Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name

Introduction

Recap Series

Last Week

Warning of Prideful Prayers

Instruction on how to pray

The reward of prayer

This week move to beginning of Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in Heaven

Francis Chan’s illustration on reading and studying scripture

doesn’t mean anything if you do not put it into practice

9 “Therefore, you should pray like this:

same here, all the study of prayer means nothing if you do not get into your closet one on one with the Lord and pray

Our Father in heaven,

“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.

your name be honored as holy.

Speak of the word “Therefore”

refers back to the humble vs prideful prayers we talked about last week…

If we do not start with that, the rest of the Lord’s prayer will not be said with the right heart

We Have a Command to Pray

You Should Pray Like This - does not mean good idea...

ESV -Pray like this

NASB - Pray, then, in this way

NKJV - In this manner, therefore, pray

When do we pray

This is not the pray without ceasing

Praying constantly is an attitude, or lifestyle… one where we are in constant conversation with the father

Like a text message conversation that does not end

Who is commanding us to pray

Who it is not...

a self help

even a spiritual leader

Jesus 1/3 of the trinity...

God has always been particular about how we are to approach him, the ways of worship

All the details of Exodus and Deuteronomy in regards to the tabernacle and what the priestly robes were to look like

Where are we to pray

This is the basis of our relationship with God

you cannot have a relationship without communication

if you only have a list of to do’s it is religion not a relationship

This command is not for God

I want my kids to communicate with me...

I know what is going on in their lives, I can pray for them, I can help, I can guide them

If they do not communicate with me, I do not know what is going on in their lives

It is not that way with God

This command is not so that God will know what is going on, and then can figure out what to do...

God is Omniscient

 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

This is for us, communication with God gets our lives in the correct order

8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

it gets our hearts and minds around the thought that He is the one in control, that he is the one to be glorified.

We Have a Command to Pray to Our Father in Heaven

Our Father in Heaven

Our

this is a simple pronoun in our language

in the greek, it is said with emphasis (only expressed with emphatic)

Every pronoun in this prayer is plural, we are not praying as individuals, but as a part of a greater community

this was not an accident or done simply because he was in front of a group

This is huge for every believer… you are not alone

Be careful when you bad mouth the bride of the King

it is always interesting to hear the stories of people who feel so alone though they are a Christian

when we are saved, you are saved into the family of God

we sing the song, I am so glad to be a part of the family of God, we refer to each other as brother and sister

This also will take the individualism or the prayer that is all about you that we talked about last week.

when we are praying as a part of a community, there is less focus on me and more on we

You are not praying for yourself, but for all of us…

Father

No where in this prayer does Jesus refer to God as anything but Father

this is how we as believers relate to God

this is hard for some, their earthly fathers are a poor representation of what a father is supposed to be like

Some dads are abusive, some neglect their children, some are not even around

But God is not like people, he will never leave you or forsake you

he loved you enough to send Jesus to die for your sins

Families without a father have been on the rise in our nation

I applaud the women who work their fingers to the bone, trying to do the work of two

but God designed and gave a role as father to the men, and you can see statistically the problems that people have when they come from a single parent home

this is the way God wants us to come to him…

could have been many others… Elohim, Creator God; El Roi, God Who Sees; or simply Lord, Master

We can see in , , and that we are sons and daughters of God when we accept Christ

The spirit inside us cries out Abba Father…

This is huge… we used to be enemies with God

You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.

4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.

in Heaven

God is not on a shelf...

God is not limited

Our Father is in Heaven ruling and reigning,

he is being worshipped by countless angles right now and still cares enough to be involved in your day to day life

We have a Command to Pray that Our Father’s name would be glorified

His Name

God is particular about his name…

you shall not take the Lord’s name in vain

Over and over in the OT we see God acting in a way to protect his name

we see David in the Psalms, praying that God would act so that his name would not be put to shame

Lord, for the sake of your name, forgive my iniquity, for it is immense.

Lord, for the sake of your name,forgive my iniquity, for it is immense.

We see God speak through the prophets as why he acted...

forgive my iniquity, for it is immense.

But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

Jesus is commanding us to pray that God would do the same now...

But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

Father, act in our world now in a way that would bring honor and glory to your name

Honored as Holy

Holy

root word hagios - holy or sacred; the word here is hagiaos is to make…

This is future tense command… not saying who God is, but that he would be honored as holy

We are not to pray that God is Hallow, but that His name would be hallowed… honored as holy.

What is Holy…

The word means set apart… as in God is set apart from creation

he is not a created being like we are, not held to the laws of nature like we are

We are not holy apart from God...

Jesus is commanding us to pray that God would do the same now...

Father, act in our world now in a way that would bring honor and glory to your name

This changes the way that we pray… This week, as you enter your prayer closet, pray that God’s name be honored.