Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

You've Heard It Said Pt.13

It has been an exciting weekend with the alumni gathering. Wasn't that a great time on Friday night of just getting to see the fruit of all of the faithfulness of the lives here, seeing the graduates and then their children? If the Lord tarries, a third generation real soon will come just from the alumni. That's pretty exciting! We're rooting for some of you to be the first one into that third generation. There's still room in the nursery. I think there's one space. Keep it up. You're doing a good job. Be fruitful and multiply. Exciting things are taking place, the wedding last night and fellowship that is precious to us, as we stated on Friday night. It's something that we don't want to take for granted.

Let's turn to Matthew, Chapter 6. We want to continue on our survey here of the Lord's Prayer and preparing ourselves for this hour, this wicked generation that we're living in. We've heard it said many times before, but it's safe to say that this is probably the most wicked time in the history of man. The reason I say that is as we study the Scriptures, we see that throughout history, God has brought His vengeance, His justice, on this planet on a couple of occasions. We see the judgment during the days of Noah and the time of the flood, when only eight souls were preserved. We go back to the righteousness of that man Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, a man that was "perfect in his generation." We find that throughout the Scriptures. We are in a generation here of wickedness. In the midst of that, we look pretty good, compared to the world. But are we perfect in our generation? Are we the best we can be in this time, in our generation? That's what it says about those men. They were the best they could be in that time in the kingdom of God. Because of that, God could show Himself mighty in them and through them. We want to be a people perfect in our generation, the best we can be for God.

Here we are, surrounded by mediocrity. We're surrounded by wickedness. The imaginations of men's hearts were evil only, and God brought that judgment. We see the hand of God in the days of Babel. We see the judgment of God on Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet based on all of that history, God makes this statement: "In these last days, iniquity will abound." It will be like men have never known it before. It will be truly a time where the world is turned upside down; good will be called "evil," and evil will be called "good." We're facing that. We're coming into that hour, and we stand in amazement many times of the insanity of the nations, the leaders, the judgments that are being made, which they see as wise, yet are destroying all of the moral, biblical values that this nation, especially, has been built on.

We're going to be contrasting that continually and contrasting everything that we see as making a move to make men dependent upon one another instead of God. As it was in the days of the tower of Babel, men were dependent on one another. God said, "Unless I confound them, because of their unity, because of their singleness of vision, because of their dependence upon one another, nothing will be impossible to them." Men are headed back that way again. We call it "secular humanism," but it's the worship of the creature more than the Creator. More than ever, that is what we're contending with today. Men are trusting in their own abilities. The churches are being built--as we've talked about in the past--on Madison Avenue techniques of advertising, mass mailings, multi-media. We see in so many of the ministries today they feel that there has to be a catering to all of the subcultures. So they have twelve-step programs for this and "We have to have this type of a presentation for the youth, or we'll lose them," and "We have to have this athletic program." Coming into this hour, we can't lose sight of the statement of the apostle: "I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God to salvation."

We are looking around and seeing all of these things that are apparently successful. They're being embraced by the masses, both ecclesiastical (the church) and the secular. Religious leaders are rubbing shoulders with those that are in the White House and heads of state. They are now celebrities, because of TV. We've created superstars. In the last day, we need to see that God is creating a body. He is looking for the least so that He can show Himself mighty in our midst. It's not a day of personalities, as we prepare for this last generation. Everything around us is about personalities, about stars and superstars. We are a people in the midst of that being called to deny ourselves and humble ourselves and to be knit together and to prefer one another.

In the midst of this age, God says, "I'm going to give you a vehicle, a weapon, that will be the only effectual weapon against the spirit of this age: it's the power of prayer, that ability to be able to get alone--as we shared on Wednesday night--to get quiet, to get alone in your prayer closet." What you pray in secret, God hears and will "reward us openly," the Scripture says. We want to start off this morning by asking the question, How much time are you spending alone with God, away from your iPods and your cell phones, away from your constant contact with men? We're a generation being made dependent on being plugged in. We have to be in touch with somebody every moment. How much are you in touch with God?

