon Jesus that day in Luke 11. Here was a fellow that really knew how to pray. They realized their own deficiency in prayer, like you and I realize ours. They were in the presence of an expert, and so they said, how about teaching us how to pray like you? So he did. I want you to turn in your Bibles over to Matthew chapter 6. We're going to look at the teaching that Jesus gave, the words of the expert. Matthew 6, beginning in verse 5. We're going to break down the instructions of the expert so that we can see how to pray. The question was, Lord, how do you pray? Teach us how to pray. Jesus responded. Because of time, we're going to point out three ways that Jesus, the expert, said we're to pray. On the back of your worksheet, on the very bottom, you can write these three down. You'll remember them better that way. First of all, Jesus said to pray secretly. Pray secretly. Pray in private. Pray secretly. And that does not mean that it's wrong to pray a public prayer. The Bible is full of examples of public prayers. In fact, when you get down to verse 9 of this chapter, Jesus then prayed a public prayer. So there's nothing wrong with praying public prayers. But I think by far and away, the most meaningful times that you'll spend in prayer will be the times that you spend alone, secretly, between you and your Father. Look at verse 5 and 6. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Truly, I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee Openly. Here Jesus tells us that some people pray to be seen and heard of men. They want to look religious. They want to seem spiritual. Jesus says here that prayer is not to be a spectator sport. Prayer is not something you do to be seen as being religious. Rather, look at it again. Verse 6, in prayer we are to go to a secret place. Get away from everybody else. Close the door. And get alone with God. And listen, who's telling us to do this? The expert. The guy that knew how to pray. Remember, he was out there praying alone and the disciples came upon him. The expert, if you want to know how to do something, ask the expert. The expert said when you pray, pray secretly. Get alone. Get all alone. Close that door. Don't try to let anyone know you're there or what you're doing. All alone. Just you and God. Now, why? Why the emphasis on privacy? Why do we shut the door? Why? Let me give you three reasons very quickly. First of all, a practical reason. I'm going to give you the biblical reason that's mentioned here in a second. But first, a practical reason for praying secretly. Here it is. A private place of prayer will guarantee for you a minimum amount of distractions. And that's just a practical reason. And don't turn me off. A private place in prayer will guarantee for you a minimum amount of distractions. If you're like me, you're trying to pray and distractions come along. Those distractions, man, they'll just be, it'll be a disaster for your prayer time. How many of you are like me in that way? I mean, when I'm praying, if I get distracted, boy, it's all over. See, distractions for most people prove to be deadly, disastrous when it comes to prayer. Almost any kind of distraction will break my train of thought. If I hear the phone ringing, if I hear the doorbell, if I hear somebody laughing, if I hear somebody talking, if I hear a car pull up, almost any distraction, almost any noise, breaks my train of thought. And my mind suddenly is off the Lord. And maybe I'm going through the mechanics, but I'm wondering, who just pulled up in that car? I wonder who that is on the phone. You see, the distractions, they interrupt and they interfere with my praying. Therefore, a private place, a private place, you're away from the phone, you're away from the doorbell, you're away from everything. That private place will help you to avoid the distractions. If you want to develop a meaningful prayer life, somebody said there's three enemies you've got to overcome. Let me say this again. If you want to develop a meaningful prayer life, there's three enemies that you've got to overcome. And enemy number one is what we've been talking about, interruptions. Interruptions. It's for that reason that many people that I've talked to, in fact, I'd say most Christians that I've talked to that tend to be very busy people. They usually spend their quiet time with the Lord early in the morning. It is not that they so much enjoy getting out of bed early, but they've learned that if they get up at a normal time like everybody else gets up, there's going to be so many interruptions they cannot pray. See, they've learned if they don't spend time with the Lord early, when that phone starts ringing and people start coming to see them, it's all over. It's going to be, Lord, We'll get with you tomorrow, see. And that's why most Christians that I know that are very busy people and that seem to have a strong walk with the Lord, most of them get up early in the morning and they spend that quiet time with the Lord very early before they spend time with anybody else. Look at your scripture sheet. David said in Psalms 5, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. David tended to go to prayer in the morning. Now watch. David didn't have a telephone, did he? Let me tell you what he did have. He had at least eight wives, ten concubines, twenty-two kids, and a