The Lord's Prayer - Part 1 Series

I. Introduction

A. A golfer is playing a round of golf with his buddies. On the sixth hole, a hole over water, he proceeds to flub nine balls into the water. Frustrated over his poor golfing ability, and about ready to hit somebody, he heaves his golf clubs into the water, and begins to walk off the course. Then all of a sudden he turns around and jumps back in the lake, his buddies apparently thinking he is going to retrieve his clubs. When he comes out of the water he doesn't have his clubs and begins to walk off the course. Then one of his buddies asks, "Why did you jump into the lake?" And he said, "I left my car keys in the bag."

1. Lets turn to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13

Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV)

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. {10} Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. {11} Give us this day our daily bread. {12} And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. {13} And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen

2. I used the King James Version because it is the one I grew up with

a. And suing the version is just less confusing for me

3. Now we have been through Jesus teaching on how not to pray

a. Who not to follow as an example of how to pray

b. We won’t go into the details of how not to pray

B. Here Jesus teaches His disciple how to pray properly

1. Lets take what Matthew wrote a little at a time and see how to pray

C. This is called the Lord’s Prayer

1. It should be called the disciple’s prayer

2. This is what is called a rabbinical model

3. It takes the disciple through each stage of a model prayer

4. This can be used as a template for prayer

a. Matthew 6:9

II. Body

A. Our Father

Matthew 6:9 (KJV)

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

1. I took this from another preacher, Pastor Mark Driscoll

2. There was no prayer, until Jesus, in the Bible to God as Father.

3. Once Jesus comes he says, “Pray like this. ‘Our Father.’”

a. Now the word here is Abba.

b. It means dad. Dad.

c. This to me is amazing,. God’s not impersonal he’s personal

d. He’s not a force, He has a name

e. He’s not angry, He’s loving

f. He’s not far away, He’s close

g. He’s not negligent, He’s involved in the life of his children

(1) Couple things I’ll say on this idea of God as Father

(a) Turn to Numbers 23:19

(2) First, God is not gendered as we are

(a) Now just the first few words of Numbers 23:19

Numbers 23:19 (KJV)

God is not a man

(3) The Bible says God is not a man, right?

(a) God is spirit, God the Father is spirit

(b) Jesus entered into history in a body, But God the Father is spirit

(c) Jesus tells the woman at the well, well turn to John 4:24

John 4:24 (NKJV)

"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

(4) So that means that God the Father is not anatomically male or female

(5) But it does mean when God chose to reveal himself he reveals himself as Father

(6) This means we don’t pray to God as mother

(7) We worship God not goddess

(8) Because Jesus taught us to pray to God as Father

4. Now the reason some of you are gonna struggle with this is because of your earthly father Okay?

5. Pastor Mark went on, Last week after I preached on praying to God as Father, after every service I was praying for people

a. And I had multiple people, particularly young women in their late teens and twenties saying, “I have a really hard time understanding God as Father

b. My dad left. He abused. He abandoned. He raped. He beat. He divorced my mom

(1) He walked out on us

(2) He won’t return my phone calls

(3) He won’t have any contact with me

(4) He’s just a horrible man.”

(a) Turn to Psalm 68:5

(5) What I would say is this, do not judge God by your earthly father, judge your earthly father by your Heavenly Father

Psalms 68:5 (KJV)

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation

(6) So maybe you don’t even have a dad