Category: Matthew
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The Sixth Petition and Closing: “Lead Us Not into Temptation, But Deliver Us from Evil”
Because Jesus has defeated the devil on the cross, you too have overcome the devil, the world and the flesh, “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.â€
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The Fifth Petition: Forgive Us Our Debts
When we pray the fifth petition, we are asking God not to account our sins to us, but to account it to Christ. We are trusting in God’s assurance that our sins are forgiven, and our spiritual debt completely cancelled because of Christ’s atoning work on the cross for us.
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The Fourth Petition: “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
In Proverbs 30:8, there is a prayer that all of us will almost never pray, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me†(“daily bread,” NIV). It is very difficult for us to pray for just this day’s or next day’s provisions, but God can surely test…
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The Third Petition: “Your Will Be Done” (War of Wills)
“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” May this be our prayer too, today until that glorious day when our Lord redeems us from our own sinful will, and gives us perfect, obedient will.
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“When You Pray…”
Most evangelicals shun formal prayers like the Lord’s Prayer or the Psalms, thinking that spontaneous, led-by-the-Spirit prayers are more acceptable to God. But often, pastors end up with babbling, mindless prayers, often mumbling repetitiously because they do not know what to say. What can be more beneficial than a prayer composed beforehand, filled with Scripture…
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“I Will Build My Church”
The true gospel of Christ is seldom preached today. Instead, what do we hear? Moral lessons, interesting anecdotes, self-esteem psychology, personal testimonies, and worse, jokes, dramas, puppet shows, and other gimmicks. Thus, you who are in these kinds of churches are denied the hearing of the true gospel, and thus, you are being shut out…
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Treasures, Hearts, Tithes
The pre-eminent example of a rich person is Christ himself, of whom Paul says, “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
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The King Comes Riding to His People
Two thousand years ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem in humility and peace. The Jews acknowledged him as “the King who comes in the name of the Lord” with shouts of joy and acclamation. But when he returns, he will come as the exalted and victorious Warrior who will exact complete vengeance on his enemies as the…
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“Why Have You Forsaken Me?”
It was as if Christ literally descended into hell, but he did not. He actually suffered hell, God’s burning wrath, for his sinful people, as he suffered “inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies†on the cross.