Matthew 6:9-13 Hallowed Be Your Name

Good morning. I'm excited to be able to share the Word of God with you today. We have such a great treasure in the Word of God, and it is so transforming. In my ministry with Youth for Christ, it is what I love to do, is to share the truth that can set us free.

I would like to just start out by thanking you all for inviting me to serve as an elder here at Recast. Cheryl and I have, and Josiah, have been coming here. It was a year ago in September, and we love this church family.

We love the vision of Recast, and I had been praying about, Lord, how can I serve? And this opportunity came, and I just want you to know that I take it very seriously, and I don't come into it lightly.

I prayed and prayed about this decision. As a full-time minister of Youth for Christ, I have a lot going in my own ministry, but I believe so much in the local church and this church here in Mattawan.

And one of my commitments to you as a church family is to be covering you in prayer. I have learned in my walk with Jesus that prayer is powerful, that God can move mountains, and prayer moves the heart of God.

And I believe in miracles, and I expect miracles, and so I am going to step up my prayers for all of you. And as you fill out those prayer requests on the welcome cards, I love that the elders pray over those, and so I already know that's going to be my favorite part of the elder meeting, is praying for you all.

And I would challenge you, too, right at, you know, speaking of prayer, to remember Don, and Linda, and Adam, and Luke, and Leah in your prayers. I know we take our pastor for granted, it's easy to do.

Also our elders as well, Zach and Rob and their families, when you step up to serve, the enemy does not like that, and he attacks it. And the enemy does not like what's going on here at Recast. And so our point man, so to speak, our pastor, definitely becomes a target of the enemy.

And I would just really challenge you to cover Pastor Don, and Linda, and the family in prayer. I know how much that... I know that I have done, not just survived in ministry, I just celebrated my 25th year at Youth for Christ.

I know that I have been in the battle for that long because of God's people holding us up in prayer, because there's so many times when I've felt like quitting. And I know that the enemy is constantly after me.

I feel that on a weekly basis, and as you do, I mean, we all feel that spiritual warfare. And even, you know, to start maybe using the table a little bit more for prayer requests. I don't know if you've signed up to be on the table, that's kind of through our website.

You can find prayer requests for the church family, you can post prayer requests, and I'm like, you know, this is a great tool to pray for one another. So even, you know, as a church, let's step up the prayer, church.

Let's really pray that God would do something special here in Matawan through this body of believers. I have great expectations for this church. So, if you were here the last time I spoke, I started a message on the Lord's Prayer.

This prayer has transformed the way I pray. This prayer has helped me systematically pray for people better than anything I have ever tried. And trust me, I've tried a lot of different prayer methods.

When I was sharing the last time, I stacked up all my books that I have in my office on prayer, just to show you that this is something that I feel strongly about, and I've studied. But when I discovered what Jesus gave us in the Lord's Prayer, and I learned to use it in my own prayer life, it transformed me.

It transformed the way I pray for people. And just by way of introduction, I wrote down in my notes, this is the prayer that covers all, all the concerns of our relationship with God and His with us. It covers our personal needs and the needs of those we are praying for.

It brings the beauty of God into our lives and the kingdom of God into our world. It connects us to the will of God and supplies our needs. It brings forgiveness and healing. This prayer also brings deliverance from evil and protection.

This is truly the prayer that covers all. So I would like to start by reading that prayer. So let's go to Luke chapter, or Luke, let's go to Matthew chapter 6. It's also in Luke, by the way. If you don't have a Bible and you need one, we would love for you to take one of these Bibles that are in the chairs, and I'm gonna grab one so I can give page numbers as we go.

So we're gonna go to Matthew chapter 6, and this prayer was given because the disciples saw the connection between Jesus praying and incredible things happening. And after walking with Jesus for, I don't think it took very long, when they saw the correlation between Jesus' connection with the Father and what was happening through his ministry, and they just said this simple prayer, Lord teach us to pray.

And Jesus gave them this prayer. If you're still looking for it, it's on page 691. And let's just go ahead and read that. Jesus said in verse 9, pray then like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Simple, short, concise, but it has seven prayer requests that are transformational. How many of you could say that prayer by heart? Just raise your hands high so everybody can, okay. It is so well known.

