King David's Model Prayer

Good afternoon, everyone! All right! Great feedback! That's great! I see that we've got two congregations here. There's one way up there in the back on the second floor, one down here. So, hide everybody up in the back. Yeah, I actually went up there a bit ago because that's where I felt most comfortable was up with all the technical gear. But welcome to services. Great to be here with you. We've already had three of the campaigns early this week in looking forward to tomorrow's America the Timies Now campaign here in the Garden Grove area. Terry and I have...

Terry's here this week, and Terry and I have been gone almost 20 years now from Southern California. Left in 1998, now it's 2018, so 20 years. But it's great to be back and see old faces and new faces. The old faces have gotten a little older. And there's some new faces that we haven't seen before, some that weren't born when we left. So, great to see everybody here. You know, we sent out 6,000 invitations to the campaigns in the Southern California area. And we sent those letters three times, three invitations to 6,000 people.

And then we've had signups at all four events. And so we're looking forward to tomorrow to see what God will bring to us over at the Crown Plaza Hotel. And of course, praying that all of you will be there as well, to lend support and to be there with us, to be present with us, and to lend your support. And even meet some of the new people and get to know them as they come in the door as well. So looking forward to that.

Some of us about the studio construction in Cincinnati. The roof is on now, the frame is up, the walls are being poured off-site. And we'll be brought in in a couple of weeks. We'll be brought in with a crane and the concrete walls will be bolted into place. And then after that, the floor will be poured, the concrete floor, and start to really take shape. We'll be finished in about June, June or July, and then we'll need two or three months to outfit the studio. With our new 4K camera equipment, lights, sound, new set, and all of that.

But certainly appreciate everybody's support, prayers, and contributions towards the new video studio that we pray will help take us to an even more professional level and greater impact in preaching the Gospel on video. You might mention that Jamie Schreiber is here with a camera wandering around from time to time. Jonathan McGee is with us too. And Gary Petty was supposed to be here, but he's not feeling well, so he stayed back at the hotel. So hopefully he's in good shape for tomorrow afternoon, Mr.

Petty. But Jamie's wandering around with a camera from time to time. What we do each time we do one of these is record some actual footage of the local congregation and the pastor giving a welcome message that we put on your website, on the UCG Garden Grove website. And so there's a welcome from Mr.

Seglie, and then images of you, the real congregation, there on the homepage. So he may be wandering around, getting some shots of you taking notes or singing or whatever. So you just ignore him and try and look this way. Okay? But there's a famous passage in the Gospels commonly called the Lord's Prayer. And here in the Church we more often refer to it as the Model Prayer. It's an outline or a synopsis of the key issues that we should be praying about every day. But did you know that there's an awesome prayer outline in the Old Testament too?

And it's actually very similar to the one in Matthew 6. It's by the person known as a man after God's own heart, and it parallels in many ways the Lord's Prayer of the New Testament. So in the sermon here today, the split sermon, we're going to have like a mini Bible study. So you may want to write down the scriptural references, even if you don't have the time to turn to them all right now. But we're going to look in more detail at King David's Model Prayer.

That's how I've just simply called it today's message, King David's Model Prayer. And as background, let's first read the famous prayer outline from Matthew 6. I want to read that first so that you kind of remember the various elements before we go over and read what King David wrote. So Matthew 6, starting in verse 9. You should just turn over there for a moment with me.

Matthew 6, verse 9. And here we're told, in this manner, therefore, pray. Okay, so here's what you're supposed to talk about with God. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. So it begins with a very positive frame of mind, looking forward and looking up.

Verse 10. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So next we praise God, we thank God, and then pray for His coming kingdom. Verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread. So then we get into our everyday physical needs. Verse 12. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So now this gets into the spiritual side of life, the forgiveness of sin.

And then verse 13. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So we pray for deliverance from sin. And then it concludes with, For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. So we conclude with praise for God once more.

Looking forward, looking up, looking to the kingdom. To maintain a strong relationship with God, the creator of all that is, we have to maintain a conversation with God. We must listen to Him through His Word, through the Scriptures, yes, but also converse with Him through prayer and talk with Him. You can make a note of 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16 through 18. Remember 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 16. Rejoice always and pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. And then verse 18 says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Much of our unceasing communication with God, you know, praying without ceasing, must be in the form of thanksgiving and gratitude.

And of course, thanksgiving, not just on Thanksgiving Day, right? Thanksgiving throughout the year. Pray without ceasing, and if everything give thanks. This is what I read about in 1 Thessalonians 5. So now let's take a look at how King David conversed with God, how he talked with God. Look at his model prayer found in Psalm 145. So that's where we're going to go next, Psalm 145. This is the actual prayer outline that I wanted to show you. Psalm 145 is the conclusion of the fifth book of Psalms that begins in Psalm 106.

You see, in the original manuscripts, the Psalms were categorized into five main books. Because we've since divided them up into lots of little chapters. But the original Psalms were in five main volumes, or five main books. And Psalm 145 is actually the official conclusion of the Psalms, which is then followed by a Psalm's appendix. And the appendix is the last five Psalms that reflect on each of the previous five sections or five books. Kind of a summary of each of the five books is in the last five Psalms.

So Psalm 145 is kind of like the conclusion of the fifth book. And it's very thorough and very comprehensive. And it's an acrostic Psalm. Each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in alphabetical order.

Except for verse 14, actually, which contains two phrases that begin with two letters from the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, not 26 like we have. They have 22. And there's 21 verses here in Psalm 145. And so what you see is the first word of the first verse in Hebrew begins with the letter alep. The first word of the second verse begins with bet.

So you've got alep, bet, that's where we get the term alphabet from, by the way. And so on through the Hebrew alphabet. This is not the only acrostic Psalm. There are a number of acrostic Psalms that have various styles like this. Psalm 9, Psalm 10, Psalm 25, Psalm 34, Psalm 37, Psalm 111, Psalm 112, and Psalm 119.

The big long one is an acrostic Psalm. So they have complete or partial alphabetic acrostics. So being an alphabetical Psalm, this Psalm 145, it's very artfully composed. Unfortunately, that poetry, that artfulness, does not come through in the English translation. It's lost on us. But because of its acrostic nature, those who read it in the Hebrew language find it easier to memorize. A memorization is aided by having each verse begin with the next letter of the alphabet. In the Orthodox Jewish community, the average Orthodox Jewish man recites Psalm 145 three times a day.

It's very important in the Jewish community. They read it three times a day. It's seen as a model conversation to have with God, a model prayer. And it does foreshadow the Matthew 6 prayers we'll see. So Psalm 145 verse 1, if you look there with me, I will extol you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name for ever and ever. Every day I will bless you.

That's in verse 2. And I will praise your name for ever and ever. So prayer ought to be, of course, a daily matter for us. It should be something that is a major part of our lives. And how does Matthew 6 verse 9 begin? Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name. So Psalm 145 begins with the same model, blessing the name of God. Just like in Matthew 6. It begins the same way. And then verse 3, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.

His greatness is unsearchable. God is beyond our comprehension. Even capable scientists and physicists struggle with the idea of the nature of God and to understand His greatness. Look at Romans chapter 11. You can keep your finger here in Psalm 145 if you want to. But in Romans chapter 11, the Apostle Paul imagines the same kind of greatness. I read it to you, Romans 11 verse 33. O, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Paul says to the Romans, How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. And then verse 34 of Romans 11.

For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has become His counselor? So we're told all we have to do is look up into the heavens to realize the power and majesty of God. During King David's time, they could visually count about 5,000 stars. They didn't have telescopes. 5,000 stars is all that's visible to the naked eye. But because we're standing on a globe, we can only see half of them at a time. So we can see about 2,500 stars at a time on our hemisphere here.

Now, though, with modern technology, we know that there are actually a lot more than this. Here's a quote I have from the Atlantic. It's a story by Megan Garber from November 19, 2013. And I'll quote you a little bit from her article. It's called, How Many Stars Are There in the Sky? She says, let's start with the galaxies. There are, astronomers estimate, about 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe, stretching out over a radius of some 45.7 billion light-years.

It is beyond comprehension. When King David writes in Psalm 145, how unsearchable is your greatness? Yeah, we can't fathom this. And she says, continually, those galaxies vary in terms of the number of stars they each contain. University Today notes, quote, Some spiral galaxies have more than a trillion stars, just in one galaxy. Some giant elliptical galaxies have 100 trillion stars. There are also tiny dwarf galaxies, tiny being obviously a relative term here, that have significantly fewer number of stars.

