Luke Week 9 • Luke 10:38-11:36

Show Notes

Sunday, March 7th • Beau Bradberry

"Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”" — Luke 11:1

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Beau Bradberry

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Well, good morning.

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If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Luke chapter 10.

We're going to continue on in our series of looking at the gospel of Luke.

Now, I want to kind of recap and maybe explain a little bit better something that we talked

about last week, all right?

So, we looked at Luke 9 over the course of three weeks, and what we looked at, kind of

a pivotal moment for us last week, was found in Luke 9, was when it says that Jesus set

his face to Jerusalem, all right?

So, Jesus' ministry is going to be marked by three different areas, three different locations

of what Jesus is doing.

The early parts leading up to that verse in Luke chapter 9 is more of Jesus' rural ministry,

right?

So, Jesus was in the area of Galilee, and that was kind of out in the country.

It was away from the big city, and that's where Jesus was raised.

That's where Jesus grew up, and that's where Jesus began his ministry, and that's where we've

been looking at the parables that he taught there and the miracles that he performed there.

So, he's out there, kind of in the country, and then Luke 9 marks a new phase of Jesus'

ministry, and this is the traveling ministry that Jesus is going to have as he travels from

these rural places to Jerusalem.

And so, the cities, the people, the villages that he encounters on the way from there to

Jerusalem is the second part, and that part is marked by Jesus setting his face toward

Jerusalem, that phrase.

And what Jesus is setting his face toward, the reason why Jerusalem is important, is this

is where Christ is going to be betrayed, this is where he's going to be tried, convicted,

crucified, died, and raised again, which is the third part of his Jerusalem ministry.

So, the reason why this is such a big deal, people are like, well, help me, I talked to

somebody this week, like, help me understand.

So, if I did not do that well last week, the reason why this verse is so important, it's

not that Jesus was being disobedient to his call to Jerusalem, it's that there was a different

determination now with Christ.

And so, let me compare it to you this way.

Let's say, at your job, or if you're in school, all right, and you've got a project that's

due, you've got something that you need to take care of, you've got to get this done for

work, and you know that it has to happen, and you know that there's a date that it is due.

You can't turn it in before, right?

You can't turn it in after.

On this date is the date of importance.

And so, in your early days, you'll think about that, you'll lay the groundwork for it, you'll

begin to ponder on what this will look like, right?

But in the days or the weeks, maybe right before it's done, there's a different sense of determination.

You're like, all right, now it's time to roll up the sleeves, now it's time to really press

toward and do the hard work that this is going to require.

And so, in Luke 9, I'm sorry, verse 32, when it says that Jesus set his face to Jerusalem,

that's that piece, all right?

There's no disobedience that we've seen in Christ, but instead, it's continued obedience,

and now what we're seeing is this determined obedience.

And on Jesus' way, the crowds are going to get smaller, the teaching sessions are going to be

different, there's going to be less parables and more interaction between Christ and

smaller groups of people, and that's where we find ourselves.

Jesus, in this phase of heading toward Jerusalem, we've already seen where Jesus begins to receive

some rejection.

He said, I don't want you in my house.

I don't want you in my village.

I know what you're about and where you're going and what you plan on doing in Jerusalem, right?

They don't know about the cross, but they know about his teaching ministry, and we don't want

that here.

He sent his followers into villages, and they would be rejected as well.

And so we see what could be this lonely pursuit of Jesus and the disciples and probably a handful

of others, and most of the handful of others probably females, that are journeying with Jesus

to the cross.

This isn't a big caravan of people.

It's a very small group of people.

And it's where we're going to see Jesus and where we find him in our study today.

In just a moment, we're going to start reading verse 38.

As we look at this, here's something that I want us to think about.

I want you right now to think about this question.

What is your greatest hindrance in life to following Jesus?

What is the greatest thing that exists in your life right now that prevents you from following

Christ with everything that you are?

Now, if you know me, you know that I love whiteboards, right?

