The Lord's Prayer
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
"Our Daily Bread"
February 17, 2019 • Rev. Sam Hayes
2-17-19 Sermon Notes "Our Daily Bread" Most of us are not thinking a lot about where our next meal is coming from. Let me rephrase http://that...we may be thinking about what we are going to have or where we will eat it (the GFUMC staff is going to Longhorn's today!http://)...but we are not wondering about whether or not we will eat. Let's pause for a moment, and consider those who are wondering IF they will eat today... According to World Vision's website, there are 815 million people (about 1 of every 10 people) around the world who experience chronic hunger. Are "statistics" something that you just can't seem to fathom? Well - maybe this will help. Dr. Fred Craddock (who was my favorite preacher) told a story in a sermon one time about going to hear a well-known speaker talk at a summit on world hunger. Dr. Craddock said the presentation was very well done, very organized and impressive. Overall, though, it wasn't a presentation that he would remember in the years to come...nothing life-changing. However, there was one person at the summit on world hunger that day whose remarks were life-changing for Dr. Craddock. It was a little white-haired lady, who came to the podium, and shared the same sentence over and over again in 52 different languages. Dr. Craddock, being a very highly educated person, could partially understand several of the languages. The woman, with tears running down her cheeks, said over and over again in different languages: "Mommy, I'm hungry." That afternoon on his way back to Atlanta, Dr. Craddock passed a billboard on the interstate. He said that he had passed that same billboard at least a thousand times. This time, however, the billboard made him queasy. It said, "Buffet: All you can eat! $4.95." This Sunday we are continuing our series on "Praying as Jesus Taught Us" with the phrase, "Give us this day our daily bread." You can see it Matthew 6... "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. (Matt. 6: 9-11 NRSV) Praying as Jesus taught us includes a concern not only for "my" daily http://bread...but for "our" daily bread. We will dig a little deeper in this sermon. Pastor Sam
"Not About Us"
February 10, 2019 • Rev. Sam Hayes
2-10-19 Sermon Notes "Not About Us!" One time a little 5-year-old boy went to church with his Nana for the first time. He had been to Sunday School before, but this was his first time in a worship service. His Nana chose the back pew, just in case he couldn't sit through the entire service. He was fascinated by the worship service, taking it all in with great curiosity. At one point in the service, the minister said, "Let us pray." Everyone bowed their heads in prayer. The little boy looked around and saw everybody with their heads bowed to the floor, and he said, "Nana, what are they all looking for?" What a great question! What are we looking for when we pray? I hope we are looking to have communion with - and communication with - our loving Heavenly Father! We saw last week that by when He gave us the Lord's Prayer, Jesus gave us a pattern for praying...a "how to" guide for praying. We focused on the first couple of phrases of the Lord's Prayer, remembering that we are NOT to pray as hypocrites, just for show, or with a bunch of empty words. Instead we are to pray remembering that we pray to Our Father, seeking to hallow (or revere) God's name (character, reputation). That was the first in the "Praying as Jesus Taught Us" sermon series. This week we will add the next phrase in the Lord's Prayer... Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6: 9-10 NRSV) Prayer requires a big shift of our attention. It is a shift from a "me" focus to a "God" focus. It a shift from "my" kingdom to "Thy" kingdom. It is a shift from "my will be done" to "Thy will be done." This big shift is the beginning...everything else in prayer flows from this shift. It is the initial thing we are "looking for" when we bow our heads to pray. See you Sunday! Pastor Sam
"Our Father"
February 3, 2019 • Rev. Sam Hayes
2-3-19 Sermon Notes "Our Heavenly Father" A man took a new job at a sock factory. On his first day, he noticed a big sign up on the wall that read, "If your threads get tangled, send for the foreman." Later on that day, he was working at his machine, and his threads got tangled. He tried and tried to untangle the mess himself, but the more he worked at it, the worse it got. After a while, the foreman came by. He said, "Have you been trying to fix this yourself?" "Yes," the man admitted. The foreman pointed to the sign and asked, "Why didn't you follow the instructions?" "I did my best," the man said. "No, you didn't," the foreman replied. "http://remember...doing your best is sending for me." The "threads" of our lives are going to get tangled up on a regular basis. That's just part of life! It's important to remember that doing our best in this life is only doing our best if it includes http://prayer...and lots of it. The Lord loved us enough to give us a pattern for prayer. That pattern is what we all know as "The Lord's Prayer." For the month of February and leading up to Lent, we are going to focus on "Praying As Jesus Taught Us." As we take a close look at the Lord's Prayer each week, we will keep in mind that The Lord's Prayer isn't as much about telling us what to pray as it is telling us how to pray. Here's the pattern Jesus gave in Matthew 6... 9 "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. (Matt. 6: 9-13 NRSV) Join us this Sunday as we dig deep into the first three phrases of The Lord's Prayer: (1) Our Father (2) In Heaven (3) Hallowed be your name. See you Sunday! Pastor Sam
"Forgiven and Forgiving"
February 24, 2019 • Rev. Sam Hayes
2-24-19 Sermon Notes "Forgiven and Forgiving"' I recently heard about a man that went to see his doctor because he was feeling absolutely awful. The doctor gave him a careful examination, left the room to look at some tests, came back in with a very somber expression on his face, and said: "Sir, I don't know how to break the news to you, but you have rabies and you're going to die very soon." The man very calmly got out a piece of paper and began furiously writing. The doctor said: "What are you doing, making out your will?" He said: "Oh no, I'm writing out a list of people I'm going to bite."' If we're honest, we probably all have a list of people we'd like to "bite." We could call these "grudges." And we have list of people who have "bitten" us. We could call these "wounds." And we all have been guilty of wounding others with our words and our actions. We could call these "offenses." http://grudges...wounds...offenses... These are why learning to say six simple words is so critical. What are those six simple words? In Adam Hamilton's book, Forgiveness: Finding Peace Through Letting Go, he shares the six simple words without which no marriage can survive, no family can stay together, and no friendship can last. These six words need to show up regularly in our vocabulary. They are: "I am sorry," and "I forgive you." Praying and learning to receive and give forgiveness will be the focus of this week's message from The Lord's Prayer, as we learn to "Pray as Jesus Taught Us." Again we turn to Matthew 6... 9 "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matt. 6: 9-12, 14-15 NRSV) we will see why making forgiveness a part of our daily pattern for prayer is so important! Grace and peace, Pastor Sam
"Lead Us"
March 3, 2019 • Rev. Sam Hayes
3-3-19 Sermon Notes "Lead Us" Once upon a time, there was a very wealthy Texas oilman who had a beautiful daughter, and he wanted to find her a husband who was brave and courageous like himself. He decided to throw a huge Texas-style barbecue as a way of meeting some eligible young men. It was a wonderful party! The wealthy father had a "test" planned to determine which of the young men was the bravest. He had an Olympic-size swimming pool that he stocked with hungry alligators. After everyone had finished their delicious meal, he called all the eligible bachelors to gather at one end of the pool. The other guests were to stand behind them. He told the men that the first one who jumped in and swam through the alligators to the other end would be given his choice of three things: one million dollars in cash, ten thousand acres of his best land, or his daughter's hand in marriage. He even mentioned that his daughter was the only heir to his fortune. As soon as he got the last word out of his mouth, there was a loud splash at one end of the pool. There was a lot of commotion in the pool, and after a couple of minutes, a young man emerged from the pool dripping wet, but unharmed. The wealthy father of the beautiful daughter walked up to the young man and said, "Well, boy, it's your choice. Do you want the million in cash?" "No, Sir," came the reply. "Well, how about the land?" "No, sir," came the reply again. "Then I guess you want my daughter to be your wife," the Texan said with a smile. "No, sir," the fellow said. "Well, boy," asked the puzzled Texan, "what do you want?" And the young man said, "I want to know the name of the person who pushed me into the pool!" How about you? Have you ever wondered how you got into a situation where you were up to your ears in trouble? I will admit that I have. I will also admit that sometimes I "jumped" into a bad place, and sometimes I was "pushed." Either way - I needed help! What I http://needed...what I NEED every http://day...is the guidance of my Heavenly Father. That's one of the things we ask for when we pray as Jesus taught us. Remember those words? 9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. (Matt. 6: 9-13 NIV) This will be the last message in the series, Praying As Jesus Taught Us, and we will pay special attention to two words in the Lord's Prayer: "Lead us..." (And watch out for those alligators!) Pastor Sam