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Does God hear our prayers? Is there a better way to make sure God does hear our prayers?!
At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Hey. Thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hey, guys. Welcome to Sandals Church, and today I'm gonna talk about how to pray. So let's just start off with a survey. How many of us feel like we should pray more? Raise your hands.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Everybody does this. Everybody struggles with this. Everybody says this. Man, I I wish that I prayed more.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:A couple years ago, one of the most famous Christians who ever lived, his name was Billy Graham, right at his deathbed, they said, what do you wish you would have done more? He said this, preached less and prayed more. I'll never forget it. Preached less and prayed more. And so one of I one of the things I think that keeps all of us from praying is we're just really concerned.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Am I doing it right? I don't I don't I'm not good with words. I'm not good I'm not good talking to God. I'm not I'm not good talking to people. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can't talk to dogs or children. How on earth am I gonna talk to God? And so I wanna talk today about how to pray so that God hears you. I want you to leave today graduating from fear and and really just promoting yourself to confidence, and you're gonna leave here today. I know God hears me because.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because. And so that's what I want you to get out of today, and we're gonna close today by praying the Lord's prayer together. So if you grew up in church, maybe you know this, maybe you memorize this, but some of you today, you've never heard this. And when Jesus was asked and I want you to think about this. Even if you're not a Christian, every religion on earth says something about Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Isn't that interesting? Even religions that are older than Jesus, Hinduism, Buddhism, have had to make room for Jesus in their faith. Jesus makes room for no one. He says, I'm the way. I'm the truth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm the life. Buddhism says, we think we're the way, so but we're gonna make room for Jesus. Hinduism does the same thing. Even Islam says that the day of judgment will be executed by Jesus. So think about that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus is a considered a spiritual teacher by every religion on earth. So let's listen to what he has to say about prayer. So this is what Jesus says in Matthew 69 through 13. This then is how you should pray. And this is my hope for you, that after today, you'll know how to pray, and you can pray this more often.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you don't know what to say and you don't know how to pray, pray this. So here has is what Jesus says. This is how you should pray. Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Wouldn't that be nice?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Give us today our daily bread and forgive us of our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Think about that. Super short, super clear, super powerful. So how do I pray as a Christian?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How do I pray as not a Christian? How do I pray knowing that God hears me? Number 1, never forget this. Pray with confidence. Pray with confidence.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We are all insecure in almost every relationship we have. I listened to one of my favorite pastors ever, and he was talking about how Adam and Eve were were naked and ashamed. He said, I'm I'm ashamed when I'm clothed. Right? And I was like, amen, pastor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. You know? Right? Like, we put on clothes. We're like, yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Nope. Doesn't work. We we just naturally are insecure as people, and that's a result of sin. That's not something that's unique to you. That's unique to the human race.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sin makes us feel insecure. And so even as Christians with an intimate, real relationship with God, we feel a little insecure. So listen to first John 514. And we are confident that he hears us. Where whenever we ask for anything that pleases him, and so this is where all the Christians freak out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, how do I know if this prayer pleases him? Stop there. Before we worry about what you're praying, know this. God is pleased that you are praying. Every parent knows this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You love to hear from your children. You love to hear. When I go and visit my parents, my parents say this every time I leave. Thank you so much for coming by. Every time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Every I coulda seen my mom yesterday. When I come today, she says, thank you for coming by. It's so good to see your face and hear your voice. Let me tell you something. When you pray to God, it pleases him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm glad you called, God says. So before we worry about what you're praying about, just know this. God is pleased to hear that you are praying, that you're praying, and all of us need to pray more. And so I need to pray with confidence. When I'm praying, I need to know that God wants to hear me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Have you ever been in a conversation where you know somebody doesn't care what you're saying? Sometimes I'll be talking with my wife. She loves me. She said it before God, her family. She said that she would forsake all others for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's quite a choice. 4,000,000,000 other dudes on the earth. And I'll be talking to her, and I'll look at her, and I will just right in the middle of what I say, I say, and now I am talking to myself. And she'll be like, mhmm. Mhmm.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:See, the the reason we're worried that God doesn't listen to us is we're worried that he's gonna hear us the way that we listen to the people we say we love. When my kids were little, they would say, dad, are you listening? And I said, mhmm. And they say, are you listening, or are you listening listening? What does that mean?