1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,960 We are coming to the end of our sermon series. 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:07,080 We've been working our way through Matthew chapter six. 3 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:09,960 We've been looking at the Lord's Prayer as a template 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:14,420 or as a pattern that Jesus taught us how to pray, 5 00:00:14,420 --> 00:00:16,560 how to pray according to these principles 6 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:18,320 that we've been dissecting line by line 7 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,440 as we've gone through the Lord's Prayer. 8 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,280 And each week we began by reciting it together. 9 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,280 So if we can get that up on the board 10 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:27,680 and we'll go ahead and say this all together. 11 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:29,000 Here we go. 12 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. 13 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,820 Your kingdom come, your will be done 14 00:00:37,820 --> 00:00:40,600 on earth as it is in heaven. 15 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,600 Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts 16 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,960 as we also have forgiven our debtors. 17 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,760 And do not bring us into temptation, 18 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,560 but deliver us from the evil one. 19 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:55,480 This is God's word. 20 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:57,120 Will you join me in praying? 21 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,160 Father, we pray today that you, the God of the ages, 22 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,000 the God throughout the ages, the God of creation, 23 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 the God who spoke and all things came to be 24 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:12,000 also spoke through Christ and through the prophets 25 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,120 and now speaks to us today through your word. 26 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,640 I pray that your word would bear down on us today 27 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:20,880 and that you Lord would reshape our reality 28 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,940 around the truth that is truer than true, 29 00:01:23,940 --> 00:01:28,940 the reality of realities, your kingdom come in Jesus' name. 30 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:30,820 Amen. 31 00:01:30,820 --> 00:01:31,660 Amen. 32 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,120 So there's a scene that plays out in my head 33 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,800 over and over ever so often. 34 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,680 It's a real life experience, but when my mind recalls it, 35 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,840 it recalls it in flashes and pictures 36 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:47,760 that are often met with kind of wincing 37 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,200 and sometimes even this panicked sense of fear. 38 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,400 And I'll get it sometimes in the middle of the night, 39 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:54,920 I'll get it sometimes in the middle of the day, 40 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,400 it'll just come and I'll have a flashback, 41 00:01:57,400 --> 00:01:59,440 a remembrance of an event. 42 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,680 The event was basically me and my wife, 43 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,400 we were sitting at a coffee shop in Cool, California. 44 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:07,920 Anyone know where Cool, California is? 45 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,560 It's up in the mountains, 46 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:11,680 maybe about an hour or so away from here. 47 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,440 It's about 15 minutes from our house 48 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:16,920 and we were chatting in the cafe there, 49 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:19,120 drinking some coffee early in the morning. 50 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,760 It was a cold winter day and it had been snowing 51 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:24,800 and there was ice everywhere that morning, 52 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,040 ice on the trees and on the road and everywhere. 53 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:28,880 And I don't know if you know this 54 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:30,480 about being up in the mountains, 55 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,680 but we kind of have our own way of talking things 56 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:34,000 and one of the things that's peculiar 57 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,880 about the mountain people is they name their storms, 58 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:38,520 especially the big ones, right? 59 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:39,360 They get names. 60 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,960 And so we've had our big one a couple years ago 61 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,480 where we actually got more or less trapped at our house, 62 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,240 I was gonna say with my mother-in-law 63 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:50,680 because it was with my mother-in-law, 64 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:52,080 but it wasn't a bad thing. 65 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,080 I could have used that as a joke right there. 66 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:56,160 Cabin fever. 67 00:02:57,920 --> 00:02:59,360 But we were trapped there. 68 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,800 That was Snowmageddon, Snowmageddon. 69 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:05,760 It was more snow than you could imagine 70 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:07,880 and it piled up everywhere, our road was blocked. 71 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,800 And so around town, everyone was talking about Snowmageddon. 72 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,040 Well, this particular storm, 73 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,040 was this a year or two ago maybe? 74 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:17,880 This was Snowpocalypse. 75 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:19,440 So it wasn't quite Snowmageddon, 76 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:21,480 it wasn't the end of the world, but it was pretty bad. 77 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,920 I mean, it was on its way there, right? 78 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:25,000 The Snowpocalypse. 79 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,720 Well, while we're chatting, 80 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,720 we overheard some of the locals there at the coffee shop 81 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,120 talking about 193, which is the highway we take 82 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:33,360 from our house to get to Kuhl. 83 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,800 193 had developed that morning some ice patches 84 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:38,880 around some blind corners 85 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,320 and that it was gonna be really dangerous out there 86 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:42,280 just to drive safe. 87 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,120 And so we overheard that and we thought, well, okay, 88 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,600 someone's gonna spin out or lose control probably. 