Add correct line breaks, correct capitalisation, correct punctuation, correct Australian English spelling, and correct KJV Bible verse quotations and references to my paragraphs where applicable. But do NOT — I repeat — do NOT alter or change ANY words from my paragraphs under ALL circumstances.
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Once again, I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Yesterday, I think, Reverend Dennis Quok, he, you know, he spoke about this Hebrew lettuce, and I think one of the young people also asked me, he is Sanjana, who asked me, What is that? Meaning of these words? You know, it... This letters are written, I think, by the... the Jews, or someone who is, and Israeli, because in order for us to be able to read, you must have the vows and consonants and all this, but Reverend Dennis is a Hebrew scholar. So he's able to read without all these vowers and all these helps. But he was right. This means love. I think the other word means Israel. Love Israel. Well, in time to come, our brother, Joshua, will be able to read, and, you know, God willing, we may be able even to be able to read without all these helps, but I think it takes a lot of understanding of that language. So the Jews are able to, so when you go to Israel, you see, they just have all these letterings. They are able to read the words. It's very amazing, right? Reverend Dennis? So, thank God for that. And I trust that you had a good night rest, and we are all ready. eager to listen to the messages, and also the fellowship that we're gonna have, the games, the activities, and tonight, we're going to have campfire. God willing, if the weather is good. So campfire. praise be to God. Before that, let us look to the Lord in prayer first. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we give thee thanks for how thou hast provided this place for us to stay, and also to have our youth camp. It is not by chance, nor coincidence. It is by thy provision that we are able to have this place that we can have our YBG cam. And we also tend the, for thy protection, thy provisions, and throughout this past few days, we have truly saveth thy goodness, and thou hast been so good to us, though we do not deserve all these good things from thee. Thou hast granted us good health and strength, of which we are very thankful. And as we come before thee, we ask that thou would forgive us of all our sins. Since that we have committed against thee in our speech, in our thoughts, in our deeds, cleanse us by the precious blood of thy only begotten son. And now as we continue our studies, in accordance to the disciples' prayers, or the prayer taught by our Lord Jesus, we want to learn the pattern, the model that he has set for us, that we have a better understanding of how we ought to pray.. And so teach us, as we commit this time, into the living hands, for we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. So to recap, Jesus gave us the pattern in which we ought to pray, beginning with God 1st, and then our needs. So it is always about God's glory. Who God is, and then comes our needs. Instead of the opposite, we present to God our needs, and then we talk about God. So we always honour God, obey Him, glorify Him, and then it comes to our needs. So Jesus began with, Hello be thy name, and thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Then the next 3 petitions will deal with our needs. And that is, give us forgive us and lead us not. Now, this tree has to do with us. And these three petitions actually deals with our whole life. And it would include our physical, mental, as well as spiritual needs. So it is all about us. So this is very amazing that Jesus includes everything about us in just three petitions. Today, we will only consider the first of these three petitions. That is verse 11. So read together with me, verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, there are three things I would like to share with you in this devotion. The first would be the source. And the second will be the sicker, and the third will be the supplication. So, 3S. Now, the source is our gone. Our father, which is in heaven, because we are praying to him, and he's the one who is the source. He is the giver of... good gifts. He's the one who blesses us. So we look to him for our provisions. Give us this day our daily brand. A good employer will meet the needs of his employees. All of us here, I would say, we have good fathers. Our fathers will care for our needs. How much more our heavenly Father, who is perfect, who loves us more than our earthly fathers? who knows us better than we know ourselves. And he knows what is best for us. And he's the one who is the source. So we look to him, and we ask of him, Give us. So he's the source. Jesus said, us, and it will be given to you, sick, and you will find, knock, and the door will be open unto you. And then he went on to say, one man is that of you, that when your son asks for bread, you will give him a stone. Or when your son asks for fish, you will give him a serpent. You, which are evil, that means you, which are sinful and not perfect, know what gives to give to your children. How much more your Heavenly Father will give good gifts to his children? And that is recorded for us in Matthew chapter 7, which is the next chapter. So the source our Father in heaven, he knows what is best for his children. And here, he... is the source in which we look to. Now, I'd like to bring your attention to how, when man was created, God already provided the abundance of food. in unlimited variety. If you look at how God created the world, He created everything. And then he created Adam. So when Adam was created, there were already all these vegetations. There were the fruits that he has unlimited varieties that he could eat. But there was only one command, not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Well, Adam failed to obey the command and fell into sin. That was how we all know we are born, we are seen nature, because he is our feather ahead. So God already provided, and God's provision primarily comes from work, because after the fall of men, men must work in order to be able to put bread and butter on the table. So you must work. That is, God's primary way of provisions. If you don't work, you don't eat. The Bible commands us. But for those who are not able to work, some of them because of physical infirmities, then God also provided a way for others to provide for them through their generosities. Yesterday, we learned that of the giving of arms, helping those who are homeless, those who are really in need. Not those who are pretending to be in need. But using the money for ungodly purposes or drinking alcohol, smoking, or whatever. So, that is God's primary way of provisions. Whether directly or indirectly, God is the source. So he is the source, and we look to the source who will provide for us God. So here's a source, our Father, which I in heaven, and we pray, give us this day our daily bread. Now, who is the us? Remember, the context of this prayer is a reference to the believers. So in the gospel of Luke, the disciples of Jesus, who were believers, asked Jesus to teach them to pray as John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray. And it was in the context of the believers. And here, in the Summon on the Mount, Jesus was speaking to the believers too. So it was to the believers that Jesus taught them to pray, saying, Give us this day our daily brand. Now, the unbelievers will not acknowledge the source. They will think that it is because of my hands that brought in the food. It is my hands that brought in the provisions. Not gone. God is not the one. But as believers, we know that God is the provider. He is the Jehovah Jair. God the provider. So he provided for our needs, and he will continue to provide for our needs, so we are to pray. As believers, give us, this day, our daily bread. Our heavenly Father loves us so much. In Matthew chapter 6, verse 26 to 30, Jesus taught the disciples saying, look at the birds of the fuse or of the air. You know, they... are fed by the Heavenly Father. Do they work very hard? Do they have to toy the land and water the plants? No. But God feeds the birds. Look at the grass on the fields. God calls them to grow and grow. Look at the lilies of the fuse. God is the one who caused them to have the sun and the rain that they may grow to be so beautiful. God, our heavenly Father, is the one. So God said to us, You are much more precious than the birds of the air, than the grass, then the lilies of the fields, which today, they are there, tomorrow, they are burned as fire. Or as fewer for fire. You are more precious because you have a soul that will last for all eternity. How much more your Heavenly Father will provide for you? So we are the seeker. The believers are the sick. And the believers will seek the Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who is the provider. I think I once shared about this. Member of a church, the pastor said to him, Because he did not come to church to worship God, he went to work on Sunday. Why? Because Sunday, they give double or triple pay. So triple salary, that's a lot of money. So this person decided to work on Sunday. And then the pastor said to him, You must come to church to worship God, because God is the provider. He is the one who bless you with all these good things. Your family, your life, all good things come from him, that person was very angry and he said, Who said it is God who provide all these things for me? It is my hands that brought in all these good things. If I don't work, if I don't... On Sundays, I don't earn enough money. How am I going to pay for my house? How am I going to pay for my children's education? How am I going to pay for the food, the groceries, and all that? Sounds logical, right? But the pastor said to him, Even the good health and strength you have, to wake up every morning, to go to work. Even the job and the opportunities you have to work, come from God. Even the breath you have to wake up in the morning, to go to work, come from God. So, our whole life, God is in control. He is the provider. So he provided all these things. So you must always humble yourself and know that you are not in control. Yes, you may have a good job, you may be able to do the work, but you may fall sick. You may not be able to wake up. Or you may have a good education, a good degree, excellent, in your academic studies, but you cannot find a job. God is the one who provides jobs and opportunities. He's a provider. So the source is God, our Father, the seeker is the believer, who knows God, and knows that he is our provider. Now comes the supplication, and what is the supplication? Give us this day, our daily brain. Now, when we think of the word bread, we just think of the physical bread that we have just eaten. Of course bread is a staple diet, especially in those days. But it is more than just the physical bread we eat. Bread is the means that sustains our life. It is not just the bread that we eat. If you just simply think of the bread that you eat, it is made out of maybe wheat, and that wheat does not just come as bread. So, you know that seeds have to be planted, and then those plants have to grow, and then you have the wheat, and you must have labourers to come and grind the wheat. And then you have the grains, and then subsequently, after a long process, then you have the brand. So it is a process, right? So, at every step, you know that it is God, the one who provides. If he doesn't provide the sun and the rain, the plant will not grow. Then there would be no bread. But bread here includes more than just the bread we eat. It is that which sustains our lives. It is for the preservation of our lives. So, most theologians believe that this bread here includes everything that preserves our lives. And that would include jobs and opportunities that we would do to put bread and butter on the table. That would include good health and strength for us to go to work every day, that would also include God's protection, for us to also attend to our work, that would include encouragement, appreciation, approval, acceptance, so that we can perform our work to the best. And that will also include our emotional needs to be met for us to do the work. So everything is included in this basic need. In order for our lives to be sustained, so, basically, what it means is that it is our basic needs. Give us this day, needs that we can sustain our lives. Our physical needs, give it to us. Give us this day, our daily needs. Now, you can provide... for yourself, if you think by your own means, the best food you can ever think of. Sanjana, what is your best food? No. Huh? Leah, what is your best food? You like to eat? Yesterday, Reverend Danish Quak says, 10 course dinner. Some people interpret it as, Give us this day. Our bread means, give us this day a 10 course dinner. What is your favourite fruit? Huh? Mango. Good? Mango, others, maybe. Lobsters. Okay? King prawns, crapes. Maybe those are your favourite fruit, okay? You can have the best food. But do you know something? You may not even have the appetite to eat it. So even the appetite to eat the food comes from God. Do you realise that? So, we are to humble ourselves and know that everything in regards to our physical needs come from God. So you like mango, but you must have the appetite to eat mango. So, God provides that too. Now, our application is to ask for our needs. Something that sustains our lives to preserve our lives, because without eating, we will die. So anything that preserves our lives or relates to our brain. Give us this day our daily brand. So we are to ask for our needs, not our wants. So understand the difference between needs and wants. There are things that we want. But they may not necessarily be our needs. So what we are us to pray is for our needs. Lord, what I need, you know. Give it to me, our daily needs. Because if men were to ask for what they want, it will never be sufficient. It will never be enough. So, Reverend Dennis Court said, 10 cost dinner. Now, that is for some people. For others, it will be 20 costs. For yet others, it will be a great banquet that is maybe unlimited. So we were, what, breed, greet, covetousness, because our needs and our wants are different. What we need is the basic necessities to sustain our lives, but what our wants is what we desire to have, which we think is good for us, which oftentimes it is to our own detriment, because it breeds covetousness, grit. The more we have those good things, we think is good, but then the more we want better things. And then we start to compare. You know, Kayla may have something good. Then she looks at Hayley, Oh, Hayley has a better thing. I want that thing. Then that is my want. And then Hayley will say, No, Abigail has, uh... the best. So I won that. We will never be satisfied. It goes on and on and on. What we need is just that we sustains our lives. And God knows what is best for us. You know, God is the one who knows how much joy and sorrow we need. How much prosperity and poverty we need. which will be good for us. Parents always think, I want the best for my children, but do we really know? We don't know. Only God knows. God knows the right mixture of rain and sunshine. He knows the precise mix of day and darkness. that will be good for us. Time for us to work, time for us to rest. He knows, we do not know. So he's the one who gives us the best. So we are to ask for our daily needs. From our almighty God. I often like to explain this illustration so that all of us will know. We all like the best of things, humanly speaking, we want the best food. We want the finest things of life. But do you realise that the finest food we eat is only for that momentary period, or that, is only for that moment. That enjoyment. I give you an example. I love to eat picking duck. You're no picking duck? Those are like poking duck. Favourite food? One of... sort of. I love picking down. So once I was invited to a dinner of picking duck with my family, so we ate picking duck. We enjoyed. It was for that moment. Okay, how long? Maybe an hour? We savoured picking down. Very nice, very delicious. Then after eating, our stomachs are filled. And then we came out of the restaurant, then we drove off. Then we passed by Hungry Jacks. And we saw a group of people coming out from Hungary Jacks. So I asked my children, I said, Our stomachs are viewed. Their stomachs are real. What's the difference between us and them? Then they could not answer, but I said to them, it is that momentary enjoyment. Only that moment, we enjoy that food. But our stomachs are both filled. So, men always live for that momentary enjoyment. God knows what is best for us. Now it is not wrong to enjoy good food. The best things of life, if God so bless you with a big house, praise God. God bless you with good food. Praise God, the appetite to eat it, praise God. But you must acknowledge that he is the provider. He provides for you. So, thank God that this is your daily brand. So we ask for our needs, not our wants, and then another lesson we can learn is that we ask daily. Look at what the verse says. Give us this day. Our daily bread. So 2 words, this day, daily, tells us that it is on a daily basis. So, there's this daily dependence on God. So, it's not that yesterday, I depend on God, today, I no need to depend on God, because I more than enough. No, on a daily basis, you depend on God. Now, theologians argue until the cows come home, they argue about this word daily. You know how they argue about it? They say that if you pray this prayer in the morning, it means to this bread. If you pray this prayer in the evening, it means tomorrow's bread. I think they missed the point. It is not about today, tomorrow, or the next day's brand. It is about a daily dependence upon God. That every day, whatever we receive, coming from God. So that's why we say, give us this day our daily bread. So a daily dependence. Do you depend on God daily? You may not have given thanks, or you miss the prayer just now. You came in late and you ate the food. But that bread was provided by God. So you ought to give thanks. Thank God, daily, regularly, every day of your lives. He's the provider. So there's a daily dependence upon God. Don't take things for granted. That later on you have lunch. Later on, you will have evening dinner. Now, all these come from God. Be thankful. Otherwise, you'll be grateful. Ungrateful, sir. So, daily dependence, and then also, now, when I say daily dependence, there's a very good example in the Bible. Remember the manner that coming from heaven? You know, God provided each day, manna that come from heaven, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years. Daily, every day got provided day by day, except, you know, for the Sabbath that God provided twice the amount the day before, so that they would not have to go and collect on the Sabbath. Why don't God just provide for them 40 years of provisions? Just manner in a large pile that they can have for 40 years. Remember God said, do not collect more than what you need, for that day, because if you collect more than what you need, the next day it will rot. So just collect what you need, eat it, give thanks to God. The next day, God provides, it it, give thanks to God. The next day, God will provide The children of Israel, some of them did not do that. They kept some. And what happened? They wrought indicate. So that is a wonderful lesson for us to learn that. We need to depend on God on a daily basis, every day of our lives. God provides. So even if you have a large amount of money in your bank, you also must realise that it is by God's providence, and then you still depend on him daily. Okay, in the administration of your money. Daily basis. And another lesson is that some people think that this is too trivia, too small a thing to ask of God. Daily bread. I have bigger things to ask of God. Why ask of God, give us this day our daily bread? So very simple thing. Bread, food, so small, I bigger things. But let me say this to you, that there's nothing too small, and there's nothing too big forgotten. We've gone, everything is small. But the point is that he is so careful of us, so mindful of us, that he cares for our daily provisions. So he wants us to pray, depend on him, for our daily brand. Daily provisions. So give us this day our daily brand. Now, the last lesson, as we conclude, is to focus on the word us, and the word our. So Jesus taught the disciples not just to pray, give me this day my daily bread, but give us this day our daily brand. And that tells us that, We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. So, some people may not be able to work, and as brothers and sisters in Christ, they have genuine needs, they are hungry. We ought to help them provide for them because that is one way of God's provision. Directly, indirectly, we work, or we work to provide for others, and others receive what we have worked for. So that is also one way that God wants us to remember. that all of us must, as a family, pray, give us this day our daily bread. So if you have forgotten whatever I've said, remember these 3 things. The sauce with the sauce, our God, our Father, which I in heaven. Who is a seeker? The one with six. Who? We, the believers, the believers are the one who will seek God and pray this prayer. What is the supplication? The supplication is, give us this day our daily brain, and bread means our physical needs, and that includes everything that will preserve our lives. So I hope you remember this lesson. So we have learned four petitions. Thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. Now our needs. First one, give us this day our daily brand. So I hope by tomorrow we can finish forgive us and let us know. Then we will be able to fully comprehend the disciples, prayers, or commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. So may the Lord help us, let us pray. Father in heaven, we give thee thanks for this devotion message that we are able to learn from the prayer taught by our Lord Jesus himself. For week after week, we would be praying this prayer that our Lord Jesus has taught us in our worship services, and also in many other churches. But we want to know that it is not for vain repetitions, but it is for a pattern, a model in which we ought to pray in line with. We ought to pray like this. We ought to pray in this way. We ought to pray in this pattern, beginning with God first, and then comes our interests, our lives. So help us as we study each and every one of these 6 petitions that we can have a better understanding of this prayer. So we want to commit this day and the activities into thy loving hands, praying all this in Jesus' name. Amen.