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My kids felt unheard. Don't let your insecurities because of the people and relationships around you become insecurities with your relationship with God. He's different than everyone around you. One of the things that's the most amazing about God is that he hears us. He hears us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I can pray with confidence. Why? Because I'm a child of God, and God likes hearing from his children. He wants to hear from you. Ephesians 1:5 says this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. Man, if you're anxious today, I I don't know if God wants me. I don't know if God cares about me. I don't know if God loves me. I want you to know before you were ever born, God decided he loved you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God decided he wanted you, and he wanted in advance to adopt you into his own family. There's an amazing, amazing person to my right. You can't see her. She doesn't know I'm gonna say this. Her name is Melody.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But here's the thing about Melody. Melody interviewed with her husband years ago to come from the East Coast to the West Coast to leave a church they'd been at for years to come to Sandals and serve. And she shared with me later how nervous she was. Right? Because it's, I mean, it's nerve wracking to to to go for a job interview.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know? Even myself, you know, like, I watch TikTok on how to interview, which is weird because, like, I'm the boss. I mean, who am I I mean, who am I gonna interview? I'm like, oh, that's good. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm listening to a 19 year old tell me how to interview. I said, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. But here's what she said. She she said, I was so nervous, and I was so afraid. And here's the thing that Melody didn't know. When Melody and Adam, who've been on staff now at Sandals Church for years, when they left that interview, I turned to exec executive pastor and I said these words.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, they don't even know they're home yet. They're home. Some of you, here's why you lack confidence. You don't know your home yet. You don't know your home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you pray, remember you are praying to a place that's home even though you've never been. What did Jesus say to the disciples? Behold, I go to prepare a place for you. He's building your home. This is not your home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When we talk to God, listen to me. We're going home. We're going home, and God wants to hear us, and that should give us confidence. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Isn't that amazing?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What makes you happy? What pleases you? I don't know you personally, but God personally reveals to us the thing that makes him happy is creating a home for us and a family where we belong. See, that's the thing is, on earth, we didn't get to pick our family. We didn't get to pick our brothers or sisters.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We didn't get to pick if we had a mom or a dad. We we didn't get to pick. Here's the amazing thing about Jesus, you get to pick. He's already chosen you advance. He's waiting for you to say yes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, here's the thing is, with God, we never come in second. Man, how many of you have been heartbroken? Man. Man. I mean, some of you I mean, the truth is you're single because you came in second.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That hurts, doesn't it? It hurts. I mean, the rest of the world Let me tell let me tell you why America's awesome because we're honest. 2nd place sucks. You know, all the European countries, you got a silver medal in America.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're weeping. We're crying, man. You know, in Europe, they're like, you went to the Super Bowl. We don't care. We lost.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're America. You know, I remember I remember when Wendy broke up with me in high school. She said, it's not that I don't like you. It's that I like someone else more. Oh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now what I said a minute ago was was kind of a fib. I have applied for 2 jobs in my adult life. 2. What why did I start Sandals Church? Because no one would hire me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's it's the truth, man. Man, I'm terrible in an interview. I just I don't know what happens. You know, people say, be yourself. That doesn't work for me, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This does not work for me. I gotta be somebody else. So so here's the thing, with God you never come in second. You never come in second. You're never His second choice.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Ain't that amazing if you're single with God, you're not single. Man, if you're divorced with God, you're not divorced. He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. Man, ain't that amazing?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You you're never alone. You you never go to voicemail. I mean, we all do it. Right? We all judge.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Somebody calls, Like, sometimes if I see my wife and she doesn't know, I call her just to see if she answers. I'm not I'm not even I'm not even looking at the phone. I'm just looking at her. Is she gonna pick it up? Ain't it nice to know that there's no voice mail in heaven?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It goes straight to the father. So I can pray with confidence because God loves me. Listen to what John says. John John, in the Bible, defines himself, listen to this, as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He says, my name is irrelevant.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm the guy that was loved by Jesus. Man, here's my hope. I I don't know I don't know how loving your life is gonna be, but I know this, man. You want to experience the love that comes from Jesus because it can change you. Romantic love can break you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The love of Jesus will save you. He says, see what kind of love the father has given to us. It's a gift. You didn't earn it. You don't deserve it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God gave it, that we should be called children of God, and so we are. So we are. Isn't that incredible? I I'm a child of God. Why?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said so. He said so. He adopted me. He filled out the paperwork, and he signed it with the blood on the cross. Think about that, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Think about that. Man, there's there's this commercial that it gets me every time. I man, the older I get, the more wimpy I am. It's just I just I just sob. But it's this commercial that was played last year during the Olympics about that family that adopted the little girl with no legs.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, just just YouTube it. Not now, but later. YouTube it. And and they adopted this girl. It was either from Ukraine or from Russia, and they found out that she had no legs.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And they said, we want her anyways. We want her anyways. And and, man, that's how God looks at us with all our deficiencies, our deformities, the things that we don't think are right. God says, I want that kid. I want that kid.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then it's a picture of their daughter swimming in the Special Olympics, winning a gold medal. You know? It's just it's just amazing. Right? Because she had a mom and a dad that loved her and believed in her.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to know, you have a Father in heaven who loves you and believes in you. And you may not believe in God today, but He believes in you. You may doubt Him, He doesn't doubt you. When Jesus died on the cross, he didn't just see see your sin. He saw your potential.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He knows what you can be. Isn't that incredible? We we we think it's our sin that kept him on the cross. I I think it's it's his love for us and and and the potential that he saw in us. He knew what we could be.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:1st Thessalonians 14 says this, we know dear brothers and sisters that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. Again, God chose us. He chose us. And here's the thing is, for some of you who struggle praying, it's because you can't yet see what God sees in you. Man, when when when you when you pray and you dial up heaven, God says, this is my unique son, my unique daughter, and I love hearing from them because there is no one like you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's no one. Here's the next thing is, I can pray with confidence because God wants to hear from me. He wants to hear from me. That's pretty incredible, isn't it? Have you ever texted or called somebody and they just ghost you forever?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And this last week, I texted somebody that that hurt me deeply, and I told my wife. I said, I'm gonna tell him how I feel lovingly, which means it wasn't totally honest. Just being real. And and I told my wife. I said, I will probably never hear from him again, but I have to I have to send this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing with God is we don't ever have to worry about him even receiving it. Right. He doesn't he doesn't just ghost us. He doesn't just ignore us. Aren't you glad that God doesn't have a block button?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, let's be honest. Some of us would block ourselves with our prayers. Amen? I just can't even can't even deal with this. So listen to what the author of Hebrews says.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let us come boldly to the throne. There's a king in heaven, and he sits on a throne. In Isaiah 6, it tells us that the most holy angels we we don't even know what they are. They're called seraphim, which in Hebrew, this is all it means, burning ones. That's scary.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. They're on fire. You know? It says the burning ones dare not even look at the glory of God, and so they cover their own eyes. And yet you, me, can run to the very throne of God and look God in the face.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why? Because the blood of Jesus covers us from our sins, and when He sees you coming, He sees Jesus. Think about that. We can run to the throne of our gracious God, and there, we will receive His mercy. You see, in the ancient world, if you came before the king without permission, you could die.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You don't have to die because Jesus did, and we will find the grace to help us, listen to this, when we need it the most. You know what makes me so sad for so many of you? When you need to pray the most when you need to pray the most, that's when you pray the least. You're like, I'm just gonna worry about this because that works. Here's the thing I've learned.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The more desperate I am to be heard, the more attentive God is to my prayer. The more desperate I am, the more attentive he is. Do you know why that is? Because God's a good father. He's not distracted.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He doesn't say I'm watching the game. He hasn't had a long day. He doesn't commute. He listens to his children. He listens.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to pray with confidence. That's why so many of you, you ask me to pray for you because you don't know who you are. And I don't mind praying for you. I I don't because I know who I am. I'm a child of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But do you know who you are? You're a child of God. And the access that I have is not unique to me. It is unique to all those who have believed in Jesus, and we can all go straight to the throne. You don't need me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You don't need me, and that's uncomfortable to some of us. It's uncomfortable. You see, for a long time, for 1000 of years as Christians, we translated this word in the Greek as priest. And there was a guy named William Tyndale. And William Tyndale said this word does not mean priest.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It is elder. And he translated it as elder, and he was burned at the stake as a heretic. Because for 1000 of years, we were told we have to go through a priest to pray. That's not what the text says. We have a priest.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:His name is Jesus, and he hears us when we pray. But do you know that William Tyndale was burned at the stake so you could go straight to the throne, so you could know you could know that god hears you? Pretty incredible. So how do I pray so that God hears me? Number 2, pray respectfully.