Psalm 103 says, praise the Lord, oh my soul. And all that is within me. Bless his holy name. It's like the psalmist is reminding himself from the deep places. Praise the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. He is El Shada God almighty. He is ele the Lord most high. He is, he is, uh, at the ancient of days. He's Yahweh. Rfa the one who heals. He's the God of all comfort. There are so many things we could say to describe our God, but he is also, of course, Abba Patar Father. So for those of you who are ready, for those of you who are willing, would you pray with me? Father, we come before you now in each of our rooms. And we are grateful. We're grateful for all that you have done for us. Your grace, your patience, your love, your provision. Lord, we're grateful for the freedom here to worship together. I don't take that lightly. We're grateful for that. Now, Lord, we're grateful that there is a, a, a freedom that we have to express our love for you. We pray for protection, Lord, in our land, we pray in this season of, of, of strife through this election cycle. Lord, I wanna, I, I pray for protection of our elected officials and those who are running for office. Lord, it doesn't matter what party they are. God, we pray for protection. Political violence is evil in any direction. Lord, I pray for the protection of former President Trump. I pray for the protection of Vice President Harris. Lord, I pray that you would protect us from evil. Give us wisdom, Lord, in our conversations, may our words be sprinkled with grace. And may we reflect the light and love that changes the world. Lord, it's you. It's always you. So for those today who come in here, who are tired, who are hurting, who are worried, who are angry, who are curious, who are skeptical, father, for those who are, as I've been praying to you every service, Lord, those who are looking for a reason to leave these rooms, and those who are looking for a reason to stay, and they're not quite sure which their way they're leaning right now, father, I pray that you would draw them in. Draw all of us in. You're that big. You're that good? Would you draw us in now as we listen to the words of your son? And we, and and we learn how to step further into this relationship with you. And so for those of us who can say this and pray this, from the deep places we gather around the ancient words of Jesus, and together we pray, our Father who are 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, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Oh man. Oh man. Okay, so now we're gonna jump back into this thing, but I want you, if you would, to just turn around. Don't just say hi to some people. Would you pick two people who don't know what you're about to tell them and give them your full name? Okay. Give them the whole name. All right. Go ahead. Talk to each other real quickly. All right. Alright. Some of you apparently have really long names, so, so, alright. Okay. Uh, listen, last week we started an eight week conversation where we are going to learn from the depths of the prayer that we just prayed together. It could be found in Luke chapter 11. And in Matthew chapter six, Jesus says, pray like this. And so we're gonna learn what does it mean to pray like this? So how about just in review, we, we covered a lot of ground last week. So like, uh, those of you at the sites, we're gonna hear from you in just a minute. You guys here in this moment, just like, what? Like, like what do you remember from last week? Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Yes. What else? To be Seen? So it's okay to pray in front of others. Don't do it just to be seen. And he's saying, don't be like the hypocrites. 'cause that was just like, Hey, I want you to see me praying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't pray like The Pagans. Don't pray like the pagans. And so what does that mean? These, I love the way one theologian puts it. Uh, don't pray long and gassy prayers. So the pagans would just repeat phrases and try to manipulate the gods into things. And Jesus says it doesn't work that way with the one true God. What else? Anybody got anything? Yeah. He's a loving father. He already knows that he's ready for you. Ooh. He's a loving father. He already knows what you need. He is ready for you. Yes. Yes. Go down, take a breath and speak to the Lord. Okay? So take a breath and speak to the Lord. That whole idea of He if when we address him, that's the difference between prayer and just us worrying out loud. Yeah. You were gonna say something? Our prayers do make a difference. We're asking the God of the universe to act. Anybody remember fridge scaping? Yeah. Right? So just, if you weren't here, you would want to go back and see this one. But if you weren't here, there's a thing. It's happening on TikTok Instagram. It's, it's like people are in, it's the interior decoration of your, your refrigerators. You, you really have to go watch the whole thing to understand where we're going with this. The point was, don't treat your prayer life like that. Don't feel like you gotta get everything oddly perfect