1. "IN HEAVEN"
2. About prayer
2.1. In general
2.2. The Lords Prayer
2.2.1. It's purpose
2.2.1.1. The lords prayer is the christian life in prayer - We won't pray this weay if we don't live this way, and yet learning to pray this way may in fact enable to live this way.
2.2.2. It's structure
3. Introduction
3.1. If I were to ask you to explain what it means to be saved, what woudl you say?
3.1.1. Some might say it means to be forgiven
3.1.2. Some might say it means to
3.1.3. Some might say.
3.2. In fact, what is interesting is that even Atheist pray.
4. OUR
4.1. When I say that, I am saying what is essential to scripture and what has been erased in the consciouslness of western Christianity for the most part. You see, in America, we pride ourselves in the pursuit of hapiness. And by that we mean that every person is an individual and every person can make their own destiny. It's the promise of the new world. YOu could leave behind the caste you were in, leave behind the perpetual servitude that held you back in life and start fresh, start new, be your own person, grab some land, make a way for yourself. Individualism is at the heart of the foundign of this country, at the heart of teh economic system we have setup. And while there is great good in that, the great detriment from that has been we have viewed God that way. it's in us. Deeply ingrained in us. So that we view faith as an personal act (which it is) and we view our relationship with God as a personal thing, which it is and which it is not!
4.1.1. Listen, it is absolutely true that God brings people to faith personally. But it is equally true that God's plan from all eternity was not to be a God of individuals, but of a people. Of a people.
4.1.2. OT - ADAM
4.1.3. OT - Abraham
4.1.4. OT - ISRAEL
4.1.5. OT - All through the kings
4.1.6. OT - Even when the nation was in exile, God wasn't ok with simply - well, Daniel will follow me. That's great. NO. THe exile was a precursor to the return. The establishment of His people
4.1.6.1. God's peopl
4.2. What does this mean "our"
4.3. Why is this important to prayer
5. FATHER
5.1. What does this mean "father"
5.1.1. It's key as Father is all over the place in matt 6
5.1.2. Father as a covenant term
5.1.2.1. The Old testament constantly used Father as an image of covenant.
5.1.2.1.1. Israel - my son
5.1.2.1.2. David - son
5.1.2.2. Jesus comes and he only speaks of God as Father
5.1.2.2.1. Only place not is on the cross - my God my God
5.1.2.2.2. Rejected
5.1.2.3. The invitation to call God father is not just to feel God's love, but to recognize that he has brought you near, in covenant --- in Christ!
5.1.2.3.1. Early church - Galatians, Romans - abba -- it' snot just about the common unworthy Jew, but about the Gentile who was so far!
5.1.2.4. TO pray our father is to believe this work of bringing us in. PRay this.. .which is the means to awaken to love God's love for yoU!
5.1.3. Means we know God through Jesus
5.1.3.1. Believe - as in Mark - Jesu sis the son of God!
5.1.3.2. And then, call him father! get it!!!
5.1.3.3. Father as a reminder of our union in Christ
5.1.3.3.1. It's important that we dn't think that Jesus was the match maker and introduced us to the father. He took us and cleaned us up and gave us tips and kind of setup this blind date with God .. and made sure we looked Good and all that, so that our relationship with God the Father is .. "thakn you Jesus for what you gave me".. but our relatinship with God is an ongoing contextualized within Christ himself
5.1.3.3.2. ILL: Definite and particular love for us in christ
5.1.3.3.3. NOTE what that means when we were chosen before the foundation of the world to be in christ.
5.1.3.3.4. Father son eternal love for each other - we are caught up in that
5.1.3.4. ILL: my love for my kids friends - it's particular and definite - because i might love them as a humanity in general but particularly because I see them in relationship to my kids. And when I say "Hey KK, call your friend and lets go to knotts" - the friend is blessed and I'm blessed to do it, but at the initiative, at the heart, it was a love thought and intention towards my daughter.
5.2. Why is this important for prayer
5.3. He delights in our prayers
6. IN HEAVEN
6.1. He's glorified in our prayers.
6.2. Someting big ... not small like our lives
7. conclusion
7.1. How does this aspect of prayer push us towards awakening?
7.1.1. Prayer leads us from the lifeless life of mechanics, even sorrow, to the experience of joy
7.1.1.1. Prayer is the opportunity for joy (John 16)
7.1.1.1.1. His unanswered cry "my God my God why have you forsaken me" becomes the reason why God will never be silent to us! He will answer and when he does, joy.
7.1.1.1.2. But w
7.1.1.2. But what is the joy?
7.1.1.2.1. Note in John 16 --- what is happening... the lost .. but now.. here, the relationship. He hears. he cares. He loves. He plans. He has not forsaken. He has not abandoned. He is not stumped. He is not at a lost. He's not mad.
7.1.1.3. And when this joy in knowing the Father hears and loves, then we experience what jesus was praying for.
7.1.1.3.1. To be in his love!
7.1.1.3.2. Get that.
7.1.2. Prayer leads us from the barren land of empty Christianity to the land of fruitfulness
7.1.3. Glory for God comes through prayer
7.2. What does this mean practically?
7.2.1. Do what Jesus said and practice it in private and look for his reward in private
7.2.2. Pray persistently -
7.2.2.1. Note the passage
7.2.2.2. Don't stop praying!
7.2.2.2.1. Muller note - "i have prayed for this person for 15 years and no answer