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Look. Our culture is never gonna respect the name Jesus. We they they use it as a cuss word. They use the word god as a cuss word.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We need to learn to revere his name. And when I was a kid, I was staying at my friend William's house. We were 14 years old, full of testosterone and completely void of any intelligence at all. William's dad was 6 foot 8, 300 pounds. His name was Hank.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And Hank asked William to say the prayer, and I'll never forget it. William bowed his head and said, rub a dub dub. Thanks for the grub. Hank's forearm came across the room, struck William in the face. There was a collision that was impressive, and William went flying through the air and hit the wall.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's what Hank said. In this house, boy, we will honor God. He said, Matt, would you like pray? And I said, oh, dear heavenly father, dear heavenly father, save me for my father is a small man, very small man. I never forgot it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:First Peter 117, and remember and remember that the heavenly father to whom you pray has no favorites, and he will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as temporary residence. So when you pray, come with confidence, but remember who it is that you're speaking to. So what should I do when I pray? What should I do?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what I do. It's my posture should reflect my prayer. So I do 2 things when I pray. I either stand or I kneel. My posture changes when I talk to God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't slouch. I don't pray on the toilet. I don't talk on the phone in the toilet. Some of you do, I'm praying for you. That's I I don't know what it is that you do that you don't have time to make that call, but, you know, you know, Pray about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's it's gross. Are you ever in the bathroom, like, a public bathroom when somebody's on the phone and you're just, like, I think if they knew what you were doing I mean, I know I'd hang up. Amen. Anybody else? I mean, I ain't gonna.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. Ephesians 314. When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and I pray to the father. When's the last time, if ever, you got on your knees and prayed? Here's what I do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The more important my prayer, the lower I go. The lower I go. And why is that? We get on our knees to honor something. When I asked Tammy to marry me, I got on one knee because it was a sacred moment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've never asked a woman to marry me since and I hope I never do. You know? Think about that. Do I need to stand? Do I need to kneel?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My posture must reflect my prayer. It should. It says in the Bible that Jesus went a little farther. He bowed with his face to the ground. This is Jesus Christ.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He bowed with his face to the ground praying, my father. Next, I believe that you should pray with your eyes closed. Some of you, you've never thought about why. Here's why I think it's important. First Timothy 117, all honor and glory to God forever and ever.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He is the eternal king, the unseen one who never dies. He alone is God. You cannot see him, so don't try. I close my eyes as a symbol of what the seraphim did. Remember the burning ones?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I dare not look upon you. It's a symbol. It's a symbol of saying I respect You and I honor You. You're bigger than me. And we close our eyes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I do this because I have ADD. Amen. Anybody else? You know. I I mean, this is why some of you can't pray.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're like, dear heavenly father, that is crazy. You know? I mean, some of you when you pray, I think the angels in heaven have popcorn. They're like, just where's this one gonna go? I close my eyes, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I I gotta focus. Some of you, like, I make people I'm sorry. I'm trying to not be such a close talker. But if I don't look into your soul, I don't hear a thing you say. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I I it blows my mind. People are like, are you pastor Matt? I'm like, yes. I am. And I start walking, and they're just like I was golfing this week, and the poor guy that's checking our card out, he says, are you pastor Matt?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was like, yes. I am. And he starts sweating. I'm like, okay. I'm gonna back up now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I totally apologize. My wife's like, why do you have to stare at people? I'm like, where else am I gonna look? And some of you when we talk, you won't look at me, so I'm just constantly trying to you know? Sorry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pray for me. So so when I pray. Right? So I I have an attitude of reverence. Next, this is key.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I keep my prayer short. How many of you like your time wasted? Does anybody love this you love when somebody just waste your time? You know? Parents, any any parents here, children under 5?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You you you wanna send me to the loony bin? You want you you want you wanna see your pastor 5150? This this I cannot do. Dad. Dad.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Dad. Mom. Dad. Dad. Mom.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Mom. I'm like, you don't even know who I am. How many times you gotta say the name the lord's name once? Lord. Lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord Jesus. Jesus. Lord. Jesus. Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord. Lord. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord. Jesus is like, stop. Stop, or we're gonna talk face to face. Right? Come on, parents.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It drives you crazy. And the how many parent? What? I forgot. Lord Jesus, there you go.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Our father, there you go. We established who we're talking to. Now let's move forward with a question, prayer, concern, something. Matthew 6:7. And when you pray this is Jesus, by the way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This isn't pastor Matt. This is the lord Jesus. Do not keep babbling like pagans. You know what that means when somebody's going on and on and on and on? It means they don't know god.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:For they think they will be heard because of their many words. Don't be like them. Yeah. But that's all the Christians pray. Don't be like them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:For your father knows what you need before you ask. And he knows who you are. I went to a prayer breakfast a couple weeks ago. 4 hours. 4 hours.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I almost lost my faith. Hour 3. And I was the guest speaker. I didn't even care what I had to say. 4 hours.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:4 hours. Man, here's another thing. Some of you, you catch me. You're like, oh, man. I'd really love to get an appointment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'd really love to here's what I'm hearing. I'd really love to suck up your entire day. I'd like to just dominate this entire week of your life. Here's the thing. If you if you got me, you got me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just get what? What do you need? What do you need? Let's cover it right now. The Lord's in heaven.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's listening. Let's talk. We we don't need an appointment for everything. Sometimes we just, man, could you pray for this? Could you just just say it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, some of you are praying, the father's like, come on. I already I already know what's in there. Just get it out. Get it out. Get it out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And somebody say, well, then if God already knows, why should I pray? Because prayer is not about you hearing from God. It's about God hearing from you. And, oh, by the way, the only prayers God answers are not the ones he knows you need. It's the ones you ask.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Your father in heaven does not answer prayers you don't pray even if he knows what you're gonna say before you say it. You gotta ask. You gotta ask. James says this. You do not have what you want because you don't ask for it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let me tell you what I do. I I when I pray, I pray specifically and I write it down. God won't forget, but I do. I write it down. Next, how to pray so God hears me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is huge. The vision of our church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. When you pray for the love of Jesus, pray with integrity. If I went up to Tammy today and I said, wife of thine youth, hitherto my call as I beseech thee, the mother of thine children, who hath grown in thy bosom, the fruit of thine loins. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's weird. That's weird. I mean, some of you are praying and god does like, god's like, who's that? I don't and then and, like, some people, they get all breathy. Like, lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hi. Hi. Hi. Just Lord. Like if someone came up to you and was all breathy, run.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pastor Matt, how are you? I've been watching you. Here's what Jesus mean. Just be you. Just be you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. Jesus says when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Do you know why people pray breathy? Because they wanna be seen as spiritual. This is one of the saddest compliments I continually get.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It makes me sad. I hear this all the time. You are the same person everywhere you go. You know why that makes me sad? Because people are not experiencing that with other pastors.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It makes me sad because who else would I be? You know? And I'm not saying this is the way I was raised. I'm not talking about sin. I'm talking about be you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Get rid of sin, but be you. That's what Jesus says. He says, I tell you, they have received the reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your father who is unseen. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God is not impressed by your pretending. He's not impressed. This is this is one of the the verses that's just transformed my life. Psalms 14518. The lord is close to all who call on him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen. There's a comma there. To all who call on Him in truth. So when you pray by yourself, listen to me. Make sure you are yourself.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Make sure you're yourself. The worst thing you could ever do in your relationship with God is try to be somebody you're not because God is never going to bless the fake you. He doesn't even know that person that you're pretending to be because that person doesn't exist. So just be you. Just be you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I know if you grew up religious, this goes against everything you were taught, and I apologize. Let Jesus reteach you. Don't listen to me. Listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so many of you, you you you grew up in traditions that have beautiful stained glass windows. Do you know why those churches had those? Because they prayed in a language that people couldn't understand. The church killed people when they translated God's words into the common language. You see, they thought they would be heard because they prayed it in Latin or they prayed it in Greek or they prayed it in Hebrew.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you meet God, I think He's gonna speak to you in whatever language you speak because He's the father of all language. You see, prayer is about God meeting you where you are, and it's about you praying to Him where He is. And here's the thing is, here's the bottom line. The reason you feel so insecure when you pray is you haven't practiced. Now here's the lie, and you all heard of this kids.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Practice makes what? Lie. Practice does not make you perfect. What it does is it makes you confident.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what it does. It makes you confident. Start practicing today. There is no perfect prayer. We are praying to a perfect God who sent a perfect savior so you could pray as you are.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is what Jesus said. This is how you should pray. Drives me crazy. Listen to me, parents. Teach your children the lord's prayer.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When I was a kid, man, all my friends used to pray this way. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep that if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Like, the Bible is not an episode of stranger things. What is wrong with you?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let's pray, little Timmy. I pray you don't die tonight while you sleep. Freddy Krueger is right outside the door. Parents, teach your children the lord's prayer. Well, I don't know it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then learn it. Then learn it. Do you know I I this is sad, but I've I've stopwatch time myself praying the lord's prayer. I average I know. Sorry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:These these are the things you do as a pastor. I don't I don't understand. I I can see God in heaven. Like, what's he doing, Jesus? Like, I don't know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's timing this. But but here's why. Because I wanted to know how long the lord's prayer takes. My average is between 13 15 seconds. And some of you, you hate prayer because somebody told you to pray for an hour.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, if you told if you told me to go home and look into my wife's eyes and tell her for 10 minutes straight all the things that I love about her, We'd be divorced minute 6. It's hard. Right? Like when I do weddings, couples are like, we're gonna play this song. It's 3 minutes, and we're gonna stare into each other's souls.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm like, you are gonna hate each other. 2nd 63. Don't pray for an hour. Pray for 15 seconds. That's where Jesus said to start.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, but it's so elementary, pastor. I'm a theologian. Okay. Captain smartypants, listen. The disciples who spent every day of their life with Jesus for 3 years who were handpicked to carry on the gospel so you and I can be saved, those guys were taught to pray like this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, maybe you're not as smart as you think. The Lord's prayer is both the deep end of the pool and the shallow end. It's where we all start. And for those of you who think, well, this is just so elementary, I'm gonna check out for the summer. Here's the thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm a I'm a depressed, anxious Lakers fan. Things things are not good for us. You know? I mean, if you're a Clippers fan, you're used to this. But, right, you know, like you know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. I know. Hey. You know? Our vision our vision is to be real.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But here's the thing is, we have this player on on the Lakers. His name is Russell Westbrook. And here's the thing you need to know about this guy. If you don't follow sports at all, he's a genetic freak. He just is.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And and to be fair, all professional athletes are genetic freaks. You know, my wife and I were in Mexico a couple months ago. I'm like, that's a NFL football player. She's like, how do you know? Do you think you know everything?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm like, I know what an NFL body looks like. That's it. This is not what it looks like. That's what it looks like. And it turns out, you know, I was right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know, he was tied in for the Cardinals. So, what was my point? Here we go. Here's the thing about Russell Westbrook. Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My my smarty pants, been a Christian your whole life, Christians. Here's what's happened to Russell Westbrook. His whole life, he's been able to ignore the basics of basketball because his physical attributes helped him not need them. And now he's gotten older, and his knees have gotten brokener, and he's gotten slower. And now all of those basics that he needed, he doesn't know, and he has no game.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. There's gonna be a time in life when you got busted knees, when your body ain't what it was, and because you didn't spend the time in the shallow end learning the basics of prayer, you're not gonna know how to pray when you need it the most. The Lord's Prayer is both the beginning of prayer and the end of our prayers. What changes is not the prayer. What changes is hopefully is us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Learn to pray this prayer. K? And all we've talked about today is our father, who's in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Each week, we're gonna unpack something else. Why?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because it's both the shallow and the deep end of the pool. So we're gonna close by praying the Lord's prayer. It's okay if you don't know it. I'm gonna lead us in this prayer, and all I ask you to do is to bow your head, close your eyes, and pray with me. Just repeat after me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let's pray together. Repeat after me. Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, hallowed be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done, your will be done, on earth, on earth, as it is in heaven, as it is in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread, our daily bread, and forgive us of our debts, As we have also forgiven our debtors. And lead us not.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And lead us not. Into temptation. Into temptation. But deliver us. From the evil one.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let me pray for you. Heavenly father, I pray over every Christian. Lord, we know we need to pray. We need to pray every day. The truth is you said in your word, we need to pray without ceasing because we need to learn to pray every moment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, I pray over every family in our church that they would memorize the Lord's prayer and begin to pray it as married couples, Teach it to their children, have their children pray it. Lord, if we're single, Lord, let us pray this over our own life and our own house. Lord, teach us this prayer. Let us learn it, live it, and pray it. We pray this in Jesus' name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen.