The Conclusion of Prayer

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church Podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: All right, good morning everyone. We are concluding this weekend our series of sermons on the Lord's Prayer. And I hope it's challenged everyone to pray and to be able to find some comfort and some confidence when you go to the Lord in prayer, knowing that he does hear us when we pray, that he does care about us, and he desires to do what is actually what is best for us when we pray. I read something this last week was kind of funny. This church was kind of debating prayer and how to pray. How do you go about it? You know, what form do you take? I mean, is it more of a ritualistic approach to God? How do you do it? And listen to this. They said the proper way for a man to pray, said Deacon Leonard Keys, and the only proper attitude is down upon his knees. No, I should say the proper way to pray, said Rev. Dr. Wise, is standing straight with outstretched arms and wrapped upturned eyes. Oh no, no, no, said Elder Slow. Such posture is too proud. A man should pray with eyes fast closed and head contritely bowed. It seems to me his hands should be austerely clasped in front with both thumbs pointing toward the ground, said Rev. Dr. Blunt. Last year I fell in Hodgkin's well head first, said Cyrus Brown with both my heels a sticking up and my head a pointing down, and I made a prayer right then and there. Best prayer I ever prayed. The prayingest prayer I ever said while I was standing on my head. I read that and I thought, well, that's kind of what Jesus warned us against in Matthew 6, and that is having too much formalism in our prayer. In other words, approaching God with a certain amount of form and approaching him with a ritualistic mindset, saying the right words and saying them in the right way. He said in Matthew 6, don't do that. And then he said, Also in Matthew 6, don't use empty words. Vain repetition is the way it's worded. Don't come before God with formalism or ritualism using empty words. And then he said, the third thing to avoid when you pray is don't be full of pride. Just lay it out there, be humble. I say all the time, if you're angry, pray an angry prayer. If you're confused, pray a confused prayer. God can handle it. Just be honest with him. Wherever you are, whatever you're going through, just spend that time in prayer. And as I look into the Bible, there are some things that actually can hinder our prayers that I wanted you to be aware of. Particularly as we close the series, some things that we can do that would keep God from answering the prayers in the way that we want them to. Number one, avoid selfishness. When you pray, make sure your prayer is just not all about you. In fact, the Bible warns us in James, chapter four, verse three, when you ask and you don't receive, it's because you're asking with the wrong motive. Instead he says, come before God and asking for his will to be done. So selfishness is something that can actually hinder the plan of God and the prayers that we pray to God in our daily life. Here's the second thing that can hinder it. Sinfulness. When there's something between me and my God, it hinders his ability to answer my prayer. Listen to this verse, Isaiah 59. 2. Your sin, your iniquity have made a separation between you and your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear it. Didn't say he cannot hear, he just says he doesn't hear. Think about when you and your kids aren't getting along real well and you want to kind of rectify the situation and make it right. And they haven't made it right yet, but now they're wanting a favor out of you. And you tend to kind of look at them like, you know, hey, talk to the hand. I mean, can we handle this? We're not, you know, we got something we're going to have to deal with first. Well, that's kind of loosely translated. That's kind of what Isaiah was saying. God is just saying to his kids, hey, talk to my hand. I mean, you gotta fix this. We gotta go and we gotta clear the distance between us and our Heavenly Father. And so when you pray, make sure that our prayers are not so self absorbed and so selfish that we're forgetting the greater purpose of God. And then also when we pray, make sure that we're close enough to him that we are clean and that we're clear when we pray. So selfishness, sinfulness. Here's a third one. I wanted to give you faithful faithlessness. Faithlessness, meaning that I really don't believe that he's going to answer my prayer anyway. I mean, the Bible says, listen to this in Hebrews 11:8. Without faith, it's impossible to please God because anyone who comes to God must believe that God exists and that he will reward those who earnestly seek Him. So faith has to be an element of prayer. When you pray, you have to pray, believing prayer that God does hear me. Listen to this verse. It's in Matthew, chapter 13, verse 58, where he says he did not do many mighty works among them because of their unbelief. Meaning that God didn't do things that he was capable of doing simply because they didn't believe he would. And