89 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:48,880 That tends to be the way it is. 90 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,120 So we took note, we hopped in the car, 91 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:52,600 we decided we were gonna limit our speed 92 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,760 and drive careful as we headed home. 93 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,200 Not five minutes after getting in the car back on the road, 94 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,800 193, as we approached a major curve in the road, 95 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:03,400 we see a pickup truck that's traveling 96 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:07,400 the opposite direction from us, hit some black ice, 97 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,560 began to spin out, head for the embankment, 98 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,680 lose control, fly over the embankment, 99 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,080 down 10 feet, rolls twice, ends up on its side. 100 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,320 And we're like, oh my gosh, like what do we do? 101 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,240 Well, we're on a road, we look to the side, 102 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:21,600 there's nowhere to pull the truck off 103 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:23,240 to the side of the road. 104 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,720 It is all pinched in with a mountain or a cliff 105 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,000 on one side or mountain on one side 106 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,760 and a 10 foot drop off on the other. 107 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,040 And we can see behind us the road, 108 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:33,760 but we can't see around the curve in front of us. 109 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:35,480 So we decide we're gonna stay in our lane, 110 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,320 we're gonna turn on our hazards to learn. 111 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:39,680 Anyone coming up from behind to slow down 112 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:41,680 and then I hop out and my wife hops out 113 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,720 and we go down to check on this truck. 114 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:46,760 As I approach the truck, my wife stays up 115 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,280 at the top of the embankment there, 116 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:50,040 kind of looking at what's going on around 117 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,680 and looking down at what we're doing in the embankment. 118 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,880 I approach the windshield of the truck that's on its side 119 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,200 and I look inside and I see a man who has, 120 00:04:58,200 --> 00:04:59,480 apparently wasn't wearing a seatbelt 121 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:01,680 because he has fallen from his chair 122 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,000 down into the floorboard of the passenger side. 123 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:05,960 He's down there kind of fetal position 124 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:10,120 and there's a dog on top of him. 125 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:11,360 But then I see that he's moving 126 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,760 and he's trying to struggle to kind of pull himself up 127 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,040 and out and we begin to talk through the windshield 128 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,560 and he's able to stand up and unlatch the door 129 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:22,000 on the other side and push it up 130 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:23,560 and I help him kind of pull it out. 131 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,840 And then he's really concerned about his dog, 132 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:27,480 so he first hoists his dog out, 133 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:29,960 he's gotta get him out, we get the dog out of the car 134 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,080 and finally we get him out of the car 135 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,440 after a lot of wrangling and trying to leverage weight 136 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,120 and pull him up and he gets out. 137 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,920 And by God's grace, he is fine, he's walking around, 138 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,280 he's talking just fine, the dog is fine, 139 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:44,480 maybe it had a little limp in it, 140 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,160 but overall everything was good. 141 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,600 Well, we're really focused on how do we get this guy out, 142 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:53,520 how do we help here. 143 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,120 I don't know if you've ever been focused on one thing, 144 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:56,880 but oftentimes everything else becomes 145 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:58,640 a little bit of a blur around you. 146 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:01,320 And it was after getting the guy out 147 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:02,880 and getting him helped that we, 148 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,560 I feel like me and my wife both heard it at the same time, 149 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,560 but we hear the sound of a car revving up really fast 150 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,400 around the blind corner coming. 151 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,760 And we look at each other, she's at the top of the embankment, 152 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,600 I'm down in the embankment, and someone, 153 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,040 I don't know who it was, there may have been someone else 154 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,480 who had stopped at this point, yells, get out of the way. 155 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,280 And just as we see the car rounding the corner, 156 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:30,320 hits the black eyes and turns that car perpendicular 157 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:32,000 to the road and it's sliding, 158 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,440 sliding right toward my wife. 159 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,080 That's where the moments and the flashbacks start, right? 160 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:40,920 That's where I'm thinking, what is she going to do? 161 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:42,840 Because if she goes in the embankment, 162 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:44,600 that's maybe where the car's going. 163 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:47,560 But when we have gotten out of our truck, 164 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:49,960 initially to walk down to help the gentleman, 165 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:51,760 we also had to walk across the road 166 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:53,720 and the road was like an ice rink. 167 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,280 Have you ever walked on tennis shoes on an ice rink? 168 00:06:56,280 --> 00:06:59,680 Like very carefully making your way across. 