Jesus' Prayer School.

Place in your life, and you will find a Shabbat. You will find rest for your soul today. You'll find his way in your role, in your prayer life.

So I have a disclaimer up here. If you put the first slide up there, we're in Jesus Prayer School, and I have a question. How is rule of life going for you? Well, let's define it, and then you can tell me, okay? So rule of life on this card says this: keep the Sabbath. So you're here today. Good job. Give yourself a thumbs up for that. Way to go.

Good job. You're keeping the Sabbath. What does that mean, though? It means in your work life as well, in your student life. Keep the Sabbath. Have a day set apart for the Lord. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Have a whole day from sunrise to sunset. Or if you're Hebrew and you're thinking like Jewish thought, it would be from sunset to sunset. The day starts in the womb like a baby, and it comes out.

But the beginning of it, just like the beginning of our life is conception, is the day is conceived right at the sundown or the day before. Why is that? Because back in Genesis, it says what? And there was evening, and there was the first day. And that's the song of creation in Genesis 1. That's one of the words of the chorus: "And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day." You know that song? I wrote it. You wouldn't know that.

Okay. So, the first day. I taught it so my kids could memorize Genesis 1 and my students in the class, and they would go, the first day, and they get Genesis 1 all down, because that's the beginning. That's the foundation of all we are. So there's another one here, fasting. Full disclosure, I've been on a season where I haven't been fasting as much. I used to be a real faster, like doing the 40 days and the other days and just doing a lot of fasting. In the last few years, just haven't as much. And so the Lord said on Thursday this week, he said, do a full day. And I was like, okay, I'm going to do a full day.

And it happened to be easy because it was National Day of Prayer. And I was with like hundreds of people in the Capitol. And we were all praying for our country for six hours that day. So I was like, that's easy. You know, I can just be around all these people and we're praying together. And we prayed for every aspect of that the people in government would be saved. Amen. Wouldn't that be great? That's a great day. And that's one of the directives to pray.

So fasting. Worship on Sunday, good job. Devote yourself to community, which is our community groups, right? Contribute to your community. Give of your proceeds from your fruit of your life. And then finally, seek renewal for our city. Ask him for ways to serve. So the heart of this, the core of this, if you want to say the root of this, is what we're going to talk about today. It's what Jesus did regularly in his practice.

So I won't look for a thumbs up or a medium or a thumbs down, but the question is here. How's your role? How is rule of life going for you? And you're honest before the Lord. You just say, it's, you know, it's something that feels like a weight sometimes. And then you feel you can, the enemy can come around and he can say, what a failure you are. You ever hear that voice too, the accuser of the brethren, coming at you and saying, if you can't pray, then you can't even live like Jesus. There's no way you'll be like him in your generation. And he'll continually, not giving up, come at you with that. I can testify for your whole life, right?

I'm not the oldest person here, but my friend John is. But it's true. Your whole life, there's going to be the accuser of the brethren. He's going to come at you and other people and try and compare your prayer life with somebody else's prayer life and saying, I'm doing pretty good compared to that person, right? That's the other thing he does is he'll say, compared to, you know, but then we all look at Jesus, and he often went out to lonely places to pray with his Father, because all things were made through him, and that was a place where he was connecting with his Father.

Meeting Jesus in Lonely Places

Anybody else in outside prayer? Come on, don't be shy. That's where I go. I go to lonely places. There was one lonely place I went this week on a bike ride, just east of here in a place just outside of Lake Mills. I was on my bike, and I'm praying for you guys this morning. I'm praying, seeing all your faces, asking God to reveal his word to you. And there was a bench in this little hideaway, and it was where stagecoach robbers used to go. After they robbed the stagecoach, they would go to this spot just off the bike trail in Lake Mills. I'll take you there if you want me to someday.

We can do a boat ride, and then we can do a bike ride together. That'd be really great. So, and my wife will provide the snacks. So that'll be a whole day, right? Camille, amen. Yes. So here's this hideaway and I go there and it happened to be May 2nd, which was Friday. And I sit down on the bench and there's a rock and under the rock, there's a piece of paper. I'm not kidding you. And I pull out the piece of paper and you know what's on it, the first thing on it, it's two-sided. Psalm 32.

So I'm a person who likes the Psalms of the day for prayer, for my rule of life. That's what I use. It's easy. I just say, today is May 4th. And I say Psalm 4. And then I add 30. 34. Come on with me. Here we go. 60. Come on. 64. 94. One. I know it's finals week. You can do it. 124, right? So you just add 30. And you're covering five Psalms in the day.

It's a beautiful way to pray and meditate. And there was Psalm 32 on the day that it was supposed to be there. And I just said, Lord, Jesus, you're meeting me in a lonely place. And it is a lonely place. It was all swamp all around. And there's this one raised up ground in the middle of that swamp where the bad guys would hide out after they were on the stagecoach. And I'm sitting there reading Psalm 32. And the Lord is speaking to me through that. And Jesus is there and his yoke is easy on me and his burden is light and he's leading me back into his presence. He's leading me back to the Father because I know I can only do what I see what my Father doing and I can only say what I hear my Father saying to me because Jesus by his Spirit is in my heart. That's how he said he functioned daily in his life.

That's why he went to the lonely places to pray. He wanted to see what the Father was doing or to fellowship in what he already saw the Father was doing. God invites us into the Trinity and into the prayer life of the Trinity, and we're going to look at that together as we look at Matthew 6. So God has places for you. He has a way to do the rule of life for you, and it is good, and he will help you with other people too.

Jesus' Prayer Teaching

All right, let's go on. Our so what today is: Jesus engaged in both solitary, lonely prayer and the regular corporate rhythms of his culture. Why does this matter? What was he seeking? What was Jesus seeking from the Father. Okay? Prayer is a gift of the Father to us.

So as I've been praying for this church and speaking here today, these are the things that the Lord was showing me for us in this special day, really, because tonight there's a lot going on here with the meeting that's going to be happening and us praying through becoming this year. So these are the words that come to mind for me. We're going from our independence. Now, independence is a good thing. You have grit. You have independence. You can, you know, get a house, get a car. All of you guys are pretty amazing at that. It's like, oh my goodness. But we're going to independence for obedience sake. Okay. We're going from, oh, I'm going to commit. I'm really going to commit. Lord, I'm committed to you, right? There's a difference to submit, and that involves the cross, okay, for love, all for love's sake.

And then we're going from fear. Oh, I don't want to be less than what you created me to be. I'm afraid of that. Oh, I don't want to be like somebody else I see that I might be judging, right? I don't want to be left out of anything you have, or I'm just afraid to faith. That's what Jesus' school of prayer does. That's what following him in this does, and it's for his glory. And then we go from death, from the cross, and we're in the season of resurrection. Jesus was raised to life.

The Nature of Christ

So, we're going to look at the person before we look at the prayer, because Jesus, the person, is the prayer, and the essence of Christ is encapsulated for us and transferred to us in a song in the early church. I will get to our Matthew in just a moment. But this is right from Philippians 2. And let's look at Jesus for a moment. And I did write a tune to this, so I'm going to sing this to you just a cappella because it helps me meditate on it even more. Here it is.

This is the song about Jesus from the early church, what his nature was. In very nature God, he did not regard it something to be grasped. He emptied himself. Found in human form. Made just like a man. He took a servant's role. He humbled himself. He became obedient obedient to death. He became obedient, even death on a cross. And therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave to him the name above every name. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess he is Lord. He is Lord.

So that's my tune of the song of the early church about Jesus, Kyrios, he is Lord. With that in mind, about his nature and his character, let's listen to his word together. And I'm going to have us do something that is kind of historical. We're going to stand. So go ahead, stand for the reading of God's gospel.

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be honored by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be done in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their 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. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray. 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 the evil one. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6:1-15

You can be seated. Thank you for doing that. Let's break this down before him together.

Corporate Prayer Begins With "Our"

Though Jesus emphasizes private prayer, the words he gives us to pray start corporately. Isn't that interesting? He tells you, go in your room, shut the door. But then he says to pray, our Father, because he knows that all across the world, the faithful, just like you, are all in their rooms or outside on a bench somewhere in a lonely place, right? It's our, all together. So it doesn't have to be our physically like we are right now all the time to still be corporate in the earth. I love that about the body of Christ, that we're immediately brothers and sisters, no matter where we are, no matter what we come from.

