Powerful Prayer: Cherishing His Name

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Week number two in our series

that we entitled Powerful Prayer. Powerful Prayer.

And since we have a lot of first -time visitors,

you might say, well, I missed the last one, so

is it going to be okay? Yeah, it's going to be

okay. All right. Each week could stand alone.

I do have some recap this week to help you. from

where we started last week. We started by looking

at Jesus and how important prayer was to him.

Mark 1 .35, before daybreak the next morning,

Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place

to pray. So, if I'm going to get up before daybreak

and do anything, it's going to have to be intentional.

I'm just saying. Gayna is a morning person. I'm

not. Somebody smile or something. Did I get too

rough in the taking notes thing that you can't

even smile today? But that was important for

Jesus to get up even before the son came up and

go get by himself and talk with the father. Jesus

said, he said, I don't say anything that my father's

not saying. I don't do anything that my father's

not doing. How does that happen? By fellowship,

by communication, by spending time. That's how

that happens. Matthew 14, 23. After sending them

home, they'd just been, I'm sure, talking very

loud to be able to talk to 5 ,000 people plus.

How many of you know that can be strenuous? Everybody's

out there to listen to you, and you're out there.

He didn't have microphones and speakers. He found

places that the acoustics worked a little better

than others, but it's still a lot. And get this,

he doesn't just speak for 45 minutes to an hour.

Hello. He doesn't just speak for... He doesn't

just give sermonettes for Christianettes. He

would speak all afternoon. I mean, he had already

spoke so long that he's like, okay, these people

have been here long enough. We're going to have

to feed them now. Don't worry. I'm not going

to preach for five hours, even though sometimes

I think I could. After sending him home, he went

up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell

while he was there alone. This kind of sums it

up, Luke 5, 16. Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness

for prayer. This wasn't just a one -time thing.

This is something he did on a regular basis.

He went and got alone to talk to the Father.

In Luke 11, It says, once Jesus was in a certain

place praying, and as he finished, one of his

disciples came to him and said, Lord, teach us

to pray. Obviously, they saw that spending time

with God in prayer resulted in a powerful life.

So they're like, I don't want to miss out on

this, so teach us to pray. Last week we looked

at Jesus' words to learn what prayer is and what

prayer is not. Let's take a look at some of that.

Prayer is not being hypocritical. That word hypocrite

in the Greek language, in the Koine Greek, it

means play actor. So prayer is not being yourself,

right? And then all of a sudden when it's time

to pray, you're going to put on a mask. going

to put on a spiritual mask to pray. And during

this time, they would often have plays where

public performance of plays where one character

would play, one person would play multiple characters

just by putting on a different mask. How are

you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you

doing? Changing masks. So that's what prayer

is not. Prayer is not coming from your regular

self going into some kind of spiritual self to

pray. We're just talking with God. Prayer is

not suddenly beginning to speak old English,

putting a TH on the end of every word. That's

not what prayer is. Prayer is not a public display.

of your super spirituality. We looked at that

last week. I'm about to show everybody how spiritual

I am, so I'm going to pray. I'm going to pray

this magnificent prayer that everyone is going

to be in awe of. They'll be in awe of me when

I pray like this. No, that's not prayer. Prayer

is communication between you and God. So you

don't need to talk to him any different than

you would talk to the person beside you. You're

talking to God. You're talking to God. It's not

a religious exercise. It's talking with God.

And get this, you don't have to do all the talking.

You ever notice that you're around someone and

they're doing all the talking, you don't want

to even be around them much anymore because they're

just doing all the talking and you can't get

in a word edgewise? Let God talk to you. Y 'all

just look at me really funny sometimes. Some

preachers just stare at the back wall and they

never look at people's faces, but I'm not one

of those. All right. We also learned that prayer

is not mindless and meaningless repetition. I'm

just letting this sit there a minute. It's not

coming to God with some memorized prayer that

you're not even thinking about what you're saying

and you're just spouting off these memorized

words or these memorized phrases. Look at the

person beside you and tell them, check yourself.

Check yourself. When you pray, are you really

communicating with God or are you just ripping

off? Some religious phrases that you've memorized.

In Matthew 6, 9, Jesus said, pray like this.

Everybody say like this. Notice that Jesus did

not say pray this. He said pray like this. People

have been mad at me for saying that. Pray. Picked

up a word study on Bible Hub. That's the Greek

word. I'm not even going to try to pronounce

the Greek words this week. You can pronounce

it if you want to. And just in case you don't

know, the New Testament was written in Koine

Greek, not in English. It was translated into

English in the 1500s. Okay? So, what is prayer?

Prayer is interacting with the Lord by switching

your human wishes and ideas for His wishes or

His will as He imparts faith or divine persuasion.

Now, sometimes we think that prayer is, we just

got to beg, prayer is begging God to do what

I want Him to do. Hello? Has anybody prayed where

you're begging God to do something that you want

him to do and that's what you're praying? Like

this, is like this, in this manner, in this way,

in this fashion, in accordance with this description

or along this line. The Lord's Prayer should

be seen as a pattern. a guide or a model for

prayer. Because here's why. The memorized Lord's

Prayer can easily become mindless, meaningless

repetition. Now don't get me wrong. You can actually

pray the Lord's Prayer every day as long as you

are considering the words that you are saying

and the words are coming from your heart to God

is not mindless, meaningless repetition. But

if all you're doing is going through some spiritual

motion just to rip out the Lord's Prayer, you

might as well not pray at all. So today, we're

going to dig in deep. Look at the person beside

you and say, we're going to dig in deep. Just

going to look at the first sentence. Some of

you think it might be already time to go. It's

not quite time to go yet. Matthew 6, 9. Our Father

in heaven. How many of you memorize it? Hallowed

be thy name. May your name be kept holy. Let's

say that line together. Our Father in heaven.

May your name be kept holy. Let's say it again.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

I want you to say it like you're talking to him.

Not just repeating it like we're in the third

grade and we're reading something off the board.

I want you to consider what this is saying. And

I want you to say it to him. Our Father in heaven,

may your name be kept holy. Let's break it down.

Our father. Our father. The word there is pater,

pater, father, parent. Listen, it means he's

the one who imparts life. And he's not just imparting

life and walking away. He's imparting life and

he's committed to it. He's committed to it. God

didn't just make this creation and create man

and cause him to breathe the breath of life into

humanity. He didn't do that and just walk away.

He's committed to it. He's... Bringing into being,

imparting life, bringing into being to pass on

the potential for likeness. I thought that was

good. Let's break it down. Look to the person

beside you and say, you are created in the image

of God. He created us in his image. And he imparted

life to us. And he's committed to the life that

he imparted to humanity. And here's what he wants

to do. He's wanting to bring us to the place

to look like him. The Holy Spirit is at work

in the lives of believers to conform them. Into

the image of Christ. We're growing spiritually

when we look more like Jesus tomorrow than we

did today. That's when their spiritual growth

is happening. It doesn't really have a lot to

do with how much spiritual knowledge that you

get, words and ideas. It's how much are you transformed

into the image of Christ. Because he's a father

that wants to be, let's put it this way, he wants

to imprint himself on his children. And that's

what parenting is. Right? I mean, we don't want

our kids to be... Not exactly like us, but when

we train up a child in the way they should go,

they should get some things, right? We don't

just send them off for somebody else to raise

them. Help me out when I'm preaching good. So

he's a father. He imparts life. He's committed

to it. He's bringing into being to pass on the

potential for likeness. Here's a different thing

under the same Bible hub word study. He imparts

life from physical birth to the gift of eternal

life through the second birth, being born again.

Through ongoing sanctification, the believer

more and more resembles their heavenly father.

That's who he is. And when we say our father,

what we're saying is, God, you gave me life.

You gave me spiritual life. And basically, when

we call him Father, we're agreeing with him that

he wants to work in our lives and make us look

more like Jesus every day. I mean, I was just

blessed just doing this study, just looking at

the words, because... Because it's always been

our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy

name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth

as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily

bread. Right? I mean, I've been preaching over

30 years and I've never dug this deep before.

So I get blessed when I'm digging deep. Our Father

in heaven. In heaven. There's your Greek word.

It's translated air, heaven, or sky. The sky.

Heaven as the abode of God where God lives. I

thought this was interesting. It's happiness.

It's power. It's eternity. I grew up thinking

that God is just like real stern. Just watching.

I'm so disappointed in you. You messed up again

today. I pictured that. Nobody specifically taught

me that, but that's just kind of the, it's just

like, you know. I want to tell you, heaven's

a happy place. It's a happy place. I said heaven's

a happy place. The Bible says there's rejoicing

in the presence of the angels of God over one

person who turns from their sin and turns to

God. Out of the billions of people in the world

and out of the, I don't know, hundreds of thousands

of preachers in the world and out of the billions

of Christians in the world who are sharing their

faith. How often do you think somebody is turning

from their sin and turning to God? I think it's

an ongoing thing in the earth. Not just on Sunday.

Maybe it gets revved up a little bit more on

Sunday, but it should be happening all the time.

So that means there's rejoicing in heaven. It's

a celebration. It's happy. It's eternity. How

many of you are looking forward to stepping out

of this captive by time realm that we live in

and stepping into eternity one day? Where there's

no death, there's no sorrow, there's no pain.

I mean, I'm not taking up a busload today. We

should look forward to that, right? And then

it's also translated actually as the gospel too.

Our Father, the one who gave us life and continues

to give us life and to transform us into your

image. It's a process. You're transforming us.

You're... and you're in power and you're in eternity

and you're all about love for people. Our Father

in heaven, may your name, everybody say name.

Here's a word for name. And here's what that

word means. The manifestation or revelation,

Of someone's character. Distinguishing them.

From all others. May your name. The manifestation

and revelation. Of your character God. What is

character? I'll just go ahead and tell you. God

is a picture. Of ultimate character. Honesty.

Faithfulness. Right? His actions. Because we

don't always see character by someone's words.

We see it by. Right? How they respond. God is

the ultimate. The ultimate. So may your name,

the manifestation and revelation of your character,

God, who you are. Your character is who you are

when you're all by yourself. That's where you

can find out what your character is. May it be

kept holy. Here's a Greek word. It means to make

holy. To purify. consecrate, to venerate, to

regard as special. Father, you're the one who

gives me life. You're the one who gives me life.

You're the one who's working in me. That's what

we're saying when we're saying the Lord's Prayer.

You're the one who's working in me. This is what

Jesus taught us to pray. life giver, father,

you're at work in me. And your name is special

to me. It's one of the most special things that

are in my life, that's in my life today. God,

your name is special to me. It's really special

to me. We did a series, right? I want you to

consider this when you're praying. We're going

to back up. I think it was January or February,

we started a series on who God is and what God

does. So I'm not going to preach the whole thing

again. I just want you to think about it. When

you're talking to God, If his name is special

to you, maybe there's something you're going

to God to talk to him about. Something specific

that's in your life. Maybe it's not just general

communication and conversation, which is awesome.

And we'll be talking about that in weeks coming

up. That we need to be in constant communication

with God. But maybe you want to pray to him.

You want to talk to him about something that's

going on in your life. Chances are, what's going

on in your life? God has given us who he is.

God has given us who he is. He's given you who

he is. So when you come to him, you begin to

tell him how special his name is. And God, I

know that this is who you are based on your word.

I know you. I have this revelation of who you

are and what you do. Come on, somebody. Somebody

smile and say, I'm going to get this. Two people.

He tells us this is who he is. Now, you can go

back to a podcast and you can listen to every

single one of these. I'm not preaching the whole

thing. I'm just telling you who God is. Is his

name? special to you? Has he given us his name

that applies to what we're facing today? Chances

are, yes. He is Yahweh Shalom. Everybody say

Shalom. Now, everybody always says it's peace.

Everybody say peace. But I double dog dare you

to look up the word in Hebrew and get the definition.

That's what I've got here. This is who God is.

It's what God does. If you are feeling like you

need to be safe, somebody to help you to be safe,

guess what? That's who God is. God is safety.

God is wellness. God is happiness. God is a friend.

God is concerned about your well -being. That

word welfare. Have you ever gone to him, praying

to him, and there's something to do with your

well -being? Well, you probably need to say,

God, I know who you are. Based on your word,

I know who you are. Your name is special to me.

You are Yahweh Shalom. You know the situation

that I'm dealing with. You know what I need even

before I ask. But I just want to acknowledge

you. that you're concerned about my welfare.

You're concerned about my health. You're concerned

about my prosperity. Don't go running down some

road when I say a word, because it's in the Bible.

I didn't say, God, you're concerned about me

driving a Bentley. That's not what I said. That's

not what I said. Don't run off with your definition

of it. God's concerned with your flourishing.

Let's use that word, flourishing. And he's concerned

with your peace. That's who he is. That's what

he does. So God, this is who you are. This is

what I'm dealing with. You know what I'm dealing

with. But God, I acknowledge you as who you are.

Won't that make a difference in your prayer life?

Hello? Instead of just thinking that you're coming

to God to beg Him for something? See, here's

the deal. A lot of times we come to God begging

Him for something, and God has already given

us the answer to our prayer. He's already given

it to us, and then we're begging Him. And God's

saying, it's who I am. It's what I've done. It's

what I have given you. So powerful prayer would

be us acknowledging who he is and what he's done.

He's already done it. You don't have to beg him

for it. He's already done it. It's who he is.

Hallelujah. All right. He is Yahweh's Sid Canoe.

Anytime you're feeling condemnation, Like we

talked about at Life Group this week. We were

talking about, you know, shame and guilt and

condemnation. Does anybody feel that way sometimes?

When you mess up, you're just like, I'm a no

count good for nothing for God. Because I messed

up again. I wanted to do the right thing, but

here I go messing up again. God must be disappointed

in me. Has anybody ever felt that before? Well,

if we know who God is, He is our righteousness.

We have no righteousness apart from Him. That's

who He is. When we're in Christ, we are the righteousness

of God in Christ Jesus. And God looks at us and

he calls us righteous. So don't go to God saying,

oh God, I messed up again. God, I'm just sorry,

Christian. I just can't. I know you're disappointed

in me. See, some people pray that. I've probably

prayed that a few times in my life. But I'm not

acknowledging what God has provided for me. Look

to the person beside you and tell them, listen

faster. All right. He is Yahweh's Sabbath oath.

Does anybody find themselves in a spiritual battle

every once in a while? You feel like you're being

attacked. Well, this is who God is. He's the

Lord of hosts. He's the commander -in -chief

over a great mass of people or servants organized

for battle. Remember when the prophet walked

out and his servant walked out and they were

surrounded? Like, oh no, what are we going to

do? What are we going to do? What are we going

to do? And then the prophet said, God, open his

eyes. Send him back outside. He's like, there

are chariots and angels and fire all over the

place. Because God is Yahweh's Sabbath oath.

You're never alone. Don't go to God and say,

what am I going to do? What am I going to do?

What am I going to do? What am I going to do?

Go to God and say, God. Your name is special

to me. You are Yahweh Sabaoth. God, you are the

God of angel armies. You are on my side. I'm

on your side. I will not be taken out. He is

Yahweh Nisi. You can go back and listen to these,

but he's our banner. When God's people were...

took their eyes off the banner when the banner

wasn't lifted up, when Moses' staff wasn't lifted

up to where they were putting their eyes on that.

When it dropped down, God's people began to be

defeated. But as long as that banner is held

up, just like, I mean, you've studied history

before. When the flag on the fort goes down,

it means that you've lost it and somebody else's

flag has got it. Well, God is our banner. He's

our banner of identification. He's our banner

of remembrance. He's our banner of announcement.

He's our banner of focus. He's our banner of

hope. If you need hope, start saying, God, you

are my banner. I look to you in the middle of

what I'm going through. I look to you. You are

my hope. You are my victory. Since you are for

me, what does it matter who's against me? It

doesn't even matter. He is Yahweh Ra. Or Ra 'al,

I believe is the Hebrew pronunciation. The Lord

is my good shepherd. Look to the person beside

you and say, he's a good shepherd. So when you're

praying, it's like, God, I need provision. I

need peace and rest. I need my strength renewed.

I need you to protect me and comfort me. I need

you to vindicate me. I need you to bless me.

I need you to satisfy me. That's what a good

shepherd does for his sheep. Go check out 23rd

Psalm. And he's a good shepherd. So if that's

what you're facing, make sure that his name becomes

special to you. You acknowledge it. You esteem

it, who he is, in your life, in the situations

that you're facing. He is El Shaddai. That means

he's all sufficient. It means he's more than

enough. He is the one who is mighty to completely

nourish you, to completely satisfy you, and to

completely supply you. Is his name special to

you? See, it's easy to say yes, but then we don't

know or we forgot because it was just another

Sunday. And we're not really holding on to who

God is and what he wants to do. He is pater,

which is our father. We've already looked at

that. Abba. He's a good and loving father. He

loves you. He wants to lead you. Maybe you're

going through a situation where you need God's

help and direction for what's going on. We need

to look to Him to lead us more than we do. I'm

just going to say it. We need to look to Him

to lead us. We need to be led by God. Spirit

-led people. He is our source. We look to him

to provide for us, to protect us, to restore

us. Sometimes we need restoration. Is his name

holy to you? Is it special to you? Yahweh Shammah.

The Lord is there. He's not just there. He's

there with directed and targeted purpose. Is

this just too much to wrap your brain around?

I say God is there with directed and targeted

purpose in your life. He is with you. He will

not leave you. He will not turn His back on you.

Does anybody ever feel alone every once in a

while? Just your feelings. You feel alone. You

feel abandoned. You feel like, I'm going down

for the last time. We don't live by our feelings,

we live by faith. What we're established in.

Be established in this. God is with you. He is

Yahweh Makedesh. He's the one who consecrates

us and sanctifies us. He's the one who sets us

apart. and makes us holy. That's who He is. Maybe

you need to talk to Him about something that's

going on in your life that has something to do

with this. He is Yahweh Jireh. He provides, and

technically the word is translated, He will see

to it. So whatever you're facing, if you'll put

your trust in God, if you will look to Him and

quit being smacked around and tossed around by

the things that you're dealing with, if you'll

look to Him, you can find someone who will see

to it. Go back and listen to those sermons. There's

a bunch of testimonies that goes along with these

things. He is Yahweh Rapha. What does that mean?

It's who God is. It's what He does. I am the

one who heals, mends, restores, cures, and thoroughly

makes you whole. And that's who He is. That's

His name. This isn't a denomination or some kind

of... Crusade. It's who God is. Now, if you say,

that's not who God is. Well, there you go. He's

not going to be that for you. But this is who

He is. It's who the Bible says He is. So we look

to Him. If something's going on, and you need...

healing and restoring and curing. If you need

to be made whole, if you see parts of yourself

as being broken, you go to the one who can fix

it. He is Adonai, despotis, kurios. Everybody

say Lord. He is Lord. What does that mean? That

he's our respected authority. He's the absolute

ruler. He's our Lord and owner. He's supreme

in authority. That's what you're saying when

you call him Lord. That's what you're agreeing

to. He's the authority in my life. He's my respected

authority. I surrender my life to him. Here's

the deal. Our prayers become powerful when we

acknowledge God, acknowledge who He is, when

we praise Him for who He is, when we honor Him

for who He is and what He does, when we esteem

Him. That's when our prayers are going to be

powerful. When we quit just... Coming out of

ignorance, our lack of knowledge of the Word

and who He is. See, our prayers aren't going

to be powerful if they're ignorant prayers. If

you want your prayers to be powerful, make sure

His name is special to you. And you have confidence

in who He is based on His Word. Not based on

what the preacher said, but based on His Word,

who He is and what He does. You trust Him and

have confidence in that and you pray and let

Him know that His name is special to you. Your

prayers are going to be different. They're going

to be powerful. Somebody say hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Thank you, God. Thank you for your truth. All

this is available to those who are in Christ.

Everything I said. But that's the stipulation

in Christ. Because if you're not in Christ, there's

only one prayer that he's going to hear. And

that prayer is that you come to him and you say,

I surrender my life to you. I believe you are

who the Bible says you are. I believe you're

the Son of God. I believe you died on the cross

for me and my place for my sin. I believe you

rose again from the grave. And I ask you to forgive

me and be my Lord. Listen, I didn't say joining

a church does that for you. I didn't say... being

dip, dunked, or sprinkled does that for you.

I've got this friend in Myrtle Beach who was

dip, dunked, and sprinkled. All before she actually

came to Christ. In her, how old was Norma? In

her 70s maybe? Late 60s or 70s? That's when she

came to Christ. She had been a very religious

person up until that point. But she had never,

confessed her sin and surrendered her life to

Christ. She had never done that. She had a relationship

with religion and a relationship with church,

but not a relationship with God. And if she was

here, she would tell you that testimony. So here's

my question, and I'm done. Has that ever happened

in your life? Have you ever came to the point

where you realize that you are a sinner and your

sin separates you from God and you realize that

Jesus died on the cross for you like we talked

about in communion today and you realize he did

that for you. He died for you. He shed his blood

for you and he loves you and he demonstrated

his love for you. Have you ever come to him and

say, God, I've messed up. I'm a sinner, but I

know that you love me and I know that you died

for me, so I ask you to forgive me. Help me to

turn away from those things in my life that don't

honor you. Help me to turn away from those things.

And I want to live for you. I want to follow

you. I want to know you. So I ask you to be my

Lord. I surrender my life to you. Have you ever

done that? If you would, I want everybody to

bow your head and close your eyes just for a

minute. I want you to be alone. That's the only

reason I ask you to do that. And if today you

would say, Dean, you know what? I look back over

my life and I've been to church and I've gone

through all these things, but there's never really

been a specific time when I have asked Jesus

to forgive me. There's never been a specific

time when I've surrendered my life to him. And

ask Him to be my Lord. The Bible says, if you

call on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.

It's never happened. But I would like to today.

That's the good news. Today is the day of salvation.

It's today. So if that's what you want, I ask

you to pray with me. There's nothing magic about

the words of this prayer because we can teach

birds to repeat words after people. But if you

listen to this prayer and it sounds like what

you want to say to God from your heart, here's

the deal. I know He will hear you. I know He

will forgive you. I know He will welcome you

into His family. I know He will send His Spirit

to live on the inside of you. And His Spirit

will seal you until the day of redemption. I

know those things according to God's Word. So

if that's what you want, I ask you to pray with

me. It's a simple prayer. One Friday morning,

I pray a prayer a lot like this, and I've never

been the same since. Jesus, I believe You are

the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross

for me, in my place, for my sin. I believe you

rose again from the grave, just like the Bible

says. I don't fully understand it, but I believe

it. And Jesus, today, I confess my sin to you.

I'm guilty. I've messed up. I ask you to forgive

me. Wash me clean. Thank you for shedding your

blood for me so that I could be forgiven. And

Jesus, today, I ask you to be my Lord. I surrender

my life to you. I want to live for you. I want

to follow you. I want to know you. So I ask you

to be my Lord, my Savior. Jesus, thank you for

forgiving me. This online worship experience

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