The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:02 Hope you all are feeling rested after the heavy weekend from health fair to
00:08 bminton. Um a lot of heartaches. Uh but we had a
00:14 good health check yesterday. Um right now we're getting into this um Lord's
00:20 prayer. We are going through a se series of prayer here in FBC. And um I guess I
00:27 I had the lucky lot uh to pick the mammoth prayer um the Lord's prayer. And
00:33 before we we dissect this prayer and get to it, let let us let us start with prayer. So let me pray.
00:41 Father Lord, we just commit this time to you. Father, we ask you for grace.
00:47 Grace that you may speak to our hearts, convict us, transform us, and change our lives.
00:56 And I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. The Lord's prayer. Um, many of us have
01:04 heard it. Many of us have ideas about it. Um, I think everybody has probably
01:09 done a Bible study on it. If you've been a Christian for a while, um, there's going to be great expectation of what
01:15 you want to hear today. I will fail you. Um, there's going to be lots of
01:22 different opinions on the Lord's prayer. And there are so many books on the Lord's Prayer. Um it seems that almost
01:27 every great writer has written something uh and something significant on it. Actually, the Lord's Prayer is worthy of
01:35 nine to 10 sermons. Um I think most uh preachers who I've heard, they have
01:40 dissected it into nine or 10 sermons. And uh we are thinking about it here in this church as well that one day we
01:46 might actually take it uh through every single line and preach it line by line.
01:52 Um, one thing we have to really know about the Lord's Prayer is this that it's where it's situated. It's situated
01:57 in the sermon on the mount. Um, and it's very important to know this because what is the sermon on the mount? The sermon
02:03 on the mount is where where Jesus came and he preached his first sermon where he preached how we should live our
02:09 lives. And I I looked through um the internet and saying, "Okay, how can I explain the sermon on the mount really
02:15 quickly?" Um, and I found these little images and you know, they they got me excited. the gospel obedience
02:23 very exciting word and uh see how we can be obedient to the gospel and that that's what surmon is all about how do
02:30 we live our lives the standard of living that god has set for us another way of
02:36 looking at the sermon is the character and the conduct of a person how are we
02:41 supposed to be and how supposed to behave
02:46 and I think it's very important that we know that the sermon amount is situated in that I mean that the Lord's prayer is
02:51 situated in that sermon on the mount. So we have just learned about u various things he said about the the uh
02:57 biatitudes you know blessed are the poor in spirit blessed are the meek blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness then Jesus talked about
03:04 the salt and light how we supposed to be salt and light uh he talked about divorce he talked about um how we
03:10 supposed to give arms how it's supposed to be charitable and then he comes into prayer and then he later on he'll go
03:15 into fasting so how we supposed to live our lives so when he says let me teach
03:21 you how to pray. I don't think it was just a teaching on how we should pray, but what kind of
03:28 people we need to be to pray this kind of prayer. You see, if you dissect this this prayer, we we see it's really all
03:35 kind of priorities on heaven of Christ coming kingdom are contained in this petition.
03:41 It talk about our father, how it talks about sunship. We talk about hallowed be thy name. talks about worship. Your
03:46 kingdom come, which is evangelism. Your will be done, mercy and justice. Give us
03:52 this day our bread, generosity and contentment. Forgive us our depths, redemptive community, and lead us not
03:58 into temptation, spiritual warfare. So really, this this prayer is about
04:04 Christian lifestyle. I mean, the question is, what kind of person must I be to be able to pray this
04:12 prayer? See, Jesus um before he gets into this passage, before he gets to Lord's
04:18 Prayer, he says, "Don't be like the hypocrites. Don't be like the Pharisees. Don't be like the pagans who who lift up
04:25 their hands with empty phrases." They heap up empty phrases. They they pray just to be seen. They pray to be known.