kingdom to take care of. So he had a lot going on, didn't he? I mean, he had a lot to do and a lot of potential distractions. Can you imagine having 22 kids and 18 wives and concubines and being in charge of the whole country and trying to find time to pray? Poor guy, if he didn't get up early in the morning, it was probably going to be all over for him. See, he had interruptions. And so he said, I'm going to get up early and I'm going to take care of my prayer time then. So I would like to recommend to you, if you're like me, if distractions bother you in your prayer time, then you've got to find a time when you can't be distracted. And maybe the best time would be early in the morning. On the other hand, there's two sides to every argument. Everybody in this room has heard of Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley, mother of 19 children, back in the 1700s. Back then there were no washers and no dryers, no supermarkets, no malls. She cooked her own food. She sewed the clothes for the 19 children, her and her husband. She was a pastor's wife. She did homeschooling for the kids. Alice, you can appreciate that. You've got three. She had 19. Can you imagine that? And sewing their clothes and cooking their food and washing the dishes and making the house. And no conveniences, no ironing board, no nothing. But you know what that lady did? Every day from 1 o'clock in the afternoon to 2, she went to her bedroom and she closed the door and she got along with God. Try telling Susannah Wesley you can't find time to pray. She won't accept it. If that gal could find time to pray with 19 kids, anybody can find time to pray. Of course, she would probably say with 19 kids, she had to pray. Amen? But my point is, if she could find time to pray, surely you and I can find time to pray also. So I'm saying there's nothing extra holy about praying at 4 o'clock in the morning. Some people think, well, if I get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and pray, I'm really holy. No, you're not. You're no more holy praying at 4 o'clock in the morning than you are praying at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It's not how early or how late it is. The point here is find a quiet time when you will not be distracted. That's the practical reason for praying in private. Jesus said, find a closet, shut the door, lock yourself in, do not be interrupted so that you can pray to your Father. That's the idea. There's a second great enemy of prayer. The second enemy is drowsiness. Amen. Isn't it amazing? If you can't sleep at night, don't count sheep, just pray. Man, you'll be gone. You will. At least I am. Drowsiness. Talking about John Wesley, I read the other day where some of the early followers of Wesley They face the same problem, becoming drowsy when they pray. Some of these guys would take towels and soak them in cold water and wrap them around their heads to try to keep awake in prayer. And I don't know about you, but I've never tried that, but I certainly respect their desire to wrap your head in a wet towel so you'll stay awake. You've got to respect their desire there. But here's the encouraging thing. Fellas that were as close to God as that and had a desire to love God as much as that, they had problems dozing off when they prayed. And that ought to encourage you, OK? See, you're not the only carnal person that ever lived. Drowsiness is an enemy of prayer. Let me make a suggestion to you. If you don't want to wrap your head in a wet blanket, a wet towel, you can try, don't kneel. If I kneel in prayer, it's all over for me. I mean, it's all over. So don't kneel. I'm the type, before my head hits the pillow, I'm gone. See? And if I sit down, practically, I'm gone. So I don't kneel when I pray usually. Usually I'll either pray as I sit, or I'll pray standing, or I'll pray walking. If you have a hard time becoming drowsy when you pray, then don't kneel, and don't close your eyes. Keep those eyes open and you stand or you sit or you walk or get out in the fresh air and let that air hit you. But you can defeat that enemy called drowsiness. There's a third enemy of prayer. The third enemy is wandering thoughts. Wandering thoughts. Does that happen to you when you try to pray? You're praying, Dear Lord, bless so and so, and the next thing you realize, your mind's a million miles away. You're thinking about something else. Be honest. How many of you have that problem? Sure. Most all of us do. Wandering thoughts. Let me tell you one way you can overcome that problem. By not praying silently. Pray aloud. Almost in every case when I found myself wandering off in prayer, my thoughts, it's because I was praying silently. If you'll pray aloud, if you'll speak your prayers verbally, That'll help you to keep your mind on what you're saying. Look at your scripture sheet again, Luke 11, 2. Maybe this is why Jesus said, when you pray, say, Our Father. Say it, Our Father. Speak it. Open your mouth and say it, Our Father, which art in heaven. So let me tell you my struggle here. If I kneel, I get drowsy. If I pray silently, my thoughts wander. And if I pray where there's a bunch of people running around, I get distracted. I've tried to pray in every corner of this church. I've tried to pray in this auditorium. It doesn't work for me. I'll find a room where there is nobody. I'll