Reverence for God's Holiness in Prayer

There was a church that was located in a downtown strip mall. The church

was going quite well until one day when the unit next to them became

available for purchase.

A business man bought the unit that shared a wall with the church and had

decided that he wanted to renovate it to become a bar that was opened

24/7. They were in a big city and no restrictions on when they could sell

alcohol, so he thought it would be a great money maker for him.

The church heard about the man’s plan and called a special prayer meeting

of the church. The pastor read scriptures about the power of God and

each member prayed that God would do something to stop the

construction of the bar. The meeting went on for a couple of hours.

Praying and reading scriptures.

That night an unexpected storm blew in and lightning struck the building

where the bar was going to be built and the bar caught on fire and before

the firefighters could put out the fire, the bar was a complete loss and

other than a little smoke smell there was no damage to the church.

The business man sued the church, blaming them that God destroyed his

bar because of their prayers. The judge in the case said this, “This is one

of the strangest cases that I have ever presided over. Here is a man

claiming that God answered the prayers of the church and the church

claiming He didn’t.”

Let me tell you, I serve the God that is real, is powerful and answers

prayer.

Let’s read our main text. Mathew 6:9

Your Name be kept holy! Many translations say, “Hallowed be Your Name.”

Hallowed is defined as “very respected and praised because of great

importance” by Cambridge dictionary. I want to break down the title of my

sermon, “Ain’t no Man upstairs.” Lord willing I will be able to convey to

you exactly what God has placed on my heart about how we should

address God, refer to God and Who God is… The first one…

1. Do not tone down the Name of God!

Psalm 148:13

Matthew 6:9

One of my friends that I worked with at the Cereal plant was a part of AA

and NA and we would talk about what they taught and how they helped

people cope with drug and alcohol dependency. Step 2 of the 12-step

program is about faith and says this, “Secondly, you need to accept that

there is a higher power in the universe than yourself. If you want God, or

any higher power, to act on your behalf, it’s imperative that you believe it

can”

Sorry, I don’t like that. God is not one of the higher powers. God is the

higher power, but higher power is not His name. Give credit to the Creator

of the Universe. God created you in His image and His name is worthy of

all praise.

The bible tells us that at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow. They cast

out demons and healed the sick in the Name of Jesus. Not in the name of

a higher power. Not in the name of the sun god or the wind god, but at

the name of God.

Here are some other names that do not honor God that I have thought

of…The Big Man, The Big Guy, the big boss, JC, My Co-pilot and there are

many more.

Jesus said, “Ask anything in My Name.” There are many names of God that

show praise like…

Yahweh - Lord, Jehovah; Adonai – Lord, Master; El Shaddai – Lord God

Almighty; Jehovah Rapha – The Lord that heals; Jehovah Jireh – The Lord

will provide; Jehovah Shalom – The Lord of Peace. II Chronicles 7:14 - if

my people, who are called by my name.

No where in the bible did they ever disrespect God by toning His Name

down. Name above all names. Do you know who prefers you to say

things like the Big Guy, JC, or higher power. Satan and the Demons.

Another one that really tones down the Name of God is the Man upstairs. I

serve the God that is omniscience (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful),

and omnipresent (all-present, everywhere) Which brings me to point #2..

2. God is not…

a. A man

Numbers 23:19

People tend to under appreciate God. We make Him so personal that we

forget that He is God. If God were a man, He wouldn’t be God. God took

on the form of man, through Jesus (Emanuel – God with us) that came to

die as a sacrifice for our sins. God is not a man. God does not have a

physical body. God does not get tempted to do evil. Jesus was tempted

but only when He was in human form and He never sinned!

There is no evil in God at all. There is no sinful nature within God. That is

only in man and God is not man!

b. Stupid

Proverbs 3:19

There are a lot of things that I do not understand about God. He does

things, that, for the life of me I can’t figure out. Bob does things that I do

not understand, one major difference in Bob and God is that God isn’t

stupid and does not do stupid things.

People will say that the bible contradicts itself, which it does not. If we

think that it does then we need to study it more. If there is one that lacks

wisdom or knowledge it is us, not God.

c. Weak

Jeremiah 32:17

One of the all-time arguments against God being all-powerful is “Can God

create a rock so big that He can’t lift it?” Because if He can’t create the

rock then He doesn’t have that power and if He can then He doesn’t have

enough power to lift it.

In all truthfulness, God did create a rock so big that He won’t lift it or even

try, that rock is free will. He gave us freewill to do whatever we want even

to the point of trying to discredit God.

If God was not weak, He would stop all the child abuse, childhood

illnesses, and anything that harms a child. Do you know how much God

hates the abuse of a child? The same amount that He hates, people lying,

people killing, stealing, taking His name in vain, having other gods in front

of Him. We put levels on sin. All sin separates us from God.

d. A liar

Not only is God not a liar. He is not deceiving. He is not confusing. He

may cause confusion in the minds of those that battle against Him or His

people but Satan is the author of confusion and the father of lies.

God will not sugarcoat it. God will say it like it is. it may not be what you

want to hear, but it will be what you need to hear and it won’t be a lie.

I Samuel 15:29

The will of God will not take somewhere against the Word of God. Let me

give you one more!

3. God is to be respected and feared!

Psalm 33:8

Matthew 10:28

There are so many stories in the bible about Satan and the demons

respecting God and fearing God. I think about the story of Job and how

Satan was questioned by God and Satan answered. Satan wanted to do

things to Job, and God said, “you can do this but not this” more than one

time and Satan did and didn’t do what he could and couldn’t do.

The demons would see Jesus and they would bow at Jesus feet. “What do

you want from us Son of the most high God?” and “please don’t torture us

before our appointed time.” The book of James says, “You say you have

faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the

demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.”

Anyone heard of the Gen Z bible? Let me read a little from James 2:17-20

Yo, listen up! Just having faith ain't enough if you don't back it up with

actions, y'know? Faith without works is like dead, straight up. It's all alone

and ain't doin' nothin'. #TrueStory 18. Yeah, like, you could say, 'Oh, you

have faith, but I have actions.' Prove to me that you have real faith without

any actions, and I'll prove my faith by the things I do. 19. So like, you

believe in one God? That's cool, man. But check it, even the devils believe

too, and they're like, totally freaked out about it. 20. Yo, dude, check it out:

faith minus action equals RIP.

I don’t know if I would recommend the Gen Z bible, but it is interesting.

God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit deserve our respect. Not Big Daddy, Not my

Homeboy, not my co-Pilot, and definitely not the Man Upstairs. He is God,

Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, and He deserves more respect than we give Him

sometimes. Are you giving God the respect that He deserves?

Ain't No Man Upstairs