Like, every good idea that has ever happened on the face of this earth happened on a whiteboard.

I just believe that, right?

So if I were to roll one of the whiteboards out, I got two of them in my office, right?

If I were to bring them out and begin to whiteboard the things, the answers to those questions,

we would come up with a lot of answers.

We'd come up with some personal answers, some generic answers.

We'd come up with some other people answers.

There's lots of answers that we would come up with.

But as I've been praying through this, as I examine my life and the lives of many of those

that I know, here's what I believe is the greatest hindrance to our walk with Jesus, is the person

that you and I look at in the mirror every single day.

It's easy and maybe makes us feel better to blame others for our lack of obedience, for our areas of struggle.

But when the truth be told, like, I am my worst enemy, right?

I'm the one that gets in my way.

I'm the one that gives in to sin.

I'm the one that pursues after things that aren't Jesus.

That's me, right?

It's not anybody else.

So the greatest hindrance in my walk with Jesus isn't a circumstance, it isn't a past, it isn't a failure.

Those have been covered by the blood of Christ.

It isn't others.

It's me.

It's me.

And what I want us to see is that you and I, that within ourselves, there's this pit of selfishness

that when we get into it and when we give into it, it is huge.

And it's what kind of rings true.

And it rings true in cultures.

It rings true across languages.

It rings true across genders.

And it rings true across ages.

And I'd like for a moment maybe to try to prove that to you by looking at the first sin that every individual kind of plays out in their life, all right?

And I call this the sin of mine, right?

Give a baby or a toddler something, something that they'd want or enjoy, and then take it away from them.

What do they say?

Mine, right?

No, no.

Mine.

The sin of mine.

Why?

Because it's theirs.

It's the perception of theirs.

It's what makes them happy.

So you can't have that because that's what I want.

So what's the first behavior that we oftentimes try to teach our kids, right?

Is share, right?

Take what was here and play with others.

Play nice with others.

Share with others.

Why?

Because every saved person and every lost person in this world knows that selfishness comes from us.

And this morning we're going to look at two encounters, one encounter that Jesus has and a teaching that Jesus does where he speaks through the heart of selfishness that helps you and I see that we can remove ourselves as a hindrance from following and from pursuing after Christ.

We just got to get out of our own way, right?

So that we can chase after Jesus.

So let's look at verse 38.

It says, now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

Okay, this is significant.

Remember we just said as Jesus is on the journey, many are rejecting him.

But there's a lady, Martha, who says, no, no, no, you come in my home.

You can come in here.

Verse 39.

And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted with much serving.

And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Tell her to help me.

Let's kind of pause here for just a moment, all right?

Hospitality was big during the time of Jesus, all right?

We think it's big here, but it was customary for travelers as they walked from one city to the next for the people of the village to take them in.

In fact, Paul instructs his churches like, hey, as missionaries are moving from town to town, bring them into your home.

Now, that's different than set them up at the hotel.

Bring them into your home.

Feed them.

Care for them.

Send them on their way, right, with more money that they can do, right?

Hospitality is a big deal.

And what we see here is Martha has embraced hospitality.

So Jesus shows up.

She welcomes him.

She welcomes the rest of the disciples.

She welcomes the rest of the people who are with them.

And she's doing things like she's feeding them.

She's making sure that the house stays clean.

She's making sure that everyone has something to drink.

It would have been customary for her to make sure that there was water for people to wash their feet and to wash their hands after they've been traveling.

And it's a lot that falls on one person.

Now, y'all know this, right?

Like, you welcome some guests into your home and you need some help.

And who do you turn to?

You turn to family, right?

Like, you're kind of a guest in my house, but you're not really because you're my sister.

And she's like, Jesus, get Mary to get off her tail and come help me.

Now, this seems like a really reasonable response.

It doesn't say that Martha's chasing idols.

It doesn't say that she's trying to schmooze with somebody to find out some level importance of what's there.

It doesn't say that she's off in the corner gossiping with somebody.

None of those things.

Scripture says right there, what is she doing?

She's serving.

She's serving.

So, yes, we need more, we need more, we need more so that more people can be served.

Jesus, your Lord, help me with this.

Look at verse 41.

But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.

And then verse 42, but one thing is necessary.

Now, I want you to underline those words in your Bible.

But one thing is necessary.

Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.

And what we are going to see in these verses, in this encounter with Mary and with Martha,

is that even in Martha's service, even in Martha doing what she thinks is good, even in Martha trying to do the right thing in the moment, she misses it.

And what Jesus is going to do is speak to the heart of the self-obsessed individual.

Now, as we look through this, I wish that my biggest stumbling in life was serving others too much, right?

That's like when you're interviewing someone and you ask them, like, tell me, what are your biggest failures?

What are your biggest struggles in life?

You're like, well, I really, I work too hard and I care too much, right?

Like, that's kind of the feeling that we get from here, right?

Like, this is a big struggle.

But here's what we're going to see.

Here's what Jesus wants Martha to do.

And as you and I, as we hinder ourselves in a walk with Christ that he wants from us,

here's what I believe Jesus is telling us to do this morning.

Stop.

Stop.

Just stop.

That's what he tells Martha.

Stop.

No one's asked you.

No one's called you.

Stop.

Mary's chosen the one thing that is necessary.

I want to ask you this question this morning.

What in your life right now do you deem as necessary?

What in your life fills your calendar, fills your plans, and fills your mind as necessary?

Now, these aren't my words.

These are Jesus' words.

Jesus says, one thing is necessary.

As I prayed through this and read through this, there's the truth that I'm trying to teach myself every single day and relay,

and it is this, that you and I, oftentimes, we are as busy as we allow ourselves to be.

We are as busy as we allow ourselves to be.

And if we're not careful, what we leave behind us on an earthly side says poor time management,

but on a heavenly side, the legacy that we leave behind is Christ neglecting.

Why?

Because we've deemed other things as necessary.

And Jesus says, no, no, no, no, no, no.

There's one thing.

There's one thing necessary, and that's Christ.

So stop.

Stop.

And here's what I want to coach you through.

Here's what I'm trying to learn in my life and plead you to go on this journey with me.

Sometimes the most spiritually mature thing, the most spiritually mature word you and I can say is no.

No.

So how do we do this?

How do we do this?

We could start a class on how to schedule better.

We could start a class on how to prioritize.

We could go around, in all honesty, for some of us, like it used to be impressive when we said, you know, we cut the cable, right?

We cut that, and we don't have cable TV anymore.

But let's be honest.

I now subscribe to 352 different streaming channels, right?

I've got more TV than I've ever had, right?

We can talk about how to eliminate those, but what does it look like to stop but continue?

And I want to say this.

The first thing that God's teaching me is this.

Stop scheduling Jesus.

Stop scheduling Jesus.

Now, I want to walk you through some things that God has graciously given me in my life.

I need disciplines, okay?

I need to build into my life a pattern of spiritual disciplines where there are things marked within my day that I do these things so that at the end of the day, what they've built in my life is behavior, okay?

So I need to build in my life that the first thing that I do when I come in my office is sit down and open up my Bible and read.

I need to build a discipline in my life where one of the first things I do in the morning, right, as I wipe the sleep away and wake up is begin to pray.

Why do I need to build those disciplines so they will continue on in behaviors throughout the end of the day?

So it's not high five and I read my Bible for five minutes this morning and I'm done.

It's so that it builds that discipline in my life.

So I'm not saying like wipe away the disciplines of your life that God's given you.

And in his grace, he's using them to build you and to mature you.

What I'm saying is stop scheduling Jesus.

And so this might be an illustration that helps to understand this, okay?

I don't schedule my wife.

I have a relationship with my wife.

I seek my wife.

I desire to know my wife.

So imagine this.

Imagine I've got my phone sitting out on my desk tomorrow at work and it's 1105 and Aaron calls me.

