1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,760 Thank you guys. I'll have the snacks. 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:11,520 Just teasing, I want to invite you to just consider the prayer 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:13,240 again. We're in the series on the 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:18,280 Lord's Prayer and in that we're considering how it's a prayer 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,760 for every day. And our our passage this week 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:26,400 again is just 4 words. How would be your name? 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,150 How would be your name? You know, when we imagined 8 00:00:31,150 --> 00:00:34,910 success? A lot of us have some kind of 9 00:00:34,910 --> 00:00:38,310 large vision of what that might be. 10 00:00:38,310 --> 00:00:41,270 I know I did. When I entered into university, 11 00:00:41,270 --> 00:00:47,350 I had a very defined picture of success, including the car I 12 00:00:47,350 --> 00:00:51,390 would drive, what the property would look like, what life 13 00:00:51,390 --> 00:00:54,270 around the pool in the back was going to be like. 14 00:00:54,510 --> 00:00:59,540 Like, I had this materialistic vision of success that was 15 00:00:59,540 --> 00:01:03,740 really shaping me and shaping my drive. 16 00:01:04,140 --> 00:01:07,660 Some of that came because, you know, my dad was an immigrant. 17 00:01:08,020 --> 00:01:14,740 And so he just captured that North American dream of what was 18 00:01:14,860 --> 00:01:18,900 possible, what he hoped was possible, especially in a 19 00:01:18,900 --> 00:01:23,340 meritocracy where it was supposed to be your merit and 20 00:01:23,340 --> 00:01:26,340 your opportunity to exceed or succeed. 21 00:01:27,490 --> 00:01:30,050 So all kinds of movies through the years on success. 22 00:01:30,370 --> 00:01:32,130 Can you think of a movie on success? 23 00:01:32,130 --> 00:01:34,370 Turn to your neighbor and tell them that movie. 24 00:01:42,950 --> 00:01:48,750 I'm pretty sure that no one mentioned Mahogany from 1975. 25 00:01:48,750 --> 00:01:55,030 It's a Diana Ross film and it is very painful to watch because of 26 00:01:55,030 --> 00:01:59,550 the vision of success that captured her and carried her. 27 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,640 And there's this terrible scene at the end where the person who 28 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:08,360 loved her most, she is screaming at him and saying I hate you, I 29 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:13,080 hate you, You're just a loser and you don't want me to succeed 30 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,520 in life. And he pours her whiskey on top 31 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,920 of his head and he turns and he says, let me tell you something 32 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,400 and don't ever forget it. Success is nothing without 33 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,200 someone you love to share it with. 34 00:02:30,430 --> 00:02:35,070 If you ever become Tracy Chambers again, you know where 35 00:02:35,070 --> 00:02:38,990 I'll be. Her vision of success had 36 00:02:38,990 --> 00:02:44,510 radically changed who she is and who she was in that film. 37 00:02:44,910 --> 00:02:50,150 Now, there's a lot of purveyors of success today, and they they 38 00:02:50,150 --> 00:02:54,470 come at us with an old philosophy, A philosophy of 39 00:02:54,470 --> 00:03:00,500 Stoicism, that we should eliminate our desires, or at 40 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:04,060 least be in total control of them. 41 00:03:04,340 --> 00:03:09,380 We should lift more weight. We should be the last one to 42 00:03:09,380 --> 00:03:15,260 leave the lab. We should be the one who just 43 00:03:15,260 --> 00:03:19,700 perseveres through it all. In fact, they are in some ways 44 00:03:19,700 --> 00:03:23,540 trying to help a generation that feels stuck in the basement. 45 00:03:24,060 --> 00:03:28,180 But here's Peterson. He says you should be a monster, 46 00:03:28,540 --> 00:03:32,740 an absolute monster, and then you should learn to control it. 47 00:03:33,860 --> 00:03:37,380 Here's Haines, who says an outlier will never allow someone 48 00:03:37,380 --> 00:03:40,420 to outwork them. If you're not the hardest 49 00:03:40,420 --> 00:03:44,540 working person you know, then you're not working hard enough. 50 00:03:44,540 --> 00:03:51,140 Oh good, there were no amens. And then, Goggins, it's possible 51 00:03:51,140 --> 00:03:54,220 to transcend anything that doesn't kill you. 52 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,520 I know we know the song. If it doesn't kill you, it only 53 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,080 makes you. At least that's what we're 54 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,920 hoping. That's what we're hoping. 