The Lord's Prayer

* In that passage Christ reminds that the birds don't toil or work or even worry about where their next meal will come from and yet, God provides everything that they need.

* If God loves the birds enough to provide for them, then how much more does He love us? How much more is going to provide for you?

- Notice also that Christ says "THIS day."

* Not weekly, or monthly, or yearly.

* Daily. God provides for us.

- The wording here is very interesting and important.

* Notice that Jesus uses the plural verbs: us and our

* This tells me that prayer is and should be a communal act.

* There is power in prayer, and there is greater power in communal prayer.

III. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors

- Some translations replace debts with transgressions.

- Whichever word you prefer, the message is the same: "Lord, forgive us of our sins, just as we forgive those who have sinned against us."

- Now, there is a difficult one.

- We are to forgive other people, just as God forgave us or sins

* We are to forgive others with the same grace, mercy, and unconditional love as God forgave us.

* This applies to Christians as well as non-Christians

- "But Pastor, that preson really hurt me. The really embarassed me. Pastor, they were 100%. totally in the wrong. Are you saying that I still have to forgive them?"

* Yes, I am.

- "But they don't deserve it."

* There it is: It has nothing to do with how they hurt you or made you feel. It's really all about what you think that person deserves.

* Let's concede that point: They don't deserve it. They did hurt and have done nothing deserving of your forgiveness.

- Let me ask you a question: Where you deserving of God's forgiveness?

*Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no ,not one."

- If God was willing to look past our unrighteousness and forgive us of our trespasses against Him, if He was willing to forgive our debt of sin and reconcile us unto Himself, then surely we too can forgive those who wrong us.

*As Christians, the idea of forgiveness ought to be so dear to us, that we should be the quickest to forgive.

- So, no, they don't deserve it. Forgive them anyway.

- One author wrote of forgiveness: "It's not about condoning what they have done to you. It's about freeing yourself from the burden of carrying a grudge."

-Forgive them, just as Christ has forgiven you.

IV. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

- I have some news for you today: You are not strong enough to face the Devil alone.

- The first part of this line, makes it seem like God will sometimes tempt us to sin.

*That's not what this is saying.

* God isn't trying to trick you or get you to mess up.

- What this is saying, "Give us the strength to overcome any temptation that we may face."

- Without God's help, we are not strong enough to overcome the temptations of sin.

Ills: Krispy Kreme

-One little taste of sin, is enough to end up in a world of hurt.