Let's say she's got a few moments during her lunch break and she calls me and I look down and see, oh, there's Aaron calling.

Hold on one second.

Hey.

Oh, Aaron, here's the deal.

You've got the 130 slot, all right?

So I'll call you then.

How do you think that would go over, right?

Pastor Dave, we'd be in your office very quickly, right?

Walk us through this.

Not good.

Why?

Because she and her relationship with me is not someone to be scheduled.

But that's what we do with Jesus.

I got my time with him.

I'm looking forward to this Bible study with him.

I've got these pieces for him.

And Jesus simply becomes entries on our calendar that are appointments to be fulfilled.

Stop scheduling Jesus.

Just be with him.

Just enjoy him.

Just seek after him.

Let Jesus become more than your prayer time that you scheduled in the morning and more than your Bible study time that you have at night.

Let Jesus become more than an entry on your schedule.

Number one, stop scheduling Jesus.

And then number two, this is going to seem weird, but let me answer this a little bit, all right?

Stop prioritizing Jesus.

That sounds bad, doesn't it?

Stop prioritizing Jesus.

Here's what we do.

Here's what we've taught.

I still hear this sometimes, and I've got to remember and graciously try to move away as I hear this taught.

But what we do and what we say is we try to prioritize Jesus.

And here's what that means.

We try to rank areas of importance in our life.

And I believe the intent behind it is good, but I believe that the application of it is failing.

And what we say is, all right, Jesus is my top priority.

And then after Jesus, I'm going to say my spouse.

And then after my spouse, I'm going to say my kids.

And then after my kids, I'll say my church.

And after my church, I'll say my work.

And then after work, I'll say my hobbies, the things that I do for fun.

And we look at all those things, and we've got this nice, neat spreadsheet of priorities in our life.

And we look at them, and we say, you know what, Jesus, you're here, and you're above all of these things.

But then there's going to come a time, Jesus, where it's my spouse, and then it's my kids, and then it's my church, and then it's my friends, and then it's my job.

And it's whatever we've deemed important on the list.

And here's what I want to plead with you with your heart.

Jesus is bigger than any list you and I can try to put together.

He does, none of the, my wife doesn't deserve to be on the same list that Jesus does.

And I don't deserve to be on the same list for her.

On that list, the priority is Jesus.

He says, there's one thing necessary.

One.

One.

And here's what we find.

That when I remove my wife from the list, that I remove my kids from the list.

When I remove my job, and I remove my church, and I remove all the other things from my list, and I focus in on Jesus, and it's just him.

It's amazing in his kindness and grace how I'm more engaged with my wife.

It's amazing in his kindness and grace how much of a better pastor I am for my church, of how more loving I am for my kids.

It's amazing how much more joy I am for my kids.

It's amazing how much more joy I have in my hobbies when I've kept my eyes focused on him.

Right?

Stop trying to rank.

Stop trying to figure out the order.

Just land in on Jesus.

Stop scheduling him.

Stop prioritizing him.

Right?

Just be about him.

And so the first, as we see, as Jesus kind of speaks in and attacks these senses of selfishness that rings true in you and in me, is stop.

The second thing that we're going to look at is this, it's pray.

Pray.

Prayer will attack selfishness in your heart and in your life.

Prayer is powerful.

And what prayer will do as we pray is it will draw us closer to him and eliminate the self that seeks to destroy us.

In chapter 11, I want us to read verse 1.

It says,

Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him,

Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.

Now, a couple things that's really interesting about prayer,

and I really want to speak this into some lives of individuals who are here this morning, okay?

Don't fall into the lie that prayer is solely yours to be used in private and personal means.

Yes, there are times where I need to get away, and I need to be alone, and I need to fall on my knees,

and I need to have a moment with just me and Jesus.

But there are times when I need to fall on my knees, surrounded by my wife and my kids and friends and family,

and you, and you hear me as I pray.

