The Prayer Of Dependence 2-28-2021

CONNECTING WITH GOD THE PRAYER OF DEPENDENCE Sunday February 28, 2021 Scripture Reference: Matthew 6:9-13, Acts 2:42-47 "Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today the food we need, 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one." Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT2) "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer. 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity-47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-47 (NLT2) Intro. A. [] What I am about to share with you will sound political at first but let me just say that it is not and if you listen all the way through you will understand why. As of February 15, 2021, the national debt for America was at 27.75 Trillion dollars. Those are numbers that are not easy for most of us to grasp so let's put it in a perspective most of us can grasp. Let's say you began a business the year Jesus was born and you were not a very good business person so you ended up losing one million dollars every day you were in business. Between that day Jesus was born and now is still not a trillion dollars. You would still need about 690 more years to reach one trillion. Remember now that is ONE trillion not the 27.75 trillion we are in debt now in our country. 1. We have been hearing a lot of this word right, BAILOUT. Do you know what a bailout is? There are six different definitions for a bailout. Let's look at them. a) A bailout means to throw water over the side of a boat that is sinking. b) A bailout means to jump out a plane that is crashing. c) To sell stock in a company that is failing. d) To leave from a class early that was driving you nuts. e) To pay for the freedom of someone who belongs in jail. f) To rescue someone from the consequences of their stupidity. Now I can understand a government bailout, how about you? 2. You know it is little wonder that people are worried, that people are fearful and anxious about the future. If you do not have a personal relationship with God, if you are not as we have been saying in this sermon series "Connected with God" then you have good reason to worry and be afraid and be anxious. These can be frightening times we are living in. Trans. So what then is the antidote for all this fear, worry and anxiety? Well, we can find the answer once again in the Lord's Prayer. In V.11 Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us today the food we need" or "Give us this day our daily bread". This is The Prayer of Dependence. B. The Prayer Of Dependence. 1. Jesus taught us to pray for daily bread, but why bread? It is because bread is the universal staple food. There are some foods that you will not find in other cultures, but bread is found in very culture around the world. It is one of the first items provided for people in crisis. It is very easy to make and get into the hands of those how desperately need sustenance. 2. Bread in the bible represents four things. a) It represents the necessities of life. As I just said there are many places in the world today where bread is the main food stable. In this prayer God is teaching us to depend on Him for the basic necessities of life. b) Bread represents God's word. Jesus said, "People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 (NLT2) As important as physical food is to our body we are also in need of spiritual food and this comes to us from the bible. This is another reason you cannot live a full life in Christ trying to live on what I might teach on a Sunday morning. You are not even well nourished if you attend Sunday school and go to a small group. None of us is OK with just two or three meals a week. Most of us are not content with two or three meals a day let alone a week! We should not be content expect to feed on God's word DAILY! c) Bread also represents fellowship. You see God is showing us how He provides for all the needs we have in this life, physical, spiritual and now relational. Look at what Paul said in 1 Corinthians "When we bless the cup at the Lord's Table, aren't we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren't we sharing in the body of Christ?" 1 Corinthians 10:16 (NLT2) Circle the words "sharing in the body of Christ". Bread represents the relationship we have not only with God but with each other. When we share in communion as we a few weeks ago we are sharing as the body of Christ. It represents our fellowship with each other. d) It represents our salvation. In the communion passage of 1 Corinthians that I share when we receive communion it says, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me."..."This cup is the new covenant between God and his people-an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it." 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 (NLT2) What are we remembering? We are remembering the salvation Jesus provided for us by going to the cross for our sins. 3. My point here is that whatever it is that we need God provides so how do we learn to depend on God for all our needs? It is by prayer or we might put it this way, The Prayer Of Faith. That is really what the pray of dependence is all about. It is about calling out to God in faith that He will provide for us just as the bible teaches us. Let me share with you what it really means to depend on God. I. DEPENDING ON GOD MEANS SEEING HIM AS MY SOURCE. This means that I need to begin to see God as the source of everything. A. God Is The Source Of Everything. 1. Now let's just admit right up front that this is a whole easier for us to say than to live correct? I mean I think we all would say that God is the source of everything the problem is that for a lot of us we have trouble really living this way. Let me share with you four things that may help us move beyond this being just a slogan. a) Everything is a gift from God. Now I know this rubs pretty hard against our independent natures, but the fact of the matter is we have earned NOTHING! Now I know what you are thinking you are thinking, "Pastor if I have not earned anything then why am I so tired and sore from this last week of work?" Well, when you woke up to go to work last Monday did you earn the air in your lungs? Did you earn the muscles in your body to do the work? Did you earn the blood that circulated through your body that fed your muscles allowing them to work? [] Do me a favor, let's all take a deep breath together at the count of three. Now let's say together "Thank You God". b) There is nothing God can't provide. As of today we have completed eight weeks of this New Year. We have 44 left to go. Do you know everything you are going to need for these next 44 weeks of this year? You might know what you think you need for the coming week or maybe even for the coming month, but God knows every need you and I will have for the entire year and He is the only one who can supply us with what we need. Once again, we hear from the letter to the Philippians church, "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 (NLT2) Notice that God supplies us from his "Glorious riches". We should never have a scarcity mentality because a scarcity mentality says that I don't believe there will be enough to supply what I need. It says, "I am going to panic, I am going to worry and I going to be fearful." ** Let me tell you something, there is plenty to supply for every need in this world, but you say well then why do we see all this hungry and all the poverty? Here is why we see all these things it is because there is enough to supply every need but there is not enough to supply all the greed. I will talk about this later but the best way to go without is to be greedy. ** Now I am not talking communism here. Communism is forced giving where as Christianity is voluntary giving. c) God wants to give to us. Look At Matthew 7:9-11 "You parents-if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not!11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." Matthew 7:9-11(NLT2) Notice those last words in V.11 "how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." If as an imperfect earthly father, I know how to give my children what they need how much more will God provide for me? Notice that He give to those who ask. You might say, "Well pastor I have asked God for things, but I didn't get them." How right you are because as Jesus said our heavenly Father will give us what kind of gifts? "Good" gifts. The word "Good" that is used here means "beneficial". You see an imperfect like I am will sometimes give my children things they want but don't need and are not beneficial for them. Just because my kids want something doesn't mean they should have it. Thankfully our Heavenly Father knows what is really best for us, so we do not get everything we ask for because some things are not in our best interest. d) God is waiting for me. We just saw this in the verses in Matthew, God tells us to ask. There are over twenty times in the bible where God tells us to ask Him. Yes, God is not going to honor selfish requests but the point here is are we looking to God as our source or are we saying, "Well I can get that on my own I don't need God's help for this." Or are we really seeing God as the source of EVERYTHING? B. Who Is Your True Source? 1. [] As you know I like to watch cop shows and what you see many times especially when someone is being arrested on drug charges. The officers want to know "Who is your source?" Their main concern is not the user but the supplier. If the supply can be cut off then the user evaporates. 2. Who or what is your true source in life? Sure, the politically correct answer is God, God is my source pastor, but what is our evidence of this? You will not find security in your job we saw the lose of millions of jobs during the past year. You can't find security in your spouse how often have we seen marriages fall apart? Friends only God can supply our needs whatever they may be. If one door closes on us God can open another. If one faucet shuts off God can turn on another one. We must look to Him as our true source of EVERYTHING. Trans. Here is the second thing it means to depend on God. II. DEPENDING ON GOD MEANS TRUSTING HIM FOR TODAY. What this means is we have to learn to trust God for just one day at a time. A. Trust God For One Day At A Time. 1. I need things simple and this is exactly what God does for us, He makes things very simple. He doesn't say "Ask me to supply what you need for a week, a month, or a year." He tells us "Ask me to provide what you need just for today." Listen folks let's just be honest, most of us have enough trouble trusting God for one day at a time let alone for a week or a month. 2. If you were here you might recall that we talked about this issue a little last week. We talked about leaving the future in God's hands. [] This is a lesson that I am really striving to learn in my own life. I want to tell you though there is hope for people like us. God is really helping me with this, and I am learning to lay the things I can't control at His feet. Trans. Let me share with you some things that can help us trust God one day at a time. B. How To Trust God For This Day. 1. Let's look at Philippians 4:6-8. "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me-everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:6-8 (NLT2) These are some things we can learn about worry in these words. a) Worry About Nothing. You know the bible tells us of a lot of things we are not supposed to do and with most of those things I have little or no trouble. It says don't lie I don't have trouble keeping myself from lying. It also tells me not to commit adultery and I don't have trouble with that one, probably because I fear my wife more than I fear God at least at this point, LOL. But the bible also says, "Don't Worry" but I struggle with this one. Now why is worry a big deal? Here is why worry is a big issue, worry is Practical Atheism. Worry is saying that God can't help me, God can't provide for me. It is as if I am saying "God you do not exist." b) Pray About Everything. Have you ever noticed that when you pray you don't worry? I don't know how many times I have been filled with worry but I kneel down at my place of prayer and the worry evaporates. Why is that? It is because when I pray, I am looking to God and not myself. You see I know that God is the source but for some reason I still try to be the source myself, but it never works. We have two choices, we can either worry or we can pray. We can either panic or we can pray. We can be afraid, or we can pray. We can talk to ourselves or we can talk to God. That choice though will determine whether or not we live in peace or panic. c) Thank God In All Things. There is an extremely important word in this phrase and I want you to write it down or circle it. It is the little word "IN". We are not told to thank God "For" all things but to thank God "In" all things and there is a world of difference between the two. If you lose your job should you thank God for losing your job? NO that would be crazy! We don't give thanks to God for bad or evil things that happen in our lives. Remember God is not the author of such things, but what we are told to do is to give thanks to God in these situations because we know that God is in control and that God is our source so He will provide for us what we need. d) Think about the right things. Look again at what Paul said in V.8 "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Now let me just ask you a quick question, "Where will you find these things Paul said we are to think about?" Will you find them at the movies? Will you find them at the local bar? Will you find them in the newspaper? NO! You will find these things in the bible you will find them in church you will find them in small groups or in a Sunday school class. You will find them in your bibles. Here is what the Prophet Isaiah said 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" Isaiah 26:3 (NLT2) Trans. OK here is what we have learned so far. Depending on God means seeing Him as my only true source, it means trusting Him one day at a time now the third thing I want to share with you about depending on God is that depending on God means sharing what He has supplied. III. DEPENDING ON GOD MEANS SHARING WHAT HE SUPPLIES. Now why does God want us to share, how does this help us learn to depend on Him? It is because sharing makes us more like God and the bible tells us that God wants us to be like Him. We call this Discipleship. A. God Wants Us To Be Like Him. 1. God is a giving God we see this from Genesis through Revelation. Our God is a very generous God. John 3:16 shows us that He loves us so much that He gave his only son for our salvation. You know you can give without loving but you cannot love without giving. What that means is we can put some money in the offering plate because we feel some sort of obligation or we feel it will put us in good standing with God if we do, but we cannot profess to love God and not give. We can't profess to have God living within us and yet act contrary to His nature. It simply is not possible. 2. [] two Sundays ago we celebrated Valentine's Day. Do you know the story behind Valentine's Day? Did you know Valentine's Day is really a Christian holiday? It is based on a priest in Roman around 269 AD. The roman emperor at the time was refusing to allow priests to perform marriages because men didn't want to leave their wives and families to go to war. St. Valentine refused to stop performing marriages because it was a Christian act and as a result on February 14, 269 AD he was executed. Did you know that Valentine's Day is outlawed in places like Saudi Arabia? It is because it is a Christian holiday that centers around love and while it is true that there are loving Muslim's the fact is the focus of the Muslim faith is not the love Mohammad showed to his fellow man. B. Sharing Is A Matter Of Trust. 1. Do you know how to spell love? Actually, you don't spell it LOVE you spell it GIVE. Giving is all about love but lust is all about getting. You know most secular songs today that we describe as "Love songs" are in reality Lust songs. They are all about what I can get from you. How you can meet my needs, how you will do the things I want you to do for me. That is not love that is lust. Love is all about giving. How can I meet your needs, what can I give to you? 2. You know every day of our lives we are being tested. Everyday God gives us a life to live and He watches to see what we will do with what He has provided. a) I think you will agree with me that the greatest test each of us faces is the test of finances. What will we do with the money God has given us? Are we going to be stingy or are we going to share? Are we going to hoard or are we going to honor God with the money He has entrusted to us? b) You know most people feel that the more money they have the better life will be. Now while money in itself is not evil the evidence of life bares out the fact that the more money, we have the less depended we become on God. Now it doesn't have to be this way because we see examples of people in the bible who were wealthy but did not become depending on that wealth, but here is what Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." The people I have known of greatest faith were those who had very little in this life. [] Pastor Jose in San Vicente. 3. What God gives to me He also wants to give through me. God is looking for people He can bless this world with. Look at these verses from 2 Corinthians 9:11-12 "For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God." 2 Corinthians 9:11-12 (NLT2) a) Now let me warn you do not say, "Well I am just not well off enough to be generous." Let me just tell you that this is a lie straight from the devil himself. Every one of us has enough to give the issue is always TRUST! I have heard so many times people say this, "Well once I get some bills paid then I will start to tithe." Or "When I get this next raise then I will start tithing." What are we doing when we say this? We are saying that I will trust the absence of bills for my generosity or I will trust my boss for my ability to give. NO! Who is your source God or your boss? In all my years as a pastor I have never yet seen the person who made these statements to me become a God honoring steward with their resources. You see they had the premise all wrong. They started with themselves and not with God. Trans. Let me give you two very important principles. 4. When you meet the needs of others God will meet your needs. I know this is total contrast to what this world teaches us but remember "We are not of this world". [] Cornerstone itself is a perfect example of this. We gave $5900.00 for our Christmas offering. Now normally we would say this means that the regular giving our church would be down because money had been diverted to these other needs. That was NOT the case. In fact, you over gave our monthly budget in December. Why is this? Because there is a Divine principle at work, when you meet the needs of others God meets your needs. Most of the people I have known in the churches I pastor who struggle financially are people who do not tithe. You see hoarding doesn't help. 5. Here is the other principle; whatever we give to God He multiplies. If you give Him your talents, He will multiply them. If you give Him your time, he will multiply your time. If you give him your money, He will multiply that as well. Remember the story of Jesus with the loaves and fish? The boy had just five loaves of bread and two small fish. He offered them to Jesus, Jesus blessed them and over 5000 people ate until they were full. Then what does the bible say? It says they gathered up twelve baskets full of leftovers. Hey, wait a minute there weren't twelve baskets full to begin with. But you see this is the way God works. CONCLUSION A. Today we have been talking about trust and dependence on God. Are we really doing this? Are we really looking to God as the source of everything in our lives or is He the source of some things but the rest we are depending on ourselves or others for? Are we trusting Him to take care of "this" day or are we worrying and fretting over the days that are yet to be? Lastly are we willing to trust and depend on God enough to share from what we have whether it appears to us to little or much? 2. I want to invite every person here today to join a club that I am just starting today. I am calling this the STS Club. Now you are wondering what STS stands for right? Here is what it means, See God as my source, Trust God on a daily basis, Share whatever He give me. Now two of these things are personal more than practical but you cannot do the ST without the final S. If we are really going to see God as our source and trust Him on a daily basis then we will prove that by sharing whatever He gives to us. James told us that if we said we had faith we would prove that faith by what we did, how we trusted God. What is your evidence to prove you are living by faith? 6