So you just want to just say a few words. We are going to begin the book of Acts, and we are looking forward to having John Cohen doing an introduction for us.
But tonight we wanted to look at a video by Dr. Tou Saint, from Dallas.
Theological he's actually passed away. But longtime Bible expositor at that theological seminary.
But before we do that I just wanted to mention a couple of things.
If we could be praying for he is going to be giving the first Sunday Summer Series sermon for us on Sunday night, and also for the rest of the men that will be coming up doing that.
And then also for the men who will be teaching through acts also. So without further ado, we would like to begin the video, then thank you very much.
Senior professor, Emeritus of Bible Exposition.
He's a pastor teacher committed to expository preaching some of you have had the privilege of having him in class, and I have an affectionate term that I use for him.
Mr. Precision, his exactness with which he does his exit Jesus, and does his communication of the text is deeply appreciated.
He served at Dts. Since 1960, with a little interruption when he served as President of Western Bible Institute in Denver.
He's pastored. For more than 20 years he's been an editor and author, a teacher, a conference speaker in demand all around the world, and he's taught in schools in the Middle East Australia, in the Far East, and has filled pulpits literally around the Globe.
One of our senior administrative faculty members yesterday told me, after hearing the message yesterday, it reminded him of why he came to Dallas Seminary so many years ago as a student, that he's married to Maxine, who was here yesterday she's not
able to be here today. She's mentoring some of our wives, our wives of students, and they have 2 adult sons.
Would you welcome, Dr. Stan? 2 saint to our pulpit again?
Yesterday we learned that the core of the spiritual life there's nothing more, nothing less, nothing else than the life that leads to spiritual maturity.
That's what the spiritual life is all about. Nothing secret, nothing special, no magic formulas.
The spiritual life is the kind of life that leads to spiritual maturity.
Now, I don't know about you, but I found that tremendously freeing.
No rules, no regulations. It's just a life with God.
As you walk with God, you will mature, of course, along in the way the Lord uses many things, and one of these things is a topic that I'd like to discuss today.
Extremely difficult topic. If you've ever worked in youth conferences or family conferences, you'll notice that as part of their recreation program, some of these will have a huge ball about 6 or 6 feet in diameter, they'll divide into teams and the goal of course is to push
that ball across the opponent's gold line they'll come together and the ball will pop up in the arrow's squirt to the side.
It's impossible to control, because you can't get your arms around it.
Well, that's what I feel about this topic. The subject I'm talking about is prayer.
A wonderful topic, but extremely difficult to control. I'd like to have 2 points this morning, which means tomorrow.
You owe me an extra point, because every good sermon has 3 points.
I would first of all like to define prayer, then, secondly, give the primary purpose of prayer.
So let's begin with a definition of prayer.
What is prayer? You hear all kinds of definitions of prayer, like prayer, is talking with God, just conversing with God.
Prayer is praise, prayer is adoration, prayer is worship, prayer is thanks.
Giving. None of those really hit. What prayer is all about?
What prayer really is is nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, than asking God for something.
Prayer is asking God for something. That's exactly what prayer is.
And I'd like to defend that. Now I can just sense a spirit of skepticism, in unbelief out there, so I don't like to defend that in 2 ways.
This morning. First of all, I'd like to take the Lord's Prayer. So if you will turn to Matthew, chapter 6, Matthew, chapter 6.
There is much the Lord says about prayer here that we cannot discuss but I'd like to get across the concept.
What he's teaching us here in the area of what prayer is all about.
He says in verse 7, when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition.
Which doesn't mean you should repeat your prayers.
It has the idea of just empty-headedly reciting things.
Do not use meaningless reference, as the Gentiles or the heathen do, for they suppose that they'll be heard for their many words.
Therefore do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.
Pray, then, in this way. In other words, when you pray, pray like this, this is a model, nothing wrong with praying.
This prayer, unless you use it in meaningless recitation.
The strange thing is what the Lord said. Don't do has happened to the model prayer.
People with empty hearts and heads, just as vacuous.
Pray this prayer. They don't even realize what they're saying Sunday after Sunday, so let's take a look at what the Lord is saying.
Pray like this our Father worked in heaven. Hallowed it, be thy need you'll notice some books, and prayer will say, See, you always begin with worship.
You begin with adoration, because the Lord prayer begins, hallowed it be Thy name.
Well, the Greek New Testament is not saying that at all the Greek, New Testament literally is a command.
It's imperative. Lord, make your name to be hallowed.
Make your name to be revered, something that is not taking place on earth today.
Today. God's name is blaspheme. People mock God.
There's no fear of God before their eye. God's name is not Hallen, but every Jew would know immediately what this meant.
Make your name be hallowed. It goes back to Ezekiel.
Chapter 36. So if you will keep your fingers at Matthew 6, and slip back, for you will to Ezekiel Ezekiel.
Chapter 36. And you'll notice, Ezekie here is talking about his name.
God's name, and here's what, what, what, what God says.
I'm in Ezekiel, chapter 36, starting with verse 16.
Then the word the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds.
Their way before me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity, therefore I poured out my wrath on them, for the blood which they had shed on the land because they had defiled it with their idols, and I scatter them among the nations, and they were dispersed
throughout the lands according to their ways and their deeds.
I judged them when they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name because it was instead of them.
These are the people of Yahweh. Yet they have come out of his land.
But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God is not for your sake, oh, house of Israel, that I'm about to act, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you win, and I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, I will Hello, my
name, I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which is from profane among the nations which who profaned in their midst.
Then the nations will know that. I am. The Lord, declares the Lord God, when I prove myself wholly among you in their sight.
4. I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you. You'll be clean.
There'll be spiritual rebirth, and so on.
What's he saying? I'm going to bring Israel back to the land.
There be tremendous revival and I'm gonna bring the kingdom and all the nations will know that my name is great, because the name of Yahweh is associated with Israel.
So when the Lord Jesus said, Pray like this, pray, hallowed be Thy name.
He's basically saying, Bring your kingdom to the sermon.
Now let's look at the second request our Father are in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name, thy Kingdom!
Come, you couldn't put it any more pointedly than that.
Make your kingdom to come, cause your kingdom to come.
Now I know there are some people who say Well, what that really means is, make your kingdom to come into our hearts.
May your kingdom come into us, ladies and gentlemen, nowhere do you find the kingdom ever coming into a person.
It's the opposite. We enter the kingdom. So he's simply saying, Cause your kingdom to come.
Thirdly, that you will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Have you ever thought about how God's will is done in heaven?
Think about it. It's done perfectly done immediately, is done joyfully.
Make, your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Make your kingdom to come to this earth.
You know what the Lord Jesus is saying. When you pray, ask, ask for the coming of the Kingdom.
I get confed for that. I don't pray for the coming of the kingdom.
Not as I ought to, at least, but interestingly, in in Revelation, chapter 5, I believe it is.
There's a discussion of the incense which is the prayers of the saints.
Are sending up to the father, and then you have the trumpets.
Have you ever thought about that? Whereas chapter 8. I'm sorry.
Have you ever thought about that? The prayers of the saints?
Do you think it's for Aunt Susie's hip replacement, or Mike Jones's stock market?
No, those prayers must be in the context of revelation for the coming of the Kingdom.
In fact, when Romans age, we groan within ourselves, waiting for the revelation of the sons of God.
We're supposed to be praying for the kingdom and asking the kingdom to come.
The next 3 requests are for our needs in the interim.
Look what he says. Give us this day our daily bread.
We're not sure that we're daily means. They haven't found any any other Greek literature daily is about as good a translation as you're going to find, because it means either bread for tomorrow or bread for each day. But give us today.
Are daily bread. Did you notice, by the way, he doesn't say, Give us this day our daily cake?
It's bread. It's our day by day. Necessities.
In the meantime, Lord provide for us the next one. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, that one is so important that the Lord at the end appends an explanation.
Look at verse 14 for if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you if you do not forgive men, then your father will not forgive your transgression now, that's not talking about how to be saved.
Obviously he is talking to disciples. He's saying, you can't walk with God if you refuse to forgive other people their transgressions.
Remember what we said yesterday. You can tell how well a person's walking with God.
By the way he gets along with God's people if you have malignant heart of unforgiveness, you can't be walking with God.
There can't be any relationship with the Lord. Reminds me of the well-known old story of a little boy.
That went to a church where he recited the Lord's Prayer.
Every Sunday, only in that church, they said, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and he thought the prayer was, Forgive us, our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our trash baskets that's not bad so forgive
us our debt says we forgive our debtors.
It's a recognition of sin, and the confession of that sin, and I'm asking for forgiveness now.
The next one I find very difficult. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
No, we, nor from James, that the Lord does not tempt anybody but the seem to be saying this.
If I'm left to myself, I will walk right into sin.
I'll just stray into temptation Lord, leave me so that that doesn't happen now I know there are other times.
There are other translations, other concepts, because there were K.
Rosmos here made tribulation delivers from the tribulation, but probably he's talking about day by day.
Life, and that's the end of the Lord's Prayer.
Not so fast for thine is a kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.
That's adoration. But if you have a modern translation, you will find that there's something there to indicate that's not the best Greek manuscripts in fact, he comes right out of first chronicles of 2911.
You do find this in First Chronicles 2911, but it's not the best manuscript.
If you listen to Roman Catholic prayer, the Lord's Prayer, they will not say, for that is the Kingdom and the power, and the God forever, because at this point the Latin volgage is based on excellent manuscript traditions the best manuscripts don't
have it. Now that becomes important because what is the Lord saying?
When you pray, ask, ask, ask, when you pray, ask, ask, yes, pray like this, ask, ask, ask, what is prayer?
Is asking God for something. My first line of defense is the Lord's Prayer.
The second line of defense is the New Testament vocabulary for prayer.
When you look up the various words for prayer, they all mean to ask for something now, I don't want to bore you with technicalities, but let me just go through 6 verbs that are used for prayer in the New Testament.
These verbs obviously have corresponding nouns. But I'd like to just take 6 words for prayer.
The first is a common word for prayer, Prasukumai, and for you, dear people who haven't had Greek.
Let me give the the spelling of it in English, is PR.
OSEU ch o, ma! It's just the general word for prayer.
This were his only used a prayer to God. Never request of a king, no request to a human.
It's always prayer to God. It's the ones you find in Matthew. 6, verse 9.
When you pray, pray like this, but we know the verb means to ask because of James, chapter 5 or 17 and 18, which is one illustration.
You remember James? 5, 17 to 18, talks about Elijah?
Elijah is a person like we are like passions like us, and he prayed that it might not rain.
What did he do? He asked, that it might not rain then he prayed again that it might rain, and it rained.
What was he doing? He was asking God for something. Prasukamai!
The second word is ital a ITEO. Again you find a good illustration of it in James 1, 5.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.
I don't even have to interpret that one. Just translate it.
Ask interestingly, this verb normally means a lesser person asking a greater one for something.
For instance, in Matthew, chapter 7, I believe it's about verse 9, the Lord uses an illustration of of a boy asking his father for bread if the son asks the father for bed would he give him a stone if he asked for a fish will he give him a serpent
it's the lesser the son asking the father. So when when James says this, he is recognizing that we're asking someone far greater than we are for wisdom, but it basically means act. The third word Debt.
Oh, my! DEOM. A. II don't believe I spelled the second one.
I'm sorry. The second word is a ITE. Long goal.
I tell the third word is debt. Oh, my! You spell it de OMA.
I this verb emphasizes a need. You find it, for instance, in Matthew 9, 38.
Pray thee, therefore the Lord, the harvest. Did you notice the verse before that harvest is great?
The labors are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, there's a knee, so that my emphasizes a person's need when you use that word.
The fourth board is error towel, EROT, a o aero, tao.
Now that word is the closest thing we have to our English word.
Ask English in English, ask may mean to ask a question, or it mean to ask force something arrow Tao may mean to inquire to ask about something, or it may mean to ask for something, now I know when it comes to synonyms.
Yet be careful about drawing the borders too sharply.
There's many times a phasing and a hazing of the words, so that they may be used interchangeably.
But basically error. Tau implies familiarity, it tends to look on 2 people as being equal you find that to be very interesting.
For instance, in Matthew 1523, we have this interesting story of Canadianish woman, a gentle woman asking the Lord to do something about her daughter.
And she just kept her ranging the Lord her rightanging.
The Lord. But let's take a look at it. Where Matthew wouldn't be that hard to look at. It.
Matthew, chapter 15, I want you to notice what the Lord, what happens here?
I'll start with verse 21 to get to the context.
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew into this the district of tyrants.
Sidon, and behold a Canaanite woman came out from that region and began to cry out, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David!
My daughter is truly demonized. Demon possessed. But he did not answer her a word, and the disciples came to him and kept asking him, That's the verb kept asking him, saying, Send her away, for she is shouting after us, and you get the idea of familiarity.
They had the audacity to tell the Lord what to do.
They are putting themselves on an equality with the Lord Jesus.
So you can see the the verb has the idea of equality, but that word is also used here, for for the idea of asking for something.
Paracaleo is the fifth word PARA.
KALE o, it's the same verb that you haven't Romans 12.
What i beseech you, there for a brethren by the mercies of God, is the idea of begging.
Beseeching, and you have that. In the second, with this 12 age, 3 times I besought the Lord that this thorn might be taken from me, all of us have been in that kind of a situation.
We just pleaded with the Lord. Lord, please. B beseech, but it means to ask, and the last verb is a strange verb in Tungano, and I'll spell it for you, because it's not that awful. I think it's 5 or 6 times in the New testament E
n tu g.
TCHA l. So then and A. M. Oh, I'm sorry.
I'll spell it again en tug, ch a NO income conell.
It has a strange history. It first of all meant 2 people just happily came together, has idea of having stance.
They came together, and then they began to talk, and in the course of their conversation, finally it came to me to ask, on behalf of somebody else, or ask concerning somebody else.
It could be asking against the person. You have an acts 25.
Where the Jews were making charges against Paul. So they're talking about Paul against him.
But that's not the normal translation. The normal translation of the verb is interceding to ask on behalf of somebody else, the classic passage, as Hebrews 725 the Lord ever lives to make intercession for us or you have it in Roman chapter age where the Holy
Spirit intercedes for us, he prays for us now we can go through all these verbs, and you know what you come up with prayer.
Means to ask God for something. What is prayer? It's nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, than to ask God for something.
Now don't misinterpret me, please. I'm not saying you don't give thanks in Philippians.
Chapter 4, Paul says, Let your requestests be made known with thanksgiving.
The thanksgiving's, not the prayer the prayer is asking God for something.
I'm not saying you don't adore God.
So II many times begin my prayers just by praising God for some attribute, for who he is.
But that's not the prayer. That's praising worship, but the prayer is getting down to the nubbins and asking God for something.
When I finally finally took years to learn this, when I finally learned this, it changed my prayer, life, my prayer life used to be just like a sawed off shotgun with buckshot going all over the place.
No pattern. When I finally learned this, I now use a rifle, and as ping, ping, bing!
I asked for specific things, I pray, and I ask well, that will lead you to say, how narcissistic can you become, how selfish and self-centered if you say that the objective prayer are you listening?
They're looking at me. This is important. If you say the object and goal of prayer is to get to obtain, to acquire.
You know what they say in quiz shows wrong. The purpose of prayer is not to get to obtain or to acquire what is the primary purpose of prayer well, I'd like to have you take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 14.
John, chapter 14.
John, chapter 14, look at verse 13, John, 1413.
And whatever you ask in my name, this is the Lord speaking, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the sun.
Now there is the purpose of prayer that God may be glorified.
Years and years and years ago, when the earth were just cooling off, my wife and I worked with young people.
And we would have a we can retreat for the high schoolers and have some speaker come in and talk to them the favorite speaker for these young people was Dr.
Charles Ryir, who at that time was a bachelor.
They loved him, and he loved the kids, and we just had a wonderful time together.
One time he is speaking to our teenagers on the subject of the glory of God.
Now, can you imagine a world-class theologian talking to teenagers on the subject of the glory of God?
He gave a definition of God's glory that I've never forgotten.
Is this? Bing! Hit it right on? He said. God's glory is anything that may God seen. SE.
EN is anything that reveals what God is like when you see a snow-capped range of mountains.
The mind of God, you look at the expanse of the ocean you see the infinity of God.
You see a newborn baby, the wisdom of God.
Anything that makes God seen is God's glory is for his glory.
What's he saying when God answers prayer? You see the glory of God?
And in a way, I wish this were a classroom right now.
I. The question I would ask is this, when God answers prayer, what you learned about him?
What do you see about God? Oh, I see God's love!
He answered my prayer. I see God's grace.
I deserve it. He gave it to me. I see God's wisdom, for how he pulled it off.
His amazing. You can just go on and on and on, and learn what God is like, and when you learn what God is like, you're going to worship when you know him, you're gonna worship.
Him. I can't help but think of Genesis 24.
When Abraham's servants went to Iran to get a wife for Abraham's son, Isaac, he made some specific requests.
If God would do this, please do this God and God I'd pull off all these things, and you know what it says.
He bowed low and worshipped, so that when you come to the end of prayer it's not a matter of selfishness it's not a matter of what you get out of it.
It's a matter of knowing got it, and that's what it's all about.
Jeremiah, let not the rich man grow his Richard, are the wise men in his wisdom are the strong men in the strength.
But let him who glories glory in this, that he knows and understands me.
I count all things but loss. Paul said that I might know him.
That's what prayer ultimately we'll do in our life so that we could glorify him.
Walk with him and know him.
And worship you? What is prayer? Asking God for something?
What's it for? Thank God, may be glorified.
This born prayer?
Our Father, God.
Forgive us!
For not praying, more.
Forgive us for not knowing you, just because we haven't prayed.
Forgive us for not learning about you, because we're not trusting you in prayer.
I pray, Father God that you'll use this simple talk on prayer, to cause us to grow towards maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We commit a wage. You now, in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen!