Episodes
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
01-17-21 Kevin Goins - How Jesus Taught Us To Pray
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
“How Jesus Taught us to Pray”
Matthew 6:9-13
We usually spend the month of January emphasizing the spiritual disciplines, including prayer. This year we are looking at prayer and worship. Last week we saw that the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to be begin our prayer with worship. Today we want to look at the remaining petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.
I Last Sunday we saw that Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father “who is in ______________” (6:9).
A. What is heaven distinguished by? E_______________ w________________.
B. Jesus teaches us that prayer must begin with ____________________.
II The nest ________ petitions of the Lord’s Prayer go together; they are inseparable: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (6:10).
A. The Kingdom of God is people who treat God as their ____________, and when we treat God as king, we want his ______________ to be done.
B. Those who belong to the Kingdom of God v____________ God’s will so much we pray that his will would be accomplished in us and in our world.
C. When we ask God to grow his kingdom and use us to do his will, we are asking him to make us r________________________ for the cause of Christ.
D. The kingdom of this world is opposed to the Kingdom of God and so those who really care about the advance of God’s Kingdom must be ______________.
III Now we come to the petition with which we often spend most of our time: asking for our ______________________ needs (6:11). Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily _________________.”
A. Why is this important?
1. It is important, first, because it means that Jesus v______________ bread.
a. It is e___________ for us to focus most of our prayer on physical needs.
B. Jesus says to pray for bread, and bread is not just bread, it is also b________________ and b_________________.
C. The point is that by teaching us to pray for the physical needs of life Jesus gives d______________ to the physical nature of our existence.
2. This petition is important, secondly, because Jesus tells us we should pray it d_________________.
3. There is one more thing that is important about this petition: It is not a p_______________________ request, it is a c___________________ request.
a. How can we pray for our needs and ignore those who are in even w______________ need?
b. But if we do not first ask God to give to __________, we will not have anything with which to meet the needs of ______________.
B. Jesus told us to a____________ and to ask e__________ d______________.
IV Now we come to the fifth petition: “Forgive us our d______________ as we also have forgiven our d___________________.”
A. Jesus died to pay our debt, so that when we trust in him we can ask God to f__________________ us and, because of _______________, he will.
B. “As” is a comparative and it means “to the s____________ extent that.” So, what we are praying is: “God forgive me to the same extent that I have been w____________ to forgive the one who wronged me.”
c. Our greatest privilege as believers is to confess our sins and ask God to forgive us, but we f_______________ that right when we are not willing to forgive the one who wronged us.
V With the last petition Jesus reminds us that we are in a spiritual b___________________: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
-“Lead us not into temptation” means draw us away from the temptation we do not know is h______________ around the corner, and, when we do encounter temptation, then “_________________ us from the evil one.”
Monday Jan 11, 2021
01-10-21 Kevin Goins - How Jesus Taught Us To Begin Every Prayer
Monday Jan 11, 2021
Monday Jan 11, 2021
“How Jesus Taught us to Begin Every Prayer”
Matthew 6:9
We usually spend the month of January emphasizing the spiritual disciplines, including prayer. This year I would like to look at prayer and one of the disciplines we can easily overlook: worship. Worship is not only a spiritual discipline, like prayer, but prayer actually depends on the discipline of worship. What I mean by that is what we see in our text today.
I First, prayer must begin with worship because it gives us the opportunity to speak the kind of truth that can c______________ our lives (John 8:31).
A. Worship is simply t______________ the t____________ about God.
B. When we say God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent, we are not trying to e__________________________ him. We speak these words, first, because they are w___________ of t_____________.
C. Speaking the truth about God has the power to s________ us f__________:
1. When we speak the truth that God is unlimited in power, it can free us from the fear of our c_____________________________.
2. When we speak the truth that God is a God of grace, it can free us from our slavery to g_____________ and condemnation.
3. When we speak the truth that God has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us, it can free us from the lie that life has no d___________________.
D. By reminding us how God can set us free, worship actually begins to chip away at the l_________ that bind us.
E. Worship itself is the beginning of God’s a__________________ to our prayer.
II Second, prayer must begin with worship because it reminds us that real prayer is concerned about __________ and not just our ___________ (Matthew 6:5).
A. The Lord’s Prayer begins with an effort to get our eyes o______ ourselves by getting our eyes o______ God and his work.
B. The greatest barrier between ourselves and God is our s_____-c_________________.
C. Jesus does not want us to be limited to f____-i___ prayers – he wants us to get serious about praying for God’s g_____________.
D. What kind of relationship can we have with God if our prayers are always about _____ and never about __________?
III Third, prayer must begin with worship because that kind of prayer changes our whole e___________________________ (6:9).
A. Why does Jesus want to remind us that the one to whom we pray lives in ____________________?
1. First, the fact that the one to whom we pray is in heaven tells us something about how we ought to a_________________________ him.
-The breath of ___________ is worship, and so the breath of ____________ should also be worship.
2. Second, getting our minds on where God is as we pray can dramatically change how we v______________ our life.
B. Have you ever prayed and felt like God was far away? Maybe it is because we are acting like people who are not in God’s p_____________________.
C. If all we want is to pray in the presence of God’s p_________________, then worship is not necessary. But if we want to pray in the presence of _________, we must pray on holy ground, and on holy ground people ______________.
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
02-16-20 Kevin Goins - the Discipline of Fasting, Conclusion
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
“The Discipline of Fasting” (Conclusion) Matthew 6:16-18
For the past month we have been looking at how we can grow in our relationship with God by using the spiritual discipline of fasting. In Matthew 6 Jesus first emphasizes the negatives of fasting and then he focuses our attention on the positives of fasting:
I First, fasting allows us to reach up to God as whole persons.
II Second, fasting gives us a concrete way to express repentance.
III Third, fasting provides a way to share in the sufferings of Christ.
IV Fourth, fasting helps our prayer.
V Fifth, fasting helps us overcome __________________.
A. Practicing the discipline needed to say “No” to our appetite for _______ gives us practice in saying “No” to __________ appetites.
B. If we cannot say “No” to our appetite for food, what makes us think we can say “No” to _______ other appetite?
VI Sixth, fasting helps us express our _____________.
____________ of the first _________ times fasting is mentioned in the Bible, it is an expression of grief for someone’s death.
What do we typically do when someone is grieving? We bring them ___________.
VII Seventh, fasting provides a way to respond to the ________ of others.
A. Since fasting is a blessing that comes from God, we can expect that it will benefit more than just _________________.
B. The early church practiced fasting in the light of __________ ____.
VIII Lastly, fasting provides a means to experience God in a ______ ______.
A. If our appetite for physical food, comfort, or pleasure is not under control, it will _______________ our spiritual appetite.
B. Occasional fasting from ___________ can enable us to hear _______ things from God.
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
02-09-20 The Discipline of Fasting, Part 3
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
“The Discipline of Fasting” (Pt. 3) Matthew 6:16-18
This January we are focusing on how we can grow in our relationship with God by using the spiritual discipline of fasting. In Matthew 6 Jesus first emphasizes the negatives of fasting [see message on 1/19] and then he
focuses our attention on the positives of fasting:
I First, fasting allows us to reach up to God as whole persons.
II Second, fasting gives us a concrete way to express repentance.
III Third, fasting provides a way to share in the sufferings of Christ.
IV Fourth, fasting helps our ______________.
A. This is why we emphasize fasting at the beginning of the New Year, because we need to pray for God’s d______________ and p_____________ for 2020.
B. How can fasting assist our prayers?
1. First, we need to talk about how it _____________ help our prayers: It cannot help our prayers by _____________ God to answer us.
2. How then, does fasting help our prayers?
a. First, fasting _____________ us to pray.
b. Second, fasting removes ___________________.
c. Third, fasting shows us when our ___________ is really in our prayer.
C. What kind of prayer calls for fasting?
1. First we ought to fast when we pray for our _______________.
2. Second, we ought to fast when we pray for the ____________.
a. The Bible describes sickness as ________________.
b. By fasting we can pray for the sick, not as s______________, but as i______________.
3. Third, we ought to fast as we pray for ____________________.
4. Lastly, we ought to fast as we pray for the _______ of God to be done in this _______________.
Tuesday Mar 19, 2019
Sunday Mar 10, 2019
03-10-19 Kevin Goins - The Attitude of Prayer
Sunday Mar 10, 2019
Sunday Mar 10, 2019
“The Attitude of Prayer” Luke 18:9-14
We have talked about the “How” of prayer and the “Wow” of prayer, but there is something that is often overlooked and that is the attitude we bring to our prayer. Jesus tells a parable in Luke chapter eighteen which shows us the kind of attitude we need to have when we pray.
I Luke chapter 18 is about __________ and it begins with two parables.
A. The first parable is about how d___________ we should be when we pray. The second parable is about the a___________ we should have when we pray.
B. The parable is composed of _____ parts:
1. We hear a p________ r___________ man talk to God.
2. We hear a tax-collector talk to God in a very d__________ way.
3. We hear Jesus, who knows more about God than anyone, tell us w________ prayer makes it to the throne of God.
II The usual approach to this parable is to do a h_________ job on the Pharisee and his prayer.
A. The crowd who first heard this parable did not have a b______ against the Pharisees like we do.
B. In Jesus’ day there were _______ major religious groups in Judaism:
1. First, there were the E___________.
2. Second, there were the S___________.
3. Third, there were the P_____________.
C. The Pharisees were respected by the people, so when Jesus mentions the Pharisee the crowd would assume he is the _______ example.
III To hear this parable the way the first audience heard it, we must see the Pharisees as they did, as h_________. But then Jesus shocks us by showing us _______ problems this Pharisee had in his relationship with God:
A. First, the Pharisee had a problem with c____________ - his confidence was in __________ (18:11a).
B. Second, the Pharisee had a problem with _____________ - he was _____ of it (18:11b).
C. Third, the Pharisee had a problem with ___________ - there wasn’t _______ in his life (18:12).
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
03-03-19 Kevin Goins - The Desire to Pray, conclusion
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
Tuesday Mar 05, 2019
“The Desire to Pray” (conclusion)
Matthew 6:5-13
It takes more to pray than simply knowing how to do it. Something else is required and what is required is desire. Why should we desire to pray? Our text tells us. We should love to pray:
I ... because prayer grows our relationship with God (6:5-6).
II ...because it’s is the most natural thing we can do (6:7-8).
III ... because prayer reminds us of our true significance (6:9)
IV ... because prayer puts us in touch with the power than can bring
honor to God’s name (6:9b).
V ... because prayer advances God’s Kingdom (6:10a).
VI ... because real prayer has a terrific safety mechanism (6:10b).
VII We should love to pray because prayer puts us in touch with the one who can meet all our p__________ needs (6:11).
We don’t think in terms of daily needs because we are so wealthy we do not have to live from _____ to _____.
B. Jesus emphasized “daily bread” because he got his
understanding of prayer from the _____ __________.
1. First, there is the teaching of P_________ ____.
Second, there is the teaching of E__________ ___.
C. Money ____ provide security and money ____ buy
happiness and that is the p___________.
VIII We should love to pray because prayer puts us in touch with the one who can meet all our r_______________ needs (6:12).
Before Adam sinned, Eve was his wife, but after he sinned, she
became “t_____ w_________.”
B. Sin doesn’t just separate us from ______, it hurts _____ our
relationships.
IX We should love to pray because prayer puts us in touch with the one who can meet all our s____________ needs (6:13).
A. This request is not about temptation, it’s about the ________ of temptation and how we can a________ that place.
B. Prayer brings us to the best place we can possible be when it comes to temptation, and that is in ________ _____________.
Tuesday Feb 26, 2019
02-24-19 Jennifer Bliss-Criswell The Desire to Pray - corporately
Tuesday Feb 26, 2019
Tuesday Feb 26, 2019
The Desire to Pray - The “wow” of corporate prayer
Acts 4:23-31 and Matthew 6:9-13
When we pray together we pray as f______
A. O___ F_________
B. Peter and John went to their o___ p________
C. H___________ F _______ = H___________ F _______
When we pray together God’s name is s_________
A. M_______ is louder than o_____
B. They r________ their voices t_____________
When we pray together God’s w____ is c__________
A. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that we can k____ God’s will
B. We can find God’s will in s__________
C. There is s___________ for every s____________
4. When we pray together there is a______________
A. Many v________, one p________
B. Agreement requires u__________
Matthew 18:19-20
C. Unity requires f______________.
When we pray together there is p_________.
A. Deliver us from evil by m____________ us s____________ than the evil one
B. God showed up: M____________ P_____________
C. Their prayer was a_____________.
Friday Feb 22, 2019
02-17-19 Kevin Goins - The Desire to Pray, part 3
Friday Feb 22, 2019
Friday Feb 22, 2019
“The Desire to Pray” (pt 3)
Matthew 6:5-13
It takes more to pray than simply knowing how to do it. Something else is required and what is required is desire. Why should we desire to pray? Our text tells us.
I First, we should love to pray because prayer rewards us with a growing relationship with God (6:5-6).
II Second, we should love to pray because prayer is the most natural thing we could ever do (6:7-8).
III Third, we should love to pray because when we pray we are reminded of our true significance (6:9)
IV Fourth, we should love to pray because prayer puts us in touch with the power than can bring ________ to God’s name (6:9b).
A., The Bible teaches that it is _____, not ________, who sees to it that his name is honored.
B. We can use prayer to ask God to _______ the way this world treats his _______.
V Fifth, we should love to pray because prayer can a_________ God’s Kingdom in this world (6:10a).
A. When God first created human beings, he was _______ over all life.
B. Then God called a special nation through whom he could once again establish his kingship on earth – that nation was ________.
C. Then God told the prophets he would establish his kingdom through a perfect King - _________ is that perfect King.
D. Jesus not only called us to p________ the Gospel of the Kingdom – he taught us to pray that the Kingdom would ________.
VI Sixth, we should love to pray because real prayer has a terrific s_________ m__________ (6:10b).
A., Can you imagine how horrible it would be to the human race if God ____________ every prayer we ever prayed?
B. Prayer ought to wow us because prayer doesn’t depend on ____ understanding of what is best – it depends on the _____ of ______.
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
02-10-19 Kevin Goins - The Desire to Pray, part 2
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
Tuesday Feb 12, 2019
“The Desire to Pray” (pt 2) Matthew 6:5-13
It takes more to pray than simply knowing how to do it. Something else is required and what is required is desire. Why should we desire to pray? Our text tells us.
I The first reason we should love to pray is that prayer puts us in touch with the most s_____________ relationship we could ever have, a relationship with _____. (6:5-6)
II The second reason we should love to pray is because talking to God in prayer is the most n__________ thing we can ever do (6:7).
A. The first characteristic of pagan prayer is that it depends on using the r________ w_______.
B. The second characteristic of pagan prayer is that it tries to persuade God by r___________ requests over and over.
C. The point Jesus makes about both practices is that they are completely un________________.
III In verse 8 Jesus explains why it is unnecessary to worry about how we e__________ our needs to God – It is because, “The Father a_______ k_______ what you need before you ask him” (6:8).
IV The third reason we should love to pray is because when we pray we are reminded of _____ we really _____ (6:9).
A. What reminds us day after day of who we really are in Jesus? It is praying to God as “O_____ F_______.”
B. We begin our prayer by reminding ourselves who ____ are: We are ___________ of God. And we begin our prayer by reminding ourselves who _____ is: He is not some i___________ power, but our Father.
C. Some find it hard to think of God as their father because they had fathers who abused or abandoned them. But Jesus says we are to pray, not to ____ father, but to our Father who is ___ ___________.
D. But “in heaven” not only means that this father has no _____, but it also means he has no w__________.