Well, as the story goes, this minister died and went and stood before the pearly gates. I really don't know if they're pearly or not. There's even gates there, but he stood there and the proverbial Saint Peter came to him. But there was another man in front of the preacher. And this man had sunglasses on, a really loud shirt, a leather jacket, and faded jeans. And Peter asked who this man was. And therefore, be able to tell whether or not he should be able to get into heaven. He says, my name is Joe Cohen and I'm a New York City cab driver. Is that pretty good? And he said, very good. Let me look. You checked his list. He said, fine. Here is a golden staff and a silken robe. Please enter into the kingdom of heaven. And now it was the minister's term. He says, what is your name? He says, my name is Albert Feinstill and I have been for 43 years, the pastor of Saint Mary's Cathedral. And then he said, just a minute, Peter did. Let me check the list. And he checked the list and he said, yes. Here is your cotton robe and your wooden staff, please enter now into the kingdom. And the pastor said, wait a minute, wait a minute. I've been breaking my back for the Lord for many, many years. This guy is a New York City cab driver. My goodness, isn't something backwards here? And Peter said, well, you see in our place in heaven, we work by results. And for 43 years, while you preached, people slept. And for 43 years, while this guy drove, people prayed. Now, the theology of that story is awful. But there is, I think, some helpful points that remain. First of all, none of us who are preachers should ever try and bore or do anything we could to bore the most important truth in all of creation, the gospel of our Lord Jesus. But also the truth that you and I run a very great risk of not only sleeping through sermons, literally or metaphorically, but of sleeping through life. Of missing life all together, of just being sort of functionally dead, even though we may be physically alive for many, many years. And very successful, perhaps in many different ways. The Lord's prayer is like an alarm clock that is designed by God to wake us up. And to breathe fresh life into it, that we might really come alive as an individual and actually thrive the way God intended for us to. And this morning, as we get to the end of our series in the Lord's Prayer, we've been going through this for the last couple of months. We come to the conclusion, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. These are very climactic and powerful words. But I wondered, as an aside, if you knew, that these are not found actually in the Bible attached to the Lord's Prayer. We have the Lord's Prayer in two different snippets in the Gospels. And what we pray liturgically, what Christians have prayed throughout the centuries since the early days of the church, is really a combination of the two different places where the Lord's Prayer is given. But somewhere in the ancient church, early on, this climactic conclusion was added on. You say, well, why are we studying it? If it's not in the Bible, well, it's not technically in the Bible where you find portions of the Lord's Prayer, but I assure you it is a thoroughly biblical phrase and very climactic. And there's a lot of passages that, in essence, shout these words, dine as the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. For instance, if you look at the very front end of your order of worship, we have referenced there, 1 Chronicles 29-11. And that oftentimes is cited as sort of a biblical root to this conclusion of the Lord's Prayer. Also Psalm 29 that Amy just read for us. So we're going to reference several times in the sermon. The sermon is a fantastic passage that really oozes and drips with the same themes that this conclusion the Lord's Prayer has. There's tons of passages throughout, 1 Timothy 117, a lot of passage. So it's not unbiblical, it's very biblical. And I think a fitting way, really in summary fashion, to pull together the loose strands of thought that we've been talking about for the last couple of months. Because you'll remember the Lord's Prayer was not designed to be a spiritual rabbit's foot. It wasn't given for us to recite, you know, sort of like a mantra and something magical happens. It was given in response to a question. Remember Jesus was praying, and as we've said before, it had to be very intimidating to follow Jesus around. I mean, just his example, he's the most humble person to ever live, but his example had to be terribly convicting. And so, in one occasion, a disciple got up the nerve to say, Jesus, I'm kind of clueless. Will you teach us how to pray? And in response to that, he gave the Lord's Prayer. So it is here to instruct us how to pray. And even this conclusion is here in a very powerful way, summarizing what's come before it, to instruct us to shape our hearts. That we might pray more effectively. What does it teach us then? Three things that I think we find embedded in these three words. Vine is the kingdom, power, and glory. First of all, it talks about God's plan and how we should pray that God's plan would be realized in our life. Secondly, it talks about God's provision that what we are unable to do on our own, namely to live according to God's plan, he gifts to us, he enables us by his power. And then finally, the purpose for all of this. What's the end game? Why is God giving to us a plan and enabling us to fulfill it? It's for one purpose that over arches everything. So let's think about those three things for a few minutes together as we think about how our prayer lives might be shaped. In fact, our whole life might be shaped by these words so that we might wake up, which is what the Lord's prayers designed for us to do, and we might really live. So first of all, for vine is the kingdom. And this phrase teaches us about God's plan and really gets at the question, then, what am I doing with my life? It would be very successful in other people's eyes. I may have a lot to commend myself, but in terms of what is most vital and critical, the internal me, what am I doing with my life? Am I living it to the maximum capacity or, on the other hand, am I wasting my life to what degree is talking about God's plan? And that is the kingdom. God's plan is his kingdom, importing as it were, heaven upon earth. And really, this is the heart of the Lord's prayer. We talked about this in earlier sermons, that thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And even when the Lord's prayer talks about temptation, what did we say? We say temptation is, well, it's really just, God, don't allow for any obstacles to be in my path so that I can effectively execute your plan of bringing, of importing your kingdom. Because, Lord, we're ambassadors. We're not simply down here to take up space. We're here to be important influencers upon this world, or this kingdom, bringing to bear the kingdom of the Lord. Psalm 29, likewise, just is full of this concept of God's kingdom. One of my very favorite commentators on the Psalms, Derek Kidner, put it this way, the towering majesty of the Lord dominates this poem. Verse 4 speaks of the Lord who is full of majesty. Verse 10 paints the picture that he sits in thrown as king forever. And what this ought to do is really rattle our perspective because, you know, if you like me, you can get all focused and clear, say, on Sunday morning in church, but then an hour later, your perspective is totally different. There's a Starbucks, one of my addictions is Starbucks, and one of the Starbucks that I frequent, there's a patio out in front, and there's this woman that I've seen there frequently. And she probably, you know, they're sipping her triple fudge nut latte or something like that, and I don't even know if that's a latte, but we'll pretend that it is. But it's not the woman or her latte that's significant is that she has a companion in a dog, a very large, beautiful dog right to her side. And it isn't the dog so much as it is that this woman has also purchased a venti coffee drink for her dog, a venti frappuccino. And you might think, well, yeah, I probably just spilled, and so she was giving it to the dog. No, because I've seen this repeatedly. She gets her own drink and then gets a venti frappuccino for her dog. It is so easy to lose perspective, isn't it? For things to get sort of backwards and upside down and weird it out. Now, besides the fact that I'm probably being judgmental of this woman, think about your own experience and what you've lost perspective. To what degree are the concerns of God, your concerns? To what degree does the kingdom of God infuse your prayer life? I mean, if I'm honest, a overwhelming majority of my prayer is more about my kingdom come than my kingdom come, my agenda than God's agenda. And what I need is for his agenda, his plan, his kingdom to infiltrate and even overtake my perspective. I need there to be sort of a compass redirecting of the Lord's prayer in my heart towards true north, that there might really be sort of an earthquake in the depths of my soul relocating the personal center of my universe in accordance with God and his plan and his kingdom. It's really getting at the question, what am I supposed to be doing in life? How am I living my life? Is my life sinking up with the concerns of God? And we know that, of course, because of the Bible, the Bible makes it very clear over and over and over again what the concerns of God are. I mean, there are things like an alien love, it's not just loving people who are lovely and lovable, it's loving the unlovable, the very difficult people. It's pouring out that kind of love, it's being a person of integrity. In the workplace, it's not just passing out of angelistic tracks, it's realizing that the kingdom comes as I work with excellence to the glory of God as I humbly honor people around me and conduct transactions and everything I do with integrity. It's that I'm a person of justice and concerned, not only about my welfare, but those who have been marginalized and left out by a capitalistic society. It's being a person, perhaps above all, of humility, a guest and said three most important things about a Christian, three most important characteristics, humility, humility, humility. It's about beauty, who talks about beauty anymore. God invented beauty, it's about the beauty of God's creation and realized throughout the arts, it's about grace, it's about the welfare of the place in which you live and the people around you. A lot of times when people think about plans and ordering your life, a passage from Jeremiah in the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah chapter 29 comes up chapter 11. For I know the plans that I have for you, the Lord says plans to, it's probably best translated to give you, to cause you to flourish, to give you wholeness in life, not plans for evil, but plans for your well-being, a hope and a future. And that is wonderful and fantastic, but if you ever notice what comes right before, those wonderful words that speak about our great hope and future. Well, remember, first of all, when Jeremiah gave these words, he was speaking from Jerusalem at a very gloomy time. Jerusalem had been ransacked and the cream of the crop, the pick of the litter of the Israelites had been taken away, the people with the very best resumes had been exported and exiled to of all places, Babylon. And what did Jeremiah say to them, their plans were to be? They were to lash out at that evil, I mean, is there ever been a more evil and wicked culture to lash out at it? To maybe remove yourself from it and build sort of a compound mentality to be an exile amidst the place in which you're an exile. No, listen to what he said, verse 7 of chapter 29, seek the welfare of the city, Babylon of all places where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare, you will find welfare. Let's be honest, how often is that concern of the Lord, your concern? How often are you praying for the welfare of the city of Houston, of people who aren't like you, the scandalous sinners perhaps, the marginalized, or maybe the rich and influential? Are those your concerns, because they're God's concerns, that the city, the world might flourish as the kingdom comes to bring its healing influence. And of course, we see this most beautifully and clearly in the incarnation of God himself in Jesus Christ. Jesus in his life was one of course who laid aside all power and privilege that he had in heaven and laid down his life in extreme humility, living in integrity, never sending or wronging anyone, ministering to and minding the sick and the poor. He welcomed the scandalous sinners like prostitutes but also challenged the morally proud and seek to influence the influential. He fed the hungry, he preached words of freedom and deeds that backed them up as well. I mean, that sort of picture, I'm not saying, you know, go out and be like Jesus because talk about one thing that will just totally discourage you. But in Jesus, you have this crystal clear picture of what it looks like to embody the presence of the kingdom in this world. Thy kingdom come and thine is the kingdom. This needs to be our prayer. I'm going to quote Carl Bart, great swiss theologian, partly in honor of Roger Federer who's playing right now at Wemblevin and I can't see it live. Don't tell me if you know what's happening. So let's just in honor of Federer, quote Carl Bart and listen to these words. I'm trying to bring a little levity here, all right? Listen to this now. To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world. Isn't that magnificent? Did you hear that? To clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world. Because what God is doing in his kingdom is he is bringing order and wholeness and beauty and peace. Now, that is the plan. It is God's plan. Thine is the kingdom. But hopefully, as you're listening to this, particularly as you think about the life of Christ, you say, I'm worthless. I am horrible at this. My prayer is certainly not filled with these thoughts. And my life, I'm a poor witness. I'm called to be a witness and ambassador, and I am but a poor servant. If that's what you're thinking, you're actually on pretty solid ground, biblically. Because, secondly, not only vine is the kingdom, but vine is the power. The psalm that we have been referencing, Psalm 29, emphasizes the kingdom and the majesty of God, but also the power of God. Verse 1 of Psalm 29, ascribed to the Lord, glory and strength. The Lord is the one. It says in verse 17, it gives strength to his people. We are so impressed by power, aren't we? I mean, we live, thankfully, in the most powerful country in the face of the earth. But we oftentimes can get really puffed up by power and fascinated by it. We like power hitters, the unjust ones, that is. We like people who are very powerful in a marketplace. And so we give them television shows to replicate their DNA more and more to others. Because we want a whole world. We want a very powerful, influential people that we can look up to. What Psalm 29 does is it says, think in your mind's eye about what is powerful? What do you value as powerful and a steam is strong and contrast that with the God of heaven and earth? And you will see that all those things you esteemed as powerful were as nothing, utterly weak. Now, this is saying a lot because we know who penned these words, David. And remember David's experience early on in his life, probably the most famous story in the Bible. David and... not Bathsheba, David and Goliath, okay? The armies of Israel are cowering. I mean, absolute fear, their knees are buckling because this nine plus foot giant, you know, it's like he's got things. He is laughing at him and scowling him. No one is willing to take up sword against him. And just by coincidence, the shepherd boy David, not old enough to be there, not trained for battle, wanders up and the first words that are recorded in the Bible out of David's mouth. You know what they are? Check this out. Not really, but it's kind of what he said. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? See his perspective was right. He wasn't given his Frappuccino to his dog. Things were focused. He understood because God's plan was shaping the way he was thinking. And so when he comes before the one who is just ridiculing him and dogging him, David says, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. And we all know how it turns out. It was a very short battle. Where are you weak right now? Where do you feel just powerless? Where do you feel despairing or tempted? Where does anger just want to take over? Do you know that if you admit your weakness, if your perspective is clear on your lack of ability in contrast to God's ability, you are in a very potentially powerful place? Because the Lord is the one who gives strength to his people. And though our culture engenders in us sort of a mentality and confidence that we naturally are embedded with limitless possibilities and potential, the Bible says through and through, guess what, you're weak. And in and of yourself, you can do nothing. Jesus said it himself, apart from me, you can do nothing. And how ironic and upside down is the Christian gospel in that the one who is all powerful would empty himself of his prerogative to that power. By living a life of complete humility, ultimately laying down his life altogether, suffering and dying, how weak the world would say and get how limitless power is the work of Christ on the cross. So where are you struggling? If you've seen the new Superman movie, you know there's some interesting imagery in there. At the front end of that movie, Lois Lane sort of bitterly says, the world doesn't need a savior. She comes to see otherwise. And I think in our own experience that we might not say it most of us so overtly, there are points of pressure in your life where you are indeed weak, you're entrapped, you can't get out. You don't have any power, but you don't want to admit it. There's too much pride. And you say, I don't need a savior right here. But with the Bible affirms over and over and maybe most clearly in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where you possible Paul who had so much in the world's eyes said, God gave me particular weakness so that I might see that when I am weak, then he is strong. Where I acknowledge my weakness and cry out for the power of God, he is strong to save. The grace catches fire where we acknowledge our need and weakness. And so the Psalm, Psalm 29, urges us a scribe to the Lord strength where you think you are strong. Instead, apply to your heart passages of Scripture that affirm like Psalm 29, like 1 Samuel 17, David and Goliath, the altogether powerful royal strength of the name of the Lord. 17 times alone in Psalm 29, the name of the Lord is mentioned. Well, there's the plan of God. Vine is the kingdom. We are now enabled by the grace of God given to us in Christ as we look to Him in faith. He enables us to more and more live out this in our experience for what purpose. I mean, if you're like me, you're like a glass of chocolate milk. You know, in the old fashioned chocolate milk where you had to take the glass of regular milk and scoop into it the powder, I don't know if you have to do that anymore, but you do. But, you know, what happens is you stir it all up and you're furiously in that cold milk and trying to get it all going. And then something distracts you and you leave it aside for about 15 minutes, what happens? You come back, it's all separated again. You know, the chocolate's now at the bottom and you have to stir it up again. All of us are like that glass of chocolate milk. We get it, but then we forget it. And so we need to be stirred up by the strength and grace of God all of this for what purpose? For vine is the glory. God's greatest purpose, in fact the overarching reason for our existence and that for which everything in the universe exists is the glory of God, meaning that His honor, His reputation, the worth and value of God in our estimation would increase that He would receive the glory. And so Psalm 29 says, a scribe to the Lord, the glory do His name. Stop giving worth and value to all these other things in life that are ultimately trivial and empty, give value to God who is worthy. But the remarkable thing in doing so is that God blesses us. In Psalm 29, you might really say that a lot of it, most of it is a doxology. It's celebrating the goodness of God in praise and thanksgiving. And you probably heard the word benediction. It's where God blesses His people. Well, most of Psalm 29 is a doxology. It's the reverse of a benediction where God's people are blessing with words of praise and thanksgiving. God and who He is, that's His glorious, steaming His glory, doxology, our purpose in life and everything that we do and say and think is to doxologize God. And yet what Psalm 29 in the whole Bible tells us is that as we do that, as our hearts give praise to God, He then turns that doxology into a benediction. Did you notice the way that Psalm 29 ends? The God who gives strength to His people, it says, may the Lord bless His people with peace. And we're almost there here, but that could also be rendered a simple present, not so much a prayer, but there are factual reality. God does indeed and will continue to give His people peace. In other words, coming fully alive. It's what the ancient teacher Irenaeus said. The glory of God is manfully alive. It's what the catechism question says, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. They're not two different things, they're two sides of the same coin. As you and I live for thine is the kingdom. His plan more and more becoming a reality in our practical experience through thine is the power, the enabling work of God in Christ in us. Then God receives the glory and at the same time we find ourselves waking up and coming fully alive. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. But it doesn't end there and we really are almost through. I was telling Ellen earlier this week about what I was preaching on this Sunday told her and she said, that's my favorite phrase in the Lord's prayer. Because you can just sense the intensity, especially if you're singing it, it's like the hair begins to stand up. And it gives thumbs. I mean, it's thrilling. The way the Lord's prayer comes to that climax. But she said, you know what? My favorite part is the word forever. I started to think about that. Just contemplate the mind-boggling reality. And thy kingdom and thy power and thy glory ultimately one day converge perfectly in the person of our royal redeemer, King Jesus. Then there will be no more futility, no more pain, no more death, no more discord. Just reveling together with the heavenly host unto the ages in the glory and grace of Almighty God. Forever and ever and ever. Amen.