Responsible Faith Series

Lessons on Faith from the Model Prayer

Responsible Faith

Matthew 6:10

October 19, 2003

Intro:

A. [$3 Worth of God, Citation: Wilbur Rees, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1.]

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

B. Today we continue our series on lessons of faith from the model prayer…

1. We began two Sunday’s ago with Confident Faith from the phrase, “Our Father in heaven…”

2. Last Sunday was Transforming Faith from the phrase, “…hallowed be your name…”

3. Today we come to Responsible Faith from the phrase, “…Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

4. It is recorded in Matthew 6:10.

C. As we begin this study, let us pray that God will give us a responsible faith that seeks more than just $3 worth of God [pray].

D. [Living the Spirit Filled Life, by Jack Hayford, Regal Publishing, Ventura, CA, 2001, p. 207]

Listen to how Dr. Jack Hayford introduces this study in his book, Living the Spirit Filled Life…

“Jesus’ counsel on how to pray illuminates a truth that we often ignore: People need to invite God’s rule and power into the affairs of their lives through prayer. For if humans won’t pray, God’s rule in their circumstances is forfeited.” [repeat]

1. Of course many people think that if God wants to do something, He’ll just do it and it won’t matter whether they pray or not.

2. But that is not taught anywhere in the Scriptures.

3. The truth of what the Scriptures teach is exactly as Dr. Hayford describes it: We must invite God’s rule and power in our affairs!

4. In order to understand how to invite God into our affairs we must first understand why it needs to be done in the first place.

5. So first let us think about…

I. Man’s Relinquishment

A. Man relinquished his authority in the Garden of Eden.

1. In Genesis 1:28 (NIV) we see God’s original plan, God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

2. God’s original plan was that man would rule over and have dominion over the earth.

3. God’s original plan was that man would rule over and have dominion over the earth.

4. But when Adam and Eve bowed to the deceitful scheming of Satan, they tuned their God-given authority over the earth to Satan.

5. When Adam and Eve bowed to the deceitful scheming of Satan, they relinquished their God-given authority to rule the earth over to Satan.

6. Now 1 John 5:19 (NIV) describes the result, We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

7. We are children of God, but the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

8. Mankind betrayed God and relinquished his authority over the earth to Satan and now the whole world is under his control.

9. That’s a sorry state of affairs!

10. Since we have bowed to Satan we have turned the whole world over to his control.

B. So what has happened because of this?

1. Satan easily misleads us.

2. Confusion reigns.

3. We are easily led into sin.

4. We are easily led away from God.

5. Death is now a matter of fact.

6. Disease terrorizes.

7. Broken relationships are abundant.

8. Hopes and dreams are crushed.

9. Suffering is everywhere.

10. Fear abounds.

C. And unfortunately, we cannot blame it all on Adam and Eve because all of us have sinned and have added to the confused mess our world is in.

D. HOWEVER, all is NOT lost!

II. God’s Restoration

A. Even in the Garden of Eden, God had a plan!

1. From the moment man relinquished his role, God had a plan.

2. Genesis 3:14-15 (NIV), So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."