close the blinds. I'll turn off the lights. I'll close the door. And I mean within two minutes, somebody's in there. See, I've tried praying back in that baptismal room. I've tried getting in the closets back there and praying. Somebody came along and opened the closet and I half scared them to death. I can't find a place to pray in this church unless, unless I get here real early in the morning. If I get here real early before any of the staff is here, before anybody else comes, and I can walk all over this building, I can pray aloud so my mind doesn't wander. I can stand or walk or go from room to room. Sometimes I just pray up and down the rows of chairs in this place. I'm walking so I'm not getting drowsy and I'm alone so I feel a little more comfortable voicing my prayer so people don't think I'm crazy. So for me, if I'm going to find that quiet place, that secluded spot, I've got to get up pretty early and get here before anyone else or do the same thing at my house. My point to you is this. Find a quiet place where there's no distractions, where you can pray in such a way to where you'll not become drowsy. And so you can pray out loud if need be. But you find that quiet place and go to prayer. And so Jesus said, pray privately. Why? Well, the practical reason is to avoid distractions. But then number two, there's a biblical reason for praying privately. We've already read it in verse 5 and 6. The reason you want to pray in that closet behind the closed door is to guard against praying to be seen of people. Let me say it again, to guard against praying to be seen of people. You see, here's what I've noticed about me. When I pray alone, my prayers are directed absolutely to God and no one else. But when I pray publicly, I've got in the back of my mind that others are there. For instance, when I pray publicly, I'll say, Lord, forgive our sins. When I pray privately, I name them. But I don't like naming my sins in front of you. Amen. You don't either. You know, I've never heard anyone pray a public prayer in church, Dear Lord, forgive me for yelling at my wife this morning. I just never have heard that. Maybe you have. I've never heard that. I've heard 10,000 prayers. It's, Lord, forgive us for our sins and shortcomings. See? When we pray publicly with others, and again, there's nothing sinful about praying publicly, but when we pray publicly in front of others, we're aware of their presence. And I think that hinders to a degree the sincerity of our prayers. And so the biblical reason for praying privately is so that it's just you and God, your prayers are directed totally to Him, and it guards against praying to be seen or heard of others. And then finally, there's a personal reason for praying privately. I've given you a practical reason, a biblical reason, now a personal reason. And here it is, the personal reason for finding a private place to pray is this, when you finally find that private, secret spot, that special place where you meet regularly with God, I can't explain it, maybe I'm getting too spooky here, but there just seems to develop an aura around that spot. It becomes a special place. It's kind of like, I think, what the Garden of Gethsemane was for Jesus. It was a place where He was accustomed, the Bible says, accustomed to going to for prayer. He could have prayed anywhere in Jerusalem, but He seemed to gravitate towards that Garden where it was all alone, late at night, the shadows, the darkness, nobody there. He could get along with God. It became a special holy place for Him. You find that special private place of prayer. It can be your kitchen table. It can be your pickup truck. It can be a barn. It can be your bedroom closet. It can be your basement. It can be your attic. It can be your office at work. I don't care where it is, but you find that special place, and you go there day after day after day, and that place will become special to you. It'll draw you like a magnet. You'll look forward to going to that place because of what's happened there. Because day after day you got along with God. Day after day you walked with God. You met with God. Your burden was lifted. Your sins were confessed. And miracles happened in your life. Prayers were answered as a result of the time you spent with God in that place day after day after day. And it will become a very special place. Some of you that were in our church way back when we moved into this building from the little building over on 41st and Beaver. Was anybody in 41st and Beaver in this room? Three or four hands. I don't know about y'all, but Mary and the rest of you. It didn't seem like church here to me for the first month or two. Now, that was not a church building, it was an office building. But it had become a church building. We'd seen God do a lot there. We'd met there day after day, week after week. And we'd seen God move. We moved into this place. It was a lot bigger. It didn't look the same. It didn't feel right to me. It took a couple of months for me to get used to it. And when we moved to our new building out on 235, it's going to be the same way. You're going to walk out of there after the first week or two and you're going to say, you know, it just doesn't seem the same. It's just not the same. It's different. The atmosphere's not... I don't like it. But if you'll stick it out two or three months, it's going to seem like home. It's just going to feel like the right place to worship. Then when we build the next building, you're going to say, no, it's not the same. Not the same. I miss that old place. And it's the same way with places of prayer. When you find a place where you go to time after time after time, and you really learn to get close to God, that place becomes special. See, it becomes special. And it becomes easy. When you get there, just to open up your heart to the Lord, it's just the natural thing, see, to do. So find a special, quiet place just for you and God, and go there daily on a regular basis. Let me stop the lesson here for a second. Would somebody raise your hand and just tell me where your special place of prayer is? I mean, is it your office? Is it your bedroom? Is it your backyard? Is it your truck? Where do you go to God in prayer? I know we can pray without ceasing. We're to pray everywhere, but where is that special place, Mary? Your altar is in your car. Good. I know Larry Wheatcraft says the same thing. That's where he prefers to pray. I pray in my car, but my problem is I get to looking at things and watching. See, it doesn't bother you. It bothers me. So I pray there, but it's not my special place. But that's good. Somebody else. Where is... All right, Max. The kitchen table. That's your spot. It's kind of a special place for you, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. You better tell Margie not to get rid of that table. Keep it. You want that table. Somebody else. Where is your... Laverda? I'm sorry? Your bedroom. How many of you try to pray in your bedroom? Good. It's a great place. Again, Susanna Wesley prayed there. Somebody over here, where is your special place, Nancy? On your exercise bike. Great. I've never heard that one before. That's good. The point is exercise bike, bedroom, driving your car, kitchen table. Find your spot and pray. Alright, so first of all, we want to learn how to pray. Who do we ask? We ask the expert. What did he say? He said pray secretly. Then number two, beginning in verse six, or verse seven rather, he said pray sincerely. Verse five and six, pray secretly, pray privately. In verse seven he said pray sincerely. Let's look at it. But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore alike unto them, for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him." Back at verse 7, vain repetitions. The word vain there means meaningless. Jesus said, don't pray with meaningless repetitions, the same words over and over and over again, babbling. Isn't it easy to pray with what we call sanctified jargon? High spiritual sounding cliches that we learn at church. You know something I've learned? And I do not mean this as a criticism, but our charismatic friends, you know, if you listen to enough speaking in tongues, a lot of it gets to where it sounds awfully similar. Has that ever occurred to anybody else? It's amazing how similar it sounds. I mean, when you're around it a lot. You listen to something long enough, you pick it up. See? But we Baptists do the same thing with our praying. We do. We go to church two or three times a week, as I think we should, so we hear a lot of prayers. And we hear the same little statements, the same little clichés over and over again. We pick them up. See? And there's nothing wrong with using that phrase if you mean it sincerely from your heart. But oftentimes, it's just something we heard, so we just kind of repeat it. See? And that's partly, I think, what Jesus was speaking against here, where He said, don't pray with vain repetitions. For instance, let me tell you something I'm real guilty of. Maybe you are too. I find myself praying all the time, Lord, please be with us. Please be with me. Anybody else ever pray that prayer? Lord, please be with us as we go on vacation. God, be with me as I go to make this visit. Lord, be with me as I go up into the pulpit. Always, even to the end of the world. And look at the next verse, Hebrews 13. David, I'll never leave you. I won't forsake you. John 14, son, I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm going to come to you in the person of the Holy Spirit. You'll not be left like an orphan. So I don't need to pray, Lord, please be with me. A more accurate prayer would be, Lord, help me to be consciously aware of Your presence with me. Do you see the difference? I'm asking Him to do something He's already told me at least three times in the Bible He'll do. I don't need to ask Him that. Now, it sounds good, but it's kind of a vain repetition. Again, my prayer should be, Lord, I know You're with me. Help me to remember that. Help me not to forget that. And help me to be confident as a result of the knowledge that You are with me, see. We pray these vain repetitions. I'll tell you a place where we're really guilty of vain repetitions, and that's at the dinner table when we say the blessing. Amen. Look on your worksheet. Turn it over there halfway down, it says, write down your typical blessing, you pray before eating. Would you do that right now? Come on. If you sit there without moving, you're going to you're trying to make us all think that you don't you're not guilty of this, but I know you are. Go ahead and write down that blessing, you say, before you eat. I know you can write it down because most of you haven't memorized, Kelly. Good for you. Good for you. It is a blessing. It's a blessing saying the blessing when you do that, isn't it? Mm hmm. Sure. I know for years my prayer before I ate was, Thank You, Lord, for this food. Amen. Short, sweet, simple, to the point. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that prayer if you're praying it sincerely. But for many, many years, all it was for me was simply a habitual, it was a counting of a bead. That's what it was. It was a Hail Mary. See? It's a prayer I memorized. You're supposed to say thanks before you eat. So you just say it. And that's what it is for most of us. Kelly is telling me the truth. The rest of you trying to lie to me, I know you do it too. I know you do. See, we learn these little memorized prayers, and we say it over and over and over again. You know, if you stop and think about it, sometimes I'm not even sure if we ought to say the blessing before we eat. Like tonight, for instance, I don't go home on Wednesday before supper for church. I went down to Burger King. I got me a bag of fries, two hamburgers and a Coke. Oh, my goodness. And then I say, Lord, would you please bless this food and strengthen my body and give me nourishment from it? The grease is bubbling out of it, salt is everywhere, and somehow I'm asking God to miraculously transform this stuff. Now, I'd do it. I'd have it. But sometimes I wonder, you know, am I just wasting my time even saying this? See, somebody said it's like the little fifth grader who, after taking the test, prayed, Dear Lord, please let Detroit be the capital of Michigan, see, after he took the test. See, I don't think God works that way. My point is this. We learn these little memorized prayers. I would dare say that if we would record the prayers that we pray in church, over about a three or four month period, and then play them all back, I think we'd be amazed at what we heard. How similar, almost word for word, in many cases they would be. You know what's happening? We're praying the way we were taught to pray from our head, and we're not praying sincerely from our hearts. You know what's really refreshing? is to lead someone to Christ and then ask them to pray. They haven't learned how yet. Their prayers are so beautiful. They're very simple and they're very sincere from the heart. The expert said, you want to know how to pray? Pray secretly. Pray sincerely. Your last verse there, David said, or the psalmist said, pour out your heart. When you pray, don't pray from your head. Pray from your heart. Pour out your heart to God. You're talking to Him, remember? Look at verse 9. He's your Father. You're talking to Him. So be very sincere. Don't use those little stock phrases that you've learned. Just try to consciously... Kelly, what you just said a couple of years ago, I just finally made up my mind. I'm sick of praying the same prayer before I eat. I'm no more thankful than the man in the moon. And I've tried to consciously stop and just pause for a moment and think, what am I thankful for? And express it to God. See? Sometimes that prayer is ten seconds. Sometimes that prayer is several minutes. But I've tried to make myself stop and pray sincerely from my heart. There's a third thing, beginning in verse 9. Pray specifically. Alright? You want to know how to do something? Ask the expert. Jesus. The Lord teaches to pray. How do we pray? He said pray secretly. Pray sincerely from your heart. And then pray specifically. Beginning in verse nine, Jesus gives the model prayer, we call it the Lord's Prayer. You want to hear something interesting, this prayer only contains 66 words, you can pray it in about 20 to 25 seconds. Nothing long, nothing lengthy about it, it's really a very brief prayer. OK. It is not a prayer to be recited. I think you know that already. He just said in verse seven and eight, don't use vain repetitions. He just said, don't pray the same prayer over and over again. Pray from your heart. So this prayer is not given as a as a prayer to memorize and recite as much as it's given as an example of prayer. The teacher is teaching us how to pray. So he gives us a model. He gives us an example prayer to teach us how to pray. And as we read verses 9 and following, I want you to notice how specific the Lord is in this prayer. He doesn't pray so much in generalities. He's very specific. He's telling us, pray specifically. I recommend if you're really serious about this matter of praying, But you take verses 9 through 15 and you read them very slow, read them over and over and over again. Listen, you can almost fill up a bookshelf with books that have been written on the Lord's Prayer. I mean, there's so much here, I've got eight minutes left. There's so much here, it's unbelievable. I bet you I've got books that will span that much space in my little library alone, written on this one little passage. It is unbelievable how many truths, how many spiritual teachings are found in these verses. Let's look at just a couple of them. Our Father. Stop right there. When you pray, remember who you're praying to. You're praying to your Father. We talked about Him a couple of weeks ago. He loves you. He cares for you. He's your Father. He wants to hear from you. You're important to Him. You matter to Him. The very first thing we learn in prayer is that