The Gospel of Matthew
How To Pray
DON’T PRAY THIS WAY
John 7:46 (NLT)
46 “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
Matthew 6:5–8 (NLT)
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
Not like the hypocrites
We should never utter one syllable of prayer either in public or in private until we are definitely conscious that we have come into the presence of God and are actually praying to Him. -R.A. Torry
Not Like the Gentiles
DO PRAY THIS WAY
Matthew 6:9–15 (NLT)
9 Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need,
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Our Father
Hallowed Be Your Name
Hebrews 12:28–29 (NLT)
28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.
Thy Kingdom Come
Give Us Our Daily Bread
Proverbs 30:8–9 (NLT)
8 First, help me never to tell a lie.
Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
9 For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?”
And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
Forgive Us our Debts (trespasses, sins)
- There are 1 million seconds in 11.5 days. A trillion seconds is about 32,000 years.
- If you could say one number every second, it would take about 11.5 million years to count to 1 trillion.
- If you had spent $1 million every day since the birth of Christ, you still wouldn't have spent $1 trillion.
- If you line up dollar bills end-to-end, you could go to the moon and back around 203 times with $1 trillion. You could wrap them around the earth about 3,893 times.
- If you stacked up 1 trillion dollar bills, the dollar tower would rise to 67,866 miles.
- If a cup of coffee costs $3, you could buy 333 billion cups of coffee with $1 trillion.
- If you had 1 trillion dollars, you could give every person on Earth approximately $125.
- One trillion grains of rice would weigh about 20,000 metric tons.
- The national debt is nearly 35 times that number.
14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Ephesians 4:32 (NLT)
32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Lead Us Not Into…But Deliver Us From
1 Chronicles 29:11 (NLT)
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.