Today we're going to look at the sixty-six words that compose the Lord's Prayer and see how they're synchronist, how they match up with the Ten Commandments. We're going to examine how the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 is a restatement of the plan of God, the salvation of mankind and the establishment of the Kingdom of God as well as a restatement of God's laws for mankind.

I was reading a book by W. Phillip Keller called "The Layman Looks At the Lord's Prayer". I was going through it and examining the Lord's prayer in a number of different ways and decided that today I would look at the sixty-six words as they are in the King James Version of the Bible. Those sixty-six words can be recited in less than a minute. It's a favorite passage for many people. I was young when I first learned it and memorized it in the old King James and so that's what I'm going to be referring to today because it's instinctive for me to do that.

Matthew 6:9-13  9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

I did want to note that as we're looking at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer, it starts out talking about loving God in the first few verses and later it talks about loving your neighbor as yourself. When Christ spoke often of loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself, it fits into the pattern of the Lord's Prayer. We can divide the sixty-six words of the Lord's Prayer into ten sections or phrases which will become ten points of our analysis today. In the words of Mr. Pirwitz, "When I get to point nine you'll know I'm almost over." 

Bear in mind that these will not all take the same amount of time and if I spend forty minutes on point one, don't project it out and assume nine times that will be the length because each one will have a different length.

Let's start out with the first phrase in this prayer, of what we call ' The Lord's Prayer' and that is the expression 1) OUR FATHER... just two words. That term is an identifier. It doesn't say uncle, aunt, neice, cousin, kindly neighbor or some other person..but it says FATHER. In fact if we refer to the Ten Commandments, if we take a look at the beginning of the Ten Commandments we find they start out with an identifier. Deuteronomy 5:6 6 I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. This starts right off with an identifier. In other words..Who is this? When it speaks of Our Father in the Lord's Prayer, it doesn't say just 'a' Father; it says OUR Father. Christ is saying OUR because God the Father is our spiritual Father and of course that would make Christ our spiritual brother.

The apostle Paul used the term our Father to describe the relationship between church members and God. Colossians 1:2 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul was using this same term that Christ was when He said, "Our Father". The term our father is used in the Bible to describe a number of other people's relationships. Matthew 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. It's interesting that this same term appears in Matthew three, verse nine. Abraham is referred to as our father.

Romans 9:10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; Here we see another reference to someone who is called our father. Abraham is called our father and his son Isaac is also called our father and so we're getting the pattern here that it is an ancestor..it's someone from whom we've descended.

John 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? We see another person who is referenced as our father, Jacob. We now have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob referenced as our father and then when Jesus Christ is praying, He is praying to Our Father. Who came before them? Who was the Cause for them to be there? It's an expression, but of course when Jesus Christ says it He is referring to God the Father.

David is also referred to as our father. Mark 11:10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. There are people throughout history that God has chosen who are our spiritual ancestors that He refers to as our fathers, but certainly none greater than God the Father.

THE TERM "OUR FATHER" REFERS TO OR DEFINES OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD..who we are in comparison to God and who He is in comparison to us.

I've done work over the years with dozens of fathers. It's now into the hundreds through the "Fathers Resource Center" which is a private non-profit social service agency that's been a profound experience for me because I've learned what people think of their own fathers. I've found that people instinctively think of God in the same way that they think of their own father. When many think of their fathers, they think of the imperfections of an average human being or maybe below average human being. In the words of the author of "...The Lord's Prayer" by Phillip Keller, "Some people unconsciously transfer to God the image of all of the negative attributes in their own mind about human fathers." How often do people transfer their thoughts about their physical father's attributes to God? It depends upon their own relationship with their father.

Let's take a look at a few statistics: In America about one third of all caucasian babies (actually it's running closer to 40% now) are born to unwed mothers. The babies don't grow up with their biological fathers. Of the 60 to 70 percent who are born to married parents, up to half of them become children of divorce. This puts the number of caucasian children growing up without their biological fathers at about two-thirds. About one-third grow up with their biological parents. It's different for other ethnicities. For black American children growing up without their biological father in the home is even higher. About 70% of black babies are born out of wedlock; this means that about 30% are born to married parents. About half of those become children of divorce. This yields an astounding 85% of black children growing up without their father. And then there are those who don't even know they aren't being raised by their biological father. There was a startling statistic not long ago about DNA testing in a California study about the children of divorce. In about a fourth of the children who were tested, it was found that the biological father was not listed on the child's birth certificate. In most cases the supposedly biological father didn't even know he wasn't the biological father of what he thought were his own children. In the book of Hosea in the Bible we read about such tragic situations with Hosea's wife Gomer and their children. It follows this same pattern.

This explains why 25% of children will spend some time being raised by grandparents or other relatives.

My father-in-law was raised by his great aunt and his great uncle. His mother died in childbirth leaving a baby and a young father. The new father then relied upon relatives to help him care for the baby while he worked. The baby was passed around from relative to relative until the father remarried. At that point the new stepmother said she would not raise her new stepson who was about four years old. The boy's father and his new wife moved away from the Ozarks off to California and raised a separate family and left the little boy behind in southern Missouri The little boy was then raised by an elderly couple who did not have children of their own-- but that elderly couple doted on him and he excelled in life. What do you suppose went through my father-in-law's mind when he was just a little boy? What do you suppose he had in his mind when he heard the words "our Father"? Remarkably, he grew up to be a kind and loving father himself. I was priviledged to meet him before he died.

How do you suppose those 68% or more of caucasian children or 85% of black children who spend some time growing up fatherless feel about the words "Our Father"? Can you imagine that the term evokes warm fuzzy images of a warm, doting, considerate parent who is always there? Or is it one of coolness and distance? 

As a result, it's not always a pleasant thing for many people to think of God as their Father. They are likely to think of a distant person..someone who has other interests and doesn't have their interests at heart. Instinctively, many people have doubts about their physical father, so this raises issues in their minds about whether they are really loved. Does their Father really care? It's common to think about flaws in humans and attribute those flaws to God the Father.

Tragically, many fathers are separated from their children and it has become a societal norm that a high percentage of families have become a single parent household or are blended families (families of mixed parentage children). To be fair, not all children suffer the same debillitating effects through separation from their fathers but the numbers are significant.

There's a biblical prophecy that comes to mind and it may have come to your mind already. In the prophecy about the last days, the prophet Malachi said it would be critical for the hearts of the fathers and children to be turned to each other. Malachi 4:5-6 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. If it were already true, that fathers and children had their hearts turned toward each other, there would be no reason for them to turn back toward each other. Look at the curses we're living with today as a result of estrangement between fathers and their children. 

Today, the government has become the substitute husband and the substitute father through its many social programs. There has been a lack of closeness then both before and because of that between fathers and children. That lack of closeness can breed anger and bitterness or resentment and it often forms the basis for self-loathing or discontent or personally destructive habits and anti-social behavior. It brings about an attitude of "you owe me" and we see this when people demand things from their pseudo father, the government. "You owe me" becomes their attitude.

While many are separated from their physical father, many today are also separated in their own minds..whether they realize it or not from their spiritual Father. That is one of the reasons why we have an annual Holy Day called "Atonement" or 'at one ment', which represents a reuniting with the Father.

The first two words of the Lord's Prayer are synchronous with the first commandment in Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father ... As we then begin in Deuteronomy 5:6 we see an identifier of Who we are talking about. We're talking about "I am the Lord your God" and then goes on into the Ten Commandments to describe who God is.

The first commandment is restated by Jesus Christ in Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. We can actually apply this statement of Christ's to the first four or five of the Ten Commandments. It applies to commandment five which is "Honor your father and mother" because not only is it an identifier for God but it shows we honor God and put God first and show our love for Him. The first two words of the Lord's prayer are not just in tune with the first commandment (as to accepting and recognizing God) but the other commandments also. In this case with the first two words "our Father" ,Christ is making it clear that God is our common spiritual Father. Christ did not simply say, 'My Father'; He said, "Our Father". Of course, with the Father comes inheritance and with Jesus Christ's relationship to His Father we are brought into the family relationship. Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Jesus didn't exclude those of us who are eager to be members of God's family.

Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, Does this sound familiar? "The firstborn of many brethren and now the writer of Hebrews is saying "the church of the firstborn". We are referred to as 'the church of the firstborn'. Jesus Christ referred to God as our Father. Those are the first two words and that's point one..how it's referred to in the Lord's Prayer and it referring to the first commandment in describing God.

Then we look at the next phrase 2) "WHO ART IN HEAVEN". This is also an identifier. It says what god are we talking about here? It says the God in heaven. There's often some confusion about what heaven is and we may have had some messages on this recently. Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. There are three heavens that the Bible speaks of. The one in Isaiah ten is the one that people most commonly speak of. This is talking about the atmosphere; this is the first heaven that we're talking about..where the rain comes from and the birds fly in. 

Psalm 19:1-2, 6 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

This is referring to the universe where the stars are. We're looking up into the heavens where the moon and stars are and beyond where the immediate atmosphere of the earth is ,which is referring to the second heaven.

 2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. This is Paul writing to the Corinthians and he's telling about an experience that he's had. He wasn't quite sure what's going on, but he reveals a little bit more about heaven. We know there are three heavens and we know that God the Father is in heaven. Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

The apostle John, the writer of the book of Revelations, was granted a special view..a vision of the third heaven and he described it as best as he could for us. Revelation 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. This is a description the apostle John gave of the Godly throne, the place where God's throne exists.

Jesus Christ was pointing to a certain God when He referred to "Our Father Who art in heaven", a God that resides in heaven..that's where his throne is in a place that's the third heaven. The place where the throne of God is.

There's another factor to this reflection to identify who God is. In the world, we've had a people who for the last 6,000 years of the recorded history of man don't really know God. So, what God are we really talking about? A stone god? Frequently they're made of stone, some of wood. My wife and I saw a lot of chisled stone 'gods' when we visited Buddist and Shintu temples in Japan. We saw people worshipping statues made of bronze or copper. Some of the statues were carved of various hardwoods and polished very smooth. Some statues were overlaid with silver or gold. None of those gods were in any of the three heavens.

Elijah the prophet of God, in the time of king Ahab and queen Jezebel..in the northern kingdom of Israel, about seven hundred years before Christ was born ,had a confrontation with the prophets of Baal, a pagan diety, a pagan god. 1 Kings 18:17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” Here's a prophet that is saying you're going to have to straighten up and fly right or bad things are going to happen, but king Ahab says Elijah is causing all the trouble.

18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” These prophets of Baal followed pagan ways. They were worshipping a pagan god.

20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”

So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”

25 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy,[this was a nice eloquent way of saying, has he gone to the bathroom?] or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention. I'ts just not working out for the prophets of Baal. Their Baal is just not consuming the sacrifice.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. [That's twelve barrels of water.] 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. This was in a time of drought when it hadn't rained for three years and so water was very, very precious.
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

Our God is the God of heaven and that's quite an identifier. Certainly the prophets of Baal found out that God is far more powerful than their worship of statues of stone or wood. 

The identification of God is consistent with the second commandment. Deuteronomy 5:6-9 ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,... The identification of God is critical in the Lord's prayer. It's "Our Father Who art in heaven."

The third section of words, as we divide it out is: 3) HALLOWED BE THY NAME.

Matthew 6:9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

When we refer to God, we must do so in a reverent manner. Hallowed means holy, special, set apart -- not casual or common or profane.

Deuteronomy 5:11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. This is entirely consistent with this third expression in the Lord's Prayer "Hallowed be Your name". We're not to take God's name in vain. Remember the Family name of God was followed through and called upon by others who were called 'our father'. The family name is God. Jesus Christ called God "the Father" and then Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David are called our father. Our family name is "The Family of God". We certainly want to honor the family name and in this case God the Father is expecting us to honor his name and not use it in vain.

The verses to this point are: Our Father Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

The next phrase is: 4) THY KINGDOM COME

I find the Old King James sort of poetic; I memorized it that way. "Thy kingdom come" is consistent with the fourth commandment. We are addressing the Lord's Prayer to God the Father, but the first thing Jesus requests of the Father is to send his Kingdom to this earth by saying, "Thy Kingdom Come".

Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Now we'll look at the fourth commandment: Deuteronomy 5:12-15 12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

We're looking then at a Sabbath Day of rest that God COMMANDS us to keep and He tells us that it's important for us. That seventh day is a rest provided by God for our benefit and so too is the coming Kingdom of God as a rest for mankind as we will learn during the annual Feast of Tabernacles which pictures the upcoming Millenium. The thousand year reign of Christ on earth is a time of rest..a time when that which is wrong in the world will be put right.

Hebrews 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; This is referring to that time in Genesis of the re-creation when God made clear that the seventh day is the Sabbath day.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

What did Christ say? He's praying "Thy kingdom come" in other words calling on God to send His kingdom and what do we read in the Ten Commandments? The establishment of that seventh day, that time that pictures the thousand year millennium..the coming rest for mankind. After six thousand years of human-recorded history, they so need God's Kingdom.

Christ is putting this as a priority. Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Seeking first God's Kingdom is what Christ was demonstrating in the Lord's Prayer... by saying "Thy Kingdom come"--with reference to the fourth commandment, as mankind can rest from his labors.

5) YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN 

This can refer to all the commandments..particularly the fourth through the tenth with the Sabbath portraying the Kingdom of God.

Jesus explains: John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. Christ is praying to God the Father "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." If we take a look at the Ten Commandments and we read through the Commandments and we read about the benefits that are offered to mankind and understand the benefits--how we should honor our father and mother, we shouldn't kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, or covet -- that's what God's wishes are for us on this earth. Those are values that He has expressed throughout his universe.

We turn to accept the mind of Christ, to have that in us because Christ is modeling this through the prayer by asking that God's will be done on this earth. When Christ comes back to establish the Kingdom of God on this earth..that's how God is going to establish it in this world. We'll have that Kingdom of God where we'll learn to be more Christ-like. For those of us who have that knowledge, it's our duty to do that which we know.

1 Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? We're responsible for what we know..which is important. If we have that knowledge and understanding that we must be more Christ-like, that we must look forward to the model that God has expressed to us, knowing Who God is, Which God He is, then we must put as our priority "Thy Kingdom Come". That is what God expects of us because God is looking at us now.

So expression number five: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" pertains to all the commandments--especially five through ten because that's how we relate to each other, how we react and respond to each other.

6) GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread. This relates exactly to the fourth commandment. Exodus 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, This is the opportunity we have to have our daily bread. Some people think God will provide and all I have to do is wait for Him. I saw an interesting sign on a wall of a school I visited recently: "We can pray for God to guide our footsteps, but we still have to move our feet." When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread", it does not mean that we just have to open our mouths and food will fall into it. We have the fourth commandment. It says, "Six days shall you labor and do all your work." You must be productive. You have to do something for the benefit of your family as well as for the benefit of others. When we ask God to give us this day our daily bread, it's not as if it's going to fall from the sky. In Exodus the bread did indeed fall from the sky. Exodus 16:2-4 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” They were hungry, they were starving, they were anxious, they were concerned. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. He didn't say He was going to rain bread into their mouths. He said He was going to rain bread from heaven--He was going to make it available. They still had to go out and do something to get it. We live in a society where sometimes people think it is owed to them and it should wind up in their mouths instead of them having to reach for it, step for it. You notice, God provided the bread and He does. Today we must seize the opportunities God provides for us and turn those labors into our daily bread.

There's another kind of bread Jesus was talking about when He showed us the model prayer when He says, "Give us this day our daily bread" and that is the spiritual bread. Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 

 We read each year during the Passover service the words of John 6:32-38 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Christ said He is the living bread that comes down from heaven and if a man eat of this bread he shall live forever.

God provides our daily physical bread for which we must be an active participant and our spiritual daily bread for which we must be an active participant for God to provide that daily bread. It's okay to ask God for that assistance.

Matthew 7:9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? God the Father will provide for us both the physical sustenance and the spiritual sustanance. He's not going to give us a stone. Baal was a god made of stone or wood or whatever they made their statues out of as people do around the world to this day. The stones can't do anything for them. God will provide bread for us.

When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread", we know that the fourth commandment is there for us to work six days and do all of our work to provide the physical bread and Christ has shown us that God will provide the spiritual bread as well.

7) FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS

We can look at this in commandments five through ten. Some translations say "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." I remember as a lad growing up in a protestant church that our particular denomination said, 'forgive us our debtors', but the neighbor kids had to go to catechism and they memorized it, 'forgive us our trespasses' and there was much stir as to which one was the correct way to say it--is it debtor or trespasses? The principle is the same. Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

Can we think of all the debts--meaning sins or trespasses spoken of in the Commandments whether it's committed by a parent --or whether it speaks of killing or some other sin? We can say, "Well, I've never killed anybody and nobody has killed me." But, people certainly do slaughter other people's reputations -- whether it's true or not. The worst of it is when they say something about you that's true and spread it all over because that's really hard to defend. People will kill other people's reputations. Committing adultery, stealing, not bearing false witness against your neighbor, or coveting anything that is your neighbor's is included in this. Our job here is to forgive those who trespass or have something against us and that's probably one of the hardest things to do. Because look at the expression we're expected to do: "Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive our debtors." A lot of people forget that AS part. They're quite willing to have other people forgive them but that's only half of the bargain. The tough part is that if it's hard for us to forgive others, it will be hard for God to forgive us. We must make efforts to have forgiveness as a model for us--regardless of which of those commandments have been violated against us.

The fifth through the tenth commandments speak loudly to this expression: "Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors."

8) LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

We could refer to commandments five through ten or six through ten. Certainly some children could say their parents irritate them to death and they're irritated to no end--so it's okay for them to disrespect their parents. And they could justify reasons for doing so. Just because somebody does something or wants to do something to you, it could be tempting to get even, to do it back. A better more accurate way to say this could be 'let us not lead ourselves into temptation' because we're all tempted by our human passions to violate the Commandments of God.

We can look at someone who also had human passions, who was also tempted. James 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. We talked earlier about the prophet Elijah in first Kings eighteen how God honored his prayers both for the drought and then for the burning of the offering that he had in spite of it being soaked in water. If a prophet of God who has a large portion of God's Spirit was tempted just like we are and had passions, what about us? Surely, we are also tempted daily, weekly, monthly and yet it is our job to not follow into those temptations... that we would lead ourselves into.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?

Even the apostle Paul fought temptation. Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. In modern English, 'When I do something that I shouldn't, I know I shouldn't but I've done it anyway and then there are things I should have done, but I don't do them.' How painful is that, to have that realization that there are things that we do that we shouldn't? And there are things we leave out that we should be doing, and we don't. That fits into the expression, 'lead us not into temptation'. Nor let us lead ourselves into temptation. Because that's what the Commandments are about: helping us to live a better life, following the commandments of God.

9) DELIVER US FROM EVIL

I've heard that a better way to express it is: 'deliver us from the evil one', which of course is Satan. Matthew 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one. In order to be delivered from evil, we must understand what evil is. We must understand what we're to be delivered from.

1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Here we can read about evil and how it is lurking (or the evil one whenever we say deliver us from evil or the evil one). The evil one wants to devour you. He wants to devour me. And we need deliverance. We are asking God, as Christ models in this prayer for our benefit, to be delivered from the jaws, from the biting of the roaring lion, from Satan who would love to have us tempt ourselves away by violating the Commandments and fall prey to that 'lion'. 

If we're going to be delivered from the evil one, we must take an active part. Part of it is that we ask God to direct our steps. We have to move our feet. Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. That's what we need to be busy doing. In order to protect us from evil--if we're seeking first the Kingdom of God, we're so busy doing the right things that we'll lessen the opportunity for Satan to be involved in our lives.

10) FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER

Matthew 6:13 ..For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. This is referring to our ultimate destiny as sons and daughters of God.

Romans 8:16-19 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

This is our destiny. God is calling us to be heirs with Christ -- heirs of God --to join the God family. Exactly what does that mean? Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. This is the apostle John. Does that track with what we just read in the Lord's Prayer? The Lord's Prayer says, "Thy kingdom come" and John is writing at the behest of God that we will be kings and priests in God's family --that He is our Father and to God belongs the glory and dominion and rule forever. And where will this happen? Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

We're looking to the time when God's Kingdom is going to come to earth. It says clearly that we are to be a part of God's family. It gives us a job to do ..kings and priests. And it tells us where we're going to reign -- all of this summarized in what we call the "Lord's Prayer"

Let's read the Lord's Prayer together : Matthew 6:9-13 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

We have the opportunity to mentally compare this to following the outline that God has given us in the Ten Commandments.

When we read about our Father, we know it's the first commandment and the fifth. We read Who art in heaven and we know it's the second commandment--it describes which God. Through the third 'hallowed be Thy name', we know we should respect and hallow God's name and not use it in vain. Number four, when we say 'Thy Kingdom come' we know that the Sabbath is referring to the milleneal time of God's Kingdom being established on earth. And number five similarly 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven' in the commandments four through ten... where God's way of life will be practiced in his kingdom on earth during the millenium. In the sixth expression 'give us this day our daily bread', is reflected in the fourth commandment with the Sabbath telling us that six days we must labor and yet will also explain that God will provide our spiritual bread for us as He did the manna in the wilderness. Physically, He is our spiritual bread for our future. The seventh expression 'forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors' is a deeper understanding of commandments five through ten -- that we might have more forgiving attitudes. The eighth expression 'lead us not into temptation'--again commandments five through ten, that we not let ourselves be tempted by any of the passions but instead turn our passions into a passion for following God. The ninth and tenth expressions 'deliver us from evil' (or the evil one) 'for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever' refers to the plan of God --first to resist Satan and second for our destiny to join God's Family.