and put like, uh, antique frames and fresh cut flowers and candles in your refrigerator. No, before you can come. No, you open up your, the real you like the, even when the cream cheese has gone bad and the orange juice is spilled on the second shelf. This is the way we pray. God, this is the real me, right? So we talk about that. Many people kept talking about it in small groups. Uh, by the way, can we just say this? The, our part of our father, I love that there are hundreds of groups that are meeting and, and talking about this stuff. But somebody, a friend, I've heard it. I've actually seen a couple of versions of this. A friend sent me this, speaking of fridge scaping. Yeah. I mean, and even ended with a flourish. It really impressive. Uh, I like her book selections. I like that it was, uh, beauty and the Beast. I mean, I love the soundtrack. It was great, right? Okay, here's just, when it comes to prayer, don't do that. But this idea of what you brought up about he is our father. Our father. Now, just so we're clear on this, the only way I have access to the God of the universe, and I get to call him Father, is because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. It's the only way. It's what we just celebrated in communion. It's what we just remembered. One John one 12 says it very clearly, and this is speaking about Jesus, yet, to all who did receive him Jesus, and to those who believed in his name, he Jesus gave the right to become children of God. You know what that means? It means that it isn't about religion. It isn't about trying to pile up a bunch of good deeds to outweigh the bad ones. It isn't like working up a sweat and saying, look at me, God, are you impressed with me? None of that. We have to reject all of that. And we rely on what Jesus did for us on the cross. Then I get to come to the, to the God of the universe as Father. That's how it works. But the rest of what you were saying was, he loves us and he knows what we need. He's our father. He's all powerful. I mean, he's all knowing, and yet he is our father. I mean, it's something, isn't it? But he's our father in heaven. So I want you to feel the ballots here. He is the supreme ruler of all He rules and reigns. He's the God of majesty and glory and power. And our father. He's both. Do you feel that? That's where the, that's where the power comes, is when we realize both of these at the same time. You ever been around somebody and you knew it at a certain level and you, you were really familiar and you were close. It's cool. And then you were with them in another setting where you could see a role that they have in another setting. And all of a sudden you're going, oh, I didn't know you were that big of a deal. Does that ever happened to you before where it's like, oh yeah, we're really close. We're like, oh, wow, look at you. And sometimes that's when you know, um, you know, take your kid to workday kind of a thing. Sometimes that'll be a thing. But I remember when I was little, my dad, uh, when he was on active duty, he was a lieutenant colonel in the army. And, uh, I remember sometimes we would go to the airport, uh, to welcome him and, uh, uh, I mean like his whole unit was there and everybody snapped too. I mean, this is, this is Colonel Holder. And so I'm walking through with him. I have no idea what any of this means. I don't know what the ranks are or anything else, but everybody's like, like that. And I'm just going, this is my dad. I guess he's a big deal. You know, it's just, it's just all of a sudden you realize there's the intimacy and the hoe, the God who rules and reigns invites you to come to him the way a child runs to a loving father. You wanna hang on to both you's intimacy and awe. It's both. But just so we're clear, our father who is in heaven doesn't mean who is in heaven as in, you know, way out there. It's not our father who is in heaven. Heaven, heaven, heaven. Hello, hello, hello. God. God, God. Can you hear me? Me, me. It isn't that, it isn't our father who is in heaven. I'm barely getting a signal. I hope he's still in range. It is our father who reigns and our father who is close. It's both. It is always both. We have to hang onto that. He is the God who rules in heaven, but he is the one who is closer and clo closer than close. And he's ready for a, a face-to-face with you. Let that settle in for a second. God is ready to talk with you. I happen to be, uh, very familiar with a particular 2-year-old boy. He has always been a great sleeper. Don't hate his parents. They know it was a gift from God. But these days, when this 2-year-old goes night night, he'll tell you, and he's got his little entourage of the stuffed animals and what they're all named, and he's going with all of those. But he says, I'm gonna go night, night and talk to the Mara. What is the Mara? That's toddler. Speak for camera. Now. Let me just help you guys. If you, uh, are not in the current par parent game or you know, just, I'm, I'm just telling you, things have changed. It isn't just a baby monitor where you can audibly hear something. You, there's a camera you can see, you can see what's