The Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer known and spoken billions of times by billions of people in millions of places. It is one of Jesus’ best gifts and one of our greatest temptations. It is a prayer that we can pray at any time and it’s just on our lips. It’s a prayer that people pray when they don’t know what else to pray. It’s a prayer that people still remember and can pray even when dementia and Alzheimer’s sets in. At the very same time, it is a prayer that we can pray without even having to think about the words coming out of our mouth and past our lips. It’s a prayer that we can pray where our mind doesn’t catch up until we say “Amen.” It is, as one author has said one of the greatest martyrs in Christian history. For if wandering thoughts were knives, it would get stabbed a thousand times over in every Christian church around the planet.

But what if it was more than 60 some words of spiritual autopilot? What if we could learn to pray the Lord’s Prayer with meaning and passion? That’s what we hope to accomplish with you as we study the Lord’s Prayer with you over the next number of weeks. We’re going to – one petition at a time (except for one combination) – do with you. We’re going to unpack the Lord’s Prayer with you and fill it with all the meaning that Jesus intended.

Today we’re tackling the first petition: Hallowed be your name. Listen as Pastor Bublitz teaches us on the basis of Revelation 4.