169 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,720 And I'm thinking, there's no way she's gonna make it 170 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,520 across the road on ice, 171 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,480 trying to get out of the way of this guy. 172 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:08,320 And basically, I don't know if you could slow 173 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,000 all of reality down to a moment, 174 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,880 but in that moment, it was like, love you, babe. 175 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,240 Like this is it, this is it. 176 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:17,320 We thought we were helping out 177 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,200 and this turned out to be a tragedy. 178 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:22,560 My wife makes a split second decision. 179 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,680 She knows, she's a little scrappy, 180 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:26,920 she's got some balance to her. 181 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,000 So she decides, she's not going to the embankment, 182 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:30,520 she's going across the road. 183 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:32,880 And all I see is her lean forward 184 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,920 and she's fully forward as she starts to run across, 185 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:38,720 doesn't slip at all, makes it all the way across the road. 186 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,640 The car comes right to where she was sideways. 187 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:43,080 And when he hits the embankment, 188 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:44,840 it actually straightens his car out, 189 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,000 he gets right back on the road and goes on. 190 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,720 But that moment right there is like seared in my memory 191 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:53,640 of what could have happened. 192 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:58,000 And really, the memory is of this unseen danger 193 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,280 as you're completely distracted with something else, 194 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,880 this unseen danger just around the corner 195 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,680 could have changed our life in a second. 196 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:07,520 I could have gone to coffee with my wife 197 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:11,160 and come home to my boys to let them know that mom was gone. 198 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,400 And that's seared in there and I think someone said, 199 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:15,200 yeah, that's trauma. 200 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,080 Yeah, that's trauma, I would imagine it is. 201 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:19,120 And it's there. 202 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,520 Sometimes you get so focused on a situation 203 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:27,840 that you don't see the unseen dangers that are all around, 204 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,560 but they are all around. 205 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,200 And sometimes we're most oblivious to the ones 206 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,600 that are in the unseen realm. 207 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,960 Where a spiritual battle rages right now 208 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:44,160 and there is an enemy who is hell bent on destroying us. 209 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:49,280 J.I. Packer, the scholar and pastor said, 210 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:51,600 if you could see the actual danger 211 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,680 you are in every day of your life, 212 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:55,760 you would pray without ceasing. 213 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:57,680 You would pray without ceasing. 214 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,080 And Jesus teaching us to pray is cueing us 215 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,960 into what is really going on in our lives 216 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,920 that some of us have become oblivious to. 217 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:09,920 At 1 Peter chapter five says, 218 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:11,880 be sober minded and be alert. 219 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:13,640 This is a command to us as believers, 220 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:15,920 be sober minded, be alert, why? 221 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:17,720 Because your adversary, the devil, 222 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:19,880 is prowling around like a roaring lion 223 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,240 and he's looking for someone to devour. 224 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,320 He's looking to devour you spiritually. 225 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,600 John chapter eight says that Satan is a murderer 226 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,840 from the beginning and he does not stand for the truth 227 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:32,520 because there's no truth in him. 228 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,920 When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature 229 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,320 because he is a liar and the father of lies. 230 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:41,200 There are lies being told to you 231 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,160 throughout your life and your day 232 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:45,120 that you may just go, oh, that's just a person, 233 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,080 that's just a liar, but it is the enemy 234 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,520 who's trying to bait you and pull you in 235 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:51,720 because you're trying to get out of your life 236 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,720 and pull you in because he wants to destroy you. 237 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,960 You have an adversary and most of us live oblivious to it. 238 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:00,600 We think chance, we think fate, 239 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:02,040 we think all kinds of things, 240 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,720 but you have an adversary who is active, 241 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:09,040 who is strategic and he's looking to destroy you, 242 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:10,400 destroy your faith. 243 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:13,800 Second Corinthians chapter 11 says 244 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,720 that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 245 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:20,360 Paul in the book of Ephesians says 246 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:21,760 that we need spiritual armor. 247 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:23,600 Why would you need spiritual armor? 248 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:26,040 Because you're in a battle. 249 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,000 You need spiritual armor because you're in a battle 250 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,000 against an adversary who can actually do damage to you. 251 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,960 And so you have to put on the spiritual armor. 252 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:36,760 You have to put on the armor of God 253 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:38,800 so that you're able to stand against what? 254 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,360 The schemes of the devil. 255 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:44,880 Not many of us probably woke up this morning 256 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:48,600 thinking that the devil had a scheme to destroy me today. 257 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,920 The enemy has a scheme to bait me, to lie to me, 258 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:53,880 and to destroy me today. 259 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:55,720 He wants to destroy my faith. 260 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,720 And yet the Bible over and over again tells us that's true. 261 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:01,760 In fact, the Bible says in 1 John chapter five 262 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:06,760 that the whole world is under the sway of the evil one. 263 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,000 The whole world is under the sway of the evil one. 264 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,120 There are powers at work, there are structures at work, 265 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:16,920 there are governments at work, 266 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:19,160 and there are individuals who have not bowed their knee 267 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:20,760 to Jesus who are at work. 268 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:22,840 They may be unwittingly being used, 269 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:24,760 but they're being used by the evil one, 270 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,480 swayed by the evil one to destroy God's work and his people. 271 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:35,440 His desire is to kill, to steal, and to destroy, 272 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,560 and he is an ever-present danger. 273 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:42,360 He is the unseen danger. 274 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:44,440 He is the danger around the corner 275 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:45,800 that we are oblivious to. 276 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:50,800 John Piper says, until you know that life is war, 277 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:53,400 you cannot know what prayer is for. 278 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,840 Until you know that life is war, 279 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,520 you cannot know what prayer is for. 280 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,320 It's even got a nice little rhyme. 281 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:04,600 And so here we are, we're looking 282 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,440 at Matthew chapter six and verse 13, 283 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:10,520 and we find that Jesus is teaching us about prayer, 284 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:14,040 and he's teaching us about this ever-present danger. 285 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:18,440 He says, and do not bring us into temptation, 286 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,760 but deliver us from the evil one. 287 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,080 I know sometimes I will preach, 288 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,120 and I will give a couple of points, 289 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:30,640 and that can throw you off at times, 290 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:31,480 because you're thinking, oh, 291 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:33,160 there's three points evenly divided. 292 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:34,760 If he spent five minutes on one, 293 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,360 we're gonna be here 15 minutes, right? 294 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,240 Psych, gotcha. 295 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:41,720 But today you'll be relieved, 296 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,400 because I have one point today 297 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:48,000 that we're gonna spend the next four and a half hours on. 298 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:49,480 One point. 299 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:50,960 And if it's anything like the first service, 300 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:52,280 we were out early, so. 301 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,360 If you're taking notes, spread down this one point. 302 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,200 Every temptation is also a test. 303 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,640 Every temptation is also a test. 304 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,280 On his face, Matthew chapter six, verse 13, 305 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,600 can read as if we are praying to God 306 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,000 that we're imploring or we're petitioning God 307 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,840 to please not tempt us to do evil. 308 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:22,320 It can sound like we're asking God, 309 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,200 don't take us into temptation, 310 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:25,960 don't tempt us to do evil. 311 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:28,480 But that would fly in the face 312 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,200 of what James chapter one, verse 13 says, 313 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:33,040 that no one undergoing a trial 314 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,480 should say I am being tempted by God, 315 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:37,920 since God is not tempted by evil, 316 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:41,240 and he himself doesn't tempt anyone. 317 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:46,720 So God cannot and does not tempt us to do evil. 318 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,240 But we know from scripture that God does test his people. 319 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:52,440 He tests his people, 320 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,960 and testing is God's way of strengthening our faith, 321 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,400 it's God's way of building character in us, 322 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:02,560 and it's God's way of proving obedience. 323 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:04,920 It's a divine tool for growth, 324 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,240 for refinement and preparation. 325 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,960 Testing draws out what is in us already, 326 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,400 to expose the areas of our weakness, 327 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,920 to encourage us in areas that the Holy Spirit 328 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,320 has been at work and we've seen growth, 329 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:25,040 and it drives us to thank and trust in God completely. 330 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,080 Testing is very different because testing is for our good, 331 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,200 its aim is our good, its aim is to expose 332 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,000 what the Holy Spirit has already been doing in our hearts 333 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:38,240 as sincere, and when we begin to see the progress of faith, 334 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,960 the journey of faith at work in our hearts, 335 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,240 through the testing, I did not respond to this situation 336 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:47,000 the way I used to, anyone ever been there, right? 337 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,000 The way I responded to that situation 20 years ago, 338 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:54,120 I don't respond anymore, God has done something in me. 339 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,600 The testing, being put in the situation 340 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,920 where the old you would have responded that way 341 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:00,680 is the only way for you to know 342 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:01,960 you wouldn't respond that way now 343 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,800 because God's done something in you. 344 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,800 So you see how testing proves something out in us, 345 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:08,040 it proves God's work. 346 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,160 Another tool, another part of the testing that God uses 347 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,920 is it can expose areas of weakness. 348 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:16,760 Not where we fall into sin, 349 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,160 but areas where we haven't attended to, 350 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,400 areas where we need more maturing 351 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,160 or we're immature in our reactions or responses to God. 352 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,160 And by seeing them, don't you know that 353 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,960 the first part of any solution is knowing the problem? 354 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,960 And so testing can help us to know the problem 355 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,480 that we need to work with, the weakness that exists in us 356 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,200 so that we can begin to agree with God 357 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:40,480 in prayer and the Holy Spirit. 358 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,120 Do your work in me, I clearly need patience. 359 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:47,480 I clearly need grace 360 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,400 because I was put in a situation that came out 361 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:54,040 and I know you wanna do good in me. 362 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:56,840 In fact, I often tell folks, 363 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:58,720 when you're put in certain situations, 364 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,320 whatever comes out is exactly what the Holy Spirit 365 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:02,960 wants to work on right now. 366 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:05,720 You're put in difficult situations, 367 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,760 the yuck comes out and you go, there it is. 368 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:10,960 Now I know what God wants to work on right now. 369 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,760 It's that, whatever that is. 370 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,320 God tested his people. 371 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,000 God tested Abraham, the most famous one, Abraham and Isaac 372 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,520 by telling him to go up onto a mountain 373 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:31,520 and to offer Isaac, his firstborn and the son of promise, 374 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,520 as a sacrifice, the promised child, 375 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:40,040 to be ultimately the fulfillment of God's will, 376 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:42,840 he said to go up on the mountain and to offer him, 377 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,240 to show that your hand is not holding so tightly 378 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,080 and the purpose was not so that Abraham would follow through. 379 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,520 It was because God could see that Abraham had faith 380 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,920 and obedience and he needed Abraham to see that. 381 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,240 He needed Abraham to see that God had done a work in him 382 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,520 so that his trust was secure. 383 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:03,800 Temptation though, on the other hand, 384 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,440 temptation is always an incitement to sin. 385 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,240 Not a test, not to prove God's work, 386 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,720 not to show weakness, but is intended for us to sin 387 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,200 and fall and fail, that's what temptation is. 388 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,640 Its goal is to lead you as one of God's children 389 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,760 away from God's will and exploit your weakness 390 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:27,360 and exploit your weaknesses and your desires. 391 00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:29,920 But for us to understand Matthew chapter 6, 13, 392 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:31,640 we have to understand one key 393 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,920 and it's a key to understanding even life 394 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,120 as we understand it in our experiences and it's this, 395 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:42,320 all of our experiences are tests from God 396 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,000 and all of them are temptations from Satan. 397 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,160 All of our experiences are tests from God 398 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:54,080 and all of them are temptations from Satan. 399 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:58,280 Every experience we face in life is a test from God 400 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,320 to strengthen our faith in our character. 401 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:06,200 While simultaneously, it can be used and exploited by Satan 402 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,920 as a temptation to lead us into sin. 403 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,760 As one pastor put it, our experiences can be divided 404 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:18,200 into two categories, pleasant or pain. 405 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,560 Pleasant or pain, right? 406 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:22,520 Good or bad. 407 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,360 We've had good experiences, we have bad experiences, 408 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:27,800 we have pleasant experiences, we have painful experiences. 409 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,680 And pleasant experiences might be financial security, 410 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:36,000 it might be having a beautiful wife or spouse, 411 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,000 it might be having a good reputation in this world, 412 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,960 it might be having a peaceful home or success at work 413 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:45,960 or a windfall payment of money. 414 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,880 Any of these can be pleasant experiences in life. 415 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:52,960 Painful experiences might be a tragedy or a loss, 416 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,080 it might be a stressful circumstance or betrayal 417 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,080 of a relationship, maybe loneliness or regret 418 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:00,920 or injustice or illness. 419 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,360 These are painful experiences we go through 420 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,880 and if they're pleasant experiences, 421 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,960 you can know that they are tests from God. 422 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,760 You might go, wait, wait, no, no, I thought, 423 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:17,240 I thought tests or trials, no, or temptations, 424 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:19,080 those are bad things. 425 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,640 No, even in the two categories, pleasant experiences, 426 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,640 painful experiences, both of them are tests from God. 427 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,240 If they're pleasant, they're a test from God. 428 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:39,560 Will you give God thanks in your circumstance? 429 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,840 Your good circumstance. 430 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,120 Will you acknowledge him as the giver of all good things? 431 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:51,280 Will you consider him better by continuing to rely 432 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:52,720 and trust and lean on him? 433 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,920 Will you consider him better than the gift that was given? 434 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,800 Sometimes we go, Lord, man, I could really use 435 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:01,240 some financial security right now, 436 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,360 will you provide for me? 437 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:06,440 And subsequent or sometime after that, we might go, 438 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:08,920 oh, there's this provision, right? 439 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,520 Thanks, God, and then we go and we lean into 440 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:14,720 and rely on the gift that was given 441 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:16,320 or the provision that was given 442 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,280 as if it was what gave us security and hope. 443 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:21,800 And we put our whole faith and trust in the thing 444 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:23,240 and we deny God. 445 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:27,240 God's testing us even when he gives us good things 446 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:32,240 to see will we still consider him better. 447 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:34,200 Is he still our treasure? 448 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,720 When you get good health reports, 449 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,160 do you put your faith and hope in your health 450 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,560 or is he still better? 451 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:43,720 Is he still your hope? 452 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,240 And you can see that when the experiences flip 453 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,000 and become pain experiences. 454 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,960 If they are pain, they're still tests from God. 455 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,080 Will you trust him? 456 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,240 Will you trust his goodness? 457 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,000 Will you trust his wisdom? 458 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:01,440 Will you trust his faithful love? 459 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:06,560 But you can also know that every pleasant experience 460 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:08,640 is also a temptation from Satan. 461 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:12,520 Will you idolize them? 462 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,440 Will you not thank God for them? 463 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:17,840 Will you make them supreme? 464 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,760 Will you find your greatest hope in them? 465 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,640 Will you see the pleasure, be it financial security 466 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,680 or sex or promotions at work or upward success 467 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,480 or whatever it is, will you see it 468 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:32,080 and make them your pursuit and your source of life? 469 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:34,880 The enemy would want nothing more 470 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,480 than that, that you would find your greatest hope 471 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:42,480 and treasure and joy in the things that are good 472 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,400 that become distorted in your heart. 473 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:54,840 If they are pains, they are temptations from Satan as well. 474 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:56,120 Don't trust God. 475 00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:59,280 Curse God for allowing this to happen to you. 476 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,080 Question God, I'm a good person, 477 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,840 how could you allow this sickness or this deep pain 478 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:07,000 or this sickness or this difficulty to come on me? 479 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:08,200 I've done everything right. 480 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:09,400 I've gone to church perfectly. 481 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,960 I don't cuss, I don't do anything. 482 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:14,600 Why would you allow this? 483 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,960 The temptation from Satan to not trust God, 484 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,720 to doubt his goodness, to doubt his wisdom, 485 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,720 to doubt his faithful love. 486 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,920 And with the understanding that every experience, 487 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,360 all of our experiences are tests from God 488 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:34,520 as well as temptations from Satan, 489 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:39,040 that both God will use it to test us and to form us 490 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,920 and Satan is lurking in the background trying to use it 491 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,520 to get us to turn our hearts and our affections toward it 492 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:45,720 and away from God. 493 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:46,760 With that understanding, 494 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,600 then we come to Matthew chapter six, verse 13. 495 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:52,880 With this understanding of life's experiences 496 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,960 and we see that what we find in Matthew six, 13 497 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,440 is that it is a prayer to God 498 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,920 that in all his testing of us 499 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,480 that he will not let the enemy get the upper hand. 500 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,120 God will test us. 501 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,480 Yes, test our faith and show it genuine. 502 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:15,680 Yes, use testing as this wonderful tool of grace 503 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:18,360 to prove the quality of the work of Jesus 504 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:20,240 and the Holy Spirit at work within us. 505 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,760 Yes, yes, yes, but God, Father, 506 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:24,800 don't let Satan ensnare me. 507 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,800 Don't let Satan ensnare me. 508 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,520 There's a Proverbs, I'm doing it off the top of my head 509 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,200 but it says something like this. 510 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,080 God, give me the necessary bread. 511 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,440 Give me the bread for today. 512 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,000 Don't give me poverty or else I might steal 513 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,200 and then profane your name. 514 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,760 And don't give me riches lest I forget you. 515 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:51,400 Give me just what I need. 516 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:52,880 Give me just what I need. 517 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,440 God will use these different things in our lives, 518 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,440 pleasures and pains to test the quality of our faith 519 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:03,800 so that we can continue to grow and learn. 520 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,920 But Satan is always lurking and prowling 521 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,520 to use them also for temptation, 522 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,040 to tell you to take hold of it 523 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,160 like he did in the garden with Adam and Eve. 524 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:15,680 This good thing that God had given, 525 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,320 the fruit of the garden and the one rule 526 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:20,760 to not eat of the certain tree and the certain fruit 527 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:21,600 and what does Satan do? 528 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,840 He's lurking there ready to destroy God's work to say, 529 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,000 did God really say that? 530 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:29,160 Doesn't it look good? 531 00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:31,880 If you just take it, it probably tastes good. 532 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:32,880 What does God know? 533 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:34,840 Right? 534 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,680 We need the Father to actively keep the enemy at bay 535 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:44,440 so that the testing in our life 536 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,440 doesn't cause us to fall into temptation. 537 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,760 Don't lead us through testing 538 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:55,760 to where we fall or succumb to the evil one and his temptation 539 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:00,320 but instead deliver us from the evil one. 540 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,760 In every test, God deliver us from it becoming 541 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,200 a faith destroying temptation. 542 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:12,640 We are desperately in need of God's mercy 543 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:16,000 to deliver us from the evil one and from his temptations. 544 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,080 And God says this is how we should pray. 545 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,960 We should recognize that we are always in danger. 546 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,120 Every experience, be it pleasure or pain, 547 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:27,040 is where the enemy is prowling 548 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,520 but it's also a place, an opportunity for us to trust 549 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:35,560 in our deliverer, the one who delivers us from the evil one. 550 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:38,120 I don't know if you know this about Jesus 551 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:40,920 but in his death and resurrection, 552 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,600 he conquered the evil one. 553 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,000 He gained victory over the evil one 554 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,440 and while the effects or the power of the evil one 555 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,120 is not fully drained and dispersed with 556 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:53,480 as it will be at the end of time, 557 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,360 if we are in relationship with God, 558 00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:59,360 if we are praying the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray 559 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:03,360 every single day to drive ourselves and our hope into God 560 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:07,560 even when we're experiencing good times or pain, 561 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,560 to remember that we could always lose God in the midst of it. 562 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,720 If we succumb to temptation but instead continue 563 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,160 to drive us into the Father's heart. 564 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:23,320 That's what this final phrase or final petition 565 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:25,960 in the Lord's Prayer is leading us to. 566 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,640 And invite the worship team to come up. 567 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:29,640 See that wasn't too bad. 568 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:31,840 One point, a couple minutes. 569 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:35,840 Worship team's gonna lead us in a song in a moment 570 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:39,880 and we'll take communion but as we began to come up, 571 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,880 as we began to close our time together, 572 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,040 I just wanna ask you a couple questions. 573 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:50,840 I don't know what you came in with. 574 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,240 Some of you are probably experiencing temptations 575 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,360 and trials right now. 576 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,560 See because while every experience in life 577 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,360 is a temptation and a trial, 578 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:02,760 there are some that are very acute 579 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,440 or that bring us to awareness. 580 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,320 And this message I think that the word is trying 581 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,240 to teach us is be aware always. 582 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,720 The enemy is always probably, he's always around the corner. 583 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,760 He's the unseen danger at every turn. 584 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,200 And you very well could say, oh but my life is good. 585 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:21,040 Be alert. 586 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,880 Oh I have everything that I want and I need. 587 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:26,080 Be alert. 588 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:29,520 Don't let your guard down. 589 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,760 Oh I'm in pain, I'm going through a very difficult time. 590 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:34,760 Be alert. 591 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,400 I can promise you that the enemy is active on both sides, 592 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,400 pleasure and pain. 593 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,360 I've seen many people derail their faith, 594 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:44,320 abandon their faith, destroy their faith, 595 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,800 shipwreck, whatever you wanna call it, 596 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:51,240 in times of pleasure as much as in times of pain. 597 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:56,200 Times of abundance where they forgot God. 598 00:27:57,680 --> 00:27:59,560 And the Lord's Prayer drives us back to say, 599 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:04,320 God I'm gonna live my life as if every experience, 600 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,440 every moment, pleasure or pain, 601 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:11,120 that I need you to deliver me from the evil one. 602 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:13,040 I need you to deliver me. 603 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:15,720 We sang it earlier, Lord I need you. 604 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,960 Yes I need you every hour, minute, second, breath. 605 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:23,840 I need you. 606 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:29,000 He's our one defense, our only righteousness, 607 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,960 only connection to God, we need him. 608 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,040 And so do you trust God enough to ask him 609 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,560 to guide you through both the testing and the temptation 610 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:38,400 today? 611 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,160 And I'll ask you this, what else or who else 612 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,080 but God can deliver you from the schemes of an enemy 613 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,320 that you can't see? 614 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:51,640 At least when me and my wife are on the side of the road, 615 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:53,760 we can hear the car coming and we can see it. 616 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:56,240 What about the blind side that the enemy can bring 617 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,960 right in the middle of absolute elation and joy 618 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,560 the temptation that he'll lay before you 619 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,960 that you might fall into his trap? 620 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,840 You need God to deliver you, who else can deliver you? 621 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,480 The final thing I'll ask is do you treasure God? 622 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:16,480 Is he better, is he better than all other things? 623 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:19,720 Than all good things and all bad things? 624 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,920 Is he better than everything that you have in this world? 625 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,520 Than everything that you have in this world? 626 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,640 You know when that's most tested, right? 627 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:33,040 When you're losing it. 628 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,240 That's when you know, that's when it's tested. 629 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,200 That's when the quality of the faith is tested most, 630 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:42,680 is when you're losing it all. 631 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,200 And some of you have gone through some difficult times, 632 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,280 some of you have gone through health crisis and issue. 633 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,320 And maybe at the beginning you started to doubt 634 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:54,680 a little bit. 635 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:56,760 I don't know how strong this faith is. 636 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,040 But I promise you that if you prayed, God deliver me. 637 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,200 If you prayed, God deliver me even through this 638 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,760 and be it life or death, you are better. 639 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:09,680 That's the truth that bears down. 640 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,880 If you do life or death, you are better. 641 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,640 Then what can the enemy take from you? 642 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,600 And what can this life take from you? 643 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,120 Would you have the one thing that lasts, 644 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,720 the one thing that's eternal, the one thing that's solid? 645 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,560 This life can't take anything from you if he is better. 646 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:29,760 But if that money or that job or that status 647 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:31,080 or whatever else, that's better, 648 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,120 then when it's taken, everything is gone. 649 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,360 My life is destroyed, I've got nothing. 650 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:38,720 Choose what's better. 651 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,160 Choose what lasts. 652 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,920 Pray the prayer daily, recognizing the unseen danger. 653 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:51,480 God, do not deliver me over to temptation, 654 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,200 but deliver me from the evil one. 655 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,280 I believe God honors that prayer. 656 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,120 And we know that in Christ Jesus, 657 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:06,280 he has triumphed over death and the evil one 658 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:09,640 in the shedding of his blood 659 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:11,880 for the redemption of those who believe. 660 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:18,000 Finally, I'll say before we receive our communion elements 661 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,560 is this, if you're here and you've never before, 662 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:23,120 put your hope and faith in Christ. 663 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:27,160 If you haven't, bow the knee or bend the knee 664 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,600 and bow the head and see him as Lord, 665 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,560 declare him as Lord of your life. 666 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,400 Put your hope and faith in the thing that will last. 667 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,240 Make him better than all other things. 668 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:43,360 Then I wanna invite you to make that choice, 669 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,920 make that decision, make that leap today, 670 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:50,920 to follow Christ, to let go of all lesser things 671 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,720 and hold on to what is better and what will last. 672 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,600 He will never fail you. 673 00:31:57,600 --> 00:31:59,760 He will never let you down. 674 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:04,760 Even if life, sickness, the enemy, take all things from you, 675 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,320 you will have what lasts and you will have it for eternity. 676 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:14,600 Put your faith and hope in Christ. 677 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:40,880 In Christ, will you pray with me?