Prayer #1

A loving Father

Intro

Hello! My name is Clint, we are really glad that you are here. I hope the first week of school is going good.

Here at Emerge we (gestures towards wall) want to become students of Jesus, the word the bible uses is Disciple.

As a disciple of Jesus we learn how to live the life that Jesus lived. Part of what the majority of Christians believe is that when we look at Jesus we see what it means to live a life to the fullest, the best kind of life.

As people who are trying to live a life like Jesus, there are certain things we do and certain things we don’t do. Now what can be confusing is that the bible seems super clear on other things, and not so clear on other things.

And while I love the bible so much, and we firmly believe that to be a student of Jesus part of what we do is read our bibles, while I love the bible there is so much more to following God than just reading the book.

It’s the difference between knowing about someone and really knowing someone.

It’s like this. Today I sent Steph a text and asked her a couple of questions. I know from this text that her favorite food is, her favorite book is, her favorite movie, her favorite color, and her favorite spot to go on vacation is.

But just because I know those things about her, does that mean I’m friends with her?

No, I’m friends with Steph because we went on a staff retreat in 2015 and she threw snowballs around inside the cabin.

I’m friends with Steph because in 2017 when my legs shut down running a marathon she walked a couple of miles with me to keep me company.

We are friends because we fight like we are brother and sister, and send each other tiktoks.

We call each other out when one of us is being a jerk, and we tell each other each everything is going to be okay when life sucks.

We survived a pandemic together, buried friends together, and baptized students together. Steph and I are friends because we have done the best parts of life together and the hardest parts of life together.

Now, maybe you are wondering, Clint, what does this have to do with anything? Well, I’m glad you are wondering that.

When we read the stories about Jesus, something becomes clear to us. Jesus had a real relationship with God. To him God wasn’t some abstract concept.

God wasn’t distant, God wasn’t floating around Saturn, but God was real, and close.

God wanted to be known and would respond when spoken to.

We see that Jesus lived a life of prayer. He would get up early in the morning and spend time in prayer. He would pray for people that he met, he even prayed when he was being executed.

Prayer was such an important aspect of Jesus life that his disciples specifically asked him to teach them how to pray.

So, we are going to spend the next few weeks look at prayer, which is a fancy word for talking, or experiencing, or interacting with God.

A Loving Father

Jesus prays to a loving father

Alright, lets look at our verse, this is in Matthew 6 and it comes in the middle of Jesus teaching all about prayer.

We will start in Matthew 6:9-13 ““This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” (2x)

The first thing Jesus does here, and it’s so important, look how Jesus address God. He says “Our Father”

In Mark Jesus calls God “Abba” which is a Hebrew word that a child would call a parent.

This is huge! God is not some angry dude floating around on a cloud trying to smite us. He is a loving, caring Father. He wants to spend time with his kids, He wants whats best for them.

Why this matters

This is a big deal. When Jesus calls God his father, there are a couple of different parts to it.

First there is that closeness part. God wants to have a relationship with his kids. As a parent, its one of my favorite things in the world when my girls run up and give me a hug. When they want to sit on the couch next to me and eat popcorn. When they fall down and get hurt and just want me to hold them.

Now, I’m an alright dad, think how much more loving the perfect parent, God, is. God doesn’t just want you to go to him when you are hurt, or when you are doing well, or when you are sad, just like a good parent he wants you to go to him all the time.

Thats what relationship with God looks like. We don’t just pray when we need something, we are a people who are constantly praying.

The second thing we learn from Jesus prayer life is that to call God Father means to obey him, even when we don’t understand. Clara doesn’t understand why she can’t ride in the front seat of daddy’s car. I know that that airbag would hurt her if we were in an accident, but she doesn’t. And yet, because she know that I love her, she listens.....mostly.

How do you see God?

So tonight, ask yourself, How do you see God? Do you see him as someone who loves you and cares for you? Maybe you don’t. We’ve all got junk from our parents.

My Dad had a hair trigger temper. He’d be fine until he wasn’t, and then he would be super angry.

I projected that up on God for alot of my life. I figured this is what Dad’s were like. If God was like my Dad, I had to be careful, I had to make sure I was doing the right stuff or God would fly off the handle at me.

But the more that I read scripture, and the more that I prayed and experienced Gods goodness, the more that I realized I didn’t have to be afraid of God. That I could spend time with him and not worry about upsetting or disappointing him.

So, how do you see God? Do you see him as angry, as distant, as uncaring? What if that’s not who God is, what if he really is the best parent in the world? How would that change your prayer life?

What if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the creator of everything, loved you, wanted what was best for you, and wanted to spend time with you.

Think about that, God wants to spend time with you.

So, do you spend time with God

Dailey time with God.

Lets put some wheels on this. There are lots of ways to spend time with God, but it helps to make a plan.

In the Bible we often see Jesus get up early and start his day with prayer.

What would it look like for you to do the same.

I usually need to be up by 6 am to go to the gym. So, I set my alarm for 5:55am, I wake up and I spend the first 5 minutes of my day praying. I talk to God about my day, I pray for people that are on my mind, and I ask him to help me see what he is doing and stay connected to him though out my day.

After the gym before I go to work I usually try to read my bible. Those two things, spending quite time and reading your bible are two of the biggest tools that you can use to