So she was quoting from University Today there. Then she continues, the Milky Way, our little corner of the observable universe, has for its part some 400 billion stars. She says, so, if we multiply the estimated average number of stars in each galaxy, with the number of galaxies in the observable universe, and carry the billion, etc., we get a rough estimate of all the stars we're capable of observing.

She says, there are roughly a septillion stars in the observable universe. So I wrote out septillion here, and it's one with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 24 zeroes after it. That's how many stars is a septillion. One with 24 zeroes after it. What she says is, for lack of a more fitting description, a lot of stars.

So Psalm 145 verse 3, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. Is what King David wrote. And the stars are just one element to consider in God's greatness. Then Psalm 145 verse 4. Let's go to the next verse 4. One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. So not only do we praise God in prayer when we begin, but a very important part of the Christian way of life is to pass on our beliefs to the next generation. And this prayer of David talks about passing on our beliefs to the next generation. This idea actually goes back to the time of Abraham and the father of the faithful, where God said, I know Abraham that he will command his children and his household after him. God said, I know Abraham's going to teach his kids this, too. That's in Genesis 18 verse 19, where God knew Abraham would teach his kids what he knew of the truth. Abraham was to pass along his understanding of the way of the Lord, and so do we.

Psalm 145 verse 5.

The Christian life is built on prayer. Bible study and, verse 5 says, meditation. Meditation. We think on the splendor and power of our Creator. We think on his wonderful work. We meditate on it. This is what David says here. Verse 6.

David says, I will declare the greatness of God. Verse 7.

So once again, this psalm is very positive and a great conclusion to the five great books of the psalms. King David gave similar words of praise to this, when all of the gold, silver, and fine materials were being gathered together to build Solomon's Temple. Let me read to you part of King David's speech at the dedication ceremony of the temple. Sorry, he wasn't there at the dedication ceremony of what he was praising God for when all this was being gathered for the temple. 1 Chronicles 29, I'm going to read to you if you want to turn there. 1 Chronicles 29, verses 11 through 13.

1 Chronicles 29, 11, King David said, Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, and the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in heaven and in earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might. In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, therefore our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name. I don't think many of us pray like that a whole lot, do we? That kind of praise for the greatness and righteousness and glory of God. The King David sure did, even in just in that prayer as they were gathering all the materials to build the temple.

And so now we move on to Psalm 145, verse 8. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.

So we need to also be people of self-control, not fly off the handle. And self-control is one of the key elements of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that should be dwelling in each of us. We should show the same kind of slowness to anger and being great in mercy. We too should show the fruit of the Holy Spirit of self-control. And then verse 9, the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.

David is saying, the creation is under the merciful watch of the eye of God, who watches over all his works. You know, the trees grow, the flowers bloom, the oceans regenerate, the rains purify the air.

God watches over all, is good to all, and shows his mercy on all. And verse 10, and your works shall praise you, O Lord, and your saints shall bless you.

So the saints should be blessing God in praise and prayer. Those who have the characteristics of the saints, which is you and me, are those who bless God. Do we do that? Do we bless God in our prayers and in our daily life?

The saints are the ones who praise God. This model prayer of Psalm 145 actually begins with a whole lot more praise for God than does the model prayer of Matthew 6. It's got a number of verses here about praising God when it begins here. And then verse 11, What is the next step in the Matthew 6 model prayer?

It's the same here in Psalm 145, verse 11, praying for God's kingdom. God intends that ultimately our world will become very different to what we see today. Our world will return to the ideals of the Garden of Eden. How it was meant to be. A kind of paradise. This world will return to a kind of paradise. The kingdom of God will be here on earth. King David knew that. And we read about it in Matthew 6 as well in that prayer.

Of course, Christ came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. We read in Matthew chapter 1 about how that all began. Matthew 1, sorry, Mark 1. Mark 1, 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Then in Mark 1, verse 14, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.

King David understood a little bit about the kingdom and all that it entailed as well.

The kingdom of God is ultimately going to rule this world. The kingdom is coming here.

The kingdom is coming to earth. The returning husband is going to marry his bride, the saints, the church. It's a message of repentance, of hope, of salvation and of a kingdom to come. Something you won't find a lot of other churches preaching about. The kingdom coming to this earth. Psalm 145, verse 12.

Verse 13.

So more emphasis here on the kingdom of God that we pray for in the metal prayer in Matthew 6. Verse 14, the Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.

This 14th verse is the one that has the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet first and then the 14th letter for the second half of the verse. And in the Hebrew language, there's some reason why this was done and why it's so important. Apparently they say it focuses on the Lord dramatically upholding all those who fall. That's why that next letter came first before the 15th one. The 15th came before the 14th. You'd have to read and study about that. But here, it started to talk about God giving us our physical needs, our daily bread, upholding everything that we need. Verse 15, the eyes of all look expectantly to you and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. So once again, what is the next step in the model prayer of Matthew 6? Give us this day our daily bread. And it's the same here. Give them their food in due season. And God is the reason that any of us are alive.

He satisfies the needs of every living thing. That's verse 16, every living thing.

And these, of course, are great verses to think about even before giving thanks at a meal. How God provides all of our food in due season. Then verse 17, the Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.

God is near to all who call upon Him.

So now the Psalm focuses on our spiritual needs. Not our food and physical needs, but our spiritual needs. Our righteousness. Just like the next verses do in Matthew 6.

So God says, King David says here, that God is near to anyone who desires a sincere relationship with Him. And I would say whether the person is called as the first fruit now or not, God will still bless you for how you live, for your record of life, for your willingness to follow Him. Now God has His reasons for whom He calls now and whom He will call later. But He can still be near to those who call upon Him, even if they're not first fruits at this time. Verse 19, He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He also will hear their cry and save them.

In the ultimate sense, the virtuous and righteous will be saved, will live for eternity. So this section here is forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, making salvation possible. This is talking about salvation here that would come through Christ's sacrifice. And what is the next to last section of prayer in Matthew 6? Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It's about being saved and forgiven from sin. It's about forgiveness and salvation. Verse 20, The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. And verse 21, My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh shall bless His holy name for ever and ever. The Psalm finishes with how it began, with praise for God. And this is ultimately where our world is headed. All flesh will praise His holy name. This is what we read in verse 21. And how does the Matthew 6 modal prayer conclude? For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Once again, ending with praise for God.

Psalm 145 is a classic conversation with God that King David has outlined in what could be termed an Old Testament modal prayer.

And it's very similar in outline to the Matthew 6 one.

We should think of prayer not as exact words to say, but as examples of what to say. This modal prayer in Psalm 145, of how to praise God, what to ask for.

As I mentioned earlier, Orthodox Jews memorize Psalm 145 and repeat it three times a day. And it becomes repetitive and less meaningful when you say it like that. That's not the intent of David's prayer and conversation with God here.

Remember, too, that the incense of God's tabernacle and temple service in the Old Testament was to figuratively represent the prayers of God's people.

You can read about that in Revelation 5 and Revelation 8. The incense was to be beaten fine, according to Leviticus 16, verse 12.

This seems to symbolize the importance of expressing fine detail in our prayers. The incense was beaten fine in the tabernacle and in the temple. A lot of detail should be in our prayers as they rise to our Father in heaven.

Let me read to you from Revelation 8, verses 3 and 4.

Revelation 8, verse 3, So here in Revelation 8, this is at the time of the seventh seal, at the end time, right before Christ returns.

So this incense of old represented the prayers of the saints today. Our prayers should be beaten fine, should have a lot of detail in them. And someone, 145, as well as Matthew 6, give us a really good outline of the kind of things to pray for. But they begin with praise for God in such a great way, and then conclude with the same thing. And so we ask, are our prayers like aromatic incense in the presence of God's throne?

What are we praying about? Are we praising Him?

Of course, some prayers will be shorter than others, some will be longer. It depends on the circumstances. But in any case, we must make time to pray every day.

And never think that you don't have anything to pray about.

The Bible gives us lots of examples of what to pray about, especially Psalm 145. Jesus gave a whole list of subjects, as did King David here. As you consider Psalm 145, you can always pray that God will help you pray, so that the words will come as well. But next time you read this Psalm, Psalm 145, in your daily Bible study, reflect a little more deeply on all that it contains, because it really is a real gem amongst the Psalms from which we can learn a lot from.