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April 19th, 2026 • "Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name" – Matthew 6:9
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Podcast: https://pod.link/willowridgechurch
Website: https://willowridgechurch.org
Instagram: https://instagram.com/willowridgechurch
Facebook: https://facebook.com/willowridgechurch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@willowridgechurch
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Podcast: https://pod.link/willowridgechurch
Website: https://willowridgechurch.org
Instagram: https://instagram.com/willowridgechurch
Facebook: https://facebook.com/willowridgechurch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@willowridgechurch
Creators and Guests
What is Willow Ridge Sermons?
Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.
Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast, where you can listen to audio from our most
recent sermons and more.
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Well, good morning, church.
If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us in Matthew
chapter 6.
If you do not have a Bible and you would like one, we would love to give one to you.
Back at the back at the Connections table, where I will be with my wife Erin at the end
of the service, we have these black Bibles back there.
Please stop by if you do not have one and you would like one.
It would warm our hearts and encourage us to be able to give you a copy of God's Word.
And we want to thank you guys for all of us, first-time guests, everybody, for being here
with us.
We are going to talk about prayer this morning.
And I want to share with you a specific way, a little bit selfishly, I want to be candid
and honest with you, but you can be praying for me, and I'll share Joel Van Ham and this prayer
request as well.
This past year, Joel Van Ham and I, praying through with our wives, made the decision and
made the commitment to go back to school, to work on, and to finish our doctorate.
Now, I want to tell you guys, we had our first in-person class this past week, and when you
walk into the room and you're two of the three oldest guys in the room, even older than the
professor, you need a little bit of encouragement.
Then as we're going through, so we're sitting in a circle, and the professor's, you know,
he's teaching, brilliant, brilliant, brilliantly humble man.
It was a joy to be able to sit under his teaching for four days, from 8 to 5.30 every day, for
four days straight.
But he, we're sitting in a circle so we can see each other, and he put us in alphabetical
order, so Bradbury, Van Ham, we can see each other, like facial contact, and he would say
words, and I would look at Joel and go, and Joel would respond with the, and just like fake
it till you make it, right?
Like, yeah, I know what a pericope is, I have no clue.
I've Googled it, he used it a thousand times, I've read the definitions, I still can't tell
you how to properly use that word in a sentence, other than the sentence being, I don't know
what a pericope is, right?
And so, so, so that was the week, but seriously, wonderful time, wonderful time, God teaching
us a lot through there, and seriously, in prayer, just praying for us, as we're walking through
this for the next three years, for our wives and our kids, as they walk through this with
us, graciously and kindly, as we struggle through the things that we're going to struggle
with, but yeah, so wonderful time, when being there, we're going to be working,
and I do want to say this, I talked to Joel about this this morning, because part of the
excitement, because it's not about chasing a degree, it's not about chasing a title, like
you guys know, like I'm comfortable being called Bo, that's who I am, and I love it, that the
fact that I'm Bo, but it's not about any of those things.
The degree is in expository preaching to help us grow to become better preachers and teachers
of God's word, and that's what we want to do, and that's our heart, to be able to do
that both here, and on the mission field, and in our student ministry, and children's
ministry, and so in all seriousness, other than words that I don't know what they mean,
and I would come home every day with a list of words that I'd have to sit down and search
so I could try to understand them beyond that, but just prayer of what God would be able to
do with this, and the opportunity that we have, and so some of you know that we're going through
this program, but we wanted to share that with you guys, and ask for your prayers as we
go through this. Well, before we jump into Matthew, I would like to go to the Lord in
prayer this morning. God, thank you. Thank you for our time, that we could be here, and
that we could be gathered here today. God, thank you for what a wonderful privilege it
is to open up the word of God, to be able to read it, to be able to speak to it, but more
importantly, for your spirit to speak to us as we do, and so God, have your way in this
place. God, may you be exalted and glorified in all that is done, and all that is said,
and Lord, if any of this is of me, is from me, is by me, Lord, remove it. Remove it. Get
it out of the way, because Lord, I don't want anything to come between people coming to know
you, and Lord, people making decisions to follow you at greater levels of obedience in their day-to-day
life. So, Lord, be glorified in what's done, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We are in Matthew 6, and in just a moment, we'll start reading in Matthew chapter 9. As we're
working through this series in Matthew, we are looking at the Sermon on the Mount. This is the
longest sermon given by Jesus recorded in the Bible, and last week, if you had the opportunity
to be with us, we started in chapter 6, and we began to go through, and Jesus is giving
warnings about not to practice religious acts, specifically the act of giving, the act of
prayer, and the act of fasting from a false heart of hypocrisy. And what Jesus does as he walks through
each and every one of these is he sets forth not just the do not do, but the assumption is that as
people of God that we are doing these things, that we are a people of giving and of generosity, that we
are a people of prayer, that we are a people who fast. And so, he exhorts us to do these in manners of
which are reflective of our heart for God. So, it's not that we have to, but it's a heart of getting to.
