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 Give us this day our daily bread,
forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. –Matthew 6:11-13
Where the first 3 petitions of the Lord’s Prayer concentrate more on God and his glory, the second 3 petitions of the Lord’s Prayer focus more on our needs. If we get anything from that, it is that the glory of God’s name, his Kingdom, and his will must be foremost in our prayers. That takes some thought and discipline because we tend to be naturals at praying primarily big things for ourselves and little things, if anything, for the Lord.
But the second 3 petitions are still important. The fourth petition addresses our weakness in physical needs that the Lord meets. The fifth petition addresses our weakness in our insurmountable debt that the Lord pays, and so the sixth petition addresses our weakness in trials and temptations through which the Lord saves us. Each has to do with our weakness and God’s deliverance: deliverance from the weakness of hunger, deliverance from the separation sin brings, and deliverance from evil.
Every time I read them, I think of Luke 22 when Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Jesus did not pray that Peter wouldn’t fall, but that this faith wouldn’t fail.
Jesus says, “And when you have turned again.” Jesus knows that Peter is going to fall in temptation, but when he does, he’s to recall the gospel, that Jesus has prayed for him that he will be delivered from evil. It was Christ’s plan all along to deliver Peter from evil when he fell. And that’s Christ’s plan for the life of every believer. The Scottish pastor Alexander Whyte once described the perseverance of the saints as “falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up, all the way to heaven.” Jesus will pick you up from your weakness and set you back on solid ground.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending
Amazing Grace
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE BALTHROP’S
The annual Christmas party at the Balthrop’s be Saturday evening, December 11 from 6:00-8:00. Everyone at Redeemer is invited, including children. We’ll have food, fellowship, and some carol singing. 1717 Indian Springs Drive, Edmond, 285-6509. Please plan to attend!
CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP SERVICE
The Christmas Eve service is Friday evening, December 24, at 6:00. Nursery will be provided.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. –Matthew 6:9-12
The first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer: (1) May your name be hallowed; (2) May your kingdom come; (3) May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, each assumes something. They assume that God’s name is not always properly hallowed, his kingdom has yet to come to bear in some places, and his will is not always done on earth as it is in heaven.
It would be terrible hypocrisy to pray that his name would be hallowed, that his kingdom would come and that his will would be done on earth if we did not make it our aim, goal, and passion to hallow his name wherever we are, to preach his kingdom wherever we are, and to do his will wherever we are. The family resemblance of all the people of God is not that these things will be performed perfectly, but that we are impassioned to do them. These three goals are appointed by our Father, rather than the targets of world, which frankly we are pretty good at hitting. The great aim of the church, of the people of God, is to hallow his name, to bring his kingdom to bear upon the world and do his will as it is done in heaven.
And we are not on our own in this mighty endeavor, for surely we would fail utterly in our weakness. Instead we have been given the Holy Spirit of Christ that we may pray and live these big things for our Father and become heroes in this great drama of the redemption of the world. Christ died for this and rose again proving that the Day will come when all will hallow his name, the whole of creation will be his kingdom, and nothing will be done that is not his will.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Lift High the Cross
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
MEN’S PRAYER BREAKFAST THIS SATURDAY
Our monthly Men’s Prayer Breakfast will meet as usual at 8:30 this Saturday, December 4. The food is always great and the prayer time is rich.
CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE BALTHROP’S
The annual Christmas party at the Balthrop’s be Saturday evening, December 11 from 6:00-8:00. Everyone at Redeemer is invited, including children. We’ll have food, fellowship, and some carol singing. 1717 Indian Springs Drive, Edmond, 285-6509. Please plan to attend!
CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP SERVICE
The Christmas Eve service is Friday evening, December 24, at 6:00. Nursery will be provided.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. –Matthew 6:9-12
In the fifth petition the emphasis is not as much on “lead us not,” but on “deliver us.” And don’t we need deliverance from evil and the Evil One! Most of the time we think our biggest need is deliverance from pain and suffering when the real need is deliverance from sin and evil.
This petition covers the whole of sin in our lives. We are asking our Father to uphold us and strengthen us because we’re in a war. “Father, keep us safe because our enemies are strong and unrelenting, and when we fall, pick us up.” The goal of it all is the final victory.
In short, we’re asking him to do everything we’ve prayed for so far in the Lord’s prayer: that his name would be hallowed as the Captain of the winning army, that his Kingdom would assert itself in the war of sin, that his will for his people not to sin be done on earth, that he’d give us strength through bread to fight the fight, that he’d keep us from losing the battle. And if we do lose, to deliver us from ultimate loss, and bring the complete victory, where all the promises of God are brought to fruition, especially the Evil One being crushed under our feet.
