Our sermon passage this evening comes from Luke chapter 11, and I'll be reading the first four verses and then moving down to verse 11. So Luke chapter 11, which can be found on page 869 of the Pew Bibles. We're going to be continuing our evening service series, examining the Lord's Prayer. Luke 11, reading the first four verses and then moving to verse 11. Before I read, would you please join me once again in seeking the Lord in prayer? Father, would you bless this time? Would you help us to put away the distractions? give our attention and focus to You. That we would come to know what it means to call You Father. That we would take the great comfort and confidence that it calls us to. Would we, as She appeared the voice of our Shepherd, as He reveals to us the Father and the relationship that we have with Him. Holy Spirit enable us to take hold of it. to not be overcome with doubt or skepticism, but to have great faith in our great God. I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Luke chapter 11, reading the first four verses, and then we'll be sliding down to verse 11. Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place. And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. As John taught his disciples. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation. And going down to verse 11. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, instead of a fish, give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Lord, teach us to pray, a request made from the disciples that so many Christians echo today. And I'm not talking about new believers or recent converts. Those who have been walking with the Lord for a very long time still feel as if something is missing from their prayer life. And publishing companies are eager to play their part, and so you get millions of books entitled, How to Pray. It can even be, you know, tailored to you, How to Be a Praying Woman, How to Be a Praying Dad. These are real books. Because we feel like something is missing. Well, if you were asked that question, how would you respond? You get a visit from one of the elders and they're asking you about how family worship is going and your Bible reading. And then they say, well, how's prayer going? Is something missing from your prayer life? Well, for one, it could just be the discipline itself. I'm not praying. That's what's missing. I don't make time for it. I not set aside a prayer time. So the discipline itself. For others, it could be the words. You have a set-aside time, but when you think about all the things you're experiencing, you get flooded with emotions and you don't have the words. What do I even say? You're so overwhelmed that you can't open your mouth and talk to God. And for others, they have the discipline. You know, I do my devotions at this time. They have the words. but they feel as if they are missing God's presence, nearness, that He is listening to me, that He is near to me. Well, I'd like to suggest that the Shorter Catechism presents us with two things. One, a particular prayer struggle. And here's the struggle. We don't know how to have a perfect dad. It's hard for us. We struggle with having a perfect father. And so the second thing that I think the Shorter Catechism presents us with is two things that we need in prayer in light of that struggle. Confidence and reverence. We need confidence and reverence when we pray to a perfect Father. So let me read the question and answer and show you what I mean. What preface, or excuse me, what doth the preface of the Lord's Prayer teach us? The preface of the Lord's Prayer, which is, our Father which art in heaven, teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us, and that we should pray with and for others. Well, the preface teaches us about our approach. And who are we approaching? God. We're commanded to address Him as Father. Which means that this preface almost kind of functions as if a creed, a statement of faith. Because when you call God Father, you're making statements about the nature of God. You're making statements about Christ. If you say that I can call God Father because of Jesus Christ, you're affirming plurality in the Godhead, right? That there are three persons in the Godhead. And you say, you're also saying that Christ is the way. to call God Father, that no one can come to the Father without the Son. The preface in the Lord's Prayer resists any theologies that would teach you that there are other ways to get to the Father besides Christ. Because of Christ, we can approach the Father. But what kind of Father is He? I mean, He's not just like any old dad. How is this father different from earthly fathers? What should we know as we approach this perfect father? Well, the larger catechism says that when we come near in prayer, we need to have due apprehensions of his sovereign power, his majesty, and gracious condescension. That's where I'm getting that perfect dad language from. He's holy. He's in control. He's all-knowing. And yet, that divine language, divine realities, is coupled with relationship, paternal language. God, our Father. And as beautiful as that sounds, it's hard for us sometimes. We struggle with that. Jesus knows that sinners will struggle with that. As He gives His disciples this prayer, He shows faulty ways that people approach a perfect Father. So in Matthew 6, Jesus says, 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. What's the desire here? I want to be heard. I want to make sure that I'm being heard. I have needs. I have problems. How do I know that I am heard? And Jesus presents this wrong approach, where Gentiles are heaping up words as if we needed to, you know, tickle God's ear to get His attention. It presents God's ear as if it's, you know, a locked door. You've got to say the right password to get into the club. Those who are heard by God. And Jesus says, don't be like that. Don't pray like the Gentiles. And why does He say that? Because your Father knows what you need. You don't need to pray that way to God because He has perfect knowledge. Another thing, catches Him by surprise. He's not off guard. And I think this is interesting about us because we can confess and believe those things, but in prayer it can feel different. You can talk to your neighbor and say, yeah, God knows everything. You might even use the word omniscient. But how many times in prayer do we find ourselves giving God a reminder? Don't you see that I'm still in pain? God, do you not care that this situation is still miserable and still unresolved? Don't you know that I need this? Now, someone may say, you're not saying that that's wrong, are you, Hunter? Because it's in the Psalms all the time. And I would say, you're right. It is in the Psalms all the time. But that's not where the psalmist ends. Here's a test case, if you will. Psalm 13, will you forget me forever? I love that rawness about the psalms. God, have you forgotten about me? But how does it end? But I trust in your unfailing love. It's not wrong to bring our emotions to God when we feel forgotten. But we can't stay there. That's the great thing, again, about the Psalms, is it welcomes your emotion, but it also encourages you to not stay there. Don't put your confidence in your emotions, in your experience, but in God's unfailing love. When we're offering those kind of reminder prayers, where we are putting God, you know, on notice, what's missing? It's not the time. You've got to make time to complain to God. It's not the words. We've got that covered. What's missing is the confidence that the psalmist has. I will trust in your unfailing love. And that's what both the larger and shorter catechism call it, confidence, which immediately begs the question, confidence in what? And the larger catechism answers, confidence in his fatherly goodness. But that prompts another confidence question. You know, the first one is, okay, what am I supposed to be confident in? And the large catechism says, confidence in his fatherly goodness. But why should I be confident in that? Why should I think that this fatherly goodness applies to me? Because if you are in Christ, that confidence is blood-bought. That confidence and having the privilege of that fatherly goodness is not something you earned or self-promoted. It is something that has been bestowed upon you by Christ. It is a blood-bought confidence. Jesus wants this. He wants you to be confident that your father is better than regular dads. We saw that in our gospel reading. Jesus is teaching about prayer and the Father and says, listen, If these sinful dads, with limited resources, limited knowledge, limited patience, if they can do good things, provide for their children, you have to believe that God is better than that. You have to have a better confidence in His provision, His love, than earthly fathers. I'll share a story when this verse really hit me, when I felt really confronted with a perfect father. My first year at Westminster, I was commuting from South Jersey all the way to PA, to Glenside. And I would end up getting home really late, like maybe having 30 minutes or so with my girls before I had to put them down. And this was really hard for me. I want and still want to be a very present father. And it wasn't the classes. It was the traffic. I mean, so I would get out of class at 4, and I'd be stuck in traffic. Some of you know. You've had these experiences. So what I would try to do is get like a little sticker, a little piece of candy, something to give them to say, dad was thinking about you. Dad had you in mind. This was a real rough time for my wife and I. offering a lot of why God prayers during that time. And I came across this passage, and it was almost as if I was confronted with the fact, or maybe even a question. Hunter, do you think you're a better father than me? You love caring for, providing for your daughters. You think you do that better than me? And of course, the answer is no. No. And what was missing during that time was not the words, was not the time, but I did not have confidence in his fatherly goodness. I did not have confidence that he knew what I needed and would provide in his time. And perhaps that's a word to you fathers. I say this as your younger brother, very inexperienced compared to you with raising children. You take delight in providing for your children. You say no to them lovingly, you discipline with love. Do you have more confidence in your fatherly goodness and in your heavenly father? Are you confident that he cares for you, that he will provide your needs? Or to be more direct to all of us, Christian, do you have confidence that God knows what you need on Monday? He knows it better than you. But as I was thinking through this sermon, just like when I was preaching through the fifth commandment, you know, honor your mother and father, I started thinking again about not growing, excuse me, growing up without a father. Not really knowing what that means to have a father who's ready and able to help. And that's so many. Some here, some who may be tuning in. Those who struggle to address God as Father because of pain and horrors. Well, I would encourage you to cry out to the Spirit. To ask the Spirit to bless you with His particular ministry as it relates to this. Paul says in Romans that the Spirit is the Spirit of adoption that enables us to cry out Abba. Right? A very strong, paternal, loving word that English just struggles with to carry over sometimes. And so if you struggle to call God Father, ask the Spirit to enable you to be convinced, to believe that your Father cares and loves you. Well, we're called not only to confidence, but to have holy reverence when we approach God in prayer. And of course, reverence, like any good work, can be imitated or mimicked. It can be something that's entirely external, someone who is bowing in prayer while their heart is stiff and standing against God and His will. So when we talk about reverence, we can't simply look for a checklist. Did I address every person in the Trinity? Did I say this phrase? Were my eyes closed the whole time? Reverence goes deeper than that. You know what's funny? Parents, you know this. Actually, kids, you know this too. You know that there's a way to say the please, the thank yous, the proper words to mom and dad while your heart is impatient or frustrated or ungrateful with them. You know how to make that request while the inside, your heart, is burning up against your parent. And if human parents can take note of that, How much more does our Heavenly Father take note when we come to Him with no reverence, no thankfulness, no gratitude, the right words but a heart that is far from Him? How do we fix this? How does that change concerning reverence? I think the first thing that we do is ask God to forgive us for those kind of approaches, just like you would with your earthly parents. Go back to mom and dad and say, hey listen, I know I was saying the right things, but I was really skeptical. I was really angry or bitter or impatient. Would you forgive me? Because you need to be humble to confess your sins. That's one of those childlike dispositions that the catechisms call us to. You need to be needy. I need you to forgive me. And that's one of those ways that we move towards reverence. Moving towards God humbled and needy. And it gives us some additional steps as well. I'm actually going to read the larger catechism's answer to the same question, as I think it goes into a little bit more detail about what reverence would mean. Our Father, which art in heaven, teaches us, when we pray, to draw near to God with confidence of His fatherly goodness, and our interest therein, with reverence in all other childlike dispositions. heavenly affections, and due apprehensions of His sovereign power, majesty, and gracious condescension, as also to pray with and for others." Well, I'd like to make a few comments about reverence. We're encouraged to make use of childlike dispositions. Now, I take that to mean that we approach God as, please help, Dad, instead of, I do it by meself, Dad. Please help me to trust you versus I want it now, you know, childlike disposition. We need to rely on God, depend on him. And those who we can trust, who we can rely on, we develop affections for. Our affection for God grows as we rely on him. We move away from being self-sufficient and strong and find our confidence, not in our own ability, but being able to say, Lord, please help me. And our affections also grow as we move to desire what God desires. Heavenly affections is what the larger catechism calls it. We can certainly bring our requests to God in prayer, but if that's the only thing we're bringing, if we're never saying, can you work out your will in my life? Would you let what you desire come to fruition in my life? We're not sharing in the Father's desires. Well, last week John referenced the ACTS acronym. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication for prayer. And I think his last section covers adoration. The larger catechism says, an apprehension or an understanding of his sovereign power, majesty, and gracious condescension. You know, when it's cold outside, I was raised to go out and start the car, right? Don't just get in the car and start driving. Now, if you ask me why, I don't know. But I was trying to obey my mother and my grandmother. You don't just get in the car and take off when it's freezing outside. You let the car heat up. And I think that's a really good principle to carry over in prayer. I'm not saying that you can't just pray. If you are in, you know, the thick of a situation, you have every right as a child of God to say, Lord, help. But I think it's helpful, considering, you know, moving towards reverence, to take a second to prepare ourselves, to think about God, His attributes, to be blown away that the person who we are bringing our request to is not prevented at all from helping us. God has no lack of resources. There is nothing that would prevent Him from providing for us, or being blown away from the fact that God even wants to listen to us, that we can pray. I'll actually tell you where I think this gets missed. Someone will say, given that earlier verse in Matthew 6, right, your Father knows what you need. Well, if God knows what I need, why do I need to pray to Him? Have you heard anything like that before? Well, here's what I think is the better question. If God knows what you need, if He even knows the words that you're going to use to make this request, why does God want to listen to you? A little view of God says, why do I need to talk to Him? Why would I even talk to Him if He knows? But a big view of God, His mercy, His care for us says, why would He even listen to me? Why is the holy, righteous God so willing to listen to the request of the sinner? The answer again is what I referenced earlier, that blood-bought confidence that Christ provides for us. Well, after talking about reverence, both the catechisms end with praying with and for others. And last week, John gave us some tips. You could write down prayer requests later this evening as we take them. You could go to prayer meeting and pray with and for others, and then also pray later in the week. But I'd like to make some suggestions within the with respect, praying with others. And if you're the type of person that gets into challenges, you can take this as a challenge. Here's your prayer challenge for March. The next time you meet up with another believer, it could be a Christian co-worker, someone here from the church, as you're talking with, you know, your brother or sister in Christ, you know at some point a challenge, a struggle, some difficulty will present itself. That's kind of how it goes. Well, here's the challenge. After you hear that difficulty, that struggle, say, you know, brother or sister, you don't have to use brothers or sisters, you can use their name, Let's pray. Let's take that to our Father. And enjoy that moment as you are with your sibling, knowing that your perfect Father is able and ready to help you. So would you do that? Would you find someone to pray with and do that challenge? Again, if you're the type of person that's into challenges. Well, let's pray. Lord, thank you that you listen to us. Thank you for your fatherly goodness. And I pray that you would build our confidence in you. You care for us. That you have provided everything we need concerning life and godliness. That you will keep us. I pray that we would come to take delight not only in having you as our father, but being a part of the people of God, the family of God, by praying for and with others. And I pray, Lord, for those who the word Father brings a significant amount of pain and loss. I am familiar with those struggles, and I pray that you would help them, Lord, to be strengthened in the spirit of adoption and be able to call out to you, to cry Abba. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, at this point,