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Jul 07, 2024

Daily Bread

Daily Bread

Passage: Matthew 6:9-11

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: Practice the Presence - Prayer

Keywords: pray, our daily bread, dependence, give us

Only after we've looked up at our holy and heavenly Father does Jesus invite us to look around at what we need from him. Our daily bread is the most tangible of the petitions, which, of course, reminds us that our Father sustains us, body and soul. And he imparts the wisdom to ask him for enough, no more or less, to keep us depending on him.

Scriptures & Readings

PREPARATION: Based on Psalm 89 and Matthew 13:31-32

LEADER: We sing of God’s steadfast love,
And proclaim God’s faithfulness to all generations:

ALL: The faithfulness that grows a seed into a great shrub;
the faithfulness that welcomes birds of the air.
The faithfulness that provides sturdy branches for the nests that are built.

LEADER: God’s faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
God’s steadfast love is established forever.

ALL: Righteousness and justice are our foundation.
And God’s eternal love and faithfulness abides with us.

PRAYER: The Lord’s Prayer

LEADER: Let’s pray in the way Jesus taught us to pray.

ALL: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

CENTRAL TEXT: Matthew 6:9-11

Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread…

BENEDICTION: Based on Lamentation 3:22-23

LEADER: People of God, for whatever each day holds for us this week, let’s remember:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is his faithfulness.

ALL: Amen

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Exodus 16
  • Numbers 11:7-9
  • Deuteronomy 8:1-3
  • Nehemiah 9:19-21
  • Psalm 78:23-25
  • Proverbs 30:7-9
  • Lamentations 3:22-24
  • Matthew 6:25, 31, 34
  • John 6:22-51
  • Hebrews 9:3-5; 13:5
  • Revelation 2:17

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Why do you think Jesus teaches us to look upward and behold our heavenly Father before we look around ourselves at our needs? How could this help us to not lose our way in prayer? 
  2. Two of the inherent dangers about praying for our daily bread is to get there too quickly or to not get there at all. Which one do you tend towards in your prayer life? Name some reasons why. 
  3. What has our lack of connection to our natural environment done to our sense of dependence on God? How could the church in Iowa who prays for the harvest every year challenge you/us?
  4. Of the six words in this portion of the prayer, which is the most encouraging and why? What about the most challenging? Discuss. 
  5. Read Deuteronomy 8:3 and Matthew 4:4. Why is it important to realize that the bread from God is both physical and spiritual?
  6. Now read John 6:35. How does Jesus calling himself the Bread of Life practically contribute to your prayer life? Can you name something specific that the Lord provided for you recently that was necessary for life and godliness?

ILLUSTRATIONS:  

 

QUOTES: 

  • The danger with the prayer for bread is that we get there too soon. We come to prayer, aware of urgent needs, or at least wants. It’s tempting to race through the Lord’s Prayer, as far as on earth as it is in heaven, so that we can take a deep breath and say now look here: when it comes to daily bread, there are some things I simply must have. And then off we go with our shopping list. To do this is to let greed get in the way of grace…Now don’t misunderstand me. There is something perfectly valid in what you might call ‘steaming in the presence of God.’ If you feel as though you’re boiling over, at least have the grace to come and do it in the presence of your Father in heaven. But as the regular practice for our cooler moments, I suggest that we owe it to ourselves, not to mention to God, to pray the prayer in a more integrated manner.  N.T. Wright
  • God always gives you what you would have asked for if you knew everything that He knows. Tim Keller
  • To be cynical is to be distant. While offering a false intimacy of being "in the know," cynicism actually destroys intimacy. It leads to a creeping bitterness that can deaden and even destroy the spirit...A praying life is just the opposite. It engaged evil. It doesn't take no for an answer. The psalmist was in God's face, hoping, dreaming, asking. Prayer is feisty. Cynicism, on the other hand, merely critiques. It is passive, cocooning itself from the passions of the great cosmic battle we are engaged in. It is without hope. Paul E. Miller
  • When life is going smoothly, and our truest heart treasures seem safe, it does not occur to us to pray. Tim Keller

 

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