55 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:09,720 But Jesus actually shows us a different way to the purest kind 56 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:15,280 of success in our lives, the success that's drawn from who we 57 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:20,640 were created to be created in communion with God. 58 00:04:21,670 --> 00:04:26,350 So our society and its messages on how to make the world help us 59 00:04:27,230 --> 00:04:31,950 and actually pulls us away from this phrase. 60 00:04:32,750 --> 00:04:37,110 Hallowed be your name. Hallowed be your name, is the 61 00:04:37,110 --> 00:04:42,030 first petition of Jesus because it is the first impulse of his 62 00:04:42,030 --> 00:04:45,030 life. On first glance, this seems to 63 00:04:45,030 --> 00:04:49,750 be far from our personal battles and struggles to get things done 64 00:04:49,750 --> 00:04:52,860 on earth. Hallowed be your name. 65 00:04:53,780 --> 00:04:58,220 However, even a surface reading of the scripture reminds us that 66 00:04:58,220 --> 00:05:00,620 the earth is not a neutral space. 67 00:05:01,180 --> 00:05:05,820 This is a place of great conflict, sometimes subtle but 68 00:05:05,860 --> 00:05:10,620 always intense conflict for the affections of our souls. 69 00:05:11,260 --> 00:05:13,780 Therefore, we need this prayer every day. 70 00:05:14,540 --> 00:05:17,260 Our Father hallowed be your name. 71 00:05:18,220 --> 00:05:22,280 Hallowed be your name the language. 72 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:24,840 Hallowed be your name. Say it with me. 73 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:29,720 Hallowed be your name it. It feels sort of strange and 74 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,480 odd. It feels foreign in our mouths, 75 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:37,520 except for Halloween, And we may be familiar with the shape of 76 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,960 these words, but we're unfamiliar with the depth of 77 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,720 them. We're unfamiliar with the depth 78 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:48,880 of impact that Jesus anticipated praying this prayer and asking 79 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,560 God to do it would have in our world and in our relationship 80 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,960 with God. So the disciples have asked Lord 81 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,400 teach us how to pray. And so Jesus brings some 82 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:06,320 relational order to their prayer life by connecting them to a 83 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,280 Father who loves them deeply and cares for them. 84 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:16,010 And then to correct the most wayward affection of our lives, 85 00:06:17,570 --> 00:06:20,970 4 words. Hallowed be your name. 86 00:06:21,810 --> 00:06:25,490 So first, let's consider the meaning of your name. 87 00:06:26,650 --> 00:06:30,810 You all have one, Some of you have two, some of you have 88 00:06:30,810 --> 00:06:33,850 three. I know some of you even have 89 00:06:33,850 --> 00:06:37,050 four names. And it's very complicated when 90 00:06:37,050 --> 00:06:39,770 you immigrate to Canada because they don't want you to have 91 00:06:39,770 --> 00:06:43,740 4:00, They want to reduce your names. 92 00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:48,020 Our name connects us in some ways to our parents generation, 93 00:06:48,020 --> 00:06:51,380 to what was happening then, and even to the hopes for the 94 00:06:51,380 --> 00:06:54,300 future. A name may connect a person to 95 00:06:54,300 --> 00:06:58,660 the generation that's come way before them and connect them 96 00:06:58,660 --> 00:07:02,660 with some sense of honor to someone in those previous 97 00:07:02,660 --> 00:07:07,260 generations. The name may hold a promise of a 98 00:07:07,260 --> 00:07:11,700 quality of character that's to be nurtured in a child, or your 99 00:07:11,700 --> 00:07:15,540 name may simply tell you what day you were born on. 100 00:07:16,660 --> 00:07:25,340 Right throughout the Bible, names have meaning Nabal. 101 00:07:25,460 --> 00:07:31,220 His name means fool, and he royally lives out his 102 00:07:31,220 --> 00:07:35,060 foolishness. In First Samuel, Isaac means 103 00:07:35,060 --> 00:07:40,520 laughter, and we're connected to the miraculous birth and how 104 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,640 joyful his parents were at him being born. 105 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,680 Sometimes people change their names because of life situations 106 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,680 or hopes. Ruth's motherinlaw, Naomi, when 107 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,360 she returned home, told them. Don't call me Naomi, That's not 108 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,360 my name. It's Mara. 109 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:07,460 And Mara means bitter, for the experience of the previous 110 00:08:07,460 --> 00:08:12,620 years, living as exile or foreigner out of Israel had 111 00:08:12,620 --> 00:08:15,500 caused her immense loss and grief. 