Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Pastor Dan's Safety Tip: Safety should never take a vacation. Please do not put safety away when you go on vacation.
Good evening, my dear brothers and sisters. Yes, another good day, as I did a funeral service for someone from my past, I got to see a lot of friends from when I was Transportation Coordinator at Central Dauphin School District. I also got to pray with a lot of people after the service. Please add Bob Coburn (cancer) and Mary Lou to your prayer lists. Please keep praying for Vicki (many problems), Burt and Patsy, Jan, and Barbara. Also please keep holding up the family of Richard Mowery in their time of sorrow. Please remember also to pray for the unsaved as this is Salvation Wednesday and the day we pray for the lost. Let me move on out now with the Lord's Prayer!
Salvation Wednesday, The Lord's Prayer, July 10, 2013.
Prayer 1: Matthew 6:9 - "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." (KJV)
Now I also have asked you if you pray the Lord's Prayer or just say the Lord's Prayer. Let's take a look at it and see what it really means as we pray it.
"Our Father." The first word, "our," meaning all of us, for He indeed belongs to all of us. He is our Father, He indeed did make all of us, and He loves us all, even the people who hate Him or say He does not even exist. The second word, "Father," spelled always when we refer to God as Father with that large "F." Also known as "Father God" who is the one referred to in Genesis 14:19 as the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and this leads us right into the next line.
"Which art in Heaven." We are praying to our Father, not our earthly father, but our Father who resides in Heaven, with Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior.. Heaven, the place where we are going if and only if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior (John 14:6) and we put Him above all others and all else. Heaven, our place where we will live forever and ever, and a place where we will have a mansion and have streets of pure gold. Heaven is also, according to Matthew 5:12, where we will have great rewards. In Matthew 3:2 we hear the voice of John The Baptist calling us to "REPENT, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." And in Mark 16:15 Jesus tells us to take the Good News of Jesus to all the corners of the earth, and part of that Good News is just this ... and we need to remember this ... God, our Father in Heaven, should be exalted even above Heaven.
Psalm 57:5 - Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. (NIV)
Our Father in Heaven stands above all else, and we should never forget it and we should be telling others. Let's pray and of course all this week, we are going to be praying the Lord's Prayer. And please really think about it as you pray it. In fact, let's pray it again right now.
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."
The Lord's Prayer, as we respectfully call the prayer that our Lord Jesus first taught us ... we take a look now at "Hallowed be Thy Name." The word "Hallowed" means, according to a book I rarely look at, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, means "make or set apart as being 'Holy", 'Sanctified', 'Consecrated.'
So let me break that down a little for you. Holy Father, a term that should be used for God. God our Father who resides in heaven and His name, The Name Father is Sanctified. It is a name above all names, one we should hold as Holy and it should, since it is a name above all names, be made and kept Holy. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God our Father. While we all have or had an earthly father, please note the small f used in that. There is a lot of differences between our Heavenly Father and our earthly fathers. Of course the term father is used by a lot of churches when referring to their pastor. One who leads a family is called a father and surely those churches that refer to their pastors as father are doing so out of respect for the one who leads their "church family." George Washington has many times been referred to as the "father of our country." However, we know that our first president indeed was NOT the father of the United States of America, God our Father in Heaven, created all thins, including America. Need an Amen there.
God, our Heavenly Father, is the Father of all of us, be we believers in Christ Jesus or turn our backs on Him. Now the big difference here as I see it, those of us who believe and are born again will see our Father in Heaven, face-to-face in Heaven and get to live with Him there, while those who do not believe will be turned away on Judgment Day. As for what my kids call me, well, it goes from dad to daddy-e-o. I called my dad, "Pop" and/or "Dad." I really like that name, "Pop," maybe because it is what we called a soft drink back in my day. I can remember just calling to him like it was yesterday. Hey, Pop, or Hi, Dad. My grandkids call me Pappy Dan. I love it. Our flock at The Bridges call me "Pastor," and that is one big, big name to hold up to. Pastor is one who takes care of his flock, like a shepherd takes care of his. Of course, Jesus is The Great Shepherd!
Our Father who art in Heaven, HOLY is Thy Name ...
Let's look at part of the next line now. "Thy Kingdom come." Here, folks, like it or not, we are praying for the return of our Lord Jesus. I pray that all who pray the Lord's Prayer really look at it. Here we are praying for the Lord to come back. This is why it is so important to get the word out to others. John The Baptist said it, "REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR." (Matthew 3:1/2) Jesus said it, "REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR." (Matthew 4:17). And folks, now we need to be really telling others this, all of us who are born again need to be telling others this. If we are not telling others this, we are not doing our job. We are to be telling the Good, GOOD news of Jesus Christ, and what is the good news and how do they get it? The good news is of course the return of Jesus and they need to get it from us and from the pastors of GOOD CHURCHES WHERE THE REAL TRUTH IS PREACHED. What should we be telling others? "REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR." Then we should be teaching and showing them about the good news and what they can enjoy with Jesus even before His return to us. And remember as we pray, when we pray this prayer our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, we are praying for His return when we pray "Thy Kingdom Come." Let's go to prayer now and yes, we are going to pray the Lord's Prayer again. Everything we need to pray is in this prayer, you can find it all. Let's pray.
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."
Now go forth and share your blessings. See you tomorrow, good Lord willing. Love ya. Pass it on.
Pastor Dan
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