When Jesus goes off to pray time and time again, what he will do quite often is bring others with him.

In fact, even in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the cross awaits Jesus and he retreats to go pray,

he keeps them within an earshot of him so that they can hear the words that he's saying.

So prayer isn't something that's just supposed to happen in a prayer closet, right?

But prayer is something that should be modeled in the lives of the individuals that God has given us to disciple.

They should see us.

They should hear us pray.

So parents, let me press this in for just a second.

Remove from your house, as your kids listen to you,

no, I don't pray in public.

Remove it.

Remove it.

In premarital counseling, one of the things that I love to do, and it is a,

sometimes I love to create awkward moments for people, right?

And what I'll do, usually on the second time of premarital counseling, the second session that we have,

and that's a pretty heavy session where we deal with a lot of things.

I have couples tell me, like, hey, what are your biggest struggles relationally that you're going through?

And you're like, that's the time where you find out, like, she can't stand his mom,

and his mom can't stand her, and just all of these things.

And he's got $50,000 of credit card debt that they've got to work through, and we talk through.

We get all the ugly out in the open in that second session.

And then I end the second session by saying, all right, well, now we're going to pray.

But here's how we're going to pray.

I'm going to leave, and you two are going to stay here.

And soon to be groomed, you're going to pray for her out loud.

And soon to be bride, when he's done, you're going to pray for him out loud.

And there's great difficulty oftentimes.

Because we've forgotten that God gives us prayer to communicate to him, but then challenges us as believers to model this.

This is what Jesus does.

So his disciples, they see his prayer life, and they come to him and say,

Jesus, teach us how to pray.

And so Jesus is going to do just that.

And he's going to give them five requests, as we see in the Lord's Prayer, that they're to make to God.

And in these five requests, what we'll see, it's a break away from the selfishness of the prayers that you and I oftentimes innocently pour out to God.

And here's what I'd like to say.

Because here's the thing, people say, well, I don't know the right words.

Get past fear and understand it's not about the words as much as it is about the heart.

Teach them to pray.

So Jesus does that.

Look at verse two, the first part of it.

And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name.

The first part of prayer that Jesus teaches us is that God's name is holy.

God's name is holy.

That's what hallowed means.

Hallowed means holy.

Now, during the time of Christ, a person's name was a description of them.

All right?

That's why we see Jesus of Nazareth.

Why?

It declared where he was from.

When you read through Scripture, you'll see that two of the disciples were James and John, tagged with it, sons of Zebedee.

Zebedee was their father.

So that when you read these names, you would know, oh, that's where they're from.

That's who they come from.

It gives you a connection to them.

And so when Jesus says, Father, hallowed be your name, what he's declaring is that in that name embodies the holiness of God.

That in the Old Testament, they were fearful to even say the name of God out of fear that they would get it wrong and it would take away from his holiness and God would pour out his wrath on them as a result of it.

That's why, like, remove it from your vocabulary when we slip up and say God something or Jesus something, right?

Right?

Why?

Because it's not an adjective.

It's who he is found in that name.

And so when Jesus says, Father, hallowed be your name, he's not telling us that we're asking God to make his name holy.

God's name is already holy.

What we're asking God to do is to help us make his name our highest priority.

God, Father, hallowed, holy is your name.

And may that not just be the declaration of my prayer, but may that be the position of my life, of who I live, and what I do.

God's name is holy.

And then Jesus comes, the second part of verse 2, and he says, your kingdom come.

And what Jesus is pointing us to is asking that not God does this, but that we offer our lives as submission.

In Matthew chapter 6, Matthew also records the Lord's Prayer, and what he adds that that Luke doesn't is your will be done.

So what we see when we put these together is your kingdom come, your will be done.

And what we begin to understand with this is there's two things that Jesus is communicating in this simple phrase.

Number one, as believers of Christ, you and I need to long for the return of Jesus.

Desperately long for it, right?

As a kid waits for Santa Claus on Christmas morning, right?

Would it bring a smile on their face and joy into their heart and excitement that comes from them?

That's how you and I should be as we long for the return of Jesus.

You know, it's funny in Christian context.

When we, so many times when we open up the book of Revelation, number one, I'll give it to you.

It's confusing and it's hard to understand for so many of us.

But so many times we read it and there's things in here like wars and plagues and famines and dragons.

And we read it and we think, man, that's really scary.

Like this apocalyptic literature that is laid out before us that talks about things of death and destruction.

Like, I'm kind of afraid of this.

Not afraid that I won't understand it, but afraid of what's going to happen and take place.

But you know what's remarkable about the book of Revelation is it wasn't written to scare people.

The exact opposite.

It was written to encourage people.

Because for Christians, we should not be terrified that Jesus is returning.

We should be excited that Jesus is returning and anticipating that Jesus is returning.

And so that's why Jesus says, your kingdom come, but also your will be done.

Because we're living every single day with the mindset that this moment, this roof could rip off and there's God.

And that's how we live our life.

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

Now, not my will, not my spouse's will, not my kid's will, not my job's will, but your will.

Your will be done.

Continue on in verse 3.

He says, give us each day our daily bread.

Jesus wants us to cry out for provision.

This phrase, daily bread, it's a phrase that God's people would have heard before.

It was the phrase used to refer to the manna that God sent his people as they were wandering in the desert.

And every morning he would send them this bread to give them provision, to get them through the day.

Now, he didn't send everything that they would hope for, but he sent them what they would need.

And so what we see in this, give us each day our daily bread, is the provision from God, that God's provision for us is to care for us.

And so what we need to be reminded of, what we need to be dependent on, is that, that God, each and every day, let me find my content, let me find my satisfaction in your care for me.

Now, here's what we battle with.

Success sometimes ruins us, all right?

Sometimes success in my life and in yours can create the sin of independence.

I no longer need to depend on God for finances because I'm making this salary.

I never, I don't have to depend on God for food because my pantry is full.

I don't have to depend on God for my health because I pursue all of these things within my life.

I don't have to depend on God for my spouse because he's already provided me one.

I don't have to depend on God for the health of my family because I can manage that myself.

Look at what they've done.

Look at what they've accomplished.

But when we approach every day, as Jesus tells us, we'll approach it with the desperation for God to provide.

Here's what I want to say.

Your pantry and your bank account may be full, but where in your life is empty, right?

Maybe you don't need to wake up in the morning and cry out to God for a job that he'll provide.

Maybe he's done that.

Maybe you don't need to wake up and cry out for food in the pantry that, in our area, within a radius of our church, all right?

There's so many people who are waking up this morning without food in their pantry.

But what area of your life is empty?

And what you need is not an abundance, is not a surplus, but you need daily bread.

It takes off of self and puts us where we need to be.

Jesus continues on, verse 4, and says,

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Now, there's a part of this verse I really like, and there's a part of this verse that I really struggle with, all right?

Let me read it again.

And forgive us our sins.

I really personally wish that that was a period.

Right?

Because I know that I need forgiveness.

But remember, this is Jesus teaching them how to pray.

Jesus hadn't sinned.

Jesus didn't need forgiveness.

So when Jesus says this, remember, he's modeling and setting an expectation.

Expectation.

So the expectation of Christ is that we would forgive, that our sins would be forgiven, that we confess them.

But then this, that we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Now, I'm not trying to add to scripture, but if I'm there, like, I believe, like, Jesus kind of chuckles a little bit at this one now, right?

Like, this is the joke for him in the room.

Yeah.

And ask that God will forgive, just like you forgave everybody else, right?

Here's the thing, what we need every day is for God to give us grace and help us understand grace.

Right?

When we confess, when we repent, God graciously gives.

And what should come in that process is a deeper understanding about what we deserve and what we extend.

The deeper I dive into repentance before God, the more I understand how much God has graciously forgiven me time and time again,

not based off of what I deserve, not based off what I've earned, but the exact opposite.

The more that he draws and presses my heart to treat other people the exact same way.

Remember how forgiveness with God works.

God forgave you before.

Before.

On the cross, your sins were forgiven.

You're like, but I wasn't born then.

Yep.

But I hadn't committed the sin then.

Yep.

But I hadn't asked for forgiveness then.

Yep.

And he forgave you before.

So how do we take that and how do we extend that?

How does that begin to change the way that I forgive others?

Do I forgive when they're truly sorry?

Do I forgive when they've repaid?

Do I forgive when they've changed their behavior?

No.

Because God forgave you before you did any of those things.

And lastly, he comes and says, and lead us not into temptation.

The most gracious thing that for some of us, myself included, becomes so difficult for us to do.

Help.

Help.

What's Jesus saying here?

Is Jesus saying that God puts out landmines to destroy us and to stop us?

No, that's not what Jesus is saying is all.

James 1, 3 tells us that God doesn't tempt us.

So what is Jesus saying?

Jesus is saying that we need God's help and we need God's protection in times of grace.

That what we're saying is, God, as my path that I walk, as my path that I choose, as my path that I journey on will cause me and tempt me to wander this way and that way.

God, let me lean in and depend on your grace.

God, bring me back onto the path that is more difficult, the path that keeps me directed toward you, the path that has me in the center of your will.

God, help me to eliminate all of those things and find myself focused in on you.

And so when we look at the way that prayer, a way that Jesus taught us to pray, prayer is not a list of preferences.

But prayer is instead a declaration of God's greatness and our desperation for him.

God, we desperately, desperately need you.

What's the one thing?

What's the one thing?

It's Jesus.

Not you.

Not me.

Jesus.

Would you pray with me?

God, God, your name is great and worthy to be praised.

God, in your holiness, may that be the pursuit of our life.

May the declaration of your name be what drives us.

May you be our highest priority.

Lord, may we be like Mary.

May we have chosen the one thing that matters.

The one thing that exceeds the grave.

The one thing that focuses us on you.

Lord, hallowed be your name.

Lord, may we submit our plans and our agendas.

May we long for your returning.

May we desire, Lord, to live every moment of every day as if you're right around the corner, ready to call back your bride into eternity.

Lord, may your kingdom come.

May your kingdom come.

Lord, may your will be done.

Lord, thank you for the blessings of life.

Lord, I thank you that the bills are paid.

There's food in the pantry.

Lord, we thank you that in some cases, for some of us, maybe there's some extra.

But Lord, we still need and ask that you give us each day our daily bread.

Because there's empty areas in our life that we need you to fill.

We need you to consume.

So we'll stop trying to fill them with false gods.

Lord, thank you for the grace that you give us.

And help us understand grace more.

Lord, from every sin that we've committed,

we thank you that Jesus' blood paid the debt we've been forgiven.

Help us pay that grace forward.

To forgive others.

So, God, forgive our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Lord, help us.

Help us.

Whatever pits and failures we've put in our place,

whatever struggles we have,

Lord, just help us.

We can't get out of our own way.

We ignore the warning signs.

We just need you.

And so, Lord, lead us not into temptation.

Lord, Lord, thank you for who you are, for what you've done.

I thank you that 2,000 years ago, you drifted away.

You got off with a group of guys and a group of ladies.

And you prayed.

And you prayed.

And you modeled that for them.

Lord, may we model that as well.

May we model that in our homes.

May we model that at work.

May we model that at school.

Would we overcome our fear by dependence on you for your name and for your glory.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Just a moment.

We're going to stand and we're going to sing a couple songs.

I'll be down front here if you'd like to come and pray with me.

The altar is open.

You can come down and pray right here.

You can pray right where you're at.

Maybe you just want to stand and respond in worship.

Just respond however God is leading you today.

Would you stand as we worship Him?

Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church Weekly Podcast.

We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message.

If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources,

visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com

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