Jesus is up along the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. He’s at the height of His popularity. Crowds of people were following Jesus wherever He went. On the day Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount - the message that the Lord’s Prayer is a part of - on that day before Jesus is a crowd of diverse thousands.

Imagine that crowd - the sick - the suffering - people possessed by demons - paralytics - name the disease - they came to Jesus with expectation of healing. A crowd from every economic strata - average people just trying to get by and people who got by on the backs of others. They were multi-ethnic - multi-cultural - some from Galilee - some from Judea - some from as far away as Syria. People who would normally never associate together - arranged in groups carefully separated from each other. A crowd struggling to find peace for their lives.

People from different religious backgrounds. Religious leaders proud of their piety and traditions - Pharisees and Sadducees. People burdened by a religious system imposed upon them by the Pharisees and Sadducees. To the crowd God’s Kingdom meant sacrifices - regulations - traditions - impossible standards of holiness - condemnation and ostracism for failure - hundreds of laws that only served to point out their distance from God - the uncrossable gulf between them and God.

Considering our lives today. The world we live in. Not much changes. We are a part of that crowd - looking with expectation for God to work a miracle in our lives - desperate to know the reality - the victory - of life in His Kingdom.

On a day - like today - Jesus looked at these crowds of people in the hill country near the Sea of Galilee. Jesus sits down and begins to teach these thousands of people about the Kingdom of God. That sermon is what we have here in Matthew chapters 5 to 7. The summary of that sermon - what ties all the truths together - is the Lord’s Prayer.

This morning - as we’ve done for the last 5 Sundays - we’re going to read this prayer out loud together. But today I’d like us to read together just a little bit different.

A few Sundays ago someone came up to me and said how much they appreciated our reciting the Lord’s Prayer in the service. They were from a church where it was customary to recite the Lord’s Prayer each Sunday. And there is a place for that. For years I was a part of a church where we sang the Lord’s Prayer every Sunday. Please hear me - I’m not criticizing that tradition.

But, the danger is that this prayer can become too familiar. We can say the words and miss the impact of the message.

As we read I’d like for you to keep in mind the image of that crowd. Try to imagine what may have been going through their minds as they heard this prayer for the first time. To help us do that - as we read each phrase I’ll have us stop and I want to briefly comment on that phrase - to remind us of what we’ve been looking at over the last 5 Sundays.

Let’s begin - out loud together - with the first phrase - Matthew 6:9: “Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”

When we pray “Our Father” - we’re speaking of ourselves - common ordinary people - trying to live life - to measure up - struggling along - looking to God for our salvation. People to whom God offers a radical - an amazing intimate relationship in which we can actually call God our “Father.”

Through Jesus Christ, God offers us an opportunity to open our hearts to Him - to repent and come to salvation in Jesus Christ - and to enter into this wonderful relationship. When we say “Hallowed - or honored - be Your name” we’re responding in awe to what God has done for us.

Next phrase - verse 10: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done” is a prayer asking God to make the reality of His kingdom accessible to us now. If we open our hearts to God, He will transform our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit - conforming our hearts - our minds - our actions - so that what we do here is in accordance with His will. What we cannot do for ourselves God desires to do in us.

Verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

“Give us this day our daily bread” is our acknowledgment that our lives are in God’s hands. Its a prayer of trust - faith - in God for His provision for our daily needs. Those who live in God’s kingdom have no need to fear or worry about tomorrow. God has it all under control and He will take care of us.

Verse 12: “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” is first an agreement with God that we have a hopeless debt of sin that we owe God. The payment for our sin requires our eternal separation from God. And yet, God has forgiven this debt through Jesus Christ on the cross. Understanding God’s graciousness towards us should change our heart towards others. We have the opportunity to live with compassion and forgiveness towards others.

Verse 13 - the first part: “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” is the realization that we live surrounded by temptation. We desperately need God to deliver us from succumbing to that temptation and falling into sin. We fail and flounder in sin and yet God gives us the choice to cry out. “God, I don’t trust myself. I’m naive and easily fooled. I could be taken advantage of by the evil one unless you lead me.” If we choose to follow God He will deliver us.

Then the second part of verse 13 - read it with me. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

This is our response - a doxology - giving glory to God - our exclamation of praise - of thanksgiving - the realization of the delight and joy and freedom of being in God’s kingdom - a statement of thanksgiving. To proclaim these words is an act of worship - a declaration of God’s sovereignty and the surrender and humility of our hearts before Him.

“For Yours is the kingdom” relates to every thought that has gone before. We can call you “Our Father” for in Your kingdom you make this possible. Your name is “hallowed” for You are worthy to be honored. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done” for your will should be obeyed by us and everyone. “Give us this day our daily bread” for in Your kingdom You provide for the daily needs of Your people. “Forgive us our debts” for You have forgiven us and in Your kingdom forgiveness is a life characteristic of your people. “Lead us not into temptation” for in Your kingdom there is deliverance.

“For Yours is the kingdom - and the power....” Its Your right to govern - to exercise Your power. “We acknowledge that all power belongs to You. You are the one who upholds creation by the power of Your word - who moves the galaxies - who causes the sun to shine - the winds to blow - the rivers to flow - plants to grow.” God has the power to sustain His kingdom and His people - to make good on His promises to protect - to provide - to lead us into eternity with Him.

“For Yours is the kingdom, and the power - and the glory....” Glory is the testimony of who God is. All of God’s virtues - His character and nature and essence - are revealed in His work of creation and redemption - even His saving us from eternal death and placing us into His kingdom. All of these testify - glorify - Him. Not only now - but forever.

Finally the prayer ends with “Amen.” - an affirmation. Today some would say, “Right On!” “Yes!” “We agree with this prayer and we believe that God will do it!” And all God’s people said, “Amen!”

This is the Lord’s Prayer. Its not just a warm fuzzy prayer. But it touches on every deep need that we have and every aspect of God’s Kingdom relevant to human life.

What can this mean for us today? I invite you to turn forward with me to Matthew 7:24-27 - where Jesus - in His final thoughts in this Sermon on the Mount asks a great practical question of the crowd and us. When you come to Matthew 7:24-27 - you’ll recognize the illustration. Its familiar to us. But, I invite you to listen as I read - and think about what Jesus is asking the crowd and about our hearts and the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell - and great was its fall.”

Do you remember the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake? Did anyone here feel it? They tell me we don’t have earthquakes here in Merced. But - if they’re large enough someplace else we feel them. Because of Loma Prieta we all learned the meaning of liquefaction - to liquefy. Do you remember the images? The Marina District in San Francisco - expensive homes turned into collapsing piles of ruin - some burning. The ground - the foundation - on which all these wonderful houses had been built, was basically unstable as sand. When the earthquake struck, the foundation literally became like water and the houses, having nothing to stand on, came apart at the seams.

Jesus is speaking about the foundation we’re building our lives on. We have a choice as to what that foundation is. Jesus says, those who choose to build their lives on Him and His words - His teaching about the Kingdom - are wise. They’re building on a solid foundation - the rock. But, Jesus tells us, any other foundation we might choose to base our lives on is unsound - its like sand.

A friend I grew up with chose the homosexual lifestyle - a lifestyle which God’s word calls sin - sand. A few years ago he died of AIDS complications. Another friend of mine choose to walk out on his marriage and two small children. He had all kinds of excuses and reasons but ultimately he traded in his old wife for a new one. God’s word calls adultery and divorce - this lifestyle choice that seems almost normal today - the Bible calls it sin - sand.

Please here me on this - I don’t want to stand here and try and make you think like I’m some kind of pious Christian guy who’s got it all together. I’ve stood on sand way too many times in my own life. So we need to hear this as those who struggle with the same issues.

We’ve been there. Maybe this morning you are there. We all watched friends, people we’ve grown up with, family members, and others we’ve known, who have literally destroyed their own lives, and the lives of others - by building on the wrong foundations. People literally destroyed by the storms of life. When the rain comes and the wind blows they realize too late that they have no sure foundation. There’s nothing stable for them to hold onto because they’re building on sand and not the sure foundation of Jesus Christ.

Too many people come to the end of their lives and realize that they’ve built on the wrong foundation. Everything they have is worthless. Their lives become empty and bitter. We’ve all met people who are trying to hold on to something from the past or to leave some legacy for the future. But, all they know is emptiness.

That’s why this question is so important. God offers us something completely different - life in His kingdom - offered through Jesus Christ.

When we’re deluged by the problems of this world we can know God’s provision for our daily needs. When floods come and we feel like we’re drowning we can know God’s presence and His hands holding us up. When the winds blow against us we will not be blown away because God is our deliverance. The foundation under us is sure and the house will stand. Say that with me, “The house will stand.”

Matthew 7:28 tells us that when Jesus finished His teaching the crowds were astonished - amazed at His teaching. Because Jesus taught them as one having authority - not as someone who studied these things and tried to explain them to others. He - Jesus - is the source of what it means to be in God’s kingdom.

Too often we underestimate Jesus. We make Him out to be some type of lightweight - running around Judea telling stories and giving out laws and things that His disciples are suppose to do. But Jesus was greatest teacher who ever lived. Profound in what He was communicating. Taking these absolutely mind boggling truths about God - and relating them down to the day to day of where we live our lives.

“Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” The affirmation is a choosing to have our lives built upon God’s foundation. Whatever condition of life you’re in. Please hear what Jesus is saying. You have a choice. God offers to each of us His choice - His rock solid eternal foundation. He offers to us life in His Kingdom through His Son, Jesus Christ.

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