going on there. And there's even a little speaker. Whereas parents, you can speak through that thing to them. Now, they don't do that very often, I think maybe only a couple of times, but it's, it's a two-way thing. You, you with me, we didn't have any of that when I was a baby. My mom and dad just tucked me into the dark corner of the cave and they went back to painting the latest, you know, buffalo hunt on the walls. I mean, that's no, that's not true. I'm over exaggerating. We couldn't afford a cave. So no, no, no, no, no. I'm just telling you, back in the day, they put, you put me in the room and you know, the only way I could get their attention was to just yell, to scream, to cry out, you know, shadow filled. And all of a sudden, that clown from Poltergeist to his moves, I just had to yell to get their attention. It's different now. I love it. It, it, it's, the technology is so cool. Here's my point. That little boy, something in his brain is happening. There is a connect. Two dots have connected when he says he's talking to the mare. Why? Because he is already convinced there is someone on the other end of that communication. Not some once and once, a loving mother and father. Now, he can't fully articulate that, but that's what's going on. He's s talking. Now, if that's what's going on in the mind of a little boy, and it is, and if even that thought gives comfort to a small child, and it does. And if in some small, and sometimes mysterious, but very powerful and real way, reminded that he's not alone and he isn't. How much more so should we rest in the knowledge that there is a god, a mighty, powerful, beautiful, loving, generous God who is not just out there? He is right here. And because he is omnipresent, let's just get all theological for a second, okay? I mean, he's not bound by time and space. He created time and space, which means God is right here. And if a little boy can gain comfort from the Mara, how come I can't rest in the knowledge that the God of the universe is right here? My prayers could take off if I thought that way. Yes. Yes. So our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name hallow. That's a, that's what does that word mean? Hallow. It's an old word. Uh, some of us now that we've officially moved into fall, some of you are thinking, well, the only thing that comes to mind is ghosts and pumpkins. Right? So obviously that's not it. So what is it? It's a word that means to sanctify. Well, what does that mean? It means to set apart as holy, to set apart as completely other, to set apart as this is something that it deserves. The utmost respect. The utmost you treasure it more than anything. You hallow it. It is something that you give this whatever you're focusing on, it's the, the honor that it is due. You hallow something. It means a lot. Actually. Here's what's interesting. When you look at this, first of all, this is the first request of the prayer. A lot of times some people think we're still in the greeting part of the prayer, you know, like, to whom it may concern, comma. So it's our father who aren't in heaven, hallowed be thy name, comma. And then we get into it. Nope. This is the first request. Hallowed be that name. Hallowed be your name. But here's what's interesting. And without getting into the divine passive Greek verb tense, which is not the interesting part, what's going on here is very respectfully. The prayer is, father, would you please hollow your name? It's not me. Hall his name first. It's it's Father, would you please, what, what does that mean? God doesn't realize how important he is. God needs us to remind him, to remind himself. No, you got this. God, no, no, no. Think of it this way. Father, may you make your great name as only you can. May you make your great name known throughout the world, throughout this, this world that you have created, so that people to the edges of the earth will know who you are, know how much you love them, and they will turn to you and worship you. Father hollow your name. That's what it means. It means, please, please, father, will you do this in such a way that it reaches to the edges of the story. Hollow your name. I mean, it's a big thing. It's a big prayer. It's a big deal. And it's, it's kind of the way that, that, that we, we, we talk about, uh, how the kingdom works. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. That'll be next weekend. But I want you to know it's connected to this 'cause None of this works. And there is no hope. If God isn't God, otherwise, we're just going through the motions on something. But if God is God, then we want the great glorious name of his son Jesus, to reach the edges of the earth to anybody who hasn't considered him. Whether they live halfway around the world or next door. Father Hollow your name. And by the way, we take that real seriously around here. I mean, if you were with us a couple of weeks ago, we talked about our vision, our vision weekend, and we said, we believe even after all of these years, we're seeing evidence that God is calling us even deeper into the story. Here we go again. And we are seeing that this little old church in the Midwest, that God has given us a vision that is so big that it does reach around the planet, but it is so local that it reaches across neighborhoods. And it is so personal that it can change one life at a time. That's the vision. That's what God has called us to. So we're gonna keep following him. We're gonna keep dreaming big dreams. We're gonna keep learning from others and asking, how can we join together on this? 