Dennis Gillett - Class 3: Lord’s Prayer

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Good morning everyone. There will, I think, be no dispute, brethren, and sisters, that the prayer which begins, Our Father, which art in the heavens, is in truth. It was uttered by the king himself in response to the question from his next of kin, his apostles. Lord, they said, teach us to pray. And we think, when you pray, say, Our Father, which art in the heavens.

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   I am not sure, brethren, and sisters, why we never hardly pray this prayer at its time. At least, as it feels to me, we hardly ever think, at least in England, we hardly ever hear it prayed in our Ecclesiastes. I don't think it's a calculated policy to avoid it, but it may be a matter more of practice by default.

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   It seems that the Lord gathered together in this prayer the things which his disciples knew best about God, the things which were central in their relationship with him, and he placed these central things in such relationship to each other as to reveal the whole plane of prayer. That is how we ought to pray, and that is why it is the pattern there.

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   Now, when you've prayed it intelligently, and searchingly, and sincerely, you have prayed for everything and about everything. Each petition can be taken separately and developed, and each petition, in a sense, is inclusive, and fulfills in itself a great ideal of God's peace. All the vital petitionings which may be scattered through the human mind, and may be wedded, as it were, in the human heart, that are provoked by faith, they are gathered together here, and woven into one whole.

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   The indexes are wonderful, each one standing by itself, and then elaborated, they become an inspiration, they're conjoined, they become a masterpiece. It's a wonderful pattern for us. So let's ponder it for a little while today. Let's look first of all at the structure of the prayer. Well, you know, it begins with an invocation, Our Father which art in heaven.

6. 2:52

   After the invocation, there are three petitions, which have to do with God essentially, and that's followed by a qualifying claim, and then there are three petitions, which have to do with man and his needs. Now the first point to be made is this. The invocation, Our Father, which art in heaven, is related not just to the first three petitions, but to all of the petitions in the whole prayer.

7. 3:23

   Now you may think this is self-evident, but I draw attention to it, because I have found quite a few people look at it as though Our Father which art in heaven was a preparation for the things which have to do with God, but that it ends there, and it's not related in, somehow it's not related to the petitions which have to do with human needs.

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   Our Father is connected inseparably with the provision and pardon and protection of the second half of the prayer, just as much as it's connected with the worship and praise of the first half. So that's the first point I wanted to make. The next is to remark on this qualifying phrase, as in heaven, so on earth.

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   Too often this is regarded as, as though it's applied exclusively to the first petition, Thy kingdom come, whereas in fact it relates to all the petitions which have preceded it. So what it means is, Thy name be hallowed, as in heaven, so on earth. Thy kingdom come, as in heaven, so on earth.

10. 4:32

    Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. These three petitions, in a way, describe the process of development in the life of the one who prays, as you thought of that. But in a sense, those petitions enter into the experience of the one who prays. That is, they're established in the human life before they are gloriously realized in the developing of God's purpose on earth when his government is established and when his kingdom comes.

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    What I mean is, as God's name is hallowed and reverent in the life of the disciple, so God's kingdom becomes the master passion of his life, and so, as the kingdom values are realized and incarnated, God's will is done. There's a sense also in which all human, all the human needs described in the second half of the prayer is included in the first, though of course it isn't expressed there.

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    I mean, the point is that as and when God's victory is accomplished in the world, all the needs of men which are described in the last part will be fulfilled. Now, can we ponder for a little while more closely the first three petitions, then? They are about worship and the purpose of God.

13. 5:50

    Our Father, the fatherhood of God, is not a verbal device, a twist of words, and a figure of speech and accommodation. Like as a father pityeth his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that hear them. That comparison with earthly fatherhood in Psalm 103 does not in any way diminish the true meaning of the fatherhood of God.

14. 6:19

    When Jesus wanted to emphasize the reality of God's fatherhood, he said, if a son asks his father for bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish? Will he give him a serpent? How much more will your father in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Now, the expression how much more is telling us that God's fatherhood is the real fatherhood.

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    And our fatherhood is a replica fashioned on the true and the real fatherhood, the original. If I may illustrate that principle in another way, Jesus once said, I am the true vine. Now, when he said, I am the true vine, he didn't mean that all the other vines were false. What he meant was, I am the original vine.

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    And all the other vines growing in the field are replicates patterned upon me. They are, they grow and they live and they are crushed and they give life to men in the wine of life. And so, it was a pattern of the, it was a reseter of the true vine. And so it is here.

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    How much more will your heavenly father give good gifts, good things to them that ask him? It's telling us that the much more is the original fatherhood of God. And our fatherhood, wonderful as it is, is patterned upon that. So that, it means the children of God are a real family. Based not on some type of artificial combination, but based on ties of genuine, divinely, natural affinity.

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    That is to say, the family of God is a real family. It's not a figure of speech. God is a real father. It's not an accommodation. See, it's not those who call themselves brethren or brethren. It's true brethren are those who are really brothers. And are truly related. you will perhaps, I don't know, you will perhaps have heard of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen.

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    Or you might have heard of the Associated Society of Weavers and Wallpackers. No? Oh. What you've missed. Well, brethren, sisters, as you probably guessed, these are trade unions in England. And the members of these trade unions sometimes call themselves brethren. They refer to Brother Secretary and Brother Jones and Brother Jenkins or whatever it may be.

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    they call themselves brethren. But it's just a device. They are not really brethren. It's artificial combination. Now, I only mention it to say the family of God is not like this. Jesus once turned to a little group of disciples. Ordinary people they were, men of like passions with themselves, failing men, sometimes blundering men, but men who loved him truly.

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    And to those he turned and said, whosoever doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same as my mother, my brother and my sister. Now, we must notice the word whosoever. What a wonderfully inclusive word it is. We ought to marvel at its inclusiveness. It incorporates all those from that time until this very day who are truly Christ's brethren and consequently it illuminates the reality of God's fatherhood.

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    God, remember what fatherhood, we've mentioned it again before, but fatherhood is begetting life, there's nothing else. That's the real issue of fatherhood, it's not behaving like a father to another man's child, it's begetting a child, that's fatherhood. Analogy is not identity, the reality is that God in the course of time, in the process of the centuries, became the father.

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    When broken men such as we are or were, when we understand the meaning of that, we understand at the same time and consequently that God, being a true father, cares for his children superlatively. He is related to them in the realist, truest, divinest sense. He is restless in the presence of their disability.

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    He has set his love on them in the midst of their ruin. He will chasten them so that they will be saved at last and not lost. He cannot keep them against their will, but he will never let them go if they will stay. He may sometimes be angry, but if he is angry, it is for love's sake.

25. 11:20

    He careth for you. Now that's really the essence of the expression of fatherhood. He careth for you. That is the summing up of God's fatherhood. He careth for you because you are his children and you have been born into his relationship as really and as truly as any other child has ever been born.

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    True fatherhood means begetting a child and you have been begotten beyond any doubt by the Lord God Almighty. his let's think now about hallowed be his condition. now brethren and sisters this is a very large subject of course and it's too large for any detailed analysis at this stage we think of the holy name of Yahweh God of Israel now how do we hallow that holy name to the people of Israel it was so holy that they would not dare to speak it of course we do not have that kind of restraint and how do you hallow that holy name do you hallow it by singing songs well you could I mean that could certainly be an expression of reverence and worship but we have to face the fact that the song may not reach any higher than the ceiling of the house unless the life of the one who sings it corresponds with the dedication of the song I mean I don't need to say this but a person may be singing a song of humility with a spirit as proud as a peacock and a person may speak words of submission with the heart as hard as another millstone human nature being what it is the truth is that in the deepest sense hallowing the name really hallowing the name of Yahweh means living in accordance with those things which the name reveals I mean we may speak it a dozen times a dozen times and not hallowing the truth is that in the deepest sense then hallowing means living in accordance with the things which that name reveals now what that name reveals

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    is a subject of course which is dear to the heart of many Christadelphians and from an expositional point of view of course it is a subject of great interest all I can say now is that the name Yahweh came to have among the Hebrew people a greater sanctity than any other name so much so as you know they did not utter the sounds of the syllables but they used only the consonants when it was written down so that it should not be uttered no vowel so that it should not be uttered of course there were other names by which God revealed himself as you know Al Shaddai means God will God all sufficient in our English versions God almighty God the fount of all being but Yahweh does not mean that say by inference I suppose the name that stands most powerfully for the idea of essential being is that revealed to Moses by the burning bush I am that I am this is an affirmation of being it is essential life abiding timeless stateless infinite but here is an important thing from the point of view of the context of the pattern prayer Yahweh is part of the verb which is used when essential being is declared but it suggests not the essential being of God only but the adaption of his being to some necessity that is why our brethren who understand these things better than I do and have looked into them deeply have led us to an understanding of the words I am that I am as more accurately I will be that I will be the point is that this reveals God

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    as a becoming God becoming in the sense of being revealed and manifested in others certainly but as well becoming to those others all that they need I believe that to be one of the essential elements of Yahweh he is a becoming God becoming to those who name him all that they need not stressing the all sufficiency of God as El Shaddai does but more the all sufficiency of God active on behalf of others that explains why years before some people found the meaning of the name to be true without fully understanding its meaning as Moses understood it for example for example you remember Abraham he once said Yahweh Yaira the becoming one sees and provides God will provide himself a land so later on in the establishment of the nation and the prophetic and pictorial ritual of the Hebrew people the name is interpreted and unveiled now the point I'm wanting to stress now is that in this pattern prayer the holy name of Yahweh the I am the becoming one becoming all that his people need the one who sees and provides the one with vision and provision is the one whose name must be hallowed by sincere responses to its deepest implication some people have criticised the pattern prayer because they say it makes no reference to thanksgiving on the face of it it may seem to be like that making no mention of thanksgiving and of course thanksgiving is an important thing it is right to regard it as an essential part of prayer to God but hallowing the name of the becoming one surely calls for the deepest expression of thanksgiving

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    I mean how can we respond to the one who sees and provides saved by a deep and grateful expression of thanks for all his care and all his carefulness how can we respond to the one who has given in every way saved by striving to use his gifts always in the orbit of his will and never in opposition to it how can we cooperate with him with the blessed and his blessed purpose of being manifested in others if we nurse in our lives the very things which makes his manifestation impossible how can we hallow the holy name if we neglect the holy word wherein that holy name is revealed and all its wonderful meaning where it's enshrined and revealed if we neglect that how can we hallow the holy name which is proclaimed there Jesus once prayed to the Father for those who were God's other children it's the prayer you prayed you remember and recorded in John chapter 17 he said I have manifested thy name to them which thou gavest me holy Father keep in thy name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one even as we are one and I think that gives us a clue as to how to hallow the holy name the name manifested kept in hallowed is not just a matter of using the name or singing songs about it it is living in accordance with the truth which that holy name reveals and exposes and which was made fresh in the one who said before Abraham was I am our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name now we come to

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    thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven now if the second part of the pattern prayer can be analysed under the headings of provision pardon and protection and when we come to the address tomorrow if we are spared then that will be the subject provision pardon and protection the second part of the pattern prayer if we can do that with the second part I think then with this first section the issues can be focused in the words and these are words which we have chosen today peace purity and power and although these things are very familiar to us I know that I know we are going over territory which is well trodden I know that but when all is said and done although they are familiar to us they are the things which are right at the centre of our faith they are the things which are the master passion of our life in the truth and although you know them very well what harm will be done if we ponder them now in this context of the pattern prayer because there it is we dare not pass over it there with thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven so I want to provoke you a bit today to ponder with me again the vision on the boundary and to hopefully empower us to pray with even more conviction and even more genuine anticipation thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven so the first thing then we remember peace purity and power I want you to think

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    about peace sometimes we think of peace as the absence of war but of course that's a very impoverished definition when I was at school they once gave me a question what the question was please define heat so I said that heat was the absence of cold and then the next question was please define cold and I said cold was the absence of heat and they told me afterwards I should never be a genius see it's not good enough is it the absence of is not good enough peace isn't just the absence of war peace in the noblest sense is that condition where the causes of fear and restlessness and friction are altogether excluded the bible gives us a wonderful definition in Isaiah 32 verse 1 you'll remember it very well behold the king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment and the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in shore dwellings and in quiet resting places that condition of assurance is the very highest quality of true peace you see it's a quality which cannot be shaken sometimes people people are inclined to laugh at that bible definition of the kingdom of God which paints the picture of a man sitting under his own feet tree nobody making him afraid they think that's rather comical but fortifications notwithstanding their attitude it has in it the very essence of real peace that is the absence of fear and the presence of confidence you make the comparison then between what God reveals as peace and think of

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    today what it will mean no longer will men fear the jacked boot and the secret police and the brainwashers no longer man battling with his brother man for territory for commerce for selfish advancement no longer the feverish rat race which corrupts and degrades no longer the noise of strife and battle no longer the paralyzing fear of brutally of bombs no longer the hopelessness of the homeless starving people in the world instead across the nations of the world fear filled war dominated strife stricken will come the balm of God's infinite and unshakable peace all the things which hurt and harm humanity are excluded and vanished in the peace of God man is at peace with himself and with nature and with his creator remember that opening verse of Isaiah 32 again a king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment now by the grace of God that's going to be you immediately the king is the peacemaker but immediately he's committed peace into your hands you are the peace bringers essentially he is the king of peace but instrumentally you will be his servants in bringing peace to the world and so the old prophet the word of the old prophet will come to pass in its final and most wonderful fulfilment you remember Isaiah 52 hell how beautiful how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that publishes peace that saith desire thy God reign in this peace is utterly unshakable I remember something for you from Haggai chapter chapter 2 verses 7 to 9 and I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will

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    fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place I will give peace saith the Lord of hosts notice that as a result of the shaking of all things one thing is utterly unshakable and it is the peace that is given by the Lord of hosts so that's what we could think of when we pray thy kingdom come think of peace now let's think next of purity in the kingdom of God the kingdom purity is symbolized by the purity of a child when Jesus said suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God he was alluding among other things to the purity of children and he saw it as an emblem of his kingdom of such is the kingdom of heaven now I feel justified therefore to bring you to a vision of a prophet in the old testament who saw the coming glory of the kingdom and I want you to notice what he actually saw he saw you won't believe it well you will believe it because you know it he saw a children's playground in the city of Zion I bring you to Zechariah chapter 8 let's read again the first six verses of Zechariah chapter 8 again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying thus saith the Lord of hosts I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy and I was jealous for her with great fury thus saith the Lord I am returned unto

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    Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be a city of truth and the mountain of the holy mountain thus saith the Lord of hosts there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem and every man with his staff in his hand for very age and the streets of the

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    if it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days should it also be marvelous in mine eyes saith the Lord of hosts notice what the prophet says about this vision boys and girls are playing what's more they are playing together and even more they are playing in the streets now God says if you think this is marvelous if this shocks you and it would shock you if you were a park superintendent or a road safety officer it would shock you very much but God says if this is marvelous in your eyes it's not marvelous in my eyes it's not shocking to me because this is the very heart of my purpose peace and purity you see I don't know whether you know but when I was at work I worked in the Oxford City Parks Department and of course we had a great principle to get the kids off the streets into proper playing fields where they would be safe and of course the road safety officer was a great co-operator in that objective get the kids off the streets we said let's get them somewhere where they are safe but that's not the policy of the Lord God Eternal this prophet is stressing the purity and the safety of the kingdom of God which enables boys and girls to play together in the street in perfect innocence and free from danger and I'm proposing to you that this is emblematic of the purity of the king's government it is perhaps the most poetic and the most inspiring description of the kingdom of God in the whole of the

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    old testament children are playing you see brethren and sisters do do you know all the millennial references to children in the bible are children at play the sucking child shall play on the hole of the aspen the weaned child shall put his hand on the battle of the den and it means they shall do that in perfect safety the wolf shall lay the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard and the young lion and a little child

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    in the first days of human life in the garden of eden adam and eve and the animals were in perfect harmony and there was perfect safety they were with the beasts and adam was in the seat of dominion and I have a kind of feeling that although of course the whole situation has been harmed by sin I have a kind of feeling that that original harmony that cohesion that cohesion that affinity between men and animals survives a little bit in children even to this day children will play with animals in perfect innocence I once remember Ruth and I took our children when they were quite young to Bristol Zoo for a day's outing and when we were looking at the polar bears in their enclosure our kids wanted to climb over the parapet and get with them of course Ruth wouldn't hear of it but I thought at the they saw no danger there was a kind of submerged affinity they wanted to play with the animals and I think in a way in spite of the ravages of sea it's a kind of survival of that original affinity which existed between men and animals and I am sustained in that idea by something I read once in the gospel of Mark I'd just like you to look at it with me if you will it's only a little piece but it's in Mark chapter 1 it has to do with the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness it says and verse 12 and immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness and he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan

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    and was with the wild beasts now I think it means that as Jesus was tempted and triumphed there was momentarily a kind of restoration of the perfect situation man in control and he is there in the wilderness with the wild beasts and as we know he is there in perfect safety it was a moment of the restoration of perfection Eden restored the kingdom of God in embryo as it were he was with the wild beasts and in perfect safety so that's something to do remember we were talking about children playing with animals in perfect safety as the Holy Old Testament describes the kingdom of God a little child shall leave now to get back to this question of boys and girls playing together in the streets of Jerusalem I recollect that when I was at school sorry to keep recalling my school days but when I was at school segregation was the order of the day there was a boys entrance and there was a girls entrance and the grand idea was that thereby never the twain shall meet I I am happy to report this day that the grand design failed utterly thank goodness today of course things are changed to some extent I know that segregation is diminished but let us mark it in the kingdom of God there is no segregation God's ideal is that manhood and womanhood should be together because in the conditions which are pure and free from debasement the strength of manhood makes womanhood strong and the gentleness of womanhood ennobles manhood and that is why the children are playing together and then the final revelation is that they are

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    playing in the streets the streets of the city of Zion are safe for children they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains except the Lord of hosts so let's make the comparison and mark the contrast what would you say about the streets today think of the contrast between the city of Zion and the cities of men say what are their streets today are they safe for children but in God's city there is perfect safety for the children and the point is that if the streets are fit for children they are fit for everybody if the streets are safe for the weakest they are safe for the strongest there the child is safe where the child is safe everyone is safe there is nothing to harm physically or mentally or spiritually there are no things mechanical to crush young bodies there are no things diabolical to pollute young minds no perverts no prostitutes no purveyors of evil no pornography no debasing entertainment all this is emphasized by Zechariah to stress the purity of the kingdom of God and to reveal the ideals of the divine government Isaiah said once to the people of God it was a word for the day when they were to leave Babylon and return to Zion be ye clean ye that bear the vessels of the Lord chapter 52 verse 11 and it is to men and women such as you cleansed and purified by the master principles of the kingdom of God who are to be the ministers of divine purity in the golden age by which we are now horizon to establish a society where the love

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    of purity is greater than the love of peace that's perhaps what we ought to mean when we say thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and then think finally of power peace purity and power in a shaking world brethren and sisters power of the right kind is like a rock and like a high tower the king once said all power is given to me in heaven and on earth let us thank God that that is true it means that all the diabolical forces of men cannot defeat the enthronement of the king of Zion and they will try of course as we know they will try they shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them and because he has submitted to authority he comes now to wield authority it's the principle of the Roman centurion the same principle remember he said something wonderful to Jesus that made him marvel he said I also am under authority I also am under authority and I say to this man go and he goes to this man come and he come to this man do this and he do it and it was one little word I think that made Jesus marvel also I also am under authority and I wield authority and he is saying I am like you Jesus also I am like you I see you are a man who is under authority and one day you will wield it now this is coming true where long he comes to wield his great authority because once he submitted to it he is the prince of

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    peace and yet he comes with awful power as a man of war the authority of the king is the only thing which will hold the power intoxicated forces of the world in their last great act of folly whatever interpretation you may put upon the apocalypse whatever one you prefer the fact is incontrovertible in either and all he is coming as a man of war as he once arrested the soldiers who came to arrest him so he will do it again judgment is necessary in the interests of purity and peace it is first pure and then peaceable to make peace with wrong is not and never could be the work of the son of God there cannot be peace whilst there is corruption and oppression and lust and injustice and class hatred the king is at war with the forces which contradict the idea of divine purity he is at war with those paltry tricks of human government the direct iron curtains and bamboo curtains for the enslavement of people who live in fear he is at war with those who use the secret powers of the universe for diabolical purposes if he came into this world the king of kings the king of peace and cared not for these things it would be a contradiction so awful as to be utterly incredible he will speak to the forces which thrive upon evil and wickedness in the language of power you cannot avoid it it says it his enemies shall lick the dust when you see the cowardly booby trappers and the bombers and the terrorists who thrive on spreading fear if you hate evil as you

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    ought to hate evil then you must be glad that one day his enemies shall lick the dust I must tell you quite frankly I am glad that the son of God the Lord of heaven the Lord God of heaven has so empowered his vice regal son that all the forces which hurt and harm humanity and fill the dark places of the earth with sorrow are going to be ended by his divine power all nations shall serve him once once there fell from his lips the lips of the son of man a law so perfect and so magnificent that men have said it is wonderful but it is unattainable but at last that unattainable law will become coming from the wisdom and the authority of the king will become the perfect law for the final government of humanity you see other rulers what do they do they consult and they amend or else they make laws which are harsh and despotic I suppose they do their best but the king who comes he speaks with power with the voice of supremacy with the final voice the voice of God the law of love and purity and divine goodness transcendent in every place and in the very places where the law of men is crumbling to decay such is the power of the king and such will be the power of his princes who reign in judgment because they are to be endued with power equal to their high destiny to him that overcometh the voice said and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power and authority that means over the nations

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    so there we are this is what we ought to mean when we pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven the peace and purity and power of the king's government the government of fire and the government of love the voice of authority and the voice of compassion the master values of the kingdom of God made incarnate in the king of kings and in his princes and princesses who serve with him at his bidding and I believe perhaps never in the history of men this is purely a human judgment a personal judgment but it seems to me I don't know what you think but it seems to me that never in the history of men was there a time when we ought to pray fervently for the coming of the kingdom of God never perhaps in the history the long history of men was there a time when it was needed so desperately and so urgently we all know in our deepest heart that the world is groaning and very soon there will be an epidemic of fear all the burdened multitudes of the world are waiting for something they are waiting for a deliverer they know not who he will be but you know they are waiting for a deliverer they are seeking for some alleviation some amelioration of their awful plight and it is your destiny and your privilege to bring the healing forces of the kingdom of God to groaning humanity the world travails waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God and by the grace of God that will be you in the power

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    of the spirit and in the bright radiance of immortality or it ought to be for you rousing invigorating exciting it is the realisation of all your longing it is the issue of all your striving it is the pole star of all your hopes the master passion of your faith thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven the great vision of the pattern prayer God grant you may fear it to be true