112 00:08:16,020 --> 00:08:19,580 And she says, I'm Mara, I'm bitter. 113 00:08:20,940 --> 00:08:25,420 One of Jesus's disciples, Simon. We actually know him as Peter 114 00:08:25,860 --> 00:08:30,460 because Jesus changed his name. Jesus says, hey, from now on 115 00:08:30,460 --> 00:08:34,100 we're going to call you Peter, which means rock. 116 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,880 And then Jesus went on the transform Peter. 117 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,640 So that in that disciplining community, Peter was changed 118 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,400 from a man who was always shifting according to the winds 119 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:53,480 and the tides to actually be a man who was a rock who could be 120 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,280 counted on in the faith community. 121 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:04,320 So a name, A name we know to ask what's in a name, we know to ask 122 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,200 that. And the marketers who are 123 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:10,480 running ads, the influencers always trying to add a plus to 124 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,480 their life or to a product, are always trying to get us to 125 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:21,040 associate a name not just with a product, but a reputation with a 126 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:27,800 kind of character so that the ads value to our life to meet 127 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:34,740 our deepest longing and fears. I remember thinking as a kid 128 00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:40,300 running track, if only I had better shoes, I could run 129 00:09:40,300 --> 00:09:43,460 faster. It wasn't true then. 130 00:09:43,980 --> 00:09:50,180 It might be true now. So a name is more than a line on 131 00:09:50,180 --> 00:09:52,180 a certificate. It's more than A tag. 132 00:09:52,460 --> 00:09:55,740 It holds the character and reputation of a person. 133 00:09:56,060 --> 00:10:01,420 It holds that in our minds and likewise to the name of God. 134 00:10:01,780 --> 00:10:07,460 So Jesus prays our Father, hallowed be your name. 135 00:10:07,980 --> 00:10:11,900 So to know the name of God or even the nicknames of God is to 136 00:10:11,900 --> 00:10:16,420 be presented with stories and histories and lives in the 137 00:10:16,420 --> 00:10:20,060 Scripture who know something of the character and the eternal 138 00:10:20,060 --> 00:10:23,340 truth of God. In our service today we read 139 00:10:23,340 --> 00:10:29,180 Psalm 23 and within that Psalm are descriptors that are all 140 00:10:29,180 --> 00:10:33,900 connected to the names of God or the nicknames of God. 141 00:10:34,180 --> 00:10:38,820 The Lord is my shepherd. And it then goes on to describe 142 00:10:39,140 --> 00:10:45,460 God as provider, peace, healer, righteousness, help, banner, 143 00:10:45,460 --> 00:10:50,140 sanctifier, everlasting, and our inheritance. 144 00:10:50,900 --> 00:10:54,380 And that's Psalm 23. We run through it without 145 00:10:54,380 --> 00:10:58,700 actually connecting all those descriptions to the names and 146 00:10:58,700 --> 00:11:02,140 nicknames of God. Now we sang some of them, and 147 00:11:02,140 --> 00:11:08,460 you all tried to hold the beat as we sang of Jehovah Rafah, 148 00:11:08,620 --> 00:11:14,540 Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shalom. These are all those references 149 00:11:14,740 --> 00:11:20,620 to God the Lord as our healer, our defender, our peace. 150 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:26,280 Hallowed be your name. Now you've you've seen the 151 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:29,160 situations where someone gets mad at someone because they're 152 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,080 talking about their wife and say you get her name out of your 153 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:40,520 mouth, right? But here God is Jesus is praying 154 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:44,960 and saying hallowed be your name, particularly in our mouths 155 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,800 and in our hearts. And so Daryl Johnson says this 156 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,000 word. Hallowed is actually the word 157 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:59,280 holify, make holy, holify. So we're going to use that 158 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:02,720 little phrase today in reference to hallowed. 159 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:08,160 The word hallow means to make holy, to holify. 160 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,800 Now that's complicated for us as well, because what does holy 161 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,040 mean? If we were to ask people on the 162 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,360 street what does holy mean? They'd probably say, well, I 163 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:22,790 think it means pure or clean. That's what holy means. 164 00:12:24,470 --> 00:12:28,550 But then the word holy also gets stuck on to other things as a 165 00:12:28,790 --> 00:12:34,670 expletive, so holy and then we add something to it and so then 166 00:12:34,670 --> 00:12:38,710 it's stuck on to show that we're shocked or maddened or mind 167 00:12:38,710 --> 00:12:43,550 blown in some ways. And so I don't think Jesus 168 00:12:43,550 --> 00:12:49,970 necessarily, but perhaps he does have cleaned up and shocked, or 169 00:12:49,970 --> 00:12:56,250 maybe awakened in mind because Jesus uses the same word in John 170 00:12:56,250 --> 00:13:01,130 17 where he prays. Sanctify them by the truth. 171 00:13:01,410 --> 00:13:06,450 For I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified, 172 00:13:06,450 --> 00:13:09,530 that is, hallow them by the truth. 173 00:13:09,930 --> 00:13:12,090 Sanctify them. Hallow them. 174 00:13:12,170 --> 00:13:18,460 Holify them, just as I holify myself that they might be 175 00:13:18,780 --> 00:13:23,380 holified. The holifying work of Jesus 176 00:13:23,380 --> 00:13:28,220 reflects an Old Testament concept of holy, which means to 177 00:13:28,220 --> 00:13:36,060 be distinct from, to be separate from, to have a quality of 178 00:13:36,060 --> 00:13:41,580 differentness that is holy. Now you can be sure that most of 179 00:13:41,580 --> 00:13:45,540 us starting in Grade 3 didn't actually want to be different. 180 00:13:45,910 --> 00:13:49,630 We kept looking around, starting in Grade 3 or so to figure out, 181 00:13:49,790 --> 00:13:52,590 well, how can we be like everybody else? 182 00:13:53,990 --> 00:13:57,070 How can we have and be the same as others? 183 00:13:57,070 --> 00:14:01,750 And we felt our difference and we just wanted to be same. 184 00:14:01,990 --> 00:14:05,110 And it really becomes intense by the time you're 15. 185 00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:15,020 And so to pray this prayer, hallowed be your name, Holify 186 00:14:15,020 --> 00:14:21,240 your name in us as a people and even on the earth as it is in 187 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:27,560 heaven. God says be holy, for I am holy. 188 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:36,560 It's important for us to consider how perception makes it 189 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,560 difficult for us to truly reflect the character of God, 190 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:47,830 that our perception of God, God is already holy, so His name in 191 00:14:47,830 --> 00:14:50,830 our mouths and minds and hearts must reflect and carry the 192 00:14:50,830 --> 00:14:54,990 weight of this reality, of this character and of his precious 193 00:14:54,990 --> 00:14:57,670 value. So it is a problem of our 194 00:14:57,670 --> 00:15:02,390 perception and our knowledge, and it is possible to have the 195 00:15:02,390 --> 00:15:07,510 wrong perception of God. So while we may know someone's 196 00:15:07,510 --> 00:15:10,830 name, if we have the wrong perception of them, of the 197 00:15:10,830 --> 00:15:14,190 person, we've attributed something to them that is not 198 00:15:14,190 --> 00:15:19,400 true, and we're on track for some major misunderstandings. 199 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:25,960 Just ask married people. The story I'm telling myself is 200 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:30,080 that you didn't want to cook dinner tonight, so you came home 201 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:34,320 late and now I'm starving. What? 202 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,840 Tell that to the traffic on Main Street, right? 203 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:43,280 Wrong perception. The story we're telling 204 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:50,460 ourselves and we miss we do this to God all the time. 205 00:15:51,660 --> 00:15:54,380 In fact, research does demonstrate that we have a 206 00:15:54,380 --> 00:16:00,140 tendency to project unto God all kinds of biases, even our 207 00:16:00,140 --> 00:16:03,140 politics. And so we need to remember that 208 00:16:03,140 --> 00:16:05,740 we live in a space that is not neutral. 209 00:16:06,540 --> 00:16:10,380 The powers and principalities are particularly keen that we 210 00:16:10,380 --> 00:16:15,110 misperceive God, that we have the wrong perception of God. 211 00:16:15,510 --> 00:16:18,350 And from the beginning in Genesis we see the snake that 212 00:16:18,350 --> 00:16:21,990 approached Eve and Adam and called into question. 213 00:16:21,990 --> 00:16:28,750 First, God's word, did God really say you must not eat from 214 00:16:28,830 --> 00:16:32,830 any tree in the garden? Do you see what he did there? 215 00:16:37,710 --> 00:16:41,880 And then, second to question God's character, you will not 216 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,760 certainly die. For God knows that when you eat 217 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:51,080 it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing 218 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:55,480 good and evil. And so a wrong view of God calls 219 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,040 into question God's trustworthiness, God's goodness, 220 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:05,839 God's holiness. And in this instant, even the 221 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:09,599 completeness and goodness of Adam and Eve was called into 222 00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:14,410 question. Oh, you're not really enough for 223 00:17:14,410 --> 00:17:18,770 this world. Oh, you're not really enough for 224 00:17:18,770 --> 00:17:23,250 a relationship with God. And so when their perception of 225 00:17:23,250 --> 00:17:26,369 God and themselves was tarnished, they were capable of 226 00:17:26,369 --> 00:17:31,050 directly disobeying God and entering into a deathly way. 227 00:17:31,970 --> 00:17:37,610 You know Jesus told a parable of how wrong perception of God, in 228 00:17:37,610 --> 00:17:42,090 this case a manager can have. In the parable of the talents, 229 00:17:42,170 --> 00:17:50,170 one manager buries his money and avoiding any risk, and when the 230 00:17:50,170 --> 00:17:54,690 manager returns he gathers all those to whom he entrusted his 231 00:17:54,690 --> 00:17:57,290 wealth. And this one comes last. 232 00:17:57,850 --> 00:18:02,850 Master, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you 233 00:18:02,850 --> 00:18:06,810 have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered 234 00:18:06,810 --> 00:18:10,520 seed. So I was afraid and went out and 235 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:18,240 hid your gold in the ground. Here it is. 236 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:25,520 And the manager says, you wicked servant. 237 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:31,320 So you thought I was a hard man. Why didn't you just invest it at 238 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,360 the bank? Then I would get a little bit of 239 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:39,610 interest. Jesus is showing us there that 240 00:18:40,130 --> 00:18:44,090 when we have the wrong perception of God, we might not 241 00:18:44,090 --> 00:18:48,250 even be operating according to the perception we have, but 242 00:18:48,250 --> 00:18:53,690 instead we're just being driven by fear and not love. 243 00:18:54,650 --> 00:18:57,330 When we have the wrong perception of God, Fear and 244 00:18:57,330 --> 00:19:02,730 apathy rather than love and trust mark our lives. 245 00:19:03,730 --> 00:19:08,310 Jesus teaches directly on the ways of lies and the spin that 246 00:19:08,310 --> 00:19:11,190 Satan the devil has on a group of people. 247 00:19:11,910 --> 00:19:16,670 He said to this group of people who were denying that they were 248 00:19:16,670 --> 00:19:20,470 enslaved to sin, they were denying, hey, we're not sinners. 249 00:19:20,990 --> 00:19:24,710 And Jesus says, look, you are unable to hear what I say. 250 00:19:25,070 --> 00:19:29,110 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out 251 00:19:29,110 --> 00:19:31,670 the father that your father's desires. 252 00:19:31,990 --> 00:19:35,920 He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding for the 253 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,760 truth. For there is no truth in him. 254 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:43,360 And when he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a 255 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:49,840 liar and the father of lies. Do you know when we're most 256 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:54,600 vulnerable to lies, to the lies of the powers and principalities 257 00:19:54,600 --> 00:20:00,640 and the lives of Satan? When we feel hurt, has anybody 258 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:07,670 here been hurt? Then we've all had those moments 259 00:20:07,990 --> 00:20:12,110 of intense vulnerability to the lives of the powers and 260 00:20:12,110 --> 00:20:13,830 principalities. Darkest. 261 00:20:14,110 --> 00:20:21,350 Dr. Marcus Warner observes that when we're wounded, the devil, 262 00:20:21,750 --> 00:20:26,550 the powers and principalities come along and seek to sow lies 263 00:20:26,550 --> 00:20:31,420 into our hearts and minds. These take root and then we make 264 00:20:31,420 --> 00:20:36,060 some kind of pronouncement or vow about who we will be and our 265 00:20:36,060 --> 00:20:39,180 place in the world. For example, we may say, when 266 00:20:39,180 --> 00:20:43,180 hurt, no one will ever see me weak again. 267 00:20:43,900 --> 00:20:50,140 I will never let anyone close to me where I'm vulnerable again or 268 00:20:50,140 --> 00:20:53,940 I see now that God can't be trusted because this terrible 269 00:20:53,940 --> 00:20:59,320 thing happened to me. I had a a strange moment when I 270 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:04,400 was about 16 years old where for the first time I worked up the 271 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,440 courage to sing a solo at church. 272 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:14,920 Our music minister had brought me through that choir and was 273 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:19,320 discipling me and said, Craig, you have a voice you could sing. 274 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:23,080 And so we worked on a song. It was the touch of the master's 275 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:30,670 hand and it told a story. At the end it was okay, but I 276 00:21:30,670 --> 00:21:35,150 was walking down the hall and one lady in the church, she came 277 00:21:35,150 --> 00:21:37,790 up to me and she put her hands on her hips and said, well, 278 00:21:37,790 --> 00:21:42,310 Craig O'Brien, I thought you were just a stick in the mud. 279 00:21:44,190 --> 00:21:53,010 Ah, and I felt wounded. I felt wounded and and I walked 280 00:21:53,010 --> 00:21:57,570 away in that moment and what crystallized in my heart was 281 00:21:58,010 --> 00:22:06,810 never again will anyone think I'm a stick in the mud and I 282 00:22:06,810 --> 00:22:10,890 became very driven for achievement. 283 00:22:10,890 --> 00:22:16,210 It's like that type A personality just went Bing and 284 00:22:16,210 --> 00:22:21,010 it was on and I was hard in my heart. 285 00:22:22,270 --> 00:22:28,590 It was always lurking there behind me, that vow and creating 286 00:22:28,590 --> 00:22:33,470 some kind of poisonous fruit. And poisonous fruit becomes a 287 00:22:33,470 --> 00:22:41,270 stronghold that holds you and it holds me and it keeps me and us 288 00:22:41,270 --> 00:22:45,190 from being who God is really and created us to be. 289 00:22:49,230 --> 00:22:50,990 They take on a life of their own. 290 00:22:51,420 --> 00:22:54,820 Perhaps one of the stories of the greatest strongholds is in 291 00:22:54,820 --> 00:22:58,860 Genesis Chapter 11. There, in the story of the Tower 292 00:22:58,860 --> 00:23:02,820 of Babel, pride and the all consuming desire to make a name 293 00:23:02,820 --> 00:23:05,540 for themselves was dominating that city. 294 00:23:05,900 --> 00:23:11,700 Come, they said, let us build ourselves a city with a tower 295 00:23:11,980 --> 00:23:16,220 that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for 296 00:23:16,220 --> 00:23:19,500 ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered 297 00:23:19,790 --> 00:23:24,430 over the face of the earth. Did you notice that it wasn't 298 00:23:24,430 --> 00:23:28,510 just ambition, but it was also fear. 299 00:23:30,670 --> 00:23:36,030 They were being driven to avoid weakness, to avoid 300 00:23:36,390 --> 00:23:43,070 vulnerability. Are you hoping your degree will 301 00:23:43,070 --> 00:23:48,190 do that for you? How are strongholds to be taken 302 00:23:48,190 --> 00:23:50,900 down? Not by taking hold of the 303 00:23:50,900 --> 00:23:54,500 poisonous fruit, but right by returning to the vow. 304 00:23:54,820 --> 00:24:00,660 By returning to uproot the lie, By returning to seek healing for 305 00:24:00,660 --> 00:24:04,580 the wound. When strongholds come down, a 306 00:24:04,580 --> 00:24:09,060 deep desire for the name, the reality, the character, the 307 00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:15,020 presence of God must occupy us, or something else will again. 308 00:24:16,660 --> 00:24:18,820 We must return to the truth about God. 309 00:24:19,850 --> 00:24:23,610 We need to pray. Our Father hallowed be your name 310 00:24:23,810 --> 00:24:27,810 on earth in here as it is in heaven. 311 00:24:29,130 --> 00:24:31,530 So now we're asking the Father for deliverance. 312 00:24:32,010 --> 00:24:33,930 Now we're asking the Father for healing. 313 00:24:34,290 --> 00:24:37,690 Now we're asking for the Full disclosure and reality of who 314 00:24:37,690 --> 00:24:42,370 God is. Strange thing is that when you 315 00:24:42,370 --> 00:24:46,770 have that in your life, you may also share in God's pain. 316 00:24:48,690 --> 00:24:54,810 You may share in God's anxiety that His name is not cherished 317 00:24:54,810 --> 00:24:57,890 among the nations that is profaned even by those who claim 318 00:24:57,890 --> 00:25:00,490 his name. That the reputation of God is 319 00:25:00,490 --> 00:25:05,010 tarnished and the true character of God is even hidden rather 320 00:25:05,010 --> 00:25:09,810 than made clear and cherished. This is our problem too, in the 321 00:25:09,810 --> 00:25:14,090 history of the Church, isn't it? And so we share in that pain. 322 00:25:14,090 --> 00:25:17,930 When we pray, our Father hallowed be your name. 323 00:25:18,590 --> 00:25:21,470 And this is the nature of Jesus's prayer, teaching his 324 00:25:21,470 --> 00:25:27,950 disciples to address a root problem, our pride taking over 325 00:25:27,950 --> 00:25:32,630 our hearts, our minds and our relationships. 326 00:25:36,190 --> 00:25:38,950 Do you know worship is very connected to this prayer. 327 00:25:39,510 --> 00:25:45,150 When you say our Father hallowed be your name, we're joining 328 00:25:45,270 --> 00:25:48,360 Jesus in the ultimate concern of his life. 329 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,280 When Jesus was 12, he traveled to Jerusalem, as his parents had 330 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,080 made the habit of going every Passover. 331 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,840 But on that one, when they returned to Galilee, Jesus 332 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,680 stayed behind and Jesus remained in the Temple. 333 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,080 Three days later, Mary found him. 334 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:12,930 Can you imagine the anxiety of parenting in that moment you 335 00:26:12,930 --> 00:26:16,570 find your kid and there's this rush of release, but there's 336 00:26:16,570 --> 00:26:18,890 also this. I just want to pinch your little 337 00:26:18,890 --> 00:26:22,930 head off because it is just overwhelming. 338 00:26:24,530 --> 00:26:26,490 And in that moment, this is what she says. 339 00:26:26,490 --> 00:26:29,210 Son, why have you treated us this way? 340 00:26:32,570 --> 00:26:35,370 Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. 341 00:26:36,730 --> 00:26:42,650 And just like every 12 year old Jesus says, why? 342 00:26:44,010 --> 00:26:47,890 Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know that I had to be 343 00:26:47,890 --> 00:26:52,250 in my father's house? Or about my father's business, 344 00:26:52,610 --> 00:27:02,610 my father's life? It was his ambition that the 345 00:27:02,610 --> 00:27:09,970 Father's name would be hallowed, you know, Later his family would 346 00:27:09,970 --> 00:27:13,330 encourage him, Hey, you, you should hurry off to Jerusalem 347 00:27:13,330 --> 00:27:17,250 and make a name for yourself. And there was even a group that 348 00:27:17,250 --> 00:27:20,770 said, Jesus, let's hurry you over here and turn you into our 349 00:27:20,770 --> 00:27:22,770 king. And they wanted to make him king 350 00:27:22,770 --> 00:27:28,210 by force, but that was not the Father's way of hallowing his 351 00:27:28,210 --> 00:27:33,770 name. So Jesus says, Father, glorify 352 00:27:33,770 --> 00:27:36,890 me in the presence with the glory I had with you before the 353 00:27:36,890 --> 00:27:42,860 world began. Jesus always returned to his 354 00:27:42,860 --> 00:27:47,180 relationship with the Heavenly Father, and therein is his 355 00:27:47,180 --> 00:27:50,060 greatest joy. Notice, he says in that prayer 356 00:27:50,060 --> 00:27:54,940 in John 17. I'm coming to you now in Jesus's 357 00:27:54,940 --> 00:27:58,900 pathway to coming to the Father is going to be the cross, he 358 00:27:58,900 --> 00:28:01,420 says. I'm coming to you now, and I say 359 00:28:01,420 --> 00:28:06,060 these things while I'm still in the world, so that they may have 360 00:28:06,060 --> 00:28:08,820 the full measure of my joy within them. 361 00:28:09,460 --> 00:28:14,500 I have given them your word, but the world has hated them, for 362 00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:19,820 they are not of the world as I am not of the world. 363 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:26,300 This is what happens when we pray, hallowed be your name. 364 00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:33,900 We're like strangers in the world, Jesus goes on. 365 00:28:34,220 --> 00:28:37,540 My prayer is not that you would take them out of the world, but 366 00:28:37,540 --> 00:28:40,180 that you would protect them from the Evil One. 367 00:28:40,980 --> 00:28:42,620 What does the evil one want? To do? 368 00:28:43,620 --> 00:28:47,420 So lies into our hearts and minds. 369 00:28:49,140 --> 00:28:52,100 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 370 00:28:53,340 --> 00:28:57,180 Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. 371 00:28:58,180 --> 00:29:01,860 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world 372 00:29:02,540 --> 00:29:06,220 for them. I sanctify myself that they too 373 00:29:06,220 --> 00:29:11,660 may be holy. This is the ambition that takes 374 00:29:11,740 --> 00:29:15,340 Jesus to the cross. Not that Jesus loved suffering. 375 00:29:15,900 --> 00:29:19,140 In fact, the vision of that compelled him to say, oh, 376 00:29:19,220 --> 00:29:22,700 Father, take this cup from me if there's another way. 377 00:29:23,780 --> 00:29:29,260 But Jesus loved the Heavenly Father, and so he always 378 00:29:29,260 --> 00:29:31,780 returned to that joy in relationship. 379 00:29:32,540 --> 00:29:36,860 In Hebrews, the writer says, For the joy set before him, Jesus 380 00:29:36,900 --> 00:29:41,860 endured the cross scorning at shame, and sat down at the right 381 00:29:41,860 --> 00:29:46,860 hand of the throne of God. And so every day when we pray 382 00:29:46,860 --> 00:29:52,100 with earnestness, our Father Hallow, your name on earth as it 383 00:29:52,100 --> 00:29:59,740 is in heaven, we can be sure He will He will start in you, and 384 00:29:59,740 --> 00:30:02,730 He will start in me. And He will take all the 385 00:30:02,730 --> 00:30:06,170 delights and all of the hardships of this world to 386 00:30:06,170 --> 00:30:11,570 refine us by holifying His name in us, by displaying the 387 00:30:11,570 --> 00:30:18,770 character of Jesus in us, no matter the circumstance, so that 388 00:30:18,770 --> 00:30:23,010 we will begin to grow up as his people. 389 00:30:24,410 --> 00:30:27,530 If we're praying the Lord's Day, Lord's Prayer every day, we must 390 00:30:27,530 --> 00:30:31,660 give thought to our lives and the relationships at home and at 391 00:30:31,740 --> 00:30:36,460 work with the Holy Spirit. As NT Wright says, it is not 392 00:30:36,460 --> 00:30:40,980 enough to say one's prayers in private, maintain high personal 393 00:30:40,980 --> 00:30:45,500 morality, and then go to work to rebuild the Tower of Babel. 394 00:30:47,860 --> 00:30:54,580 What's happening on Monday? Earnestly pray Our Father, 395 00:30:55,420 --> 00:30:58,900 hallowed be your name. You know where I'm going. 396 00:31:01,130 --> 00:31:07,970 Your name be hallowed, not mine. So the pro script and the 397 00:31:07,970 --> 00:31:11,250 watermark of our lives needs to be this. 398 00:31:11,810 --> 00:31:16,610 This life was lived for the glory of God. 399 00:31:17,650 --> 00:31:23,210 To God be the glory. Let's pray the Lord's Prayer 400 00:31:23,210 --> 00:31:27,890 again. Our Father in heaven, hallowed 401 00:31:27,890 --> 00:31:31,750 be your name. Your Kingdom come, your will be 402 00:31:31,750 --> 00:31:34,790 done on earth as it is in heaven. 403 00:31:35,430 --> 00:31:40,790 Give us today Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our debts, as we 404 00:31:40,790 --> 00:31:46,430 also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, 405 00:31:46,830 --> 00:31:49,190 but deliver us from the evil one. 406 00:31:49,590 --> 00:31:54,950 For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 407 00:31:55,390 --> 00:32:04,490 Amen name. And you're getting some of the 408 00:32:04,490 --> 00:32:08,490 depth of this. He's going to start to answer. 409 00:32:09,570 --> 00:32:15,290 So 15 years ago I shared that story of the stick in the mud 410 00:32:17,930 --> 00:32:21,930 and after the service a a woman came up to me. 411 00:32:22,610 --> 00:32:27,610 She was probably almost 70 and she said, I know you think that 412 00:32:27,610 --> 00:32:31,760 was a word of death, but it's actually a word of life. 413 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,560 I said, oh, she had my attention, right, right. 414 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:41,600 Then I was listening and she said that's a word of life as 415 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,800 well. You felt it and took it as a 416 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,080 word of death, but it's a word of life. 417 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:54,960 For I am part of water and stream restoration and we are 418 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,330 always taking sticks and sticking them in the mud. 419 00:33:00,050 --> 00:33:05,970 And they grow to be trees, great trees beside that stream, 420 00:33:06,370 --> 00:33:12,330 holding and conserving that land and restoring it to what it was 421 00:33:12,330 --> 00:33:15,850 meant to be. So she said, you go and be a 422 00:33:15,850 --> 00:33:21,320 stick in the mud. Yeah, I felt like cheering. 423 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:25,680 I felt like I was had just been released from something I had 424 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:32,680 carried with me for over 20 years in my body, in my mind. 425 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,880 And so today we want to invite you into prayer that if you're 426 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,760 like, yeah, I've I've got that word of death, I've got that 427 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:44,730 lie. That's there. 428 00:33:44,730 --> 00:33:47,570 And me, oh, you'll never change. Oh, things will never be 429 00:33:47,570 --> 00:33:49,610 different. Oh, I must be this. 430 00:33:50,130 --> 00:33:52,610 What word or vow is carrying you? 431 00:33:53,210 --> 00:33:55,690 We want to invite you to meet with our prayer team. 432 00:33:56,570 --> 00:33:59,610 They'll be down at this end and over here. 433 00:34:00,010 --> 00:34:02,610 And so after our blessing. If you would like prayer, just 434 00:34:02,610 --> 00:34:08,370 make your way down to see Sarah or Susan here to pray with you 435 00:34:08,370 --> 00:34:10,810 today. Let's give a blessing to each 436 00:34:10,810 --> 00:34:12,489 other. If you would put a hand on the 437 00:34:12,570 --> 00:34:19,080 shoulder next to you, and let's offer this blessing now. 438 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:24,480 May the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your 439 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:30,000 whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord 440 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:34,880 Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for 441 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:40,000 he who calls you is faithful. May the grace of our Lord Jesus 442 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,800 Christ be with you. Amen.