'cause he's called us to do this together as one. That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go into this world. Now that brings me to a point. We, it will go really, really quickly on this. Uh, I, I posted something on, it was a story on, on my Instagram. We posted, uh, uh, something about the sang congress. La it's a French word. Um, what is it? It's a historic gathering, uh, where Christian leaders from around the world are invited and selected to come together to consider and to work together on something. It was, there's only been three of them. The first one was in 1974 in Lasan, Switzerland. It was formed and started by Dr. Billy Graham. Billy Graham, Billy Graham of the 20th century, one of the great Christian leaders of the 20th century. And he had a theologian named John Stot in the uk. And the two of them formed this together. And, and in certain leaders were brought together from around the world. And the next one was in 1989 in Manila, the Philippines. And then the only one of this century was 2010. In Cape Town, South Africa, like the Olympics happens way more often than these congresses do, but they have two points. One, may the name of Jesus be proclaimed to the whole world. How do, how do we tell the whole world who Jesus is? And two, how do we get better and better at doing this together and collaborating together and working together as one? Any of that sound familiar? Is it turns out I was selected to be one of the delegates from North America to go to this Congress and it happens this next week now. Uh, yeah, that's what I said. Wow. Uh, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's, yeah, you don't have to do that. It's okay. Uh, I, I, I, for some of you, I just want to say this out loud. This will be the only Congress I'm a part of. Okay? So just so we can say that, uh, uh, what an amazing thing it is that God is doing through you all and through this church, and, and, and that we get to partner with something that's happening around the world like this with worldly. And we, we just get to, to learn from them. I'm taking you in my back pocket. We're gonna, we're gonna keep learning. We're gonna keep dreaming. We're gonna, I'm we connections and thoughts and strategies. We're, we're gonna do this together. See, I want us to keep praying that the glorious name of Jesus will be proclaimed to the edges of the earth. So that if somebody halfway around the world doesn't know him, they will know who Jesus is. But I'm praying the same thing for the neighbor next door. Let's do both. Let's do both. This is what gets exciting is when we realize we're a part of what God is doing. So let's pray to that end. And if you have it in you pray, uh, pray for me. 'cause uh, a few hours I'm gonna get on a plane to Seoul, Korea. That's South Korea. That's where this one takes place. Okay? So we'll do this together. But to jump back into the prayer, father, you who are so vast, that you are at the edges of the universe. You created the universe. You are so close that you're right here with me. Father Hollow, your name make, make your glory and your goodness, and your generosity, and your love and your mercy known to all, to all Father, do this. We pray that you would hollow your name, hollow your name. Now, when we ask God to hollow his name, it's sort of baked into the request that we would hollow his name. God's gonna invite us to join him in this. It isn't just go get 'em. God. It is. How do we do this? Now, I want you to know, if you begin to consider what it's like to hallow the name of God, it will change you. It'll, sometimes it'll reorient your priorities. Sometimes it will, will reorient. Uh, for me, sometimes it leads to confession. Yeah. 'cause the truth is, sometimes it's hallowed be Greg's name. And God needs to press in on that. God isn't that This isn't about you, buddy. And sometimes it's, oh yeah, that isn't even the way that you're wanting me to move. And I'm going to, I'm going to honor you. I'm going to respect what you are telling me. Hallowed be your name. You see, when we invite God to do this, we're also saying, God, I wanna be a part of this. And I want to, I i want to join you in this. Um, and so you begin to just realize this. And I'm gonna tell you, it changes how you pray. It can even change what you pray. When I begin to hallow the name of God, I line up in his direction. When I forget to hallow the name of God and make it all about me, things wobble and get off. They just get off course real quick, which is one of the reasons that manifesting is, is not biblical. Y'all familiar with manifesting some of you're of a certain age? Uh, TikTok, uh, Instagram, uh, it's a thing. Celebrities