[0:00] verses 5 to 15 and here the word of God says the following and when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others truly I say to you they have received the reward but when you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sits in secret will reward you and when you pray do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him pray then like this our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is on heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses let's pray dear heavenly father we thank you for your word we thank you for how you teach us lord how to practice what you practice christ we ask that you that your holy spirit lord be with us that your holy spirit edify the church that your holy spirit put in our hearts the desire to grow into imitating christ and that includes the way we pray we ask for our minds to be concentrated and focused in your word today in the precious name of jesus we pray amen so last week brothers we started our biblical discipleship series and today we we continue with that and those that were here last week remember that we were given the introductory sermon in which we said what is the goal of discipleship and discipleship is done for the purpose of christ likeness for the purpose of us growing into imitating christ we read in first corinthians chapter 11 verse 1 the imitator of me says paul as i am of christ the imitator of me as i am of christ and that's what discipleship is all about we growing into christ likeness and we helping others to grow to grow to into christ likeness i was so happy and joyful when i heard our dear sister clarita giving her testimony how christ how what christ has done in her life and i was also very happy when i heard how the
[4:03] equipped in right is helping her into growing into christ likeness she has expressed to us that many times and i and i pray that the way that clarissa is growing into christ likeness is also the way that we are involved in the equipped teams in helping one another to grow into christ likeness let me tell you that some nights uh prayer wakes me up when these ladies join together at 6 a.m to pray and and that makes me happy because that's what we have to do we have to be helping each other to do the things of christ if somebody is not doing it we have to encourage other to do that we have to be like christ and to help others to be like christ that's what discipleship is about and a more fancy definition right i just going to remind you for last week discipleship is the process of learning the teachings of jesus and following after his example in obedience to the power of the holy spirit and it also involves the process of making others disciple through equipping one another teaching one another in the process of going to christ likeness and why why is discipleship why is christ likeness the aim of discipleship right we read that in the scripture those who god foreknew he also predestined those who god called he also justified and those who god justified he also glorified to what to be conformed to the image of christ brothers and sisters christ likeness is what is all about our christian life is just imitating and doing the things of christ someone who is a disciple who also practice what his master do and and and and and look at that sequence over here god save us we are his we are united with christ already and because of that we grow into being like christ and and and and just a a a matter of remind fast reminder right that's what we saw that we saw that last week discipleship for for the purpose of christ likeness and we also saw how uh we should not make the mistake of believing that anything we do we do it to earn salvation it's not for that and i i you know i i have to remain to remind that every week right we don't do this to earn salvation we do that because we are saved salvation is is a gift of god all that we do in our journey to christ likeness is done because of the fact that we are united with christ that's the reason we are then we do we are child children of of god and then we grow into imitating god it's like you know a child when a child is born a child see their parents a child see how their parents right behave a child see how their parents talk and then what does the child do the child grow into doing the things that her parents do if a child hear your parents speak spanish all the time he's gonna learn to speak spanish because that's what you're hearing if the child hears their parents speak english all the time that's what that's what's gonna do he's gonna start learning to speak the language of their father we as children of god we hear god through the word of god and we speak to god in prayer the same way because we are learning and we're growing to be like christ discipleship is also costly right we read matthew 16 24 if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me it is not easy to follow jesus it is not easy to grow into christ likeness it is not easy to grow into our prayer life because we have the devil that is fighting us we have we have the world that is fighting us we have the flesh
[8:32] that is fighting us and none of those entities want us to grow into imitating christ they want us to grow into being like the world and imitating the devil you know like the same way that christ's child imitate christ the same way the devil's child imitates the things the devil's that's what first john says right we are to grow into imitating christ we are to grow into imitating christ in the way we pray christ likeness in our prayer life christ likeness in our prayer life christ likeness in our prayer life and the gospel of john and Matthew and Luke and Mark, all of those Gospels reflect Christ's very intense dedication into practicing spiritual disciplines. Christ, who was and who is God, 100% God, 100% man fully God, he practices spiritual disciplines. He practices prayer.
[9:53] Whitney, Donald Whitney says that spiritual disciplines are God-given means we are to use in the spiritual pursuit of godliness. So we use, in a better way, the spiritual disciplines are tools that we as Christians use in order to grow in our spiritual life, in order to grow in our holiness, in order to grow in our sanctification, in order to grow in the way we imitate Christ.
[10:25] You know what is number one of those spiritual disciplines? Prayer. That's why I wanted to start with that. Prayer. Prayer.
[10:39] And what is prayer? The simplest definition of a prayer is talking to God. Prayer is talking to God. And look at that simplest definition, because it's very important to know that it's not talking to Mary, for example.
[11:00] Some people pray to Mary. Some people pray to saints that has died prior to, right, prior saints.
[11:10] Prayer is not to any of those entities. We pray to God. Prayer is talking to God. And John Bunyan, right, everybody knows, the famous writer from the 17th century, he makes a very, very good definition of prayer in his book named, I Will Pray With The Spirit.
[11:37] He wrote a book, I Will Pray With The Spirit. And in there, he wrote the following. Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate, pouring out of the heart or soul to God through Christ in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit for such things as God has promised, for such things as God has promised, or according to the word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.
[12:11] So in this definition of prayer, right, there are several things. We pray from our heart, from our soul. Like when we go to God in prayer, this is one of the most solemn moments, because we are going to talk with the kings of kings, with the God who created the sun, the universe, the earth, that everything existed.
[12:35] And we are going to be sincere to God. We are going to open our hearts to God. We are going to talk to the king.
[12:45] But we do that with the power of the Holy Spirit, according to that definition by John Vonian. And we also do that according to the word of God.
[12:57] So we pray to God the word of God, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Right? In faith, we pray the will of God.
[13:08] So, as I said in the beginning, Christ prayed, Christ had a very intense, robust prayer life.
[13:24] And I want to go to three points today, main points. Number one, Christ prayed constantly. Number two, Christ did teach us how to pray.
[13:37] And number three, pray the word of God in the name of Jesus. Pray the will of God in the name of Jesus. Nobody will doubt the fact that Christ prayed a lot.
[13:55] Christ prayed a lot, constantly. And we see that through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, through the Gospels.
[14:08] And if we are disciples of Christ, if we are followers of Christ, if we are going to imitate Christ, if we are going to grow into the likeness of Jesus, we have to pray a lot to like Christ.
[14:23] We have to be people of prayers. We have to be people devoted to prayer. Independency of the Holy Spirit. Right? Because that's what our Jesus did.
[14:34] That's what our Lord Jesus Christ did. Just a few examples in the scripture that tells us that Christ prayed a lot. Right? When he was, after he fed 5,000 people in Matthew 14.
[14:51] Right? Verse 23. He went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when evening came, he was there alone.
[15:04] O sea. I said something in Spanish. O sea. I mean, when Christ fed those people that day, he went to the mountains.
[15:18] And he prayed until the evening, until time was evening. And he was there alone talking to his God. Talking to his Father, sorry. After healing a man, right, in Luke 6, he went to the mountain to pray.
[15:33] And look at that. And all night, he continued in prayer to God. And also in Mark 1.35, after healing Simon's mother-in-law.
[15:48] After healing Peter, mother-in-law. And many other people that had a lot of diseases. Right? We see that in Mark 1. After healing a lot of people that have many diseases.
[15:58] He says, after taking some demons out of oppressed people. In verse 35 of Mark 1. He says that Christ, rising very early in the morning.
[16:11] Christ, rising very early in the morning. While it was still dark. He departed and went out to a desolate place. And there, he prayed.
[16:23] So, these are just few examples of how intense life of prayer our Lord Jesus Christ had.
[16:35] And it is because of that, you know, that, you know, the disciples of Jesus saw that devotion to prayer that Christ had.
[16:54] They saw that. And it is because of that. Again, what does a disciple do? A disciple imitates his master. And that's why when they saw Christ praying that much and that often.
[17:07] They came to Christ. And they said, Jesus. And they said in Luke 11.1. Right? Lord, teach us to pray.
[17:20] His disciples saw him praying constantly. And they said, Lord, we want to do what you're doing. That's what the disciples told Jesus.
[17:31] We want to pray like you are doing. We want to pray like you. So, teach us to pray. And God did teach them to pray.
[17:46] This is point number two. God teach them to pray. But do you see something here? Those disciples were aware of the necessity of imitating Christ in that way.