How many of you though, and you don't have to raise your hand for this one, but my question is, how many of you use it as a blueprint for prayer, as a model for prayer? And that's what Jesus intended it, not to just be a, you know, a plaque on our wall or a nice prayer that we memorize, but he was showing us seven crucial things that need to be in our prayers.

This prayer is so beautiful, I love how it starts. And you look at those simple words, our Father in heaven. And we take those words for granted, but when Jesus spoke those words and said that they could call God Father, people's jaws would kind of drop like, what?

I can call God Father. Because in Jesus' day, they did not dare call God Father. It was too intimate. In fact, they were afraid to say the sacred name of God. And so we were not even sure how to pronounce Yahweh or Jehovah or however, because they wouldn't even say the name of God, they would always substitute it for the word Adonai when they came to that word in the scriptures.

And so Jesus brought in, he, see the beauty of it is, is that Jesus opened the way wide to God. When he died on that cross, the veil in the temple split open and there was the Holy of Holies and clear view of everyone.

And that was a message to the world that Jesus opened the way wide into the throne of grace, into the Holy of Holies, and that there's a new and living way through what Jesus did for us. And that with this new and living way, it brought an intimacy that they hadn't known in the Old Testament, under the old covenant, that we could now call God Father.

And so last time I taught, I focused on what kind of father, what does that mean to be able to call God Father? And you know, I work with troubled kids. This morning it was my privilege to lead chapel at the County Juvenile Home.

We do chapel there every Sunday morning. And Art and Kelly and their family, he's one of my ministers at Youth for Christ and he did Lakeside this morning. So quite often I'm either at the Juvenile Home or Lakeside on Sunday mornings.

And we work with these, these hurting young people and many of them, you know, the word father is just, it's not a good word because dad has not been there for them. Or if he has, he's been abusive or neglectful.

And so we have to always qualify this title father. And I love how Jesus described the father. He described him as being perfect. So if you could think of the perfect parent, what would that look like?

Anybody have a perfect parent here, grown up? Are any of you perfect parents? You know, we come so short, don't we? There are no perfect families, we all know that. We all have our struggles. And we all struggle as parents, don't we?

I mean, I think parenting is the toughest job on earth. I think it's tougher than what I do in my ministry at Youth for Christ, just being a good parent. But you think of God as being the perfect father.

He's gonna be there for his kids, isn't he? He's gonna look out for them. He's gonna speak into their life. He's not gonna neglect them. He's not gonna forsake us. You know, I think of how much I love my kids and I would do anything for them.

And my love is nothing compared to the love of the Father. Wow. You are loved beyond measure. We can't even comprehend the love of God. It doesn't matter what your situation is this morning. It doesn't matter what your walk has been.

He loves you unconditionally and you can do nothing to make him love you more. Because his love, because he is perfect, his love is perfect and unconditional. He is for you. He is the best father and Jesus brought us into that most intimate relationship.

I want to talk just briefly about what these words in heaven mean. So kind of check that out there in Matthew chapter 6. Our Father in Heaven. Why did Jesus include those words in the prayer? I think he wants us to be aware of the dwelling place of God and the essence of God.

And so he uses these words in heaven. And when we think of that, we typically think of God as where? Way out in space somewhere, right? Heaven is a real place. You get glimpses of it in the Word. Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord high and lifted up on a throne.

You see these visions in Ezekiel and Revelation and the angels around the throne. And it is a real place. But we think of our Father in Heaven. He's way up there. But I want to tell you a little bit about this word that's used here.

It's a Greek word. It's ouranos. And this word means the sky and by extension heaven as the abode of God. It's translated air, heaven, heavenly, and sky. It's the same word. Paul in 2nd Corinthians 12 to talked about being caught up to the third heaven.

So there's kind of three aspects of the heavens. There's the outer atmosphere of our earth, which we call the sky. It's the same word, heaven. Then there's the atmosphere beyond that, which we think of as the universe, you know, where the stars are and that kind of thing.

