Morgan Teruel: 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 Fredo Ramos: I can remember as a high school teacher, when I was still doing that for a living, one morning the bell had rung. It was the last one, which meant class was starting. And of course, per usual, many of my students were just lunging their bodies through the door of my classroom, hoping to make it in time. So I would have marked them tardy and so I would say, just relax. Calm down.
Come in. You're not tardy. And they'd be like, oh, thank God. And I would still mark them tardy. And, of course, they would sit down and we'd kind of work through our normal routine, which looked like, taking role and going through our daily bulletin.
You see, at this school, instead of someone coming over to PA to announce everything that was happening that day, the teachers in 1st period would read through the daily announcements and everything they needed to know that week. And at the end of every bulletin was a schedule of all of our sports teams' games. So who was playing? Who were they playing against? Was it a home game that we can attend?
Was it an away game? All that kind of stuff. And I remember one particular morning our varsity girls volleyball team had a huge playoff game and for whatever reason these words came out of my mouth. I said, well, let's let's just pray that they win the game. Now if my students had not been listening to me beforehand, they were certainly listening now.
For whatever reason that statement shocked them. We're going to pray for a win? Is that, is that appropriate Mr. Ramos? Like out of all the things that we should be praying for, is it okay to ask for our girls team to win a game?
I mean, surely there's more important things on the agenda of God's list every day that we should be asking him to do. Win seems a bit trite. You could think of, world hunger. Right? You can think of all the other things that we can be doing instead of rooting for our Varsity Girls volleyball team to win a game.
You would imagine, man, there's countless thousands of people who are outside without shelter but yet here we are praying for teenage girls who are inside of shelter just to hit a ball over a net. Does that seem okay? I mean instead of going to a game we can be at home praying. We could be at home reading the Bible. We'd be out sharing our faith.
That request just didn't make sense. Now here's here's the truth. I wasn't ready to even say that. I only knew that we were going to take prayer requests next because that's what we normally do in the morning and I was reading the schedule and so that just came out. So I wasn't ready to give defense for why we should pray for a girls win and they wanted to plunge completely into a theological discussion around what is important to pray for.
And the reason why I share that story is because I think many of us find ourselves there. Maybe you know someone or you're that person who prays for parking spots at the mall, at Target, in the holiday rush. Right? You actually think God listens to requests like that. Or maybe you're like me this summer and you're gonna be praying hard for the Los Angeles Lakers, That we would get healthy and win a title because I'm praying for LeBron.
He's 40. His knees need help. I'm praying for Anthony Davis because if that boy sneezes the wrong direction he's gonna be out for a month from playing. These kinds of prayers are important prayers, maybe for some, and for others seem kind of ridiculous. What kind of prayers does God actually think are good things to ask for?
That's what we're going to spend our time talking about today. Because I would imagine many of you this week probably cannot think of more than 5 things you have actually asked God for. Now why is that? Is it because you don't think they're important to him? Do you think they're too small?
We turn now into a part of the Lord's prayer in which Jesus teaches us what it means to ask. All summer long we're in this series, How to Pray, taking each week piece by piece the Lord's prayer and we come to this famous part of the prayer in which he says, give us each day our daily bread. Asking is important. I would imagine if you want to experience a real life with God you need to know that Jesus insists on you learning how to ask. And maybe even you're curious about God, like what it means to follow him.
You need to know that God is such a good God that he wants you to learn how to ask him for anything. Anything. And so with that in mind, let's read together from this portion of the Lord's prayer and then also a short story that Jesus tells from Luke's gospel right after that. And in the honor of just hearing God's word read wherever you're at, if you're at home watching, I would ask that you would just take a posture of reverence. So maybe you can stand from your your couch or your bed or wherever you are at.
Just safely find a way to show reverence with your body as we hear God's word together. Now pray for us. Luke writes these words. Give us each day our daily bread. Then Jesus said to them, suppose you have a friend and you go to him at midnight and say, friend, lend me 3 loaves of bread.
A friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have no food to offer him. And suppose the one inside answers, don't bother me. The door is already locked and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
So I say to you, Jesus says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks the door will be opened.
For which of you fathers, if your son asked for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, as we have gathered together in this unique way, we ask God that you would help us to be attentive to you. You have gathered with us too. You are present to us. God, your love is available to us. And God, you are a God who hears and listens to prayers.
And so God, would you give us ears to hear right now? Would you give us eyes to see as we learn from Jesus how to pray and how to ask? We ask these things in his name, amen. This part of the prayer is what many have referred to as petition. Give us each day our daily bread.
When you think about petition, it sounds like a strange word, maybe even a, I don't know, a movie title that Christopher Nolan would have for his next film, Petition. But petition simply means this, asking God. People have pointed out that one of the most basic ways that you and I can learn to pray is to say these three simple words. God help me. God help me.
It's one of the most natural things, instinctual things to say whether life is falling apart, the airplane's crashing down, you're in a disaster, you just heard of some crazy trauma that's happening. God, help me. It's one of the most natural things for us to say as humans but at the same time it's also something that we struggle to even say Because help and acknowledging our need for help is a vulnerable thing. More than that, we're not sure is this an appropriate thing to say help for? Is this okay for me to ask this?
God, I feel instinctually like I should say help me but I don't even know if you care to help me in this particular way. We find ourselves in a unique spot and here's what I want to say as we begin our time. If we're going to learn how to pray, we need to learn how to ask. We need to learn how to ask. I think of Jesus's words there from our story in verse 9 and 10 of Luke 11.
So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. You see it is no accident that Jesus, after he gives the Lord's prayer and says in the middle of it, give us each day our daily bread, he then talks about a man who goes to his neighbor asking for what? 3 loaves of bread. Jesus insists that you and I ask for things. Everything.
Jesus cares about the prayers on world hunger and he cares about the volleyball game prayers and everything in between. He won't have it any other way. I mean, just think about the Lord's prayer for a second. As holy and reverent it is to say hallowed be your name, God. And as grand and as universal as it is to say man your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Your will be done. And as dramatic and, apocalyptic as it is to say, God, deliver us from the evil of the world, wedged in between those grand statements is something in the middle that goes like this. God, I need lunch today. I need food today. Something so simple, basic, common.
God, would you give me bread today? Now I don't know about you but I find that immensely freeing. That in between such grand, audacious, beautiful prayers he says ask for food. Ask for it. This is freeing and I hope it becomes something that is more freeing in your life.
And to help us learn what it means to ask, I want us just to actually spend our time meditating on this short phrase together. Give us each day our daily bread. Let's begin with that first phrase. Give us. The word there, give in the Greek means didomai.
It is a it is a sacrificial kind of giving. Matthew uses the same word later on in his gospel when he says the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life, to didomai, to offer his life as a ransom for many. And my thought on this idea of giving is really this. Learning to ask, listen now, learning to ask cultivates gratitude. Cultivates gratitude.
Here's what I mean by that. Jesus is inviting us to regularly take time to ask God for every little thing, even as common and small and simple as bread. I think of the apostle Paul's words in 1st Thessalonians 5. Listen to what he says. Pray continually or other translations say pray without ceasing and then he says this, give thanks in all circumstances.
Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Pray about everything and have gratitude in all of it. Learning to ask is cultivating gratitude in our lives. Think about just the Lord's prayer for a second.
You have in this first half of the prayer, really it's it's about us getting into the reality of who God is as we face our day to day circumstances which feel so big and so real. The first half of the prayer helps us escape those circumstances and it brings us and ushers us into the reality of who God is. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done.
Your your your. And then this request give us is the hinge. It's the way the prayer turns into a new reality in which the second half of the prayer is not so much about us getting into God's reality but God getting into our reality. Notice what he says. Give us daily bread.
Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil. Us, us, us. Prayer and asking is a way for us to tear open the doors of heaven and to allow the provision of God to fall down. We are encouraged by Jesus to do this by simply saying, God help me. Just ask him.
I love that Jesus says give us with such a common language and what I mean by that is this. Naturally for us, especially as Christians, you and I feel this temptation when we have a big ask of God to get all holy with our language. We have famous like Christianese vocabulary words that you have to learn before you come to church because if I'm going to ask of God I better know how to ask him with the right vocabulary. And we don't see that at all in the teachings of Jesus. He encourages us to use everyday language as we ask for everyday simple things.
Just give us. He says just give us. You don't need to be all fancy with words you never use in other parts of your life. Why would you talk like that in prayer? Use everyday language to simply ask God and watch him cultivate and stir up more and more gratitude in your life.
Here's what I mean by that. What I have been so convicted about in my own life is that there are times where I'm willing to pray for world hunger but I struggle just to say grace at the dinner table? Or why is it that I'm motivated to pray for justice in all areas of life, even like in the clothing industry? Right? So we want justice for those who make clothes across the world but I'm unwilling to pray for the part time worker who's working overtime ringing up my stuff at the mall.
Or why is it that I want to see our world taken care of? I want to see environment be well and I pray for that but I can't thank God as I'm standing on the beach sand and oceanside where my parents live saying God, what a beautiful sunset. Thank you for providing this tonight. You see, what I'm realizing is when I can pray for big stuff like this but can't appreciate small things or mention small things, I'm realizing that my spiritual life is so cramped. I have no room for a big God who loves to answer small things.
Gratitude is for those of us who know how to pray and ask for every little thing. So learn to ask for it. Learn to ask for your bread. You see it's grateful people who know how to change the world. And one way I think that you and I can make a step in the direction of gratitude is to simply think about this question.
When you imagine asking God for something, how do you picture his face? Is he smiling? Is he firm? Is he suspicious? Is he bothered by your request?
You see your answer to that question, I think, reveals the spiritual condition of your prayer life and of the way you ask God. Learn to ask for every little small thing because we serve a God who is so involved in every little small thing of life, Whether it's the the the volleyball game, Anthony Davis's knees and ankles, or the big stuff that aches our souls, ask God for it all. And in so doing, you will find yourself more grateful to him because you know how involved he is in even the small things. And it's not just the small things that we're encouraged to do this with. Notice the next phrase here, give us each day.
We're also encouraged to learn to ask every day for everyday things. You see, you're praying for the small things, yes, but you're praying for the small things every single day. I love what Jesus says there in verse 8. Again about this story with a man who goes to his neighbor's house at night asking for bread. Notice what Jesus said there.
I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of your friendship, the man don't know you, you're just his neighbor, you're bothering him at midnight. Notice what Jesus says. But because of your shameless audacity, Man, Sandals Church, we need to have shameless audacity in the way that we continually go to God. He will surely get up and give you as much as you need. Man, Jesus is inviting us to ask, to ask, to ask, to ask, to ask and ask again.
Be persistent. Petition before God the things that you need every single day of your life. Like right now can you can you think of one thing that you have asked for multiple times this week? And I ask this question not not just to condemn or judge but simply to invite all of us into a reality in which God wants to hear us ask over and over and over even for the small things. And one reason why I think this is is because it's the repetition of asking for every little thing that actually transforms us in a greater way than if we actually received that one thing that we're asking for.
I mean, yes, we need bread. It's a basic necessity of life but the asking for bread is probably more transformational than the consumption of it. Are you with me? Repetition transforms us into people who are dependent and reliant on God. Every day God, I am asking for you to provide for me.
I love the words of, Psalm 119 where it says I rise before dawn and cry for help. I have put my hope in your word. Notice that phrase. Before dawn. I rise before dawn.
So before the sun's even up, I'm already saying God, get up and help me. Get up and help me. Lord, help me meet my needs. The psalmist is essentially communicating to us that as part of their daily routine of waking up, brushing their teeth, making their bed, getting ready for work, as part of their daily routine is also everyday asking asking for everyday things. Make this a part of your life.
As often as you wake up, should be as often as you are asking for the same small things of God. God help me. God, provide for this in my relationship. God, provide for this in my family. God, provide this job.
Provide these needs. God, provide your presence. Whatever it is. Beg of God every single day and allow the repetition, that practice to transform you from the inside out. More than that, notice the next word in this phrase.
Give us each day our. Our. This is a personalized ask. This is a way for Jesus to say, personalize what it is in your life that you need God to help. And here's where I think it really begins to challenge who we are as people, because of this.
Learning to ask challenges my desire for control. You see, learning to ask for daily bread will remind you that ultimately you're not the breadwinner. It's not ultimately on you. I notice Jesus in Matthew's gospel as he gives the Lord's prayer then gets into a conversation around worry and anxiety. Notice to this notice this in from Matthew 6.
Therefore I tell you don't worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body or what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns. And yet your heavenly Father notice that phrase, heavenly Father, which is the exact title Jesus taught us to pray with, our Father in heaven.
Your heavenly Father feeds them. He feeds creation. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? It's no accident that in a teaching on how to pray, Jesus then has a teaching on worry and anxiety.
Because he knows that most of us, not all of us, but many of us are in the pit of worry because we're still convinced that we are providing for ourselves. And as one person famously said, anxiety is you and I imagining our futures without Jesus in them. But to say give us each day our personalize it our bread is a way for you to be reminded that you are not the source of your life. You're merely a recipient of eternal life. And there's an opportunity for you and I to to shed off more and more layers of this desire to try and control our situations, to clothe ourselves, to feed ourselves, to manage our schedules, to strategize, to plan for the summer, to get this done.
Right? And again, listen, I'll be honest, the desire for control is not inherently a bad thing. We desire control because within control there's a demonstration of meaning, purpose, organization. We matter. Right?
There's some beautiful things that are wound up in control but here's where we go wrong because of sin. Sin is when you and I try to meet a good desire but with an improper motive or action. And so it's not a bad thing to desire control but it is a bad thing to try to earn control on your own and to not take the posture that Jesus invites us to take in saying through prayer, give us each day our our daily bread. Learn to free yourself, because my hunch is that many of you right now, even through the summertime, are exhausted because you still think you are providing for yourself or you're constantly trying to and you have missed out on the beauty of saying, God, feed me today. Give me bread today.
Take care of me today. Why have you not asked? The birds fly just fine. Maybe you can walk. Maybe you can breathe.
Maybe you can relax because someone else is longing to give to you your daily breath. And so in in in a moment of confession, release that idol of control. Surrender it because his daily bread is so much more satisfying. It's so much more life giving. And that kinda leads us to this last part of this phrase, daily bread.
Now I've got to be honest with you. What kind of bothers me, that's weird to say as a pastor, about this this section of the prayer is that right before Jesus gives to us the famous Lord's Prayer, he says in Matthew's gospel, before you even pray your Father already knows what you need before you even ask him. So okay, if that's true, Jesus, and I believe it's true, then why insert when you teach us how to pray, to pray and ask God for our daily bread, to ask God for our daily needs? Why are we asking if he already knows? And again, I think this is a, pattern we see through Jesus' life.
The man was God in human form. He knew people's needs. He knew people's thoughts we read in scripture. And oftentimes you still see Jesus as he's approached by someone. He'll say to them, what do you want me to do for you?
Someone comes to him in need. What do you want? What is your need? We see this also in John 5 in this famous exchange in which a lame man has spent most of his life by a pool. He thinks if he can get into it will miraculously heal him and allow him to walk and have a normal life.
And in this moment there in John 5, we see Jesus have this conversation with him and John records this. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, do you want to get well? Now let's just pause for a second. To me this sounds like a paramedic rushing to the scene of a car accident, coming up to the person who's sideways in their vehicle saying, hey do you want help? Like, yes.
Yes. The man needs help, Jesus. The question seems meaningless. And then he goes on, sir, the man responds to Jesus. The invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stored.
While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. Then Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat and walk. And then once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and he walked. You see, here's what we need to learn as we close. Learning to ask invites God to respond and provide.
The one principle that you and I need to grasp is this Jesus loves to hear us ask him. He loves to hear us ask. Our heavenly father loves to hear us say, God help me. And it's in the asking that actually sparks God's response, moves him to actually respond. And so if you can have everything by asking and nothing by not asking, by all means Sandals Church, ask God.
He loves to hear you speak to him. And I think this is for a few reasons. Number 1, asking is a deeply relational thing. You and I both know that there is 0 healthy relationships in the universe that don't involve communication and asking is a powerful form of communication. It's personal.
It's vulnerable. It's regular. It's everyday. It's grounded in reality. God our father is more of a friend than he is a formula or a vending machine.
Learn to ask him. But so many of us have this approach in which life is going pretty crappy then we rush to the vending machine. Oh, A16. Give me some Hostess donuts. It's not like that.
We have a relational God who meets us in relational ways and he loves to hear us ask. So ask him. He's more friend than formula. He's a mysterious uncreated creator, faithful in love forever, gracious, merciful, all wise, all powerful and has proven that he loves to meet your needs, even your greatest needs, by not just giving you bread for life but by sending you the bread of life, Jesus himself, who taught us, man, unless you eat of me and drink of me you will surely perish. God loves to hear us cry out And so learn to do this.
I think at the bottom though for a lot of us is this concern. It's if I ask God and if I really cry out to him Pastor Fredo, here's the truth. He will more than likely disappoint me. I realized that day in the classroom when I had said, well let's pray that the girls win. I just got myself in trouble now.
Because if that night they go on and they lose, well did God hear prayer? Is something wrong with me? Does God not love me? Does prayer not work? Right?
I end up in a situation where I risk being disappointed and I risk the disappointment of my entire class and maybe their whole future as a Christian. Did I just send them all to hell because I gave them a poor lesson on prayer? Hopefully not. But beyond the risk of disappointment, here's a greater risk that I want you to consider. Imagine asking for God for every little thing every single day with gratitude and awaiting him to surprise you.
Learning to ask opens up the door to being surprised by God in wonderful ways. And I think what has bothered me so much about my own prayer life this week is that I can't remember the last time that I've been surprised by God. And it has less to do with God and more to do with my inability to ask. I haven't asked of him. I haven't asked of him.
Sandals Church, this summer you and I are invited to be surprised by God, the bread of life, who in giving us his son, Paul says, will not also give us all things if he's already provided Jesus. What keeps you from thinking he doesn't care about your other needs? Cry out to him. Ask of him. Man, as the world continues to turn I imagine a conversation with my son in the future.
Just the other day I was thinking about, man, what if in 10 plus years Eli asked me, dad what was it like to to grow up in in the pandemic? To grow up in the midst of racial turmoil? Political unrest. Like what what happened to you? Man, I pray to God that 10 years down the road I could remind my son that, Eli, in this time of my life, I learned to ask God for daily bread.
What if this entire season that the world is walking through is an opportunity for us to once again learn the basics of asking, God help me. Help us and to be transformed by us being shaped by requests and asking God to help. As we go to prayer, I want us to to open our hands, and to say, God, help me. God, lift me in my life to a place where I can freely ask you for anything, because you are a God who loves to provide, and I want to be surprised by you. And because you have already given me the bread of life who is your son Jesus, I can trust you with the daily bread of my life as well.
Let's do that together as we pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that in your love God, you teach us to pray in Jesus. Jesus, thank you for your patience that day, as you led your disciples in this powerful lesson on how to pray. And we ask now God that you would help us and teach us to pray. Teach us to ask for anything and everything every day, and to be surprised by the way you provide for us.
And we pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.