I walked out of the gym--and those of you that were sitting there, I'm not being critical of you. I'm just making a point, so hear it for what it is. We walked out of the gym the other night here for the alumni and found this group huddled around a computer, because they had to find out what the score was in the basketball game. I don't know if it's that you are that interested in the team that you're rooting for or the pool that everybody's in. The pool doesn't even represent a large sum of money. It's just about winning. There's nothing wrong with any of that. Just listen to the point that I'm trying to make. We can rush to the computer. We can rush to our cell phones. I don't even know how to work the one we have, but it does everything. You push a button, and you have instant sports messaging. I can get news headlines; if I knew how to do it, I could. The Internet, e-mails--you can even talk to somebody on this phone! It's cool! The question I'm asking is this: How quick are we to be in contact with God? How interested are we in what's going on in the spiritual world as opposed to the secular world? Do you really want to know what God is saying? What are God's headlines for today? How is your team doing today--the angels that haven't fallen? How are they faring in this conflict for your soul? What is the will of God for our lives? How many among us on that prayer list are being touched in their bodies and healed by the effectual, fervent prayer of righteous men that is supposed to avail much? Is our prayer availing? Are we seeing things changed? Are we seeing Satan's power broken? Are we seeing hard hearts challenged? Are we, as a people, becoming bolder in our witness and our stand for righteousness and in our mockery of Satan? The world is mocking us. Beloved, we need to be mocking them. We need to stand up as Elijah did on Mount Carmel and say, "Where is your god? Maybe He is gone on a journey. [That means he has gone to the outhouse.] Maybe He is asleep. Why don't you wake him up?" The mockery. Nothing's happening, but you need to understand something: our God never sleeps or slumbers. Let he that answers by fire be God.

How is your prayer life? Are things changing? Is there an excitement about getting with God, an anticipation of hooking up with God, like there is the anticipation of that next text message that comes in from your special friends--in special ed? What about that anticipation? I watch lives, and I watch these people. As soon as these things go "buzz" or makes some kind of weird ring, instantly they respond. When was the last time you responded that way to the still, small voice? When did the still, small voice of God get your attention the way that little buzzer does? Are we prepared for this war that's ahead? Are we ready to do battle in this generation as God's ambassadors?

This is part of what Jesus is sharing with us here. He says, "You need to realize something. You have to be different than the world." There's that one segment of the religious. They want to be seen, and they pray to be seen. They give to be seen of men. He said, "Verily, they have their reward." They have a reputation of success. They have a reputation of piety. "But when you pray, get alone." Just shut yourself up and let God answer.

We talked about some of the obvious things, of how people say, "We're believing God," and they present the need and try to manipulate circumstances through power of suggestion and call it "prayer." When was the last time you didn't tell anybody; you just got with God, told God, and it came to pass? What did that do for your heart and the excitement of a Father who knows what you have need of, a Father that answers prayer? It stirs your heart. It brings about a trust and reliance regardless of what take's place in our society today--"I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread."

Let's go to Chapter 6 and pick up where we left off in verse 7: "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." I want you to take note of that this morning. If you don't hear anything else this morning, let that passage just begin to settle into your heart. Father knows even before you ask. God is aware. You're not making Him aware of the things that you're facing. Do you understand your Dad knows the beginning to the end? He knows how it's going to turn out already. Guess what? It's going to be good. This thing is going to end well, because if God is for us [say it], who can be against us? We're a people that have a Father that knows what we have need of. Before we ask, He has heard us already. He is the one that puts it in our hearts, that desire. As we've shared before in some of our detailed teachings on prayer, prayer is initiated and consummated in God. He starts it; He finishes it. We can't pray effectively praying our own will, our own imagination, our own solution to problems. But we get quiet, and God is the one that drops in our hearts the things that we pray for, the will of God. If we ask anything according to His will, He does it.

If we are going to pray effectively, the first thing we have to do is find out not what my will is, but what God's will is in this situation--"What is Father doing in my life right now, and what is it that He wants to do in this situation?" It may not be what we initially think it should be. Very likely, it's not going to come to pass the way we anticipate. Have you ever wondered why that is? Is God sitting there and going, "I'm going to wait for them to think they know what they're doing and then do something different"? That's not what God is doing. He is just different. We are finite. He is infinite. We have finite perspective of what should happen, and He has an infinite perspective; and they never match. We are always half a bubble off in trying to find out and figure out what God is doing. But we do know that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose," Romans 8:28 says. So we have this rest.

He is calling us to prayer. He said, "You are not going to be heard for your vain repetition," your mantras that certain religions have. You are not going to be heard for your repetitive praying of certain phrases. It's interesting that the very passage that Jesus set forth--and the best term for "The Lord's Prayer" would be "The Model Prayer," which would be a better understanding of this. The Lord's prayer is really found in John 17; that is the Lord praying and seeking Father. This is a model prayer. He is giving us something to reference off of and to pray generally these principles. He never meant this prayer to be prayed. In fact, the very reason He gave this prayer was to show that we are not to pray rote prayers. Isn't it interesting what man has done with it over the years? Religion has taken it and perfected vain repetition with the very prayer that He presented to not do it. I love the way we end up with these things when left to ourselves.

What is this prayer if we're not to pray it? Isn't it interesting? "Let's all pray the Lord's Prayer." Pagans, everybody, recites, "Our Father which art...." And certain people think that there is merit in this, that somehow there is a special power in praying "The Lord's Prayer." Listen. The very context is, Don't put your trust in the vehicle of prayer, but in the person of prayer. It is not in vain repetition. It is not the vehicle. It is not how much you pray. It is not how you phrase, but whether or not you know how much your Father loves you. This whole teaching is about Dad loves you; He cares; He knows what you have need of before you even ask.

When you come to God, pray after this manner, with this knowledge: "our Father." Acknowledge Him as Father. He is not some divine entity that is separate from us. He is not, as the deists believe, a God that put everything in order and then stepped back, and now this thing is running itself out on a predetermined course. The deists who believe that God was the author of evolution, they are still promoting that archaic hypothesis of evolution. As we continue into the realm of science and men discovering the world that we live in, into the subatomic realm, this hypothesis has been destroyed by the second law of thermodynamics as research has come about. The discovery of DNA--and those who have delved into DNA, here is their conclusion now based upon this new science. The possibility of DNA evolving, what would you think? One to the thousandth power? One to the ten thousandth power? The chance of DNA occurring by chance is zero. There are not enough numbers to run this thing out, and yet man today insists on still touting this hypothesis of evolution. It is not deistic evolution or natural evolution (Darwin). It is design, a Creator, a loving heavenly Father who has made everything, the Scripture says, "by Him and for Him." That includes you, and every hair on your head is numbered. His eye is on the sparrow that falls. He knows every broken heart in this place this morning. He knows every emotional struggle, every financial struggle, every relational conflict; and He says, "Why don't you just come to me? As a little child, say, ‘Father, You are the author of all of these things. Holy is Your name. Hallowed by Thy name.'"

We've talked about that in the past as we've studied this--the holiness of God. It's not just talking about the purity of God, but holiness, as you come to learn in our studies, means that God is absolutely unique, separate, an entity to Himself. God remains separate from His creation in that He is the cause, the "Uncaused Cause" of all things. He is separate in His essence but one with us in relationship. He stands alone. There is none like Him. Yet we, man, created in His image, His icon, created to fellowship with Him, to commune with Him and sin having broken that--Jesus paid for the price for us to come back boldly and access the throne room of God. Are we doing it? That's the question I'm asking this morning. What are we doing with God's invitation into the throne room of prayer? Is it working for us?

In a world where we are distracted by television. It's not enough to have--I know they're not all active right now, but I know on my thing at home, it has the capacity of 900 channels. That's not enough, because man has to sleep. So God invited TiVo. Does anybody here have TiVo? Don't you love it? I think I have three or four of them. We're only limited by the dishes that are in different places, so I can actually only record four things at a time. I wonder if we can get distracted by that if we're not careful. I wonder if we can get distracted by the mall or by the theaters. I wonder if we can get distracted by all of the amusements. How careful are we, beloved, to value this time of prayer, this communion with God, the time to get alone and be quiet and shut every person out and every thought out but God and have our hearts renewed? I'm even talking about not coming for the purpose of intercession, where I'm thinking about somebody else or praying for somebody else. I'm talking about fellowshipping with your Father, letting Him pour His love into your heart, and letting Him embrace you and tell you He is for you. If everybody else forsakes me, my Father loves me. Let God be true, and every man liar. I won't believe what men have to say, and I won't believe what the devil has to say. There is one voice that I trust in. The one that says, "This is the way. Walk in it."

Can you hear that voice clearly this morning, or are you hearing a lot of voices? Is there static? It is tragic that in this day of digital high def--I just got Jonathan's attention--some of us still have rabbit ears. How many of you are old enough to remember--and it's almost this ridiculous--where the rabbit ears are wrapped in the tin foil, and somebody's standing on a stool leaning out the window--"A little to the left. Yes, that's it. Stay there"? For what? "You've got some ‘splaining to do, Lucy." We couldn't miss that!

"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" (Matthew 6:9). The holiness of God's name, the uniqueness--the Scripture says come to Him early. "Come to Him first" is what it says. Before you start to try to solve all of your problems through counselors, psychologists, financial investors, why don't you just go to Dad and ask Him what to do? "Lord, what am I supposed to do here?" We want to run to all of our friends. "What do you think I ought to do?" Before you do that, step back and look at them for a minute. Ask yourself, "Do I really want to turn out like that?" You might want to look for advice somewhere else. Are you comfortable this morning in this world of distraction, this world of human connection? Very few people think independently anymore. We're told what to think--"Vote for the worst." There's this American Idol thing. There's this group that decided to get a group together and vote for the worst guy. You think, How could you do that? Well, look at the way they dress and act. "What looks good? Let's see. Let's put on a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit or match. Oh, that looks good!" It's a whacked-out society that everybody is living in, and everybody is being told how to think. In the midst of all of this, we stand alone. We think with one heart and one mind, in a holy God which makes us independent. We are independent thinkers. We stand alone, because nobody else identifies with truth. Each one has his own self-interest group, and we stand to defend the holiness of God and the glory of God; and we are going to be hated for it. Are you ready?

This hatred--it is not going to be without psychological pressure. It's going to be a warfare. You're going to feel rejection. You're going to feel the pain financially. You're going to pay a price for standing with Jesus these last days. You're going to pay a price financially. You're going to pay a price emotionally. You're going to pay a price physically. You may pay with your own life. There is only one way to prepare for that: in this prayer closet we're talking about, setting yourself alone with God, knowing that He cares.

In the teaching here as the Lord is building His church--this is the foundation for the church. Jesus said, "I'm going to build a church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." He said what that church was going to be built on. He said, "Peter, who do you say that I am? I know what the world says about Me." The world says the same thing today that they said back in Peter's day--"He is a great teacher, a good man, a prophet." What do you say that I am? "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said, "You've said right, and on that I'm going to build My church. On the knowledge of that--those that embrace and know experientially that truth--is the foundation I'm going to build My church on." It settles all other questions. If Jesus is God; if Jesus was the propitiation for our sins; if He indeed, according to the gospel and Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 15, died for our sins, rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, has ascended to the right hand of God, ever lives to make intercession for us, and is coming again to receive us unto Himself, to establish a kingdom to which there will be no end; then what are we living for? If the kingdom is here--that's part of the prayer: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." If the kingdom is here, are we hooked into the right network?

A lot is heard today in our society today about networking. Networking--"Who do you know? You have to build these resources, these connections." I like the old Mafia phrase: "He's connected." I want to tell you something. I'm connected. In this kingdom that we're living in, I'm connected. I'm hooked into God. I have been grafted into the vine. I'm one of the branches. How connected are you? Can I ask you a question this morning? Are you aware, as that branch that's grafted in, are you aware of the life source of that vine surging into you? Are you aware of God's presence this morning? Do we stand like the Master and say, "Father, I know that when I pray You hear Me." I'm connected. I have absolute confidence, and I am so confident in Your love for me, Father, that I have no fear. There is no fear in love. I'm not afraid of what men have to say. I'm not afraid of anything they can do. I don't fear men that can kill the body, but I fear God that can kill body and cast soul into hell. "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed [holy, separate, unique] be thy name." "There is no other name under heaven by which you can be saved." "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." "His name and faith in His name has made this man whole."

What have you been doing with the name of Jesus? How precious is that name? Just the sound of it--probably my favorite chorus is "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." That's what's on my phone when it rings. I have a cell phone, but I haven't seen it for six months. Tony had it and tore it up. Now Robbie's tearing it up. The phone rings, and Robbie hears "Jesus Lover of My Soul." He opens it up, and Greer's picture is on there, and it says, "Hi, baby." That name of Jesus, does it just calm you? The name of Jesus, does it embolden you? "Jesus, Lover of My Soul"--that song became very special to me when Janet went home. I can remember singing it at the top of my lungs in the garage with tears rolling down my face, sitting there praying and polishing a set of wheels. "Jesus, lover of my soul/Jesus, I will never let you go/You lifted me from the miry clay/Set my feet upon a rock...."

Are you established in that name? When everything around you is falling, we have a sure foundation, a friend that sticks closer than a brother. This morning, all I am trying to get us to see is that it's not about the vessel. It's not about the vehicle of prayer. It's about the person; it's about the relationship. Praying is about knowing God. Or, the phrase we have used all these years as we've taught on prayer: Prayer is practicing the presence of God. I pray; I come to prayer, just to get into His presence. That makes everything right. If I'm in God's presence, things don't have to change. If God is there and He is present, the fire doesn't have to go out. I'm with Him in the furnace, and the flame doesn't kindle upon me.

We pray to get things to change. I don't pray to get things to change. I pray to become aware that God is here; and if God is here, I'm at rest. Let her rip! The storm can be raging, and I'm asleep in the boat. "Lord, don't You care that we perish?" I have shared this before. I can almost hear Jesus say, "Perish? I don't remember saying, ‘Go halfway and perish.' I thought I said, ‘Let's go to the other side.'" They were looking at the rain and the wind and the waves breaking, and all they could see was the circumstances. They lost track of the word of God. Jesus said, "Let's go to the other side." That settles it. That boat could have sunk, and Jesus would have stayed asleep and floated up on the other shore. "Let's go to the other side." You know what I'd do if I were you? I would stop bailing and go in and snuggle with Jesus. Just snuggle in there. Guess what? You're ending up on the other side.

That's what prayer is all about. "Our Father." He knows what you have need of before you ask. The problem is that we get caught up in our will. The first thing He says is divest yourself of your own personal agenda. "Our Father which art in heaven, [holy is] thy name." Our Father, my Dad, You love me. It's Your good pleasure to give me the kingdom, the Scripture says. It is Father's pleasure to give you the kingdom. He wants to share with you all of these resources. Stop trying to build your own kingdom. God is over here with a real mansion for us, and we've got Lincoln Logs. We are building this "mansion"--"Look what my hands have done!" It is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom. "He does exceeding abundant above anything that we could ask or even think," the Scripture says.

Do you trust your Dad this morning to do right in your life? Can you just step back and say, "Dad, whatever you say"? How many of you would like your sons to be able to say that, to have enough confidence in you to be able to just say, "Dad, whatever you say I'll do it"? In the case of natural mind, if a person comes to me and makes a statement like that, that immediately sobers me up. It sobers me. I'm thinking, "Dear God, if somebody's putting that kind of confidence in me, I can't make any mistakes." God has already done it. The very best decisions for your life have already been made. He has predestined it if we'll trust in Him.

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come [and the gates of hell will not prevail against it]. Thy will be done." How have we done lately on taking our personal agendas and causing them to be put aside? Do you still have an agenda? How about that little twinge? How about the really deep, hidden, suppressed judgment of God's goodness? Are you still dragging "it's not fair God" into prayer? "I'm going to pray. I'm supposed to pray, but God never does what's right. He never does what I want Him to do. He is not fair. Look around. I mean, everybody else is happy and blessed and prosperous. All I get is leftovers, hand-me-downs." "Mom always liked you best." Remember that Smothers Brothers line, "Mom always liked you best"? Many of us have that feeling. "God shows favoritism. God likes other people better than me." He is no respecter of persons. Do you come to prayer expecting to get ripped off, expecting God to do the least He can possibly do on your behalf, expecting the determinant counsel of God's will as the Trinity meets together and says, "What can we do to make Bob miserable today? He is a Christian. We can't kill him, but maybe we can make life miserable. Do we have anything left over? Didn't Thomas leave something over here? Let's send that down to him." "Everybody else gets the measure of faith, and I get Thomas' unbelief." I'm trying to make a point here. Frankly, more of us enter His presence that way than would like to admit it.

"Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." Where I am today is the perfect will of God. I have everything that I need. Everything that pertains to life and godliness in Christ Jesus has been given to me. "This person treated me wrong." "Big deal. It's for my good." God is good! "Yes, but that guy just ripped me off." God is good! "That person said bad things about me." God is good! "Everybody is married but me." Thank God! Just rejoice in His goodness. Are you there yet?

It is tragic how many of us don't trust our Father. We've got all of these backup plans, "because God is going to disappoint me just like everybody else does in my life." This thing isn't about you. God is not out to get you. It's not like God doesn't have something better to do. "All of God's time is taken up with getting me." Get your eyes off yourself and pray, "Thy will be done." Why don't we once for all come to Gethsemane and say, "Not my will; Thy will be done" and rest in it? "I can't pray that. God might send me to Africa!" So? "God might want me to stay single for the rest of my life." So? "I might have to drive a Ford for the rest of my life." So? "I might have to live on McDonald's." That would be cruel, wouldn't it? So? But God is not that way.

