[advance to: Disciple’s Prayer - part 2]
     Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined me this morning.  I appreciate the time that you are giving me from your day and hope that you learn something new from today’s study.  That you can apply into your life and have a closer relationship with God.  Let’s begin with a prayer

Great God in heaven, Thank You for this day in our lives.  And for this time that we can study Your will.  We thank You that You have given us Your word, so that can know what Your will is.  We pray that You will grant us safety, In the winter weather that we have been having.  We pray this in Jesus’ name.  AMEN!!

     Today I would like for us to examine a section of the Sermon on the Mount that deals with prayer.  In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gives some very important instructions concerning prayer.  Let’s read Matthew 6:9-13.

  9 Pray, then, in this way:  ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
  10 ‘Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
  11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
  12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
  13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.]’

     Before we begin to look at what Jesus says in these verses we need to consider a little bit of the background that is involved here.  The Sermon on the Mount was delivered toward the very beginning of the Lord’s earthly ministry.  At this time the Jewish people were still under the Old Testament covenant.  It is important to understand that Jesus was born under the Old Law as Paul wrote in Galatians 4:4,

  4 But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

     Not only was Jesus born under the Law but He lived His entire life under the Old Law and then in His death He did away with that Law as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:14-16

  14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
  15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

     Yes, Jesus was born, lived, and died under the Old Covenant.  It was then that the New Covenant or New Testament came into effect.  We must make this distinction of the covenant that we are under in order to understand the prayer that is recorded in the Sermon on the Mount.
Now let’s consider this prayer of Jesus, Matthew 6:9 says,

  9 Pray, then, in this way:  ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

     The first thing that we need to understand is the introduction that Jesus Himself gives to this prayer.  Note very closely what Jesus says, “Pray, then, in this way:” Jesus’ purpose here in not to give the disciples exact words to “say” but to show the way or manner in which they are to pray.  Many people today repeat and repeat these words as if they are following the will of God, and yet they have missed the very teaching that Jesus was trying to give in this passage.  Take for example funerals.  I have been to funerals led by denominational men who lead this prayer several times at one funeral.  They do not understand what Jesus was trying to teach here in the Sermon on the Mount.  They and many like them today have taken this teaching on prayer that Jesus gave and have done exactly what Jesus warned about just two verses earlier.  Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 6:7,

  7 And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.  

     The King James translates that “vain repetitions,” which is what “the Lord’s Prayer,” as it is called, has become.  Just a repeating of those words without any regard for what is being said and what it means.  Just as Jesus spoke of the Gentiles thinking that they would be heard by their false gods because they said a lot of words.  Many people think that God will hear them when they say the same things over and over and over and over.  Some even have to count beads in order to keep track of what they are to say.  How sad, because all God wants is for us to talk with Him openly, honestly, and sincerely.
     Let’s go on now into the prayer that Jesus said.  Matthew 6:9, Jesus says,

  9 ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

     The first thing that prayers should reflect is an honoring of the greatness of God.  We should realize that God is not from this realm.  God is from the spiritual realm and the spiritual realm is a higher plane that this physical realm.  As you can also see the type of prayer Jesus is speaking of here is one offered by His child.  God is addressed as Father because this is the close type of relationship that God wants with His children.  Can You imagine a child repeating the thing over and over and over again to a Father he loves?  No, that child wants to share their hopes and dreams and fears and worries with the father.  That is the same way God wants His children to be with Him.
     Jesus goes on to say “Hallowed be Thy name.”  Hallowed is not a word we use very often today.  The original Greek word meant to set apart or to make holy.  Truly God is great and everything about Him needs to be held in its proper place of reverence and respect.  
     Jesus continues on in Matthew 6:10

  10 ‘Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  

     The first phrase of this verse shows that this is not a prayer intended to be used by the disciples of Jesus on this side of the cross.  Followers of God after Jesus’ death on the Cross should not look forward to the coming of God’s kingdom, they should be thankful to God that the kingdom “has” come.  The fact that the kingdom has come is seen in many passages but we will only mention a couple at this time.  The first is Colossians 1:13,

  13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

     Paul here shows that he and the those of the Lord’s church in Colossae had been, that is past tense, they had been “delivered” from the domain of darkness, that is Satan’s kingdom.  And not only that but they had been “transferred” into the kingdom of Jesus.  Some would teach that Jesus has not set up His kingdom yet.  That He came to set it up but the Jews rejected Him and so He set up the church instead and will one day return and set up and earthly kingdom.  That just is not what the Scriptures teach, they teach that the kingdom is a reality right now and that it has been a reality since the days of the first century.  We know that it existed when Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians which was about 60 AD.
     John also wrote and showed that the kingdom was in existence.  This was written in about 95 AD.  Turn with me over to Revelation 1:9,

  9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  

     John, just like Paul, wrote by inspiration of God and so it is God that is saying that John was a fellow partaker in the kingdom with those to whom he wrote.  If God says they were in the kingdom, who am I to say the kingdom is still in the future?  I would not want to teach that because that would be false doctrine.
     Getting back to the prayer Jesus is saying in Matthew 6:10, He goes on and says, “Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”  We should certainly pray for the Lord’s will to be done.  The only way that the Lord’s will is to be done is by following the teachings of His word.  It is amazing that there are many who want to call Jesus Lord and yet they do not want to follow His will for their lives.  But it is not surprising because Jesus spoke of this very thing in Luke 6:46-49,

  46 And why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
  47 Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like:
  48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
  49 But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.

     A prime example of this is God’s plan for the forgiveness of man’s sin.  The Scriptures teach that we need to hear the word and based on hearing develop faith.  The Word teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the world.  We didn’t deserve it but by the grace of God it was done for us anyway.  Once we have heard and developed faith we need to repent of our sins and confess Jesus and be immersed in water for the forgiveness of our sins.  When we are immersed and arise out of that water we are born again into God’s family.  There are three responses that people make to this teaching from the Bible.  Some outright reject it and deny the Jesus is God and Lord.  Others call Jesus Lord but they do not do what He says, instead they teach that man is saved by faith only, or that God decides who is saved.  But then there are those who truly say that Jesus is Lord and they lovingly and willing submit to His will.  They hear, believe, repent, confess and are immersed in water for the forgiveness of their sins.  I would like to ask you this morning to which of these groups do you belong.  Have you in the past rejected Jesus completely?  The great thing is that you can decide today to turn your life over to Him and obey His will.  Or perhaps you have been calling Jesus Lord, but now you have learned that you never obeyed His will.  The invitation is open to you as well, turn your life over to God and obey His will.  Some of you may have turned your life over to God, but since that time you have fallen away from God.  He wants you to come back and we as the Lord’s church here in Mitchell would love to fellowship with you.
     We are out of time for today, but we will continue next week to look at the prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples.

[advance to: Disciple’s Prayer - part 2]