And then we think of the third heaven as that's where I want to go, okay? And be there one day with God. But when Jesus said, pray our Father in heaven, he was saying, pray our Father in the heavens. Meaning that he is right here in these heavens.

And he is in the outer heavens. And he is in the heaven of heavens. Jeremiah said that God fills, if you're taking notes and you want to look up some scripture later, Jeremiah 23, 23 and 24, that God fills the heaven and the earth completely with his spirit.

Psalm 139 says that you cannot go anywhere where you are not surrounded by the presence of God. Just like the air, God is always there. He surrounds us with his presence. So he is near. So don't let that word in heaven make you think of him as being way out there somewhere.

He is surrounding you with his presence in your car, in your workplace, in your home, wherever you're at. His presence, his face is right there beholding you. It also describes his essence because Jesus said in John 4 24, God is spirit.

And that Greek word is pneuma. And it can be translated, it's translated spirit and breath and wind. So it's the same Greek word for those three things, spirit, breath, and wind. They're all invisible.

The essence of God is spirit. In fact, in 1st Timothy, he is called the invisible God. Just so, I mean, air is invisible, right? But we believe in it and we know we're surrounded by it. And it's life-giving.

I mean, if we stop breathing, we die, right? And that's the spirit of God is his life-breathing. I like what Job said. He said, as long as the breath of God is in my nostrils, I will praise him. And, you know, I'm sure you've stood close enough to someone to smell their breath.

Sometimes that can be a good thing and sometimes it can be a bad thing, you know. But you got to be close, right? To feel a person's breath. And that's how close we are to the true and living God. He surrounds us with his spirit wherever we go.

I just put down a little point, some points here. We are always in his sight, Hebrews 4 .13, no creature is hidden from him. And there are so many scriptures that back that up. Proverbs 15, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the good and the evil.

Psalm 139, 1 through 6, is a beautiful passage on that. So he sees us everywhere, every movement we make. He hears every word that we speak. Matthew 12 .36 and Psalm 139 .4. Before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You understand the thoughts of my heart. So not only does he hear our words spoken, he hears our words unspoken. And I like that. I like that I can pray to God anywhere and he hears. Because he is the all-knowing, ever-present spirit that surrounds us.

There's some really good scriptures on him knowing even our thoughts. Psalm 139 .2, Isaiah 66 .18, Matthew 9 .4, 1 Kings 8 .39, there's many others. Because he is ever-present, he knows what's going on in our lives.

Because he is the perfect loving father, he is there for us in a special way. We can believe his word. We can believe his promises. He is trustworthy. He will always be there for his children. Because of that, we don't have to live in fear.

Psalm 23 .4, David said, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Hebrews 13 .5 and 6, he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The ever-present Father who hears every word that we speak. He knows every thought that you think. He sees every move that you make.

He's perfect love. Wow, I can count on him. I can trust in him. He is trustworthy. He will always keep his word. And because of that, thank you, Father. I can bring my burdens to you. And no burden is too big and no burden is too small.

1 Peter 5 .7, casting all your care upon him because he cares for you. Man, you have burdens on your heart, don't you? I know I do. You have struggles in your life like I do too. And he says, come to me just the way you are.

Come to me in your weariness and your burden and I will give you rest. It's perfect, ever present, faithful, loving Father. Our Father is the God of the universe. Wow, that's amazing. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

I want to pray and I want to pray the Lord's Prayer for you. And I want to show you how I pray the Lord's Prayer. And it varies a little bit every time I pray it. I can do it in a very short, quick time, and I can spend 30 minutes praying that prayer to my office.

That's how long it takes me to get to my office. So as I pray this prayer, pray it for yourself, okay? And you'll hear the seven prayer requests as I go through it. And maybe this will enrich your prayer time a little bit, just maybe with some new ways to use this prayer in your own personal life.

So let's just, you know, Jesus said for us in Matthew 6, 6 to go into our room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

And so I would ask you just to, you know, bow your heads and close your eyes, and that's kind of going into that secret place, that secret room, okay? And just pray this prayer with me. Father in heaven, just thank you that we can call you Father.

What a privilege to be your sons and daughters. Thank you that you are the best Father, that you are there for us, that you hear our prayers right now, and we come to you, our Father in heaven, and we pray Hallowed be your name in our lives.

Father, we pray that you would teach us your name, that you would teach us who you are, Father, that your name would be in us, that your name would be upon us. Father, that you would just show us your beauty and your glory, that, Father, our hearts would be devoted to your honor.

Pray that we would see you in deeper ways, that you would give us eyes to see you and ears to hear you and hearts that would love you. Father, pray that you would just put within us a hunger and a thirst for your being, for your presence, and that we could grow deeper in our relationship with you.

Hallowed be your name, Father, in our lives. Bring us to the place where we will live for your honor and glory, Father, that we will seek your honor in everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do.

Father, may your glory shine forth on this earth, Father. We pray your kingdom come into our lives. Thank you for your kingdom. Thank you that in your kingdom, Father, you cast out the evil. Father, that there's healing, that there's mercy and grace.

Thank you that you are King of kings and Lord of lords. Father, your kingdom come in us. Father, I pray that you would tear down any works of the enemy in my life. Father, that you would tear down enemy walls, enemy lies that I might be believing, enemy strongholds.

In Jesus' name, that you would cast them out. Father, it says in your word that your kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Bring into our lives, Holy Father, your righteousness, your peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Father, may we submit to your rule and authority. Father, your kingdom come. Reign in us and reign over us. Father, we pray your will be done in our lives. Thank you that your will is perfect and pleasing.

Father, thank you that your will is good. Father, I pray that you would just work in us, in me, in each of us. Father, to will and to do of your good pleasure. For Lord, you know how self-centered we easily become and we seek our own will and we do our own will, but help us, Father, to learn your will.

Thank you that your word reveals your will. Help us, Father, to treasure your word. Help us to learn your word. Father, help us to want to live by your word. Please be wonderful counselor in our lives, Father, that we would know your will and walk in your will.

And Father, thank you that you promise to supply all of our needs, and so we pray give us this day our daily bread. Father, you know our needs better than we even know them ourselves, and you have all resources to meet those needs.

We acknowledge that, Father, we are dependent upon you for life, breath, and all things. So I pray that you would please help us, Father, to be healthy in spirit, healthy in soul. Father, that you would help us to be healthy in our bodies, that you would help us to be sound in heart.

Father, that you would help us to grow in your grace and grow in your love and grow in the knowledge of who you are. Father, you know our financial needs, and maybe there's something we need to lift up to you right now, Father, a bill or something that's just beyond our resources.

Pray that you would meet that in unusual needs in unusual ways. Father, you promised to heal the brokenhearted, and Lord, you know how fragile our hearts are, and I pray that you would just bring that healing in us.

Father, you know the struggles in our family and the needs of our loved ones, and thank you that you love us so much that you will meet our every need, Father. And so, Father, just thank you that this is the time when we can pray about the material and physical emotional needs in our lives, and just like I want to help my kids when they're struggling, you want to help your kids when we are struggling.

So Father, please give us this day our daily bread. Father, you know our greatest need is a right relationship with you, and that isn't right. Nothing else is right. And so, Father, we pray, forgive us our debts, forgive us our trespasses.

Thank you that you have made a way for our forgiveness. Thank you for the cross and the complete atonement. Praise you for your promise that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Father, you know how short we come of your glory. Father, we fail to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Father, we fail to honor you in all that we think, say, and do. We fail to keep your word.

Father, forgive us our debts. Forgive us for how oftentimes we are ungrateful. Father, forgive us for how we so easily become self-centered. Father, forgive us for the ways that we trespass. Father, and we fail to keep your commands and we break your word.

Father, forgive us our debts and our trespasses. Father, forgive us for lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh and pride of life. Father, your mercy and grace be upon us. Thank you for your promise of complete forgiveness right now.

We claim that promise because of the blood that was shed at the cross. Father, just shine your light in us and help us to see reality that we would live lives of repentance. Father, that you would help us to desire holiness, righteousness, and truth, and that you would clothe us with the righteousness of Christ.

And now, Father, I pray that you would keep us from temptation, that you would lead us not into temptation. Pray that you would lead us in the paths of righteousness, that you would help us to take that path of righteousness, that you would keep us from the enemy's traps.

Father, that you would help us to resist temptation. I thank you for the name of Jesus that means Savior, Rescuer, and that at the name of Jesus, temptations flee. Thank you that you are a mighty deliverer.

Deliver us from evil. Deliver us from the evil one. I pray that you would be our shield and our defender and that you would protect us and protect our loved ones. Father, I pray that you would protect us from the evil one.

I pray that you would protect us from demon spirits. I pray that you would protect us from evil people. I pray that you would protect us from evil deeds. I pray that you would crush the enemy's plans, works, and attacks against each of us and our families.

And just thank you that you are a mighty Savior, a mighty Deliverer, that you are our fortress and our high tower, that you are a rock. Thank you for your faithfulness over us. Thank you for hearing our prayers this morning.

Thank you that yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, Father, forever and ever. In Jesus' name, amen. I'm done, that's it. I don't know if you feel any different before we prayed that prayer together.

I don't know if you feel a shift in you. I know when I pray that prayer, I feel a shift. I feel a change. I feel transformation. And I pray that prayer just how I prayed it, by saying I use the word we and me, and I put people's names in there.

And I pray those kind of requests over people. And so I just use it as that blueprint, you know, start with our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. So entering into his presence with praise. Your kingdom come, recognizing, you know, that the kingdom of God is supreme.

And I want that kingdom fully in me and my loved ones. Your will be done. Guide me in your counsel. Give us this day our daily bread. I try to think of the needs of the person I'm praying for, as God brings them to mind, and praying for specific needs.

Because, you know, one thing I've discovered in prayer is that the more specifically we pray, the more specifically we see God work. So, and, you know, give us this day our daily needs. That covers, I mean, that's an invitation to bring whatever the need is into his presence and lead us not into temptation.

You know, he talked about, and forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors. And so, you know, if there's any bitterness in your heart, any grudges toward people, those need to be dealt with. And Jesus included that in his prayer.

And the only way we can actually do that is by experiencing that awesome, beautiful forgiveness of God himself. And so that's why that comes first. But I would like to talk briefly now just what this first prayer request means.

Hollowed be your name. That, just that very word, hollowed, is pretty strange, isn't it? I mean, how many times a week do you use that word, you know, unless you're praying this prayer? Probably not at all.

And I think it's a very misunderstood word. And so I kind of, you know, right now I just want to focus in on what does that mean. It's the first request, and it's to help us have the right perspective as we pray, that God in his glory is to be the top priority in our prayers.

Hollowed be your name gives God his rightful place in our lives and in our worship. It begins with him, with his name, and with who he is. The prayer starts with God first because that is his rightful place in our lives.

He should be first. We owe everything to him. Hollowed be your name is to keep us from rushing into the presence of God. Our human tendency is to rush into the presence of God and go right to our requests.

I mean, we have urgent needs. And, you know, for some people that's their prayer life, just like, you know, God help me, God, I can't pay this bill or, you know, whatever it might be. But it's our human tendency to just come to God just with our needs, and and Jesus says, no, we come into his presence.

Hollowed be your name, we're going to recognize his beauty first. Hollowed be his name, we're going to think on who he is, we're going to praise him for who he is. It's to teach us to seek God's face, not just his hand.

To seek God's face and not just his hand. This word hollowed in the Greek is hagiadzo. It's the word that we get the word holy from, which is hagios, and the main idea of hagiadzo is to set apart as special, to set apart as sacred.

It's the opposite of common. It's the idea of, you know, something might be sacred to you. You wouldn't want somebody trampling on it or spitting on it or, you know, I know in the juvenile home, if somebody drops a Bible, everybody's like, ooh.

Once in a while a kid will get mad and tear up his Bible and kids think that's an automatic ticket to hell. Because they view the book as sacred and that's a good thing, you know, but we know this is just paper here.

It's sacred when it comes into our hearts. But it's the idea of treating something as special, sacred, holy. We can't make God holy, so we're not saying God be holy. We're saying God help us to see you for who you are, that you are holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.

It's a prayer that God would be sacred to us in our hearts. And I like the way Webster's Dictionary defined the word in in one of the definitions. It says to treat as sacred, to revere as holy. And so we get this vision of God being that perfect Father, that he is holy, he is faithful, he is true.

I'm praying that he would be sacred in my heart, that he would be set apart in my life, that he would be honored in me, that I would know his name. Let me show you an example of this. If you turn to Leviticus chapter 22 verse 32, go back into the Old Testament toward the beginning, Leviticus chapter 22 verse 32, page 87, Leviticus 22 verse 32.

And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord God who sanctifies you. This word sanctified in the ESV translation is the same word for Hollywood.

So you look at it again, and you shall not profane my holy name. You know, some people use his name as a curse word, don't they? But, you know, if we're followers of Jesus and we claim the name Christian, and we're leading a wicked life, we are profaning his name.

His name is not sacred to us. His name is not sacred in us. And people will look at us and say, you do not know God. You shouldn't be acting that way. And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people and sanctified in us.

So I'm praying, Father, be in me, be sacred in me, and may I honor you in all that I think, say, and do. A really good book, if you want to learn more on the Lord's Prayer, is by R .T. Kendall, and it's just simply called the Lord's Prayer.

I have several books on the Lord's Prayer, and this is probably one of the best ones that I have. And I like what he says about the word Hollywood. He says, the word is used in the imperative passive.

Let your name be hallowed or treated as holy. Jesus is not saying holy is your name, rather it is a plea that the Father's name will be regarded everywhere as holy. The petition, therefore, is not a plea that his name becomes holy, but his name will be seen holy in me, that his name will be in me, that his name will be upon me.

And he says, he says, hallowed be your name. A name, his name, that means his being, his who he is. A name represents you, okay? A name represents a place. When we hear someone's name, if we know them, a face comes to our mind, right?

Okay? And it can be good feelings or bad feelings, right? Or just, oh, depending on who that person is. So the name represents the person. And you know, one of the things that I have come to admire the most in God's Word are his names, who he is, his names and his titles.

And we can learn so much from the the sacred names of God. There's lots of good tools where you can learn the names and titles of God. I mean, you can learn them just by reading through his Word, because his Word is full of them.

When I read the Word, the first thing I look for is, what does this teach me about who he is? What does this teach me about his beauty and his glory? And so I am really looking for the names of God as I read.

This is a really good tool here, Praying the Names of God, a daily guide. You can find it in the devotional section at Christian Family Store by Ann Spangler. She also has one, Praying the Names of Jesus.

And so she goes into what these names mean and how we can use them in prayer in our lives. This is just a little Bible study book that I picked up to get some ideas for with the kids that I work with.

And in the back, it starts an alphabetical order, and here are just a few of his names. Advocate, 1 John 2 1. Almighty, Joel 115. Alpha and Omega, he's the A through Z. He is everything that we need, Revelations 22, 13.

He is the Amen, Revelation 3, 14. He is the Ancient of Days, Daniel 7, 9. He is the Anointed One, Daniel 9, 25. He is the Author of Life, Acts 3, 15. He is the Beginning and the End, Revelation 22, 13.

He is the Bread of Life, John 6, 35. He is the Breath of the Almighty, Job 33, 4. He is the Chief Shepherd, 1 Peter 5, 4. He is the Chosen One, Luke 23, 35. He is the Christ, Matthew 16, 16. He is the Commander of the Lord's Army, Joshua 5, 15.

He is the Cornerstone, 1 Peter 2, 6. He is the Counselor, John 14, 26. He is the Deliverer, Romans 11, 26. He is the Defender, Proverbs 23, 11. He is the Eternal God, Genesis 21, 33. He is the Everlasting Father, Isaiah 9, 6.