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You're listening to Heed the Word with our pastor and teacher, Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel, Southwest Metro, located in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study our series entitled the Foundations of Faith.

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I think, as a new believer as you come to Christ, or as you're maybe, an older believer who's continuing to walk in Christ, sometimes we cut ourselves off from growing in the Lord because we refuse to give to the work of the Lord and we refuse to give of ourselves to what the Lord is doing. If you want to grow, give. I encourage you to do that, to test the Lord and see what he will do for you and through you.

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Even if you're not handy, you know that when it's time to build a house, the foundation must be the first thing that's addressed, and it must be done right the first time. Our relationship with God is no different. We must have a firm foundation in the Word of God that's rooted in a deep and lasting faith in Jesus. That's why Pastor Ken chose to share with you our series entitled the Foundations of the Faith.

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Giving to the work of God is part of the life of a healthy believer. Does that mean that God needs our money to accomplish His will? Absolutely not. God doesn't need us, let alone our money. He can do whatever he wishes whenever he wishes. Giving is simply a good barometer to spiritual health. It's a way to recognize that all you have comes from God in the first place. Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Heed the Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, please open your Bibles to the book of Psalms, chapter one. So we joined Pastor Ken with part one of our message entitled Not If, but when, and several other important things.

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As we finished our study last week, we read together from Psalm chapter 1. Let's go ahead and turn there to begin with. Today and last week we talked about the importance of God's Word in the life of a believer and how it's so necessary for us to grow. And as we read these first few verses in the first chapter of Psalms, we find that it is meditating upon God's law or his word that is the key to the blessedness of this individual. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law. He meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall. Now, verse 1 tells us what the man doesn't do. Verse 3 tells us what the results of his meditation in God's word are. But verse 2 really tells us about the man himself and about his attitude towards God's word and the activity that he his attitude towards God's word and the activity that he enters into with God's word that brings about these results of not walking in sin but rather living a blessed and a fruitful life. And what is that attitude and that activity? Verse 2 tells us his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. It tells us of an attitude and of an activity. His attitude is one of delight in God's word.

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So often, as Christians, we read God's word out of a sense of obligation or out of a sense of duty, and a lot of the things that we do in our Christian life are done very often out of a sense of duty. And a lot of the things that we do in our Christian life are done very often out of a sense of obligation or duty. And when we do these things out of that sense of obligation or duty, we do not reap the full benefits of those activities. Now, don't get me wrong. If it takes a sense of obligation and duty to get you to read your Bible, then yes, you're obligated and yes, it's your duty. But my desire for you, and I believe the Lord's desire for you, is that as you do that, that you will begin to develop a love for God's word, and in developing a love for God's word that you will develop a love for God himself and for Christ and all that he's done for you. Because, you see, god's word is a letter that he wrote to you. It's personal, it's passionate and it's powerful and we can believe it.

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When we read the word of God, it should become our delight. You know, I sat under a pastor once who was talking about the things that we partake of or the things that we eat, and how, if you eat spinach every day, eventually you're going to develop a taste for spinach. I have never tested that theory, but I understand what he's saying. When we do something on a regular basis and when what we're doing becomes a routine part of our life, it becomes something that we come to expect, that we come to depend on that. Perhaps we can even come to love.

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And as we are disciplined with God's word and we spend time in God's word, that love for God's word should grow. We should delight ourself in his law. And in his law he meditates day and night. You know, day and night, every time is a good time to meditate on God's word. But you know, it isn't enough to simply meditate on God's word. And we shared that as we studied in James last week as well, where James writes that we are to be doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving ourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. So again, for the believer, it isn't a question of if we are to do God's will, but it's a question of when we are to do God's will and of how we're to do his will. We are to do God's will as believers. To do anything other than that is to deny by our actions what we claim with our mouths by our actions, what we claim with our mouths as we work together with God in his garden.

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There are a lot of things that we have to look at in that same way. It's not a question of if, but when. Now, if you're going to have a healthy garden that produces a lot of fruit, it isn't a question of if you're going to pull the weeds, but when you're going to pull the weeds. Right, because if you don't pull the weeds, you're not going to have a healthy garden. So, if you're going to have a healthy garden that produces a lot of fruit, you're going to have to pull some weeds. It isn't a question of if you're going to water it, but when you're going to water it, because if you're going to have a healthy garden, you're going to water it. But when you're going to water it, because if you're going to have a healthy garden, you're going to water it, aren't you? It isn't a question of if you're going to bring in a harvest, but, again, it's a question of when.

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And as a Christian, there are a lot of things in our walk with God as we seek to grow in grace that should be seen in the same way, not if I'm going to do this or that, or whether or not I should do this or that, but rather it's just a question of when you do it. How are you to do it. Jesus talked about that quite a lot, and let's look at just a few things he had to say about it in Matthew, chapter six. That's where we'll really begin our study today. Please turn there.

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This, of course, is taken from the Sermon on the Mount, and as we read here the words of Jesus, starting in verse one, we find him saying take heed, in other words, pay attention, take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Does that mean that you're never going to do them before men? Does that mean that every good deed you do, you have to really be like you know James Bond, slip around, don't let anybody see a secret, right? No, it doesn't say that. It says here take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Because the fact of the matter is we are to let our good works shine, right, so that people can see our good works and glorify who, our Father, who's in heaven. So, yes, are people going to see the works that we do? Yes, they are. Should they see all of the works that we do? No, they shouldn't. But even the works that they do see, they should see them, not so that we might be glorified by men, but rather so that God might be glorified.

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I love the fact that Jesus says here in verse two therefore, when you do a charitable deed, when you do a charitable deed, he doesn't say if you do a charitable deed, does he. He says when you do a charitable deed, what does that imply? It implies that he expects you to do charitable deeds. He expects you to do good. He expects you to bless other people, and you know what, ultimately, guys, what he's talking about when we look at the example here. He expects you to bless other people, and you know what, ultimately, guys, what he's talking about when we look at the example here. He expects you to give to the needs of others. Let's look at the example Jesus uses.

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Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets. That they may have glory from men, assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret, and when your father sees in secret, he himself will reward you openly. So understand what Jesus is saying here. He's making a reference when he talks about this blowing the trumpet.

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In the temple there was a room off to one side, kind of in a private area, where there was a box sort of shaped like a trumpet in the earlier days of worship, and what they would do is those that came to give their alms would go to that area, that trumpet, and they would throw their money into that trumpet, right, and then, when there were those who had need, they would then come to the temple, to that area, and they would receive out of that trumpet the things that they had need of. Now, after a while they got to think about the fact that this wasn't all that practical, but they could kind of cut out the middleman in a sense, and so a lot of the scribes and the Pharisees, they would carry around these little trumpets with them and when they got ready to do their charitable deeds or to give their alms, they would stand there on the street corner and they would blow this little trumpet and then all of the people who were in need would come to them and they would make a big show of giving to the poor. And so when Jesus is talking about this doing charitable deeds, he's not just talking about the things that we do, but he is also talking about the things that we give. That's why I have a real big problem with programs in the church that are designed to give honor to the giver and I'm not trying to point anybody out or anything out. And if you've participated in these kinds of programs before, may God bless you anyway. But the kind of thing where you know if you give such and such amount of money to the church building fund, we'll put your name on a brick in the wall. You know what? Keep my name off of that thing. You know, if your name's on that brick on the wall, guess what? You got your reward right there. Or even worse, you know, hey, put my name on a pew. And then every time someone comes in they'll say, oh well, that's my pew.

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I just, you know, I have a real problem with that and honestly I think the Lord has a problem with it too. We shouldn't seek recognition for the gifts that we give to God other than from God himself. And what's awesome here is that he promises that if we give from the right motives, he will honor it, he will recognize it and he will reward it. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men, assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, again, he's not saying if, but he's saying when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. I mean, that's really not boasting about anything, is it? Your left hand shouldn't know what your right hand is doing. Meaning, don't even boast to yourself about what you're doing or say, oh look at me, oh, I feel real good about myself. You know, sometimes we give, not so that other people can look at us and admire us, but so that we can feel good about ourselves, don't we? I feel really good. You know I gave this and I gave that. Well, we can feel good about ourselves, don't we? I feel really good. You know I gave this and I gave that. And we know, when you give, you do feel good. But that shouldn't be the motive of your giving. The motive of your giving should be to bless and to honor God.

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Now, a lot of people have problems with giving money, particularly to the church. A lot of people have problems with giving time and effort and resources For the purposes of our discussion today. For the purposes of our discussion today, let's talk about money just for a moment. First of all, there is a series that we've done. Well, not a series, but a teaching that we've done on the truth about tithing, and if you have questions about tithing I encourage you to order that from the bookstore. It's called the Truth About Tithing. It's one of the teachings that we did some time ago and that'll go into a lot more detail about giving.

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But I want to point out one thing relating to this particular passage. There are things that the church corporately will do to meet the needs of those who are in need. And when you as a body give to the church, recognize the fact that not only are you giving to pay for our use of this facility, not only are you giving to buy materials and resources like this, but sometimes you're giving to keep someone's electricity turned on, or sometimes you're giving to put groceries in someone's home. Sometimes you are giving to maybe help someone through a really tough month or to keep them from really falling on hard times. Now, that's not to say that the church helps in every situation. We have to evaluate each situation individually to see if help is warranted, because sometimes you can go in and give help where God is trying to bring correction and you can get in the way of what God is trying to do. So we do evaluate those things prayerfully and carefully.

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But I need you to understand that when you give, you're giving to the Lord and you're giving to the Lord's people. And so when you do your charitable deeds before men, well there you have your reward. But when you do them secretly, when you do them as under the Lord, what does Jesus tell us? He says in verse four that your charitable deed may be done in secret and your father, who sees in secret, will himself reward you openly, I think as a new believer, as you come to Christ, or as you're maybe an older believer who's continuing to walk in Christ. Sometimes we cut ourselves off from growing in the Lord because we refuse to give to the work of the Lord and we refuse to give of ourselves to what the Lord is doing. If you want to grow, give. I encourage you to do that, to test the Lord and see what he will do for you and through you.

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Moving on verse five of Matthew, chapter 6. Jesus goes on and he says and when you pray, you notice he doesn't say if you pray, he says when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men, assuredly, I say to you they have their reward. But when you pray again the second time he said when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut your door, pray to your father, who is in the secret place, and your father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him In this manner. Therefore, pray, and we'll talk about that in a moment.

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Now, my goal today is not to give you an exhaustive message on prayer. If I were going to stretch this out into six or seven or eight lessons, then today's message would be on praying. If you want an in-depth study on prayer, I'm going to refer you again to the book room. You can order the series that we did not long ago Jesus Prayed. It's a three-part series. You can get that for free if you want it and learn all about prayer and why it's important to pray and how Jesus gave us an example of prayer. But the bottom line is this as a believer in Jesus Christ, if you want to grow, you need to be praying. In fact, all of us, whether you're a new believer or not, we need to be praying.

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I encourage you today to examine your prayer life and ask yourself if you've been faithful in this discipline. You know, maybe you would say you know, I don't know how to pray. Well, you know what guys. Praying is just talking to God. You can do it anytime. You can do it anywhere. You don't have to use flowery speech. You don't have to have all the these, thous and thuses. You know, you can pray when you're walking down the road. You can pray when you're driving in your car. You can pray when you're cooking or washing dishes. You can pray anywhere and anytime.

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Now I would encourage you that you do set aside a specific regular time to pray and I would encourage you that that time be early, that it be in the morning, that it be one of the first priorities of your day. I would encourage you to do that. I think that if you do that and you develop what I like to call a good devo time, a good devotional time, a time when you're in the Word of God and you're prayerfully reading it and you're talking to God about what you've read and you're laying your day before him. If you develop that strong devo time, you're going to be doing yourself a great favor in your walk with the Lord. That's something that we need to be doing.

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But, as we read here, when Jesus said, when you pray, pray in this manner. Let's look at least briefly at this example of prayer that he's given us in the Lord's prayer. There are at least six elements in this prayer that we need to take note of, and let's read the whole thing and then we'll go back and break it down a little bit. In verse nine, jesus said in this manner therefore, pray 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 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

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You know, the first thing that we need to notice as we look at this prayer is that this prayer speaks to us of the person of God, because when we pray. We pray our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. We're beginning with praise. We're beginning with an awareness of who it is that we're addressing and this, when Jesus gave it, was a departure from what they were used to. You don't really see God referred to as Father too much in the Old Testament. You see him referred to as Elohim or Yahweh, which speaks of his omnipotence and the unspeakable glory of his name, amen. And yet Jesus is sitting here saying, when you pray, say Father, abba, daddy, our Dad, who is in heaven.

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You know, you can tell a lot about a person's walk with the Lord and how close their relationship is to him, kind of by how they pray. Sometimes, you know, if you listen to someone praying and you're there with them and they're like, oh, majestic God, who created all that is and ever was and all this other stuff, it's as though we're addressing this God who's way out there in the distance, right, and while that's not inappropriate, how much closer does that relationship seem when we come to him and we say Dad, abba, father, we need you. There's that familiarity, that's there, that closeness that does not lose respect. It still acknowledges who God is, but it also acknowledges the relationship that we have with him.

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What did John write in 1 John 1, verse 12? He says but as many as received him to them. He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. So if we are those who believe in his name, if we belong to him, if we've been given the right to become his children, then when we approach him, we need to recognize that we're approaching our father, a God who loves us. Now you might say, look, I had an earthly father and I don't really think he loved me that much. Well, guess what? Your heavenly father is a perfect father. He's the father you wish you had, the father, perhaps, that you wish you could be. He's a perfect father and he loves you with a perfect love.

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And so when we pray, the first thing we need to recognize is that we are addressing our Father. What's the second aspect of the Lord's Prayer? Here we see thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. When we pray, we need to acknowledge that we are praying according to God's purpose, that we aren't going to God to get our will done, but that we're going to God to see his purposes accomplished in and through our lives. What we're saying is our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're saying, lord, make me an instrument of your divine providence. Use me to bring about your kingdom. Let me partner with you, god, in the accomplishing of your purposes.

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The third part is for God's provision. Give us this day our daily bread, lord. Give us this day our daily bread that encompasses our needs. Whatever you have need of, whatever your supplication is, take that to the Lord. The Bible tells us that you have not because you ask not, or that if you ask and you don't get it, it's because you ask not, or that if you ask and you don't get it, it's because you asked it the wrong way. Can I tell you that God understands that you need your daily bread. He understands that you need a certain amount of resources in order to live and he'll provide those. He will provide those. The Bible tells us that my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. But you know what? That's all your needs, not all your greeds. He'll provide what you have need of not necessarily everything you want, because sometimes what you want isn't particularly good for you. That's why it says here give us this day our daily bread.

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It doesn't say Lord, give us this week our weekly bread, or give us this month our monthly bread, or give us this year our yearly bread. Why, or give us this month our monthly bread, or give us this year our yearly bread. Why does it say that? Because God knows us and he knows that if he doesn't require us to come to him daily, we won't. If all we needed to do is say, lord, give us this month our monthly bread, how often do you think we would pray? Monthly? We would pray monthly, but God doesn't want us to pray monthly. He wants us to pray daily. He wants us to pray daily. He wants us to pray regularly. He wants us to pray without ceasing. Why? Because he needs our worship and adoration? No, but because he knows that when we spend time talking to him, we get closer to him and we get to know him better.

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The Christian life was never designed to be a solo flight. God designed us with the need for relationships with others who could encourage us in our personal journey of faith. Maybe you're listening today and you don't have a home church and this message ministered to you. Well, we'd like to take this time to invite you to join us for one of our worship services. Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro meets each Sunday morning at 10.30 am and Wednesday evenings at 7 pm. Besides our Sunday morning services, we have ministries for children, men, women, couples and youth. To learn more about Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro, log on to heedthewordorg and follow the link, or, if you'd like to talk with someone, give us a call. Our phone number is 817-447-5675. That's 817-447-5675. So visit the website or call us today. Now we also want to encourage you to review this study.

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This study and many more taught by Pastor Ken are available at our website, heaththewordorg. Many of Pastor Ken's teachings are available in MP3 or podcast format. You can also receive a CD copy of this message. Simply log on to heaththewordorg and select the option for CD requests. The CD that you'll receive is the full-length, unedited teaching. When you fill out the order form, please keep in mind today's date. This helps us make sure that we send you the correct message. Well, that's all the time we have for today. Please join Pastor Ken next time as he continues teaching through our series entitled the Foundations of Faith, right here on. Heed the Word.