The Progression of Prayer - Pt. 2

You know, we've been studying. I want you guys to turn to Luke chapter 11. We've been studying verses 11 through 13. And if you'll think back with me, and I'm going to stop right after this first point, and we're going to do a little praying here in just a moment. But if you'll think back with me, last week we studied Luke's rendition of the Lord's Prayer, or what I prefer to call the Disciple's Prayer. If you want to know what the Lord's Prayer is, go read John 17. You'll find the Lord's Prayer right there.

I think this is more the Disciple's Prayer, because the disciple came to him and said, Lord, teach us to pray. It was a request. Teach us to pray. And then he taught them how to pray. It's more like, OK guys, here's your prayer. This is the disciple's way. It's a model.

It's not something that we just do in memory. You know, I love the boldness of athletic teams today saying the Lord's Prayer, because it makes a witness. But I've been with those guys on the field and go, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You know, it's like machine gun shooting off there, it's so fast. And I think, I wonder if they really know what those phrases are all about that they're saying. But I'm not going to knock that, because it does make a witness. But hopefully their coaches will disciple them in the understanding of what they're praying when they're on that field.

So it's not just a prayer we pray and wrote. It's a model prayer. There's a lot of content to each phrase in the prayer. You know, last week we looked at each one of those phrases. The model of this prayer could be broken down into these categories. And after this first one, we're going to stop and pray here, because it fits. It's appropriate for the day. Father, Father.

That's how you begin the prayer. It gives you the address and how to address God. He is Father. And what's interesting here is how Jesus used the word, the term Abba. The Jews were used to saying Abba now. But he used the term Abba, which is Daddy. It's personal. It's approachable. It's close.

It's a term that we can use. It's compassionate. It's caring. It shows his involvement. His nature is goodness.

He is a good Daddy. Now, the contrast we'll see here as we walk through this is the contrast between the earthly fathers and the good heavenly father. And we're sinners. And yet even earthly dads can be decent, but they can never do what the heavenly father does. You know, I talked last week a little bit about if you grew up under a father that was not a good giver of gifts, didn't give protection or grace or love, our hope is that we'll help introduce you into a relationship with the good father, the good Daddy, that he'll bring healing where you've been hurt by your earthly father. He's very capable of doing that. And he wants us to approach him that way.

Today is Father's Day. The way the Bible describes fathers is we're lost. We're sinners. We're evil. The Bible even says even if you're evil fathers know how to give good gifts.

All our motives are not pure. There is no perfect fathers on this earth. If you think you are there, you're not, I promise you. God will show that to you. So I want to pray for fathers today before we move on in this sermon. Some of you have gotten your children raised. Some of you are still raising children.

Some of you have married into blended families. You're in that step relationship with fathering. Some of you are fathers mentoring youth and children that don't have good earthly fathers. Hopefully Prodigal Church would be that kind of church for those that grew up in hurtful homes that we would be mentoring youth and children, not just sat in this church but the Lord leading you. I know you guys do a lot of mentoring in the Christmases and tie together with young men and women that need to be mentored. So dads, let's bow together. I want to pray for you today. Amen. Heavenly Father, I lift up to you each man in this room today.

And Lord, even the young boys in this room who will be or want to be someday fathers. God, I pray that first off that your mercy and grace would hover over these fathers. Lord, that you would work in their lives and help them understand the responsibility of caring and protecting, of supporting, of being approachable and loving to their children. God, where they've failed, bring healing. Where they've been successful, bring more excitement and success. Lord, being a parent and being a father is a journey. And we don't just arrive at completion.

Lord, we cannot do it outside of your Holy Spirit working in our lives. So Lord, we pray for our children today, our daughters, our sons. Lord, that there would be the Heavenly Father very visible through us and through others that it would help them understand there is a daddy in heaven who loves perfectly and gives perfect gifts. Lord, create this experience in our families.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. There needs to be a lot more of that kind of praying going on today. Amen. A lot more of that. So number one, we could talk about the category, and we did, about the good daddy. Number two, we talked about holiness. Remember that?

That he is holy and we are unholy. Number three, he is inviting us to live at his address, to open our hearts to his kingdom. Thy kingdom come. That we would surrender our hearts to his kingdom. Fourthly, that he is our daily provision, physically and spiritually. When you look across the world today, and you look at what's going on in the Middle East, Lord, I pray God provide food. Not just spiritual food, but physical food for those babies that are starving.

And fifthly, he is cleansing our lives by forgiving us of our sins. And then here's the clincher. He's not only forgiving us, he washes away our guilt. How many of you ever felt guilty and needed that guilt cleansed? He is our guilt bearer. And not only does he cleanse us from guilt, but he empowers us to forgive those who have hurt us. Forgiveness is a key issue in scripture.

You cannot get away from it. When he works his forgiveness in our lives, he begins to work that gift of forgiveness in our lives for others. Now, I told you last week, it doesn't happen instantaneously. A lot of times it's a progress, it's a progress movement. It takes time. I've been so mad sometimes at some folks. It took me a while to forgive.

First off, I didn't want to forgive. Finally, God got on my back hard enough, I started being open to it, and then God moved me into a place of forgiveness. Now, I told you last week, forgiveness does not release that person from the consequences of their hurt. They're going to have to deal with that with God. You don't have the power to do that, but you do have the power to forgive. And more than anything, when you give that forgiveness, it releases you. It releases you.

You hear what I'm saying? Now, it may not be received. That's between them and God. It does not release them from their own judgment under God and their own hurt. They've got to deal with that on their own. I tell my kids, you cannot fly into heaven on my coattail. Those are things that you've got to deal with yourself.

So, forgiveness is a big issue in the Old and New Testament, and it's something that we need to really understand and apply in our lives. So, today we're going to look at the parables of this prayer. This could be one parable. It could be three sections within one parable, or it might even be three distinctive parables. But what you'll notice is that each parable interrelates to the other ones here. So, this is how I've broken it down. Number one, the unyielding friend.

Number two, the unashamed neighbor. Number three, the unlimited father. So, let's look at the first one, the unyielded friend. In verses five through eight, A. And I stopped at the first sentence of A, because I think it's a good breaking point there. And he said to them, Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. Now, they didn't have a lot of excess food back in that day.

And it was also common that travelers might travel at nighttime to get away from the heat of the day. So, it wasn't uncommon for people to be traveling at night. For a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. From inside, he shall answer and say, Do not bother me. The door has already been shut, and my children and I are in bed. It was very common in that day, in a one-room house, that over on the wall, there'd be a huge bed. And it even said that even the animals down below the house, it would sit up and they'd have animals down below that bed, corralled in underneath them.

That they all slept in the same bed. Boy, that'd be an awful experience, wouldn't it? We always laughed about Ethan when he was little, and a storm blew up, and Kim and Kurt, Kim and Kurt, and Logan were around in bed together, and Ethan ran around, and he's a little bit of the old type, and he said, Can I get in bed with y'all? Of course, get in bed with us. And it's lightening and thundering, and he says to his wounded thunders, Oh, this is gonna be the death of us. Two years old. This is gonna be the death of us.

You know, how many of you have slept with your kids in bed with you? Not many of us didn't, did we? We had those experiences. But the key is to try to get them out of your bed into their own bed, isn't it? You know, oftentimes I'd lay down with our kids, or Kim would lay down with our kids. We might read something and hope they'd fall asleep, and then we could get up and leave their bed. And Kurt was notorious.

When Kim would go to bed, I'd be up watching Johnny Carson, and we'd put him in bed. You'd see him. He'd poke his head outside his door, and I could see him. I'm sitting at the recliner watching TV, and he'd go. And I'd say, He'd come sit in the recliner with me. Then he'd go to sleep, and then I could carry him to bed. But Kim never knew that for years.

That was just between us. I'd say, Don't tell your mother I'll let you get up. That was just between us. But it was real common that the kids were all in bed together. He said, I cannot get up and give you anything. It would disturb the whole household. I tell you, even though this is the sentence I stopped on here.

It said, I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend. What it's saying there, just because he's his friend doesn't mean he's going to get up and be disturbed. You know, I found that pretty easy. It's easy to conclude that this neighbor has an unwilling, uncooperative, and unyielding friend. This is the overwhelming initial response. He is immovable. He's not getting up.

And when I look at that, I think his reasoning is pretty logical. It's midnight. The door is shut. He and his family are in bed. It's late. They are sleeping. From within the house, this neighbor hears, Go away!

Don't bother us! My twin brother, who ran the shop at Lorenzo for many, many years at the John Deere dealership there before he retired. And when I had retired after 25 years of preaching, and came back and ran the store in Lubbock, I'd be over at Lorenzo sometimes, and I heard him say this to customers sometimes. Somebody would call, and they're in the middle of planning, and their tractor is broken down, and they want him there right then to fix that tractor.

Well, he's got 15 in front of him. And I can always remember him saying, and I'd cringe. I thought, oh, don't say that. He'd say, look, your emergency's not my urgency. Your emergency's not my urgency. That's the kind of attitude this friend had towards his neighbor. You're going to see the contrast between the Heavenly Father and an earthly father here because, let me tell you something, the Bible says, Our Heavenly Father never slumbers nor sleeps.

He's always on call. 24-7. Every hour, every minute, every second, he's opening the door. He's always on call. There's such a difference here between this friend that seemed immovable. From within the house, you can hear him. Go away.

Don't bother me. The Greek word here for friend is philos. It conveys a sense of affection, a close relationship, often used to describe a beloved companion or ally. There are four Greek words for love. One of those is philia. Philia. Do you hear the connection?

Philos and philia. Those words sound connected, and they absolutely are. Proverbs 17, 17 says, A friend loves at all times. Do you hear that?

A friend loves. Philia, philos. A friend loves at all times. This friend blew it, didn't he? He didn't love all the time. Let me ask you something before you get too arrogant about this. Have you always been a true friend?

Oh, you really had a caring relationship. This was your best friend, but did you come through with flying colors every time your friend had a need? Did you come through? Or did you fly below the radar, duck out, and disappear? Here's what I want you to hear here. When Jesus tells these three parables, it's in progression. He is laying out a really huge contrast between the holy, divine Father, His friendship, and the earthly Father, and His friendship.

Have you ever heard the term, fair-weathered friend? Proverbs 19.24 says, A man of many friends comes to ruin. What's he mean by this? When times are good, and people are benefiting from this man, guess what? His friends will be lined up at the door. But when things are not so good, look and see who's banging on your door. Look and see who shows up.

Let me encourage you to read the book of Job. Job was a man on top.

He was wealthy. He had a good family. He had a good reputation. Everything was going his way, and then it all fell apart. Everything crumbled. He lost his wealth. He lost his family.

He lost his reputation. His relatives deserted him. His friends had abandoned him. Even the servants that worked under him were disrespectful to him. Three of his most dependable friends. Most of us, if we can count three friends on one finger, we're lucky, aren't we? I've got some friends that I can count on through thick and thin, but we're lucky if we have three.

Three of his most dependable friends. Listen to what Job 2 and 3 says. Job says to them, How long will you torment me and crush me with words? These ten times you have insulted me. You are not ashamed to wrong me. Fair-weathered friends, huh? This friend in Jesus' first parable is a fair-weathered friend.

He has affections in his heart, but listen to me. He has no action in his feet. You see that picture?

Oh, I'm your friend. I'm here in the best of times. I'll be here in the worst of times for you. It's a feeling inside, but it doesn't drive action to his feet.

He is an unyielding friend. He's unwilling. He's uncooperative. In 1 John 4, 17, John was pretty straightforward when he said, But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? That's a hard word, guys. Most of us would have to confess we have been fair-weathered friends to a lot of people. But I do know some good friends because the goodness of God is living in their lives.

The Heavenly Father is there. I'm going to tell you, those friends I know that don't know Jesus, I'm not going to trust. I'm not going to trust them. But those folks that know the Lord, I'm going to trust because I know they'll come through thick and thin. I bet if I stopped right now and said, Give me three guys. Give me three girls that you know will always be there.

You could listen. And who lives in the heart of their lives? The Lord. The unashamed neighbor. Listen to this.

8B through 10. Yet because of his persistence, he will give up and give him as much as he needs. And I say to you, and it will be given you, seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be open to you. For everyone who asks keeps on asking. That Greek word there, ask, is the aorist presence tense. In fact, it's command even.

It means that you don't just ask, but you keep on asking. Same way with, and he seeks. He keeps on seeking. And he knocks. He keeps on knocking. And it shall be opened. The key word here is persistence.

Some of your Bibles say importunity, which means one's inconvenience from a persistence request. Some may even say this, and I think this is probably as close to the Greek meaning as any definition. Shameless audacity. He comes with shameless audacity. Surely this unyielding friend had to think, men, how dare you to beat on my door and to keep beating on it. The door is locked tight. It's midnight.

We are sleeping. Have you no shame? First Cilician Thessalonians 517 says, the apostle Paul instructed the new Christians in Thessalonica, pray without ceasing. Now that's being persistent, isn't it? Pray without ceasing. You never stop praying. Now guys, it's not because God is hard of hearing or he's hard of response for us.

We ask and we seek and we knock continually to prove the importance of our request. It's a test of our faith. You know, those of you have been through many parenting experiences can testify how your kids might have come and said, I want this. And they say it that one time and then they never come back. Well, my conclusion was, well, it must not be very important. But if they keep coming back, boom, boom, boom, I think I might ought to give in. I don't know.

I'm going to date myself here. Y'all ever remember Air Jordans? I don't know if it was Kurt or Cassie or both. I don't remember. I don't know if Kelsey got into, she didn't hit that.

Was it you, Kurt? Or Cassie? It was continual every day. You know how much Air Jordans cost back? We're living on a preacher's salary. A one salary family. I want Air Jordans.

All the guys got Air Jordans. All the girls are wearing it. I want Air Jordans. I want Air Jordans. Old Kemp and I, we penny pinch and penny pinch, but we got them Air Jordans. They finally were like everybody else, running around with their Jordans. But I want to tell you, they beat on our door and knocked and yelled and screamed and kicked.

That's exactly the persistence that's going on here. This neighbor didn't let up. He kept knocking on that door. He kept asking. He kept seeking until he would yield and give in. The Davenport's got a good one back there. I'm sure they're all laughing.

They've been there. We've all been there, haven't we? Yeah, we have all been there.

Knock, knock, knock. In Luke 18, there's a wonderful story about an unjust judge. There is a widow that keeps coming to this unjust judge to get her legal rights. She is coming and coming and coming. The judge is just dismissing her request, not listening to her, not caring about her. Now, he's an unjust judge. The judge in the Bible says, he has no respect for God nor man.

Now, that's a lot of arrogance, isn't it? The guy thinks a lot about himself. He's not going to give this widow her just due at all. But she keeps coming. She keeps coming. What's interesting, verse five says in Luke 18, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by her continual coming, she wears me out. You know what the phrase translated in Greek is there?

Her continual coming wears me out. You know what the Greek word is literally? If I don't give in, she's going to blacken my eye. That's exactly what the Greek language means. If I don't give in, she's going to dope pop me right in the eye. She's going to give me a black eye. And so this judge yields to her.

Now, that's the posture of an unashamed neighbor. James McConkie wrote about this parable. Listen to these words. He said, God, the eternal God of the universe, stands, as it were, like an almighty servant and says, if you, my child, will only pray, I will work.

You hear that? If you will only be busy with asking and seeking and knocking, I will see to the doing. Now, that's persistence, isn't it? If you will only pray. John Wesley said, nothing happens on this earth without prayer. Now, you might say, well, what's he talking about? Wesley said, nothing actually happens.

And in the context, he's talking about spiritual goodness. Nothing spiritually good happens unless the people of God pray. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, then I will hear from heaven and I'll go to work. Now, God's going to continue to work no matter what. But, guys, we enter into a relationship with him when we pray. And he finds out from us what we think is pretty important. You know, I can't discern for you what's important for your life.

But I know what's important for my life and for my family. And I am persistent about telling God about that. Now, how God answers that, that's up to him. But I'm persistent about telling God that. E. M. Bounds, in his book on prayer, said, prayer has been the mightiest weapon of God's mightiest soldiers.

You hear that? Nothing happens spiritually good on this earth without God's people praying. Praying and praying.

Pray without ceasing. Now, I couldn't go to work at the John Deere house and walk around there, and I did sometimes, but just yell out loud to God and pray. I did yell out loud and pray at times up and down those hallways. They thought, well, Terry's lost his mind now. But I could pray without ceasing. When I saw one of my employees in trouble, I prayed all day sometimes for him. Even though I was busy doing my job, the Holy Spirit was praying for me.

That's when you need to learn the Spirit will pray through you when you're not verbalizing it outwardly. The Spirit groans within us and prays through us. It's important that we pray, guys. Lastly, the unlimited Father, verses 11 through 13. Now, suppose one of your fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he asks for an egg, will he not give him a scorpion, will he?

It was interesting back in that day, scorpions could curl up, the big ones could curl up, and they actually looked like little eggs. If you then being evil earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? One of the things they taught us in preaching when I was in seminary, when you're breaking down a text, was to look for reoccurring themes. I bet you do that when you study the Bible, you look for these reoccurring themes. In this text, the reoccurring theme contrasts between the heavenly Father and the earthly fathers. Very visible, isn't it? Verse 3, and when you pray, say, Father, Daddy.

It's describing the nature of the good Father. Verse 11, now suppose one of your fathers is asked by his son, and this father is the earthly father described as evil, who can still give good gifts. Verse 13, how much more shall your heavenly Father give? Just stop there before we talk about what he gives. Our heavenly Father gives good gifts to his children. This lesson on prayer starts with the heavenly Father and did you notice this? It ends with the heavenly Father, contrasted with the sinful fathers of this world.

Matthew 7 11, how much more shall the Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who seek him? James 1 17, every good gift comes from above. What is the gift Luke says will come from the heavenly Father here? I'm biased.

I'll just be real open with you. I'm pretty biased about this. It's the most important gift you could ever receive in your life. The person of the Holy Spirit. He could have listed numerous other things that the heavenly Father would give here, couldn't he? But what does he list? The person of the Holy Spirit.

The heavenly Father will give you the Holy Spirit. Now, I don't have time.

I'm fixing to close. I don't have time to go into all of this. We're going to try to study some of this this next year.

Born of the Spirit. Baptized in the Spirit. Now, I want you to think about that. A lot of you say, I can talk about being born again. Born of the Spirit. You know, we believe there's another work of grace. Scripture teaches being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The disciples, when they were in the upper room in John's Gospel, it says that Jesus appeared and he breathed on them the Holy Spirit. But he didn't tell them then, okay, you've got it. You don't need to go on and wait and tarry on high for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, did he? No, that command was still there. You have been, I think that was their birthing, their creating their born again experience. They were birthed in the Spirit. But you go on and wait for Pentecost.

And the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them at Pentecost. I think that's a second work of grace. And it's distinctive. It's distinctive. I can journey back through my salvation experience and talk about when I was born again and when I got baptized covered in the Holy Spirit. What did it say about Jesus when John the Baptist saw him? What did John the Baptist say about him?

He will be the one who baptizes you in the Holy Spirit. He births us. He baptizes us. But guys, that's not enough. Ephesians says that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit continually.

You and I are just like a river. The Holy Spirit is being poured in and it's coming out. It's coming in and it's coming out. There's a river of life flowing out of me. It makes the lying to walk and the blind to see. The Spirit's being poured in daily and coming out. When you really start to be led by the Spirit of God, that means that you're getting under the filling of the Spirit every day.

You've got to start your day saying, I'm an open cup that's got a hole in the bottom that's running out on others. Pour it in, Lord, so it can be poured out.

Born of the Spirit. Baptized in the Spirit. There's not a lot of teaching on that in the church. You don't hear that in pulpits much today in being filled with the Spirit. J. Vernon McGee was a Bible teacher for years and years.

He's dead now. If you go and look at the most listened to radio programs on the air today, J. Vernon McGee is still number one in teaching the Bible. He started at the beginning and he taught all the way through. He was preaching at a graduation service at Moody Bible Institute when he was well up into his 80s. Since then, he's died. He was well in his 80s and he told this class of graduates, he said, if I were a young man again, I would do a lot more teaching on the person and the work of the Holy Spirit than I did in my younger days.

Because I've learned that the church is powerless when the Holy Spirit is not being poured in and poured out. How many of you have seen powerless churches? You know, powerless people. He pours in and it flows out. So, I'm going to stop right there today. Happy Father's Day. Go and be, even though we're sinners, go and be a good father.

When the Spirit quickens you to be of action to your children, to be a voice to your children, to be a pat on the back to your children, to keep your mouth shut. I have a hard time doing that.

I have a hard time. I want to tell them how to do it too often instead of just shutting up and praying for them. I just say amen to that. Hallelujah. Let's bow together in prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you that there is a definite contrast between the heavenly Father and earthly fathers. Even if I could give good gifts to my children, Lord, even if I could literally give my life for my children, it fails in comparison to you, the heavenly Father, who pours out on us the Holy Spirit.

Lord, you said you would never leave us nor forsake us. And the only way that promise happens is when you pour your Holy Spirit into us when we are birthed and baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us be people who don't cut the third person of the Trinity out of our walk with you. Lord, help us be open to all the things the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives. Lord, I ask a prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.