since they didn't believe he would, he didn't. So sometimes when we go to God in prayer, we have to go optimistically. We have to believe that not only does he hear me, but he will answer me. And I have the faith to believe that. I heard about that little country church, and they were praying because they were in a drought and so much of their livelihood depended on the crops coming in. And so it was a time of the year when they needed a lot of rain. So the pastor just calls the town to prayer and said, let's pray for rain. And so they all gathered at the church lawn and they were preparing to pray. And the pastor looked out and said, you know what? I don't think it's going to do any good. I really don't. And they look kind of confused at him. And he says, we're here to pray for rain. And not one of you brought an umbrella. And I read that, and I thought, well, that's kind of how we approach God sometimes. We're praying for rain, and we don't even bring an umbrella. In our heart and in our mind, we know we can, but we just don't believe he will. So he's saying, this is a hindrance to prayer. So sinfulness, selfishness, faithlessness. Here's a fourth one. Unforgiveness. Mark 11:25. When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Heavenly Father may forgive you. Now remember I said, that's not talking about us going to heaven or not. That's talking about the relationship we have with him here on the earth. Meaning that if I'm holding out forgiveness to someone that has harmed me or that I'm not willing to forgive them, then God said, it's going to affect your prayer. It's going to affect our relationship. And so having an unforgiving heart is something that can hinder your prayer. So these are things that the Scriptures teach us that can actually hinder our prayers. So this morning, as I said, I want to close the series by looking again at the Lord's Prayer, Kind of reviewing a little bit with you, and then looking at the doxology of this prayer before we go home. Notice again, in Matthew chapter 6, we pick it up in verse 9. In this manner, therefore, pray. Jesus said, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Remember, we talked about that represents reverence. The word hallowed means respect. It means when you bow your head and you begin to pray to God, you recognize you're speaking to the God that though he's in my heart, he resides in heaven. And I'm talking to a God who deserves my respect, he deserves my honor. Remember, one of the things he says is, honor the Lord your God. And we're to honor our mothers and fathers on the earth. Honor is a huge thing. The idea of honor, by definition, means to give weight to something. When you honor something, you. What do I mean by that? Well, when you give weight to something, that means you weigh heavier this person's opinion than someone else's. For example, when you honor your father or mother, your child is valuing your opinion above the opinion of everyone else. That's the way by which we honor. So when we honor God, we're looking at his Word and we're looking at him and we're saying, God, we value your opinion more than anyone else's. God, I'm honoring you. And so when I'm humbling my heart and I'm bowing my head and I'm going to God in prayer, he said, remember, you're speaking to a God in heaven, you're speaking to a God who's worthy of honor. And then he said, you, kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What does he mean by that? Well, the kingdom, as we'll see again in a moment, is the domain of the king. The kingdom is the control of the king. And when you're recognizing the fact that God is in control, we're praying for his kingdom to come. We want his control in our life. And then you're praying for his will to be done. You remember we said, God only wants for you what you would want for you if you just knew what he knows. God wants the best for his kids. He's never looked down out of heaven and spotted you and said, well, he looks pretty happy. I'll see what I can do to mess his life up. That's never happened. I mean, God really does care about you. And one of the smartest ways to pray is, lord, this is what I think I need. But I want your will to be done because you know what's best. You see, he's the alpha and the omega. You know what that means? He's the A and the Z. He sees the engine from the caboose and all the little cars in between. And when you're praying for God's will to be done, you're kind of saying, God, I see life a frame at a time. I see life a day at a time. I see what's happening before me right now. And based upon what I'm looking at, this is what I think I would like to see happen. But you see the overall arching view. You have the big picture. You're looking at it from a different perspective. So, Father, this is what I'm praying. But at the end of the day, your will be done, because I know, Father, you would only want what's best for me. So I trust you. So Jesus said, when you pray, keep in mind you want his will to be done. And then he said, Verse 11, Give us this day our daily bread. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean we're not to plan and we're not to prepare? No, I don't wanna mess any of our preppers up here. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, instead, depend upon me each and every day. Rely on me each and every day. Daily bread. God, give me what I need to get through my day. He's talking about contentment. Now, understand, there's a difference between complacent and contentment. Complacent is a terrible thing. Complacent just says in my life, my business, my career, my relationship, eh, I don't care. I'm kind of just where it is. It is what it is, right? That's complacency. Contentment is, you know, I'm not where I used to be. I'm not where I'm gonna be. I'm moving toward, you know, something. I have a goal. I'm working towards something. I'm content, I'm happy, I'm joyful, but I'm not complacent. I'm still pushing ahead. You see the difference there? And so this idea of looking to him for daily bread doesn't mean complacency. It means contentment. It just means, God, you're good to me, you bless me. And I talked about it a little bit. Remember pulling some of the groans out of our prayers and shoving in a few hallelujahs. And sometimes it's good just to stop long enough to say, God, you bless my family. I got great kids, a great career, all those things. [00:11:56] Speaker C: And. [00:11:56] Speaker B: And recognize that God is providing for us day by day. Daily bread. Verse 12. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. I kind of touched on that a moment ago, but again, he's picking up this idea of keep short accounts. It's this idea of keeping your heart free and clear and pure. Blessed are the pure in heart. Remember that heart that's able to forgive and to release, to let things go. So keep your. Keep your heart healthy so that you're able to forgive others. And as you do that, God is able to respond to your prayer and then notice verse 13. We dealt with this last week. Don't lead us into temptation. Deliver us from evil. It's. The idea is we're following God. We're going to be tempted. In fact, I will tell you everything that you encounter in life. Here are two unavoidable realities. On one side of the thing you're facing, you'll be tempted. And on the other side of the same thing you're facing, you'll be tested. You'll be tempted on one side, tested on the other side. Pastor Corey talked about the devil on one shoulder, the angel on the other shoulder. We've seen the cartoons, right? And so that's really the reality of it. You've got a good influence and a bad influence. You have your spiritual nature. You have your carnal nature. You have these worlds that are pulling against each other. And so he's simply driving at. What we have to do is avoid the temptation and understand God, on one hand, will not tempt us. Though the temptation is there, he will test us. Now, what's the difference between a temptation and a test? A temptation. You could define it this way. A temptation is a solicitation to do anything that goes against God's word and his will for your life. That's a temptation. And we all face them. I mean, you're gonna be an I will be. We'll be tempted until the day we die. If you're a good fisherman, you know that you gotta have good bait if you're gonna catch the fish. Well, the devil knows that, too. And the secret of catching fish is not just in the bait, it's in the bite. And so what happens in the temptation? There's no sin in being tempted. In fact, it's a sign probably that you're alive if you're tempted. The temptation isn't. It's not the bait. It's the bite that gets you in trouble. So he's saying, avoid anything that goes against God's word and his will for your life, because that's a temptation. So, Lord, steer us clear of that is what Jesus is saying now. Then what is the test? What's the difference? A test is an evaluation to determine your readiness for promotion. You get a test in school, all the teachers trying to find out, did you learn what I've been teaching you? Get a test so you can go to a higher grade. All they're trying to do is have you mastered the material at this level so you can get to the next level. That's all a test is. God is just seeing, can you handle life at this level? Can you handle business at this level? Can you handle the pressure at this level? Because if you can't handle this level of pressure, I'm not gonna put more on. You can handle. So you kind of are where you are. So just be content and hang in here. But if, on the other hand, if you're moving toward goals and you're trying to achieve more and accomplish more in life with those bigger goals are gonna be bigger temptations. With the bigger goals, you're gonna be bigger tests because you're at a higher level now. And so what the prayer is, lord, help me navigate through these things, recognizing that you have a plan and a purpose, and help me to steer clear of those pitfalls. And that's what we dealt with last week. And then this week we're gonna talk about this great doxology, how this prayer ends. And it's incredible that the first thing I would point out, the prayer ends with what I'm calling a reminder of his priority for yours. Yours is