Now for our New Testament reading. If you’re following along, turn to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, verses one through four. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. The word of the Lord. Amen. Please be seated. Brother Martin, please come and indicate us.

Morning, everyone. It’s a pleasure and privilege to be here with you this morning. And I’m thankful for the invitation and praying you’re all doing well and blessed as God’s family here this morning. Now, as we get started, I’d like to start with a question. And it’s this. Children also, what is it that gets most of your attention in prayer? So when you pray, really, what do you spend most of your time praying for? I don’t know about you, but have you ever struggled in prayer? Balancing your prayer between personal needs and somehow also praying for God’s glory and for God’s will to be done. How often have you felt like you go to the Lord in prayer and really, by the time you’re done, you think like, you know, I just presented my whole laundry list to the Lord. But did I really pray for His glory and for His name to be hallowed? This morning, we want to look at this. We want to look at a very familiar passage, as we just read it, which is obviously the Lord’s Prayer. I want to show you how the Lord’s Prayer, in its entirety, is a prayer for God’s glory. Now, as Reformed, we’re really good at looking at all these different petitions and sort of dissecting all of it. But I’m afraid that sometimes in doing so, we tend to lose the big picture. How this prayer really all comes together and drives to one end, which is God’s glory. I picked a text from Luke this morning. I would usually use your pulpit Bible. This is a King James. I am a majority text guy. So I apologize for that. That is my stance. There’s a couple things in here that are being addressed in Luke that don’t necessarily show up in the ESV. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong. It’s just different sources. But I’ll be using the text from the King James here. We’ll be going through the Lord’s Prayer. The reason why I picked Luke 11 is because the doxology is not added to the prayer. Not that it doesn’t belong there, but Luke just doesn’t include it. What that shows you really is this prayer has seven petitions. These petitions, that is what we want to look at in particular this morning. I will argue that these petitions, these seven petitions, these seven prayers are arranged in a chiastic or chiastic structure. Without getting into all the technicalities of that, simply what it means or what it does is that the first petition… is thematically related to the last one. So the first petition and the last petition have some connection. And in this case, it’s a contrast, as well as the second petition with the second to last and the third petition with a third to last. And that places the fourth petition in the middle of the prayer. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the most important petition, but it does mean that it is crucial to our understanding of this prayer as a whole. Now, what’s the 4th petition? Give us this day our daily bread. That’s your laundry list. It ends up at the center of this prayer. Isn’t that amazing? So with that in mind, keep that in mind. This is key to our understanding. So as we look at this prayer as a united whole, we can see how to place our needs, our personal needs in light of God’s glory. And I hope that as we go through this prayer, that you will see the Lord’s prayer in such a way that you can use it for your personal prayers. It’s helped me tremendously, and I hope it will help you as well. With that in mind, we now come to our text itself. It starts with this introductory verse, verse 1. It sets the context here. We see the disciples, they come to the Lord Jesus and they ask him a question. Children, what do the disciples ask the Lord Jesus? It’s okay to say it. Teach us to pray. Right? Now, why do you think they did that? So you read here in this text, they’re saying, Lord, teach us to pray because the disciples of John the Baptist also taught… They asked him to teach them how to pray and he taught them how to pray. So back in those days, you would have these teachers, these scholars, these rabbis, as they called them, and they would have these followers. which we call disciples and these disciples would follow this rabbi. So the Lord Jesus really wasn’t the only one to have disciples. It was common in those days and they would learn from them. So this was quite a common question to ask your rabbi, teachers to pray. Now, who of us is in a place where you can say, no, I’m pretty good at prayer at this point. I don’t really need to improve anymore. There should always be a desire to grow in our prayer life, isn’t it? So this is a very good question to ask. It shows that you’re humble, that you’re willing to learn. And also that there’s a desire to learn, that you’re not content with simply going through the prayer motions, if you will. So there’s a desire to grow and a desire to respect God properly and with a heart of worship in prayer. And then, of course, the Lord Jesus is eager to give the answer to that question. That’s a question he wants to hear, teaches to pray. And the answer that he gives is the obvious one, the one that we now all know as the Lord’s Prayer. But before he gets to the petitions himself, he opens the prayer. He says, okay, when you pray, say this. And he starts by addressing the Father in heaven. Now, the first question is, how can God be our father? That is something that we need to think about before we come to the Lord in prayer, isn’t it? How is God our father? Well, you think about it. Children, who made you? God. God made you, right? So, in that sense, he is already his father. But then as humanity, we fell into sin. And that relationship with our father was broken and it had to be restored. So God the Father sends his son into the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came and he went to the cross to redeem us and to restore that relationship with God the Father. So the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that he is our older brother. So if the Lord Jesus Christ is your older brother, then God is your father because you have been adopted into the family of God. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how God is our Father. You really think about that. What an incredible privilege that is. I hope that in your personal history, your image of a father has not been marred by a sinful father. I hope you’ve all had good fathers and have good fathers. But really, God is the ultimate Father. Loving, caring, and correcting us. He cares for us. That is the Father that we go to in prayer. Yet, in the original text, the Lord Jesus Christ adds this, who is in heaven. So, as we come to God, our Father, at the same time, he adds, remember, our God, our Father is in heaven. He’s enthroned upon high in glory and majesty, ruling over all the nations and the whole universe. Now, keep that in mind. That we go to him, not casually, but with worship and awe. That really is how we come into prayer. We can come to the Lord, our Father, but he is in heaven. And now we keep this in mind and then we get to the first petition. Now, what’s the first petition? Hallowed be your name. Right. Hallowed be your name. Now, what does it mean to be hallowed? Well, in that word, hallowed, it’s a bit of an old term, but in it, you find the word holy. Or you can also say, sacred. And really what that means is to be set apart. It’s special. It’s not common. So children, just to give you a little illustration. Last year in December, we had served in South Africa on the mission fields for a year and a half. The house where we lived, right across from the street… I have three kids. A six-year-old girl, a four-year-old girl, and a two-year-old boy. My oldest two daughters had befriended the girls that were living across the street. They happened to go to the same school. They were five years old. It was twins. They started playing together. Now, we were about to leave the country. We were about to go home. And I tell you, this was heartbreaking to see that here comes these two little girls with their nanny across the street to come say their final goodbyes to our little girls. And they had brought these little packages, the presents for our girls. And so they open them up right there and then. And what these little girls from across the street had done is they had gone through their own little stuffed animals. They didn’t go to the store to buy new ones. They picked their favorite stuffed animals, wrapped them in paper, and that was their gift to our daughters for us to take home. My little girls still have those stuffed animals. Children, how do you think they treat those little animals, those stuffed animals? They’re special, right? They’re special because of the person, because of their friends that gave them to them, right? You’re careful with them and you treat them as such. How much more so do we treat God and God’s name? How incredibly special is God to you? He’s not casual. He’s not common. God is special to us and his name is special to us, right? And we revere it. So God’s name, the prayer is God’s name should be hallowed, should be made special and separate. But maybe you’re asking now, why did the Lord Jesus not just say, may you be hallowed, Lord? Why does he say, may your name be hallowed? Well, what’s in a name? Have you ever gone through the Bible to study all God’s names? It tells you about God, right? How He is perfect, holy, just, righteous, merciful, kind, loving, and all those things. So, in order to be able to hallow God, to honor Him, you need to know who He truly is, right? God is not some vague concept up in the sky. You cannot properly honor that. In order to honor and glorify God, you really need to know who He is. And that’s His name. His name explains to you who He is. So really, what is this first petition asking for? What are we praying for when we say, Hallowed be your name? Well, it’s this. The Heidelberg Catechism explains it this way, and I’m sure the Westminster does too. That all of us, first of all, would know God rightly. That we would understand who He is and that we would have a relationship with Him as such. Therefore, we can give Him honor and glory as such. Now this prayer is… Something that applies into our own hearts. When we pray to God, hallowed be thy name. We are praying, Lord, help me to properly hallow your name. Help me to know you that I may hallow your name with my life. And then of course, we extend this prayer into our own families, into our church communities. And indeed the prayer may be, Lord, may the whole world hallow your name. That’s what we’re praying for. And then it moves on into the second petition, your kingdom come. Now, what do we mean by your kingdom? By God’s kingdom? Well, you think about it. God is sovereign. God made this whole earth. We believe that he is in control of everything, right? But when sin came into this world, God, in his wisdom, allowed Satan to dominate this earth, the people in it. The earth, in a sense, is still under Satan’s dominion, even though God is still in control. Even Satan himself is under God’s control. But he has allowed Satan, if you will, to rule over this earth. Really, if you are an unbeliever, And you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ. You, yourself, and everybody out there who does not surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, is in a sense, a subject to King Satan. That’s what the Bible teaches us. So, when we pray, may your kingdom come. Well, when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, what was the message that he preached? As well as John the Baptist. You know, the kingdom of God is coming and it’s already here. God’s kingdom and the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, in particular, is expanding into this world. Now, how does Christ rule in this world? Well, he rules in the hearts of his people, right? When you came to faith, you were no longer a subject to King Satan. But you now become a subject to King Jesus, right? That’s what we’re praying for. Because every time somebody is being saved, that person is just included in the kingdom of God. What we’re praying for, as God’s lordship, is that it may expand all throughout the whole wide world. That more and more people would be brought into the kingdom of Christ. That His church would grow as such. That will come to completion. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes back on the clouds, when he comes back, we will know that every soul that he has set his love upon has been brought into the kingdom. That kingdom is now complete. So what do we pray for in this petition? That God would continue to grow his kingdom. That he would continue to save people from all over the world, from all languages, tongues, and nations. Why we look forward to his coming when that kingdom shall be complete. In the meantime, you pray to God that he would use you and I to be building that kingdom in our own hearts. That we may become more and more subject to him. That others also would join us in our own families. That the Lord would make us instrumental to grow that kingdom. That’s what we’re praying for. This is also a good place to be praying for mission work and for your pastors as they bring the word and for evangelists. That is the 2nd petition, your kingdom come. Then we move into the 3rd petition, your will be done as in heaven, so on earth. Now the meaning is obvious, but when you read this, your will be done, does that imply… That God’s will currently is not being done on earth. Well, here you need to look at the fact that there’s really… I wouldn’t say God has two wills. He doesn’t. But God has a hidden decree and a declared will. Now, God’s hidden decree or God’s hidden will, if you will, is everything that he’s doing in this world. that He doesn’t give us an explanation for. If you’re on your way to work and you get stuck in a traffic jam, God’s not going to tell you exactly what that’s for. Now, as Christians, we believe that these things work for our good and that it’s supposed to make us more like Christ, whatever these trials are. But how many things in our life is God doing and we have no idea? What’s the purpose of the war in Ukraine and Russia? You tell me, I don’t know. But God is in control. He allowed it to happen. He has a purpose for it. That’s God’s hidden will. In that sense, we know that his plans are being fulfilled. But God also has a declared will or a revealed will. Children, what do you think is God’s revealed will? What is it that he shows us that what his will is? Where can you find that? Where can you find God’s will? It’s right here. It’s in the Bible. It’s his word. That’s what he gives us. And in the Bible, he tells us, you need to repent. You need to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to surrender to me. And you need to be made in his image. He gives us his 10 commandments, right? He’s telling us how to live as Christians. That’s God’s revealed will to us. Now, the question is, How well, how good are we at fulfilling God’s will? That will that he has shown us? Because the bar here is the angels in heaven. Now, how do the angels in heaven obey God’s will? Readily, with zeal, with passion. They want to serve God and they want to serve him immediately and as best as they can. Now, Is that how you serve your mom when she asks you to go clean up your room? Happily, immediately, and as best as you can. Oh, and that’s not just for the children. I mean, we all struggle with that, right? When God asks of us to do something difficult, that’s painful for us. We ought to be as ready as the angels to serve him, regardless of the cost on our behalf. So, what are we praying for? Well, we’re praying for God that He would continue to transform us in our own hearts. To make us more and more willing to submit to His will. And to do His will. And to have our wills aligned with His wills. And to set aside, if you will, the wrongful lust and wrongful will of myself. to consecrate our lives to Him, personally, but then also in our own families, that others would bow to God’s will. In our church community, that His will would be done. Indeed, in the whole wide world. Until the whole earth is filled with people who live in perfection with God’s will. As the Lord Jesus Christ was living in perfection with God’s will, so everybody else. Again, when is that going to be complete? Of course, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and all sin and evil will be gone and all of his people will be here serving him as willing, as ready as the angels are. And maybe even better, maybe even with more zeal, because we know what it has been like to have been redeemed. Right? That’s what we’re praying for. Your will be done as in heaven. So on earth. And then we come to the fourth petition, that petition that stands in the middle, at the center of this prayer. Give us day by day, our daily bread. Now, the placement of this prayer seems out of place, isn’t it? When you think about it, as good reformed people, we tend to kind of think like, shouldn’t our personal needs be at the end of the prayer? But meanwhile, our heart says they kind of need to be at the front. I don’t know if you have this little acts acronym, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Now, if you’re using that, that’s fine. I find it really cumbersome. I much rather pray along the Lord’s prayer as we have it. But yeah, there you have it. Supplication is at the end, right? But we think it ought to be. But here, it’s at the center of the prayer. How can it be at the center of this prayer? Well, only if you get the meaning right. If you really understand what’s behind this petition. Literally, in the Greek text, it says, our sufficient bread give us daily. And by bread, we really mean everything that we need, physically, materially, emotionally as human beings. God made us in a way that we need food, we need drink, we need clothes, we need shelter, we need safety, all those things. And all of that, that is what we’re praying for when we ask the Lord, give us this day, our daily bread. And we are asking that all our physical, all our material needs for the day. Essentially, we’re asking God that this day, he would give us enough. For us to be healthy, to be fed, to be safe. That’s what we’re asking for, just for this day. What exactly are we praying for with this petition? We are not asking for the accumulation of wealth. That I may get as much money as I possibly can have. So that we would have enough for not just today, but also for tomorrow and for 10 years from now and for when I retire, especially that’s when I need enough. That’s not what we’re asking for. I’m not saying that that’s bad, but that is not what we’re asking for here. Also, we are not asking God that he should give us the bare minimum to live off that we can barely survive. We’re simply asking Him to give us what He deems enough for us for this day. So this prayer is essentially an expression of faith and devotion to Him. Isn’t it? What we’re saying here is, Lord, We trust that every day you will provide for our physical, our material needs, our food, our drink, our clothing, our shelter, so that we don’t have to worry about those things. And that we instead can be equipped and have the energy and the health so that we can go out there and focus on doing your will, building your kingdom and glorifying your name. That’s what we’re asking God for. Lord, give us what you think we need for this day so that we don’t have to worry about that and so that we can be out there doing your will. And just to put that in perspective, even if tomorrow the stock market crashes and your whole retirement fund burns up, But you still make it through the day healthy, food on your table, clothes to wear and safety. God has answered our prayer, hasn’t he? We’re asking God to give us what we need in this day. So that today we may focus on glorifying the Lord and we trust him that he will give us what we need. Right? That brings us to the 5th petition. By the way, this is also a good place to give thanks to Him. Every morning, I’ve been praying with my girls ever since going through this sermon. Last night, we prayed for the Lord to give us a good night’s rest. To give us health and safety and all those things. In the morning, when we wake up and everybody’s still here and everybody’s still healthy. Lord, thank you for doing what we asked you last night to do. For your faithfulness, right? And then we get to the fifth petition, forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone indebted to us. Now, what are we praying for here? Obviously, we are not praying that God would forgive us our sins because we’re so good at forgiving others. The wording sometimes seems to suggest it a little bit, but that is not the case. Because that’s simply not what the Bible teaches us. So, what is it saying? Obviously, that God would forgive us our sins. This is the time of repentance. This is the time to think through how our life has been. Also, in this last week and even as of this morning. To bring our sins before him. To confess them and to ask for forgiveness. Then we ask also that God would, I wouldn’t say equip us because he has given us his Holy Spirit, but help us to remind us and encourage us to forgive others also. Why? Well, our sins, how can they be forgiven? We have to go to the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Because what he did for us on the cross. So now our life has to be in such a way that we become like the Lord Jesus Christ. So if the Lord Jesus Christ forgives us and if he gives us time and again and over and again for big sins and for what we think are little sins and the many sins, he cleanses us. He’s willing to cleanse us if we come to him with forgiveness. How much more are we to forgive those who come to us if they have offended us for whatever reason it is? That means we need to carry forth that Christ-like spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, himself, shows it on the cross, doesn’t he? When he’s hanging there, he’s praying for the people that have physically, literally, nailed them to the cross. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. So, we cannot hold grudges. The people that have offended us, we must also likewise forgive. Then ask God to forgive them also for the offense that they may have committed against you. That’s what we’re praying for. That God would forgive us our sins and to help us to do likewise. Now, here’s where this chiastic structure comes in. Why the placement of this petition as the 5th petition? Because it stands in contrast to the 3rd. In the 3rd petition, we are praying, Father, may your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Now, why do we need forgiveness of sin? What is sin? What is sin? Isn’t it going against God’s will? God has clearly revealed of us how we ought to live. We read it this morning. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You must honor the Lord your God and him alone. And love your neighbor as yourself. Right? So every time we sin, we go against God’s will. So as we are praying, Lord, may your will be done. Now we’re praying, Lord, forgive us for all those times that we didn’t do your will. That we trespassed against your will. That we went after our own will. Our wrongful lusts and desires. Right? You see that? So then you get to the sixth petition. Lead us not into temptation. Now, does this mean that God could lead us into being tempted into sin? As if God is setting these traps out there for you to fall and to stumble so he can say, gotcha, now I can punish you. There’s people who tend to think that way about God. I remember seeing this police show once where they set up this trap and they were pretending to be drug dealers and people would come in with their cars and they would stop and ask for drugs. And they’re like, oh no, we’re cops, you’re busted, right? I thought, I don’t know, was there any cops here? I thought it was a little unethical, but you know, that’s the idea that some people have with God, that he’s out there to get you. But we know very clearly from the Bible that that’s not an option. James 1 verse 13 says, God does not tempt anyone with evil. So that’s impossible. So what does it mean? Well, temptation here, the word is being used for temptation, can also mean testing. How does God test his people? For their loyalty, for their faith, for their trust in him. It’s often by leading them into hard times, isn’t it? If you’re a true believer here, is this a reality to you? God will sometimes lead you through hard times in order to teach you something, to test you. But if you can testify of something like that in your life, then you will also know that it is especially in those hard times that we’re often on our weakest and most prone to fall into sin, isn’t it? It is especially when we’re being tempted, when we’re being challenged, and there’s these burdens upon us that just somehow do not seem to go away. That Satan will come and pointing out all these little release valves. Often they go to like our bosom sin, isn’t it? Go spend some time online a little bit. Just, you know, to areas where you’re not really supposed to go. Grab that extra drink that you know you’re not supposed to have. This substance abuse or that. Start drifting into this relationship that you know you should not be pursuing. Dive yourself into burdening yourself, bury yourself in your job, in your career. Whatever it is, you know for yourself. In times of testing, we tend to want to remove ourselves from the situation by indulging in something that gives us momentary happiness. Often something that is sinful. So, we are not asking that God should not test us. But the word that is being used here is, lead us not into temptation. In the other petitions, when you say, forgive us our sins, give us this day our daily bread, the verbs that are being used here are imperatives, which means you’re actually commanding God. You’re bold. You’re very bold with God. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our sins. And you can plead that with him based on his faithfulness. But the verb here is a subjunctive, which means it’s more like a plea. Lord, please do not allow us to fall into temptation or do not allow us to fall into sin during a time of temptation, during a time of testing. Do you see that? So, why the placement of this petition as the 6th petition? Then you have to go to the 2nd petition. May your kingdom come. What does temptation have to do with that? Well, as Christians, we are soldiers in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ, aren’t we? How is that kingdom of God going to come? But by conquest. The conquering of souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. We are soldiers in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to go forth and conquer on his behalf to build his kingdom. Now, what do we do when we fall into sin? We throw up our hands in the air, don’t we? We raise the white flag. We’re surrendering to the enemy. We’re betraying our Lord and Master when we sin, don’t we? So do you see the contrast here? May your kingdom come and lead us not into temptation. That brings us then to the final petition, the 7th petition. Deliver us from evil, or the evil, or the evil one, whichever. It doesn’t really matter. Because what is meant by evil here, is really all sources of evil. Which includes Satan, but also the world around us, temptations from the world, and let’s not forget our own indwelling sin, our flesh. Right? So what are we praying for? Well, we pray that God would destroy Satan, remove him out of this world, take away his dominion, bind him up forever, cast him into hell, that he would never reign on earth again. And that is already what is happening at this moment, right? As this kingdom grows, as dominion is shrinking, Satan’s dominion is shrinking, up until the day that the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and Satan will, for once and for all, be cast into hell, not being allowed to rule here again. But also, we pray that the Lord God would cleanse the earth itself and all the world of all evil and corruption. I mean, look around us, what do we see? It’s wickedness, it’s vileness. We see it in our society. We see it in other places in the world, in so many different ways. We see evil and it should grieve us, right? I mean, we’re so quick, I think, to grow callous, but really when, you know, just look around in this city. I mean, how much abuse is there that you see? Trafficking, violence, crime, substance abuse, you name it, it’s there, right? And it should stir our hearts for this to be done away with. Deliver us from that evil too. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back. He’s going to cleanse this earth. And all of that suffering and all of that evil shall be no more. But especially if you are a believer, this should resonate with you. Are you longing for the day that God When the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back and he’s going to take you into his presence, that you yourself will be delivered from all sinful inclinations and every bit of sin that still is in you. Are you looking forward to that? Honestly, ask yourself. Wouldn’t that be our greatest deliverance? That sin is out of our system and we can serve him wholeheartedly. And all of this for the destruction of Satan, for the cleansing of the earth, and for the cleansing of our own hearts of all sin and corruption. It will happen on the day that the Lord Jesus Christ shall come back. And that’s what we’re praying for. Are you looking forward for him to come back? To deliver us from all evil? Now, why is this the final petition? Why is it placed here? Well, at the very opening, with the first petition, hallowed be your name. That the Lord Jesus Christ, that God would be honored in all the earth. Well, God is the source of all good. And that’s what we glorify him for. Because of his perfection, his holiness, his justice. That’s why we honor and glorify him. Now, what’s the opposite of all good, of all holiness, of all justice, of all righteousness? It’s evil, isn’t it? And sin. Sin and evil is the very opposite of God. So here, this prayer comes full circle. How is God most glorified? In the destruction of evil. It’s like this diamond shining against a black backdrop. When the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross, it was literally, it was the culmination of all evil. How was it possible that humanity crucified its creator? How evil can it be? And yet at that moment, here hangs our Lord and Savior, dying on our behalf to redeem this whole universe. In the greatest moment of wickedness and darkness, and when God is pouring out His wrath on Him, is when that deliverance shines the brightest. Because in succumbing to the evil, He overcame it. Right? So here, this prayer comes full circle. God will be hallowed. God’s name will be glorified throughout all the earth. When he makes an end to all evil. That’s the Lord’s Prayer. It is entirely a prayer about the glory of God. It perfectly incorporates our daily material and physical needs. And our spiritual needs. But it directs them, not for our purposes, but it takes all these needs and we bring them to God for the purpose of glorifying Him. Do you see that? So, I just want to close with a little anecdote. About a year ago, I was preaching this in our little church plant in Rustenburg, South Africa. It was like a little classroom setting. It really was a very small group of people, mostly youngsters. What we were used to do at the end of the worship services, we would pull up this big flip chart and we would ask one of the teenagers or one of the adults to come forward. When we’re done with the worship service, they would come forward and we would ask around the group for prayer requests. And you know, the person would come forward and write down all the prayer requests. And usually this prayer request was always about, you know, so-and-so is sick. So-and-so is struggling with a job. Yeah, but the teenagers, they would always be praying for exams, whatever time of year it was. They were even looking up against exams, or going through exams, or looking back at exams. And then, you know, that’s their educational system. They’d be praying for… The soccer game, the upcoming soccer game for people who were missing. Wars in the Ukraine, that was always a thing on the list. It was beautiful. It was a really genuine little group. No matter was ever too trivial to put it on that board and for people to ask for in public to pray for these things. Hey, my birthday is coming up or so-and-so’s birthday. We give Thanksgiving. We pray for rain. We tend to take rain for granted here, not in Africa. We pray for rain and give thanks for it when it came. So then I preached this sermon and we go again. Here comes the flip chart. I asked one of the young teenage boys to come forward. I said to the group, now remember what you just heard. As we come to the Lord in prayer and bring our requests. And this young man walks up and writes in big bold letters at the tops, hallowed be your name. And then came the prayer requests. As usual, so and so is sick, so and so is traveling, exams, what have you. But at the top, it says, hallowed be your name. And I’m still part of this WhatsApp group. I still get the pictures of the flip charts. Just this morning, I saw the prayer request. You know what it says at the top of the board, children? Hallowed be your name. Right? They’re still doing it. And that’s awesome, I think. But do you see the change of the perspective right there? We can bring all these things to the Lord. granted that we’re asking God to bless our soccer game, to bless our work, to heal so and so, to give traveling mercies to so and so, for the wars to cease. for baby so-and-so who is sick, and to give thanks for all those things, so that your name may be glorified, so that your kingdom will be built, so that your will be done, so that we would be more equipped to fight temptation, and that you would forgive us our sins, and that the world would be delivered from this evil. Do you see the shift there? Your and my prayer life is a very good indicator of how your relationship is with the Lord. Isn’t it? So, when you think of your petitions, the Bible encourages us to bring absolutely everything to the Lord. But when you do so, think through, how can God be honored with this request? with a request for a daily food, with a request for blessing. I mean, even if you ask, you know, God does not forbid us any entertainment. You want to take your spouse out for a date? Lord, please bless it. Then we may have a nice time together and glorify you for it, right? It puts a certain sanctity on your activities, doesn’t it? To lay them before the Lord to ask His blessing on it. And that He would use it for His own honor and glory, isn’t it? So what I want to show you is simply, what I’ve tried to show you, is that the Lord’s prayer is ultimately all about Him. It’s about His glory. It’s about His honor. It’s about His kingdom. It’s about His will. But in all this, he does not just push us aside. We can bring all our petitions and all our requests to him. It just simply means that we need to step out of that spotlight. And give the Lord Jesus Christ center stage in our life. If you’re a child of God, you should want that. Isn’t it? Even though our flesh says no. Our flesh wants to honor self. But you should want the Lord Jesus Christ to be center stage in your life. And then to leave these petitions with him saying, your will be done and then surrendering to it. So we brothers and sisters, I don’t know you too well, but the call is the same for you and I, that we devote our lives to him who gave himself for us. And this prayer shows us that our prayers ought to reflect this. Let’s pray in that manner. Amen. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank you so much for the Lord’s Prayer. Lord, we pray this morning that even through this meditation upon your word, your name would be hallowed and glorified. Lord, that even in this group here this morning, your kingdom was built in the hearts of those who know you and maybe even in the hearts of who have not yet come to repentance and faith. Father, we pray that your will would be done. Also, Lord, equipping your people to go out with a renewed zeal to do your will. Lord, we thank you for your provision for us physically and materially as of this morning already. Now again, Lord, as we fellowship, will you give us the food and the safety and the health that we need for the remainder of this day to glorify you and to worship you with it. Lord, forgive us our sins, even as of this morning already. Cleanse us, O Lord, from evil thoughts and words and deeds. Help us, Lord, to be forgiving unto others, to show forth that Christlike attitude. And Father, we pray also as we go into this weekend, especially Lord, maybe if there are those here who are suffering under particular trials, will you uphold them and all of us that we would not fall into sin, that we would not surrender to the enemy, Lord. And as we look forward to that one day when you shall come back to deliver us from all evil, to the glorification of your name, we pray for Jesus’ sake. Amen.