In his sermon 'Hallowed be Thy Name,' Pastor Steve Hopkins addresses the congregation at Brenna Bible Church, emphasizing the importance of the church covenant and the seriousness of vows made to the church community. He reflects on the necessity of strong, supportive relationships among church members, particularly in times of persecution, drawing parallels with historical events and scriptural teachings. Pastor Hopkins discusses the significance of hospitality and being actively involved in each other's lives, highlighting verses from Romans 12:10-13 to advocate for brotherly love and support. He stresses the importance of living like first-century Christians, prepared for potential persecution similar to that faced by Christians in other parts of the world. The sermon also delves into the Lord's Prayer, particularly the phrase 'Our Father, which art in heaven,' which is seen as a form of adoration rather than a literal location. Pastor Hopkins calls for a focus on hallowing God's name, making it a priority in prayer and daily life, and warns against taking God's name in vain, urging repentance and reverence. The sermon concludes with a call for unity in prayer, following the Lord's directive to pray for God's name to be revered globally.

Welcome back to Brenna Bible Church. This week Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series on the Lord's Prayer. Good morning once again. Turn with me once again in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 6, where this morning in a few minutes we will continue with our series on the Lord's Prayer and we will stand together in a few minutes and read one singular verse, Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9. But before we do, something I want to share with the congregation that I've been thinking about this week.

And I want to read from our covenant, our church covenant, one portion of it. I, and then we, every one of us who is a member of the church has taken this vow. I, and then our name, a baptized believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, hereby covenant with Bernard Bible Church, solemnly agreeing to walk together with my brothers and sisters in this fellowship according to the precepts of Scripture and brotherly affection, giving up myself to the Lord and every other member of the church." I've been thinking about our covenant vows as church members and, you know, we don't make a lot of vows in our lifetime. We make our vows as husbands and wives, but this is a serious vow. And, you know, when we leave one church and we go to another church, we make, we then make vows, you know, to another church, to that assembly as well.

And it's very serious. But to give up ourselves to the Lord and every other member of the church, And this wording was taken from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith and from the definition in Webster's 1828 definition of a church covenant. But it's pretty important. And I was thinking about this in relationship to the age in which we live. And you know, there's been this big gap, you know, of going from when we understood how important it is, our relationship with each other in the church, and this big gap of when there's been kind of this frivolous kind of way that we have church membership, just church hopping in one church to another to another to another and I don't like what the preacher said and I got offended by some member in the church and we just instead of working things out like a family we we move on to another church that sort of thing and it's really become a situation where you know we don't have really tight-knit churches, tight-knit families, to where people really back each other up in really difficult times.

And I was thinking how important it is, verses like Romans chapter 12, verse 10 through 13, where we're told to be given to hospitality How important it is to have that time during the week where we're actually? Participating in each other's lives And our family gets away from it. It's not a good thing We get away from it where we're not inviting people into our home, and we're not being in others homes. We get away from it, but it's something that we need to, and I've been thinking about our house, our home. We need to be doing that more.

We need to be really getting close to other people, And we need to really be drawing people in and allowing others to draw us in and really getting to know each other because you know what? We're living in a different age right now. We're living in a different time. And we need to be having strong, strong relationships with each other. The kind of relationships that are going to endure in times of persecution.

Because we think it can't happen in America, what's gone on in other nations and throughout history. I tell you it can happen and I believe it will happen. In Matthew chapter 24, well let me read this verse first in Romans chapter 12 verse 10. It says, be kindly affectionate one to another in brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. And in 12, 12 says, rejoicing and hope, patient in tribulation, which they were facing, continuing instant in prayer.

And 13, distributing to the necessity of saints. Now there's being prepared to give to each other when one person is in great need, and I think times like that are coming. And then it says given to hospitality. Verse 16 goes on to say being of one mind. Well, to be of one mind, lots of things got to happen.

One thing is you're going to have to really be a part of each other's lives. But Matthew chapter 24, Jesus told his disciples there was a time that was coming. That's a time that's now passed, but it's repeated itself throughout history. But it was a time when those, where there would be many who would betray and hate one another. He was talking about the time preceding the destruction of Jerusalem.

It happened. Everything Jesus predicted would happen did happen. And in the past 2, 000 years, we've seen that scenario repeat itself against Christians and amongst professing Christians in families and churches again and again. Persecutions have broken out and you've had this situation in churches where there's been betrayal, really intense situations where even family members have turned against each other, even family members. You know where Jesus said, you know, fathers and mothers would turn in their own kids, and kids would even turn in their own parents?

Wow. Really hard to believe that things like that can happen. But you know, We think it can't happen in America. It's happened in communist nations. It's happened in this century in other nations, and it can happen here.

I tell you, it can. Things can move really swiftly, and they could happen. It could happen in our own country. We need to be prepared for whatever the Lord might bring our way. And so I say this because it's very important for church members to really get to know each other and become a part of each other's lives and live like, more like first century Christians.

We really need to be living more like first century Christians. It's something that we need to understand. Some of us could be sharing prison cells together one day. It's possible. It's possible.

You know, in our family worship this past week, I read to the family from Luke chapter 3, where we're told about John the Baptist and how he confronted a government official named Herod with his sin. Everybody knows about that, right? He tells Herod, you know, you can't, the law of God is above you. You can't have your brother Philip's wife while he's still alive. Well, Herod doesn't take really kindly to that, right?

And it says he confronted him with many other sins. It wasn't the only sin. He was confronting government officials and saying the law of God is above you, is above your law. Okay, well they didn't take kindly to that and of course they put him in prison. That's the same thing Wang Yi did just three and a half, four years ago over in China.

He told the president of their country, the law of God is over your nation, is over you, and you've broken God's law. He told Xi Jinping, he said, you're persecuting Christ Church and you need to repent or you're going to perish. And the dictator of the country of China said, I don't like what you said, you're going to jail. And he's been in jail ever since, and his wife and children don't even know where he's at. They've never seen him since he was arrested.

The church was dispersed, their property was taken, and their people now meet in individual homes. They still proselytize, and they still get the gospel out, but they are their underground. It's an underground church now, and it's dispersed throughout the area. I met with a man who is, was baptized by Wang Yi when I was in North Carolina a few months ago, he and his wife, and they can't wait to get back to China. He's interning right now learning more about the gospel.

He can't wait to get back to China with his wife and little child. And when I talked about the prospect of going to prison, He just smiled. He said, that's our home. He goes, imagine this is your home. He said, would you want to leave your home if you had the prospect of going to prison here?

I said, probably not. Where would I go? He goes, that's the way we feel. That's the way we feel. They can't wait to get back.

They can't wait to get back. I said, what will you do? He said, we'll have house church. We'll have a church in our house, and we'll go out and we'll proselytize and we'll preach the gospel, and then converts will meet in our home with us. That's what we'll do.

So you know, we need to be more like that and more like the first century Christians, but we need to be really strong. But we need to really consider what we would do in this church if one day, you know, our pastor or members of our church were arrested. And you say, well, why would they be arrested? For speech. That's what's coming in this country.

You'll be arrested for your speech. What kind of speech? For saying, a man shall not lie down with a man as with a woman. It's abomination. That's horrific, abominable speech today.

You cannot say that. You know, people will not have, you can't say, You can say anything you want. You can say abortion is wrong. You can say we're against abortion. You can say almost anything.

But don't you dare say a man shall not lie down with a man as with a woman. It is abomination. Of course, I've said that and it's published. It's on sermon audio, et cetera, et cetera. But what happens if you continue to say that as the tide grows against us on that particular message, well, they might come in one day and say, you know, you've got to stop saying this or we will put you in prison.

What are you going to do if the church is shut down for that? What do you do if your ministers are put in jail for speech, for that sort of thing? What do you do if they confiscate the church's goods? Does the church go on? Well, I hope so.

I hope you do as the church in China and you meet in your homes and you continue to preach the gospel. I hope that that covenant that you have with one another continues. When the pilgrims, our pilgrim fathers left Holland for America, I'll have a quote here, their pastor wrote, quote, we are knit together as a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant with the Lord. Of the violation thereof we make great conscience and by virtue whereof we do hold ourselves strictly tied to all care of each other's good." Is that where you're at? Is that where you're at?

Remember half of them died. They buried half their members the first winter when they came to the New World. We need to be those who look at our covenant with each other in that type of a way. You know, I'm grateful When I hear of hospitality going on in the church, and I think it needs to grow, I think that our local body needs to be knit together stronger, and I hope that we'll consider to do that. And so I spent quite a bit of time on that, but I think it's very, very important that we grow stronger together as a body.

And one of the ways to do that is really get to know each other, have each other in your homes, and grow stronger together. If you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of God, Matthew chapter 6 verse 9, we're going to read one singular verse, and we're going to be focusing on four words in that verse this morning. So if you would, read with me Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9. After this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Let's pray. Father, in heaven, we ask once again, God, that you would take your Word, O God, make it alive to us, O God, that you would take this word, O God, and change us, that you would use it, O Lord, in a special way in our lives, O God, conform us more to the image of Christ, show us, O God, what Jesus meant when he said, this is the way we're to pray.

Show us what he meant, O God, make it alive to us, O God, change us, O God, and change our prayer life to conform to Your Word, O God, for we do ask it in the name of Your Son Jesus, amen. Let's be seated. Please don't raise your hands here, but how many have begun to pray the Lord's Prayer? We've been talking about it now for about three weeks. Don't raise your hands, but how many have begun to pray the Lord's Prayer?

How many? Okay. I was thinking yesterday how the Lord's Prayer brings unity to the body of Christ. It brings unity to the body of Christ. It makes us of one mind one toward another.

When you're praying the same things, okay, imagine millions of Christians all around the world morning and night starting their day and ending their day, praying through the petitions, not limited to the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, but praying through these petitions, you know, this manner of prayer that the Lord has commanded His people to pray like. Imagine that, it's powerful. It is wonderful to contemplate the unity of purpose, the unity of purpose in prayer that takes place when the people of God are obedient to Jesus when he said, when you pray, pray like this. When you pray, pray like this. So I'm gonna encourage you, if you haven't begun to do that, do it.

I asked my children and I, are you praying the Lord's Prayer? Are you praying through the elements of the Lord's Prayer? Are you praying like this? I'm not saying are you repeating the Lord's Prayer over and over again, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, and the earth as it is in heaven. I'm not saying are you doing that.

I'm not asking are you doing vain repetitions thinking that the Lord, you know, because you could say that prayer over and over again or whatever is hearing, I'm not asking you that. I'm asking you, are you praying through that with understanding, you know, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and then thinking about it and praying those petitions and asking for those things and really understanding and asking God for those things to be implemented in the world and in your life. That's what I'm asking. In a moment, we're going to be looking at the first petition of the Lord's Prayer, the petition that Jesus put at the top of the list, the one that He put at the top of the list, the one that Jesus told His disciples to begin with, hallowed be thy name. But first, in our last session, in a quick review, How many were here first off for our last session where Jesus found we found Jesus inviting us to pray to his father as our father?

How many were here for that? Were you saying pray to my father is your father? I'm inviting you to pray our father which aren't in heaven How many were here for that? Okay? Many, many were here for that.

You remember I said that you realize the Old Testament saints didn't address God as Father. They didn't. You don't go into the Old Testament and they're praying, our Father which art in heaven. They weren't praying that. But then Jesus appears, you know, and again and again he calls God his father Why because Jesus is the only begotten of the father so he appears and Jesus the only?

Son of God by nature appears and he begins to call God his father and it's a great irritation to the Jews, but Jesus is the only begotten. He is the eternally begotten Son of the Father. Jesus is always the Son of the Father. There was never a time when Jesus was not the son of the Father. He didn't become the son of the Father when he was born at Bethlehem.

He's the eternally begotten of the Father. Jesus is of the same nature or substance with the Father. Jesus is the only son of God by nature. He is the only eternally begotten son of the Father of the same nature as God. And though we, this was the message last week, though we are invited by Jesus to call God our Father, we are not children of God by nature.

Did everyone get that last week? We are not children of God by nature. We are children of wrath by nature. Did everyone get that? We are children of wrath by nature.

We are by nature the children of wrath. Ephesians 2, 3, we looked at. We are by nature the children of wrath. We are not sons and daughters of God by nature. We are the sons and daughters of God by what?

Adoption. We are the sons and daughters of God by what? Adoption. We're the sons and daughters of God by adoption. Our sonship is by adoption not by nature and our adoption was won for us by who?

By Jesus. Our sonship, our adoption was won for us by Jesus just as our justification was won for us by Jesus. We deserved eternal wrath, as children of wrath, but God sent His Son to redeem us that we might receive the adoption of sons and all the benefits and privileges of the children of God. Amen? Bless God.

And because we are now children of the adoption because of what Jesus did for us in His life and in His death, we can now call God our Father. And we can pray to God as our Father. Amen? Amen. Jesus says, invites us, pray to God as your Father.

Say when you pray, pray, our Father, which art in heaven. So Jesus says, when you pray, pray our Father, which art in heaven. And we didn't cover that second part in our last session, but I want you to understand something. When you pray those words, which art in heaven, that's adoration, not location. Everybody got that?

When you pray, which art in heaven, That's adoration, not location. When you pray, Our Father, which art in heaven, you're not assigning a confined location to the Father. You're not confining the Father to a location, a specific location, as if God were confined to a place called heaven and no place else No, God is omnipresent God is Everywhere at all times second Chronicles 2 6 says the heaven even the heavens of heavens cannot contain Him. Everybody understand that? The heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain Him.

2 Chronicles 2 says, You're not praying, God, you are confined to the location of the place called heaven when I say, our Father which art in heaven. No, when we pray our Father which art in heaven, it is an acknowledgement that God is above all. It is a term of adoration. God, you are high above all. The same thing is saying, our Father which art in heaven, our Father high above all.

It is a form of adoration. It is an adoring of God's greatness and of His sovereignty. When we pray, our Father who art in heaven, we're saying, our Father, high above all, you reign over all creation. That's what it's saying. That's what it's saying.

He is higher than the whole world, Calvin says. That's what he's saying. And we should acknowledge it in our prayers. And we can spend time on that. He is higher than the whole world, Calvin says.

That's what he's saying. And we should acknowledge it in our prayers. And so we come to the first petition of the Lord's Prayer. Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be thy name.

Hallowed be thy name. It should make us tremble. It's the first petition Because it is to be in first place in the minds of every one of us. Hallowed be thy name. It is to be in first place in the minds of every one of us because it was first in Jesus' mind.

It was first place in His mind when He said, here's how I want you to pray. When Jesus' disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray, Jesus said, Okay, when you pray, pray like this, Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. When you go to pray in secret, when you get along with God to pray, Your primary concern, the thing that should be primarily upon your mind when you come to the place where you're pouring out your heart before God and you're making your request before God, should be that His name is set apart as holy, apart from every other name that is named in all the world. That should be the thing that drips you in your prayers when you go to pray before God. That should be the thing that is concerning you above everything else.

It should drip you. It should concern you. It should be in the first place in your mind that God's name is set apart as holy. That's what Jesus is saying. It's the first thing in Jesus' mind and he wants it to be the first thing and in the first place in your mind when you go to pray before God.

Your primary concern When you come before God in prayer, it should be that the name of God is regarded in all places in all the earth with the reverence that is due His name. Amen? Jesus says when you pray, the first thing I want you to pray The thing I want you to be concerned with in the first place Before anything else is that the name of my Father is kept holy and set apart from every other name. For from the rising of the sun, Malachi 1.11, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles." End quote. Oh that we would pray.

Oh that would be first in our hearts and our minds that His name might be set apart as holy. Has that been the first thing in your mind when you go to the secret place to pray to God? Has that been at the forefront of your thinking, the first thing that comes out of your mouth? Has that been your primary concern, O God, that your name might be regarded with the utmost reverence in all the world? That is my primary concern when I come before you to pray, O God, O God, that your name might be revered in all the world.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's what Jesus said he wants us to pray. That's what I want you to pray, Jesus said. That's what I want to be at the forefront of your thinking when you get alone with God and pour out your heart before God, before Him in prayer. Because listen, friends, you will not be concerned about His kingdom come.

You will not be concerned about His kingdom come. You won't be concerned about the advancement of Jesus' kingdom. You won't be concerned about His will being done in the earth and your life, your family, your marriage, or anything else if you're not concerned in first place with the hallowing of His name. That's the inference here. That's what is inferred here.

If you're not concerned first with the hallowing of Jesus' name, none of these other things are going to be important to you. They're not really going to be on your radar screen? And any prayer for the hallowing of his name will be merely an exercise in futility and hypocrisy if it is not the practice of your life to actually hallow it. You hear what I'm saying? Any prayer for the hallowing of His name will be merely an exercise in futility and hypocrisy if it is not the practice, actually the practice of your life, to actually set apart His name as holy, to actually reverence the name of God, to actually hallow His name, to actually hallow the name of God, to actively practice the hallowing of God's name in your daily life.

In the Westminster Confession of Faith, it speaks of the Third Commandment, And it talks about the reverencing of God's name, but not only His name, but also the titles of God and the attributes of God. People used to understand that. Not just His name, like we'd say, oh God, or Jesus Christ, or Jehovah, Yahweh, okay, the names of God, God, but also his titles and also his attributes. They would keep his, they would reference his attributes also. We'll get to that in just a moment.

Will you pray? When you pray, will you pray, Father, may your name be hallowed in my life in every way? When you go to God in secret And you begin your prayers and you begin to pray through the elements of the Lord's Prayer where you begin father May your name be hallowed in my life in every way Father may your name be hallowed in my marriage in every way May your name be hallowed in my home in every way. Lord Father, let everything that happens under the roof of my house Bring glory to your name as your name is hallowed in this place. Will you pray that?

May your name be reverenced in my home and regarded as holy in this place. Will you pray that? Is that something you'll pray and actually mean? Some professing Christians will not even give up entertainment in their homes that profanes the name of God, and it shows the true heart of the Christian before God. Please don't let this just go in one ear and out the other.

Some can sit and watch a movie in their house that blasphemes the name of God by using God's name as a curse word and it doesn't even bother them as it sinks into the ears of their family members and rots the rafters of their dwelling. It affects everything. Didn't used to be this way but for a couple of decades now, in our home, if we know that a movie uses God's name in a profane way or as a curse word, we won't have it in our home. If we if we don't know that it does and it takes us by surprise, it just happens, my anger boils. That's the holy name of our God.

That person just used the holy name of our God in vain. It will not happen under this roof. It doesn't matter how interesting the flick, it doesn't matter how far into the movie we are, it doesn't matter if anybody wants to see the end of that movie or not, we shut it off. And I can remember in the old days of the video cassette players taking a VHS cassette and smashing it into pieces in front of the family on the edge of a coffee table, just smashing it into pieces after an actor profaned the name of the Lord God. I want an indelible Impression upon the minds of my children you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain you shall not And I'm thinking our father which art in heaven How would be thy name?

Oh Lord? We don't want to put entertainment ahead of the reverence of Your name. Can you imagine standing before God on the day of judgment and saying, and having to have that come before as the review of our lives is going before us? Wow. You put entertainment before the reverencing of my name when Jesus said this is the number one thing that should be, you should be praying about.

It's a time for repentance. If the church is going to be growing in holiness, this is the area that needs to grow in holiness right now, right now. And I could say, I could say if you do that, God will bless you for it. And it would be true, but I'd be behind the curve Because if you do that, God has already blessed you. God's already blessed you.

Because it's a blessing in and of itself to hallow his name. It is a blessing to hallow his name. And he will bless you immensely for it. He will bless your home. He will bless your home in amazing ways.

You know in the Old Testament and ancient Israel the blaspheming of God's name was a capital offense. Did you know that? They killed you for it. They stoned you with stones until you were dead for blaspheming God's name. Read about it in Leviticus chapter 24.

You realize that if Israel's laws were in effect in America today, the producer of the movie, the writer of the script, and the actor who profaned the name of God would be executed. You realize that? You know who wrote those laws? God, through Moses. So before you get off saying, oh those Israelites, boy they were really tough, God wrote the laws through Moses.

You might say, well that's overboard, That was just ancient Israel. No Christian government ever held God's name to be to that level of reverence. Not true. At the founding of America in the 13 colonies, blasphemy was punishable by death. Did you know that?

In the 13 colonies. Look it up for yourself if you want, but I'll read it to you. It wasn't that long ago Americans took the howling of God's name very seriously. Listen to chapter 94, paragraph 3 of the Massachusetts body of liberties in the colonies, also in the Connecticut body of liberties, and I could probably cite about six others. But here is chapter 94, paragraph 3 of the Massachusetts body of liberties in the colonies of the New World.

Quote, if any person shall blaspheme the name of God, the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost with direct, express, presumptuous, or high-handed blasphemy, or shall curse God in the like manner, he shall be put to death." That's America. That's the colonies. That's the place that God blessed above every nation on the face of the earth, and we wonder why. And we're living on the fumes of it today, but not for long. And then they cite Leviticus 24, 15 through 16 in their law.

You see the height from which we've fallen. They used to have laws against it in, for movies, you know. I remember in the 1950s, television and movies, you know, began to – they had laws you couldn't take God's name in vain. Did you all know that? In the 1950s you couldn't still, you know.

But they began to use the words Gosh and Golly and Gee and Gee's. Remember, you know, Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle, all that, right? Almost all of them started to do it in the 1950s. Everything was just moving towards making it easier to use the names of God and Jesus without reverence. I put the word gosh in our online dictionary last night.

Second definition that popped up was quote, used as a euphemism for God. People say OMG, oh my gosh, what are they really saying? It's a euphemism for God. G's first used, quote, first used as a euphemism for Jesus in the 1920s, it said. OMG is used by almost anybody and everybody today, okay?

Even professing Christians to their great shame. OMG can sometimes be used in situations of reverence or fear like someone's calling on the name of the Lord, about to have a car accident or whatever, oh my god, they're probably calling on the name of the Lord. That's one way, okay, but most of times it's used flip it and taking the Lord's name in vain. We need to repent, we need repentance. Then there's of course the attributes of God.

I mentioned the Westminster Confession. Even the titles and attributes of God. That's part of taking the name of the Lord's name in vain. That's what they viewed it as in the 1600s. See the height from which we've fallen.

You know, great God. Attributes. Yes, He's great. They would exclaim. And then God Almighty, or Almighty, you know?

Heard a little kid in the 1950s on a TV show we shut off the other day. He said, Gosh Almighty. I said, shut it off. Almighty is an attribute of God. It is only God he's referring to.

Shut it off. We shut it off. We'll move to something else. I'm not so addicted to entertainment that I have to see the rest of this flick. Right?

We rather reverence God, okay? And then, you know, the list just goes on and on. Goodness! How come we don't say badness? You know?

Goodness gracious! Those are attributes of God. Why do we always move towards words like that? A couple of Louisiana boys I used to know once knew who used to say, son. I used to ask them, how come you never say daughter?

Doesn't have the same effect, does it? But son, Jesus is the son of God. Why do – is it that explicit expressions almost always have reference to names and attributes of God and titles of God. They all do. They all move in that direction.

You could have said anything. Why? Why? The devil's very clever. We like to watch a famous street preacher on Saturday nights.

We watch entertainment things on Saturday nights. We watch this famous street preacher at the Hopkins home and he goes through the Ten Commandments with people in the streets and he asked them if they've ever broken them. You ever told a lie? You guys know I'm talking about, right? Yeah.

Good old Ray, right? You ever told a lie? Yeah? What does that make you? A liar, you know?

We like to watch those. They're really entertaining and they're just really great. And have you ever stole anything? What does that make you? A thief?

And he always says, you know, have you ever taken the name of the Lord in vain? And I've watched dozens and dozens and dozens of these, and I've never seen one person that he's ever encountered ever say that they didn't know what he meant when he asked him if they had ever taken the name of the Lord God in vain. And we're talking about some really rough areas and all over the world in really rough neighborhoods and every single person knows what he means when he says, have you taken the Lord God's name in vain? And they all say yes. They know it.

They know they've taken God's name in vain. They know what it means. Oh yes, many times they usually say, always without even blushing, most times proudly, they know the commandment and they know they violated and they're not church-going people. Roughest cities in the U.S. And around the world and they admit it they violated the commandment now shall not take the Lord thy God the name of the Lord thy God in vain they know they violated they know they're guilty and you know what the rest of the commandment says don't you anyone know what the rest of the commandment says You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

What does it say next? For he will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain He won't hold you guiltless. He's gonna hold you guilty Why is that attached there and not on the rest of the commandments? He wants to emphasize that God emphasized that he will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Jesus puts it in the first place when he says this is what you need to be praying.

God takes the use of his name seriously, and he will not hold men guiltless who use his name improperly. But the Christian so far from using God's name in an improper way is to reverence God's name and to make it the first priority in his prayer life to pray that God's name is regarded as holy, is set apart as holy, not only in his own home, but in all the earth. That's our prayer. That's our desire. That's supposed to be the forefront of our thinking, to pray that his name is set apart as holy because God is holy.

And as we close, I hope this church will join the millions of Christians around the world in praying through the petitions of the Lord's Prayer beginning with this first petition, beginning with this petition that Jesus put in first place, pray, our Father, our Father, our Father, who art in heaven, Our wonderful Father, high above all, high above all, our Father, high above all, hallowed, hallowed, hallowed be Thy name. Let's pray. O Father, we pray, O God, even now, that Your wonderful name, Your wonderful name might be reverenced by all men in all the world, beginning with us. That it might be reverenced in all the world, O God, but beginning with us and beginning in our individual lives and beginning in our homes, O Lord. We will, God, reverence Your name in our homes.

Father, we will keep Your name holy. Father, we will hallow Your name. We will reverence Your name. Jesus taught us to pray this, and He put it in the first place, oh God. We will pray that your name might be set apart Oh God from every other name and we will we will join your people all around the world praying daily as Jesus has commanded us That your name might receive the glory That is do your name that you might receive the glory do your name that your name might be regarded as holy in all the earth because you are holy.

Oh hear our prayer this day, Father, for we ask it in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus. Amen.