So I was nervous. I was nervous because I wanted to go on a 2nd date with this girl. Her name was Samantha. And uh and I was nervous because, see, we had been friends for a few years at this point. We're in the same friend group and, and just full transparency, this does not sound great coming from a pastor, but our first date was actually because of a bet. Uh, she lost the bet and owed me dinner and so we went out as friends and, and, uh, I, for those that know me know that I'm really competitive and this is awful, but, uh, we hung out, it was great and, and laughed for hours and when the bill came, I'm like a bet's a bet and I made her pay for our first date, so Samantha paid my now wife paid for our first date. And I've been paying ever since, um. I know it's not good guys don't do that don't follow, don't, don't make your first date bet and don't let the girl pay, OK? Um, and so, but what what happened there was we were friends for years and so when we went out we were just hanging as friends, right? And, uh, but something changed that night and I always thought she was cute, uh, but we didn't really spend a lot of time together and so but when we were hanging out, it was just so fun, like it was so easy, like we were just talking, we were laughing and we were talking for hours and it was awesome. And so I got home from that date and I was like, I've got to see this girl again, and I this might surprise you, uh, cause I know I look pretty smooth, um. But I had 0 game when it came to the ladies, and so I had no game and I was a nervous wreck. I could speak in front of thousands totally fine. A conversation with a girl couldn't get a word out. And uh and so I was like, how do I approach this? because I don't know where her head's at. Like I loved it like it was awesome. I was like I've got to see this girl again. But we've been friends friend zoned for 3 years, right? And so I was like, I don't, I was like, oh I got it I got it. I'm gonna do the accidental run into you. I knew her schedule, not stalkerish at all, um, and so I'm gonna bump into her, right? It's gonna be natural, it's gonna flow great, right? It's gonna be so very smooth and so I, I knew she was gonna be working out at the fitness center, so like, oh, I'll bump into her at the fitness center. That's cash, you know, that's cash, um, who even says cash, um, anyway. So I go in, I did not think this through because I was coming from class. So I was in khakis and a golf polo. And with the puka shell necklace back in the day, those are sweet. And uh, and, and walking in and I bumped into her on the leg press machine because that's natural as she's on the leg press machine at the university fitness center and I'm in khakis and a polo and a puka shell necklace. But, oh, funny to see you here. It's, it's like, what are you doing? She's like, I'm working out. What are you doing? And I was like, oh, well, if, if you're not. I couldn't even look her in the eye. I was like, if you're not kind of uh doing anything this weekend, uh, maybe she goes. Are you asking me on a date? And I, uh, no joke, I go, I, I head goes down. I go, yes. And, uh, and, and despite all my smooth moves, um, she, she said yes to me and the rest is history, and we've now been married for 18 years. So, yeah. If you can clap a little louder because he's in the room at this point for service, he wasn't there, but so it's good. And so here's the thing, I fumbled my words. I was nervous. I didn't know what to say, um, but the reason I wanted to go back out with her was because of the connection. Right, it was so easy to talk to her that that really our relationship was based on just connection and conversation, right? And that's really the basis for healthy relationships at any level, whether it's marriage, whether it's friendship, whether it's parent child that if you have healthy honest conversations sometimes even hard conversations, right? If you have honest conversations and then personal connection and time, right, if you have talking and if you have time together. That's the foundation for for good relationships, isn't it? Now it's the beginning of the new year, and so it's the time for New Year's resolutions, and I get that I'm all I'm on board for that. I love setting goals. But more than just a New Year's resolution, we want to give you a spiritual foundation for your life. And so the next 3 weeks, we're gonna talk about prayer. And if you're taking notes, I encourage you to write this down, that prayer is not a button to be pushed. But a relationship to be pursued. It's not a button to be pushed, but a relationship to be pursued. You see, we think of prayer as such a formal thing, such a religious thing to do. Right, and and it is, it's not less than that. But prayer at its core. It's not so much about religion as much as it is relationship. It's taking the time. And talking with God. The most simple definition of prayer is just talking with God. It's a conversation with the God who made you, with the God who saved you. And see like me in that attempt to get a date, I fumbled the words and and made them say like that it's not in the actual words that you say like it's you don't have to get it correct, right? It's about the relationship and the connection that you have. If you've ever been in a a Bible study or a prayer or or Christian group of any kind, if you ever had to follow like the super prayer. You know what I'm talking about like the person that can pray, like can pray, pray, like there's people can pray and the people that can pray, pray, you know what I'm saying? Like they got multiple names for God, they're quoting scripture, Jehovah Jirah, like they're quoting Greek, like they're all this stuff and they're just passionate and then it's your turn, you're like, uh. Reminds me of, uh, I, I saw a post online of Christmas lights and one house just went all out and it was amazing and the house next to it either didn't want to make the effort or they didn't have the budget, so they just spelled out the word in lights, ditto. And sometimes it can feel like that in prayer, right? Like someone's praying and they're going and then it's your turn and you're like, uh. Yeah, what they said. Right But the power of prayer. OK, the power of prayer. It's not just the words you say, but the person you're saying them to. Right? It's not a button to be pushed. A box to be checked. A list to be completed. Prayer at its core is a relationship to be pursued. And you get a chance to have a conversation with the God of the universe. That's pretty cool, right? And you can grow in that relationship. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna learn about prayer, how the disciples learned about prayer, and how Jesus himself taught the disciples about prayer. That's why our series is called Lord Teach us to pray. And so what we're gonna do for the next 3 weeks is that we're gonna begin and end every sermon by reciting the Lord's prayer. Now, depending on what tradition in the faith, if you grew up in a tradition in the faith, you might have practiced saying this Lord's prayer. This is one of those cases where there is some overlap in those traditions because it comes from a biblical context. And so it's a chance for you to, to practice that, and we're gonna say that collectively as a church family. But then we're gonna spend the next 3 weeks actually diving deeper into what the Lord's Prayer actually means, where it came from, how does it apply to us today? OK? So here's what we're gonna do. I want everybody to stand up, go ahead, everybody stand up right now, and then together we're gonna recite the Lord's prayer, OK? And then we're gonna teach on it, and then we're gonna end the service in the same way. All right, let's go ahead and recite the Lord's prayer together. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not unto temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen. Thank you, you guys can have a seat. Uh, there's no bonus points, by the way, of finishing that prayer first. Some of you are like, if I pray it faster, then I'm, I, I'm more spiritual. I mean, you are, but, uh, just don't tell their neighbor that, no. Um. That's called the Lord's Prayer, OK? It's been recited for thousands of years. Now that last phrase, OK, thine is the power of the glory kingdom, OK, uh, was typically added in church tradition. So while it's not found in scripture, uh, those concepts, it's actually very rich in theology, so kingdom, glory, power, those concepts are actually found throughout scripture. So I have no problem praying that phrase, uh, in there because you might not see it in the words in the prayer if you read Matthew 6 or Luke chapter 11. Uh, but theologically they're accurate still as we're praying for that, so it's kind of a nice book in there. So, um, so we prayed the Lord's prayer, but let's talk about it. Let's talk about Jesus. See, he was with his disciples and in Luke chapter 11 verse 1, we read this. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Now imagine being able to spend 3, 3.5 years with Jesus Christ. Imagine being able to ask him to teach you things. What's fascinating to me is that the disciples did not say Jesus, teach us to preach. Jesus, teach us to serve. Jesus, teach us to walk on water. Teach us to heal people. Now, the disciples would preach. They would serve, they would heal. But what they asked Jesus to teach them how to do is to pray. And I think the reason they did that is because prayer was the catalyst for everything else. That he prayed in such a way that the disciples saw and so I want that. You see, prayer was a regular practice of Jesus. Prayer was a regular practice of Jesus, meaning he did it all the time. See this points to the fact that prayer is about relationship. Because if you want a healthy relationship, it means regular communication. Right. If someone said, John, how is your marriage? I don't say December 16, 2006. Yes, that was our wedding date, OK, 18 years ago, but like, no, John, how was your marriage? OK. But here's why this applies because as Christians, a lot of times say, hey, how, how is your faith? How are you doing? I prayed a prayer when I was 6. Or I went to church Sunday. I went to church last Christmas, or I went to, and we, and we, and we put a box in the place. But if the only time I talked to my wife was on a Sunday. That would not be a healthy relationship, right? Prayer is the chance to talk with God and Jesus modeled this all the time. In fact, over 30 times in the Gospels, Jesus was described as getting away to talk with his heavenly Father. And you can't get enough of God. How do I know that to be true? Because Jesus was part of the Trinity, God the Father of Jesus' Son and the Holy Spirit, always was and always will be. So he's already spent eternity with God the Father, and that wasn't enough. That as things got busy, Jesus got praying. And we tend to put our faith aside when we get busy, don't we? When we, when the schedule is full, when the calendar is full, or if I only had time. Right, or we're stressed out or we're worried. When that's the exact time you need God more than ever. Check out this verse in Luke 5:15-16. It says, now when even more, the report about Jesus went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities, Even more this was happening. So his schedule and calendar was getting full. The ministry was happening, the ministry was growing, it was multiplying. There were crowds of people, there were things to do. There were people to heal, there were sermons to preach, but Jesus would withdraw to desolate places and pray. However busy you are. I don't think you're more busy than Jesus was. I mean, I, I, I'm assuming you got an important purpose because I believe God created you on purpose for purpose, but I don't think your purpose was to save the world. And even in those moments, even in the craziness of ministry and the craziness of all those things, and I'm just preaching to myself right now, and here that, that even in the craziness of no matter how busy things got, Jesus said, nope, I have a higher priority to get away with God, my father. So prayer was a practice of Jesus. Second thing we see in here is that prayer is really an anchor for your soul. Prayer is an anchor for your soul because it's not a button to be pushed, it's a relationship to be pursued. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 6 verse 19 writes this. He says, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain. I love that imagery to think of like in the storms of life in the waves of everything that you have on your calendar in this new year, all the problems all the issues all the struggles in the middle of all of that you have an anchor that will not move for your soul. Kent Hughes in his book Disciplines of a Godly Man has a great analogy for prayer. He says prayer is like tying your boat to the shore. When you tie your boat to the shore and you pull on the rope, are you pulling the shore to the boat, or are you pulling your boat to the shore? You're pulling the boat to the shore, aren't you? That's what happens when we pray. When we pray, we are aligning our hearts with God's heart. We're aligning our will with God's will. We'll teach more on that next week. And so we're not just asking Jesus to come along for our journey, but we're saying, God, where are you moving? What are you doing? I wanna be a part of your life. I submit my will to you. Why? Because prayer is not a button to be pushed. But a relationship to be pursued. It's about having connection and conversation with the God who made you and who loved you and it's about your own personal connection. Right, we can do it as a community, but you can also do it individually. Right? Because those best, those conversations happen one on one. Right Pastor Tyler Staton put it this way, he says, prayer in any form by anybody is God's invitation to pull up a chair to the table and enjoy restful, intimate, unbroken conversation with the triune God. If you could invite anybody in the world over for dinner, who would it be? If you can invite any celebrity, any athlete. OK, any actor, actress, musician, politician, if you can invite anybody over for dinner, who would it be? Whoever that person would be, you'd be pretty excited, right? Why? Because you're not just knowing about someone, you're getting to know someone on a personal level. Well as Christians, as believers, you have a personal invitation to a conversation with God. At any time. You don't even have to speak it out loud. It's like an Alexa for your mind. Does that scare anybody else, by the way? You're just in your house, you say Alexa. Perks up, right? scares me a little bit, but, but anyway, but like, God, here's everything and he's just waiting to have a conversation with you. I love that. Now, we already recited the Lord's prayer that's found in Luke 11, also found in Luke chapter Matthew chapter 6. The prayer is found in Matthew 69 to 13. But let's take a look at the posture of prayer about how Jesus actually sets it up here in um in the beginning of the verses there starting in verse 5. Jesus says, and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Notice here what's the purpose of their prayer? Is to be seen by others, right? Prayers for them, prayers for recognition, prayers for acknowledgement, that's called religion, right? I say that um it that they have been seen by the truly I say to you that they have already received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door, and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees you in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. See, the religious people in those days were praying to look good. When Jesus says, no, when you pray, just speak to God. Because when you pray to God, it's about the personal connection with him. Right, if the only time I acknowledged my wife was in public, that would be not good, right? I acknowledge her in public, which I, again, I don't, I got shy talking to her one on one, but I don't really get embarrassed. So I would love when we're in college to embarrass her like in public settings. I'd be like, hey, Sam, and she like put her head down like the girl with her head down right there. Like, and so like I went and and I had some fun with that because I'm a quirky person. Um, and so anyway, um, but if that was the only time I talked to her, that would not be a healthy relationship, right? Our best. Conversations. Are ones that none of you are a part of. Why? Because it's personal, it's one on one, it's intimate, it's time together. If the only time you talk to God is in public setting like this, I wanna tell you that you're missing out. You're missing out. Because the best relationships. Involve open, vulnerable, honest, sometimes hard conversation and connection one on one with the person that you love. That's what God wants with you. That's the posture of prayer. It's intentional. Do you have a place where you pray? And see, this is where you can make it that works for you. You see, I was talking with someone actually in between services of how I struggled with comparison as a pastor because there would be certain individuals who like, I woke up at 3 in the morning and I prayed for everyone by name for 7 hours. I'm like. I'm like the ADHD prayer, right, like I'm like, dear Lord. I pray for this day. What's the, what do I have to do today? Let's, man, I'm hungry. I need to go to the store. I should get some milk. Well, if I'm at the store, then I should go and, uh, I mean, dear Lord, uh, back to the prayer as if he didn't notice, you know, I would do that. OK. And so I'm not one of those guys that can sit for a long time. But I started actually just going for walks with my dog Sophie or or in the drive and I just started speaking out loud. And it was amazing how much my prayer life improved. Just getting moving and active, right? So there's places for me that matter so like when I was in this building I actually come to this exact spot at night when no one was here and I would pray for the church building. I would go for walks in the desert behind our park or on the drive, I would pray with my eyes closed and say, dear Lord, take the wheel. No, just kidding, I would do that. Eyes are open. It's amazing how much you can pray in the car though. Right, if you're going, cause it's just you and God. And screaming children in the back, but I just, you know, turn on the music now. um, but just find that time, right? Another spot for me is a leather chair in our living room. When I wake up Right, and you have this connection. With God Do you have a place, do you have a time where you just have a conversation with him one on one. I'm telling you it's awesome. Not a button to be pushed as relationship to be pursued. So Jesus says this here now, uh, there's 6 components of the prayer we're gonna go through 2 of them each week between now and these next, uh, 2 Sundays. So let's read that first verse of the prayer. Matthew 6:9, pray then like this Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. First thing to acknowledge here in the prayer is that when you address God as Father in heaven, you begin your prayer in God's presence. You begin your prayer in God's presence. Again, it's way more important, the presence of a parent than it is the words of a child. In John 1:12, it says, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave right to become children of God. Paul writes in Romans 8:14-15, he says, for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you do not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry Abba Father. That word Abba is actually Aramaic. It's his personal declaration and connection to God as your heavenly Father. And he's in heaven, but also in the heavens, meaning surrounding. He is everywhere at once, that you can go to him at any time that you get to cry out, Abba, Father. This is what separates Christianity from other religions because of that personal connection with God. There's a great uh photo. I don't have it in here, um, but if you've seen it, you can Google it, uh, but John F. Kennedy working in the Oval Office and he's, and he's running the country and his kids are playing under the desk, right? The only reason that works is because it's his child. Right. Because being a child gives you different access. You know, I'll wake up in the morning, sit in my leather chair, drink some coffee, right? And one of my favorite things is when my little daughter Chloe comes out wrapped in a little blanket, massive bed hair, right? Come in, doesn't say a word, and just kind of sits on my lap. I love that. We turn on Bluey We watch an episode or two. Sometimes I forget she leaves the room and I'm still watching. Come on, parents, you've done that, OK. But I love that. OK, when she just comes in, we have that time together. I love all of you. But if I see any of you at 6 in the morning and you try to sit in my lap, it's not OK. OK. And that seemed like a ridiculous illustration, but understand this you are a son or a daughter of God. That you have direct access to him to go at any point in time, because being a child gives you different access. That at any point in time. And that when we pray our Father in heaven, we understand that our prayer really goes through it really begins in God's presence. That's the purpose of prayer. It's not to get stuff. It's not God's not Robin Williams in the original Aladdin, where he's a genie that we get to rub the lamp and then we ask for things. The purpose of prayer is the presence of God. It's a relationship with him. You're aligning your heart with his heart. Now you can ask him stuff, you can bring stuff to him, but it's so much deeper than that because it is a relationship. And here's the thing. My daughter was so precious to me was that when we had to adopt her and make it official. There's one thing when she was in our home, but it was another when the adoption cleared and I got this look her in the eye and say you're mine. God loves you so much. And we can have a conversation with him at any time. What's so cute too when babies learn to talk, right? You know, there, there's always a competition between parents. You don't say there's a competition, but there is one, right? Of which word you get first, data or mama, OK. We have an unfair advantage with the word dada, but I'll take it because we need all we can get. Um, but when she uttered the words Dada for the first time. I didn't go, uh, not a complete sentence. Work on your pronunciation and come back to me. Just the uttering of a word was enough to move my heart, right? Cause there are kids who like are like genius level, right? We have some of them here in Grove Kids. Have you ever had a conversation with little Don, little Donnie? No joke, like a year or two ago, I, I, I swear he was like just out of diapers. He was like one. I was like, hey, Donnie, hey, Don, how's it going? He's like, those are cumulus clouds. I was like, wait, what? I don't even know what cumulus clouds are. After church, I'm gonna get tutored by Donnie. He's gonna run the world someday. We're all gonna work for him, OK? But When you're a parent and your child just has an utterance or a groan or a note or a cough or like the presence of a parent is so much more valuable than the words of a child. And so just as I was nervous trying to ask out my future wife, I'd stumbled all over myself. The end goal was I got to have a conversation with her. Right? So don't think you have to have certain phrasing or, or, or, or things together to go to God. You are a son or daughter of God and God wants to have a relationship and a connection with you. So you just start where you are. Our father, Ava. Second part of that prayer is hallowed be thy name. Right. Now I'm guessing you're probably not using the word hollow throughout the week, right? You're not like. Like you're, it's not regular part of the vocabulary. But hallowed be the name is really means to begin your prayer with praise. And instead of just simply starting your prayers asking for stuff. Go to God. And acknowledge who he is. Hallow is connected to the word holy. Holy means to be set apart. We sang about that holiness. And here's the thing, is that holiness we think is about morality and purity, which it is. But it's actually so much more than that. The late pastor Tim Keller put it this way, he says, to hallow God's name is to have a grateful heart towards God and the wondrous sense of his beauty. Now, do you make God holy? Does your acknowledgement of God's holiness change anything about his characteristics? No. He's holy whether you acknowledge him or not. Is that fair to say? So why do we hollow it? Why is that important? Because there is value in you acknowledging the holiness, the goodness, the purity, the beauty, the wonder that is God. See, there's 6 different um petitions in the prayer, hallowed be thy name, Your kingdom come, your will be done. Right? Give us this day our daily bread, right? Forgive our sins, right? Lead us not into temptation. See, all of these, I think the last 5 are actually a reflection of the first one. Lord, everything in my life may it glorify your name. May everything in my prayer hollow your name. May I acknowledge the goodness, the holiness, the love, the beauty that is your name. May everything in my life be directed towards reflecting who you are. That before I ask anything, I just acknowledge that you are good. So that when your kingdom come, may it come so that your name is hallowed. When your will be done, will you do so so that your name is glorified. May you give us this daily bread so I can have the energy to return praise to you. May you forgive us our sins so that way we hollow and glorify your forgiveness. May you lead us not from temptation, because when we turn from the path of darkness and worship and praise and celebrate and share your light, your hope, your goodness, hallowed be thy name. Apostle John gets a vision in Revelation 4, a picture of heaven, and he describes this in Revelation 4:8. He says, and the four living creatures, each of them with six wings are full of eyes. Around and with and and within and day and night, and they never cease to say, holy, holy holy. Is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. There are created beings called angels who are only created to worship, and they can't even get past the opening line. Holy, holy, holy. Repeating something three times is like the superlative, right? It's holy, holy, or holiest. And so in there, they're saying, holy, hallowed be the name, the goodness of God. We're getting a master class in prayer. The disciples are learning from Jesus himself how to pray. You know that's a thing nowadays, isn't it, right, those master classes, right, or masterminds. You can, you can learn anything from anybody now, right? You can, there's a course on how to shoot a basketball like Steph Curry or how to decorate a house like Chip and Joanna Gaines or how to actually execute in a college playoff by Ohio State. Sorry, sorry, I had to, had to look, if your team's still playing, you can talk to me, but anyway, um, feels good. Sorry, I'm just recovering, it's that competitive nature of me. You can get a master class in anything now. The disciples and us are getting a master class in how to pray and talk to the God who loves us and Jesus modeled himself. And so we go to him understanding that we're in God's presence, but then we also go to Him in praise because we hollow his name, we lift it up. Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 10:31. He says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. I love that you can eat to the glory of God. OK. Think about it. Jesus, OK, fed people there were leftovers. Jesus loves leftovers. Uh, there's a storm. Jesus was taking a nap. Jesus takes naps, and you can eat to the glory of God. Come on, Christianity is pretty great. I'm just saying. So you go through, but in everything you do throughout your day, do you acknowledge the power and the praise and the presence of God? When you pray the Lord's prayer, you're saying, Father Abba. I come to you as your child. May you be glorified. In everything. Does our life reflect that? So here's what we wanna do here, OK. We wanna know that prayer is not a button to be pushed. It's a relationship to be pursued. My prayers talking with God. And so what we want to do here in these 3 weeks, we want to give you a chance to do that. So I wanna challenge you to take that 21 day prayer challenge. What does that look like? Real simple here is number one, I want you to pray the Lord's prayer every day. For 21 days and see what happens. And we're not praying just to change your circumstance. It might. It might change your circumstance, it might change your situation. I don't know, but what I do know for sure is that it will change you. And your thoughts and your approach and your heart and your mindset. As you pull your boat to shore, an anchor for your soul, connecting with the God who made you, loves you, who saves you, and wants to know you and wants you to know him. We pray that every day. Second thing I want to challenge you to do is then spend some additional time in scripture and in prayer. Given away a guide, uh, here it's again it was produced by Converger. It's called the King's Agenda. It's gonna go with our series here. You can scan that code, um, you can, you know, we have some copies out there. You can take that if we have any left, uh, you can get on Amazon. Look, if you're already in a reading plan, if you're already in something like go for that. I'm not, I'm not necessarily concerned in the specific plan, but I just, I want you in scripture. I want you in the word. Why? Because it makes a difference. OK, what I'd love to know again is to bring this card back up if you're gonna commit to pray with me for 21 days, I would love to pray for you. And so can you grab that connect card and see pocket in front of you just throw your name on there, and just somewhere on that card, right, I'm in. Because as you're praying, I wanna be praying for you, OK? I want you to know that. And you can turn that in, you can, you can pass it up front, you can drop it in the box your way out, drop it off at the table if you're watching online just comment online. Let's spend these next 21 days praying. With the god Who saves us. Will you stand And can we recite this Lord's prayer one more time? Understanding that it is not a button to be pushed but a relationship to be pursued. Let us stand and let's say this Lord's prayer together. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.