Sermon Series: “Connecting with God: The Lord’s Prayer” Part 1
Message Aim: How do you get connected with God?
Sermon Title: “The Prayer of Connection”
Scripture: Matthew 6:9
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,…’”
Message Synopsis:
In 2 Chronicles 15 it says, “…Problems troubled the nation on every hand.” If you watch the TV news you might conclude that bible statement sounds like our country and our times. We have economic problems in our nation. We’ve got international problems. We’ve got social problems, cultural problems, spiritual problems, relational problems. We have problems troubling the nation on every hand.
But even in the darkest of times, God always gives a voice of hope. In this particular time, in 2 Chronicles 15, He said this: “Listen all you people. The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him. And if you seek him you will find him. But if you abandon him [talking about God] he will abandon you.’ For a long time Israel has been without the true God and without God’s law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord and they sought him and he was found by them.” That phrase gives me hope. “In their distress they turned to the Lord.”
That is my prayer for me. That in my distress I will turn to the Lord. For you, that in your distress you will turn to the Lord; for our church, that in our distress we will turn to the Lord; for our city, our county, our country, our state. During tough times we will turn not simply to economic solutions or governmental solutions or any of the other things that might come along. But we will turn to the Lord.
Every possible thing you need for life is contained in the Lord’s Prayer. For the next seven weeks we’re going to look at that prayer piece by piece. I’m calling this series “Connecting With God.” We’re going to look at these seven different phrases in the Lord’s Prayer because every single one of those seven phrases are an answer to the seven greatest stresses in your life. The things that cause you more conflict, more problems, more difficulty, more hassle than anything else.
This morning we’re going to look simply at the first phrase of the prayer. Matthew 6:9 “This is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name.’” Today I want us to just look at the phrase “Our Father.” What is God really like? What kind of father is God?
The Bible says that there are four characteristics of the fatherhood of God. This is news you can use.
- He is a caring Father.
He is a caring, loving, compassionate father. God loves you more than you will ever know. He loves you more than you will ever understand. He loves you more than you can ever comprehend. You don’t have the brain capacity to understand how much God loves you. God is a caring father.
- He is a consistent Father.
That’s really important. Especially when everything’s changing around us. He is a consistent Father. He will never let you down. He can be counted on. He is dependable. He is reliable. He is worthy of trust.
- He is a close Father.
He’s close. He’s not far away. He’s as close as your next heartbeat. He’s right there with you every moment. And the truth is God is right here right now. He’s a close Father. For a lot of us we struggle with this. We’re talking about dealing with struggles from growing up until now. Some of us grew up with absentee dads. Maybe a great dad but he was just never there. The truth of the matter is, God is close. God loves to meet my needs.
- He is a competent Father.
That’s really important when you’re facing big problems. He is a competent Father. He can handle any problem you give him. Nothing is beyond his ability. Nothing is too hard for him. Nothing is beyond his resources. No request is too big or too small.
There is a Father who loves you consistently, compassionately, careingly, competently. That Father, your heavenly Father can give you the acceptance and the approval and the advice and the appreciation that you so crave.
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