Learning to Pray, Part 2: Getting To Know You

Type: Wednesday Evening Service

Series: Fresh Fire: Learning to Pray

Sermon: Part 2: Getting To Know You

🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen

Prayer is not merely a religious routine but the place where spiritual power is cultivated and lasting change begins. God invites people into an intimate relationship as Father while remaining holy, eternal, personal, and limitless, revealing His character through His sacred name. By understanding and praying the names of God, believers learn to approach Him with reverence, faith, and confidence for righteousness, provision, peace, and victory.

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• Full Transcript

  I got a sense while we were in praise and worship tonight that the Holy Spirit was saying that Wednesday night is becoming your most important service of the week. I would say 99.9% of churches in America today don't believe that. Most churches today say Sunday morning is the most important service. And I understand that's when most of the action happens, but the action is only going to happen in the same measure that we pray about it on Wednesday nights. In the same measure that we pray about it at our prayer meetings on Tuesday nights. Those are the places where things really start to change in the spirit realm. And if you want things to change in your circumstances, if you want things to change in our church, if you want things to change in America, we have to pray about it. Who can say amen? we have to pray about those things and so I just got a strong sense I've known a couple of other churches that have radically transformed the culture of of their church and their community by really emphasizing Wednesday nights and in the day and age when most churches have closed Wednesday nights we're going to highlight them because I believe God's got something special who can say amen. So tonight's message is number two in our Fresh Fire Learning to Pray series, and I've entitled tonight's message, Getting to Know You. Now, you probably have to be old, okay, in order to hear or understand this reference I'm about to give, but even when I was writing it down, a tune came into my mind and I don't even know where it came from. I started singing, getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Yes. And I'm like, where did that come from? And so I got online and I looked up the song, Getting to Know You, and found out that it came from a Broadway play back in the 1950s or 60s. It was like before, I might have come on the scene, okay? But I was a kid, so somewhere along the line, I might have heard that or my parents sang it or something like that. And so I just pulled up a couple of the words in this song. And it says this, getting to know you, getting to feel free and easy when I'm with you, getting to know what to say. And that's kind of the idea behind our prayer series, that we want to get comfortable with God. We want to know what to say. It goes on and says, haven't you noticed? Suddenly, I'm bright and breezy because of all of the beautiful and new things I'm learning about you day by day. That's what this series is all about, trying to figure out new and beautiful things about our heavenly Father, God, who can say amen. So last week we talked about calling God our Father. The word Father brings this idea of closeness. It brings the warmth of the hearth and the safety of belonging. But Jesus doesn't stop there. He immediately adds, Hallowed be your name. In other words, yes, he's your father, but listen, he's not your buddy. Are you guys hearing me? Last week was so warm and fuzzy. I don't want to lose the warm and fuzzies, but I want you to understand that God is holy. God is righteous. God is beyond us, bigger than us. And some of us grew up thinking God was so distant that we were afraid to even whisper his name. Others grew up treating God so casually that we forgot who he really is. Jesus says we need both. God is close enough to hold you, but holy enough to humble you. When Jesus talks about God's name, though, He's talking about reputation. A name isn't just a label. There is oftentimes a promise associated with that name. I'll give you an example. If I say Amazon, who here thinks of the rainforest? Nobody. There's not a single person who thinks about the rainforest. We all think about someone's getting a package today. Because isn't that the promise behind their logo? The smile, the arrow, Amazon, you're going to get something. If I say grandma, many of us have a positive idea in our minds. We're not thinking about genealogy. We're thinking of the warm kitchen. We're thinking of her making cookies or a dessert of some kind. For me, it was lefse, my Norwegian flat potato bread. It was so good. And the name grandma is a promise of comfort. When we pray, hallowed be your name, we're saying, in respect, I'm approaching the one who keeps every promise attached with his name. Did you hear me? He keeps every promise. He never will let us down. Now, sometimes we think he let us down, but God always, say always, always knows the right thing to do, to say when to move, when not to move. Tonight is not about learning information about God's name. It's about learning how to approach him the way he needs to be approached. Now you're going to get some information. Information number one, it's the first point for tonight's message, is this. God is near, but he's not common or ordinary. And we have to be able to make that distinction. To understand what this exactly means, we have to look at the first time God revealed his personal name to Moses in Exodus chapter 3. In that chapter, Moses is out in the wilderness with a herd of sheep. We all know the story. Ordinary day, ordinary shepherd's work, common surroundings. When he notices something uncommon, something different, something mysterious, Moses is dumbfounded. Moses is actually stupefied by the mystery that's in front of him or probably more precisely beside him because it's not directly there. Moses has to do something about this situation. How many of you like a good mystery? Anybody? There's a new medical drama on television called Watson and it's a really interesting premise. The whole idea is that Sherlock Holmes and Watson are 21st century friends. And Watson runs a medical clinic, I think in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, something like that. And he takes on these impossible cases. And it's his job to figure out what is the mystery and solve the dilemma. I love a good whodunit. I love trying to figure out who really killed this person. Is it character A, B, C, D, something like that? Moses here is confronted with a mystery, a bush that is on fire, but it doesn't burn up. Scripture says that Moses turns aside, so he moves out of his way. He turns aside to see what is happening, and it's important because revelation often comes when we slow down long enough just to notice. When we get out of our routine, when we get out of our normal patterns or habits and just take notes, do something just a little bit different. That is what fasting is going to do for us in just a couple of weeks. I'm calling the church to a three-day, 72-hour total food fast on February the 1st. And the reason is, is because it's out of our routine. And when we get out of the routine, we're many times more likely to hear a word from God who can say amen. So as he approaches the bush, a voice speaks and says, Moses, Moses. And Moses says, here I am. But before he can take another step, Moses is stopped in his tracks. He's literally stopped by the voice and the holiness of God. Exodus chapter 3 verse 5 says this, do not draw near this place. How contradictory to what we said last week. Last week weren't we just saying that he's Papa? Weren't we just saying he's Daddy? And if he's Papa and Daddy we can run up into his lap, we can grab a hold of him. I mean he's this wonderful dad type character. Yes, But we need to understand holiness needs to be respected. Holiness needs to be honored even in our heavenly Father, especially in our heavenly Father. He says, do not draw near. Listen to what he says. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Now, you've got to read the whole story to understand what's going on here. You've got to understand that God is not rejecting Moses, okay? We know that God is actually getting ready to call him to a great ministry. So what's he doing? He's reorienting Moses' perspective on who God is. He's making him understand that God is not some casual person that you can take lightly. he's still inviting him to come close but he's asking him to reorient his perspective as to who God really is and before God tells Moses what to do he needs to show him who he really really is so listen to this sandals carry the dirt and the dust of walking around in this modern day world God wanted Moses to understand he was leaving the common and entering the holy. Every time we pray, hallowed be your name and understand what you're really saying, every time you do this, we are spiritually taking off our shoes. We are preparing our hearts to enter the holy of holies and stand before the very presence of God who can say amen. I heard on the radio today that song, I Can Only Imagine. And you know, I heard it so much when it first came out that I got sick of it, okay? I just got to be honest. It was like everybody was doing this song, and it just went on and on and on and on. Today, I hadn't heard it for a long, long time, so I started listening to the words. And some of the words captured my heart in a way that they didn't 10 or 20 years ago. I started listening, you know, am I going to, am I going to praise your name or am I going to be unable to speak? Am I going to lift my hands or am I going to fall on my knees and worship God? And the song, it was reminded me of my message today. Yeah, when you stand before a holy God, you might not respond to the way you think you're going to. It might be so awesome and overwhelming that we can just fall flat on our face in the presence of God and spend hour after hour after hour in God's presence. Who can say amen? I've had the privilege of actually doing that a couple of times on this planet where you're in the presence of God and time seems to stand still. It's as if the clock is not moving. It's like you've entered into eternity itself and all of a sudden you look up and an hour, an hour and a half has just gone by like that because you've been in the timeless presence of God. But I want you to think of how Moses was feeling in this moment. Can you feel the tension? A lowly shepherd, a murderer no less, is standing in front of the holy God of the universe. How small must have Moses felt? How sinful and dirty must he have seemed to be standing in God's presence? And then God asks him to go to Pharaoh. We're so hard on Moses. We're like, well, if I had been there, I would have said, yes, Lord, I'll go. No, you wouldn't have. Moses was the most humble man ever, the Scripture says. Yeah, you and I might have said, yeah, I can do it, God. Out of pride, but not out of a heart that understood who God was. Moses then is surprised to hear a response from God. Because Moses is like, how can I share this experience with other people? No one is going to believe that this actually happened to me. Who, God, who should I say is sending me? And so Moses is like surprised when God says this in verse 14. I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Please understand that this is way more than a name. This is a revelation in a mystery that we are still trying to unravel even to this day. Up to this point, God had been known by the title Elohim. It actually says that in verse 4. And God said to Moses, God there is Elohim. Okay? So in this story, you get all kinds of ideas as to who God is. Elohim was known as creator, ruler, judge. That's who they thought God was, creator, ruler, jud. God introduces himself to Moses as, I am who I am. That name tells me three things. Number one, God is eternal. I mean, you and I have probably been hearing this concept of eternity for, I don't know, since you were five, since you were 10, since you were 15. Sometimes my wife comes up to me and she says, I don't get that God was never born. I don't get the eternal nature of God. And I say, welcome to the world. Most people don't. Even the people who say they do, they really don't. Because there's no way for a being like you and I that are created, there's no way for us to understand no beginning. We can understand in no end. Because none of us think we're going to die, right? Nobody thinks they're going to die. I mean, we know we're going to, but just not today. Just not tomorrow. Maybe way out there. And you know why that is? We were all created to live forever. So going that direction, we can see, but no beginning? How is it that this God has absolutely no beginning? He says, I am. Not I was, not I will be. God is not bound by time. He has no expiration date. He is present in every moment of history. And he was present before there was history. Number two, God is personal. I am who? He didn't say I am what? A deity. He didn't say, I am it, a God. I am who. God wants even in his sacredness, even in his holiness, for you to understand that he wants a personal relationship with you. He desires personal communication with all human beings. And this leads me to the last point. I am who I am. God is limitless. Moses, you can do what I ask you to do because I am. I'm whatever you need me to be. I am is the blank check that God hands each and every one of us. If you're hungry, God says, I am the bread of life. If you're in the dark, God says, I am the light. If you are dead or have something dead in your life, I am the resurrection. If you need direction, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the same God as the God of the Old Testament. Who can say amen? We need to understand there's no discontinuity here. That the same God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. And he showed himself in Jesus Christ. And all of those things are still true today. It's not just an Old Testament or a New Testament kind of thing. It is a today kind of thing. Exodus chapter 3 goes on in verse 15 moreover God said to Moses thus you shall say to the children of Israel the Lord God so Lord is the introduction of Jehovah here of your fathers the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever say forever and this is my memorial to all generations here God is called Jehovah in this story for the first time He is faithful to all generations. He is a forever kind of God. And that takes us to point number two, which is this. God's name is a continuing revelation. So my wife's going to bring up the word Jehovah up here on the screen. And obviously, Moses didn't get it. Right? I mean, God introduces himself. I am who I am. and if he got it, he would have immediately rushed off and said, okay, we can do this, God. Let's go take on Pharaoh. But he didn't get it. He fought back. It almost got so serious that God, you know, the tenor of the passage is God got a little upset and angry with Moses for not believing. He hemmed and he hawed and we do the same thing today. But God wants you to understand his name. Love his name. Wait on his name. So in the Old Testament, we find variations to the I am introduction of God. I am became the tetramanogram or something like that. Remember those four letters? Y, H, W, H. That's what the Jews called God and you weren't supposed to say it because the name was so sacred. See, they went just a little too far. They understood there's some sacredness here, but they went a little bit too far because God wants you to say his name. Jesus actually has given you his name to wield it as a weapon in spiritual warfare. Who can say amen? And we can use Jesus' name in spiritual warfare when we understand all of these compound names for God. So I want to share four compound names that help us to understand four important truths about God that we can use in our everyday prayer life. I don't want you to just learn the names. I want you to begin praying the names of God. And before we're done tonight, we're going to give space for you to respond to one of these various names. So the first thing is here, Jehovah Sid Canoe. Anybody know what Sid Canoe means? Sid Canoe. This is our most important need that we have, and it is we need to be righteous. the scripture says be holy as I am holy and so so God wants us to be holy he wants us to be righteous that's what the scripture says and and what the Bible tells us in the Old Testament is that God is our salvation who can say amen God's our salvation this is what God was trying to get Moses to understand. God said, I have come down to deliver the Israelites. God is still in the business of delivering people today. He's still making people righteous. I think this has been a misunderstanding in the church for 2,000 years. And 20, you're lucky to be alive in the 21st century. Because I believe that the true revelation of this is just coming upon us. Egypt represents the world, okay? Most people know that. Egypt represents sin, and we need to be delivered out of the world system. We need to be delivered away from Pharaoh, who is a type of the devil, and we need to be delivered from our own sinful natures, okay? That's what we need to be delivered from. Now, I grew up with me being guilted on a regular basis in my church that I wasn't good enough. Did anybody else grow up during legalism? Okay, probably many of us. This is how you know you've grown up in legalism, is if you go to God over and over and over again about the same sin or sin patterns and you never seem to get the victory. That is a sure sign that you've grown up, first of all, in legalism, and second of all, with a misunderstanding of grace. Because when God says that the Lord God is righteous, he actually says this in, I believe it's Jeremiah, one of the prophets later on in the Old Testament. But he's referencing Jesus. In other words, there's nothing we can do. The sacrifice of animals will never make you righteous. Okay? That's not how it's done. It's through Jesus Christ. If you're always trying to be righteous, you're not understanding it's not about your effort. It's about God's power, God's grace, God's love, and God's mercy. This is a promise that the Lord Jesus is my righteousness, and that righteousness has been given to us. Our job is to start walking in it. Listen, not through effort, by faith. Are you listening to me? How do we get righteous? Romans chapter 4 verse 3. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Did you hear that? It wasn't that Abraham did the right thing, although he did do the right thing. He became righteous because he believed. He became righteous because he had faith. You and I become the righteousness of God as we exercise our faith and believe that God is going to make us righteous, not that we can become righteous in and of ourselves. I know it's a whole new paradigm for many people, but righteousness isn't something you achieve. It's something you receive. It's not something you achieve. It's something you receive. Remember, God wasn't just getting people out of Egypt, he was also then moving them from Egypt to the promised land. And that's why the next one, you want to give me my next Jehovah? My next Jehovah is Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah Shalom. And what is that word? Peace. But is it really? I mean, if you translate shalom as peace, you're going to miss out on 90% of the meaning. I'm just letting you know, you're going to miss out. Shalom is the Hebrew word so much richer in its range of meanings than the English word. Peace in English means I'm not at war with anybody and I have peace of mind. That's peace in the English language. Let me explain it this way. Shalom includes these, but so much more. Ironically, the revelation of peace came to Gideon in Judges chapter 6 when God was actually sending him to war. Are you getting the contradiction here? Are you getting the irony? God is sending Gideon to war, and Gideon goes, oh, you're the God of peace. You've got to grasp this. Gideon has a face-to-face encounter with the angel of the Lord and thinks he's going to die. And God says, peace be to you. Fear not. In other words, I know you're going to war, but you don't have to be afraid because I am speaking peace over your life. Words, calm, inner peace. It's accompanied by, listen, safety, wellness, completeness, prosperity, healing, fulfillment, being sound, body, soul, and spirit. That is what the God of soundness is. The God who is our soundness. It's Jehovah Shalom. So much deeper than just no exterior or internal conflict. Number three, Jehovah Jireh. What is that one? Provider. So I remember in the 1980s, Jehovah Jireh, my provider, his grace is sufficient for me, for me, for me. Anybody? Who remembers? I want to hear this. Oh, you guys remember that song? Yeah. Had a real Jewish feel to it, a Jewish flavor. We sang that in every church that I was a part of. It was so much fun. This revelation comes from Genesis chapter 22. Most people know this. It's the story where God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. This story is so deep. I'm just going to quickly nail a couple of things. Number one, I want you to think of Isaac's innocence. Okay? because Jesus was completely innocent when he went to the cross. I want you to think of Abraham's faith because while they're going up to the mountain, Isaac goes, hey, where's the sacrifice? That's exactly right. He says, oh, God will provide. Knowing that he's going to kill his own son. You know what the New Testament says? The New Testament says that he believed God was going to raise him dead. In other words, he was going to do it. He was fully committed to give his son back to God because he knew his son didn't belong to him anyway. His son came from God, and God could take him, and he was willing to give him. But God had made him a promise that through Isaac, all the world would be blessed. So he reasoned in his mind. You still use reason. And he said, you know what? God's just going to raise him from the dead. So I can do this. I can do this. God's faithfulness. He provided a ram in the thicket. God's plan. It was the perfect symbolic gesture of what God eventually did, except God didn't bail his own son out. God allowed his own son to actually die on that cross for you and me. Fourth and finally is Jehovah okay there's not four of them or did you skip one for me you know what doesn't matter we'll stay right here the last one is Jehovah Nisi and then we sing a song about Nisi right now what does that mean banner okay I I think we need to maybe do a better job of explaining some of these songs that we sing once in a while. Because you might be thinking, what does it mean Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Jire, all that kind of stuff? Ancient armies carried banners that served as identifiers and as symbols that embodied the values of a people. Many times it was a wooden or a metal banner or object. It wasn't like a flag like we see nowadays. And it was maybe a picture of their gods or of how they were going to conquer. And it was held high and served as a rallying point for the armies. Banners were an announcement of the victory that was already won. Are you listening to me? It was this idea, we've already got this. Our gods are going before us. This is another name revealed to Moses. Moses was fighting the Amalekites, and every time he lifted his hands, kind of like a banner, they would win. And every time he lowered his hands, they would begin to lose. And after the ultimate victory, Moses said, the Lord is my banner. So it has to do with spiritual warfare. Some of you, listen to me, some of you are tired because you've been fighting battles under the wrong banner. You've been fighting in the flesh. You've been fighting even the wrong enemy at times. So all of these names speak, and there's dozens more, just so you know. But listen, the four points of God being our source or supply, our soundness, our, what were the other ones? Provider, and the first one was righteousness. Those four themes seem to encompass all of the names of God somewhere along the line. They all fit under one of those four categories in some way, shape, or form. And so as we start wrapping this thing up, I need you to understand that God's name must, say must, it must be hallowed. And I'm actually going to Genesis. I think I'm going to Genesis. No, I'm going to Exodus chapter 20, verse 7, I believe it is. And it's the third commandment. And this is what it says. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And I'm going to focus on the word take and the word take primarily because it has a lot of different connotations. And from that idea, I want you first, if you want to hollow God's name, hollow God's name, make God's name holy, you need to just get to know God. You need to get to know him as sacred, as salvation, as soundness, as source, and as security. Reading and studying your Bible, that's one of the ways this takes place. Seeking God's name. The psalmist actually writes, seek God's name. How do you do that? By getting into the Word. Finding every example of the phrase, the Lord, God, Jehovah, whatever translation you have. And then the psalmist says, remember God's name. So you should probably have a diary or a study journal of some kind where you write all of these different names down and what these names mean so that when something happens in your life and you have a specific prayer request, it can kind of guide you in your prayer. I have a need today. So Jehovah Jireh, will you provide for me. My life's getting a little crazy right now. Jehovah Shalom, can you bring me some peace? I have no clue what to do in my life. Jehovah Rohi, can you be my shepherd and just lead and guide me? And the list goes on and on and on and on. Spending time in prayer, the psalmist says we need to call on the name of God. Jehovah Jireh, help me in Jesus' name. We can do that. Jehovah Shema, I know you're there because you're the God who is there. Jehovah Makedesh, I'm not living the life I want to live. I need sanctification. Sanctify me in Jesus' name. Those revelations will spur us on. We'll give us new avenues of expressing our love and appreciation for God. Meditating in prayer. I mean, literally the psalmist says we need to wait on God's name. Wait on God's name. The more we know God's name, the more confidently we pray and the more deeply we can trust God. Obviously, since I went to that command, we can't take the Lord's name in vain. This isn't about scaring people into holiness. God gave that commandment to show the Israelites that they couldn't keep the law. Remember, the law is a school teacher. It's telling you, you're never going to be able to do this on your own. It's about loving God enough to honor his name. So, the third commandment, don't take the Lord's name in vain. vain means empty. It means nothing. So when you consider God's name as worthless, as nothing, you might say, I will never do that. So be honest. Don't raise your hand, please. Do you ever use the Lord's name in vain by cussing? Because if you do, if you're using cuss words as common language, It's a form of practical atheism, to be honest. Because when you say GD and you're just talking to your friends and use it like common words, you are really saying, God's not going to care about this. I can use his name any way I want. I was playing basketball last night and there was a new guy at our Tuesday night basketball and he was swearing nonstop. I mean, and I make it a decision on the first time that they're there, I'm not going to correct the language because everyone else already knows the rules, okay? You don't do that. But if he comes back next week, I'm going to say, you know what? It's so good to have you here. I'm really glad you're here. But you know, this is a church and God's name is actually precious to us. And we don't say GD. We don't even use the Lord's name in common expressions, especially when we're angry. That's even worse. Using God's holy name as a swear word to voice your unholy feelings denigrates the name of God. Listen, when you swear, you're denying God's holiness. When you damn something, you are condemning it. Do you believe in the power of your words? Why would you damn anything? First of all, you're taking God's authority. That's his job, not yours. Second of all, in the spirit realm, you're unleashing something. Please understand, this isn't frivolous. This isn't silliness. This is real. By your words, you will be condemned, and by your words, you'll be justified, the Bible says. Now, that's present tense in the Greek language, which means the condemnation or the judgment comes instantaneous. It's not talking about someday in heaven because someday in heaven, the blood of Jesus is going to wash all your sins away. But when you speak negativity and condemnation, you literally release things in the spirit realm that you don't want released if it's bad and you do want released if it's good. There's one other interpretation of taking the Lord's name. That word also means to carry. So when you become a follower of God or a Christian, you are carrying the name of God like he's in your wallet, like it's an ID card. You are claiming to the world, I'm a Christian. It's like wearing a jersey. And the world is watching how you play. Since the word vain also means falsehood, Christians need to be very careful to be men and women of integrity. No lying, no cheating, no shenanigans, things like that. And remember, it's not about being perfect, but having an awareness of who God is. And so when we do sin, and we're all sinners, right? We as quickly as possible go to God and just say, you know what? I'm sorry. I know that just came out of my mouth. But listen, I want you to think about this. When you sin, is your natural response to run straight to God or to run further away? Because most Christians, it's to run further away. And somewhere along that journey, in your maturation process, you learn that the moment the conviction of the Holy Spirit comes upon me, just to say, you're right, I'm guilty, forgive me right now. And all of a sudden, the release is so quick and so spontaneous, you don't carry around the guilt for the next week or month or however long. It's gone just like that. Because it's not by your righteousness anyway. It's by his who can say amen. And finally, lift the Lord's name. Take also means to lift. How do we lift the Lord's name? A couple of ways, and we'll close with this. Number one, in worship. We lift his name in worship. That's why we sing so many name songs. You can focus on one name and worship God for that characteristic, if you know what that characteristic is. My hope is that now when we sing the name, and when we sing Jehovah Nisi, and all of these different songs, that you'll hear them in a new way. That it won't be, oh, that's just a song. No, no, no, no. we're actually doing what the Bible is instructing us to do. We can lift Jesus' name with our testimonies. So this week, God has revealed himself to me, both as Jehovah Jireh and Jehovah Rophe. Last Wednesday night when I was teaching on Sunday morning, you might have sensed a little frustration that my eye wasn't coming along as quickly as I thought it should. I went to the doctor on Monday, and she goes, oh, everything's going great. And I'm like, what? I said, it's not been a great week. And she goes, well, it is a four to six, three to seven week healing process. Do you know what she told me? Three to five days. So I'm thinking, because I'm not perfectly whole in five days that something's wrong. When she sees me, she accidentally told me days rather than weeks. And so I'm actually ahead of the healing curve. They tested my vision. My vision in my right eye is already almost back to normal after one week. So God was Jehovah Rophe to me this week and I didn't even know it. He's been Jehovah Jireh to me. Somebody out of their kindness and generosity donated $1,000 to my eye surgery. That was over half the price. And I didn't expect that. It was a beautiful gift. God has financially blessed me two other ways all in the last 10 days. and so I have to give him credit. I have to publicly testify God has done that in my life and he's no respecter of persons. That means he'll do the same thing for you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Finally, we can lift the name of God by living holy lives. By loving his name so much and the psalmist tells us to love the name. How? By how we live. listen the Lord's prayer is built on a beautiful balance between intimacy our father and awe hallowed be your name I think of my relationship with my wife do you know Robin never calls me pastor she never calls me Mr. Van Kempen do you know what she calls me Tom or something even more intimate than that. Okay? So I think we need to understand she knows I'm the pastor, right? She never disrespects me as pastor. She never disrespects me in public. She never disrespects me in private. Okay? I mean, she honors me on a regular and consistent basis, and yet we have a close relationship, I think we need to start approaching God more as Father, but never forgetting how awesome He really is. Never forgetting that He is the great God of the universe. And so this is what I want to do as we wrap this thing up. I want everyone to stand. And I'm going to make three places available for you. This place over here is going to be available for anybody who needs prayer for a provision of some kind. If you have a financial need, if you need God's supply, if you need to know God as your source, I just want you to come forward and stand right here. If you need more soundness in your life, maybe that's a healing in your body. Maybe it's just the peace that we're talking about. Maybe there are external struggles that are holding you back and discouraging you. I just want you to come and stand right here. And then those of you who are, I've got to remember what the other ones are. Huh? I said Jairus over there. security. If you need direction in your life or if you just need a victory that neither of those contained, I need you to stand right here in the middle. Come on down. Come on down. Financial provision over there. Direction, security here. And wholeness, healing, peace over there. So as they're coming, we're going to have the worship team just lead out in a song. and I'll come back in a moment, and we're going to pray. Because of who you are, I give you glory. Because of who you are, I give you praise. Because of who you are, I will lift my voice and say, Lord, I worship you because of who you are. Lord, I worship you because of who you are. Jehovah Jireh, my provider. Jehovah Nisi, Lord, you reign in victory. Jehovah Shalom, you are my Prince of Peace. And I worship you because of who you are. Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Jireh. My provider, Jehovah, we see. Lord, you reign in victory, Jehovah's shadow. I know you are my prince of peace. And I worship you because of who you are. Okay, this is what I'm going to ask you to do. I'm going to pray for this group first, so I want everyone to stretch their hands towards this group. I'm going to move on over to the second group, then you guys can start praying for them. And then I'm going to finish with this group over here, and then everyone's going to shift their attention to that direction. Does that make sense? Okay, this is the provider supply group. So, Heavenly Father, we come to you right now in the precious name of Jesus Christ. The name that literally encapsulates everything that we talked about tonight. Because at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall bow. Every spiritual demon, Father God, that is holding up resources and finances today, we come against in Jesus' name and believe that they must flee, Father God, as we say, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. As we pray literally to Jehovah Jireh and ask for a financial windfall and miracle, Father God, I pray that you'd begin to move in the spirit realm, Father God, and that you'd begin to affect what is taking place on this planet. So, Father God, as these families are desperately needing a financial miracle, Father God, a providing miracle of some kind, I pray that you'd bless them. I pray, Father God, that they would receive something, Father God, from you that is unexpected, that might be surprising, Father God. Maybe it's something they have forgotten from the past. Maybe it's something brand new. Maybe it's an inheritance, Father. Whatever it is, provide for them in this moment today, we pray. In Jesus' holy and precious name. And together, everyone says, amen, amen. Heavenly Father, I come to you on behalf of this special group right now. And Lord, the Bible talks about our need for direction from you. And the scripture says that we can trust in the Lord with all our hearts. and lean not on our own wisdom, our own knowledge, but in all our ways. Trust you, Father God, and you will lead us. You will make the path straight, Father God. That doesn't mean it'll be easy. It just means that it will be clear. It'll be apparent. Father God, there are some here that are fighting battles that have gone on day after day and week after week and maybe even year after year. But Father God, you are Jehovah Nisi. You are the Lord God, our banner. You are Jehovah-Rohi, the Lord God, our shepherd. You offer direction through that battle and victory over that enemy in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. So I pray, Father God, for victory today. I raise the standard of the name of God in our midst. And I believe in this moment, Father God, that you are rallying us to believe even in advance that the battle is already won in Jesus' name. That you are bringing victory, Father God, but that it is already done in the spirit realm. And we need to believe it. We need to see it, Father God, with the eye of our face, and it will come to pass. So bless these people, Father God. Lead each and every one of them on your path, I pray, in Jesus' holy and precious name. And together, everyone says... Amen. I forgot. What are you guys over here? Shalom. Shalom. Heavenly Father, I pray that as a church that we'd begin to receive a revelation of who Jehovah Shalom really is. I pray that we would begin to understand that salvation isn't just about being bailed out of a negative situation. It's not just about being forgiven of our sins, although that is our greatest need. It is about, Father God, us having a sense of peace everywhere we go. That no matter what we're confronted with, Father God, whether it's a war on the outside or internal conflict because of something that's happening in our lives, that there will be a sense of shalom, Father God, every single moment of our lives. I pray that when the world begins to tempt us to worry and to fear and to fret, Father God, that this group, Father God, will understand that God has revealed himself as Jehovah Shalom, that he desires them to walk in and not just peace, Father God, but in the contentment of life, a satisfaction with their position and what they're doing in this moment with a knowledge that you even have greater plans for the future. So I pray, Father God, that you begin to express this shalom to them right now. I pray that as they go to their vehicles, Father God, that literally they will know that God is in their midst because they will sense him and feel him in a real way. That this won't just be some prayer with words, Father God, but that it is accompanied by an experience with the Holy Spirit himself in Jesus' name. I pray that the fear will be abated completely, that the worry will begin to disappear, and that, Father God, there would be a sense of wholeness and completeness that whatever they are asking for right now, Father God, it's as if it were already accomplished and already done. So, Father, for this entire group, all three of them, Father, I pray that you'd give us an attitude of patience. The Hebrew writer teaches us that faith actually has a twin brother, and that brother's name is patience, that we have to literally wait on the name of the Lord. So Father God, I pray that we would wait on Jehovah Shalom. We would wait on Jehovah Jireh. I pray that we would wait on Jehovah Nisi, Father God, and that he would never, never, never, never give up in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And we pray this, Father God, we believe this in this mighty and holy name of Jesus Christ, And together, everybody says, Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus Christ.