04:32 And he says they will receive their rewards. If you pray to be known, then you'll be known. You'll receive your
04:37 reward. Don't be like them, but rather go into a secret and pray in secret. And what the
04:45 father hears in secret, he will give you. What it's trying to tell us is it's not about what we say, it's about what we feel, what we know, who we are, what
04:52 we really mean in our hearts when we pray. There must be sincerity in our prayers.
05:00 Now the question begs for me to sincerely pray the Lord's prayer.
05:06 What kind of person must I be? So we will look today through the Lord's
05:12 prayer and see what it has in store for us. What kind of person what does it mean to be a true disciple to be able to
05:19 pray this prayer? And it starts with our father in heaven.
05:28 First of all, it says our father. So yes, even though Jesus said go privately
05:33 in your closet and pray. He says our father. So it's it doesn't go against communal prayer, right? He says our
05:39 father is just something we pray in community. He says our father in heaven. What does
05:44 it mean for us that God is our father?
05:49 Immediately he talks and gives us a relationship that we are supposed to have with God. I mean, do we see God as our loving
05:57 father who loves us, who will only give us good
06:02 gifts? It's very important that we have this intimate relationship with God when we
06:08 pray. You know, many of us base the concept of fatherhood from our earthly experiences.
06:14 And some of us have great experiences and some of us have not so great experiences. But we shouldn't base the
06:21 concept of fatherhood necessarily of our earthly experiences. But we should base this what scripture has to say.
06:27 And scripture says that God will provide. God's a father who loves us, who cares for us, who will give us good
06:34 gifts. That's what the Bible has to say about God our father. Ultimately, when
06:40 we understand that God's our father, we must be able to say this statement. Now, I've searched scripture and looked at
06:46 various concept what it means for God to be our father. ultimately comes down to this. It says,
06:51 "I am cherished, chosen, enjoyed, forgiven, wanted, royal, treasured, and
07:01 dearly loved child of God. who has been delivered from the slavery of sin, who
07:06 has been made alive to God with a new heart, who is not alone but indwelled by
07:11 the Holy Spirit, who is filled in the power of the kingdom, who is being slowly transformed into the glorious
07:17 image of his elder brother Jesus, and who one day will be fully glorious like him and share in his inheritance of a
07:25 perfect world. That's the attitude we must have. And we understand that we are children of God.
07:30 You see, God sent his son to die on the cross so that we may be adopted as
07:38 children of God into his family. We are now members of the family of God.
07:48 Of course, it doesn't stop there. It says immediately, "Hallowed be thy name." So, you see the tension between
07:54 the intimacy we're supposed to have with God and the reverence we're supposed to have with God. See our Christian life is
08:00 is lives in a tension between those two concepts. I remember um Francis Chan in
08:05 his book Crazy Love um his first chapter is called stop praying.
08:11 Now he doesn't mean that you should stop praying. What he says is stop before you pray. Do you know who you're praying to?
08:19 Do you understand that God is in heaven? That he is holy?
08:25 That he is so different from us. See, we need to have a high view of God. If we have a high view of God, then the fact
08:33 that he's our father and cares for us and loves us breaks our heart even more.
08:40 You see, when I when I hear hallowed be thy name, immediately this this picture of the throne room comes into my head in
08:46 Revelations 4 and it says this, "And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings are full of eyes and all
08:54 around and within and day and nights to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God
08:60 Almighty, who was and is and is to come." That that picture of the throne
09:06 room with 24 elders and his beasts and everybody's bowing down and kneeling down and saying, "Holy, holy, holy.
09:15 That's our God. That's our father." Do we understand that about him? And it's it's so
09:21 important that we have this concept of God being both father and and holy because everything else in his prayer
09:26 flows from there. If we don't understand that he is holy and unique and different from us but yet
09:33 loves us, we don't understand the rest of the prayer.
09:40 But importantly, and you read that in your bulletin today in your article, don't go there now, you go there later,
09:46 it talks about hallowed be your name. So it's not just a a statement that oh
09:53 Lord you are holy but it's a petition saying God may your name be holy.