[18:04] And we ask to ask ourselves that question. Do we live a life in the awareness that as disciples of Christ, we have to have a strong prayer life?
[18:17] In a way we imitate him. A strong prayer life. Not a weak prayer life. Do we pray constantly as our master did? Do we help and equip others in growing into their prayer life?
[18:32] That's what discipleship entails to. This is one of the things. We grow into praying like Jesus. As I said in the beginning. And we help others to grow to also pray like Christ.
[18:45] So, Christ did teach his disciples to pray. And that's what we see in Matthew 6, 5 to 15. Right? There Christ gave clear instructions on how to pray.
[19:01] And in this passage is basically contained in what is called the Sermon of the Mount.
[19:14] Right? That goes all the way from Matthew 5, 1 to Matthew 7, 29. That Sermon of the Mount that St. Augustine, one of our church fathers says, is a perfect standard of the Christian life.
[19:32] Right? The Lord says in Matthew 6, 5, and when you pray, and when you pray, and when he says, and when you pray, he clearly implied that prayer is a norm in the life of every believer.
[19:58] It's a natural thing that happens in those that are Christians, in those that are born again. It's something that is expected of us.
[20:15] And the Apostle Paul clearly understood that because he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray with our system.
[20:28] Pray with our system. It's a constant practice that we ought to do. And then our Lord Jesus Christ tells the disciples, when you pray, in verse 5 again, of you must not be like the hypocrites.
[20:44] people pray with our people are not praying in a way that pleases God.
[21:01] Looks like Leon Morris says. Leon Morris points out how hypocrites pray with their eye on people when they should be concerned with God only.
[21:16] And to pray like them is to play at in order to be seen by others and receive praises. The motive of the heart is crucial.
[21:26] Like everything that we do, right? What matters is what is in here. And that we do everything we do based on what we have in our hearts.
[21:37] like our flow of what we have in our hearts. And that's the same thing when we pray. The motive of the heart is crucial because prayers are for God not for gaining any favor with men.
[21:50] And that's what Christ is telling them, right? You must not be like hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues. I'm sure Christ saw that a lot in those scribes and Pharisees that just love to stand and pray in the synagogue and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.
[22:16] Truly I say to you they have received their reward. We pray for God, right? That's the motive of the heart is a prayer that is for our Lord Jesus Christ, for our God, for the Holy Spirit, for the Triune God.
[22:34] Luke 18, 9-14 tells us an example of somebody who prayed to get praise for himself, right? What it says, two men went up in the temple to pray.
[22:47] This is Luke 18, verse 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank you for what I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
[23:10] I fast twice a week, I give thanks of all I get, but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but it beat up his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
[23:27] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humble, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
[23:44] And regarding this, there's Pink, one of the commentators says, saying prayers and putting out the heart before God are totally different things. A self-righteous Pharisee may be diligent in the former in just saying prayers, but only somebody who is born again will do the later that this tax collector.
[24:09] At the same time, this does not imply that public prayer is condemned by Jesus, right?
[24:19] We as a church pray in public, corporately. And Jesus himself prayed in public. Jesus prayed in public.
[24:31] So, public prayer is not condemned by Jesus, but the desire to be seen in public while praying was what was condemned by Christ.
[24:45] And Jesus does not want right to discourage that. It's just that he wants that the motive of our hearts be right in everything we do.
[25:02] And that includes when we do corporate prayer. Man is to shut out every distractions and focus on God with rightly godly motives, public orations are very appropriate, right?
[25:22] But should represent the overflow of a vibrant personal prayer life. Prayer ought to not be used to gain floodings, but should reflect genuine conversations with God.
[25:35] And then our Lord Jesus Christ continues in verse 7. Jesus also warned his disciples in verse 7 to not heap up in empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
[25:53] And the grid work here that was used for phrases also implies babble, much speak, meaning repetitions, right? And that's something that some groups do.
[26:09] They repeat something one thing after another. There are actually some services in which they repeat the same prayer one after another.
[26:25] And when that is done, they are actually not thinking, not meditation of what we are telling to God. And then in verse 8, Christ told his disciples, do not be like then, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.
[26:45] That's an attitude that we need to have when we go to our Lord in prayer. Everything that we are going to tell him, he already knows, but he also wants us to ask the things to him in prayer, according to the will of God, as stated in the work of God.
[27:03] Look what Martin Lloyd Jones writes regarding this. He sees it all, he knows your heart, other people do not. You can deceive them, and you can persuade them, that you are quite selfless, but God knows your heart, and God indeed knows everything.
[27:25] And at the same time, he wants us to ask him according to what it says in scripture, according to his will. And it is in this, after Jesus Christ clarified these things to the disciples, then he tells them how they are to pray.
[27:53] He tells them to pray like this, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[28:05] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[28:16] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. This is the last paragraph from the King James version. So this Lord's prayer is a guide, a pattern that Christ gave to his disciples in the things that they need to be thinking about when they go to our Father in heaven in prayer.
[28:45] prayer. Right? The first three things concerned with God. Praising God, talking about the kingdom, asking for the kingdom of God, right?
[29:03] Asking for the will of God. And those are things that tell us that as we start our prayers, we submit to the sovereign will of God in our life.
[29:19] It's not what we desire that we pray for, but what God desires for us as stated in the word of God.
[29:31] Prayer is not the magic thing that we do, right? Unfortunately, in our culture, in our day and age now, there are many fake, false teachers, right?
[29:45] Who have many churches filled with people that tell them, you pray about money, you pray about prosperity, you pray about things of this world in the name of Jesus.
[29:56] And all you have to say at the end of your prayer is in the name of Jesus. And it's going to happen. This is not a magic word. Like if we say at the end of our prayer in the name of Jesus, and what we are asking God is not according to the will of God, that's not going to happen.
[30:13] When we pray in the name of Jesus, and that's something I'm going to explore more in the last point, we are actually praying with Jesus' authority for the things that Christ wants for us, for the will of God in our life, for the desire of God for us.
[30:30] So that's why we don't pray according to our desires, we don't pray according to our things of this world, we pray according to the things that God wants for us in the world.
[30:45] So this is a model for us to pray. It starts with our Father in heaven. Again, the prayer is directly to God, the Father, to God, the Triune God.
[30:58] It's not directed to Mary, it's not directed to St. Paul, or St. Peter, or St. anyone. It's directed to God, not to anybody else.
[31:17] We don't talk to the death, we talk to God, right? our Father in heaven. And when we use this term Father, just as the beginning of the prayer, that reminds us that we go to talk with our Father.
[31:41] So there is a relationship, a father and a child. We're not only talking with our King, we're not only talking with our Lord, we're not only talking with our Master, we're also talking with our Father.
[31:58] And as a father, we can go to Him with trust, we can go to Him telling everything, because He's our Father.
[32:11] Our Father in heaven, heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[32:22] So we acknowledge Christ, and then the next part is, we exalt God. We acknowledge God, and then we praise God, and we exalt His name.
[32:38] Hallowed be thy name, reflects the desire of the one who prays that God be honor. And in this sense, to hallow God's name means to hold it in reverence.
[32:52] Hence, to hold Him in reverence, to honor, glorify, and exalt Him, right? Let's come to His, let's enter His gates with praises, like we see in Psalm.
[33:08] And that's one of the things that I, you know, when I first became a Christian, I started my prayers asking God everything right away. Give me this, give me that, give me X or Y.
[33:25] We start acknowledging that He's our Father, but we also start dedicating a significant amount of time in adoring Him and praising Him.
[33:38] in our prayer. This is the pattern that was given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. So let's try to follow that. Let's try to do what He says.
[33:49] Let's try to pray how He teaches us to do it. When one goes to God in prayer, there needs to be a self-conscious of the fact that one is about to communicate with the most powerful and holy being in the universe.
[34:04] Hence, that awareness encourages us to go into prayer with a sincere and humble attitude, opening our hearts fully to Him. In other words, Jesus is teaching His disciples to always honor God's name, especially in the prayers, followed by praising Him from a sincere heart.
[34:26] How do we do that? How do we praise God? God? We also think about the Scripture when we're doing that.
[34:37] Just think what the Scripture tells us about God. Think how Scripture tells us about His attributes. Right? Think what Isaiah says about how He is holy, holy, holy.
[34:51] Meditate on that. Think about what the Scripture says, how He is omnipotent, that He is all-powerful. Talk about praising for that.
[35:02] Think about the attributes of God as stated in Scripture as we start praising God for what He is.
