Let's Pray

Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 08 June 2008 09:00

General Sermons

Sermon Notes

Context for the Lord's Prayer: This is from the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6:5-15

Prayer

⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.
¹²Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'

¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

General Observations

Observation #1: Notice how authentic Jesus is about the whole topic of prayer

• It isn't about performance and impressing other people.

Observation #2: Notice how modest the model prayer is.

• This prayer is short.
• This does note mean that bold prayers are inappropriate though.
• The discipline of prayer is really about relationship and not about getting things done.
• Prayer is about relating to God and becoming more like Him as we converse with Him.

Observation #3: Notice how relational prayer is.

• It starts off with "Our Father."

The Model Prayer: Five Requests

Request #1: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."

• That the name of God would be regarded with utmost respect.
• Our part in this is acknowledgment.

Request #2: "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

• That God's effective causality would be complete.
• Our part in this is agreement.
  • Ultimately, we are agreeing with reality.

Request #3: "Give us today our daily bread."

• That my present needs would be fully met.
• Our part in this is appeal.
• Notice how this is both humble in scope ("Give us today...") as well as bold ("Give us today...")

Request #4: "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors."

• That my offense against God and others would be forgiven.
• Our part in this is acquiescence.
• This is a big one. Jesus repeats this at the end (vv.14-15)

Request #5: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

• That my life of faith would not be impeded.
• Our part in this is advancing.
• Jesus instructs us to pray for spiritual protection.

This Week:

• Spend some time praying for Gateway and for yourself this week
• Spend 1 minute on each of these "requests" in the model prayer.

General Observations (cont.)

Observation #4: Let's pray because prayer matters.

• Prayer makes a difference.

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Small Group Questions

Icebreaker:

What is something you wanted as a kid? Did you get it?

Worship time:

Matthew 6:9, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Spend some time hallowing His name. Reminded each other about God’s attributes and character.

Application questions:

Scripture Passage: Read Matthew 6:5-15

Head

1. What was you first memory of prayer?
2. What is the point of the passage?
3. How does Jesus start and why is that important?

Heart

4. How are you doing in your prayer life?
5. How do you start your prayer times? Why?
6. Do you see prayer as a way to build your relationship with you heavenly Daddy?
7. What part are you good at, what part needs work?
   1. Acknowledging God for God
   2. Agreeing with His will
   3. Appealing for today’s needs
   4. Acquiescence (forgiving/living clean)
   5. Advancing and discerning traps

Feet

8. Let’s agree together to work on it this week.
9. What is one or two thing you, we can do that would help our prayer life?

Vision time:

Pray for the Guatemala trip for God's protection and provision.