Sermon On The Mount Part 9

Well, brethren, do you want to be sure that your spiritual house is built on a firm foundation? Do you want to be sure that your house is built on our Savior Jesus Christ on the rock?

Do you want to be sure that your spiritual house will not waver and certainly isn't going to fall no matter how difficult the times become? We know that prophesied end times will get very bad. Whether or not we're going to go through those remains to be seen.

Certainly somebody will. Some of our ancestors will, if we don't.

It only makes good sense to study the teachings of the rock, the foundation, the chief cornerstone, the head of our church, Jesus Christ.

So it only makes good sense to read and study these words in depth. So we've been doing this for eight Sabbaths. This is the ninth Sabbath that we'll be continuing with this series on the Sermon on the Mount. We know that in this sermon, Christ gives us some very foundational teachings upon which we are to build our spiritual houses, our temples.

Today we're going to continue again this teaching. Today we'll talk about two very important topics. One, the godly and proper way to give to others, and the godly and the proper way to pray. So two very important subjects. Many sermons have been given about these two particular issues. So today we're only going to give just one sermon and cover both.

The Jews believe there were three great pillars on which the good life is based. That would be almsgiving, so giving to the poor, giving to those in need, prayer and fasting. We're not going to go into fasting today, but we will cover the first two great pillars, almsgiving and prayer. According to Matthew Henry's commentary, almsgiving, prayer and fasting are the three great Christian duties, the three foundations of the law. By them we do homage and service to God with our three principal interests, by prayer with our souls, by fasting with our bodies, and by almsgiving with our estates. Thus we must not only depart from evil, but do good and do it well and so dwell forevermore. So here Christ is going to address these three issues, almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Next time we'll talk about fasting. Jesus had no problem with his followers giving alms with them praying and fasting, but he did have a problem if their motives were not pure. So we'll talk quite a bit about motives today. Let's go to Matthew 6. Matthew 6, verse 1. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. So obviously some people were doing this very thing. They were giving to be seen. They wanted to be seen. They wanted the praise of men. Christ says otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory from men. Assuredly I say to you they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That your charitable deed may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. So behind this, obviously there's the idea that you're producing enough to be able to give to others.

You know, if you weren't producing something, if you weren't accomplishing something, then it would be very hard to give to others, wouldn't it? If you had nothing yourself, then it would be very difficult. So obviously we should strive to produce so that we can, so that we're able to give to others, so we're able to help others who are in need.

Now here Christ warns us to be careful how we handle our giving to others. We should not seek attention for ourselves when we help others. We should do those things as quietly as possible, because the important thing is that those who are in need have their needs met, not that you get credit for meeting the needs. To many Jews, all that was given was the most sacred of religious duties to help the poor and needy with synonymous with righteousness. In fact, they used the same word for almsgiving as they did for righteousness. So they considered giving to the poor, helping the poor to be extremely important. And of course, the Bible talks a lot about helping the poor, helping those who are in need. Christ said, you'll always have the poor among you. It's a fact of life. That's been true throughout history. If it isn't our power to help the poor and the needy, we should help them as quietly and as anonymously as possible. Otherwise, we have our reward of being known as men and having men look up to us for being generous. But that's basically as far as it goes, because God isn't going to specifically bless those who give so that they may be seen and so that they may have some sort of glory upon themselves as far as how people think of them.

So when we're able to give anonymously, that's really the best form of giving.

Sometimes that really isn't possible, depending on what someone needs. Sometimes you pretty much have to divulge that it's you, and that's okay, but be humble about it. Don't try to bring any acclaim upon yourself. Clearly, there is a reward that God has for those who genuinely give from the heart. Ultimately, of course, the reward is eternal life in God's kingdom. And of course, that's the most valuable reward. God does look on the heart, and he sees when we're giving to others. And that's important to God. God wants to see us not be so selfish, because it's very easy to be very, very selfish, especially in today's world, I think, because so much is expected. I mean, if you don't have a lot, then you're second class. That's how people look at it too often, which isn't a good way to look at it at all. But it is, nevertheless, how many people look at things.

God may choose to bless those who give unselfishly in a variety of physical and spiritual ways. But of course, the Bible doesn't spell out exactly how God's going to bless us for giving to others. But there are certain blessings that are given to those who are generous. God does want us to know that He does reward those who diligently seek Him. You're familiar with that Scripture. One of the ways we show our diligence in seeking God is to do what He directs in the area of giving and helping others who are in need. So the implication is that if we give unselfishly, and as secretly or anonymously as possible, we can be assured that God will reward us. Now, again, that's not why we do it, but it is in the Bible. It does clearly indicate that God does bless those who are willing to give and to share of the blessings that God gives them. So if we thank God for what He's done for us, what He's given to us, and if we're genuinely grateful to Him, it only makes sense to share some of that with others who are not as fortunate, who are not blessed as much physically. Maybe they're a lot stronger spiritually than we are. So this is really not a reflection on their spiritual condition. Necessarily, it could be if they're neglecting certain things, if they're not applying themselves, if they're not working hard, if they're not giving themselves, and maybe they're not being blessed because of their conduct. But we can't draw those conclusions. We frankly don't know exactly why some people are more blessed than others. You know, is Donald Trump the most righteous man on earth? Because he has the most money? Not necessarily, right? So we should give unselfishly, and we should also be grateful for whatever God gives us, whatever blessings He provides for us. The Greek word for hypocrite, which seemed to be one of Christ's favorite words—I don't know that it was one of His favorites, but He did use it in a scathing manner a number of times against the scribes and the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites. It is the word for actor. In this context, this is a person who puts on an act of giving, that he might bring glory upon himself. That's what Christ is addressing—those who would act that they're so righteous and generous and loving and kind and compassionate. I mean, really, they're just giving because they want to be seen of men, they want the glory of men. Not so much because they're able to help somebody.

So remember that God does love a cheerful giver. I think that's in 1 Corinthians 9. God loves a cheerful giver, so whenever we give, we should give cheerfully, not begrudgingly. Otherwise, we're not going to be blessed for that kind of an attitude. So whenever we give offerings or pay our tithes, we should cheerfully give that money that we know is going for a good cause, and not think about, well, I could have bought this with that money, or I could have bought that with that money, and your claws are kind of on it as you're writing the check, trying to hang on to it. Obviously, that's not how we should pay our tithes or give offerings. That would be somewhat hypocritical, wouldn't it? That's not a true Christian. Christ gave his own life for us. He gave everything for us. Remember, again, God does look on the heart, so he knows your every thought, he knows your feelings, he knows what's going on inside you. We're mindful of the widow's might. The widow had very little. In fact, she gave all that she had, just a couple of small coins, because she no doubt had faith that God would provide for her. So she gave out of her poverty. She had very little to give, but she gave all that she had. And yet it seems that many of us today have difficulty giving out of our prosperity.

You know, we're very prosperous, really, when you stop and consider all that we all have here in this room. No matter who we are, we're more prosperous than the vast, vast majority of people on earth. And yet sometimes we have a tendency to want to keep those things for ourselves and are not as generous as we could be. Now we all know the adage, you can't take it with you.

Okay, well, that's true. You can't, you know, you can't take it with you. So you want to try to use whatever you have wisely. Obviously, you need to take care of yourself so that you don't end up in the poor house. Give it all away and then someone has to take care of you. That's not really a biblical principle either. So you should try to make sure that you have enough to meet your needs until, you know, the time is over for you. But the scripture is clear that even if we can lay up something for our grandkids, that's also a good principle for our grandchildren. So we should, you know, we should try to do what we can. And not, some people have the mentality that they're not going to leave a dime behind. You know, they're going to travel, they're going to splurge, they're going to have the greatest time ever, they're going to spend every dime they have ever made, and they're not going to leave a cent.

In fact, they might not even pay for the burial. They'll make their kids do that. And obviously, that's not a right approach.

Hoarding is also not a godly principle. Can you think of a story in the Bible that talks about hoarding and why hoarding is not such a good idea? You probably can think of the one I'm going to go to in Luke chapter 12. Let's go to Luke chapter 12. This is obviously a really good parable or story about a rich man who just continued to store things up. He had plenty, but he continued to store it up rather than giving it away. Rather than helping others, he just built bigger barns. Luke chapter 12 verse 13.

Then one from the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? And he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. I can't remember exactly what the phrase is, but it's about who wins, the person who has the most toys when he dies. He's the one that wins, the guy that has the most elaborate things, whatever it be. Fancy cars or maybe an airplane or whatever it is. That doesn't determine who the winner is, the better toys that one has. The biggest bass boat, the nicest yacht. That's no proof of righteousness, of course.

So take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Then he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. So God blessed this rich person with land that yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?

So he said, I'll do this. I'll pull down my barns. Okay, so he spent quite a bit of money on the barns that he's about to pull down and build bigger barns. And there I will store all my crops and goods. And I'll say to my soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. So take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. So this is kind of the attitude that I was talking about a little while ago. So now he's got all these big barns, all full of goods, grain, and other things that he can sell and use for many years. So now he's just going to take it easy. He's going to eat, be a glutton, perhaps. He's going to drink too much alcohol and that sort of thing and be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided, all those things that you have laid up for yourself, whose will they be then? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. So it really is better to have a proper balance. Don't just try to store up all this wealth and then stop working at age 45. Not too many of us have that opportunity to become independently wealthy at age 45, but there are some who do and then they fritter their lives away after that and don't really accomplish much. And in context, it goes on here to talk about not worrying about the things that consist in our lives, what makes up our lives, because God is the one that will provide for us and take care of us. So we don't have to be anxious about tomorrow because God is going to provide for us. And you can't outgive God. So if you take some of what you have been able to amass and give that to others and continue that principle, chances are God is going to continue to bless you and you're going to continue to be able to give away. I mean, I don't know. Some of these billionaires that have so much money can be kind of fun to have to be able to give that away if you could just like, you know, let me find some people that could really use this money instead of... And a lot of them do give a lot. I mean, I'm sure Bill Gates probably gives millions and millions away. He still probably keeps billions for himself, which, you know, he may not need quite that much money. And I don't really know. I'm not... I haven't read a lot about Bill Gates' personal life, so I'm not casting any aspersions upon him. He just has a lot of money. I know that. But there are many others and the more generous people are, then the more they can help others. You know, the more they can... the more generous they're going to be able to help those who are in need.

So the principle is we should strive to be generous with whatever God gives us and learn to give some of what we have to others. And the more God gives you, then the more you can afford to give to others.

So let's go back to Matthew 6 now. Matthew 6, verse 5.

When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. So he uses the same style of writing. He's talking about when you do your charitable deeds, when you help people out, then do it secretly. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, like the actors. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father knows the things that you have need of before you ask Him.

So, in regard to what we've just read, when you pray. So, God assumes you're going to pray, right? When you pray. So, how often do you do you pray? We know there's examples in the Bible of godly men who pray three times a day.

Of course, there's no limit on how many times you can pray. You can pray as often as you'd like, in fact, there's a scripture that talks about how we should pray without ceasing.

And I think that's speaking of an overall approach toward our lives, that we go through our day grateful to God, thankful to Him. And in a sense, we don't stop praying. It's something constant that we do as we go throughout our lives. We thank God for the blessings that come in as they come in through the day. We're mindful of God, and we're grateful to Him, and we thank Him. And that's obviously a form of prayer. And we should strive to have that kind of an overall attitude and approach, mindset that we're continually praying and thanking God and asking Him to guide us, to direct our steps, to show us the path, to help us make good decisions. Because we all have to make many decisions in a day's time. Many, many decisions. So the more God guides us and helps us to make sound decisions, the better off we're going to be. So when you pray, Christ's followers are expected to pray. He certainly did, and we should follow His example. Christ prayed all night at times. Before He was crucified, obviously, He was praying all night long. There are times when you may want to pray more fervently and longer than normal, and that's when you're facing some kind of a trial or crisis in your life. We should continually pray when there isn't a crisis going on, but when there is, it certainly makes sense to pour your heart out to God and ask for more help and direction. No nation had a higher ideal of prayer than the Jews did. No religion made prayer a higher priority. Now, other people would pray to their gods, their pagan gods or false gods, but the Jews made it a higher priority than anyone.

They basically lived by the principle, he who prays within his house surrounds it with a wall that is stronger than iron. If you're praying continually, then you basically surround your home with a wall that's stronger than iron.

There is some truth to that principle that God does protect us, does look after us, does provide for us, and the more we pray to Him and call out to Him, the more likely He's going to answer and protect us and take care of us. That doesn't mean He might not test us at times because God's people have been tested in a variety of ways. Again, we can't assume a person's either righteous or unrighteous necessarily by the things that they have to encounter, the things that they have to go through.

Sometimes those who are the most righteous, like Job, are tested the most. And it looked like they thought he was surely sinning. He was hiding things from them. His three friends, God wouldn't be doing this to you if you weren't a horrible sinner.

Actually, the Bible says he was the most righteous man on earth, and yet God did test him and allowed Satan to test him in a variety of ways. So we're not to be like the hypocrites. God resists the proud, but He listens to the prayers of the humble who approach him in a humble manner. Those who like to be seen of men and praise for their devotion have their reward.

They have the praise of men. Men see them, and perhaps, of course, a lot of times men see that, and they see it for what it is, too. And that doesn't reflect so well on people like that. I guess it would only be a certain kind of person that would think that was so righteous. Those who were truly righteous would probably see that for what it is, and, you know, certainly not follow that example. We should not seek the approval of men, but of God and Him alone.

If we meet His approval, everything else will work out just fine. Too many people are looking for the approval of their classmates or their co-workers or just friends. They're looking too much to please other people rather than doing what they should to please God. So our first priority should be do that which is pleasing to God, then everything else is going to take care of itself.

Christ said, do not use vain repetitions. The heathen pagan cultures were known for their long and repetitive prayers to their pagan gods in appeal to get them to do something. In Acts 19, verse 34, remember what happened in Ephesus? The pagans cried out, great is Diana of the Ephesians for two hours. They kept saying that. Great is that for two hours. They worked themselves into a frenzy with their vain repetitions. God doesn't want us, obviously, to have that approach.

And sometimes our prayers can become too vain or too repetitive and, yes, too vain as well. When you find yourself saying the same thing that you said years ago when different people were in charge, you know, you're praying for Herbert Armstrong and he was dead 10 years ago, then you might be getting into some vain repetition.

So you have to be careful. You don't fall into a pattern like that. According to William Barclay on page 197 of his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, he said, "...the Jewish system of prayer made ostentatious very easy..." Ostentation. You know, ostentatious is just an outlandish show. The Jews prayed standing with hands dressed out, palms upward with their head bowed.

This is how they would pray. And prayer had to be said at 9 o'clock in the morning, at noon, and at 3 p.m. This was a tradition for many of the Jews. It had to be said wherever a man might be. Okay, so wherever you were at 9 o'clock in the morning, you had to stop and pray. Or at noon or at 3 p.m. So if it was a so what they would do is make sure they were at a busy street corner at 9 o'clock. So they'd have to stop and pray so they could be seen by a lot of people. Or at noon, they wanted to make sure they were in the marketplace where a bunch of people might see them.

It was easy for a man to halt at the top step of the entrance to the synagogue and their pray in a lengthy manner so that men might admire his exceptional piety. That's what Barclay says. So it was easy to put on an act of prayer which all the world might see, but that wasn't acceptable in God's sight. God said, pray in secret. So what Jesus said was totally against what the scribes and the Pharisees had been doing and showing themselves. God wants us to have a godly balance in how we live our lives.

It was even said that some rabbis said the only regret that they had was that it was not possible to pray all day long. I don't know. I don't... personally, I'm not sure I'd want to have to pray all day long. That's not real balance in my opinion, except in the way that I mentioned earlier. We go through our day with an attitude of prayer, but we're not down on our knees all day long praying and praying all day long. We wouldn't live long, for one thing. You've got to get up and eat! All right, so there's a balance in all of this. Your father knows the things that you need before you ask him. So let's go back to verse 8. Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things that you have need of before you ask him. You're not going to surprise God when you go and ask for something you need, because God already knows it. You know, God knows what you need. Now, you may think you need something, and God may say, ah, you don't really need that. And maybe he would choose not to necessarily answer that prayer. If you got the gimme's, gimme, gimme, gimme, you know, that's not really the... The sample prayer doesn't talk a lot about gimme, gimme, gimme, does it? We'll read the sample prayer now. In this manner, therefore, pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. So let's just take a look at this. Take a few minutes to go through this.

So in this manner, therefore, pray, our Father in heaven. Now, this is how our God wants to be addressed as our Father in heaven. Primarily, he wants us to look to him as a Father and as a good Father. Now, some of us maybe didn't have great human fathers, but God does not want us to project the frailties of our human fathers onto him, which is often what people do. God is not like human beings. God is perfect. God is righteous. God is loving. God is faithful. God does everything perfectly. If we've had a Father, a human Father that set a good example, that's so much easier, I think, for people to have a better relationship with God, their Father. Because it is natural to kind of think about God in the same way we think of our human Father. Some of us have to fight that, so we don't think of God in that way. Others are blessed and have fathers who have been good examples, and that helps our relationship.

So God is obviously not our human Father here on earth. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is going to be different from the relationship that we have with our earthly fleshly Father, but of course there will be similarities in certain ways, especially the better our Father is. The more loving He is, the more compassionate, the more upstanding as far as His work ethic, just the whole gamut, the kind of example that He says for us. Our earthly Father is to provide for us. He's to be sure to see that we have adequate food, adequate clothing, adequate shelter. Those are fundamental things that a Father should do. Some Fathers abandon their children at a very early age, and they're never seen again.

Obviously, that's not a good example of what a Father should be.

Of course, and more importantly, in many ways, He is to provide strength, comfort, stability, love, loyalty, protection of all kinds. While children are smaller, they especially depend on their earthly Fathers. They're very dependent as children growing up. We are all quite dependent on our parents, especially as an infant, mostly on our mother. So the example that our mother sets certainly is important as well. And our Fathers should be careful to set a good example, because there is a certain reflection that goes on about our Heavenly Father when we think of our human Father. So it's really important you'll help your children a lot. If you set a good example for them, they'll think more they'll have a better vision of what the true God is like.

If your Father is faithful and trustworthy, and you know you can always count on Him, He always keeps His promises, He always follows through, then you're going to have a conception of what God is like. God has promised to never leave us, to never forsake us. But if your human Father often promises one thing and never fulfills the promise, that's unlike our God who is always faithful. An earthly Father has a huge impact on His children. So we who are fathers, obviously, should take that seriously and strive to set a very good example for our children. And not just our children, but all those around us. It's huge for our children. If the Father neglects His children, they will certainly suffer for it. If He's not a good provider, His children may even go hungry at times. They might not even have the necessary warmth and shelter. They may have tattered and worn clothing because their Father is a drunk who doesn't work, doesn't get out and provide for His family the way He should. This neglect affects children in many, many ways, again, depending largely on how their parents approach them, and interact with them. If a Father may have difficulty providing financially and physically for His family, but He's there for them and provides the emotional and spiritual support and guidance, He may be poor, but if He's a hard worker, even though He's poor. There have been some tough times in the United States, but in every country around the world, during the Depression, it was difficult for good Fathers to provide for their families. It was difficult for them to find jobs at times. So if they're there to provide the emotional and spiritual support and guidance, that may be much more important than the physical things. A child would be far better off having a Father than an absent Father who is an excellent provider who's never around. That often happens with those who are wealthy. The children often don't have much of a relationship with their parents because they're out making money, or traveling, or doing other things. They send their kids off to boarding school, and they really don't have a good relationship with their children. So our Heavenly Father provides all that we need, but of course He doesn't force Himself upon us. He has provided us the written Word of God for our instruction, for our guidance. So we have to study. If we want to know what our Heavenly Father is like, then we have to study the Word of God. We have to make it our own, write it in our hearts and in our minds. That way, we will know God much better. So it really is very important that we study God's Word, and we consider who God is, what He's like, what His characteristics are.

Of course, we know that for God so loved the world that He gave His Son. So God is a loving Father, and He loved all of us enough to give His Son, whom He loved from eternity. In the beginning, the Word was God and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. There were two beings, they were always together. There's no way we can really fully comprehend the unity, the oneness, of the Father and the Son. The Word, the Logos, and the one who became known as the Father.

They've always been extremely close for eternity and will continue as such.

So when they devised the plan of salvation for mankind, they showed the love that they have for us. The Son gave His life, laid down His life for us. The Father laid down His Son's life for us. So a perfect example of that kind of love.

Now we know that one of our commandments is to honor our earthly parents. Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the earth.

Certainly we should strive to do that. We should strive to honor our parents. How much more should we honor and reverence our Heavenly Father? So when we go to God in prayer, we should have the right vision of what God is like, of who He is.

He's all powerful, He's almighty, and yet He cares for us. He loves us, He listens to our prayers.

So God resists the proud. That's a theme throughout the Bible, that God resists the proud. Lucifer became proud. God resisted Lucifer, obviously. He became known as Satan.

But he does listen to the prayers of those who are humble and those who approach him in a humble manner. When we approach God, lovingly, as a child, approach this as earthly father. That's a beautiful thing, isn't it? When your child lovingly comes to you, and once your guidance, your direction, your support, your help, that's a beautiful thing, that relationship that we have with our children. And God wants us to develop that kind of relationship, too. So it is important to pray and to go to God in prayer and to have that relationship with God. He will listen to the prayers of the humble who approach Him lovingly, but also in a loving manner. Those who like to be seen of men and praised for their devotion, again, they have the reward, they have the praise of men, but they do not have the pleasure of God. You know, God's not pleased with that approach, but He is pleased when we humbly come before Him and pray to Him and show Him that we believe in Him, that we know He's there, that we believe He's going to answer our prayers, and that He will act on our behalf and for our benefit. So it is important that we pray each day and a number of times throughout the day. If we meet God's approval, then everything else will be fine, won't it? If God's happy with us, it doesn't really matter what else is going on. In prayer, our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ is very important.

Again, how do you perceive your Heavenly Father? Do you see Him as the loving Father that He really is, that's revealed in the Bible? Now, God is an equitable God, and God is a strong God and a powerful God, and He doesn't put up with a lot of nonsense at times.

As parents, there are times when we don't put up with a lot of nonsense either from our children, because it's not good for them. It's not healthy for them. So being able to have the right Godly balance is obviously important in how we rear our children, how we interact with our children. We should try to treat them the way God treats us. God does love us, He will never leave us, He will never forsake us, He will forgive us when we're repentant. He doesn't fully forgive us, does He, if we're not repentant. God just doesn't wash it away and say it's okay to break His laws. We have to be repentant. We have to come before God and admit that we've sinned, and that we're sorry for our sins, and please forgive us our sin. Then God forgives our sins. But God is a God of equity, a God of justice. He does look at the heart.

So our prayers are very important to Him. Do you see Christ as your Savior? You know, Christ is at the right hand of God. Christ makes intercession for us. He continually goes to bat for us. You might put it that way because Christ became flesh. He dwelt among us. He was tempted at every point as we are. Of course, He never sinned, but He knows how difficult it is to be faithful, to be true, to keep the commandments. He understands our weaknesses. He understands our frailties. So when we approach the Father, we're also approaching the Son. We do it in His name. We come before the Father. You know, Jesus Christ is God as well, correct? So, you know, we worship both the Father and the Son.

So do you see God as the one who so loved you that He gave His only Son to die for you and to die for sinners like you? Do you trust Him? Do you reverence Him?

So that's the kind of approach we need to have when we go to God, that we should see Him as He is. Hallowed be your name is something that we say. Holy is God's name because God is holy. His character is holy. He's, again, perfect and righteous in every way. We should strive to emulate the Father in our conduct and develop His character. In our own lives, we're to become an image of God. Like Christ is the image of the Father, the perfect image of the Father. Christ perfectly showed us who the Father is by His own conduct, by the way He lived His life. And that's how we are to become. We're to reflect the character of our Savior and of God the Father in the way we live our lives. The decisions that we make are important.

When people say your name, they think of you, don't they? I mean, you can't help it. You think of... you don't just stop at the name. If you say Barbara, and there are other things that come into mind about whoever it is we're talking about. Margie, we think of the years that we've known Margie, the kind of person she is. And likewise, with all of us here, there's a lot behind the name. And that's primarily what we're hallowing God Himself. Hallowed be your name.

Holy is God's name because God is holy. His conduct is holy. We should strive to emulate Him in our own conduct and develop His character. So when they say your name, they think of you. They may think of some really great things, or they may think of some things that aren't so hot.

You know, depending on what kind of a relationship you have, what kind of encounters you've had.

So it's important how we live our lives.

They think of the person that you are. Joe is really a good guy. He's a hardworking guy. He's an honest guy. He's a loyal friend. You know, that's what you think of. Or you think of he's a cheat. He's a crook. He's dishonest. I can't trust him.

When we say or hear the word God, we naturally think of the God that's revealed in the Bible, that God has revealed Himself to us. We think of the Creator God. We think of His goodness, His perfection, His power, His love. So again, the better we know and understand the Bible, the better we know God and we know His character. Of course, the better we know His plan, the better we know Him. Also, it helps to understand why God allows suffering. The Bible does show us why God allows suffering. When we understand God's plan and realize that God's allowing us to learn a lot of lessons here on this earth, this isn't God's kingdom. We're not in the kingdom yet. God's kingdom is coming. God wants us to learn lessons along the way. It's really wonderful that we know God's plan because it helps us understand why God does allow suffering, why He does allow even God's people to suffer, to go through heartaches and trials and problems. It tests us. It helps us perfect our character. All of these things that are revealed in the Bible help us understand God the way He is. We in the Church think of God and Christ collectively when we hear the name of God. Typically, at least I do anyway, I think most of us think of the Father and the Son. It's kind of like a package. I and my Father are one. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Christ came to reveal the Father. So we typically think of them in the same way because they are the same. They're exactly the same character.

We understand that they are in complete unity with each other. Again, they're perfect. They're all-powerful. When we think of one, we're often thinking of both. Or when we sing a song and we're praising one, aren't we really praising both?

I mean, it seems to me that when you praise the Father, you're praising the Son. And when you're praising the Son, you're also praising the Father.

Obviously, they are two distinct beings, but their character is the same.

The Jews considered God's name as sacred, so sacred that they wouldn't try to say it. And they even lost track of it. They lost track of how to pronounce God's name.

So we say Yahweh or Yahweh, but we don't really know how it was initially pronounced.

The YHVH, the tetragrammaton, we have to study the Bible to understand who it's even talking about at times, the Father or the Son. You know, it can refer to the Father or the Son depending on how it's used.

But the important part is to be sure that we reverence God, that we reverence both the Father and the Son.

My name in English is Mark. In Spanish, it's Marcos. In German, it's Marcus. In Italian, it's Marco. In Hebrew, it's Mordecai. At least that's what I've been told. I don't find any of those names offensive. If someone were to call me that, if I was in Israel and they called me that, I wouldn't find that offensive.

Jesus is our English way of pronouncing our Savior's name. There's nothing wrong with using the word Jesus in English. It would be something in Spanish that's going to be different.

But Jesus, I guess that's how they would say it.

Some people get into the sacred name thing and they make a doctrine out of the sacred name, and they lose sight of what's really important, what's most important. So, in the scripture, it also says, your kingdom come, your will be done. So, we should pray that God's kingdom come, and we should long for the establishment of God's government and kingdom upon the earth. That is something that we should long for. It should be something that we continually pray about, because even though we may have it really nice, not everyone does. You know, billions of people are suffering and don't even know where their next meal is coming from. They're starving. That's the reality of human beings on this earth today. It's a sad thing that we're here so wealthy and affluent, and there are people—I mean, if they were right next door, we'd do something about it. It would be easier. It's, you know, when they're out of sight, out of mind, and there's only so much we can do. But that's the reality, that there are billions of people who are so much worse off than we are. So, if you don't care that much for yourself, if you're happy the way things are here, remember not everyone has it as good as you do. So, we should long for God's kingdom to come as soon as possible for those who are suffering.

And even for us, I mean, obviously God's kingdom is a whole lot better than whatever it is you have now.

So, we should pray that God's kingdom come soon. The world is under the sway of the God of this world. It's under Satan's sway. Mankind is suffering greatly in so many ways because of the impact that Satan has on this earth. I mean, we know how immoral things are these days, you know, it's disgusting, what goes on continually. You know, you hate to think that your kids are exposed to all of it, you know, in one way or another. They're obviously more innocent than we are, but their innocence is lost over time because of just being exposed to the world and the way people are in the world. Pray that God's will be done on this earth as it is done in heaven. You know, God's will is done perfectly in heaven. The holy angels, the 24 elders, the living creatures that we read about in Revelation all do God's will perfectly. It is here on earth where Satan, the demons, and mankind are disobedient and not doing God's will. So to pray for God's kingdom to come is to pray for God's will to be done. So there is a much better day ahead of us, thankfully. Give this day our daily bread. We should pray for our daily bread that God will provide for our daily needs, that he is going to sustain us and provide for us each day of our lives. Now, we know we really don't think much about our daily bread, do we? We take that for granted. You know, we got months of food in our freezers, in our, you know, stored away. We could probably live quite a while on just what we have stored in our homes. And that's okay. I mean, you should have some supplies that you can live on if you have to. Maybe you wouldn't have a balanced diet, but you could survive for quite a while. So we don't really think so much about our daily bread as, you know, if we were really poor and we didn't know if we were going to have any bread that day, then it would mean a lot more to us. But we should still continue to thank God for our daily bread, for what he does continually provide for us. God does sustain us. He provides for us each day.

We should have faith that God will continue to provide our every need. So it's okay to be blessed. I mean, I'm grateful that we're blessed in this country. You know, I'm grateful that we have as much as we do. Bread was very important in ancient times. Remember that God sent the living bread, manna, from heaven to feed the children of Israel while they were in their wilderness. Important lessons were to be learned from the bread from heaven. Manna comes directly from God. You know, God sent it every single day while they were in the wilderness, except on the Sabbath, right? He didn't send it on the Sabbath, but he told them to gather twice as much on Friday, the preparation day, so they would have plenty over the Sabbath. Now, if they gathered too much, what would happen? It would breed worms and stink and rot and get nasty.

So it took them a little while to figure that out, some of them, but that's the way it worked. God provided enough for their daily needs, but he didn't tell them to hoard a bunch of it.

They had to learn to trust him, that it would be there every day, and that if they did what he said, if they were obedient, then everything would work out fine. So he protected them for 40 years in the wilderness. I mean, there was a couple million people. Well, I guess there was yet to begin with, anyway. There was a couple of million, most likely, and he provided for them. He sent the manna each day, provided water, and this was a pretty arid country. So two million people are going to drink quite a bit of water. He provided water for them. Throughout those 40 years, even their clothes didn't rot or didn't, you know, he sustained them. They had clothing throughout the time. Their shoes didn't wear out quite miraculous what God did for them. Of course, those who were unfaithful all died in the wilderness. You know, Joshua and Caleb were faithful. They lived on. The rest died in the wilderness. The older ones died. The younger ones, you know, they had a unique opportunity to trust God, and yet it didn't really last.

So bread was very important. It came directly from God. Manna comes exactly as God promised. They could count on it every day as God promised. Manna is living bread. It brings life and sustains life, and manna is sufficient. Even though they might have got tired of it, it was sufficient. It was good for them. It was nutritious.

Probably not a good thing to complain about the daily manna.

In the sample prayer, we're told to pray, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

We should ask God to forgive our debts, our sins, against Him. We are indebted to God. The wages of sin is death. That's what we deserve. When we don't get death, then we should thank God for that. He's forgiving our sins, but He does so only as we are willing to forgive others.

We obviously need to set a good example by forgiving others.

You remember the parable about the fellow that was forgiven a huge debt, and then he would not forgive his brother's much smaller debt. God did not take that lightly. He grabbed him in a well, the rich person having thrown in prison, because he was not treating his fellow man the way that he had treated this man. So it's very important. God will bless us as we bless others, as we treat others. He will forgive us as we forgive others. So we are to be merciful for giving people, but of course we're to learn obedience as well. So there is a balance in how we interact with people, and it should be true repentance. True repentance means you're getting better. You're improving in your conduct. You're not staying the same. That's not really repentant. You've got to be making some progress. Maybe you're not making as much progress as some would like, but hopefully you're making some progress and moving in the right direction.

We ought to be merciful for giving people, but we're also an obedient people as well.

Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Okay, we should pray for that. Pray for God's protection against Satan the devil. Satan is out there. He's the tempter, and he has really messed up some people's lives by going after them and tempting them in certain ways. People went along with the temptation, and they got caught in the trap. Maybe they lost their jobs because of it in some cases. We can probably think of people that have gotten a lot of trouble. There are a lot of ministers who have gotten a lot of trouble for their conduct. I'm not just talking about in our church. There have been some in our church, but there have been many others in other churches who have basically disgraced themselves because of their conduct. They finally were caught, and they were shown to be hypocrites.

So we should pray that God will keep us from Satan the devil, that he will protect us from Satan's temptations. God does allow Satan to tempt us, but not above what we're able to resist and overcome. We're able to. That doesn't mean we're going to, does it? So maybe it would be better that he didn't tempt us.

So pray for God's protection. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

God will provide the strength to overcome and to resist Satan. He tests our character and our spiritual strength and wellness by allowing us to be tested, which when we're tempted by Satan, we're being tested. Will we give in to Satan's temptations? Or will we stand the test and say, no, like Christ did? Christ was tempted by Satan as well, and yet he didn't sin. And he set the example for us.

So God will give us the help and the strength to overcome the vows of Satan. But we should again pray that we will not be led into temptation and that we will be delivered from Satan the devil. Satan is the prince of the power of the air. So again, I've asked the question of if he's the prince, then who's the king? So it is important to get in on God's wavelength. God is the king. God also projects himself by his spirit.

So we can tap into the spirit of God and we can learn to think like God thinks. We're supposed to put on the mind of Christ. Christ can live in us. So rather than get on Satan's wavelength, we should get on God's wavelength and realize that he's the king of the air. He's the one that we should be tapped into and we should be led by a spirit. Like Mr. Burke said in the sermonette, we have to learn to rule our human spirit. Spirit and man, we make decisions. God's spirit allows us to do that. God's spirit allows us to make the right decisions, to learn self-control, to learn all the fruits of God's Holy Spirit.

Producing all of those fruit will obviously keep us in good stead.

Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. God does have it all, doesn't he? He's got the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever and ever. We're blessed to call him our Heavenly Father and to be a member of his family and one of his children. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. And then again, if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, I'm in Matthew 6, 14, and 15 now. I didn't read that before. But if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will forgive you your trespasses or your sins. But if you do not forgive men their sins, neither will your Father forgive you your sins. So we should continually praise God, honor and reverence Him in our prayers and in our lives. We should express our longing for His kingdom. We should pray daily for His coming, for the return of Christ. We should obviously pray for each other that God may bless, provide, sustain and heal all of us. Because we're all in this together, we should pray for forgiveness for all, even our enemies. We know that Christ said to love our enemies, pray for them that despitefully use us. Then we will learn to forgive as God forgives us, and we should pray for deliverance from Satan the devil and his temptations. So today we covered two major topics. We talked about the godly and proper way to give to others.

We should do so quietly and secretly as possible, but we should be giving, sharing much of the blessings that God gives us with others. And then we've talked about the godly and proper way to pray. So these are both very important topics.

So let's make sure we put them into practice each day of our lives. If we want to build our spiritual house on the rock, then we have to take heed to what Christ says. In the Sermon on the Mount, we only have a few more installments, and then we'll be through this and we can go on to something else. But these have been important sermons. In fact, if you'll live by these sermons, you'll be fine. They're the only sermons you ever would have to live or hear the rest of your life if you just live by them. So we'll go into more detail, and we only have two more installments, so we're going to speed things up a little bit for the last couple. So again, it's important. If we want to be like Christ, we have to study His words, and we have to write these words in our hearts and minds.