[35:13] And now in Matthew 6, 10, we see the third segment of this Lord prayer. Here, verse 10 of Matthew 6, here Jesus instructs the disciples to pray for God's kingdom to come and for His will to be done in whatever is being asked in our prayers.
[35:39] And the essence, in this regard, again, it's an instruction for us that wherever we pray, we do that we are submitted to His Lordship.
[35:59] We are submitted to His kingship. We are submitted to whatever He says and whatever He desires for us.
[36:12] The essence of the coming of God's kingdom is that He is dolly obeyed and His purpose is fulfilled. There is somebody called Franz, he is one of the commentators who says these notions of the kingdom being already but not yet.
[36:30] Many of you have heard that, right? We are living already under the kingdom of God. This is the already part of the kingdom of God.
[36:42] Once we are Christians, we start living under the rules of the kingdom of God, not the rules of the kingdom of earth. So this is the already part.
[36:54] Not yet because there is a time when that kingdom is going to be fully manifested, right? When Christ comes for the second time.
[37:06] So we pray for His kingdom. We pray for His will to be done in our life and we also pray and desire for Christ to come back again.
[37:16] we as disciples of Christ need to desire that He comes again. Do we desire that? Do we will that Christ comes one more time?
[37:31] That's how the book of Revelation finished in the Bible, right? Yes, come Lord Jesus. We are to desire Jesus' second coming to happen.
[37:41] the fourth part in the Lord's Prayer is Matthew 6 11, give us this day our daily bread.
[37:56] And here Jesus teaches His disciples the principle of daily dependence on God for all their physical and spiritual needs. When we specify, when Christ told them today, right, that implies that that's something that needs to happen, that needs to be happening every, our dependence of God is a daily thing, like we daily are dependent on the supplies, both physically and spiritually from God in our life.
[38:30] And this part of prayer should not be, sorry, this part of the prayer should not only acknowledge that God is the provider of our physical and daily needs, but also while meditating in this truth, we also give thanks to our God for all that He has already given to us.
[38:49] So it's not an issue of only asking God for our daily needs, both physical and spiritual, but it's also an issue of reflecting in what God has already given to us.
[39:06] We give thanks to God, but for the things that He has already given to us. Right? And if we think about that, there are so many, many things that we can be thankful for. The fifth portion of the Lord's prayer is concerned with asking God for forgiveness for sins committed, and at the same time acknowledging that Christ's disciples are also to pardon those that sins against us, as we read in Matthew 6, 12.
[39:42] So, we ask God to forgive us for our sins, but at the same time, this pardon of prayer from our Lord Jesus Christ to us tells us that we have to be people that are, that have a forgiving heart, that we need to forgive.
[40:01] we are forgiven, and we forgive others. If we don't forgive, it is evidence that we haven't experienced forgiveness ourselves.
[40:16] And the final clause of this Lord's prayer is about asking God for protection, asking God for help, and deliverance from committing future sins.
[40:29] In other words, asking God for preservation of falling into temptation during daily spiritual battles and fights, right, in our sinful nature.
[40:44] Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. That's something we need to be praying about. And that implies helping us, asking God to help us not to sin, not to fall into sin.
[41:05] Many of us, right, all of us, I would say, not many of us, all of us struggle with different things that are our greater temptation, right?
[41:18] Somebody that come to Christ, that Christ delivered them from alcoholism, right? That's a temptation for many. depending on the things that Christ has delivered you from, those things might be a little bit more difficult to overcome in your life, might be a struggle in your life.
[41:40] So, in this prayer, God asks, Christ asks and tells us, sorry, to be conscious and aware of our battles, of our struggles, of the things that we need to be careful of not falling again, of the things that we need to be careful of not doing again, and we do that not with our strength, but we do that with the strength of God.
[42:09] That's why part of our prayers needs to be, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Regarding this part, one, there's a commentary, right?
[42:23] Craig Blumber, he indicates the following, lead us not into temptation does not imply, don't bring us to the place of temptation, or don't allow us to be tempted.
[42:36] God's spirit has already done both of these with Jesus, nor does the clause imply, don't tempt us, because God has promised never to do that anywhere, right?
[42:48] In James 1.13, rather, in light of the probable Aramaic underline Jesus' prayer, this word seems best taken as don't let us succumb to temptation, or don't abandon us in temptation.
