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THE
LORD'S PRAYER A
Communion Meditation to Close Our Study of the Perfect Prayer Kenyon P. Kalvesmaki, Pastor Central Presbyterian Church, Russellville, Arkansas "For
Thine is the Kingdom, Power and Glory Forever. AMEN" We
close the perfect prayer with godly defiance. The Church proclaims in front of
the world: FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM
AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER, AMEN.
The Church cries out together as one voice - God will be in control no
matter what happens in this world. Here
is the message of Easter the Christian Church delivers to the world!
In
spite of nations warring against each other and spilling blood for earth-bound
territory:
THINE IS THE KINGDOM! In
spite of great powers that we have at our fingertips... for bombs or surfing the
internet around the world, or killing each other:
THINE IS THE POWER! In
spite of demons crushing lives and religious cults seducing the gullible and so
many trying to please themselves:
THINE IS GLORY!
No
matter what the world does, men and women wake up each day declaring
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as
it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
AMEN!" This
closing phrase brings us to our feet. We
are ready for whatever may come to us. Look at your own Bible and you might find these words missing
from the text. Some claim it was
added by the early Church to say their own "amen" to worship.
But we heard David say almost the same words that we do in I Chronicles
29:11. Jesus was familiar with the
words of David. He also knew how to
praise God. He boldly called God
His Father. He invited us to do the
same. He taught us to praise His
Father and ours! This doxology is His - and ours! "Do
not trust a religion that does not end in a doxology!" (R.M. Boyd)
For consider what this perfect prayer has done:
it carries us into the presence of God the Father; it corrects
us when we think only of ourselves; and, it comforts
us through our whole life. So,
we need this doxology. Come
to this closing phrase in the shadow of the cross. We pray these words thankfully
- He bled on the cross for your sins and mine.
Our many sins are covered in His blood.
We pray these words joyfully,
for the shadow of the cross gives way to the empty grave.
We pray these words expectantly, for He promised to return to be with us one day.
Before
we come to the Lord's Table, consider these last words as our closing
benediction to the perfect prayer. FOR
THINE IS THE KINGDOM. Over my past thirty years of ministry, I've been privileged
to worship in different parts of His wonderful Kingdom. With American Indians in
South Dakota and Egyptians in Cairo, I
learned that men and women worship together, but sit in their own half of the
church. I sat on bare floors in
small houses in Finland, and worshiped and preached from the same pulpit as
Andrew Murray in South Africa. Within
30 miles of that church I prayed with community leaders in a church where the
roof was tin and the walls were a patchwork of wood and metal. What an amazing
Kingdom our God has purchased for Himself by the blood of Jesus Christ His only
Son! AND
THE POWER. I have in my hand a piece of cement. Some of our young people already know the story of this
memento. It was part of the
infamous wall dividing Germany, East from West.
Over the past eleven years we have seen the power of God bring down
governments. One such place is
Romania. Communism tried its best
to crush the Church with their power. They
failed. Perhaps you missed this
story. The
Christian church was mercilessly persecuted by communist rulers.
But one day, the nation began to cry out for freedom and democracy.
Some people in a small village watched as a Baptist pastor and members of
his church were abused by the state police.
The police decided to keep the pastor and church locked in their own
building. Mistake. Word
spread, and soon thousands of people surrounded the police, who were keeping the
pastor and his church prisoners. Shots
rang out. Innocent people died, and
the rest fled into the night. The
next day, twice the number as the previous day arrived and did the same thing.
More people were killed. It
was too late. The next day,
thousands surrounded the police there and in the capital of Bucharest.
The government soon fell. The
secular press never did report what the people were shouting.
It took the Christian news media to bring out the truth - people were
moved by God to risk death as they came and protested.
Shouting from the tops of their voices, they recited, FOR THINE IS THE
KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER...again and again....a defiant
doxology that brought glory to God. What
a prayer we pray! Friends,
do you know what you are saying when you are saying this prayer?What are you
willing to do to see the power of God unleashed in your home, city, nation?
What power we can see for ourselves.
God will not be pushed nor pulled. His
power is truly awesome! He has all
the power necessary to bring evil down...whether it is a person or a government. AND
THE GLORY, FOREVER. When mountain climbers scale to the summit of a high peak,
they dare not stand up for very long.
The winds can blow a successful climber to his death. "The safest place is on your knees." When we see
His Kingdom and His power around the world, we can only do one thing:
bow in humble adoration. To
all of this we can only say, AMEN.
The final word...it means, I agree!
We pray this way - to God the Father in Jesus' name.
We can only say the words of agreement!
Well done, Father. So,
friends in Christ, come to the table of our Lord to break bread and share the
one cup. We are part of His
Kingdom, built on His blood, and continue until He comes again.
Until that day, we pray that perfect prayer.... Our Father, who
art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy
Kingdom come, Thy 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 lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the Kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. |