Where are we today? Why bother praying if we don't trust our Father? What are we doing? It's not a mind game. Prayer isn't mind over matter. Prayer isn't, How many points can I get through vain repetition, if I pray long enough and hard enough, if I sweat drops of blood? Prayer is the absolute confidence that God will do what's best for His kingdom and His children. So we come just to brag on Him. "Thy kingdom come." "Whatever suits the building of Your church the best, Your kingdom. Lord, whatever makes the kingdom stronger. If blessing my brother, blessing my sister, if me having to go through this trial and be purified as by fire, is what brings glory to Your name and strengthens the kingdom, Thy will be done."

Now we've got a foundation. He is talking about what it takes to build the church. That's what this sermon is all about: the foundation laid to build the church. He is going to go on in just a moment, as we continue in this chapter, and say, "You're going to need to focus on where your treasure is, what you're going to put your time and your energy into, your thoughts." We'll talk about that a little this evening. That's what all of these distractions are. "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." "As a man thinketh, so is he." Whatever is occupying the majority of your thought processes and the words coming out of your mouth, that's where your treasure is. It could be your vocation; it could be your hobby; it could be personalities; it could be forms of entertainment. Some people, all that they can talk about is the latest book they've read--"I just read the latest Tom Clancy book." They want to talk about that. For those that are deep among us, Mad magazine is back. Or for the really important stuff, "Did you see the latest People magazine?"

What do you talk about? As a fellowship here, what do we talk about? There is nothing wrong with the different secular things. We have discussed that in great detail. What is burning in your heart? It's fun to talk about the Final Four and the things that are going on in some of the secular realm. Those are things that are acceptable and fun, but is there a fire in your bones? Is there an excitement about what God is doing in your life and those around you? Are you excited about being able to strengthen the body of Christ, having the same care one for another? Are you praying for your brothers and sisters to be edified and be blessed, to become the best that they can be, even if that means preeminent over you to the glory of God? "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

We just come to that place of rest in a Father that cares for us, a Father who knows what we have need of. He begins this whole segment that way (in verse 8) and then ends it in verse 33. Same thing. "For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." Father not only knows, but He cares. And He not only cares; He provides. "He gives us richly," the Scripture says, "all things to enjoy." He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has given His Spirit to abide within us to bring all things He said to our remembrance, to fill us with power, to pray in the spirit according to the will of God. We know not what things we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit praying through us, with groanings which cannot be uttered, prays the will of God.

Father, Your will, not ours, we ask in Jesus' name. Let's stand before the Lord this morning. In the past, we've done a lot of detailed teaching on prayer. I just felt this morning rather than dealing with the specifics and mechanics of prayer, we would just talk about the person, just boast in Father this morning and how much He loves us. He is calling us this morning into His presence. Your Father knows what you have need of. "Before we ask, He hears us," the Scripture says, "and while we are yet speaking, it is coming to pass." We rejoice in you, Father, for all that goodness. Be glorified, we ask in Jesus' name.

As Gary plays for us, we'll take a moment this morning. I just want you to stir your hearts up again and ask, How connected are you with God in a generation where people can't seem to spend five seconds without being connected to somewhere? Are you shutting all of these electronics off and getting with God? You say, "Well, Pastor, I have my MP3 and I have my iPod and I have Scriptures on there and the Bible and teachings." That's great. Shut it all off and let the most prominent noise be that still, small voice coming out of your heart--"This is the way; walk in it." Men won't be able to sway you. When they take us like they did Polycarp of old and tie you to the stake and begin to burn you and say, "Just deny Him, and we'll let you live." "How can I deny Him? Eighty-six years He has done me nothing but good." You can only pray effectively to the extent that you know Him. I know that He means me good all the days of my life.

Let's sing it together and worship Him. "Oh, how He loves you and me...." Father, You are so good to us. Just sing it one more time. Bless Him this morning. We rejoice, Father, in all of Your goodness. Take a moment. Just thank Him for His love this morning. Father, we just thank You for Your love. We thank You for Your presence here, that You are with us and You will never forsake us. In Your presence, Lord, there is fullness of joy. At Your right hand, pleasures forevermore. We delight in You, Lord. We hope in You. We stand on Your promises, yea and amen. We just ask that You would be glorified in our midst, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "Father knows." Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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