will talk about this. Uh, um, influencers will talk about this. That, that, you know, it's you, you manifest like your future. You identify, you claim you put it out there in the universe, you say it, and then it will come to be you manifest your, your future. Okay? And so sometimes there are these practices where you will, uh, you, you've got vision boards or you you've got desire journals. Or sometimes it's even like a certain time of the day that you will proclaim this to the universe and put it out there and just say, I am manifesting this. And it will come to pass. That's, that's the plan. And some of you at this point are going, wait a minute. Is it not okay to have dreams? Of course it is. Is it not okay to, to like even write down some of your goals? Can I think, can I like, have goals? Good grief. It's important to have goals. Is it okay to work towards those goals? Absolutely. Here's the question you have to ask. Who's in charge? Is it me? Is it us? Is is it the universe or is it the living God who created all of this? The writer of Proverbs puts it like this. He says, many of the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. We've got to remember that this is, this is, this is the sovereign God who is in charge. Which means when we go into this, uh, to me, it, it, it, I know I lost some of you 'cause I'm pushing this through a biblical worldview. And some of us are like, I don't know that I I'm in on that yet. Now lemme tell you where it gets tricky these days. Many of us start with a biblical worldview, and then we'll pick up something from YouTube or from an influencer or from something we read or a friend said, well, this, and we kind of dump it into the soup. And if we're not careful, it, it no longer is biblical. Okay? So let's just be real clear. There are differences. There's a vast difference between praying and manifesting. And it really comes down to who's in charge. When I say I want this, I will have it. I will, I will imagine it and speak it into the universe. And I will manifest this into my life. Who's in charge, by the way? Let me help you with something. The universe does not have the power to deliver on that. And the universe doesn't care. Okay? We're gonna come back to the sovereign God who is in charge of everything. Is it okay to to write things down? Yes. Some of you're doing, a lot of you are doing it right now. Maybe even more of you're gonna feel like you wanna do it a little bit later. Is it okay to journal your prayers? Absolutely. Some of us will at times go through seasons where it's like, wow, these are the things I ask God about. These are the things. Look at him. Is it okay to think positive, hopeful thoughts? Of course it is. Paul says in Philippians four, eight, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever's excellent and praiseworthy and noble think those things. Paul says, good thoughts, do it. Yes. But we've got to keep it in the context of the God who is in charge. So we hollow his name. We, we remember that you are God, you are the one who will have the final word. You are the one who has a plan. So we hollow your name. It's amazing how that changes my perspective when I will intentionally take just a little bit of time each day and hollow his name. And remember who I'm talking with? His name. His name. So when y'all were exchanging names a few minutes ago, uh, how many of you like, uh, heard somebody give you like three names? Just raise your hands each of the sites, okay? This is kind of a normal way. How many of you like more than three? Like four or five? Anybody give you like that? Many? Some of you? Yeah. Oh, wow. Are you guys royalty? I mean, that's a big deal. So two, sometimes it's a first and a last. Anybody? Yeah, anybody? One name? Yeah. Adele. Are you here? Pink bono, Elvis? No. That'd be something, wouldn't it? Yeah. No, no, no. So anybody here just have nobody mention their name to you? They just looked at you and said, I, I I can't share it with you. Yeah, they're probably in the witness protection program. Just give a little grace. Here's the thing. When we do this, our names mean something. And, and we, we, we can talk to people about that, but in the ancient world, a name rarely just met a name. It almost always was tied to identity. So there was a Christian historian in the fourth century, uh, UUs who, uh, who was describing this decree that was lightening up the persecution in, in, uh, in, in, in the Roman Empire. And like the Romans thought that you had to name all of these things to get the god's attentions. And then when they started worshiping the emperor, now it gets ridiculous. He's got all of these titles and you gotta get 'em. All right. So Eusebius writes, this is the official decree. I'm not even giving all of it to you, but the Emperor Caesar Glarus, Valerius Maximus, Invictus Augustus, Ponti Maximus, German Maximus, Egypt is Maximus. Okay? So we're maximizing on the maxes maximus. So it's, it's just like, so this just keeps going and going and going. And you had to get it right because the emperor expected this. It was a previous em emperor who had a party. Someone got his introduction wrong and he had him executed on the spot. So some of you're going, well, wait a minute. Is that what I have to do with God? No. Jesus says, you come to him as your father. But what about all those names of God you were talking about? Oh, there's, there's, there's even more. There's like hundreds of names and descriptions of God. Oh man. So I really have to list all of those. No, God is not an insecure tyrant. When God gives you these, these names in scripture, think of them as handles way for you to hang onto a conversation with him and to bring it to life. When Hebrew scholar says it's like shorthand for, to describe his essence, another scholar says it's like a window into his character. There are times that I need the God who heals. There are times that I need the God who comforts. There are times that I need the God who's in charge of everything. He is the same one, true God. But there are different aspects of Him. And I get to use that in prayer. Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. You ever name dropped. You have. I mean, we all do. It's like, oh, I can't believe I saw that guy at the airport. And yeah. And I can't wait to tell somebody. Talk to the people around you. What's the, the biggest name you've named Dropped before, and why was that kind of a thing? Go ahead, talk to each other real quickly. Okay. Okay. I'm gonna give you some from some of the sites. Uh, all right, from Fenton, uh, uh, Ted Simmons, Kurt Warner, we've got some sports ones there. Sheena Easton. I met her after a concert. Some of you guys don't even know who Sheena Easton is, but she was kind of a thing back in the day. Uh, Grant's Trail. Here we go. Stan Mutual. That counts Mid Rivers. Jack Buck. Yep. This is Oh, mid Rivers Sean, corny. Love it, love it, love it. Anybody got one here? Like, who'd you meet? Who'd you name? Drop? Anybody got one? Where are you? Yeah. Come on. I Taylor you hugged t was it with permission? You hugged Taylor Swift when you were seven. Yeah. Did you get a pick of that? She did. No. Yeah, back then we didn't have, yeah. Right. Okay, now that counts. That counts. Okay. Anybody over here got one? Alpac Pacino Al Pacino. Wow. Look at you going old school actor. Yeah, hooah. Okay. All right. I'm might not just get, why do we think this is a big deal when we meet someone famous? And why can't we just like, we can't hardly wait to tell somebody. And if you have the technology with you, you're gonna beg for a selfie just to capture it for all time. Why is that? Because somehow some way we think they matter. And when we get close, we just can't wait to tell other people, right? How come we're not in awe of the privilege we have to pray? I mean, I wanna be in awe of the fact, well, how come I don't say God? I can't even believe that I get to talk with you. You want your prayers to take off this week consciously, intentionally, on purpose. I mean, all of those mean the same thing. I'm just trying to get your attention. Hallow the name of God, JI Packer puts it like this. He's a theologian, and he says, the vitality of prayer lies largely in the vision of God that prompts it. So your vision of God is what's gonna fuel the life of your prayers. But here's the kicker, drab thoughts of God. Make prayer dull. Let's not have drab thoughts of God. So I've asked three pastors up here to help connect this for us. How do we keep from having drab thoughts about God? And how does it connect to these great names of God that we see in scripture? So would you guys just start off by introducing yourselves so everybody knows who you are? Yeah. My name's Ben. I, I, I, I work primarily here at Chesterfield with you guys, but I'm in, I'm in spiritual formation. I do discipleship, faith. Yeah, That's a good word. And I'm Kimberly. I do spiritual formation also, uh, here at Chesterfield. And at Fenton. Yeah. And I'm Michael. I primarily work with the middle schoolers and the high schoolers at our Fenton campus. Yeah. Cool. So you guys have heard this now, uh, what do y'all think? I mean, how, what, what are your impressions? Because I really want people to hear your wisdom and your insights on some of these things. Yeah. So this whole idea of God's names being windows into his character. I I love that. I love that his names are active. Um, it's, it's, it's almost like God's saying, I'm not just gonna tell you who I am. I'm going to show you who I am with how I show up in your life. He's not just an observer in our life. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that. And that makes me think of, there's a passage in, in Genesis. I mean, we, we read through scripture and God is revealing himself and telling us his names. But there is one place where a woman who lives a and is in turmoil, and she, she names God herself, Elroy, because she realizes that God sees Me. Yeah. Hebrew, he is the God who sees The God who sees, 'cause he saw her. Right. I know, I know we've said this, sorry Michael, but she would have really no reason to even think she would be seen overlooked. Mm-Hmm. Forgotten, pushed to the edges. The she Thinks God does not see her. Yeah. And then she realizes that he does see her. Sorry, Michaels, go Ahead. Well, no, I was just saying that this past Wednesday, the youth crossing, there was something holy about it, of studying the holiness of God. And we looked at Exodus three in which God says to Moses, take off your shoes. This is holy ground. And he says, you call me Yahweh. Which, which we looked at some translators translate that to, uh, he who's making things happen. And so that his ancient name is that he's been at work like he's a good dad who, who loves us, who cares for us, who somehow thinks about us. But at the same time, he doesn't sit idly waiting for us to make a decision. I mean, he, he, he's saying, Hey, I, I've been at work. I'm on the move. So when I, that his law a lot, I love about that. But one of them is, I love the fact that our students are tracking with us in this series, and you guys are taking them places. If you were a parent of a teenager right now, these are conversations y'all get to have throughout the week. I mean, you guys were teaching on the sacred name of God Yawe, and y'all get to have those conversations. Yes. I love that. Yeah. I love that when we look, 'cause we've got different names of God that will start coming up and and we wanna remind you of those before we leave. Is that a, like, how does that work for you guys, these various names and reminders of who God is? How does that work in your own lives? Yeah. I, for I, for me, I think it's just good to remember how close God is. So a, a, a name that comes up every December is Emmanuel. Emmanuel in Hebrew, the with us God or God with us. Yeah. So the fact that God is with me, and I'm not gonna go into detail, but as I've navigated seasons of loneliness, seasons of anxiety, uh, those times in life for the world just seems upside down. You don't know what to do. That God's with me. And he doesn't just hear me, but he turns his ear towards me. He cares about what's going on. It's so Good. It's so Good. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean this, this name Yahweh for me, it's easy to get to the point where I say I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. Like I, I need a God who is different, who is set apart, who is a holy God, right. Who, who's different from me to come in and take over. And that, that's a holiness His holiness is a place of comfort for me. It's where I can say the phrase, God, I trust you with me. It's a little bit of what we were talking about with the prayer and manifesting the differences. Yes. He's God, I'm not. And that gives us great comfort. Yeah. I like what you said about the, the names are handles 'cause it, it changes different times as to the name of God. That, that is meaningful to me at that time. And right now, uh, a more of maybe a lesser spoken name of God, it would be for me, bright morning star, uh, Jesus speaks of it of himself in Revelation. Peter calls him that, uh, because I've come through a place of darkness involving, you know, spiritual abuse and in need of light. And considering the bright morning star coming out of the darkness, bringing light, the light of the world. It's very important to me right now. Very important. It's So timely in this dark world to know that he is the light. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, real quickly, just to, you know, to not to go into too much of the deep waters, but we talk about praying to God. You mentioned Jesus, we, we've certainly mentioned the Holy Spirit. So people say, well, do you pray to the Father? Do you pray to the to, to Jesus the Son? Do we pray to the Spirit? Yes. Yes. I mean, it's one God in three, and the answer is yes. That's exactly right. So we do this, and by the time we get to the New Testament, Jesus is revealing himself and revealing the nature of God. Would you guys help, help us know, like how to intentionally make it personal? Because I think there are, we can talk about this all day long. People are jotting some stuff down, but how do we intentionally, how do we take this to a, to another place? What, what are your thoughts? Yeah. My, well, my practice of prayer lately has been before. I'll go work out, uh, go and walk. And so, um, I, I fell in love with, with that activity of prayer. And I'm the guy that if you see somebody walking around bawling, just like talking to themselves, like, That's you. That's me. Okay. Yeah. Hey, That's me. Okay. Uh, and uh, yeah. And there's just something about, as I'm starting my prayer v like verbally saying out loud, God, this is who you are. And I'll, I'll find that the rest of my prayer finds perspective. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. There's a an experiment that I'll do from time to time to remember that God is with me and remember that he is Emmanuel, and, and, and so I'll just be praying and, and I'll imagine that Jesus is sit, sitting right there in the room with me. And that just really helps me remember that prayers, a conversation, a back and forth. So you told me, and, and then when you said that, I was like, oh, Ben, that reminded me of something that'll come up in like three weeks. You told me you'll even set an empty chair out there, Uhhuh. Yeah. It's just kind of a reminder. He's that close. Yep. Okay. Okay. There's something about a, a tangible practice in that. I love that. I love that. And for me, right now, I have a thing that I made up myself. I call it morning candles. And so when I, when I wake up, I light a, I light a candle, and I just look at that flicker and I think about the light, this, this bright morning star, the light of the world, and it, it just connects me. And I pray through my calendar of the day. Yeah, God, shine your light, lead the way, and let me see you. What I love about all of those is they connect back to the truth of scripture. Every one of what you guys is talking about, they aren't gimmicks. They're, they're, they're physical reminders that take us back to scripture. So here's what we wanted to do. Now, uh, I, the name of God can keep your prayers from getting dull. No drab thoughts here. So what we wanted to do was to, to give you a chance here now, and we're gonna keep the lights up in each of our rooms because we want you to be able to, to, to write some things down. Those of you who are journaling some of these things, like which one of these names of God? And there are many that we didn't even get to. Which one of these names of God is where you are these days? How, how can you hollow his name? Now I know, I know, I know. This is a little bit, uh, it's, it's a thing. And for some of you, the easy button is, I'm leaving. I'm out, I'm done. I don't wanna think about this. I don't wanna get that close to God. I can appreciate that tension. But I'm asking you to state for just a minute. What would that be like for you to approach him? Some of us, it's time to, to think about what we're gonna say in small group. How are we gonna talk about this? For some of us, it's this opportunity to consider that the God of the universe is that close in cares that much The, the and Beautiful Perfect. And there's no one like you. Father ado, you love of my, There's No one, no when to when that you And Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. I, I wanna be in awe of the name of God and the fact that I get to approach you. I want my prayer life to be filled with the awe that I have the privilege to come to God. The God who acts, the God who answers The God who deserves all the applause, right? See, he is the eternal transcendent, indescribable God of the universe. He is, uh, the one who was and is and evermore will be. He is the alpha and Omega. He is Emmanuel. He is God with me. So when he sends me into this world, I don't go alone. I don't have to face this alone. I know that he is with me. There is no power in this world. There is no force of hell that can stand against him. So, you know what I say? We pray, I say we come to him respectfully and with all. But let's pray. Let's ask for wisdom and, and guidance and protection. Let's ask for healing. Let's, let's ask for, for, for doors to open in our lives. For those of you who struggle with doubts or anxiety or worries or anger or shame, let's, let's ask God to heal those things and to move in close. Let's ask God to do mighty things. If you've got longings and dreams and desires and you're like, I've never really said this out loud, come to the God of the universe, line up with him and say, this is what I want, God, please, will you lead me into the future? I'm telling you, let's pray because God is here and he's listening. But get this, the God who deserves all praise and glory is for you. He's for you. Let that settle in. In fact, I think you're gonna have to be intentional about it. Hallow His name. So it might be at the end of the day where you intentionally and purposefully you pick an idea up and you go, you know what? I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna remember the greatness of God. This one I pray to, it might be after a meeting. It might be before going into work. It might be before workout. It might be when you're driving in the car, it might be at the end of the day, or it could be at the beginning of your day where you just intentionally just for a moment, you're like, oh God, I wanna hallow your name. I want to hallow your name. I wanna remember who you are. Watch how your per your perspective changes. You see, there are some ideas that we have. We've shared some of them. We're about to share more of them. But even as we share these, it's not a list. It's not like, oh, I gotta do all of these. 'cause they're gonna come up kind of quickly. Just pick one. You might write it down. It might be something that you talk with your group about. Frankly, it's something that you, you can talk to each other about. See, you know, that, that gracious applause that you share with us sometimes at the end of a service to say, Hey man, I'm glad we, we get to do this together. Instead of doing that this time, let's focus on the one who deserves all the applause. And let's just think about, well, what's that next step for me? Is it this, is it this? Talk to each other. Let's keep living this out on a Tuesday morning and a Thursday afternoon.