Prelude
Pastor Mike has a worldwide reputation for being a man of love, and a man of restoration - he is a restorer. To me, that's all I need to know.
Paul said: “let him who is spiritual, restore gently those who have fallen”.
People that have issues - which is most of us, the other ones have denial issues! We need a father figure to be around, to restore us when we get our head all messed up, and you've got a great man over this place. It's an honour for me to be here with you.
Introduction
I want to talk about your life with God; and I want to share my own story, to allow some insight.
Matthew 6. Jesus is talking, and Jesus' is a First Century Jewish Rabbi, so He's coming from that perspective. There are all kinds of innuendos, different things that they would have seen and thought of immediately.
One of the common things, if you were a rabbi's disciple - you would ask him things like: what is the summation of the Torah? The Torah was so big and broad and wide, you couldn't get your head around all of it; but they wanted to please God, so they would ask the rabbi: can you just sum it all up in one or two sentences?
They would ask Jesus things like this; and Jesus would say things like: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; love your neighbour as yourself.”
They would ask Him things about money; about marriage and kids; how to walk with God. On one occasion, Jesus was teaching people how to walk with God, and about Prayer, and He said this:
Main Message
Matthew 6:5 - “When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full; but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret..”
That's the key I want to talk about tonight is: what is done in secret
”... your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you”.
When you pray, do not keep on babbling like the Pentecostals do! For they think they'll be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them - for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
I'll walk with God - for me that cut out 90% of my praying, at the time, because my praying was just ‘making requests’. I needed a paradigm shift, and there's so much in this.
He says: “This then is how you should pray - Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name”.
There are all kinds of Hebraic innuendos here; Hebraic concepts of ‘Father’, which I don't have time to go into; and a Hebraic concept of ‘Heaven’, which you have to translate as plural - ‘Heavens’.
The most common translation of that word would be: ‘air that we breathe’. Our western world has a concept (from translations) that: God's way up there; and we're way down here.
Surely Jesus wasn't saying: when you pray, say “my Father - who is in a place I have no idea where it is - hallowed be your name” - because where's heaven?
The idea of Father was a ‘supplier’, or ‘generator’ of something.
So He was saying: “My supply, which is as close to me as the air that I'm breathing - hallowed be that name”.
The word ‘hallowed’ is the word ‘Hagiastheto’, which means to ‘render’, ‘acknowledge’, or ‘become aware of’.
John 17:6 - He's praying again, and He says “Father, I have manifested your name.”
I have become everything that you are, to a group of people - I've showed them everything You can be.