[43:09] Again, it's asking God for strength in the middle of our struggles, in whatever it is, in the middle of our struggle with sin and temptations.
[43:23] The last point, point number three, right? Praying the word of God in Jesus' name. Praying the word of God in Jesus' name. We have seen that God, that, sorry, Christ was a man devoted to prayer.
[43:38] We have seen that Christ did gave us a pattern of the things that we have to think about when we go to our Lord in prayer, there is a good acronym called ACT, A-C-T-S, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
[44:01] That comes from here, right? But we, when we dedicate a time with our Lord, let's try to follow the pattern that Christ did teach us in this Lord prayer.
[44:21] Point number three, praying the word of God in his name, praying the will of God in his name. A very important consideration when we pray is that we must make every effort to intentionally and diligently pray the word of God.
[44:38] And I talked a little bit about that in the beginning, right? The Bible. When we pray God's word, we are praying for his will in our life. in the same way that a child learns the language of their parents, of their father and their mother, in that same way, we as children of God, we learn the language of God in the scripture, and we repeat that back to God.
[45:09] And prayer is not, as I said again, a magic trick to ask God for things of this word. We ought to praise God's will, as I stated in his word.
[45:22] What is important is not what we want, right? We, unfortunately, in this fallen nature, are very selfish people.
[45:34] We are selfish. This is what we are. We think of us, we, right, it's only what matter to us, or what we want, or what will give pleasure to us.
[45:50] We should go, not in a selfish way when we pray. We ought to pray to God's will, as stated in his word. What is important is not what we want, but what God wants us to pray.
[46:06] Because, as humans that are falling, our hearts are pretty deceitful. That's what Jeremiah 17, 9 says. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick who can understand it.
[46:24] So, if we think the desires of our heart, many times, we are going to ask for things that are not the will of God.
[46:39] We pray for the desire of God in us, as stated in his word. So, when we ask God wrongly things, we are not going to receive them.
[46:57] Or, maybe, if those people, right, that's something that comes to my mind, because I have seen people that profess to be Christian, right, in this prosperity gospel movement, for example, and they pray for a Lamborghini, and God, I mean, they have received those things.
[47:32] There are somebody who pray for a jet, and they receive those things. things. But my point is that many times, those things don't come from God.
[47:44] If that's what people pray, just focus on the things of the word, and the material things of the word, many times, it can be a deceitful act from the enemy to keep them entertained in the things of the world.
[48:08] Do you know that the devil wanted to give Christ all the things of the world? He tells them in the temptation, look at all the kingdoms and everything, all of this I will give you, if you serve me, right?
[48:23] There are people that are serving the devil, and the devil is giving them all of those things. And they think that they're praying to God, and indeed they are praying for the desires of their heart, and they're receiving things that are not from God.
[48:40] A real biblical prayer, we pray for the things of God, as stated, in the word of God. We pray not thinking of our worldly desires, but thinking about the things of God.
[48:55] And as final point of conclusion and application, brothers, as I said in the beginning, all that we are talking about these weeks needs to be practical things.
[49:11] We do nothing, like if we just hear this and we do not apply that, we do not apply that in our life, there's no purpose. If we are not praying enough, if we are not dedicating time to God in prayer, let's make every effort to grow in our prayer life.
[49:34] Let's make every effort, brothers and sisters, to do what the Lord says. Let's be doers and not hearers only. We pray personally.
[49:46] We should have a time to pray every day to God in our devotions. prayer. We need to be more supportive of the prayers meetings here.
[49:58] We need to pray in our personal life and the equipping team. This is something that we need to be doing ourselves and helping others to do the same.
[50:09] So my prayer and my desire, my encouragement for you is that as we remind these things today about prayer, let's pray more, let's imitate Christ in the way we pray.
[50:23] Let's pray the word of God in our life. Let's pray thinking about what God wants for us in our life. Let's pray for salvation for our children. Let's pray for the fruit of the spirit in our life.
[50:36] Let's pray for the things of God and not the things of the world. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you for reminding us that imitating Christ implies praying with the same intensity and the same persistence that Christ did and also with the pardon that you touched us in scripture.
[51:06] Help us to be people of prayer, both personally and corporately. In the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen.