This week in our Sunday school class, I asked the question: "What's a name you associate with greatness?" Instantly, one young guy responds, LeBron! You can tell he's younger because even my much younger (brownie points!) wife spoke up and said that when she thinks of 23, she thinks of Michael Jordan. We stopped the debate there in the interest of getting into the lesson as well as not starting an argument in church.
While we all likely have different names that we associate with greatness, we all recognize the importance of having an honorable name. "Without question, one name above all others deserves honor: the name of God. Jesus taught us to honor the name of God when we pray."
The Point: Our prayers are driven by the desire to honor God.
This week's primary verse was Matthew 6:9b, "Hallowed be your name," as well as Psalm 96:1-9.
Part 1 - Praise thru Proclamation
In the Model Prayer, Jesus directs us to place praise at the beginning which shows us its importance in coming before God. Is Psalms, we see the writer encourages us to praise the Lord's name in many ways: Sing a new song, bless his name, proclaim his salvation, and declare his glory. In today's social media fueled world, we have far too many people who proclaim far too much about far too little.
- If we have a bad experience at a drive-thru, it's on Twitter before our food gets colder.
- If we get a shirt with a hole in it, it's on Instagram before we've finished the email to customer service.
- If a company charges us a fee we didn't deserve, it's on Facebook and we've tagged all our friends we can do make sure they jump on the business as well.
My point, we are all good at proclaiming. I don't believe that social media is bad, I think it's a wonderful tool. So here's an idea, why don't we as Christians, start using all of these outlets to proclaim God's glory and His wondrous works to others? And when we see our friends doing so, why don't we like it and share it so more and more people will also see? When we focus on sharing the amazing story of salvation through Christ with others, God gets all the glory and we put the spotlight on Him, not ourselves.
Part 2 - God > gods
In Psalm 96:4-6, we continue to read about why God should be praised and we begin to see how our "Big G - God" is bigger than the world's "Little g - gods." In the Bible, the pagan gods that some people worshipped were made from pieces of wood and stone. They had to be placed in prominent locations even to be worshipped. Isn't it silly to consider how one could worship a god that couldn't even move itself to a place of prominence, let alone help, heal, or forgive others? We worship a big g God who created the universe from nothing! Don't let the little gods in this world grow into problems and pull your attention from the one true God. "Gaze at God, but glace at your problems."
Part 3 - Praise thru Families
Psalm 96:7 tells us that we are to honor God, "you families of the peoples." "Notice that the challenge to honor God has been given to families instead of nations, tribes, or individuals. The picture painted by the term 'families' brings to mind the unique relationships associated with being sons and daughters, fathers and mothers. We don't come before His presence as individuals among a crowd of strangers who happen to be with us when we worship. Family members share life with each other." I loved that part. Nations, politicians, laws, economies, aren't going to save us. They aren't going to add praise and joy to our life. Family is where we will praise. Your family may be blood, or it may be the people that you just do life with. Whichever, that's the group that you should be encouraging regularly and who should be encouraging you.
Part 4 - Ease into Praise
You may be like me where nearly every second of every day has an intended purpose. You overcommit, and get busy and have more activities going on that you have slots on the calendar. And we try to be good and schedule time for prayer and Bible study. But sometimes, you just can't rush into time with God...He doesn't work like that.
"Visitors in Jerusalem can see the original southern steps of the temple mount, the last steps used before entering the temple courts. These steps welcome everyone and lead up to the house of prayer. But the steps are deliberately irregular in size. One step has depth of approximately one foot, while the next requires two footsteps because it is at least twice as deep as the previous one. The steps most likely were engineered to keep a person from rushing thoughtlessly into God's presence. Staggered steps intentionally slowed the pace of a worshiper. Before simply rushing into prayer with our needs, let's reflect on the One to whom we pray."
Yes, God can answer your prayers in an instant. But often, He wants to see our dedication and patience as we come before Him.
While we all likely have different names that we associate with greatness, we all recognize the importance of having an honorable name. "Without question, one name above all others deserves honor: the name of God. Jesus taught us to honor the name of God when we pray."
The Point: Our prayers are driven by the desire to honor God.
This week's primary verse was Matthew 6:9b, "Hallowed be your name," as well as Psalm 96:1-9.
Part 1 - Praise thru Proclamation
In the Model Prayer, Jesus directs us to place praise at the beginning which shows us its importance in coming before God. Is Psalms, we see the writer encourages us to praise the Lord's name in many ways: Sing a new song, bless his name, proclaim his salvation, and declare his glory. In today's social media fueled world, we have far too many people who proclaim far too much about far too little.
- If we have a bad experience at a drive-thru, it's on Twitter before our food gets colder.
- If we get a shirt with a hole in it, it's on Instagram before we've finished the email to customer service.
- If a company charges us a fee we didn't deserve, it's on Facebook and we've tagged all our friends we can do make sure they jump on the business as well.
My point, we are all good at proclaiming. I don't believe that social media is bad, I think it's a wonderful tool. So here's an idea, why don't we as Christians, start using all of these outlets to proclaim God's glory and His wondrous works to others? And when we see our friends doing so, why don't we like it and share it so more and more people will also see? When we focus on sharing the amazing story of salvation through Christ with others, God gets all the glory and we put the spotlight on Him, not ourselves.
Part 2 - God > gods
In Psalm 96:4-6, we continue to read about why God should be praised and we begin to see how our "Big G - God" is bigger than the world's "Little g - gods." In the Bible, the pagan gods that some people worshipped were made from pieces of wood and stone. They had to be placed in prominent locations even to be worshipped. Isn't it silly to consider how one could worship a god that couldn't even move itself to a place of prominence, let alone help, heal, or forgive others? We worship a big g God who created the universe from nothing! Don't let the little gods in this world grow into problems and pull your attention from the one true God. "Gaze at God, but glace at your problems."
Part 3 - Praise thru Families
Psalm 96:7 tells us that we are to honor God, "you families of the peoples." "Notice that the challenge to honor God has been given to families instead of nations, tribes, or individuals. The picture painted by the term 'families' brings to mind the unique relationships associated with being sons and daughters, fathers and mothers. We don't come before His presence as individuals among a crowd of strangers who happen to be with us when we worship. Family members share life with each other." I loved that part. Nations, politicians, laws, economies, aren't going to save us. They aren't going to add praise and joy to our life. Family is where we will praise. Your family may be blood, or it may be the people that you just do life with. Whichever, that's the group that you should be encouraging regularly and who should be encouraging you.
Part 4 - Ease into Praise
You may be like me where nearly every second of every day has an intended purpose. You overcommit, and get busy and have more activities going on that you have slots on the calendar. And we try to be good and schedule time for prayer and Bible study. But sometimes, you just can't rush into time with God...He doesn't work like that.
"Visitors in Jerusalem can see the original southern steps of the temple mount, the last steps used before entering the temple courts. These steps welcome everyone and lead up to the house of prayer. But the steps are deliberately irregular in size. One step has depth of approximately one foot, while the next requires two footsteps because it is at least twice as deep as the previous one. The steps most likely were engineered to keep a person from rushing thoughtlessly into God's presence. Staggered steps intentionally slowed the pace of a worshiper. Before simply rushing into prayer with our needs, let's reflect on the One to whom we pray."
Yes, God can answer your prayers in an instant. But often, He wants to see our dedication and patience as we come before Him.
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