Luke 11:1-4

When we pray for our needs, the Lord gives us our daily bread. Food and sustenance is a day by day necessity, and not a luxury. We can be fully reliant on the Lord to provide our needs, but not necessarily our wants.

So heavenly father, we ask Lord in Jesus name that by the power of your spirit, father, that you would move in our hearts to draw us ever closer to your heart.
And Lord, we’re learning as we come to this message that there’s only one way to do that.
And that is by prayer. Prayer connects our heart to your heart.
So father, we pray this morning that you would cause us to become people of prayer.
So Lord in Jesus name, we pray and all God’s people said, amen, grab your bibles and turn to Luke’s Gospel chapter 11.
Luke chapter 11, we are in part two of a message entitled when a Christian Praise, what happens when a Christian prays?
We looked at the first five points in our study last time together.
And we also made mention of the fact that it is a biblical theological fact that goes against tradition.
This is the famous portion of scripture as Jesus also taught in Matthew chapter 62 events, two separate events where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.
This has uh incorrectly been addressed and known as the Lord’s prayer. It is not the Lord’s prayer.
It is more technically, the disciple’s prayer and a quick read of that will tell you quickly that it cannot be the Lord’s prayer.
Because in this prayer of Luke chapter 11 verses one through four, Jesus says, pray this way, we’ll talk about more in that in a second.
But he says, when you pray this way, one of those things and we hear about it today is asking God to forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
Jesus could never have prayed that prayer. This is not the Lord’s prayer.
This is the prayer that the Lord taught the disciples how to pray.
But unfortunately, tradition has clouded the understanding of the word of God in this particular point.
If you want to look at the true Lord’s prayer, you’re gonna want to study John chapter 17.
Why that is where the Lord prayed? And it’s a great prayer to look at.
We’re blessed by this because the disciples in Luke 11 verse one asked the very thing that you and I are prone to ask.
And they said, Lord teach us to pray. Jesus was a man of prayer.
And as the disciples saw him praying, they saw the benefits.
And so they asked Lord teach us to pray.
This is the architecture that Jesus gives us to build in a prayer life.
This is the scaffolding the the frame of what prayer is all about given here in Luke 11 and Matthew chapter six in our study.
Last time together. Very quickly, we looked at these five things that are so vitally important.
We looked at this regarding the conversation. We saw that when a Christian prays, it’s an ongoing conversation.
Number two, when a Christian prays, we realize that it’s a much needed union that when you and I pray, we are connected to the very heart and will and mind of God.
Thirdly, we saw that when we pray, when a Christian prays, it is a sacred endeavor.
When we pray, we are literally connecting in real time, that is heaven time.
It’s amazing to me when somebody prays on the east coast, the west coast or around the world.
When we pray as Christians, we are immediately arriving as it were prayers before the throne of God.
At the same time, prayer is one of those things that’s so sacred to God that it actually invades the time zone of heaven.
Don’t you love that? When we pray, it’s now to God, when we worship it’s now to God.
And we know this from scripture when a sinner converts to Jesus Christ, angels joy in the presence of God in the now in that instant.
So, wow, do you want to be connected to heaven?
Do you want to have an ongoing conversation in that union with Christ through that sacred act of prayer?
It is an awesome thing to realize that it brings us into the very real time of God.
Fourthly, we saw that it’s a humbling process.
A person who prays is a person who’s been humbled by God. And that’s a great place to be.
God uses humble people. How can people be humble by praying when you bow the knee?
Oh, were you here Wednesday night?
If you are not here Wednesday night, I will pray right now that the Lord will forgive you.
It was awesome why we had a night of worship and communion?
But God led this body of believers to go to their knees. People were kneeling in prayer and worship.
People were laying down, crying out to God. It was awesome. That is a humbling thing.
What a humble thing. I have a picture that I bought in Valley Forge where George Washington by the way, knelt in prayer alongside of his horse and prayed that God would intervene because we were looking at losing there at Valley Forge as the winter was so bad.
He said, well, Jack, how do we know that George Washington bowed his knee in prayer. How do we know?
Somebody took a picture kind of there was a man that was spying on George Washington from behind a tree and sketched the very act of the great general, the commander in chief of our forces, all alone.
He thought praying to God in a humble prayer.
What a great thing that even a general and a future president would pray.
And then we also saw in number five, that’s where we left off.
It’s a certain reality that when we pray we are beginning to practice and to rehearse the very spirit of heaven above that the Holy Spirit of God brings into our reality that this earth is not our home.
Isn’t that an awesome thing? I don’t know about you church.
Do you guys watch the news or do you look to me to watch the news for you?
I watch the news a lot. You guys, the world is going crazy this week.
You know what? It’s caused me to do pray more. All this stuff is taking place around the world.
Things are shaking. If you don’t have Jesus Christ and the certain reality that heaven is your home, you’re gonna need some meta today.
You’re gonna need some tons. You’ll need more than that. You’ll need Jesus Christ.
So let’s look at it together.
We’ll read it one more time before we pick up in our sixth point. Luke 11 beginning in verse one.
Now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.
And so he said to them, when you pray, say our father in heaven, Holly would be your name, your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Here, we go give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for.
We also forgive everyone who is indebted to us and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one point number six, in our study this morning, it is this when a Christian prays number six, it’s found in verse three, we’re brought to the place of simplicity.
When we pray, the clouds move away, when we pray, the fog dissipates.
And we realize this number one, that simple reliance upon God is renewed in our lives.
We’re brought to the place of simplicity.
What kind of simplicity is that when we pray, we are brought to that place of reliance.
We’re reminded, Jesus said, pray like this. Give us day by day our daily bread church mark this down.
Any Bible theologians here this morning, make note of this. It’s a rare moment that we have in verse three.
This is a remarkable verse because the word daily here means something bigger than just now.
It appears only here in all of the New Testament.
Jesus uses a word that if the careful reader comes across it and digs his spiritual shovel in it and starts to mine.
What Jesus is saying, there’s a wonderful gem that you’ll see here.
It means when he says, give us our day by day, this bread that we request. Lord.
The word here daily means give us the bread that we need. Now to eat physically, watch this church.
But it also implies in a very, very, a mystical way. It’s a very beautiful word that he used here.
Give us food. Now, thank you God.
But my heart’s passion and desire is the very day that your bread is given to me once and for all, forever more.
It’s giving me my bread now to eat physically.
But I look forward to the day when I’m with or having your bread eternally.
So the word means I Lord, I’m thankful for eating now.
But I look, listen, I look forward to the bread of the day.
Speaking about a very, very awesome union with Christ and being with Christ.
The word is pregnant with meaning and we don’t want to skip over it all that quickly.
It would be more like this if we were to put it in a modern day translation, Lord, provide for me what I need right now today and for what I will need for the day that is coming the day of God, the day of Christ, the day of the Lord.
When we’ll see him, this is a sublime spiritual meaning here. It’s very, very wonderful Lord.
Give us our spiritual strength, but give us Lord the strength to remember that we’re talking about eternity.
It’s a beautiful reminder that we as Christians are to be looking daily for that ultimate bread of life to come, Jesus Christ.
You’re listening to real life with pastor Jack Hibbs, you know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series.
Just go to Jack Hibbs dot com. That’s Jack Hibbs dot com.
And for now, let’s get back to our teaching.
Once again, here’s pastor Jack in John chapter six. Jot it down.
By the way, there’s a lot of verses here.
John chapter six, beginning in verse 31 Jesus said, our fathers ate Manna in the desert as it is written.
He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
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.
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
Verse 48 I am the bread of life.
This is the bread which comes down from heaven and that one may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.
That’s what Jesus is saying. When he said, when you pray and you say, give us our bread day by day or our daily bread.
You’re asking the Lord feed me now, get me through this day.
But I look forward to that day that the bread of life will be, my food will be my eats.
And so we want to be reliant and reliant upon the Lord for our material needs.
Now, hang on, give us day by day our daily bread bread.
You say Jack this mighty simple, isn’t it? That’s pretty humbling. Yes, it is.
Although many people, you know, we’ve all been raised this way.
We’ve all been told this, that three quarters of the world goes to bed hungry at night.
That means they don’t even have bread to eat or they just have enough to get by.
We, on the other hand, give us day by day. Our daily dessert is our life.
You know, I wonder sometimes where the blessings of God and, and we take off from that point on the luxuries of man.
God says, He promises I’ll give you bread to get by day by day.
It’s probably safe to say that none of us have ever lived day by day on a morsel of bread.
And yet God says it’s ok.
If we had to live day by day on a morsel of bread, we would probably think the world has come to an end.
We have been so so blessed and maybe we’ve taken even blessings and we’ve prostituted them beyond that, that they become luxuries that we demand that we demand.
He didn’t say give us day by day our daily dessert. There’s a big difference.
We can be fully reliant upon the Lord to provide our needs, says the Bible and there’s a great difference between the bread and the dessert.
And when I think about the goodness of God church, let’s be honest.
When we read our Bible, let’s be true here.
We need Americans and Californians because we’ve got the weather should be the most thankful people on the planet.
You wanna know why? Because we have more than one pair of shoes. You know what?
Most of us have more than one pair of pants. Most of us have more than one shirt.
Most of most of us have more than one of anything. We have more.
We are so blessed by God and yet did you know that God only? And He is not.
He’s not being stingy when the Bible teaches us that He’s provided and shall provide enough to get us by for the day.
That’s all that God has promised you and I how, how many of us have cars?
Raise your hand? He didn’t promise his cars. You can read the fine print.
You can look, you won’t even find where he’s promised us donkeys. It’s not there. No subway, no airplanes.
That’s dessert. He’s been so very good to us.
And Matthew four verse four, it says, but he answered and said to them, it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
So simple is what God has promised to give you an eye church.
Um, I have traveled a great deal.
I know many of you have traveled a great deal and this is kind of sad and embarrassing.
But if you’ve been to Europe out in front of restaurants, read written on an easel, a chalkboard, it says we serve American portions.
I kid you not if they want Americans to come in there and eat, it will say on a sign out in front of the restaurant, we serve American portions.
Do you know what American portions look like?
You can take a field trip today after service and go to claim jumper where you order a cake.
I mean it’s a slice of cake and it comes as a cake and they even call it the mother lode.
It’s sure to bless your cardiologist if you eat it over the top.
But yet God has promised that simple things.
And so we need to be very careful, the fact that we’re to be reliant upon God for what he has promised.
And it’s basic. We live sometimes in our culture, we live to eat rather than we should be eating to live day by day.
Give us this bread assurance. When we pray, the Christian is brought to a place of simplicity, simple assurance in God give us day by day.
Our daily bread also means that you God, you’ve promised to supply us what you give us and we should be content with that.
And we can look to you to do that.
In Philippians 4 19, Philippians 4 19 speaks to us about assurance and it says there and my God shall supply all your, what’s the word need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
We think the word means once. No, it’s needs. By the way, you might find this interesting.
If you’re unemployed, you’re gonna want to memorize that verse Philippians 4 19.
The word for need in Greek is where we get the English word employment.
So, hey, listen, do you, do you want a new job or are you unemployed?
And my God shall supply all your employment according to his riches and glory by Christ. Jesus.
Isn’t that great news? Psalm 37 25 says I have been young and now I’m old yet.
I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his Children begging bread. Boy.
I probably might upset somebody by saying this, but God’s word says his Children will never be seen baking bread.
You know what I get offended when I see somebody at the end of the freeway with a sign that says I’m hungry.
I have no place to live. I’m starving. Please help me. God bless you. Or I’m a Christian.
I’ve seen him once. He says, well, I’m a Christian now. Look, it’s not for me to be judge Jack.
That’s not my position. That’s not my place. So will we give them water? Will we give them food.
Will we give them a dollar? Yes. But ultimately, it’s an affront to Christ.
It means that that person, if we take the sign at true value, I’m a Christian. God bless you.
I’m starving. I’m hungry. I’m naked. I’m poor.
Which by the way, some of these guys are making $100,000 a year doing this.
It says I’m a Christian. My God doesn’t know about my condition. He doesn’t care about me.
I need your help to get me through the day. Not God. He’s not helping me at all.
Is what that sign says. Now you may be offended at that.
But you know what, I’ll argue with you on this one. If the person’s look, the person’s there hungry.
If they’re on the side of the freeway, we’re not to be Judge Jack or judge Alex Judy.
Judge whoever their names are. Now there’s a ton of them. We’re not to judge them.
Just give them a dollar or five bucks or buy them a burger.
Yeah, but what if he’s just a scammer, then God will deal with that in the end.
Give them some food. But when you give them food, so you know what? You are a shame.
You are a shame to the name of God. You got the sign right here.
It says that Jesus loves you or Jesus loves me. If he loves you, what do you stand here?
Began for the Bible says in the book of Psalms, the righteous God’s Children shall never be seen begging breath.
Write me later. Thirdly, under this point, brought to the place of simplicity and that simple trust through God, we know that he’s gonna provide.
We know that he’s going to provide because he’s always provided.
When he says, give us day by day, our daily bread simply trust him. Listen to this. I love this.
Oh man, I think I love it also because we’ve been to this place in Israel, Matthew 6 25.
Jesus said, therefore I say to you do not worry about your life. Don’t worry about your life.
What you will eat, what you will drink, what you will put on your body is not life more important than food and your body more than clothing.
I don’t know if you go to Bel Air and Rodeo Drive. That’s a good question.
Look at the birds of the air for they neither uh sow or reap neither do they gather into barns yet?
Your heavenly father feeds them? Are you not more valuable than they?
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature.
So why do you worry about your clothing? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you even Solomon and all his glory was not a raid or as beautiful as these.
Now, if God closes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven.
Will he not much more clothe you? Oh ye of little faith.
Therefore, don’t worry saying, what shall we eat and what shall we drink and what shall we wear?
See, when we are focused on these things, we are not praying and when we’re not praying, we’re not mindful.
That God says, I promise Jack, I promise Fred, I promise Mike to supply all of your need in Christ Jesus.
My son Proverbs 30 verse eight says, this keep falsehood and lies far from me.
Give me neither poverty nor riches. That’s a wise prayer.
God don’t let me get poor and don’t let me be rich, but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say, who is the Lord?
Or I may become so poor and still and so dishonor your great name. Isn’t that a great verse man?
Next time you go to your financial advisor say, I don’t want to be rich and I don’t want to be poor.
Give him this verse. In fact, if you’re a Christian financial advisor, once again, that’s Proverbs 30 verses eight through nine.
Some people shouldn’t have money, they get goofy with it, they get done with it.
Point number seven in our study, when a Christian prays we’re brought to the place of freedom. Freedom.
Verse four teaches us, Jesus said, when you pray pray this, forgive us our sins, man.
I wanna pay close attention to this when we pray we’re brought to the place of freedom, freedom of being forgiven.
Oh church. This is the best freedom of being forgiven when the Bible says, and I love it straight up Genesis 11 in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and I don’t, you love it.
The Bible doesn’t tiptoe around and offer up an apology. Sorry.
But the Bible teaches that God believes that the heaven and earth were created by Him.
The Bible doesn’t apologize. It says it straight up. God created the heavens and the earth.
The Bible with equal boldness says we have sinned, we’re sinners.
Jesus says, bring it to me and I’ll forgive you of it and set you for he pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on real life radio with his message called when a Christian Praise.
Thanks for spending some time with us today.
You know, when a Christian praise is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Gospel of Luke.
It’s a series on the book of Luke and the unveiling of Jesus Christ to this world.
And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real life radio. Pastor Jack in this Easter season.
Will you pray with our real life radio families, Davey, I would be honored father.
I pray right now with my brothers and sisters and the real life audience.
Lord God that you would move in our lives in such a way that we would not only be shocked and surprised that you would be doing something through us, Lord, but that others around our lives would know.
This is the hand of God, this is not Davey, this is not Jack, this is not Mike or this is not Susan.
This is the hand of God Lord. Our nation is in trouble. Our world is terrified.
But father, we’ve come to this moment and we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
May we not be shy anymore or timid?
May we take courage and tell people that Christ has risen from the dead.
He’s real, he’s alive and that he’s coming back and that he died there for you.
And I and he rose again from the dead.
And so there’s hope, absolute hope in him and eternal life.
So father, please, if you would in these closing moments of world history, will you reach the world through us?
And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen.
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Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life radio.
Wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word, we’ll see you next time here on real life radio.