We are so glad that you joined us today at North Main Street Church of God. At North Main, we exist to develop completely committed followers of Christ who...

Know Christ intimately,

Grow in Christ continually, and

Go for Christ daily

The Annual Congregational Business Meeting is NEXT Sunday, August 4th, and will be held directly after the Sunday morning service. If you consider North Main your church home, please plan on staying after service as we will review our annual report, the new budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and ratify new board members.

Our Softball team has made it to the playoffs! We’re so excited for them and would love to invite you out to MAC Field 1 at Slippery Rock University Monday (tomorrow) at 6:30pm to watch their playoff game.

Our Father
(Matthew 6:9-13)
Yearly Theme: “Goodness is… Governing”
Series Title: “The Goodness of Prayer”
August 4th, 2024

Something to think about:

Prayer is two-way communication between a person and the GOD of all creation. It’s speaking and listening. It’s praise and thanksgiving; it’s gratitude and worship. It’s also petitions and appeals, as well as expressing hopes and desires.

In the first century, prayer – whether to pagan gods or to GOD Almighty – had become corporately formalized and all too often repetitive and non-personal. When the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray, He instructed them with a basic template that was full of insight into the very nature of GOD and the position of humanity in relation to Him. Let’s look at how Jesus instructed His disciples to pray:

Author and Biblical scholar, the late William Barclay, explains that “The Lord’s Prayer is specifically and definitely stated to be the disciple’s prayer; and only on the lips of a disciple [does the prayer have] its full meaning. To put it another way, the Lord’s Prayer can only really be prayed when the [person] who prays it knows what [he/she] is saying, and [he/she] cannot know it until they have entered into discipleship [or, a relationship with the Father through faith in Jesus Christ].”[1]

In essence, one cannot pray this prayer having no faith in GOD, and expect it to have any effect on the individual. And this leads us to our key point and the subject of our prayer: GOD.

Key Point: “GOD is holy and the only one to whom we should pray.”

Since GOD the Father is the subject of the LORD’s Prayer, it behooves us to dig deeper into that subject as the basis for the rest of our discussion through this series:

9b Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.

There are three distinct features of this verse that stand out in context to the opening of the LORD’s Prayer. Let’s take a closer look at them:


[1] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, Kentucky; 1975), 199.

· GOD’s name should be kept _____________________.

Something to take home:
The LORD’s prayer is about GOD and us. It is about learning to communicate with GOD as “Father” and learning to lean on Him for everything in life. It’s about trusting Him for our daily needs and not worrying or being fearful of the things we cannot control. It’s about honoring Him as loving Father and leaning on His strength and power to see us through every circumstance.

The LORD’s Prayer isn’t merely a thing to be recited, but a template of learning how to intimately communicate with GOD. Once we learn the discipline of honest open dialogue with GOD the Father, then and only then are we able to discern His voice and understand His will that should be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Key Point: “GOD is holy and the only one to whom we should pray.”

o Jesus didn’t give this prayer as a prayer merely to recite repeatedly, but rather as a template for how to pray. What process do you use in prayer?

o Jesus instructed His disciples about to Whom they should pray. To whom should we pray and why is this important?

o The “Father” (Yahweh) to whom we pray is in heaven. What do you believe is the significance of praying specifically to Him?

o The proclamation that GOD’s name should be kept holy indicates that GOD’s very nature is holiness (or “set apart-ness”). The Greek word for “name” in this verse also means “the general estimation and recognition of a person.” How are we to live out this aspect of the LORD’s Prayer in our daily lives?

o Why would Jesus instruct us to pray for the Lord’s name to be treated as holy (hallowed) if He is already holy? Can you think of ways in which even Christians don’t treat and/or use His name appropriately?

o Notice that Jesus uses the informal/familial word “Father/Abba” in referring to GOD in this model prayer. GOD’s desire is for us to know Him as the ultimate authority in Heaven and on Earth, but He also desires for us to know Him intimately as “Father.” Why is this important to understand about the LORD’s Prayer?

o Reflect on the Lord's Prayer as a model for your personal prayers. How can it guide your prayer life?

OFFICE HOURS
Monday - Thursday
9:00am - 4:00pm