Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread

In this part of the sermon: The sermon begins by examining the meaning of 'daily bread,' explaining that it signifies the staple necessities of life. Martin emphasizes that praying this petition acknowledges…

A Scottish preacher asks children where their bread comes from, tracing it back from mothers to bakers, millers, farmers, the ground, and finally to God, illustrating humanity's slowness to acknowledge God as the ultimate source of provision.

There was a Scottish preacher who had a group of young people in his little church school. It was apparently a parochial school, a Christian day school we would call it. And one day he asked the students, he said, now tell me, that bread, that you had on your table last night for dinner, where did you get it? And the whole class answered in unison, our mothers gave it to us.

7:51 - 8:14 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon begins by examining the meaning of 'daily bread,' explaining that it signifies the staple necessities of life. Martin emphasizes that praying this petition acknowledges…

Martin recounts an unsaved relative's claim of self-sufficiency for all possessions, which he then refutes by asking who provides breath, health, and physical ability, emphasizing God's ultimate provision.

And certainly we acknowledge that it's not our own hands. As an unsaved relative of mine said, I don't thank God for anything I've got. What I've got, I've got by my own hard work and my own sweat and my own frugality. Oh, you did, did you?

9:25 - 9:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Before going to work, consciously acknowledge your utter dependence on God for breath, strength, and health.

Martin uses the example of deep physical trials to show how God teaches conscious dependence for strength, noting how quickly the lesson can be forgotten once health returns.

Some of you perhaps have been brought to deep physical trials. This is the lesson God's taught you. You've known what it is day after day to get up and face the day and feel you had no strength to go to the first hour. And through this, God has taught you something of what it is to be consciously dependent upon Him for the bread, the bread of physical strength.

12:00 - 12:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your heart when giving thanks for food; ensure it's genuine, heartfelt gratitude, not just a habit.

He uses the example of young lions roaring for prey and seeking meat from God (Psalm 104) to illustrate the natural world's dependence on God, urging believers to be at least as dependent as beasts.

Isn't this the way we're made? And so our Lord wants us to pray this prayer so that we might cultivate that grace of conscious dependence. I think of this grace as illustrated in the life of the animal. And certainly God wants us to go beyond the beast.

12:37 - 12:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your heart when giving thanks for food; ensure it's genuine, heartfelt gratitude, not just a habit.

Martin confesses his own struggle with mouthing words of thanks for food without genuine, heartfelt gratitude, linking it to a lack of true belief in his dependence on God.

Often my own heart has been rebuked as I bowed over my food. I know better than to bow to eat without thanking the Lord. It's a habit, sort of like brushing your teeth. You get the habit to do it whether you're thinking about it or not.

13:42 - 13:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section highlights the profound truth that the transcendent, majestic God is also intimately concerned with our mundane physical needs, such as daily bread. Martin draws…

The story of Elijah on Mount Carmel and being fed by ravens at the brook Cherith illustrates that the same God concerned with His glory is also concerned with the physical needs of His prophet.

Give us bread. And our Lord wants us not only to acknowledge God as the one who supplies our need, but the second thing He wants us to do is to acknowledge that God is concerned about this area of our life, our lives, our physical sustenance, and I'm convinced that it includes all that is relative to my physical sustenance as I seek to live to the will of God, to the glory of God, and be involved in the work of the kingdom of God. May I give you several other instances where this is so wonderfully set forth in the scripture? You remember the prophet Elijah was there upon Mount Carmel, and the ...

18:22 - 19:06 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section highlights the profound truth that the transcendent, majestic God is also intimately concerned with our mundane physical needs, such as daily bread. Martin draws…

The provision of manna for Israel in the wilderness is used to show God's daily, miraculous care for His people's physical sustenance, even after mighty acts like parting the Red Sea.

And so the ravens came each day with flesh for the servant of God to sustain Him and to give Him His daily bread. The God who parts the Red Sea for Israel, the God who sends those tremendous judgments upon the land of Egypt, is the God who brings His people out into a wilderness and every day performs a perpetual miracle. He sends the manna from heaven to feed their hungry bodies in the midst of that burning desert land. And so God wants us to acknowledge His concern for this particular area of our lives.

19:55 - 20:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember that when you pray for bread, you are praying for basic necessities, not luxuries, and live with Christian frugality.

Martin reflects on how modern society's emphasis on insurance and long-term financial security can prevent believers from experiencing the blessing of daily dependence on God for provision, contrasting it with his itinerant ministry days.

I've thought so many times, Lord, we're cursed in that we're in a society where I can't honestly pray this anymore. Give us today our daily bread. Most of us can see our bread lined up, naturally speaking, for years ahead. We've got ourselves so fixed up insurance-wise and, friends, benefit-wise and every other kind of wise, we've missed the blessing of having to look to the hand of God to put bread upon our table.

22:26 - 22:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't rob your family of the blessing of having to believe God for some of your material needs.

He mentions a school that intentionally sets faculty salaries slightly below adequate levels so teachers must constantly learn dependence on God, which they can then teach to students.

I know a particular school that actually said, sets the faculty salaries with this in mind. They set the salaries just a little bit below what they feel would be adequate so that the teachers have to be constantly learning the truth of this prayer so they can teach it to the students.

24:27 - 24:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Obey God's command to pray, even if you cannot fully explain how your asking is tied to His giving.

A.B. Simpson's illustration of God putting a deposit in the 'bank of heaven' and requiring us to sign a check for each need explains why God wants us to ask, even though He knows our needs, fostering dependence.

Give us day by day our bread. An illustration that A.B. Simpson gave along this line I think is helpful.

26:49 - 26:56 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are committed to God's glory, kingdom, and will, bring every mundane detail of your life to Him in prayer.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about waiting a long time at a deli counter, illustrating how God uses mundane situations to teach patience and minister grace when one is committed to His will.

So I ask the Lord, help me get a parking meter, and if I don't, then I have to pray for grace to be patient. And it's hard for me to be patient when I waste time running around a block. The other day I went to the ShopRite. We were having friends come, so I wanted to go to the delicatessen there and pick up a few things.

35:35 - 35:52 Read in full sermon