the kingdom. Jesus is saying, when you close your prayer, understand the priority of God in your life. It's all about him. Yours is the kingdom. Have you ever thought about it? Everything belongs to him. We live, the Bible says, and we move, and we have our being because of him. Look, God doesn't have to take my life. He just has to quit giving me life. I'm here this morning because God gave me life. He gave me this day as a gift. He gives me this moment as an opportunity. And so God is giving us life. It's all about Him. And, guys, we're gonna be here. We won't let. We put it this way. We won't be here a skinny minute longer than he's designed us to be. When you read Ecclesiastes 3, it says, to everything, there's a season and a time and a purpose to everything. Under heaven. Life is built, made up of seasons. And in those seasons, there's time. God gives you time. And, and the time is for purpose. And as long as you have purpose, God will give you time. And the minute your purpose ends, your time on earth ends, regardless of the season that you're in. So this is important that we understand that God has a purpose and a plan. He's to be the priority, yours. And then he said, yours is the kingdom. Not a kingdom, but the kingdom. You see, on this earth, there are two kingdoms at war against each other. There is the kingdom of this world, which is ruled by. The Bible calls him the prince and power of the air, the devil. And there's the kingdom of our God, which is ruled by Jesus. And when you have these two contrasting kingdoms, now remember, a kingdom represents the king's domain. And Jesus is saying, make sure you're focused on the priority. Make sure you're focused on the kingdom, his kingdom. Understanding, I want his control over my life. I want his will to be done in my life. And when I'm concluding my prayer, and I'm concluding it by acknowledging God, you are the priority of my life, and I honor you, and I look to you and I depend upon you, you are the king of the kingdom that I'm living in today. So it's his priority. Here's the second thing. He said, thine is the kingdom and power. So it's not a reminder only of his priority, but it's also a reminder of his power. Now, why is that important as you close your prayer? It's important because God has the power to meet any need that you have. Any need that you have. In fact, the Bible says, my God in Philippians shall supply all of your needs. And listen to this phrasing. According to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He didn't say out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus because that would lead you to believe that as he meets the needs of his people, He. It's depleting his supply. He didn't say out of. He said according to. Meaning that every time he meets the need of one of his kids on the earth, it never affects the supply. His supply is infinite. God has everything you and I need. There is. There's nothing too hard for him. There's not a verse in the Bible you can find where God ever said, you're asking too much of Me? You need to ask smaller. Go small. Go for the bronze. No, he's always challenging us to pray. I can show you a psalm that says, open wide your mouth and I will fill it. I call that the dentist verse. Right, Dr. Thorpe, the dentist verse. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it. Well, what's he challenging us to do? He's challenging us to pray big prayers. He's saying, man, come at me. Bring it. What do you got? Is there anything too hard for me? I can provide a table in the wilderness. I can feed people. I can give you water. Where there's no water, there's nothing I can't do. And, man, when I'm closing my prayer with this beautiful doxology, I'm recognizing he's to be the priority because he has all the power. Remember in Matthew 22 when Jesus was answering the question about the greatest commandment, he said to them, all power, all power has been given to me on heaven and on earth. Where else could power be represented other than heaven and earth? He said, I've got all the power. Think about it this way, guys. He has the power. He has the ability to figure out any problem you face. We've all been there, hadn't we, where we felt like we out punted our coverage. And all of a sudden we don't know what to do. And you talk to other people and you try to get good advice. You know, Proverbs says, with good counsel, you know, you move forward and you try to do all that. You try to get advice, but at the end of the day, you're still scratching your head trying to figure out what to do. And I can tell you, you've never gone to prayer and brought God a problem that stumped him. Never. He's never gasped and said, man, I'll have to get back to you on that. Wow, this is bigger than anything we've ever faced up here in heaven, you know, never. There was a Statement by Corrie 10 boom one time that said, there's no panic in heaven. There are only plans. There's no panic in heaven. We panic, but there's not panic up there. So what's the point? My point is, when I pray, I'm coming to God and I'm bringing him a problem that I don't know what the answer to it is, but he does. And so, man, there's this transference of confusion that goes from me to him. And all of a sudden, man, he starts helping me understand and discern a way and a path forward. And it May not happen in that moment. I mean, I love it when I pray prayers. And, man, I just feel like God spoke to my heart and I've got the answer. But I can tell you I prayed prayers and didn't really get clear clarity for months. And I've told you kind of before, kind of the rule of that is, remember, if you're praying about something and you don't have peace about it, just sometimes the best decision in that case is no decision. Because when the devil is working in your life, in his kingdom, his kingdom is dominated by pressure and manipulation. The kingdom of God is dominated by surrender and control of the Holy Spirit. And how I know which kingdom is pulling on me to make this decision, I'm asking myself this question. Do I feel pressured to make this decision or do I feel led to make the decision? Pressure, led. Because when God begins to work in your life, he will lead you. And sometimes that works through a. I don't get all esoteric here, but sometimes it's almost like an epiphany, like you're praying about something and praying about something, and you wake up one morning and you got peace about it that you didn't have before. I mean, I don't know how you guys have been here, but I've had a decision that I needed to make. And I already knew what the decision was, but I didn't know when to make it. You ever had that situation? I know what to do. I just don't know when to do what to do. And so I don't wanna do it at the wrong time. You know, timing is everything. And so I wanted to make sure of that. And I struggled with that. And finally one morning, I can't. It's just weird. I kind of woke up with this crazy peace that I didn't have before. And it was almost like God was. It was like the release of his spirit. Now it's time to do this. Before I had the restraint of his spirit, he was telling me, oh, hang on, not yet, not time. But then I woke up with the release of his spirit, saying, now, do it now. So that's all I'm saying is when you go and you bring God a problem in prayer, if he doesn't answer it right away, wait till you feel led to do what you feel like he's leading you to do. Don't do it out of a sense of pressure. Don't do it that way. So he has the power to handle the problems. Now think about this. He has the power to lift the burdens now, there are some burdens that we carry in life that are. The Bible refers to it as a necessary burden. I mean, honestly, if we didn't carry a little pressure on us, we probably wouldn't do much. A little stress on the string makes music. You know, these guitars are tuned with enough stress on the string to give you harmony. If the string has too much stress, the note is shrill. If it doesn't have enough stress, the note is dull. So you have to be tuned. And when you're in tune with the Holy Spirit, he knows how much stress to put on your string. Does that make sense? And so my point is, we're designed to carry some stress, not all stress is bad. Some stress gets us out of bed in the morning. Some stress makes sure we take care of our family. Some stress makes sure we do the right thing. Each and every. We got a little stress on the string. Top the hill and there's the highway patrol. Little stress slows you down. Stress on the string. I mean, not all stress is bad. So I'm just saying you have to understand how to govern that. But, but, but, but there are some stresses we carry that God didn't design us to carry. There are some pressures that we have that God didn't design us to carry. There's some burdens that people shoulder that are not necessary, they're unnecessary, they're self imposed burdens. That's why he said in First, Peter, cast all your care upon me, for I care for you, meaning that. Give me that burden. Let me carry that for you. Let me handle that for you. And some of you guys are carrying things God just simply didn't design you to carry. You ever crossed a little bridge out on the countryside? And you notice on those old bridges, there's the brass sign on the end column that says load limit, Load limit. And the engineers designed that bridge knowing this bridge can handle so much weight. There's only so much stress you can put on this bridge and safely be able to cross it. There's a load limit. Or have you ever got on an elevator and you look at the elevator and it said weight limit. Have you ever got on a crowded elevator and done the math? You're looking around going, that's a big old boy right over there. You know, you're kind of, you know, you're kind of doing all that in your head going, man, that thing kind of jumped, dropped a little bit and we all got on this thing. Are we sure? I mean, what does that tell you? That tells you, the engineers, the Designers designed that elevator to handle so much weight and no more. Can I tell you, the great God who designed you, who created you, who created me, designed us to carry so much weight and no more. So many burdens and no more. And when you are weighing, when you're carrying over your load limit, sooner or later something's gonna break, something's gonna fall. There are in the bones something that's called stress fractures. A lot of athletes develop these. And when you develop a stress fracture, let's say in your leg, it's a little fissure in the bone that you may not even know it's there until all of a sudden you plant a foot and you cut and that bone just breaks. And what the doctors will discover later is there was a stress fracture in the bone that had been there a long time, but the right amount of pressure at the right time broke the bone. What happens when you're carrying burdens God didn't design you to carry is you develop little stress fractures in your soul and in your spirit, and at the wrong time, under the right circumstance, that thing is gonna break. So what I'm driving at, I'm driving at this morning. If you're carrying a burden this morning that God didn't design you to carry, when you go to him in prayer, he has the power to lift that burden. He has the power to take that burden from you, cast all your cares upon me. I care for you. So there's not a problem that he can't solve. There's not a burden he can't lift. Here's the third thing to think about. When you think about his power in prayer, there's not a sin that he can't forgive. Sometimes people come to church just like they carry unnecessary burdens, sometimes they come to church with the burden of sin on their life. And what's tragic about a lot of those people is they've already asked God to forgive them, but they've never been able to forgive themselves. And so they're carrying around guilt that God didn't design them to carry. Man, when you look at the Garden of Eden and you see where mankind fell and sinned, there were three things that happened. Number one, man faced condemnation from God because of sin condemnation. The second thing that happened is mankind faced separation from God because of sin, driven from the garden. And the third thing that happened is mankind faced guilt because of sin. Remember, they hid. Adam, where are you? And from that time in the garden until this very hour, those things always accompany sin. But when you read Romans, chapter 8, Romans, chapter 8 is talking about those of us who have received forgiveness at the cross. It opens with these words. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Condemnation's gone. When you receive Jesus, you're no longer under the condemnation of God. That's over. And then read on a little more. He says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall, you know, principalities, powers? He lists all those things. No separation, so no condemnation. There's no separation. And then he says, thirdly, who shall lay anything to the charge of my elect, my children? Meaning there's no guilt. There's nothing for you to be guilty about. God said, I've absolved you. I've cleared you. You're clean, you're clear, you're done. So what am I driving at? I'm saying there are people who come to the services just like this, who bring burdens and bring sins that God didn't design them to carry because he's already forgiven them. Once God has forgiven you. Listen, forgive yourself. Here's the incredible thing about the forgiveness of God. Anything in prayer, I uncover before the Lord, he will cover. Anything I go about trying to cover up and hide from him, he will uncover. See how that works? But when I go to him and I just unconsciously say, God, I blew it. I'm sorry. I messed up. I said this, did that. Sorry, I'm uncovering it. I'm opening it up to him, then he'll cover it up. He'll forgive me. But when I try to live covering these things from him, he'll eventually expose me because he's dealing with the sin that I'm hiding in my life. So I'm saying, when you go to God in prayer, there's not a sin that you've confessed that he will not forgive. Understand? Every sin was covered at the cross when you received Jesus as your Savior and you established a relationship with Jesus Christ. The sins of your past, the sins of your present, and get this, the sins of your future were covered at the cross. You say, well, how does that work? Well, if he didn't cover the sins of your future at the cross, then he'd have to come back and die again. All right, I just got you up to where you are. But, boy, don't blow it to you. No, that's not how it works. Past, present. So relationally, I'm a child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit. Good for heaven. So where does forgiveness come in? And I talked about this a couple of weeks ago. This doesn't Affect my relationship with my Heavenly Father. It affects my fellowship with my Heavenly Father. You can be in a relationship with someone and be out of fellowship with someone. That's where you confess and that's where you make things right with God. Not that it's going to keep your soul out of hell. Cause that's settled at the cross. This is so that you can keep a little heaven here in your soul on earth. So you can walk with his favor in life and have your prayers answered and have no interference between you and your Heavenly Father. Because you're keeping your accounts clear and you're keeping your heart clean. It affects fellowship with him. And so in this prayer he's reminding us, man, look, God will forgive you. He's got the power to forgive. You allow him that opportunity. When you think about the cross and I think about the Word is the efficacy of the cross, the power of the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, his payment was sufficient to pay for the sins of the entire world. That's why in John 3:16, he said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have eternal life. Well, just because there's power of the cross has the power to forgive everyone in the world, then the question then is then why isn't everyone in the world going to heaven one day? Well, the problem is not that God will not forgive them. The problem is they will not ask him to forgive them. Forgiveness is there, but it only is appropriated as it is requested. Forgive me. Okay, you're forgiven. I'll take you back to the cross. Your sins were forgiven at the cross. I've got all that forgiven. I don't have to die again for you today and 2026 so that I can 2025 so that I can save you again. I did that way back at the cross. So that's taken care of. What you've done is now you've allowed me to appropriate that forgiveness into your life. So it's not that he's unwilling to forgive, it's that people don't ask. Now, when you apply that to his children, you apply that to me and to you, those of us who know Him. When our fellowship with him gets affected. How does that work? Well, it works like the prodigal son who decided to go home. You turn your heart back toward your Father and you find he's been watching for you and waiting on you the whole time. It works like Simon Peter in John 21 when he got sick and tired and he quit and he walked away from Jesus. And Jesus appears to him at the fire on the shoreline. And he says, come and eat, rest. You're tired. Spend a little time. And then he said to Simon, the problem is you just didn't love me. You let your heart get cold. And once you get your heart warmed up and you love me like you should, then you can get back and reengage in the game. Jesus didn't beat him up and he didn't browbeat Simon Peter say, you walked away, you moron. What were you thinking after everything I've done for you? When Simon Peter's heart turned back toward his heavenly Father, Jesus was there to receive him. That's how that works. And so I'm just suggesting to you, friend, he's got all the power in the world to forgive anyone of anything. Here's the last one. We'll go home. It has to do with his perpetuity, he says, and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Meaning that God is unending. There's a theological term called the aseity of God. Aseity of God. Meaning that God exists in and of himself. God existed before there ever was a person created on the earth. Long before God stepped from nowhere to stand on nothing and speak everything into the world, he existed. It's the eternality of God. He's always been. And what's comforting about that when you pray is to know he always will be. There's never a time when God will not exist. That's why he said so confidently in Hebrews, I will never leave you or forsake you. He's always there. In the darkest nights you go through. He's there. In the deepest valley you walk through. He's there. In the craziest storm of life you sail through. He's there. God doesn't leave his kids. He doesn't forsake his kids. That's why Jesus says his glory is forever and ever. Amen. His presence is with you. It's permanent. He will not withdraw himself from you. You can rely on him and depend on Him. In fact, I love the way the psalmist put it, he's an ever present help in trouble. He didn't say, just when I get out of trouble. Listen, that's why I tell you, he didn't just come to get you out of trouble. He came to get into trouble with you. He's a very present help in trouble. He doesn't leave you. Four Hebrew teenagers would tell you, he'll walk through the fire with you. The apostles would tell you that he's still on the boat in the middle of the storm. He's with you. He won't leave you, and he certainly won't leave you today. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for that beautiful doxology that you gave at the close of your prayer. Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. And when we pray, Father, make us mindful of those incredible realities. Your priority, your beautiful power and your eternal presence. The perpetuity of God. Thank you for that. And Lord, this morning as we close the service, I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you as their personal savior, that this might be that moment right where they are when they humble their heart and they pray a prayer like this and just say, lord Jesus, come into my heart today and forgive my sin. With everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Father, I look to you and I lean on you with all that I am, and I give you praise. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. [00:35:59] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.