All Episodes
Previous Next
March 4, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
15:31
Jesus Teaches How & Why We Should Pray - Luke 10-11 | God's Grace Is Greater
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to another God's Grace is Greater segment where we do a deep dive into scripture and today is no different.
We're picking up right where we left off at the end of Luke chapter 10 and we're going to be reading the end of Luke chapter 10 and the beginning of Luke chapter 11 and we're going to be learning how to pray as Jesus taught us.
Jesus will teach us how to pray here in the scripture that we're going to be reading through today.
Now, where are we picking up?
Well, we're picking up right where we left off.
We left off at the parable of the Good Samaritan And in the end of chapter 10, we hear this incredible parable that Jesus gives us of the Good Samaritan.
And we did that in the last segment of God's Grace is Greater, where we learned about what that meant.
Why did the term Good Samaritan become such a popular colloquialism that we all use to this day?
And where did that come from?
We looked at that parable and the parable of the Samaritan who helped the man on the side of the road and did the right thing and acted as a neighbor toward another and treated a neighbor as he would want himself to be treated.
And what that meant and how he was ignored by the Levite and the priest who just didn't have the time and didn't actually live a Christian lifestyle, didn't know what it meant to live in the way that God commands us as to help others and to be kind unto others.
So that's where we left off picking up today in the final part of chapter 10, where it gives us this interesting account of Martha and Mary.
And then we're going to read into chapter 11 where it teaches us how to pray.
So we're reading from chapter 10 in verse 38 all the way up to verse 42.
And then we're going to read chapter 11 verse 1.
And we're going to read all the way up to verse 13.
So...
Let's go ahead and start in chapter 10, finishing it up here as part of our deep dive in the scripture.
So here it is.
It says, Wow.
Now that's an interesting story we're going to talk about in just a minute here, but then we go on into chapter 11 where it says, He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, He said to them, Whenever you pray, say, Father, your kingdom be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins.
And for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us and do not bring us into temptation.
He also said to them, suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, friend, lend me three loaves of bread because I have or because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I don't have anything to offer him.
Then he will answer from inside and say, don't bother me.
The door is already locked and my children and I have gone to bed.
I can't get up to give you anything.
I tell you, even though he won't get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend's persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
So I say to you, keep asking and it will be given to you.
Keep searching and you will find.
Keep knocking and the door will be open to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who receives finds.
And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?
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?
Now, I love these verses, and they actually do go together quite well.
Finishing chapter 10, we have this incredible story of Mary and Martha.
Now, it's kind of fascinating to watch this interaction.
Jesus is essentially arriving at a village, and he's going into a home, this home of Martha, and Martha's working away as getting everything ready.
She's preparing the table, probably preparing some food, probably cleaning up, You know, as anybody would, any good wife or mother would be doing if they were inviting a guest into their home.
They would be preparing things.
They'd be doing all of the work that they felt necessary to make the house prepared for somebody to enjoy as company.
And Martha has a sister, though, and her name's Mary.
And Mary...
is not particularly fond of doing the same kind of work that Martha is.
Instead, Mary decides to simply sit and be with Jesus and listen to what he has to say.
Now Martha sees this as being disrespectful, and she sees this as being against God.
This is against what women are supposed to do, especially in those times.
They were meant to do these things, right?
To serve in that way.
But what does Jesus answer her when she asks Jesus to tell her sister to help with all the chores, getting the house ready, preparing it for Jesus?
Jesus answered simply, you're so worried about all these things.
But you forgot the most important one, that I am here with you.
And he says, Mary's made the right choice, so it will not be taken away from her.
Now in that particular example, what happened there?
Well, Jesus is explaining to Martha, but also to us as we read, that there is an importance in taking time to connect with God, You can sometimes become busy in your lives trying to prepare things and get everything just right so that when you do have time for God, that then you won't be distracted and nothing wrong.
But what does Jesus call us to do?
He calls us to come to Him right now.
Right now.
Imperfect.
Broken.
Sad.
Alone.
Hurt.
In that way...
We must just go to Him and be with Him.
We must not get so obsessed with trying to prepare things and try to make everything just right so that we can have this ideal relationship with God because it's never going to be good enough.
Nothing we ever do, nothing we can prepare and do on our own is ever going to be good enough for God.
But that's okay because Jesus tells us, just as He told Martha, If you choose to just go to Him, to be with Him, that is the right choice.
There is no right time.
There is no, you know, just give me a few more days, a few more minutes, and I'll be there.
I'll be right there.
No.
Now is the time.
And we learn about this even further in chapter 11.
It continues where Jesus is with his disciples.
He's praying in a certain place.
And when he's finished, his disciples say, Lord, teach us how to pray.
And this is where we get the Lord's Prayer.
Now, there's a thousand different ways of interpretation where people have different readings of the exact words of the prayer.
So I'm not going to get into that.
If you want to get into that, you can go find an eschatologist or a Bible scholar to really give you some in-depth information Analysis of what particular translations mean here.
But he gives us a simple prayer.
Father, let your kingdom come.
Give us our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us and do not bring us into temptation.
He gives us a simple way to go to God and ask for forgiveness.
And then he gives us another parable to explain what it means.
What is this prayer talking about?
Why are we praying, I think, is really what the parable is meant to answer.
Because he gives us a prayer.
The disciples ask for a prayer to say, Jesus is right before this in the middle of praying.
But you never hear the disciples in this interaction say, well, why are we praying?
Well, Jesus answers that without even being asked, as he gives them this example of, Somebody who has a friend who comes to their house in the middle of the night, and hospitality was very important, especially in those days in that area, in that region of the world.
Hospitality was something that's probably a lot different than it is today, because if somebody came to your house at midnight asking for food, I doubt most of us would get up and help them.
But this was a different time and a different place, and this was something that would have happened, probably, if they were persistent.
Isn't that interesting?
A man goes to another man's home in the middle of the night and knocks on the door, and the man responds, I'm asleep.
Leave me alone.
I can't help you.
Just because you have friends that showed up in the middle of the night, you need extra food.
I'm tired.
I don't want to get up.
But...
Jesus gives us this parable where the man eventually gets help from the other man who's asleep because he keeps knocking and he keeps asking and he's persistent.
And then Jesus tells us the meaning of this parable.
He tells us the meaning of why we pray and why we don't just pray once and then say, oh, that covers it all.
Why we continue to pray.
Why we're persistent in our prayer.
He tells us, he says, keep asking and it will be given to you.
Keep searching and you will find.
Keep knocking and the door will be opened to you.
Because if we ask and we search and we knock, the door will be opened.
He's telling us why we pray.
But not only why we pray, but why we must be persistent in our prayer.
Because he tells us that If we know and have good enough sense to give our children what they need, as imperfect and flawed and sinful as we are, how much more will our perfect Heavenly Father give us?
If only we ask.
You know, a lot of times people wonder why they suffer and why the world is the way it is and why evil is allowed to persist and all of these things happen.
But seldom do people, I believe, go to God in prayer and ask for those things to end.
Ask for a meaningful resolution or solution.
A lot of times it's easier to complain than it is to take time to talk to God and ask Him to give us clarity and discernment, to help us understand why these things happen, but then also to ask us for an ability to overcome it.
God can do these things, but seldom do we ask.
I believe in my heart that if I pray every day, multiple times a day, all I'm doing is keeping the conversation alive with God, letting Him know where I'm at at every moment I can to say, Lord, I always need your help.
It's not that I can ask you one day and then I'm good.
It's not that God solves one problem and then I don't need your help anymore, God.
I can't.
That's not how it works.
And Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that this isn't how it works in this parable right here.
He tells us to keep asking and that it will be given to us, to keep searching and we'll find it, to keep knocking and the door will be opened.
So I encourage you in your life, keep asking in the understanding that God will eventually give it to you.
If he doesn't give it to you the first time, then ask again.
Maybe change how you ask.
Maybe take time to contemplate on why maybe God hasn't given it to you and ask Him why.
Pray to Him for discernment.
Keep searching.
Never stop looking for God.
Not only in yourself, but bringing Him into the lives of others.
That is the most powerful thing.
He tells us, Jesus says, we will find Him if we look.
But most people don't look.
And that's the biggest problem.
Finally, keep knocking.
Just like the persistent neighbor who kept knocking until he got what he wanted.
A funnier way to put it would be the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
But if you think about it, isn't that true?
If we are persistent in telling God what we need and asking God for guidance and direction, then eventually God will show us the way.
And it might not be today.
It might not be tomorrow.
It might not be in the very instant that you ask.
It might take time.
It might take pain.
It might take suffering.
It might take joy and grief and everything in between.
But perhaps if we are persistent, the answers will become more clear with each and every prayer that we make.
So speaking of that, let's say a prayer and wrap it up.
Lord and Heavenly Father, we give thanks.
We give thanks to you in all things.
Lord, as we search for answers, as we knock at your door, as we look to you to help us find discernment, we pray, Lord, that you'll show us the way, that you'll help us overcome affliction, that you'll help us become stronger in you, and that you'll help us help others in any way that we can.
We thank you for the opportunity to do so.
And we pray that not only do we take from the example of Mary and focus on you and put you at the center of our attention and not try to make our lives perfect so that we can maybe have a chance to talk to you someday.
Lord, help us to focus on you right now, to come to you just as we are, to come as we are, knowing that you'll accept us how we are and you'll help us become better.
Lord, I pray that we keep searching, that we keep knocking, that we keep asking, that you'll answer our prayers in your own way, according to your time and your will.
We thank you for this day and every day, and most of all, our eternal salvation in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right, guys.
Well, I'm going to go ahead and leave it there.
Thanks for watching.
We're going to wrap that up, and I want to say thank you to everybody who is joining us from all over.
You guys are the best.
There's links in the description if you want to support this content.
If you're watching this over on YouTube, there's links in the description on how you can find my Rumble show where I do a new show live Monday through Friday.
If you're interested in that, go check it out.
Stuff I say on there, can't say on YouTube.
Please consider checking it out.
But like I said, like, share, subscribe.
Links in the description for everything you need.
And thanks for watching.
We'll see you on the next one.
Until then, my name is Craig.
Godspeed.
▲
Export Selection