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[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] ♪ Pour my steps in your word, dear Lord ♪ ♪ Lead me, guide me, every day ♪

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♪ Send your glory, Father, I pray ♪ ♪ Pour my steps in your word ♪ ♪ He's poured my steps in your word ♪ [MUSIC]

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♪ Guide me every day ♪ ♪ Send your darkening, Father, I pray ♪ ♪ Water my steps in your word ♪ ♪ Please water my steps in your word ♪

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♪ Omni, I ask thee ♪ ♪ Teach me your will ♪ ♪ While you are working, help me be still ♪ ♪ Though Satan is busy, God is real ♪

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♪ Order my steps in your word ♪ ♪ Please order my steps in your word ♪ ♪ Brow my tongue, let my words edify ♪ Let the word of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight.

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Take charge of my thoughts both day and night. Order my steps in your word. Please, Lord, order my steps in your word. ♪ I'm born to walk worthy ♪

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♪ I'm calling to fulfill ♪ ♪ Each one of my steps, Lord ♪ ♪ And I'll do your best to please ♪ ♪ And change it ♪

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♪ But you are still the same ♪ ♪ If you honor my steps ♪ ♪ I stand ♪ ♪ I'm praying ♪

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♪ Hey, for me ♪ ♪ I honor what's worthy ♪ ♪ I call it to fulfill ♪ ♪ Please honor my steps ♪

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♪ Oh ♪ ♪ And I'll do your blessed will ♪ ♪ Oh, the world is ever changing ♪ ♪ But you are still the same ♪

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♪ If you order my steps ♪ ♪ I'll praise your name ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ In your word ♪

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♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Oh, walk my talk ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ In your word ♪

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♪ At my feet ♪ ♪ At my feet ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Come on and wash up my heart ♪

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♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Oh, show me how to walk ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ Come on and show me how to talk ♪

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♪ In your word ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ When I need a brand new song to sing ♪ ♪ Show me ♪

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♪ Show me how to take ♪ ♪ The breath to take ♪ ♪ In your word ♪ ♪ In your word ♪

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♪ Oh, in your word ♪ ♪ Please ♪ ♪ All of my steps ♪ ♪ All of my steps in your Word ♪

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♪ All of my steps in your Word ♪ ♪ All of my thoughts in your Word ♪ ♪ Guide my feet in your Word ♪ ♪ Wash my heart in your Word ♪

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♪ Show me how to walk in your Word ♪ ♪ Show me how to smile ♪ ♪ In your words ♪ ♪ In your words ♪

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♪ When I have a brand new song to sing ♪ ♪ Show me how to laugh ♪ ♪ Let your praises ring ♪ ♪ In your words ♪

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♪ In your words ♪ ♪ Leave all of my steps in your word ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Leave all of my steps in your word ♪

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♪ Come on Jesus ♪ ♪ Leave all of my steps in your word ♪ ♪ Leave all of my steps in your ♪ ♪ In your word ♪

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(audience applauding) (congregation applauding) - Let all of us say amen. - Amen. - Amen.

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That you do not your arms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise, ye have no reward of your heavenly father, which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms,

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do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

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But when thou doest alms, let not the left hand know what thy right hand doeth. For thine alms may be in secret, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray

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standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward

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thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Would you repeat after me?

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Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. These are the words, the beginning words of that prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. It is the model prayer that he has given his disciples.

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So, we are in the second message of a sermon series based on this model prayer. In the previous message we considered the words "Our Father which art in heaven." This was the introduction and the invocation. Following the address, introduction, there are seven petitions we shall consider in the message today.

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The first petition, "Hallowed be thy name. Let your name be hailed wholly." One boy who did not quite understand what was being said was repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer and he said, "Our Father, Harrow be thy name." So we are focusing on the name, the Lord's Prayer, as some call it, the Disciples Prayer, the model prayer. It's the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

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In response to their request, Lord teach us to pray. Now many times we recite this prayer, it just flows off of our lips. and we sometimes say in introducing it that let us repeat the Lord's Prayer and sometimes, maybe most of the time, that's all we do.

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repeated, but we are to pray the Lord's prayer, not just repeated. We are to pray the Lord's prayer. It is a prayer, not words that just fall from the lips of people, but it should be one that comes from the heart. It is a prayer to be

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prayed by disciples of our Lord, by Christian disciples. They are the ones that are encouraged to pray this particular prayer. This prayer can only be prayed when it comes from the heart

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and in the right spirit is offered to the heavenly father. Our father, hallowed be thy name. That means God's name is to be treated differently. It is to be considered separate

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and apart from other names. His name is holy and possesses uniqueness. God is peculiar. God is particular.

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God is personal. His name is not to be treated in an ordinary fashion. His name is to be hallowed. His name is to be encircled with halo.

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His name is to be honored above every name. Too often we're in such a hurry with this prayer that we rush to the Lord with an SOS call. start saying, "Lord, give me this. Lord, give me that." And like the young son in the parable

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of the prodigal son, the father is asked to give us our portion of human existence and hurry up about it. But Jesus teaches us how to begin our prayers. We are to begin by hallowing the name of God. May God's name be honored. Now names have meanings. This was particularly true of the ancient Hebrews. Names have to do with one's nature, one's character.

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The name of God is not merely a label. God says concerning his name, "I am that I I am. We're insulted when someone calls us out of our name. I saw one young lady that was just fuming with anger because someone had called her black. She was black, but she didn't want anyone to call her black. And to top it all off, she was

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was being called black by one who had a much lighter skin. But we don't want to be called out of our names, whatever the situation may be. Thurgood Marshall, who was the first African-American appointed

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to the Supreme Court, tells the story of his experience. He would get into the elevator from time to time and there were those who didn't know Thurgood Marshall.

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They didn't recognize him. And they would say, "Such and such a floor, boy." And he would say, "Yowza!" And go right on and punch his eye button.

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But they never took the time to find out who he was or what is his name, his name, his name. So name is important. Baldwin, James Baldwin says in the book

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that bears the title, "Nobody Knows My Name." And we have been called boy, aunt, uncle, preacher, whatever, in order to avoid calling the name that we bear. So no one wants to be, we don't want to be

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in the nameless multitude. We want to be singled out. And God wants his name to be singled out. hallowed, to treat it with reverence.

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We live in a society where we are prone to become so familiar with God, so familiar that we refer to him as if he were just one of the boys,

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or just a man of stairs. But we are to consider his name, treated with reverence, with respect, with honor. Our Father,

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which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now then, a name suggests that God is personal. When someone calls your name,

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that person is singling you out from among the others, And you respond because that's your name. God's name is to be honored. When Moses meets God, he engages in a conversation with him.

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And in the course of the conversation, Moses said, "Well, what's your name? "What's your name? "We've been talking now about various matters,

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"but I wanna know your name. "If I go and do what you said, If I appear before Pharaoh and he asks me your name, what shall I say?

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What is your name? Living up to our name. This is important. God says through this prayer given to us

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by his son, Jesus Christ, our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. God is single, he's singled out from every other person.

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God, one theologian calls him the holy other, holy other, other than ourselves. We cannot reduce him in any way to our thoughts. He's greater than we can conceive.

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What is your name? Now, that suggests particularity, singleness. That's our God. That's the one we serve.

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That's the one we worship. Now, the devil is anonymous. You read about the demons. as I just said, the demons.

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In the New Testament, no name is attached to them. So we begin to single out God in a peculiar way and recognize that he is holy. He is above and beyond all that we may say of him.

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that we may say or think God is holy. So Moses, pull off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is holy ground. God is holy.

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And so much so that the ancient Hebrews recognized this, that they did not even call his name. So when you read in the King James way, it says, "Lord," they just put that there

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to keep from calling his name. His name was Yahweh, and it was so holy that no marginal person was to utter it except the high priest once a year

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when he went into the Holy of Holies, he would call the name Yahweh. That's a far cry from the way some of us are. We just use the name of the Lord in vain.

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We want to spice up our language. We put God in it and put a few other words. But our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's the model, not only in word,

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That's the model we are to follow indeed. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. God's name is holy. Not to be taken for granted.

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It's to be reverence. Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. This is the experience that Isaiah has when he goes into the temple and in the midst of the worship, he doesn't mention the ritual. He doesn't mention the dress that people may have had on as they were.

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but he says, "I saw the Lord high and lifted up his train, filled the temple, even the skirts of his garment filled up the temple." And so he looks and sees God and he looks at himself

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and he said, "Woe is me, I am undone." compare ourselves with God, we serve, brothers and sisters, we serve an awesome God. Awesome. Whenever we've been in His presence, we don't feel the same. He's an awesome God. High

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above us in every respect. Awesome God. We serve an awesome awesome God. We should reverence Him, bow before Him. Our God is great. We are finite. We are little creatures. We are like a drop in the ocean, but our God is the creator of the world. He

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has created us. We are His people. We are the sheep of His God, yes, is an awesome God. And then he is an awful God. It's an awful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. He is awesome. He is awful. And it is ours in this prayer to adore

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him awesome, awful, and to be adored. Praise his name. Most of the Bible has to do with hymns that were written in praise of God. Praise God. We sing in our worship from time to time, "From all blessings flow. Praise Him, He is beyond us and yet He comes

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to be with us. Humbles Himself as a little babe and comes to Bethlehem and is born in a barn. He's such a great God but His greatness is in His humility to be among His creatures and to And he says praise him over and over again we see it.

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Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Somehow when we come to pray this prayer, our hearts should be filled with joy when we think of the greatness of God

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and to think of his love toward us and his humility manifested for us. Thanks be to God. Praise him.

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That's what this prayer is all about. Don't treat it lightly. Every time we pray it, remember that we ought to be in tune with this one who is so great,

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so loving, and so kind. Our Father. He's our Father. All of us have some common experiences,

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but one thing we have in common is that we have met the Lord. Somewhere along the way, we met God, and that God encounter changed our lives, and we have never been the same since that.

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And so every day, no matter where you are, you don't have to wait 'til you get to church. Every day as you're riding along in your car, as you're walking along the street,

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to be able to say, "Our Father which art in heaven, "Hallowed be thy name." (audience applauding) That's what Jesus says we ought to pray.

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And no wonder when the disciples saw him and one or two occasions they walked up on him and watched him, listened as he prayed, they knew that he was in fellowship with the eternal.

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And they said, "Lord, teach us, "teach us to pray like that." And in our hearts of hearts, we should say today, as we listen and consider these words,

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"Lord, teach us to pray like that "so that we can be the kind of disciple of your son that you want us to be. Now we come to the invitation.

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It's an invitation to Christian discipleship. To come as an expression of your dedication, giving your life to Jesus Christ, putting your life in his hands, knowing

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that whatever may befall us, you can say, our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name. So come, by letter, by Christian experience or profession of faith, come.

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The door of the church is open. Come by letter, by Christian experience Our procession of faith, come. I bleed, I bleed, I sing, I hum, to help the old.

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I bleed, yes, I'm, and in through the darkness, ♪ My faith is born to sin ♪ ♪ Lead me, O Lord, lead me ♪ ♪ Here in the land of righteousness ♪

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♪ Be my aid in saving my sin ♪ ♪ Oh, rest my heart ♪ ♪ My trust in thee ♪ ♪ Lead me, oh Lord, lead me ♪

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♪ Oh, lead me, guide me ♪ ♪ Along the way ♪ ♪ Glory to thee, O God, in the highest ♪ ♪ Glory to God, His name is peace ♪

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♪ Be pleased, O Lord, be pleased ♪ I am lost if you take your hand from me. I am blind without my eye to see. But it's always with me, my sir, my dear.

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♪ Lead me, O Lord, lead me ♪ ♪ Lead me, guide me along the way ♪ ♪ For in the eerie I will stay ♪ ♪ Lord, if you are ♪

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♪ Please stay with me ♪ ♪ Please be so kind ♪ ♪ Keep me ♪ - We come to commune together.

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This is the Lord's table. Jesus invites every person to this table who accepts him as Lord and Savior. It was on the night when he was betrayed that he observed this meal with his disciples, and as his disciples, we observe it because of our common relationship to him in faith,

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in hope, and in love. Let us bow our heads as we ask God's blessings upon us and ask his forgiveness of our sins. O gracious God our Father, we thank you that you have provided a table for us, as the psalmist puts it, in the presence of our enemies.

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But we in the wilderness of this world have a table which you supply all of our needs, water in waterless places and meat for meatless experiences. You're always there. And so we ask your blessings upon this bread, this cup representing our Lord and Savior

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Jesus Christ's body and blood, and help us rededicate our lives to your service in this faith journey in which we are all engaged. Bless and use us until that day when you shall call us from labor to that eternal reward prepared for all of your people. We ask in the strong and perfect name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Amen. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]