It's not out of a heart of self-exaltation or self-glorification, but it's done to bring glory and honor to
the name of Jesus. Now, concerning prayer that we're going to specifically look at this morning,
Jesus says, do not be like the hypocrites who both pray in the synagogues, so he's speaking to a
religious crowd, to the synagogues and to the street and on the street corners. Now, what's wrong with
praying in the synagogue? Nothing. We just prayed here together. What's wrong with praying in public?
Nothing. I hope you pray and pray quite often in public. I hope you pray silently in public. I hope
you pray out loud in public. I hope you pray with people and I hope you pray for people.
We should be people who gather together and pray. We should be people who go and scatter and pray.
It should be who we are. But his warning of the hypocrites is not to do this so that their goal
is to be seen by others, to impress others so that others will hear their prayers, to see their self-works
of righteousness and give them praise and glory. Jesus says, don't be like that. Jesus says, don't be
like the Gentiles. You see, Gentiles, they prayed. They prayed to their multiple gods, to their pagan gods,
and when they would come in, it was a journey of running a marathon of babbling words over and over
and over again. Words and phrases that didn't make sense, that had no meaning, but it was fill the time.
Much like a politician who stands up and says, I'm going to continue to go on and on and on and on for
hours by just doing whatever. This is what the Gentiles would do. And evidently, that had crept
into the practice of some. And Jesus says, do not do this either. Then Jesus, in all of his grace and
mercy and his kindness, he says here, starting in verse 9, he says, pray then like this. Pray then like
this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it
is in heaven. Give us this day 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 evil. For if you forgive others their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Church, you cannot read the Bible. You and I cannot read
the Bible and come to any other conclusion that prayer is to be a continual active part of our day-to-day
life. It's vital and it's essential. Some grabbing verses and putting them into context here. We are told
to pray in every circumstance. We are told to pray without ceasing. We're told to bring everything to
Him. The list goes on and on and on. The Bible records the prayers of men and women in Scripture to show us
the evidence of the expectation of God and the response of His people. And as Jesus has taught us
how not to pray, now Jesus will teach us how to pray. What a loving, beautiful picture in the aspect of
God. Think about this in the ministry of Jesus. When Jesus is teaching them, He's not saying,
well, don't do, don't do, don't do, don't do, don't do. There's definitely those aspects.
But Jesus, in the midst of appealing to them to not be like the hypocrites, to not be like the pagans,
He sits down and says, then pray like this. Pray like this. Now, I believe when we see this, Jesus
is not giving them, I'll call it like a step-by-step formula, but Jesus is giving a rhythm.
Jesus is giving them a rhythm of prayer. Now, does that mean that you and I should not memorize
Scripture, that we can't memorize prayer and offer those prayers back to God? Absolutely, we can.
We can and we should. But Jesus here isn't pursuing the academic approach of memorization and saying,
regurgitate this back to God. Jesus is saying, when you pray, let me give you this rhythm. Pray
like this. What a beautiful picture of what He is giving us. But isn't that how Jesus lives His life?
That Jesus didn't come. If you're here and you're, you're trying to wonder and you're trying to figure
out and you're trying to understand who Jesus is, praise God that our Lord and Savior did not come
to this world with a list of you better not do's. And it ends there. Yes, He comes with the do nots,
but He says, and I'm going to show you by my life what it looks like to pray. I'm going to show you by
my life what it looks like to serve. I'm going to show you by my life what it looks like to love. I'm
going to show you what it looks like to worship. That we see all of this in the beautiful life of Jesus
Christ moving forth in His death, His burial, and His resurrection. In Jesus' life, we see His full
obedience in His life, not only in His perfect teaching, but in every aspect of who He is and
what He's called us to be. And He sits down with a group of people who are obviously struggling with
hypocrisy, which if you were here last week, we acknowledge that we do too, you and I. We struggle
with these areas within ourselves in a heart that seeks self-glory versus a heart that seeks God's
glory. And He sits down with them and He simply says, pray then like this. When we look at Jesus'
prayer, we see multiple petitions and requests that Jesus makes. But we see two main areas of focus that
I want us to look at this morning. Two main areas of focus that you and I can take and that we can apply
to our prayer life. The first focus is on the exaltation of God. On the exaltation of God. Do I think that it was
intentional that Jesus starts His prayer with this? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. What did I just say just a moment
ago? We are called to bring our cares, our concerns, our worries, our needs before the Lord. But I think
from this, as Jesus begins in His prayer with an exaltation of God, I think the caution for you, and I know
it's the caution for me, is that I can approach my prayer time with God, here's the list of all the things that I need you to do,
that I need you to fix, that I need you to give. That in here, I can be the subject of my own prayer life.