Father. Prayer is. To the Father through the Son through his sacrifice by the Holy Spirit by the power of by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus taught us to pray with Father as our focus. Isn't that interesting? Okay, let's go on. In heaven.

So we're praying in two places. We're praying on earth, and mysteriously, we're praying in heaven. And that's why he tells us, let your kingdom come. The next thing is, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Okay, but we're not there yet. We're at holy is your name. So we started, that's basically why we start with worship too when we gather, because what are we saying when we walk in the door and we start singing? We're saying, our Father in heaven, holy is your name. That's what we did this morning. His name is his nature.

We pray in Jesus' name, not as a stamp at the end of a prayer. You know, in Jesus' name, now it's official. Okay, check, right? No, this is in his nature, who he is. That's why I wanted to show you Philippians 2 before that. It's not an incantation. That's a false god. You don't have to incant our god because he's already incarnated himself.

Let your kingdom come, not Solomon's glory. That's what all the people were thinking when he said that. Oh, the kingdom of God is coming. The age of gold will return where silver meant nothing to Solomon, right? No, not of this world, but into this world. The king, equal sign, is the kingdom. So we pray that the king would come, that his kingdom would come.

His will be done. And this is the most intimate prayer you can pray besides probably here I am to the Lord is what Jesus prayed in the garden. Father, not my will, but your will be done. If you want a definition of intimacy and prayer, that's where it is. You're taking up your cross daily before the Lord and you're saying, it's you. You created me, you're worthy, and I love you for it. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Not building a tower with your prayer up to heaven trying to reach God or climbing a ladder with your prayer, you know, trying to get up to the Lord. That's what the Babylonian Tower was, and they had pagan sacrifices to go along with it that are still happening in our day. Every generation faces this temptation to try and reach God with prayer. Maybe I can spin this prayer wheel constantly so that the prayers will keep going up so that God will be appeased and hear me. That's how prayer is done in many cultures. They need the freedom of Christ on earth as it is in heaven. Okay, let's go on.

Give us daily bread, manah. Ma means what? Na means it. You want to try it? Manah. Try it again twice in a row. No, I'm not going to do that. Manna of food, provision, direction, peace, all of that daily bread, that's included. It's a package. Forgive our sins. We ask that the holy sacrifice be real. As we are forgiving, we offer what we receive. Keep us from temptation. He's our paraclete. He's our helper. And deliver us from the evil one.

Jesus knew that we needed all of these aspects of this prayer, and I love how it's simple to do, that as a little child you can learn this, and it's something you can do through your whole life. My latest strategy is to do it while I'm exercising. Instead of counting numbers in my head or reps or listening to power beats or things, I just do the Lord's Prayer, and it's totally changed my whole exercise life.

How many of you have an exercise life? Looks like all of you do. Way to go. Good job. Okay, so here's the exercise life. I'm saying, Our Father who art in awe puts fervency in your prayer. It's like energy is coming out and you're just going, give us this day. Can you imagine at every, like, at all the workout places around Madison, if people are doing that? No. Okay. That's not, that's not create the culture. Okay. We won't do that one. I was hoping that would happen. Okay. Maybe in another year or two, that'll just be like, yeah, I'm not making light of it. I'm saying this is something that can be your daily bread in prayer, and you can use it as he gives to you.

Why Prayer Matters

Why? Well, the first one to pray was God himself. When did God pray in Genesis? Well, God's speaking and he's creating, right? But it was a lament. Maybe somebody knows this. What was the first prayer? Jesus is teaching us here the prayer that we're to pray, but what was the first prayer that God prayed? It was a cry. It was a lament. I call it a prayer. Adam, where are you? Psalm 13, where are you, God?

He's the first one to say, where are you? And some of you feel like that with your rule of life. You're like, God is saying to you, where are you today? And he's not saying it like, where are you? Right? How is he saying it? Adam, where are you? Well, you're either in a couple of different places. You're busy sowing fig leaves to cover up the things that you've been doing and trying to present yourself somehow to your spouse and to God in a favorable way, right? Which isn't even true because in marriage you're unashamed.

Or you're just basically hiding, hiding, maybe behind the fig tree that you were pulling the leaves off of to try and cover yourself. Are we hiding from him today because we don't feel worthy in our prayer life, in following what he has. Jesus has his way, his yoke today for you. We're going to receive his grace today in that.