10:02 Now we're not saying God make yourself holy because he is truly holy. What we
10:07 are asking is a desire that God will make his holy name known that worship may rise up.
10:15 that our country, our nation, this church, the world may recognize God as
10:21 the holy one and who he is. That God may cause it to be so.
10:28 And that brings us into the next place, has thy kingdom come.
10:34 Are we the kind of people who can pray that prayer? Do we really desire for his
10:39 kingdom to come? Now, there's a a twofold understanding of that.
10:44 Firstly, you must understand thy kingdom come means that we want his name to be known.
10:51 Just now we sang may your kingdom come so that everyone may know your name.
10:58 Do we desire that everyone knows his name?
11:05 Again, this picture of Revelations of all the nation and all the tribes and all the tongues standing together before
11:10 God worshiping him. Is this the desire in our heart? Can we pray that prayer,
11:17 every tongue, every tribe, every nation? If this is truly our desire, then are we
11:24 going? Are we going and proclaiming the good news? In in the Gospel of Mark, we say, "Repent for the kingdom of God is
11:30 at hand." They had urgency to proclaim the kingdom of God. Do we have that
11:36 urgency? Are we going out to our neighbors in our workplaces, in our communities, in our
11:43 schools, in our families, and telling people the good news of
11:49 Jesus? Do we want his kingdom to come? Because his kingdom comes when everybody
11:56 knows his name where everybody is subject of that kingdom.
12:02 It must be a heartfelt desire. That's the mark of a true disciple.
12:10 So evangelism is is what must rule our lives. And in this church we have plenty
12:16 of opportunity like we have Alpha.
12:22 You can invite your friends to Alpha. We have the unforgettable concert.
12:27 A good place to connect with friends there. We have supper club. We have VBS.
12:35 There's so many places where you can invite our non-Christian friends into.
12:40 There's a second fold of this prayer. May the kingdom come, which is, are we ready for the Lord's
12:48 return? You see, we live in this world of the already and the not yet, right? He has
12:53 already ushered in, but not yet fully consumed the kingdom. There's still a time to come where where
12:58 everything will be made new, where new restoration will happen, where Jesus will return and his kingdom will fully
13:04 come. Do we desire that? Are we ready for that? Do we pray, "Oh Lord, come tomorrow."
13:13 Are we prepared in our hearts for that? If you would know that Jesus come
13:19 tomorrow, do you have a huge huge checklist of things you must still do?
13:25 How about our own lifestyle? How about our own lives? Are we going to say if if Jesus would come tomorrow, I would live my life differently.
13:35 Thy kingdom come. And that's so closely related also to thy will be done.
13:45 Do we desire for God's will to be done? Again, we have a a two-fold
13:51 understanding. What is God's will? We we know from the sermon amount that there's a certain amount of social justice that
13:56 he wants to happen. God's will is that no mouth will be left hungry,
14:04 that nobody will be left unclothed. There's a desire for social justice and
14:11 it's a progress of the church. It is our duty as a church to provide social justice.
14:19 If we want to obey his command, thy will be done, we must go out and do God's
14:24 will, follow God's moral will. So many people ask, you know, what's the difference between God's moral will and
14:29 God's sovereign will? And yes, there's a big difference. God's sovereign will, you cannot control. God's moral will,
14:35 you can choose to follow. You can do the things the Bible says and
14:41 demands of you. People always ask the question, what's the difference between free will and
14:46 predestination? And um I came to my heart to that conclusion. Whenever I've been given a choice,
14:54 I will choose to do God's will. And whenever I'm left without a choice,
15:01 I trust that he's in control. I think that's the tension that we must live in.
15:08 And that's a tension that it says, "Thy will be done." our our desire to go out and do social justice and our trust that
15:16 in situations where we cannot control that God is in control. I think the prayer of Jesus in the
15:22 garden of Gethsemane, he says, "Let this cup pass from me.