you matter to God. He's your Father. He really does want to hear from you. He's glad that you've gotten up earlier. You've stopped at one o'clock in the afternoon and closed your bedroom door. He's really happy that you want to be with Him. We learn all of that from those words, our Father. There's a relationship here. See, between you and God. And by the way, as your Father, He wants to meet your needs. You're His child. He really wants to meet your needs. Look on our Father who art in heaven. You can stop right there. When you realize that He's in heaven, that reminds you that He's the sovereign King. Listen, He's in heaven. There's nothing too difficult for Him. Some of you in the last week have had some setbacks. Thank God you're praying to somebody that's in heaven. You're not praying to the White House. You're not praying to a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent. You're praying to the King of Kings. You're praying to somebody that can do something about your problems. Remember last week, somebody that's able, the mountain mover, the one that's capable of meeting whatever needs you've got. He's our Father who art in heaven, not who art in the poor house, but who art in heaven. He sits on a throne. He's able. He's capable. There's nothing He can't do. Remind yourself of that when you go to prayer, who it is you're praying to. He cares and He's able. See, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Prayer, as somebody said, is to be more than a wish list for Santa Claus. Prayers to be a time when we worship and praise God, when we hallow His name. Hallowed has the idea of setting it apart. Somebody says it has the idea of adoring and praising. The idea is when you go to prayer, it's not just the wish list. It's not just the grocery list. Lord, I need this and this and this. But prayer is to be a time where you set His name apart and you have that intense desire just to adore Him and to praise Him. You take some time in adoration and praise and worship. And at the risk of sounding repetitious, I know I've told you this many times before, but this is an area where Baptists traditionally have really failed miserably. We have not learned how to worship God. And I know two or three years ago, we just made a decision in our church, we're going to shift toward singing primarily, not exclusively, but primarily praise worship choruses because I felt like we needed all the help we could get in learning how to worship God. And I felt like worship songs might help us a little bit. See, we need to learn how to worship God. Prayer is to be a time of worship and adoration. And before we ever get to give us this day our daily breads, it's first, hallowed be thy name. So when you go to prayer, it needs to be a time of specifically praising God and worshiping Him. And again, entire books have been written on that one phrase there. He goes on to say, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. So when we go to prayer, there's to be an attitude of submission. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. In genuine prayer, there's to be an attitude of your Lord. I want your will in my marriage, in my ministry, in my money, in my everything. I want your will to be done. By the way, the verbs in the Greek there come first. Literally, it says, Come, kingdom of God. Be done, will of God. Isn't that good? Come, kingdom of God. Be done, will of God. When we go to prayer, we must pray that way. We must pray with an attitude and heart of submission, God's will being done. Listen, I talked to a young couple recently. Hadn't seen the guy in years. I led them to the Lord several years ago. He had been into drugs, in and out of jail. The guy got saved. And shortly thereafter, he moved, not even out of the city, but out of the state. I hadn't seen him in five or six years. And he came back to see me. He was with his girlfriend. He's found a gal that's a Christian. She goes to one of the assemblies of God churches here in town. A Christian girl. They want to get married and they want to move out of state. He's going to take her up to where he lives. And she insisted that it be a Christian marriage, and he said, fine, let's get married in the church, but I want to pick out the pastor, and he wanted me to do it, so I led him to the Lord years ago. Right here, over in Windsor Heights. And so they came to see me. They wanted to know if I'd marry them. And I rejoiced that he still loves the Lord, and that he's found a Christian girl, etc., etc. But I started talking about the prerequisites that I just have. I'm just not going to marry people just to marry them anymore. I'm not going to do it. I'm tired of doing that. If I'm going to have a part in it, they're going to do it God's way. If they don't want to do it God's way, then hey, I get the night off. I'm not going to do it just to do it anymore. And I asked them, I said, you guys aren't living together, are you? And she said, oh, no, no, no. And I usually wouldn't have asked it a different way, but for some reason I said, well, are you sleeping together? She said, well, yes, we are. I said, I'm not going to marry you. Just not going to do it. This thing's not going to be a mockery. I'm not going to get up there and talk about a Christian home when you guys are shacking up. I'm not going to do it. She had just said