Matthew 6:5-15
Beginning Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, we come to You with praises in our hearts for all Your giving to us; You gave us life, You gave us breathe, You gave us everything we have now that pertains to good and holiness. Thank You for giving us Your Son Jesus, for sending Him to earth to die for our sins. Thank You Jesus for coming in the form a baby and then grow up to be a man of that would die for my sins, for the whole world's sins. You are worthy to be praised!!! Your Kingdom has come to us all, Your will is been done in us lives right now. We are so thankful. Jesus, You taught Your disciples to pray, please continue to teach us through Your Holy Spirit the true meaning of Christmas this day and always. Give us this day the divine revelation of Jesus coming to earth and giving His life for us. Father God, You gave, Jesus gave, now help us to give from our hearts as You desire us to give, not with humanly intention, but with the love of God. This Christmas bless us to give just as You, the Godhead gave years ago. Thank You! Glory to God in the highest and good will toward all of us, in Jesus' mighty Name. We as a community pray this prayer. AMEN.
Subject: "The Lord's Prayer" (Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread)
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread The average well groomed, well-fed Christian congregation of the day will find it very difficult to seriously repeat the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." Someone has defined the average church service in America today as a service in which a mild-mannered man gets up before a group of mild-mannered people and urges them to be more mild-mannered. What a sad commentary that is upon the church, if that be true! But it is very difficult for Americans, who go out to great supermarkets and push baskets through a maze of shelves groaning with all kinds of foodstuffs, to ask God for bread. God just does not seem to be in the colossal business of mass merchandising today. Why make fervent prayer to God for bread in this day of the welfare state, when we are looking to government instead of looking to God? This is a time when we are trying to detour around God in order to get our bread. We have come to a time when static is a menace. Rome, with her program of bread and circuses provided for the population, should be a danger signal before us in our day. What can follow in the wake of such a program but immorality and decay? In America at this hour, there is plenty; but this is the only nation where there is plenty, yes, even a surplus today. Over one-half of the world's population went to bed last night with their hunger pains not fully satisfied. Famine stalks this world today in many parts—the third horseman of the Apocalypse is riding, even now, across the land. We are living on an earth that has the curse of sin upon it. From the day that Adam sinned, God said to him: In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread…. (Genesis 3:19) And from that day until the present hour, men have found no magic process of producing bread other than by hard work. We may have it easy now, but may I say that there is a day coming when men in this country will be able to pray this prayer with a great deal of anxiety, of seeking, asking, and knocking—"Give us this day our daily bread." Now I want you to notice this petition for a moment. It is so simple, and yet it should come from our hearts with great enthusiasm. It speaks of our utter dependence upon God. Our bodily wants, our physical necessities, all come from Him, and He supplies them day by day. Israel gathered manna for the day; they gathered nothing for the morrow. They were not permitted to gather manna for the next week. This prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," gathers manna every day. It shows man that he lives from hand to mouth and that even his bodily necessities, his basic needs, come from God. Someone has said that bread is the staff of life, and how true that is! Let us consider man for just a moment and see why bread is so essential to him. As we know, on the physical side, man is made of dust. He was taken out of the dust. We forget that, but the psalmist says: For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:14) Oh, how often you and I forget that we are dust, and in our pride we forget our humble origin. There is a saying that "when dust gets stuck on itself, it's mud," and to such nothingness pride brings us. Now in the soil you will find that there are sixteen elements, and in the body of man 20 there are sixteen chemical elements. And real wheat bread and real cornbread have in them more of the sixteen elements than any other food that we eat today. Certainly bread is the staff of life, and when we pray; "Give us this day our daily bread," we are asking God for those basic needs of our physical bodies, and it should teach us to depend upon God and rest upon Him. May I say that I do not think a Christian should be alarmed today because of what the economist is saying about diminishing resource. We are not looking to man to supply our needs; we are looking to God. We must learn to acknowledge God in all the affairs of our lives. A little poem that we teach our children expresses this well: Said the robin to the sparrow, "I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so!" Said the sparrow to the robin, "Friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me!" You and I need to remember what He has told us in His Word: When we put Him first, all these other things—these necessities—will be added unto us (see Matthew 6:33). There is another thing in this simple petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." God is the giver of everything. You will not find His cost on the loaf of bread that you buy—He is on the giving side. As you look at the loaf of bread on your table, let the thought be thankfully with you that the bread has come ultimately from the hand of God. Back of the loaf is the snowy flour; and back of the flour, the mill; and back of the mill is the wheat and the shower, the sun, and the Father's will. Back of that loaf of bread is our generous Father, and we can say to Him, "Give us this day our daily bread."
Week # 9
Weekly Pattern: Provision
Prayers from the Bible:
Questions:
1). What is Christmas to you?
2). What is your most favorite Christmas carol?
3). How do you celebrate Christmas?
4). Why do you celebrate Christmas?
5). Why do you, if so, give gifts for Christmas?
6). Give us our daily bread, what do this means to you?
7). How big of a role does Jesus have in your thoughts at Christmas?
8). How have you seen God work through this past year?
9). Will you share Jesus this year with someone?
10). Should we be alarmed about today's economy, explain?
11). What do Matthew 6:33 means to you?
12). What do Luke 6:38 says?
Weekly Reading Assignment: (Acts 17-18)
Weekly Song: (Matthew 26:30)
Weekly Praise: Glory to God in the Highest
Let's Hallow His name by rehearsing Who He is:
Ending Prayer:
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