15:28 Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
15:33 Do we trust that God is a good father? that regardless of what situation
15:39 happens, we can say your will be done.
15:45 Every time I think of of that statement, I think of this this hymn. When peace
15:50 like a river and tendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever
15:55 my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.
16:02 It's it's even more amazing when you know the person who wrote that.
16:09 It was Horatio Buffford and he he he wrote that after receiving much tragedy in his
16:16 life. His son died in the fire. He lost his business in the fire. Then he is
16:21 supposed to go overseas and uh because he was arranging all the tragedies that was happening there, he sent his wife
16:28 and his four daughters to go ahead on a boat. The boat sank.
16:34 His four daughters died. And then he wrote the song.
16:41 Whatever my lord, thou hast taught me to say, it is well. It is well with my
16:48 soul. Are we people who can say thy will be done regardless of what situation in
16:54 life I'm in? Thy will be done.
16:60 It's interesting that thy will be done comes into a section where most people would say now we have looked at God. We
17:06 have looked at go we have looked at God's name. We have looked at God's kingdom. We have looked at God's will.
17:14 Now we're looking at ourselves. We're looking for for daily bread. We are looking for forgiveness. We're looking for deliverance. And it's important to
17:21 see that that it starts with thy will be done and then only we come into these
17:27 petitions. So it says our daily bread.
17:33 Of course that's not a command to have a monthly subscription. What it is?
17:41 It is nourishment roti.
17:49 It's bread. Yeah. Yeah. It's it it's sustenance.
17:57 It's a good brand. Yeah. And I I have nothing to do with
18:02 it. Now what it says, give us today our daily bread. We must understand who he
18:09 was saying it to. He was saying it to a bunch of of of Jewish people who had daily wages. So they had to go day in
18:18 day out hoping that they will make enough money for the day
18:24 trusting that God will provide that make enough money for the day.
18:31 Now many of us here are not in that situation. Many of us are blessed may have been provided with much more than
18:37 just daily bread. But the true spirit behind this is
18:43 whether we trust and depend on God's provision. And I think the test for us in our lives today is how we conduct our
18:50 businesses. How we live our lives in the workplace. What corners are we willing to cut,
18:58 what corruption are we willing to go into? Because if we're willing to do that,
19:05 then we're not doing his will and we're not trusting on his provision.
19:10 by trusting in our own provision. I think the test for us in our lives is
19:17 how are we conducting our corporate lives, our businesses, how are we behaving in
19:23 our workplaces? Do we do we trust in God that he will provide even though we do whenever we do
19:30 the right things or do we cut corners because we have to
19:35 provide for ourselves? Do we make unrighteous business deals? Do we
19:41 participate in corruption? Do we bribe? I think these are indications. These are
19:47 things that we have to ask ourselves. Do we trust in his provision? Another
19:54 way to look at it is this. It says, "Give us this day our daily bread."
20:02 It doesn't say give us today my daily bread.
20:08 It's a communal prayer. See, we are all brothers and sisters
20:14 here together in this church. So the question is, can we look at our brothers and sisters and say, "Wow, give us today
20:20 our daily bread. I hope that everybody is provided for." See, in a church, we see should see nobody lacking, nobody
20:26 not eating, nobody not having enough money for clothing.
20:31 Nobody who's capable a lack of education. In acts two, we see this this this
20:38 community of people come together and they they were sharing everything together say that nobody may lack.
20:44 It's a communal prayer. Give us today our daily bread. So what should happen is a spirit of generosity should rise
20:51 up. If God has provided us more than our daily bread, we should be generous. We
20:57 should be generous people living generous lives. Giving generously to
21:02 others who don't have or who have less. Giving our time, our hands, our money,
21:10 giving justice, giving them the word of God, giving them sustenance.
21:18 Give us today our daily bread as a call for generosity because it's a communal prayer.
21:29 We come into the I would say the most difficult section,
21:34 the hardest section of this prayer. It says, "Forgive us our depths as we
21:42 also have forgiven our debtors." I think it's the crux
21:49 of the prayer. It's so important that you'll see lower
21:54 in the verses that Matthew repeats it and he says Jesus repeats it says
21:60 whoever does not forgive the father will not forgive.
22:06 There's this importance about forgiveness that we must forgive and stressed here.
22:12 See it says forgive us our as we also for have forgiven our adapters.
22:19 We must be a forgiving people. Now, some people might say, "Hey, that sounds strange. It sounds like works."
22:25 It sounds like I must forgive first before God forgives me. Isn't God God of forgiveness who gives me un grace, who
22:32 gives me unmmerited favor? Yes, he does. And I don't think it's a
22:38 it's a it's a chronological issue here. We must see the importance of forgiveness put in the concept the whole
22:45 scripture. So let's look at different passages in the Bible that that talk about a similar spirit. Ephesians 4:32,
22:52 be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
22:59 Forgiveness is important. Judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and
23:04 you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
23:10 And whenever you stand praying, forgive. if you have anything against anyone so that your father also who is in heaven
23:16 may forgive you your trespasses. There seems to be this direct connection
23:22 of us receiving forgiveness and us giving forgiveness.
23:28 I think one of the best passages that describes that sentiment is in Matthew
23:35 and um it's here in Matthew 18:21-35. Um Peter comes up to Jesus and he asked
23:42 this. He says, "Peter," and Peter came up to him and said, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I
23:48 forgive him as many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you
23:54 seven times, but 77 times." We are supposed to continuously forgive others.
24:02 And then he goes into the parable of the unforgiving servant. See, this parable goes like this. There
24:08 was this man who who had great depths. It says 10,000 talents he owed a man.
24:14 10,000 talents is something like a few million dollars. It's about one talent
24:20 is about 16 years worth of wages. So imagine 10,000 talents.
24:26 It's an enormous amount. It's probably billions of dollars. That's how much he
24:31 owed somebody. And when he was being judged and he was supposed to pay back, he pleaded,
24:37 "Please forgive me. Please forgive me my debt. And the master found mercy upon him and
24:42 forgave him his debts. Then that same servant who had been
24:47 forgiven went out and found another fellow servant who owed him 100 dinari.
24:55 100 dinari is about 100 days worth of wages. A very insignificant amount.
25:02 And he held him and said you must pay me back.
25:08 When a person pleaded, he did not forgive him and he put him into jail and
25:14 says he will be into jail until you have paid me back.
25:22 And then Jesus ends the parable in this way. He says, "Then his master summoned him and said to him, "You wicked
25:29 servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me and you should not have had mercy on your fellow
25:35 servant as I had mercy on you." And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his
25:42 debt. So also my heavenly father will do every one of you if you do not forgive
25:48 your brother from your heart.
25:55 Forgiveness seems to be a very big theme in scripture.
26:02 What it's trying to say is this. If we understand how we have sinned against God
26:11 and we understand how he forgives us,
26:17 it's an infinite amount of forgiveness. If we get that, if we get that gospel,
26:26 then a spirit of forgiveness must rise up in us,
26:31 we cannot but be left unchanged. Grace traumatizes us.
26:39 It traumatizes into a state that we might also forgive. You see, if
26:45 we don't forgive, then we are saying, I'm bigger than God. God might forgive,
26:51 but I will not.
26:57 We're making ourselves more important than God.
27:03 Let me illustrate this way. And some of you might know this story, but I'm not supposed to be here right now. I'm
27:09 supposed to be there. This is our home in Italy.
27:14 Uh I'm supposed to be in a holiday there right now. Actually, if my my holiday was planned and I had leave approved, so I'm not there because my leave was
27:21 denied. Um, the church grants me leave. Um,
27:26 but I'm supposed to be there right now sitting there having a homemade ice cream with a cappuccino.
27:34 That's where I'm supposed to be. But nevertheless, I'm denied that
27:40 privilege. The main reason being is because well we had a home there.
27:47 Um my family my my father has inherited a a a home uh from his family there. So
27:54 um for many years we had that and we enjoyed the place and my parents went and and renovated it really beautifully.
28:00 Um and because of some financial matters and from some arrangements uh my father took that home and he he wrote it over
28:07 to my uncle u his brother so my uncle could manage uh the home.
28:14 So recently as we were planning our family trip, uh my father was uh calling his brother and saying, "Hey, we're
28:20 we're we're coming. Um can we pick up the keys and and and go there?" And then my uncle says, "That's no longer your
28:28 home. It's no longer your house."
28:34 I mean, the audacity of of him to say that this family home is no longer our
28:40 family home. Just because my father, for some practical reasons, wrote it over to him, he now has decided it's his house.
28:49 Not only that, not only did he steal it, but he even denies us entry into it.
28:56 We may not even visit it. So, my father may not even go into the home that he grew up in.
29:03 unbearable, isn't it? Um, when I first was confronted with
29:10 this, I was looking through Colossians, and Colossians says, um, this, "Bearing
29:16 with one another, if one has complained against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you
29:23 also must forgive." It says, "Bearing with one another." You know why the Bible says you have to bear with one
29:29 another? Because people are unbearable.
29:36 My uncle is being unbearable.
29:41 When I was first confronted, my first thought in our family meeting, we had a family meeting. We gathered together. My
29:47 idea was let's go to Germany. He lives in Germany. And let's burn his house.
29:52 I think the inner Kleó Italian mobster came out.
29:58 Um, and I was thinking, hey, let's put them in the house while we burn it
30:03 because he's going to burn in hell anyways. Might as well give him a foretaste.
30:10 And that that was my first my first reaction. And
30:17 after a while, I I I was struggling through the scripture and I was looking at, wow, I must
30:24 forgive. And there's three different ways that three different family members of ours
30:31 dealt with forgiveness. My way of dealing with it was well I looked at
30:37 Romans and he says while I was yet sinner, why I was still a rebel against God,
30:45 while I still hated God, while I was unbearable towards God,
30:52 God forgave me. God sent his son to die for me.
31:01 How can that leave me unchanged? You see, God purchased me with a price.
31:08 It's no longer my life I live, but Christ in me.
31:13 So, it's actually no longer my house, right? It's no longer my life.
31:21 It's no longer my forgiveness. It's Christ's.
31:27 How can I withhold that forgiveness to anybody else?
31:33 It's easy for me to have that forgiveness because I didn't really have that much of an emotional connection with my uncle. I lived um in many
31:41 different countries growing up. So, I never really had that close ties with my uncle. Neither did I have a close
31:46 emotional relationship to that home u because I only visited it about three or four times in my life.
31:53 See, I was able to forgive because the love of God spoke to me and quickly
31:59 overpowered the hate I had for my uncle.
32:05 My father dealt with it differently. See, my father loves his brother.
32:13 And even though he was hurt, even though he was angry,
32:19 after some reflection, he remembered the good times he had with his brother,
32:24 the love he has for his brother. And that love for his brother grew
32:32 stronger as he was reflecting upon it. The Bible teaches that we should love
32:38 each other with brotherly affection.
32:43 Suddenly the relationship with his brother became more important to him than a house
32:50 more important than being right cuz he has every right to be angry.
33:00 But the Bible teaches us to to love others. So he was able to forgive
33:07 because he seeks the relationship with his brother more than a desire to be in that house.
33:15 So he's able to go to his brother says, "Let's forget about this house. It's yours. Let us work on being brothers.
33:23 Let's repair that relationship." The Bible teaches we should not come before the altar until we have made peace with
33:30 our brothers. It says in this prayer,
33:35 our father in heaven, our father. So even as a church, we are
33:40 brothers and sisters. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.
33:48 So just how my father deals with his brotherly affection towards his real brother, we should deal with brotherly affection with each other
33:55 and we should be able to forgive. There's a third way of dealing with
34:02 forgiveness. That's how my mom dealt with it. Now, she has been the Christian for the
34:08 most amount of years in my family. And she had the hardest time.
34:15 She was angry. She was more angry than me because she had a closer relationship with my uncle.
34:22 She knew him better. She had a bigger emotional connection with the home.
34:29 because she invested in it. She picked out the furnitureures, she decorated it,
34:35 she spent a lot more time in it. So, she was burning with anger.
34:42 And I was talking to her many times. Mom, the gospel, the gospel, the gospel. It's terrible if your son is a preacher.
34:50 I think, Mom, you know, you must forgive. You must forgive. And she said, "I can't I can't forgive.
34:57 I'm still angry. How can I forgive and I'm angry?"
35:06 And I told her, "You're angry because you haven't forgiven."
35:13 And she got the theology of it. You know, she studied uh the books. She
35:20 did her Bible studies on forgiveness. She she read a lot during those weeks. And she got it in her head. She
35:26 understood, "I must forgive." But her heart was not feeling it. And I think that's how many of us feel,
35:32 right? We we we know we must forgive, but we are not feeling it. We we just can't do it in our hearts. It's difficult. It's painful.
35:41 And how do we deal with it? And finally she came
35:46 together with a friend of hers from her small group and he sat down and they prayed
35:54 and he said, "Lord, help me. Help my unforgiving heart."
36:01 See, repentance is another way how we deal with forgiveness.
36:08 If we can't forgive, we need to repent of that spirit. We need to bring it to God.
36:16 Father, help me. Help my unforgiveness.
36:22 We have fallen short of your glory. I I cannot do what you asked me to do. Help
36:27 me. And when we realize that we are falling
36:32 short of God's glory in our unforgiveness and suddenly we receive grace all over
36:38 again. We feel mercy all over again.
36:45 Even though we are falling short, even though we are sinning against God through our unforgiveness, he gives us
36:50 grace and he gives us forgiveness. And through that repentance, we
36:57 experience grace and mercy all over again. And again, that cannot leave us unchanged.
37:04 The next morning, she woke up and she was able to forgive
37:09 because she again experienced God's forgiveness.
37:18 We must be ambassadors of forgiveness.
37:23 We must be ambassadors of grace.
37:30 Grace is always costly. Forgiveness is always costly. Nobody
37:36 said it's going to be easy. It's costly.
37:42 It cost God his son to give us forgiveness.
37:51 It calls God his son. Tim Keller in one of his sermons says,
37:57 "Christ suffered not that we might not suffer, but that in our suffering we might become like him."
38:06 If God can send his son, if Jesus can die on the cross for our forgiveness, can't we die a little bit to ourselves
38:13 to forgive others? Can't we suffer just a little bit
38:20 to give others forgiveness
38:31 and that leads us to the last part of this prayer. It says lead us not into
38:38 temptation. Lead us not into trials. You see what what does it mean lead us
38:43 not into temptation? Because we we know the Bible says God will not tempt. Right? In James we we read that God will
38:48 not tempt us. So let nobody says that God tempts or that God can be tempted.
38:54 So a better understanding was lead us not into trials.
38:60 But then you might say James also says that trials are good.
39:06 Trials gives us character. Trials gives us wisdom.
39:12 So why should we pray something which is ultimately good for us? Well, again I go to the garden of
39:19 Gethsemane. Jesus is there.
39:24 He knew the trial was going to come. He knew the difficulty was going to come.
39:31 He knew it was good. Yet he fell on his knees
39:38 and he prayed, "Take this cup away from me.
39:45 But not your will. But not my will, but your will be done.
39:53 It's a prayer of desperation. Are we desperate for God?"
40:00 Somebody once asked me, "What is spiritual vitality?
40:06 What's spiritual health? I had no answer. The only picture that
40:12 came to my mind was this. If over a period of time, say let's say a month or two,
40:18 I don't fall on my knees in the middle of the night, I don't cry out to God and say, "Lord, I I can't do
40:27 this. Father, help me.
40:33 I'm weak. I'm insufficient. I can't do life without you.
40:39 Woo. To me, a man with unclean lips, my temptations, my desires, I fail. Oh
40:44 Lord, if I don't regularly fall on my knees and ask God, help me,
40:53 deliver me, I think I've become spiritually
40:58 unhealthy.
41:04 When he says, "Lead us not into temptations." We ask that God may not bring us into trials, that we may not
41:11 succumb to trials. There is the evil one who's prowling around waiting for us to fail.
41:20 We ask that you lead us away, Father. Deliver us from evil.
41:30 We must be a desperate people. The biatitude says, "Blessed are the
41:35 poor in spirit." Are we poor in spirit? Do we realize that we are spiritually bankrupt? Do we realize that we cannot
41:41 do it on our own? My flesh, my heart may fail, but Lord is my portion forever. We need God in our lives.
41:50 Without him, we will fail.
41:55 Are we desperate for his mercy?
42:00 Are we desperate for his name? Are we desperate for him to be holy?
42:08 Are we desperate for his kingdom to come?
42:14 Are we desperate for his will to be done?
42:21 Are we hungering and thirsting for righteousness?
42:28 It says hunger and thirst. It's a call of desperation.
42:39 It says, "Lead us not in temptation, but deliver us
42:45 from evil." It's a call of desperation.
42:52 So as I asked the worship team to come up,
42:57 let us think. Is there anybody in our lives who we
43:04 have not forgiven?
43:17 Are we desperate for his forgiveness?
43:27 And as we think on this, let me lead us in prayer.
43:38 Father,
43:44 let us not be like the hypocrites and the pagans
43:49 who heap up empty phrases.
43:55 Lord, it doesn't matter what prayers we can say by heart.
44:03 It matters that we pray from our heart.
44:09 Father, I pray that you give us a spirit of forgiveness
44:15 that we may now come before the altar.
44:21 our father in heaven.
44:26 It's amazing that we can call you father. That we are children of God. That you sent your son to die for us on
44:33 the cross. That we now be in your family. That you have adopted us. That we can call you aba father.
44:42 Hallowed be thy name.
44:48 May you make your name big and glorious among all the nations.
44:54 May you be worshiped in Malaysia, in Sububang, here in FBC.
45:03 Thy kingdom come. Lord, help us spread the good news.
45:10 Spread the gospel to all that we know. Give us an urgency
45:16 to proclaim the gospel. Let your kingdom come. Let us let us evangelize. Let us
45:22 reach out to migrants. Let us plant churches.
45:27 And may you return soon, oh Lord.
45:33 Let your will be done. That no mouth be kept unfed.
45:38 No naked person not clothed. Father, may justice rule Malaysia
45:47 rule Sububang. As it is in heaven, so be it on earth.
45:53 Lord, as the angels follow in obedience, let us follow in obedience.
46:02 And give us today our daily bread. Father, we trust in you for provision.
46:08 And for all of us, Lord, who have more. Help us be generous.
46:15 Help us to give. And Father, we pray that you forgive us
46:22 our sins. Lord, we have fallen short of your glory over and over.
46:29 We need your forgiveness in our lives. and give us a spirit of forgiveness so we can forgive others. Let us be
46:36 ambassadors of grace. Let us be ambassadors of forgiveness.
46:42 Let grace and forgiveness rule this church.
46:47 Rule this city and rule this nation and rule this world.
46:55 And lead us not into temptation. Father, we cry out to you. A desperate
47:01 people, desperate for your mercy, desperate for your strength,
47:09 desperate for you, Lord. Your word says, "Blessed are the
47:15 poor in spirit, and we are broken. We need you, oh Lord,
47:23 and deliver us from evil. deliver us
47:29 and I pray this in the name of the one who taught us how to pray.
47:35 I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
