It's great to be with you today. If you've got
your Bible there, please keep it open at Matthew
6. And let's ask God for help as we look at his
word now. Father, we ask that your word would
grip us today, that it would change our hearts,
that we would see how wonderful and awesome it
is to know you as Father. And we ask this in
Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I was watching a show
a little while ago called Hijack. And you can
guess, let's see if this works. No? Okay. That's
all right. You can guess what it's about. It's
about hijacking. And this plane gets hijacked
by a group of terrorists. I must admit, I couldn't
really get into the show. I don't know if it's
any good. I lasted half an episode. But I was
taken in by one scene. During the hijacking,
one of the frightened stewards on the plane starts
praying. And nearby there's a priest, a very
British priest with his liturgical collar on.
And the priest turns to the steward and says,
take it from me, that's not going to get you
anywhere. And you think what a thing for him
to say. Whether or not he believes it, it's a
bit heartless, isn't it? Probably not a very
good priest. But it's worth asking, does this
priest have a point? What difference would it
make to pray in that situation? If the steward
prays, will God strike down the terrorists? Or
having prayed, will God now somehow save the
passengers? Or really, is the prayer meant to
be some sort of psychological crutch just to
calm him down? Does prayer actually change anything?
And if not, why bother? Now, hijacking is an
extreme example, but what about prayer in day
-to -day life? The person who sits down and prays
each day, who prays the Lord's Prayer, who prays
about their struggles, their problems, the things
they want, are they just wasting their time?
What difference does it make to pray? Well, it
all boils down to who is actually there, isn't
it? If there is no God, then it's pointless.
I'd have to say, yeah, prayer is... At best,
a coping tool. If there's no God, that's all
it is. It's a psychological trick. If God is
impotent, if he wants to help but he can't, well,
that's not much better than a psychological trick,
isn't it? It's a bit of a shame and glad that
someone out there is wanting to help me, but
it's not much good for me. And if God's heartless,
if he's got the power but he won't use it, Well,
I guess maybe prayer might be helpful if you
catch God on a good day. So today I want to ask,
well, which of these is God actually like? I
don't want to say none of them. See, Jesus starts
the Lord's Prayer with an address, Our Father
in Heaven. And it's to remind us who we're praying
to. Have you ever wondered why Jesus starts that
way? Why not, dear God, or almighty Yahweh, or
just look up and say your shopping list? It's
not that God needs us to pray that way. It's
not that God's there going, well, if you don't
pray to me, our Father in heaven, I won't be
listening until I hear those key words. No, this
first line, this address to God, is there for
our benefit. It reminds us of who we're praying
to. These four words actually do a lot of heavy
lifting for our hearts. They sort out so many
wrong ways of thinking we have about ourselves
and about God. This line reminds us that prayer
does make a difference because of who is there
when we're praying. So here's the big thing Jesus
is telling us. We bother with prayer because
our Father in heaven is there. We bother in prayer
because our Father in heaven is there. And then
there's three things that we see that shape how
we pray, that we're meant to think of when we
actually pray our Father in heaven. Firstly,
our Father has adopted us. Secondly, our Father
loves us dearly. So let's have a look at those
three things. Firstly, our Father has adopted
us. You've got to ask, why our? Why don't we
start the Lord's Prayer with my Father in heaven?
Well, there's two reasons for that. First, when
we pray our, it snaps us out of our self -centred
self -absorption. God is at work, not just in
my life. but in the lives of his people all over
the world. See, the default position for humanity
is to make it all about me, to make myself at
the centre of the universe. Think back to when
you looked at an old class photo. Do you have
one of those sitting at home, one of your school
photos? Who do you instantly look for when you
look at the photo? Yourself, that's right. Because
we just have this instinct that's... within us
to be kind of on about number one, on about me.
I mean, I've got five kids. Do you know what
I've never had to do with any one of them? Never
had to teach them to be selfish. They've already
got that one down pat, you know? Oh, come on
now, Gracie. I need you to just hang on to that.
Don't share it. Come on. Never been a problem.
But God is different. God is the other person
centred God. He's Trinity. And because he's so
loving and in this beautiful, harmonious, loving
relationship within himself, he then loves humanity
from that love. So much so that he sent his son
to die on the cross. This is a God who is all
about other person centred love. So when I pray
our, I'm remembering. I've been adopted into
that family, that big family all over the world,
that family where God's people take on the family
likeness, where they try and imitate the Trinitarian
God by being other person centred in how they
love. See, in God's family we're different because
our Father is different. We want to help you
with that here at Northern Hope. We're hoping
at some point in the future we're doing a few
little things behind the scenes, but we want
to set up a weekly email that everyone at church
gets with a prayer guide about different people
and places to pray for, not just in our church
but also in other countries. We're hoping to
get that up and running at some point in the
near future. But also, if you don't want to do
it our way, there's so many other great options,
aren't there? You can look at Open Doors. They've
got a great website all about the persecuted
church and what you can pray for the persecuted
church. There's great prayer diaries and prayer
guides for MAF and BCA, Barnabas Fund, Prayer
Points in Growth Group. I mean, that's all kind
of praying in line with our, isn't it? Because
we're being other person centred. But there's
a second reason Jesus says pray our Father in
Heaven. It's reminding us that only God's children
can pray our Father. See, a Muslim can't pray
our Father in heaven. A secular agnostic can't
pray our Father in heaven. Technically, that
steward on the plane can't pray our Father in
heaven. Because the only people who can truly
pray this are those who actually have been adopted
by God. They're the only ones who are part of
the hour. It's not every single human being.
I mean, we're all creatures made in God's image.
That's a great gift that God has given us. But
we're not all his children. Have a look at what
Ephesians 2, 3 says. It says, We weren't children
of God. We were children of God's anger. Because
we're part of that fallen humanity who's rejected
God's rule over their lives. But here's the wonderful
blessing that Christians have. Have a look at
John 1 .12 .13. But to all who did receive him,
and that's Jesus, who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become children of God, who
were born not of blood, you know, you didn't
have the right DNA, nor of the will, that wasn't
your decision. of the flesh nor of the will of
man but of God see Jesus came into the world
and died on the cross not just to save you from
sin and hell as important as that is but he died
so that you could become a child of God so that
you could enter the hour in our father in heaven
to be a part of God's family See, Jesus is the
only one in the universe in and of himself who
can say, my father in heaven, because he's God's
begotten son. But we can say, our father in heaven,
because Jesus died for us. And the relationship
Jesus has with God is now what we have with God.
What an amazing blessing. Over the years, I've
met some wonderful families who've fostered or
adopted kids whilst having biological kids of
their own. And all of them seem to have the same
approach. They treat all their kids as they're
all our kids. They're equal. Whether they're
biological or adopted, we love them equally.
I think that's the right way to do it. But I
have one mate who sadly seems to be the exception.
He's adopted, his parents are overseas, and he
goes back and he visits them. And they're kind
to him, but he's always treated a little bit
differently to the biological kids. He gets left
out. I remember him telling me that they took
a photo of the family and they said, everyone
in, everyone in, but not you. You're one of the
adopted ones and you take the photo. And it was
so hard for him because he felt like a second
class. family member. Well, Christians, when
you pray, do you ever feel like that? What if
you've been slack and you've not been, you know,
living very well lately? You've kind of been
ignoring God, putting him on the back burner.
Do you ever start having doubts? Maybe I'm just
like a second -class Christian, a second -class
family member. If you do, Remember John 17, 23.
Here's what it says. Then the world will know
that you sent me, that's Jesus, and have loved
them, those who believe in Jesus, even as you
have loved me. God sees you now as if you were
Jesus, on your good weeks, on your bad weeks.
He relates to you that way, not because of your
performance, but because of what Jesus has done
for you. All the time, right now, if you trust
Jesus, you've been adopted by God. You can say
our to remember you're part of a bigger family
and that you have the same relationship with
God that Jesus does. What an amazing blessing.
And that all comes from one word. So let's dig
in a bit further. What is that new relationship
all about? If we get to call God our, you know,
just as Jesus, you know, we're having that same
relationship, what's it actually mean to have
that relationship? Well, the next bit is that
we call him our father. We have a father in heaven
who loves us dearly. Our father loves us dearly.
And sometimes we don't realise just how important
and wonderful this is. This is what sets apart
Christianity from other religions. See, God is
not just our king or our judge. Jesus is inviting
us to call God Father, to have a unique, close
intimacy with the creator of the universe. In
his brilliant book, Knowing God, J .I. Packer,
says this, if you want to judge how well a person
understands Christianity, find out how much he
makes of the thought of being God's child and
having God as his father. If this is not the
thought that prompts and controls his worship
and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it
means that he does not understand Christianity
very well at all. He then goes on to talk about
how adoption is the highest privilege of the
Christian. The best thing you can get is that
you are adopted into God's family. I mean, it's
pretty awesome that you get to be righteous in
God's sight, justified by Jesus. But he says
it's even better that you can call God Father,
be in his family. That is amazing. The same relationship
Jesus has with God is what you have. God is your
Father who loves you and cares about you. You
are more loved than you can ever fathom. As a
kid, I watched The Magic School Bus. It's a great
show. It was just really fun. I really enjoyed
it. If you haven't watched it, sad for you, go
home and watch it. But on the Magic School Bus,
Miss Frizz, she'd take the kids anywhere. She'd
take them out into the ocean and they'd go into
sort of the bus would become like a submarine.
They could go out of space and the bus would
become like a rocket. They'd even go into the
human body and swim around in that and see what's
going on in there. Well, I want you to just imagine
for a sec that you jump on the Magic School Bus.
We could call it the Northern Hope Bus. And what
if you got to go into God's heart? Like if you
could go see God's heart, what do you think you
would see? I reckon you'd see a heart of unimaginable,
immeasurable love that loves us just as much
as his son. A love that only wants good for his
children. If we could see it, I reckon we'd be
overwhelmed and brought to tears because of how
gloriously loving it is. And yet how easily we
forget that God's heart is like this. Here's
a good exercise if you want to see God's heart.
Read through the Gospels. Look at the affection
that the Father has for Jesus. He says, you're
my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. Now
when you read that, yes, that's teaching you
something about Jesus, but if you're in Christ,
that's teaching you something about you too.
That's how the Father sees you now. The same
spirit that empowered Jesus is in us. The New
Testament letters tell us that what the Son inherits
is what we inherit. The love Jesus has from his
father is yours. And if you're still not convinced,
look at the cross. See what it cost the father
to send his son, for the son to experience the
wrath that should have been ours as children
of wrath, that he drunk it down to the dregs
so that we could call God father and know him
as father. That shows the father's loving, immeasurable
loving heart for you. But here's the thing. Sometimes
when we pray, we forget that. It's easy to think,
and I don't know if you've ever thought this,
I've thought this, God can, but he probably won't.
You ever thought that when you're praying? God
can, but he probably won't. You feel like he's
powerful, but you've been praying for ages about
something and nothing seems to happen. It can
just feel like God's heartless because your prayers
just keep going unanswered. And you go, I know
he's not, but gee, it feels like a God. You feel
like you're just kicking me in the guts again
and again because this thing isn't getting resolved.
I think we've all gone through times like that.
And if you haven't, well, that's great. I wouldn't
be surprised if you experienced some at some
point. But here's what I try to do in those times.
I try to remember some words I read by Charles
Spurgeon. He once said, I just think that's so
powerful. Let me read it again. And he's too
wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace
his hand, we must trace his heart. Have you seen
God's heart? Have you seen that you have a loving,
kind, generous father in heaven? That needs to
shape our thinking. It needs to shape how we
do everything. It needs to shape especially.
How we pray. But before we pray, we don't want
to just remember that we have a new relationship
with God through Jesus and that we're part of
God's family. We don't want to just remember
that God is a good and caring Father. We also
need to remember God's immense power. Here's
the third thing we need to see. Our Father rules
everything. Our Father rules everything. What
are we praying when we pray our Father in heaven?
Why in heaven? Is that God's postcode? Is that
God's address? No, it's describing his power.
Here's how Psalm 115 puts it, which we read earlier.
Our God is in the heavens, and because he is,
he does all that he pleases. God is all -powerful.
The God who is a father to every Christian here
has infinite and unlimited power. Do you know
what this means for you? You don't just have
friends in high places. I mean, you might know
a few powerful people here in Cairns. You don't
just have friends in high places. You have a
father in the highest place. One of my struggles
as a dad of five... is lack of resources. I'm
only human. I've got limited energy. I get tired
from work and housework. The kids want to play
with me, and sometimes I'm just like, kids, I
don't have the energy right now. And I've got
limited money. You know, I'm doing okay, but,
like, I can't give everything I'd like to the
kids because, you know, I mean, probably spoil
them anyway, so it's probably a good thing. But
you've got to make choices with your money. All
fathers do, don't they? And limited time. I can't
be everywhere at once, especially when there's
five of them. They outnumber you. I remember
seeing the transition from two kids to three,
and you go, wow, now they outnumber us. What
are we going to do? If you're a parent, just
be aware that's the big moment when you go from
two to three. And that's okay. That's just being
human. It's like... Clint Eastwood said, a man's
got to know his limitations. But God is not like
that. Over the years as we've driven to church
or other places in the car, we've sung this song.
You might have sung it too with your kids or
you might have sung it just belting it out the
window. All power to you if you do. It's a great
song. Do you remember it? My God is so big, so
strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God
cannot do. So much great theology in kids' songs,
isn't it? That we easily forget. God can do anything.
Jesus prays in the garden, all things are possible
for you. On that plane, God could stop the hijackers.
You betcha. He's all powerful. All things are
possible for him. The whole universe is at his
disposal. And knowing that, knowing that should
make us pray boldly. I mean, God can raise his
own son from the grave and make him Lord of all.
I mean, we can ask God for anything, knowing
that he is able to do it. So that means as a
church, we need to pray big prayers. Because
we have a big God. There's no ceiling to what
God can do. But here's the thing. Do you really
believe that? It's so easy to sort of pray prayers
that are a little bit small, you know. Yeah,
God, I don't want to ask for too much. It's almost
that mentality. That's forgetting what God is
like. We can pray lots, we can pray big, and
then we watch. And if it doesn't happen, we trust
that our Father knows best. But at the same time,
we need to be praying big and bold prayers because
we have a big and powerful God. So what do you
believe? Look at your prayers. You will see what
you think about God. Do you believe he is as
powerful as the Bible is saying he is? All right,
well, let's draw some threads together. We asked,
does prayer actually change anything? And I hope
you saw today that, yes, it does. It changes
what happens. It changes us. Because as we pray,
we're learning to be other person centred. It
does a whole range of things. But prayer is not
powerful because it's inherently powerful. Prayer
is powerful because of who we pray to. Here's
the big thing we saw today. We bother with prayer
because our Father in heaven is there. That's
what makes prayer powerful. We bother with prayer
because our Father in heaven is there. And there
were three things we looked at with that address.
Our Father has adopted us. That's the our. Our
Father loves us dearly. That's the Father. And
our Father rules everything. That's the in heaven.
So what's that mean for us? Well, there'll be
some people here today who are not yet children
of God. It wasn't my intention to offend you
or anything in things I've said earlier. All
I want to do is ask you today, what do you believe
about God? I mean, you might be like that steward.
You don't relate to God except when you're desperate.
You might be like that priest. You don't believe
God's there at all. But if that's you, I'm trying
to show you today that you're missing out. The
death and resurrection of Jesus shows that prayer
is powerful, that there really is a God who is
there. I had a friend who used to say, Jesus
nails God down for us. It's a terrible pun, but
I love it. If you aren't sure about whether there
really is a God, then please come have a chat
with me. I'd love to talk to you. I'd love to
show you that there really is a God who is there
and that the greatest proof of that is the Lord
Jesus. And that it is the best thing when you
know that Lord Jesus and can have God as your
father. It is completely life changing, actually
eternity changing. So if you want to find out
more, please come have a chat with me. I'd love
to talk to you about it. But for those of us
who are here today and we are children of God,
we do trust in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
And the challenge isn't just to pray more. It's
to pray more remembering who we pray to. We're
praying to our all -powerful Father. Praying
to a God like ours is so incredibly powerful.
Do you know, as you look around today, this room
is proof of answered prayer. There's people here
who know and love the Lord Jesus because people
were praying for you. And you became Christians.
And that is an incredible miracle. You know,
we saw today we were children of wrath. Earlier
in Ephesians 2, it talks about how we were dead
in our sins and transgressions. We were unable
to do anything. We were hopeless and helpless.
And God saved us. And one of the things he used
for that is people's prayers. Prayer is powerful
because we pray to a powerful God. So can we
be more ambitious as a church? Can we pray big,
bold prayers? Because we believe that our Father
loves us and cares about us, because we believe
that he is able to do more than we ask, think
or imagine. How about this? Here's some things
we could pray for. What about we pray that our
church would double in size? I'll give you a
hint. That might be something in our vision statement
that's coming up. Why don't we pray that our
non -Christian friends and families would be
converted? Diligently, zealously, let's pray
that because we know the sort of God we have,
he's able to do it. And he's more willing to
see them saved than we are. Why don't we pray
that those stubborn sins that cling to us like
barnacles, that God would put them to death?
Why don't we pray that the relationships we have
with one another would be unique and generous
and overflowing with love? Do you know, for me,
I've struggled for a long time with anxiety and
depression. And I tell you what, knowing who
I'm praying to and pouring out my heart to him
has been such a powerful tool to manage that
better. Don't mishear me. Mental health is very
complex. There's a lot of things we need to do
to manage it well. But prayer is a wonderful
aspect of it, especially when you're clear about
the God who you're praying to. We have an all
-powerful Father who loves us, whose love can
always be trusted, and when his hand doesn't
give us what we want, we can trace his heart
as well. When I feel or think like that priest,
when prayer seems like it won't get me anywhere,
the key is to remember the God who really is
there. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we've looked
at four words today, and yet there is so much
in them. Father, we ask that you would help us.
to see that you are a caring God, a loving God,
a powerful God, a wise God. Help us to see that
we have full and complete access to you because
of what Jesus has done. Help us to see that it's
not just about ourselves individually, but that
we have a big family all over the world that
we're now a part of. Father, please. Help us
to see how great it is to be your children and
to pray to you. And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.