Don't Give Up Praying Series

Two teams are away from this morning: middle school students are in St. Louis area doing door to door canvassing and block parties. Second team is in Vancouver at the Point Church – our church’s flagship church plant. Let’s celebrate the people there and pray for them together.

Series Introduction

Today, we put a bow on the series, Eleven Two: We Pray. He Moves. This prayer has such a profound significance for believers both historically (more on this later) but also in our day as well. The prayer unites Christians from around the globe: Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants like us. Literally, millions of people around the globe recite the Lord’s Prayer during worship each week.

Before we get started, allow me to remind you the two reasons for this series…

Why This Series?

1) I want to help you develop a powerful prayer life. I’m calling on all of us who believe in Christ to turn up the volume & intensity of our prayer life. 2) I want to encourage you by showing you that God hears prayer. And more than anything, that’s what today’s message is about – God hears prayer. As one person had said, “When I pray, things happen, and when I don't pray, they don’t.”

Every single week we’ve been looking at the different phrases of the Lord’s Prayer. And it’s been a time of growth in the life of our church. Many of you have expanded your prayer life in significant ways. Parents have told me how they witnessed their kids reciting the Lord’s Prayer to one another in the backyard. My prayer life has changed.

And while Danny officially wrapped up the last line of the Lord’s Prayer with you last week by talking about temptation…. … Jesus has one more thing He wants to teach us on prayer. Right after He spoke the words of His prayer to His followers, Jesus told a story about prayer that you need to hear.

But before we get to Jesus’ story, here’s a quick Sermon Preview

6 Gifts inside the Lord’s Prayer

One Big Point: Pray with Audacity because God Hears Your Prayers

I’ll Finish Up with Three Takeaways

The Six Gifts of The Lord’s Prayer

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.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread,

4 and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:1-4)

A quick look back at this series and the Lord’s Prayer to see what Jesus has taught us.

1. You’re Given Confidence

If Jesus shows you how to pray, then you can be confident your prayer is heard. Watch this: the Lord’s Prayer is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon in history. In the middle of this famous sermon Jesus speaks on prayer. Now let’s put it together: Here is the greatest sermon given by the greatest Teacher on one the greatest subjects. How much more confidence can you have in praying?

2. You’re Given a New Identity

And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father…” (Luke 11:2). What’s your identity? Who are you? Some who haven’t had a Father, or at least one you can be proud of. Now you have a Father because of your trust in death of Jesus Christ. You’re His adopted child and now He’s your Father. When you believe and make a conscious decision to place your personal trust in Jesus Christ, God the Father becomes your Father. You have a new identity. Will you trust in Christ today?

3. You’re Given Access

This is very close to the gift of identity but I want to make sure you see it. “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9). If you are the president or the king or the queen of the greatest country in the world, who gets in to see you? Only the most accomplished people, only the most powerful people and only the most important people. People who win the Super Bowl maybe get to see you for fifteen minutes. In other words, you only see the most accomplished, the most important. And then there’s your 6-year-old little girl at 2:00 a.m., without an appointment. Why? Because your relationship to your child isn’t conditioned. It doesn’t matter about their performance or their accomplishments or how many PhDs they have. It doesn’t matter at all. All of this comes when we are adopted into God’s family. You’re given access because you’ve been adopted into the family because of your trust in Jesus Christ. Will you trust in Christ as your Savior today?