to me she believes the Bible is God's word and what God's word says matters to her. So I asked her, do you understand what God's Word says about this? Yes, I do. So you guys have got a decision to make. I'm honored that you want me to perform the ceremony, but I cannot do it. I cannot do it till you can pray, Thy will be done and mean it. You separate. You love one another and respect one another enough to honor God in this matter. And then we can talk about it. Amen? Now, that's not the way to win popularity contests. That's not the way to endear yourself to people. I understand that. But Jesus said, hey, you want to learn how to pray, you better learn to pray, Thy will be done. You've got to mean business. You've got to really mean business. God, I want Your will done in my life. Do you understand that? Say amen if you do. See, most of us really don't want God's will. We want God to do what we want God to do. And we'll accept God's will as long as there's no cost involved. You mean I've got to withdraw myself from her? Yes. That's God's will. You mean we can't sleep together? Yes, that's right. Well, I don't know about this. See, we love the Lord, and we believe His Word, and we're right with God, but we just don't want to do what He wants us to do. Come on, amen? You're getting quiet on me. Jesus said, when you go to prayer, there's got to be an attitude of, Lord, be done will of God. You've got to be that attitude. If there's not, you're wasting your time. You're just playing games. You're like the Pharisee going through the motions. See, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Then finally give us this day our daily bread. After all that, you can lay out your needs, big or small. And I believe if you need a miracle from God, ask Him. And don't shrink back from it. Man, I'm constantly asking God to do great and mighty things. And you ask God for those needs of life. Give us this day our daily bread. You ask God for those needs that you have, physical, spiritual, emotional, whatever they might be. You ask God for those needs. Lay it out before Him. He's able. He's capable. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. That reminds us to Make sure we confess our sins in prayer to be sure that our sins are not hindering prayer. That's a whole nother lesson we'll get to in a couple of weeks. And then he says, lead us. Not. Into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We should pray for protection and victory over temptation, I've got to conclude here for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. You in the prayer, Jesus said, with more worship. And more praise. Before I let you go, let me make one more suggestion. Some have suggested that it might help you to write your prayers out. Now, I know I'm really going to sound strange to you. All my life, I've seen these religious men of the cloth read their written prayers, and it's just irritated me. And I thought to myself, how dry. How dry. And I haven't started writing my prayers out yet. The week after I start wearing a robe, that's when I'll start writing out my prayers, okay? But I've read some books recently on some fellas that I think know how to pray. You know what I've heard, too? Some of your old-time guys that really... I mean, those guys you read about, they'd get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, pray for 4 hours, and then... Some of those guys would write their prayers out. Let me tell you why they did it. One thing, it helped them to concentrate on what they were saying to God. They had right there in black and white what they were asking, how they felt. It helped them to focus on God. Not only that, But they had their requests written out in black and white, and they would go back from time to time and look at what they had asked God. And when they realized that those specific prayers had been answered, boy, it built their faith and it really excited them. I asked God for such and such on such and such a day. Three days later, he did it. Do you see that? There are some people, those of you that really enjoy writing, you may want to try this. You may want to get yourself a journal, get yourself a notebook and a pen. And in the morning, sit down and write out those prayers. And then get on your knees and read them to God. But they're from your heart. If that's not you, then forget the journal, forget the paper, forget the pen, and just pour out your heart to God. Experiment. Whatever's best for you is fine. But just follow the instructions of the expert. The expert said, when you pray, pray secretly, pray sincerely, and pray specifically. Our Father, it's time to close. How I wish that Your Son could have been here tonight in person to teach this lesson. I know, Father, had He been here, I would have been on my face at His feet listening and taking in every word. Two thousand years ago, your disciples asked you to teach them how to pray. Lord, we're your disciples too. Tonight, we ask the same thing. Would you teach us how to pray? Lord, if we just leave here tonight and nothing happens as a result of what we've heard, Somehow I don't think you'll be glorified there. Teach us how to pray. And we ask these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, by His authority. Amen. God bless you. Have a great week. We'll see you Sunday, okay? Bye-bye.