The Lord's Prayer: "Our Father" Series

Have you ever thought about how incredible it is the way that Jesus taught us to pray? He taught us to call upon God the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Great I am, The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End as our Father.

Now this is so incredibly revolutionary because people up until the time of Jesus, all the OT people and all the people around Jesus did not think of God as a Father.

In fact, Deuteronomy 6:2 tells us to fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees

Isaiah 49:23 know that I am the LORD;

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God;

66 times in the OT God says to “know that I am God.” 39 times He is referred to as “the Lord God Almighty.” In the OT, God had 3 primary names:

Elohim (God the Creator)

Yahweh (God who keeps His covenant)

Adonai (God is the Lord or Master)

And up unto the time of Jesus, the Jews so revered the name of God that they dear not even say it. They took the consonants out of the name Yahweh and the vowels out of the name Adonai and put them together to create a new name for God, Jehovah. Since the time of the calling of Moses a top Mt Sinai in Ex. 3, when God said "Do not come any closer," "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground . . . At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God, the people of God feared and stood in awe of the Lord God Almighty.

However, when Jesus came, He changed all that.

When Jesus died on the cross, He eradicated the sin that separated us from God.

When Jesus shed His blood, He eliminated the debt that held us in bondage.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He redeemed us from the penalty that sin put upon us.

And when we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, the wall of separation that kept us from emancipation was torn down so that we no longer have to wait in anticipation but can now rise each morning with a glorious expectation and make the wonderful proclamation that we have direct access to God through Jesus the Son.

And because of this liberation, we no longer have to fear God, but we can gather each week in celebration knowing the full revelation of God’s wonderful plan of redemption.

And now because we have access to God through Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Eph. 2:13

For through him we have access to the Father. Eph.2:18

The Father!

Because of what Jesus has done, we now have a Father in Heaven. God is no longer far, but near. God is no longer out there, but right here! Why? Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection!

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Heb. 4:14-16.

Jesus broke down the barrier to His Father, so that we can now have a Father. A Heavenly Father to get close to, like when a little girl cuddles’s in her daddy’s arms and a little boy sits on His daddy’s lap to read a story. Jesus changed the way that people can come to God!

Now I am a father and my children affectionately call me dad. They don’t call me father to my face, they use it as a title when talking to other people; “my father”.

I am a father and that is one of my titles, but I have other titles. I’m a pastor, I’m a coach, I’m a grandpa, I’m a Police Chaplain and I’m on the Board of Community Action. Each title is like a hat I wear and each tells little of who I am and what I do.

God has many names:

Jehovah-jireh (the Lord will provide)

Jehovah-rapha (the Lord who heals)

Jehovah-nissi (the Lord our banner)

Jehovah-Shalom (the Lord our peace)

Jehovah-ra-ah (the Lord my shepherd)

Jehovah Sabaoth (the Lord of hosts)