We use the term missional church in referring to Ginghamsburg. It's been a really exciting week to see all of the things that happen from here. You've seen the seminary students who were here in an intensive class. They were all master level students. When they turn in their final paper, they will receive three semester hours. They were from five different states and two United Methodist Seminaries. Today, 27 of our young people and their adult leaders arrived in Jamaica to be on mission this week. I was visiting some of our inner city projects. We have kid's camps going on around the city every day; we have feeding programs for the children in the neighborhoods in the inner city. And here now, 55 pastors from Korea have arrived here, please stand so we can welcome you. So we are busy in mission. God is good. Can you say amen with me? Amen. For the rest of the weekend, including Next Step and house churches and Sunday morning and different venues, you will probably be watching this on tape. Can you tell that I've been battling something for the last two weeks? So, I really need your prayers. I've already been on two different antibiotics. So I think I'm going to do what the doctor told me to do on Thursday - lie down for a little bit. So will you be praying for me in these next few days? The ministry around here sometimes is just too exciting to lie down.

Let's pray. "Father God, as we open Your word together, we pray for the aliveness of Your Holy Spirit. Wake us, revive us, renew us. We pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people say, amen." All of us have a desire to communicate with God. From the most ancient times of humanity, we find on caves, paintings and carvings of people trying to communicate with the unseen. The Aborigines even today continue a tradition that is thousands of years old of praying through smoke and fire to send it to the heavens. There are totems, mountain shrines, prayer wheels from the beginning of time. Francis Collins, head of the United States Genome project, says that we are created with this gene to know God and seek God. Isn't that amazing? Does that make sense that God would put in us a gene to seek God? The problem we have is not the want to pray, the problem is the how to pray. How many of us sometimes struggle with the right words? So what Jesus is telling us in Matthew is that it's not really about words. Let's look together at Matthew 6:6-8, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, don't keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think will be heard because of their many words. Don't be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."  What is so powerful is we see that prayer is not a matter of words. You don't need words. It's a matter of heart. A dear old saint one time shared with me, when I was pretty young; she said, "Mike, every time you think of God, it's a prayer." Isn't that neat? One time, Jesus' disciples saw him praying - I wonder how much of their schedule was interrupted while travelling with Jesus because of his prayer and how many times did they have to wait on him because of his prayer. The Lord's Prayer is only recorded in two places. One is in Luke 11 and it's in the context of his disciples seeing him pray, saying, "Lord, teach us to pray." The other in Matthew 6:9-13 is in the context of the sermon and they're said in different ways. I don't believe Jesus ever used this the same way twice. But now, we're going to pray it together from the Matthew version. It's going to be different. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

I think one of the reasons we struggle with prayer is that subconsciously, if not consciously, we feel unworthy. What amazes me is you come up to me, this is frequent, almost on a weekly basis, and you will say to me, "Pastor, will you pray for me." I understand that part; but sometimes you'll say "… because God probably will hear your prayer better than mine." Believe me; I'm right where you are. If it comes to my own rightness, to being right with God, that's what righteousness means, I'm in a real deep hole and I'm not going to get out of it if it's based on me. What we need to understand is just this one word here that's really about our identity: Father. In the Luke version, Jesus doesn't even say our Father, it is the shorter version and he just says Father. If there is one word that can wake me out of a deep sleep at night, it is that word, Dad. Carolyn will say, "Did you hear that storm last night." No, I didn't hear it. We have a train really close to our house. I'll even be talking on the phone sometimes and someone will say, "What was that?" I have blanked it out we've lived there so long. I've slept through trains, planes, storms. Tipp City's tornado warning sirens have gone off twice this year. I've slept through those tornado warning sirens. But the one thing that would wake me up in the middle of the night was when one of my children would go, "Dad." I was right there. You know what I'm talking about? On my cell phone, if people call me, I can be in a meeting with the bishop or anyone else. I'll look, put it on hold and I'll get back to them later. If it's one of my children, I always say, "I'm going to have to take this; will you excuse me for a moment?" Isn't that amazing how that works? 

It was June 2000. I had just been in Cleveland for two weeks at an International Methodist Meeting where I was a delegate. I had come home, exhausted, ill with a 102° fever. I was supposed to immediately go to our state meeting in Lakeside, Ohio. It's a mandatory meeting. All your pastors have just come back from that meeting two weeks ago. You need special permission from your bishop to miss this meeting. I had been to 27 straight annual meetings at Lakeside, Ohio. Never missed one. I called my bishop. "Bishop, I am in bed. I can't get out of bed. I have a 102° fever. I haven't missed in 27 years. I'm going to have to miss this meeting." I was laying there, it was three o'clock in the afternoon and the phone rang. There was sobbing, uncontrolled crying, "Dad" on the other end. I said, "What's wrong?" It was our daughter and she had just collided with a truck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at 70 mph. She was in the car, crying. I said, "What do you see?" She couldn't see anything. The hood had come back through the windshield. She said, "Dad, I can't get out of the car." I said, "Kristen, don't try to get out. Is the car smoking? Turn it off." She said, "It's off." I said, "Do you see a siren or anything?" She said, "In my rear view window I see blinking lights." I said, "Stay on the phone. Don't get out of the car." Cars were going by on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I said, "Stay on the phone until the cops get there." The cop came. I said, "Give him the phone." I told him, "I'm her dad." He was checking her: are you bleeding, he was looking at her doing all these type of things. I was throwing clothes in a bag. Within 10 minutes, 102° fever, my behind was in the car and I was driving five hours to Pennsylvania. All I knew was one thing, "Dad." Because of one thing: Father. How many in the room know what I'm talking about?

Sometimes that's all you have to say. Say it with me: Father. That's all you have to say. Think about it, parents. Who makes the commitment when you decide to have a child? It's the parents! Right? Who accepts the responsibility and liability? Carolyn and I were married for six years before we had our first, Kristen. We were having a good time just hanging out together. But we were hitting 30 years old and we thought we wanted to have a family, so we'd better get with this. So we had Kristen. You talk about commitment of responsibility right away. Everything about this … every parent knows that pink medicine you keep in the refrigerator; these little kids have earaches all the time. I remember when Kristen got tubes and they took her back to the surgery room - they wouldn't let us in. She yelled, "Dad" and they wouldn't let me in. Do you remember that kind of stuff? Both of our kids had colic and did not sleep through the night for six months. We were ministering in Anderson Hills U.M. Church; that's where I was a pastor before I came here. By the way, we're going back there and speak for the first time in 31 years on July 18, on Sunday morning. I'll be seeing people who were young like me 31 years ago, who are old like me now. So we had this three-floor townhouse. Our bedroom was upstairs and at two in the morning, I was worn out from working and Carolyn said. "You're going to have to take this baby because I can't." I was walking her down two floors to the basement; nothing. I gave her milk, her pacifier; nothing would shut her up. It was the year of the blizzard. We would go out in our Volkswagen Dasher. How many of you remember what a Volkswagen Dasher was? We would put her in the car seat in the middle of the night in that snow, that blizzard and ride around. It was only when the car was moving, not just turned on, that she would go to sleep. As soon as we would get back and turn off the car, guess what?  

It's all about one thing: Father. So here I was, making $5,700 at Anderson Hills. In that church, you wore a suit and I owned two suits. So I remember I was holding Kristen while Carolyn was getting ready to go to church. We had three services on Sunday mornings. I was looking at this little baby … oh yes. And you know how, at that age, when they poop, and it's like it comes out the back of their shirt. Some of these young people sitting here who haven't had kids yet think "he's exaggerating." It comes up … shoots up the back of their neck. I was … it's terrible. It's all that green/brown looking liquid. It's always the nastiest smelling kind of stuff and here it was on my suit. So I went upstairs and changed my suit. Can you guess what happened? She immediately did it again. I don't know how there was anything left in that child. She got my second suit and that's why you have never seen me in a suit because I don't have any more! You know what I mean, they poop all over you and that is a metaphor for the next 18 to 21 years of your life with them.

But it all comes down to one word, Father. Say it with me: Father. Holy is your name. Sometimes that's the only thing you ever need to pray. That one word, Father, not only reminds me whose I am, my identity, but it really reminds me who I am. Have you ever heard that expression, "He's a chip off the old block" or "She's her father's daughter" or "Yeah, he's just like his old man; could never hold a job" or "His old man was a womanizer." Holy is about character. Growing up, I really struggled with identity and self-esteem. Part of the problem is that I started school too young. I was four when I started school. Males are always kind of less coordinated and behind anyway. The part of school that was always really hard for me was the mathematics and science. I could handle storytelling but I wasn't too good in math. Can you imagine that? I remember my dad worked at General Electric, right there in the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale on Interstate 75. He was really good on the math side of things. He worked in the engineering department. I remember him sitting there in those, like what they did in the 1950s and '60s; they always wore the white shirts with skinny ties. I remember him coming home at night, sitting there with his sleeves rolled up. He'd be tired; this young dad, trying to help me with math. I couldn't get it; and I'd say, "Dad, you don't realize that I'm stupid. I won't get this." He would say, "You're not stupid, you're just not applying yourself." Between 15 and 17, I had some difficult times. At 16, there was a time when I was arrested, it was alcohol related with that and it was a Saturday night. I lived in this little town, North College Hill, which is adjacent to Cincinnati. You know how in little towns everybody kind of knows everybody? So, they called my dad and they opened Mayor's Court just for me - a 16-year-old kid with my dad presenting me there on Sunday afternoon. Can you imagine that? So, they were really giving me a hard time, which I deserved. My dad all of a sudden, I couldn't believe it because I knew he was embarrassed, and this isn't what he was about, but my dad interceded on my behalf. I was sitting there; I just couldn't believe it. Why are you saying you would take responsibility for this and you guarantee it would never happen again? I remember we went out and got in the car and we began to drive home. It was silent. You can imagine how I felt sitting next to my dad. Finally, he just looked over at me and said, "This isn't you. You're better than this." What's so neat is that last week my dad was sitting over here listening to me preach on Sunday morning and it amazes me because I look over there and he's always listening. As a matter of fact, the powerful thing in my life is that he used to, even in my meetings when I began to preach, he would stand up, Carolyn would be with me, and he would say, "I'm not a Christian and I don't believe you need Jesus like he's telling you, but I can at least tell you he's telling you the truth. His life has really changed." That's just what I need, Dad, is you to stand up and tell people you don't believe they need Jesus. Thanks, Dad. Can you believe your dad doing that? So one day I was preaching and I gave an altar call. I said, "Jesus has changed my life and he can change your life. I'm going to kneel here at the altar and anyone who wants to come forward to ask Jesus Christ into their life, come down here and pray with me." I was praying there at the altar and I looked over and there was my mom and dad kneeling at the altar, giving their life to Jesus Christ. Isn't that something? I was probably about 22 or 23 years old at that time. I've been preaching since I was 19. Can you believe that? When Jesus got a hold of this boy's behind, he got a hold of me, let me tell you.

So my dad was sitting over there just last Sunday, Father's Day, and they even handed him the microphone. We had a little interaction thing going on. My dad smokes cigars, so some of you were gracious, our missionaries who served in Haiti, brought back a couple $25 Cuban cigars. So when we went home, my dad and I were sitting out on the deck last Sunday afternoon. We got him some other stuff, too, but I said, "Dad, it's Father's Day, you've never had a $25 Cuban cigar - here it is." I handed it to him. He was sitting there smoking that cigar and we're just looking out back. He said, "You know, son, I was listening to you preach this morning. I'm amazed, you're brilliant. It just amazes me how brilliant you are." Remember back there when he said I wasn't stupid. Remember back there when he said it wasn't me and that I was better than that? Now he looks at me and says I'm brilliant. I'm reminded, when I pray that way, Father, Holy is your name … I'm freaking royalty! I'm a child of the King! We're ambassadors of Christ! And I'm reminded that I have a responsibility to live up to my family name. You know what I'm talking about? This is why, when you look at verse 13, I'm reminded every day there's this integrity thing. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Because not only of whose I am, but who I am. I love what Mother Teresa said, "Our progress and holiness depends on God and ourselves … on God's grace and our will to be Holy. We must have a real living determination to reach holiness." Do you like that? Say it with me, one word: Father. Holy is your name.

The other thing that's so important about prayer, look at me with verse 10, "… your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." The privilege we have in prayer is that we can have the freedom to not only know God's will, but to live God's will on a daily basis in our life. We pray that we can know God's will and live that purpose. Have you ever heard that expression sometimes about Christians (and it's true for many Christians) they're so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good? I meet people all the time, and they'll say, "I'm saved." And I say, "Saved for what?" Like my grandmother used to preserve peaches on a shelf. They're no more than preserved peaches on a shelf. What are you saved for? No, we are agents of God's purpose on earth. Every day I turn to the Father. I really understand his will for my life today and how he resources us through the Holy Spirit to carry out that will. I love what it says in Luke 9:6 as Jesus sent his disciples out, "So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere." Isn't that amazing that we can do that every day? We can tell other people how Jesus can change their life and that God will use us as an instrument for their healing, transformation and sobriety. That's powerful. I met Jesus and at 19, he was using me to share the good news and promote healing everywhere I went. We have that privilege. Every day that I go to God in prayer, I can know God's specific will for my life today and have the resources to carry that out in a very practical way. We have this precious gift and resource in prayer.

There's one other thing that we have every day. It's dealing with our forgiveness stuff. Any of you have problems with forgiveness? That's why I've got to spend a lot of time in prayer. Look at what verse 12 says about forgiveness, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." I love that word debt that he uses. Sometimes when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we pray forgive us our trespasses. But, I like the word debt. I understand the word debt. Then in verse 14 Jesus said, "For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Oh, my gosh. My forgiveness from the Father has something to do with my relationships with my brothers and sisters. "But if you don't forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Forgiveness begins with forgiveness of self. You can never really forgive someone else until you realize how much you have been forgiven.

I was talking with some young people in our church this past week. It amazes me, I talk a lot about money matters and how debt is not our friend. I was shocked at how many young people have college debts. This is a couple coming together in their 20s, both of them bringing their college debt together of over $100,000. So when we were talking about that this week, they wondered how they were ever going to get out from under this. That does not count their credit card debt. Have any of you have been in debt in a way that you wonder how you are ever going to get out of it and you feel helpless or hopeless and can relate to what I'm saying? Look at our debt when it comes to how bad we have screwed up and how misaligned we are with God's will. I said earlier, some of you ask for me to pray for you because you think God's going to hear my prayers more than yours. No, he won't. If my relationship with God was based on my rightness, I want to tell you that the hole I had dug for myself by 16, I still wouldn't have been out of. My rightness is in Jesus. It is freely given and it is freely received through surrender.

On July 25, we're going to put a swimming pool out here on the lawn and we're going to do our Baptism on the Lawn again. For anyone who has surrendered their life to Jesus Christ and have not been baptized or want to reaffirm their baptism vows. Baptism literally means to be covered. Paul put it this way, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." In other words, when God looks at me, this is the most amazing thing, I don't understand it, all I have to understand is one word: Father. Say it with me: Father. That's all I have to understand, because when God sees me, he sees Jesus. Not only does he not see my sin, he doesn't even remember my sin. That's humanly impossible. Even though we forgive other human beings, we still remember the sin. Look at what it says here. "For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." We have this power to release other people from guilt. What a ministry of healing. This is why God has put us together. When you hear me physically say to you, you are forgiven in Jesus Christ, you can't hear God say that, so God has given us people. Every day, instead of picking at each other and reminding each other what is wrong, we're here to say you are forgiven in Jesus Christ. You're forgiven, that means you're free now to work and get your stuff together. That's what's so neat about the gospel. Many of us fear religion. Okay, I'm going to work really hard to be right with God and then I'll be forgiven. No. You're forgiven! So now you're free to work hard at getting your stuff together. I love what Jesus said to his disciples after the resurrection in John 20:21-23. He said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you … receive the Holy Spirit." And then here's the last thing he said, "If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they're not forgiven."

I've been criticized a lot lately for being too forgiving with people. At a National Meeting recently, someone saw me sit next to a gay person. There were debates going on by this gay person and they said, "You're too nice to some people." I said, "Let me just tell you this: I have received undeserved mercy in my life." Anybody in this room receive undeserved mercy? So I'm going to leave judgment to God. I'm not saying truth is not truth. I'm just going to leave judgment to God. I'm just going to go around being an instrument of God's grace and undeserved mercy all my life. Then, on judgment day, God can sort out that other stuff. Anybody else here going be an instrument of God's grace and undeserved mercy? Amen.

I want us to spend some time in prayer. What's the one thing we need to keep remembering? Just one thing, one word: Father. I've been praying this all week long. A lot of times I just say Father. When I'm tempted, when you're tempted, say Father and see where that temptation goes. Say it out loud as many times as you need to say it. It's amazing what happens when you invite the Father into your situation. Let's go to prayer right now. Again, I'm going to do directional prayer. Right now, just receive freely the forgiveness that the Father offers you through surrendering to Jesus. Let's hear the words of Jesus to the woman caught in the act of adultery, "I do not condemn you." Then hear the promise of empowerment. "Go and sin no more." That's not who you are, you're better than that. You are freaking royalty! You are a child of the King! Freely you have received, now freely give. Who is somebody that you need to forgive? Just give it to God. Now pray for someone specifically who you know needs the release from guilt through a relationship with Jesus Christ, that they can discover that gift of forgiveness in Jesus. Pray for them specifically right now. Pray for them to live into the inheritance that God has set aside for them. Pray that they may know specifically God's will for their life today and live into that will. Pray for your children. Pray for our children, that they may be radical followers of Jesus Christ. We rebuke in Jesus' name, any spirit of confusion, of apathy of lukewarmness, of unbelief that would enter our children's hearts. Pray about your own faith. The devil is a master of getting us to focus on our doubts and uncertainties, where Jesus said you only need the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains. Focus on that mustard seed of faith that God has given as a gift to each one of us. Just act on that mustard seed of faith. Pray for our nation right now. Pray for a spirit of absolute revival where people will humble themselves and once again turn to God.

"Father, we pray that You confront all duplicity in our life, all contradictions, the lukewarmness that makes us ineffective as Your light in the world. Help us get past the religion, the religious activity, traditions and habits to live daily in a vital, trusting, surrendering relationship to You. Father, we're glad that You never let us go. We pray all of this together in Jesus' name. Amen."