The Address
Request #1: God's Reputation
Request #2: God's Reign
Request #3: God's Righteousness
Request #4: God's Provision - Our Physical Need
Request #5: God's Pardon - Our Spiritual Need
Request #6: God's Protection - Our Future Need
The Adoration

Recently, our water softener hasn't been working very well. I don't know much about water softeners, so I called the company who made our water softener and asked for help. They dispatched a worker, who came to our home and fixed it for us. There are many areas in our lives where we need help or need to learn something. It is always good to call on an expert to come and help you.

Regarding the whole matter of prayer, Jesus is the expert. Nobody has ever been schooled in this matter of prayer as much as Jesus. His disciples recognized this and asked him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). His response in Luke 11 is essentially the same teaching that Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew 6), which we have been studying in recent weeks. In verses 5-8 Jesus taught us how not to pray (i.e. with pompous show and repetitious words). In verses 9-13 Jesus taught us what to say in our prayers by giving us a model prayer. Three weeks ago we covered the first half of the prayer. This week, we will cover the second half of the prayer.

Though I had every intention of finishing the prayer two weeks ago, the Lord had different plans (with my kidney stone and vacation). If you remember, the first half of the prayer focuses upon God. This is found in verses 9 and 10, "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Each of these requests are for God to manifest His name among us.

- That His name would be considered as Holy and majestic.
- That He would establish His kingdom reign upon the earth.
- That He would bring the entire earth into complete submission.

As I said last week, this is a missionary prayer. Essentially, we are to pray that God would be worshiped. This was Steve Belonger's message last week from Is. 42:5-8. We do missions that God would be worshiped.

This is where all prayer must begin. All must begin with God. There are many Biblical examples of this. Consider Psalm 23:1, "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want." Consider Psalm 139. David spends much time reflecting upon the greatness of God: His knowledge, presence, and power. Then after 18 verses of this, he finally made his requests (verses 19-24). Consider Daniel's prayer in Daniel 9, "Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments." After this great reminder of God, Daniel then turned to his requests (Dan. 9:4). Consider David's prayer when the offerings for the temple abundantly provided for the resources to build the temple. "Blessed art Thou, O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O LORD, and Thou dose exalt Thyself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from Thee, and Thou dost rule over all, and in Thy hand is power and might; and it lies in Thy hand to make great, and to strengthen everyone" (1 Chron. 29:10-12). Then, and only then, does David begin to request anything of God.

This is the pattern that Jesus gives us. The first three requests pertain to God and His glory. The last three requests focus upon our needs, which only God can supply. It has been somewhat appropriate that it has been three weeks from the first part of the prayer to the second part of the prayer because we have been left hanging, in a sense, reflecting up God's greatness and glory before we would ever get to our petitions before Him. This entire prayer is simply a recognition of the realities of life. God is the greatest reality. Yet, we also, have real needs, which need to be met.

As I studied this prayer this week, I discovered that Jesus is dealing with our most basic needs. Yet, I'm not sure that we feel our tremendous need as we ought. So this morning, I want to take each of these requests and challenge you to see your tremendous need because nobody begs as well as a hungry man. Likewise, we need to see our great need before we will pray this prayer.

Let's begin with ...
Request #4: God's Provision - Our Physical Need

This is found in verse 11, "Give us this day our daily bread."

Primarily, this is a simple request for our food for the day, "Give us today, the necessary food that we need today." Notice that Jesus says, "bread," not "cake" or "cookies." Bread represents our most basic needs and Jesus focuses upon necessities, not luxuries. Furthermore, notice that Jesus directs our prayer request upon our need for the moment, which is bread. He doesn't focus upon the distant future. Obviously, we need food on a regular basis to survive. Without it, our lives would soon end.

Though Jesus here teaches us here to pray concerning the provision of our daily food, I believe that you can naturally extend this prayer to all of our physical provision: food, clothing, shelter, life, breath, and all things. God is the One who "gives to all, life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25). The Bible tells us that "if He should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust" (Job 34:14-15). God gives everything. We ought to seek our heavenly Father to provide for us our needs on a daily basis.

Perhaps you think that we ought to pray for God's guidance only on the big issues that confront our lives (marriage choices, marriage difficulties, job opportunities, major sicknesses or deaths in the family). Yet, Jesus here instructs us to pray for the things that we routinely need -- even simple and mundane things like food. This comes back to our concept of God. He is our caring, loving, merciful, heavenly Father, who is concerned with all of our lives. He doesn't grow weary of our daily requests for the things that we need. In fact, we are taught to constantly pray about the needs we have to sustain our lives.

When living in DeKalb, I knew some people who worked at Johnson Controls. They made car seats in the morning which were shipped to Belvidere to be placed in a Chrysler Neon in the afternoon. In the manufacturing world, this is called, "just in time" production. The LORD can provide our daily food, just in time.

You remember when Israel was wandering about the wilderness on their way to the land of Canaan. There were probably some 2-4 million people wandering about in this group. Have you tried cooking for 2-4 million people? Yet, God fed them all, every day, just in time, by providing a fine flake-like substance on the ground when the dew evaporated (Ex. 16:14), which was able to sustain these people in the wilderness. This is the picture that Jesus is giving in this instance, "Give us this day our daily bread."

I am reminded of the life of George Müller, who lived each day of his life in expectation of God providing his daily bread. He lived in the 1800's and established an orphan house, without ever asking any individual for financial help. He said, "I certainly desire to be used by God to help poor children and train them in the ways of God. But the primary object of the work is that God would be magnified because the orphans under my care will be provided with all they need through prayer and faith. Everyone will see that God is faithful and hears prayer" (Autobiography, p. 73). You can read in his autobiography of how time and time again, they had only a few shillings and nothing to eat. Yet, they prayed daily for God to provide, and he did on a daily basis. He wrote, "We want to act according to the commandment of the Lord, 'Owe no man anything' (Rom. 13:8). Since the Lord gives us our supplies daily, we purpose to pay for every article when it is purchased. We will never buy anything unless we can pay for it at once, however much it may seem to be needed" (Autobiography, p. 99).

You can read in his autobiography of time after time God providing on a daily basis to meet all of his needs and that of the orphans. For the sake of time, I will give you three examples of the many I could read for you.

October 29, 1838, "The Lord has again given us this day our daily bread, although in the morning there was not the least prospect of obtaining supplies. We are trusting God day by day."
July 15, 1839, "Two pounds seven shillings was needed for the orphans, but we had nothing. I had no idea how to obtain the means for dinner and for our other needs. My heart was perfectly at peace and sure of help. That afternoon I received a letter from India, written in May, with fifty pounds for the orphans."
May 27, 1840, "This morning the last of the coal was used in the Infant Orphan House. In the Boys' Orphan House was enough coal for today but no money to buy more. In our time of need, a brother sent a load of coal. We plan to meet this afternoon for more prayer."

This type of daily provision constantly happened for George Müller, yet, our difficulty is that few (if any) of us have ever been in the situation where we were dependent upon the LORD for our next meal. Oh, perhaps some of you have been in the situation when the balance in your checkbook was approaching ground zero. If you have been in this situation, what have you done? Have you trusted the LORD to provide for your daily food? Or have you trusted your credit card?

As surely as I stand here today, I will tell you that God can provide. I look to what God has done in history. God can cause famine. God can cause surplus.

I think of the story of Pharaoh, who dreamed of seven fat cows who came and grazed in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven poor, ugly, and gaunt cows who came and ate up the seven fat cows. Pharaoh dreamed of seven ears (of corn?), full and good, which grew upon a single stalk. Then seven other ears, which where withered, thin, and scorched, sprouted up after them and swallowed the seven good ears. Joseph, who was brought into Pharaoh's presence to interpret the dreams said, "Pharaoh's dreams are one and the same; God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do": seven years of surplus followed by seven years of famine. Furthermore, "the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about" (Gen. 41:25-28).

I think of the story of Elijah. The Scripture says that "Elijah ... prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit" (James. 5:17-18). God both withheld and sent for the rain that came upon the earth (1 Kings 18:1).

God can cause famine. God can cause surplus. God can bless. God can curse. God can provide. God can withhold. We have brought up Psalm 127:1 often here at Rock Valley Bible Church which teaches the same thing, "Unless the LORD builds the house they labor in vain who build it." We need to trust God to provide for us all the things that will sustain us today. This is why we are to cast all our cares upon Him, because our heavenly Father cares for us (cf. 1 Pet. 5:7).

Even in the famine, God can provide: "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for his lovingkindness, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine" (Ps. 33:18,19). God will always provide for the righteous. David testified, "I have been young, and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his descendants begging bread" (Ps. 37:25).

Yet, in our abundance today, we can have a difficult time understanding our daily need upon God to provide completely for us. We have such an abundance in our country. I recently heard that if you would take the entire population and wealth of the planet and reduce it down to a typical city of 100 people, that 80% of the wealth would be in the hands of 6 people, all of whom were Americans. We are so wealthy in our society today that we pay farmers not to plant food, because we have so much of it!

But all of us are dependent upon God for everything! The worker trusts God for the prosperity and management of his company to continue to provide for his job, that he might not be laid off. The farmer trusts God for sufficient rain and a good crop. The salesman trusts God for sales. The financial planner trusts God for a good market. We often don't realize our dependence when everything is going well. With our unemployment issues here at RVBC, we have come to realize our dependence upon God to provide for us. With the downturn in the market, we see our need for God's continued provision. With the recent drought we have been experiencing, we have seen our need for God to provide our food for us.

Yet, our wealth can so easily turn us away from trusting God for everything. I believe that this is why Jesus said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 19:23), because a rich man can easily trust in his riches, rather than in God's provision for him in all things. This is why "those who are rich in this present world [are] not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainly of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy" (1 Tim. 6:17). Rather, they are "to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so they may take hold of that which is life indeed" (1 Tim. 6:18-19).

We need to pray for God to supply for our physical need, on a daily basis. If nothing else, to remind us of our utter dependence upon God for all things. This is why meal time is a great time to thank the LORD for His provision, as we daily pray to Him. For it is when we share our meals together that we see before our eyes of how God has provided for us.

Let's now focus upon ...
Request #5: God's Pardon - Our Spiritual Need

With this request, we transition from our most basic physical need to our most basic spiritual need -- forgiveness of sins. I have said this before, but I will repeat it. Our greatest problem in life is that of our sin before God. Jesus teaches us to pray (in verse 12), "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

The word translated, "debts" and "debtors" comes from the Greek word, ofilew, which simply means, "to owe or be obliged." In this instance, it isn't what we owe other men, but what we owe God. Because of our sin, we have a debt before God, which we can only pay for by our eternal punishment in hell. Yet, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has paid the debt that we owe to God. We simply need to trust Him for our needed forgiveness.

Notice how Jesus teaches us to pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." In other words, we are to pray for God to look at the manner in which we forgive others and request that God would forgive us just like we forgive others.

Let me bring up a word that many of us are familiar with: grudge. You adults know what I mean. Perhaps some of you children don't, so let me tell you what it means. A grudge is basically an unforgiving spirit against someone else. Perhaps someone has done something evil against you (i.e. called you names or punched you), and you haven't forgiven the person in your heart. So, you are always mean to such a person, because you haven't forgiven them in your heart. This is a grudge. We often hold grudges because we find it so hard to forgive others and what they have done to us.

If you are holding a grudge against someone right now, I don't think that you should pray this prayer. If you are holding a grudge and do pray this prayer, think about what your prayer sounds like before God, ""God, there are people in my life who have wronged me in some terrible ways, who I simply cannot forgive. I'm not forgiving my aunt Wilma, because of the comments she recently and I'm not forgiving Ted at church, because of what he did to me last month. Now, I pray that you would forgive me in exactly the same way as I am forgiving these people." Such a prayer is a prayer of empty words.

Whether or not we are holding a grudge against another is a great test we can place before ourselves. The epistle of 1 John is filled with such tests. For instance, ...

"The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' but doesn't keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4). In other words, the one who professes to be a Christian, but isn't obedient to the commandments God has given to us, is a liar. Don't pay attention to their words if their actions deny their words.

Similarly, we find that "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). To be a professing Christian while hating another is a contradiction. We are not to believe the words, rather we are to believe the life being lived, because the word this one speaks are deceitful.

If Jesus' teaching here were found in John's epistle, John may have written it like this, "the one who says, 'I have been forgiven by God,' but refuses to forgive his brother is a liar and the truth is not in him."

So, let's take the test of forgiveness. Have you forgiven others? It matters not to me the manner in which you were offended, you still have no right to an unforgiving attitude toward another.

There are great Biblical examples of forgiveness. Joseph is a good model. His brothers sold him into slavery. He was falsely accused of making sexual advances toward another woman. He was betrayed by those whom he helped in prison. Rightly were his brothers concerned, "if Joseph should bear a grudge against us" (Gen. 50:15). Yet, he forgave them completely. David is also a good model of forgiveness. On two separate occasions, Saul attempted to kill him by spearing him against the wall on three times (twice in 1 Sam. 18:11 and once in 1 Sam. 19:10). Furthermore, on several occasions, Saul went out with his entire army to hunt down David and kill him (1 Sam. 25:15). On several occasions, David had an opportunity to kill Saul. Once Saul came unprotected into a cave where David was hiding (1 Sam. 24). Another time David sneacked into Saul's camp while Saul was sleeping (1 Sam. 26). Yet, in each instance, David didn't touch the Lord's anointed (1 Sam. 24:10; 26:9), because of his forgiving attitude.
David seeking to preserve Saul, despite all of his injustices against him is a good example. While being stoned, Stephen cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" (Acts 7:60). While upon the cross, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

At this point, some of you might be saying, "Wait a minute! God's forgiveness isn't dependent upon my forgiveness of others. I thought you said earlier that we are forgiven by faith in Christ! He forgives me by grace through faith. I don't receive forgiveness only if I forgive others." Well, look at verses 14-15. I believe that Jesus is anticipating some of these objections. Of any of the requests in this prayer that Jesus could have commented upon, it is this request that He comments upon. He said, "if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions" (vv. 14-15). This appears simple enough! If ... then. If .. then. If you forgive, God will forgive. If you do not forgive. God will not forgive.

"So," you say, "how do you reconcile this with the gospel, that you mentioned earlier?" Realize that there is a difference between the basis of your forgiveness and the fruit of your forgiveness. The basis of your forgiveness is only the cross and your faith in it. The fruit of your forgiveness is the transformation that God will work in your life. As many theologians say, "You are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone." Or, as James said, "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).

This is because God transforms people when He saves them. Though we are saved only by grace through faith, we are "God's work, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God determined beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). Remember when those in Thessalonica believed? They turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9). One of the areas of transformation that God works in the life of those who believe includes this area of forgiveness. This is how to properly understand Jesus' teaching here. For when you realize the extent of God's forgiveness, you will forgive others. Jesus' illustration in Matthew 18 illustrates this perfectly.

You remember when Peter asked Jesus how many times he was obligated to forgive another person who wronged him. Peter said, "seven times?" as if to set the standard of forgiveness quite high. But Jesus raised the bar to "seventy times seven," which essentially was saying, "there ought to be no limit to the number of times that you forgive another." Jesus went on to tell the story of the man who had been forgiven a great financial debt, which he could never repay back. This same man didn't forgive someone who owed him only a little money. Listen now to the conclusion of Jesus' words. "Summoning him his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?' And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart"(Matt. 18:33-35).

Jesus uses here almost the exact same words as He did in the sermon on the mount (in verses 14 and 15). Bitterness, unforgiveness, and resentment are evidences of a lost soul.

Remember, the entire sermon that Jesus delivered to the multitudes on this occasion was describing what the kingdom citizens were like. In fact Jesus had earlier taught about this same concept, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" (Matt. 5:7). Our mercy isn't the basis of God's mercy toward us. Rather, our mercy is the fruit of God's mercy toward us. How else can you love your enemies (Matt. 5:44), if you haven't first forgiven the wrong they have done to you.

When you realize the mercy you have received from the Lord, your entire perspective will change! What about the nine miners who were trapped in the flooded coal mine, but rescued early this morning? Do you think that their perspective on live will change? It certainly will. Likewise, when you realize God's great mercy to you in showing to you the great forgiveness that may be found at the cross of Jesus, your perspective will change and you will be merciful and forgiving toward others who wrong you. You will delight to pray "forgive us our debts as we forgive others," because you know in your heart how you have forgiven others.

Let's now turn our attention to the last request. It is a request for our greatest future need....
Request #6: God's Protection - Our Future Need

Verse 13, "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Though this may look like 2 petitions, most take this to be only one because both aspects of this petition are requesting essentially the same thing. The first aspect is pro-active (or positive). The second aspect is re-active (or negative). Jesus is here instructing us to pray for protection as it relates to our future sin.

This is a common prayer in the Bible. As Jesus was leaving the earth, He was concerned for God's protection upon His disciples as they would carry on His work. In His high priestly prayer (in John 17), Jesus prayed, "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one" (verse 15). When Jesus was praying in the garden, He warned His disciples to "keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41). In numerous Psalms David called upon the LORD to deliver him (Ps. 18:2; 39:8; 40:13).

You will prayer this prayer only when you see your need. In this respect, it is much like the fourth request, "Give us this day our daily bread." When you see your need, you will pray. When you don't see your need, you won't pray. It is as simple as that! So, church family, you need to realize the great spiritual need that you have!

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul describes the disaster that happened in the wilderness to the Israelites. You remember the story of how God miraculously delivered them from the bondage of slavery under the Egyptians. Yet, once in the wilderness, the Hebrew people ...

- craved evil things (verse 6).
- were idolaters (verse 7)
- acted immorally (verse 8)
- tested the Lord (verse 9)
- grumbled at their circumstances (verse 10).

As a result, "twenty-three thousand fell in one day" (verse 8), some "were destroyed by the serpents" (verse 9) and some "were destroyed by the destroyer" (verse 10). Perhaps if they prayed, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," some may have been spared.

"Oh," you say, "but that would never happen to me!" Listen carefully. In verse 6, Paul writes that "These things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved." He continues in saying that "these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (verse 11). We are to learn from them because their temptations are our temptations.

This spiritual danger is all around us. With our wealth today, we have a great danger to crave evil things. We in America can have almost anything we want, unlike those in other countries who earn $35 per month. With our wealth today, we have a great danger to idolize many of our material possessions. What is idolatry, but placing some physical thing as something that is more important to us than the Lord? With our media today, temptations to immorality abound. In the privacy of your own home, you may see and watch things that our ancestors could only dream about.

With our attitudes we are susceptible to testing the Lord and grumbling at our circumstances. It seems as if we often get to the point where we get used to our surrounding environment. Yesterday's blessing, becomes today's expectation. Anything below our expectation gives us reason to complain and grumble against the Lord. For example, suppose you get a bonus at work one year, for a job well done. The next year comes around and you begin to expect a bonus. You grumble if you don't get it. Yesterday's blessing, becomes today's expectation. Or, you children, on Christmas, you receive a toy as a gift that you really wanted. You consider it a great blessing. Then, when it breaks, you act as if you deserve it! You grumble and cry and complain at something which once was a blessing to you.

You need to realize the spiritual danger that awaits you. Peter warned us of this danger when he wrote that "your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Imagine if your task was to feed the lions at the zoo a big hunk of flesh. I don't think that you would be complacent in walking into the lion's cage. You would be on 100% red alert! Recently, I was watching the Discovery channel, and saw this show where a man went all around the globe looking for the deadliest animal killers he could find. He searched for rhinos, bears, killer bees, sharks, scorpions, snakes, and jelly fish. In each of these instances, when he encountered these animals, he was very careful. He was never complacent, because he knew of the danger that was near him.

Such is an accurate picture of the spiritual danger that awaits all of you. But don't even think that you can avoid the danger on your own strength. This is Paul's warning in verse 12, "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." I would contend that it is only the one who realizes that He needs God's strength to walk in holiness before Him, who will pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

There is danger, and this prayer is a prayer for your own safety and well being. We follow and obey the Bible because every single one of these command are good for us. When God says, "Don't do this," He is really saying, "Don't hurt yourself by doing this." I dare you to find one of God's commands that isn't given for your good.

Yet, there is even a greater motivation behind this if you think about it. Our sin brings shame upon our God. I remember doing something really stupid in college, in which I brought shame upon God because others said, "you call yourself a Christian and do that?" If we genuinely want to bring glory to God (in accordance with the first three requests), by seeing His fame spread abroad, it begins when His people live holy lives. This is what this prayer is all about: our holiness and purity before God and before the world.

If you have no plans of living holy before the Lord, don't pray this prayer. It makes no sense for you to pray this when you are fully planning to live contrary to your prayer. But when you realize what is at stake: your soul and God's glory, and when you realize the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13), which would cause you to be "led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ" (1 Cor. 11:3), You will pray, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

And we can be assured that that God is capable of protecting us. "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it" (1 Cor. 10:13). In other words, don't lose hope. God will answer your prayer and provide for you the way of escape from the evil that surrounds you.

Earlier in our service, we sang from Psalm 121:7-8, "The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep you soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever." We also sang earlier from Psalm 46:7, 11, "The LORD of hosts with us. Our fortress strong is Jacob's God." This is the great truth that we must grasp this morning. God will keep us and protect us. This is why the prayer, which Jesus taught us, can adequately end as some manuscripts do, "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. Amen" (verse 13). What began with an address to God our Father, ends with adoration to our sovereign Lord.

How then should we pray? We ought first to concern ourselves with God and His glory upon this earth. We ought next to concern ourselves with our greatest needs: physical provision for the day, spiritual pardon for the past, and spiritual protection as we look to the future.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on July 28, 2002 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rvbc.cc.