"hallowed Be Thy Name" Series

“Hallowed be Thy Name”

A couple of weeks ago, as I was praying about what my next sermon was going to be pertaining to, I felt as if the Holy Spirit was compelling me to focus my studies on the Lord’s Prayer. So, I continued to pray about it for a while, thinking about how to format it, and even though the passage is only five verses long, I finally realized that there is no way that I could possibly cover the entire subject matter in one thirty or forty-five minute sermon. So, I decide to make it a “sequel” if you will. I’ll only ask that you will be patient with me and over the

next few sermons, I hope to have this most famous and meaningful prayer presented to you in a way that will be both enlightening and spiritually enriching. The title of this week’s message is “Hallowed Be Thy Name”

As indicated by the title of our sermon, this morning we are going to be concerned with mainly the first verse of the Lord’s prayer which is; “Our Father which Art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.”

1John 3:1,2 says; “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Listen to me closely when I tell you.....that God has done something truly amazing....! He has taken you and me, sin-stained, dirty and unworthy of even uttering His name out loud, and He has made it possible for us to boldly approach His Throne of Grace. Through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ ---God’s only “begotten” Son, we have been washed clean and reconciled to our Creator--no longer only as mere

“creatures” but now, as His CHILDREN. Thus, when we pray, we have been given the distinct honor of addressing God Almighty as “our Father”! Isn’t that astounding? God, in effect says; “Call me DAD.”

Turn with me in your bibles to Matthew 6:5-9

“5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 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. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

”‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,”

Now, when Jesus says; “This then is how you should pray:” in the first part of verse nine, He is not saying that we should quote this prayer word for word necessarily---He is saying that this is to be the thought pattern which we should follow in our prayers. Let’s read this prayer in it’s entirety even though I’m sure we all know it by heart. Matthew 6:9-13

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

”‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’

Notice if you will that this prayer is separated into eight major parts; first, we have the invocation (where we initially “call upon God;”) then we have six petitions--or appeals.

Finally, at the end, we find the closing doxology or praise of God.

Now we just talked about the invocation where we are told to call upon God Almighty as “our Father”. And even though this is how God would have us address Him, the very next part of that verse serves to continually remind us that we are still quite human...yet He, on the other hand, is Divine.......”Our Father which art IN HEAVEN” You see, even though we ARE His “children” we can in no way even begin to think that we are any more “divine” or that He is any less divine because of our special relationship. Sometimes we tend to get “overly

comfortable” when we pray or speak His name. Thus we sort of “bring Him down to our level.” So, by these two words; “in heaven” we need to realize that even though God desires a “personal” relationship with us, He still asks that we approach Him with respect and awe. In Hebrews 12:28 Paul admonishes us to “serve God with reverence and godly fear.” One would