So here's the truth. Our walk, our prayer life, Christianity itself is wholly dependent today on the present and active work of the Holy Spirit in everyone's heart here, in every generation, too. The Bible itself is self-attesting. It's written by and interpreted by him. The message comes with power of revelation and transformation.

So here's what prayer does with that. It brings the word that we have heard and received into a fuller life. And just like Jesus, I can only say what I hear my Father saying. I can only do what I see my Father doing. To live as he lived, prayer is the lonely starting place he invites us to individually and then in our gatherings.

The Power of Forgiveness

Let's go on. So he highlights one part of the prayer, and we're going to end here today. He says, for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins. Your Father will not forgive your sins.

And then he tells us a parable about this and he says that unforgiveness actually puts us in a prison. And I telling you from being in those prisons they take many forms. When we don't forgive someone we basically take the key we're judging them locking them up throwing away the key and saying Lord, that person is anathema, that person is out of my life. You can be wise in the people that are in your circle, but the forgiveness aspect on the cross with Jesus will get you out of your prison.

And those prisons are described in this parable. It's kind of a heavy parable, I won't have you stand up for this gospel reading but we're just going to hear this parable and then we're going to go into a closing prayer time together.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. So he began the settlement. A man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children, and all that they had, be sold to repay the debt. At this, the servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything. The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt, and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me, he demanded. His fellow servant fell on his knees and begged him, be patient with me and I will pay it back. But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. You wicked servant, he said. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you? In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all that he owed. This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you, unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

Matthew 18:21-35

So, why do you think Jesus would take that part of the prayer, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, and lift that out and highlight it right after it? That parable tells us because he wants us to walk in the life and in the freedom that he has for us.

Closing: Finding Our Rule of Life

So, here's my now what. I have two whys for this week for the now what. First one has to do with this forgiveness. And just before we go into that I wanted to say one more thing here. What he's inviting us into is the eternal, loving, joyful, delightful fellowship that we were singing about at the beginning of service. The beauty of the Trinity, the Father loving the Son, Son loving the Father, the Spirit giving glory to both of them. That's what he's inviting us into in prayer.

And it's so simple to enter into that. You just pause yourself and you just say, Lord, I'm here. And that's one of the most beautiful, intimate things you can say to the Lord is, here I am. Because that's what Adam could have said to the Lord. When he said, where are you? He could have just prayed and said, here I am.

So that's what we're going to do today. That's the easy yoke of Jesus for you today. It's to just say, here I am. But in order to say that with a whole heart, this is the question. Is there a story that you just keep on reviewing that's a hurt or offense in your life? Maybe you're having those conversations with yourself about others. Maybe you just keep reviewing it. It's time to just let that go to the cross today. It's time to allow him to say through you, Father, forgive them, even if they knew what they were doing, you're going to say, No, for they know not what they're doing.

They don't understand, right? Whenever I sin against somebody, there's not an understanding. I don't know what I'm doing. So he's going to help you to do that. And the second thing is, maybe you just simply need a practical thing. Maybe you just need a role buddy. Because in the rule of life, it actually talks about reviewing with somebody. It's intrinsic in it. And maybe you just haven't intentionally yet done that. Where you said, you know what, I can't do this on my own every day or even weekly.

And so maybe the Lord will put someone here that's in this room or someone that you know on your heart. And maybe you'll be able to contact them or talk to them today and just say, I want to follow this and I want to grow in my prayer life and I need help. So that's a good place to be. So let's stand up. We're going to just allow the Lord to help us to forgive first, and then I'll teach a setting of the Lord's Prayer.

Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for mercy. Thank you for your mercy on me, Lord. Lord, right now, anybody that's showing me, Lord, to just release to you, I do that in Jesus' name. Thank you that you died for us. Thank you that you said, Father, forgive them. So Lord, I just want to be your echo today. Father, I forgive. Change the storyline, Lord. Change the narrative of my heart.

Thank you for your cleansing. We receive it in Jesus' name. Thank you for your cleansing on the cross and your blood today, Lord. And that those people, those situations are yours. Bring your life. Bring your. You said bless those, anyone who would reject or persecute. Lord, bless. We speak blessing. In your name we follow what you told us to do.

Amen.