God, heal me, work in me, move me, give me this, give me that.
And Jesus, Jesus begins His prayer with the exaltation for the glory of the Father.
Folks, prayer is a privilege that God gives us, gives us to approach Him, that gives us to stand
before Him, that gives us to speak to Him, and we should do so with sincerity and honor.
In this very first verse, in verse 9, to look at the words that Jesus says, He says,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
There is something brilliantly beautiful that Jesus does here.
Jesus, in saying, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, He speaks to both the closeness
of who God is and the holiness of who He is.
You see, in verse 9, what we see here is the work that Jesus is going to do in salvation for us.
The holiness of God and the closeness of God.
You see, hallowed means holy, set apart, sacred, above all.
Jesus says that God, God the Father is holy, He's set apart, He's sacred, He's above.
Look, this God that is above all, this God that is holy, this God that is perfect,
that we should treat and acknowledge Him as such.
And if you're like me, just within that, there's beauty within there.
But man, I don't know, I don't even know how to begin how to approach a God who's like that.
I don't know how to approach a God who's so holy and set apart that I'm not worthy to come to Him.
I think that's a natural process for us to go through.
So, what does Jesus say?
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Jesus, in doing this, is drawing what is far away to be what is nearby.
As here, God is Father, He's close, He's loving, and He's personal.
The beautiful picture of who God is.
That God can be both holy and set apart, and close in relationship.
How does this happen?
By the work of Jesus Christ.
That when we put our faith, our hope, and our trust in the work and person of Jesus Christ,
and in the power of the resurrection, that sinless man and holy God can be brought together by the blood of Christ.
That's it.
So, am I worthy to come and stand before Him in who I am?
Absolutely not.
But am I worthy to come and plead before Him because of who Jesus is and who Jesus is for me?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Folks, this is the beauty of the depth of His love for you and for me.
He is holy, and He is near.
And there's beauty in that.
Not only in the exaltation of God do we understand and say who He is,
but we see and desire the coming of His kingdom.
Jesus says your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
You think, well, that's a request that is made for us to be the beneficiary of the kingdom of God.
But I would say when we look at this a little bit more and understand the plead that Jesus is giving here,
it's on the focus of who God is.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,
is the appeal for the rule and reign of God and our surrender to that.
In exalting who He is.
How many times have you and I watched the news and what we find and what we see of the stories of today
are the chaos and the ungodliness of this world and thought, come Jesus, come.
Is it right to eagerly want and desire and to wait for the return of Christ?
Absolutely, we should be.
You and I should want to be a part of a day and a time that will come when there is no pain,
no more suffering, no more sin.
And what we get to live in and experience in the fullness of who God is.
And so we echo the prayer of Jesus, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And so what does the application of that look like?
If we're going to pray that prayer, not as the hypocrites and not as the Gentiles,
then what does it mean for us?
It means that we desire for that in our life.
That we are saying, God, I don't want what I think is my best.
I don't want what I think I deserve or what I should get or what I should work for.
But God, for me to desire your kingdom come and your will to be done means I want your rule
and your reign in every area, every thought, every deed, and every word of my life.
Man, I know what my prayers would begin to sound like if I did not just simply echo the moments of what I wanted to confess.
But instead, God, remove from me anything that is not of you and your kingdom.
God, may your kingdom come and your will be done fully in every aspect of who I am.
Your rule in my life.
But also, God, may your kingdom come and your will be done in our world.
Folks, we should be praying for the situations all over our world.
We should pray specifically for God's will to be done.
The plural situations that are happening all over the Middle East.
God, I pray for your will to be done.
To pray, as I got information this week of things that are happening in India,
all over northern India, specifically in the state where our partners are,
where radical Hindus are shutting down churches and Christian schools.
Beating and assaulting the men and women of their churches.
We should pray that God's kingdom would come and that his will would be done.
We should pray for marriages that are broken by the darkness of sin to be restored.
That his kingdom come and his will be done in the lives of these husbands and wives.
We should pray as we see crimes being committed against children.
Oftentimes, by those who claim faith in Christ.
And we should pray, God, your kingdom come, your will be done.
We pray for justice and for healing.
Our prayers are not out of a heart of politics.
Our prayers are not out of a heart of Western ideology.
Our prayers are from the mind of the simplicity of man.
But to see and desire that the will of God be done.
God, may your kingdom come and God, may your will be done.
Because you are holy and you are father.
The second focus that we see is the humble appeal of man.
The humble appeal of man.
I gave the list earlier and I want us to live in this tension.
To be careful that we're not approaching a God with our list the way that a child or maybe an adult, if you're me, writes their Christmas list out, right?
We want to make sure that we are careful in the sincerity of what we're bringing before.
But that we understand that God is desire, God desires from us to bring our needs before him.
And he gives us three different examples of what this should look like in the life of believer.
He comes and he says, listen, give me your physical and your spiritual needs of this life.
And think about that, the God who created the heavens and the earth.
The God who created the universe loves you enough.
He loves you enough that he cares for your moment by moment daily needs of your life.
That's how much he loves you.
The appeal that Christ gives us is what?
Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And if you're thinking like me, like, hey God, daily bread's nice, but what about a weekly steak, right?
Like, what about more?
But bread, bread here is significant.
Bread here is intentional.
Bread is a purposeful word in the Bible.
In John chapter 6, Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life.
In Exodus chapter 16, God feeds his people with the bread and the manna daily.
He tells them to only take what they need from day to day.
It's not to take extra so that they will trust him with what he's doing.
Daily and consistent prayer allows you and I to bring our daily needs before God, and it communicates and helps to develop within us the mindset and perspective that, God, I need you.
God, God, God, God, God, God, God, I need you.
God, God, God, God, I need you for my marriage and I need you for my church.
I need you for my mind and I need you for my heart.
I need you for the food on my table and the food you will feed me through your word.
God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, I need you.
God, God, I will need you just as much tomorrow as I do today.
So, God, give me this day, Lord, my daily bread.
We come before the Lord dependent on him and thankful for him.
Because now in this moment, when we become to recognize that we are dependent on everything for him, our list of what we're dependent on is equal to the list that we're thankful for.
Right?
So, God, here's what I need.
Here's what only you can provide.
Here's what only you can do.
God, I'm thankful for all that you've done.
I'm thankful for all that you've provided.
God, I'm thankful for all that you've given me in which I needed.
Right?
The beautiful picture of dependence and gratitude in the moment.
So, we should come to him.
Bring to him your physical.
Bring to him your spiritual needs.
Celebrate him when he says yes.
Celebrate him when he says no.
Celebrate him when he says not right now.
Don't get your theology from Garth Brooks.
Next, we see our dependency and our need for the fullness of forgiveness.
He says in two sections of this passage,
Forgive our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Verse 15.
But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you in heaven.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, let me tell you where you stand in relationship to him.
As a person who's trusted in the work and the fullness of the perfect life, the perfect sacrifice, and the power of the resurrection.
You stand not in your guilt.
You stand not in shame.
But you stand fully forgiven.
Every sin past, every sin present, and every sin future.
Well, brother, then why do I need to say, forgive us our debts?
Because when you and I, when we live with the desire for the daily confession of our sins to the Lord,
we live with a heart that every day that says,
Jesus, I need what you did on the cross to apply to me right now.
Jesus, I need to live in the fullness and the power of the resurrection right now.
That the cross of Jesus Christ is not what we celebrate at Easter and the work that he did there
and the fact that the tomb was empty on that one day.
And it's not just what we celebrate every single Sunday as we gather together,
but every moment when I say, Lord, forgive me, every moment when I say, Lord, I need your grace,
every moment when I say, Lord, I need your forgiveness,
I'm celebrating the work that happened on Calvary and the fact that the tomb was empty
when you saved me today and every day for the rest of my life.
Because daily I sin and daily I need your forgiveness.
And God, thank you so much that you do that.
That your love and kindness and forgiveness of me is the beauty of the overflow of grace in my life.
Lord, we praise you and we thank you.
And that from the overflow of that, as we experience and we live in the grace that we do not deserve,
we forgive others as they have sinned against us.
I know this is hard.
It's not just hard for you.
It's hard for me.
I love the lie of a good grudge.
I love the lie of Satan, that it's easier to hang on than it is to surrender.
I want to encourage you.
When it comes to forgiving others, would you bring that before the Lord as well?
Would you pray in sincerity, acknowledging that it's not easy?
Acknowledging that it may take time, but praise God that God is in the miracle-working business.
In the work of what God does.
God who loves you and who hears you.
And who knows what you ask for before you even ask it.
Even if it's merely a mumble.
That's who God is.
That's what God does.
And that's what he invites us into for prayer.
Lastly, we see, in the call of God and in the work of what he's called us to in prayer,
of daily guidance and delivery,
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Lord, every day, in the embarkment of my journey.
Lord, as I get ready to get on that mess of I-20 and I-26.
Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.
Lord, as I'm going to be way longer than I need it to be.
And I'm in a hurry.
Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.
As we face the circumstances that the day, could you and I acknowledge that there is an enemy
who prowls and who seeks to destroy and kill all that's in his path.
And who knows that when you are saved by Jesus, that he cannot remove you from the hand of God,
but he can destroy the testimony that you carry.
Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.
Spiritual warfare is real.
And guys, we need help.
We aren't called to live this life like the commander-in-chief of our own heart, of our own plans, of our own agenda.
Instead, you and I are called to live this life as the faithful soldier that God has called us to be.
Living for him, in his name, in his plan, for what he has for us.
I know, every day falls into the routine.
Every day falls into the norm.
I'm going to do this Monday what I did last Monday, and Tuesday from Tuesday, and Wednesday from Wednesday.
But what would it look like?
What would it look like?
Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
See, what that means is God's setting the plan, and God's fighting the battle.
God's setting the plan, and God's fighting the battle.
To pray, God, this day, set me on my path.
My path for you.
And Lord, I know me.
And I'm going to want to take every exit ramp that Satan throws.
Lord, in your goodness, in your kindness, keep me on the path that you have for me today.
Lord, I know that at some point in time today, darkness is going to come.
A thought of sinful desires.
A desire to speak death.
A moment to lash out in my own personal wrath.
But when darkness comes, Lord, help me see the light.
And Lord, help me be the light that you've called me to be.
And God, and when I do slip today and I fall, because I will.
I fall daily, and I fall often.
God, rescue me.
Rescue me.
Jesus, thank you for saving me.
And thank you for continuing in every day, in every moment, to continue to save me.
I'm going to ask the worship team and the prayer team if they'll come forward.
Church, may we not be a person who simply prays.
You see, a person who prays is a person who feels in the moment that this is what they should do.
A person who sets reminders for themselves.
A person who prayer becomes a box that they must check, a religious work that they must do.
But may we be people of prayer.
Talk to God.
He hears you.
Talk to God.
He hears you.
But my words are simple.
My words are plain.
Well, guess what?
There ain't a single person here who can impress Him.
So stop trying.
And come to Him with the language from your heart.
He already knows the depths of it.
I want to close with this passage of Scripture.
1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 17.
I need this verse in my life.
Not because of circumstances, but because of who I am.
Apostle Paul writes,
Rejoice always.
Pray without ceasing.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
For this Bo Bradbury.
For this Willow Ridge Church is the will of God in Christ for you.
Would you join me in prayer?
God, we thank you.
That you are holy.
And God, we thank you that you are perfect.
And God, we thank you that your ways are higher than ours.
And in your holiness.
And in your goodness.
God, what you desire in relationship with us.
And God, you didn't call us to fix it.
You didn't call us to make right what we've made wrong.
Father, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross.
Offering the perfect sacrifice.
And through the power of God, though he was dead for three days, to rise again.
And it is upon his work that we're brought into relationship.
To covenantal relationship with you.
A covenant that you formed.
That you called.
That you chose.
And God, you give us.
Your Holy Spirit.
At salvation.
The very Spirit of God in us.
So that we can pray and be in community and fellowship with you.
So God, may we depend on you for all that we have.
For all that we need.
For all that we long for.
God, may we.
God, will you forgive me.
For my sins.
For my doubt.
For my anger.
For my bitterness.
For all that is ungodly in me.
God, may we do as your word commands.
God, may we do as your will in Christ Jesus for us.
And it's in his name we pray.
Amen.
That's it for this week's message.
Be sure to check back next week for a new episode.
And in the meantime, you can visit us online at willowridgechurch.org.
Or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Thanks again for listening.
Thank you.