40 days of prayer week 4
Tomorrow is day 21 of our 40 days of prayer. So, we are at the halfway point.
Matthew 6:9-15 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed
be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your 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
forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver
us from the evil one.
[a]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
Live eternity today
This week, as I thought and prayed about our church’s future, the same thought kept coming to my mind. We are thinking about our church, our world here in Southwest Wichita, our lives.
But that’s not really what we should be thinking about. Our church, our future, our lives, are little thoughts. It is small thinking. It is temporary thinking. We are thinking about a building; this building. Will it house a Southern Baptist church 10 years from now. We are thinking about our lives; will I still have this place to attend in my latter years.
Those are little thoughts. But, when we pray about our church, we need to be thinking God-sized thoughts, big thoughts. Planning, big thoughts. Repentance- big thoughts. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 6:25 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.
Jesus was talking about the kingdom that He was ushering in. And the Kingdom of God is about big thoughts, eternal salvation, judgment, and Christ’s reign and glory leading up to the Millennium and on into eternity. God’s will for every human being. These are big themes. These are eternal concepts. They do not change, and they cannot be destroyed. Churches come and go. Governments come and go. Nations come and go.
And yet, while He is talking to them about eternity, they are asking, “What am I going to have for breakfast?” “What will I wear today?”
We are like that when we start thinking little thoughts about our church. It’s like we are walking around in God’s kingdom with a virtual reality headset on, unable to see what is real.
Denise and I tried virtual reality headsets a couple of weeks ago. If you are not familiar with Virtual Reality headsets, it’s shaped like a pair of plastic safety glasses that you strap around your eyes, but the plastic is dark, and blocks out any light from outside. And inside the headset, the gaming system projects an image, or a movie for you to see.
And it’s different than a movie that you might see at the theater. Imagine, if you will, that the movie screen is like a sphere, and you are on the inside of that sphere. The movie isn’t just in front of you. One of the programs I did was me, standing on the beam of a skyscraper being built. I looked up, and there was the sky. I turned my head and looked behind me, and there was the scaffolding that I was standing on. I was watching two animated characters sit on a beam across from me, thousands of feet up in the air, eating lunch. I looked down, my feet were inches from the edge, and I immediately got that sense of fear when I am standing on a very high bridge. It was the sense that if I lost my balance or stepped to far, I would fall to my death. But, I wasn’t really there. I was standing in the middle of the living room while others watched me act nutty. And so, my eyes are telling me that I am standing on a girder thousands of feet in the air, but my mind is telling me that it isn’t real. And, believe it or not, I thought about stepping off of that edge just to prove it. I knew it wasn’t real. But you know what? I couldn’t bring myself to step off of that imaginary girder.
My senses overruled my mind. We are in a world where we are bound by thoughts like, how am I going to pay for the groceries or the rent? We are bound by thoughts and emotions, and nostalgia about church buildings and traditions.
As believers, we are living in a virtual reality. The real world is the eternal Kingdom of God. It is eternity. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We all know that in just a very brief moment, maybe months, days, or years we will be taking this headset off. We will pass from this temporal existence into the eternal one.
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
But despite that, we still struggle mentally to live in what is spiritually real; the eternal Kingdom.
Jesus said,
Matthew 6:33 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
As a church—not little thoughts—this building—5 years—our people—but rather eternal thoughts—the Kingdom of God
prayer
In order to get us thinking about eternity, I chose the Lord’s prayer as our text for today’s message. Remember what the Lord’s prayer says,
Matthew 6:9-15 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed
be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your 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 forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into
temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
[a]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
When we pray the Lord’s prayer we are praying that God’s will will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. We are praying that the values and will of eternity will manifest themselves completely in our world.
In order to do that we have to imagine what God’s Kingdom looks like in heaven. That’s what we are praying for. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That’s what we are working for.
Now, we know that this earth will not be like heaven in its values, governments, and relationships until we enter the millennial kingdom. But the Lord’s prayer, and the Sermon on the Mount, calls on us to live our lives like we are already in eternity. Sometimes they call on us to step off of that girder, despite the fact that all we see below our feet is a fall to our death.
We must start living eternity today.
Start living your eternal existence today.
Well, what does that mean? Eternal things we value; Worship, Trust, Forgiveness, Victory
I. Worship is 1st.
The eternity of heaven will be full of worship.
Revelation 4: 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy,[f] holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “You are worthy, [g]O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they [h]exist and were created.”
Matthew 6:9-15 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
3 things that bring me to an attitude of worship
A. He is above all.
He is separate, spatially He is in heaven. We, in worship, are to separate Him mentally.
B. He is holy. Entirely good, righteous and true. We are profane and sinful.
C.
Everything in life is
subjected to His will.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in
heaven. The glory due His name by
obeying His will.
It’s not just about your obedience, it’s about your worship.
But it’s not just obedience. We value God first of all—Christ first
Joshua 5:13-15 13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”
Lord, we want you to be on our side. I’m not for your church or against your church. I am the commander of your church.
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”
What’s the Word? What the commandment? What do I do?
15 Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Worship is the eternal value- As we enter revitalization—“Lord, fix our church, tell us what to do.” He says first, “take off your sandals, get your worship right, your attitude toward me. Church –worship—not about us
II. Trust--Don’t worry
Trust is an eternal value
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
A. It is an acknowledgement that God is the supply for our physical needs.
“You give us.”
B. It is a daily dependence on God.
We are not asking for a weeks-worth of groceries—daily
Lord make sure I know how my needs will be met for the next year or five years. It is a daily dependence on God.
That’s an eternal value. Heaven is a place of eternal trust in God.
Revelation 21:1,4, 23 Now I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away. Also there was no more sea.4 And
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more
death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former
things have passed away.”
The
city had no need of the sun or of the moon to
shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its
light.
All the things that cause us distress and hardship are taken away in heaven. The sea or ocean was a place of mystery that often brought death to those who went out on it, or the storms that came in from it. And in heaven there is no more death, sorrow, or crying, or pain.
On this earth we live in constant awareness that pain and sorrow may be headed our way. Even the coming and going of the sun and light are a reminder of that. Evil often happens at night.
But in heaven, there is no night, because there is no sun moon or stars, because God and the Lamb light the place. Everything about heaven is dependent on God, and causes us to trust Him.
And that is the spiritual eternal reality we are to live in each day. As we think about the future, we really can’t see very far out, can we? We don’t know what today is going to bring, let alone a year or two from now.
I have to confess that I have gotten wrapped up in an attitude of “trustlessness.” I began meetings about the future by saying, “If things go as they have been going, we won’t be here in five years.” There’s an element of “trustlessness” there.
III. Live in the reality of forgiveness
It’s easy, during these days of introspection, to think of all the things that we have done wrong here at Parkview. And it is good to think of those things, because it brings Godly sorrow that leads to repentance.
But it is far to easy to wallow in that sorrow.
2 Corinthians 2: 5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. 6 This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.
Forgiveness is an eternal reality.
Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
A. Being forgiven
12 And forgive us our debts,
2 Chronicles 7:12-14 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
70 x 7 forgiveness
B.
Forgiving others
As we forgive our debtors.
In eternity, no grudges, nobody will avoid anyone else. Nobody will be irritated by anyone else.
Romans 15:1-3 We then who are strong ought to bear with the [a]scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to [b]edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”
Psalm 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing— Life forevermore.
IV.
Live in the reality of
victory
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from
the evil one.
[a]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
No temptation or sin in heaven, the power of God will drive them out. Live in that power today.