Romans 16:20, The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer is not merely defensive. We pray that we will participate in the ultimate holy vengeance on the one who has been our tempter. By virtue of being in Christ, we will have the privilege of seeing the Evil One’s head crushed.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
We Gather Together
The Beatitudes
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
Start planning now for our Christmas Eve Carols and Communion Service at 6:00 pm.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. –Matthew 6:9-12
In light of the rest of Scripture, we know that our forgiving other people is not the cause of God’s forgiveness—neither is it the prerequisite for God’s forgiveness. We don’t believe in justification by our forgiving others, but justification by faith alone. So it’s probably better to talk about forgiveness as the post-requisite of salvation.
There is an indivisible connection between our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. Matthew 5, here in the Sermon on the Mount says, So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Or 1 Peter 3:7, Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
While we might not have recognized it without the Word of God telling us, there is a critical connection between our fellowship with the Lord and our fellowship with others. As a pastor, I often offer this warning: if you can correct a broken relationship with another person, you should do so right away, lest your relationship with the Father be hindered. James 2:13, For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
And behold, mercy does triumph over judgment for all who know and cherish Christ! While he was shown only judgment on the cross for our sins, mercy for sinners is the result. He took that which was against us and nailed it to the cross, thus we are debt free.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in baptism and the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
O Worship the King
Baptized in Water
Crown Him with Many Crowns
ADULT BAPTISM THIS SUNDAY
We have the priviledge of our third adult baptism this year in the service this Sunday. Don’t miss it!
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. –Matthew 6:9-11
It shouldn’t be easier to trust our Father for eternal life than it is to trust him for daily bread, yet we often act like it is. Right? You know the worry routine: my car, my house, my job, my friends, my bills, my kids, all these things, but we’re trusting him for eternal life, for the forgiveness of sins; surely he’ll give us our daily bread.
Our Father is answering our prayers if we had a meal today or have one waiting on us later. Too many times we feel like we’re praying and God is not answering. But isn’t he answering your prayers every time you eat? Let’s not doubt his goodness to us just because we don’t have everything we want. Instead he gives us what we would have asked for if we knew what he knows! Our praying daily for bread—and getting it—is there partly to train us to trust him and believe the big promises like eternal life and the resurrection of the body.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he taught them to pray in such a way that as they were asking for daily bread, they were being trained to desire the Bread of Life with all their hearts. This is grace to us. In our petitioning the Father to give us bread every day, surely he is not giving us less than the “bread of God.” What’s that? The answer is clear in John 6:33, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
I Sing the Almighty Power of God
Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated
COMMUNITY LUNCH
Our Community Lunch will be this Sunday, November 14, after worship at the church. All worshippers are welcome!
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. –Matthew 6:9-10
In James 5:16 we’re told, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Then James gives you the example of Elijah praying for drought and rain. Now, if you’re like me, you’re tempted to say, “Yeah, but that’s Elijah, a prophet; it’s not like he’s a regular guy.” James anticipates my foolish objection and throws in the poignant phrase, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently.” We are to pray. Jesus said we are to pray always and never lose heart. Paul said we are to pray without ceasing, always with all prayer and supplication.
Jesus commands us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s always done in heaven, but this indicates it’s not always done on earth. That means that every time it’s done on earth as it is in heaven, an assault on the gates of hell has taken place. To pray “Thy will be done,” is to do spiritual warfare.
But we must never forget that to pray “Thy will be done” is to make it our goal to have God’s will be our will. Our wills desire happiness, ease, success, and pleasure, and while God has promised all these in the New Heavens and the New Earth, we have been promised persecution, hardship, and being hated all on account of Jesus’ name in this world. In a culture where most people think the goal of life is to be happy and that’s God’s will for us too (if there’s a God worth worshipping anyway), praying for God’s will over ours is staggeringly different from the rest of the world.
The most important thing, though, about desiring God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven is that there is only One who has ever done his will in all ways all the time. And that’s not us on any given period of even our best day. It’s Jesus. The Father’s will is that we embrace, believe, worship, cherish, follow, and sup with Jesus. That’s our only true hope for doing God’s will: that we are in union with the One who knows and does the will of the Father to the Father’s glory forever.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty
Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed
Be Thou My Vision
MEN’S PRAYER BREAKFAST
This Saturday, November 6 is the breakfast at 8:30. All men are invited. Enter by the northeast doors. It is always a great time of food and fellowship together!
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ENDS THIS WEEKEND
Don’t forget to set your clock back an hour Saturday evening before bed. If you plan properly, you’ll get an extra hour of sleep!
COMMUNITY LUNCH
Our Community Lunch will be next Sunday, November 14, after worship at the church. It would be a great time to invite someone to worship and have them join us for lunch.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come. –Matthew 6:9-10a
The return of Christ with the consummation of the kingdom is an eternal decree of God. So why would our prayer for “Thy Kingdom come” matter? Besides that, if Jesus preached any content to the gospel at all, he preached that the Kingdom has come with his coming. Why then would he command we pray for his Kingdom to come if it has already come?
The first answer to the question is that it has come and is coming. Sometimes Reformed theologians call this “the now and the not yet.” We live in the tension between the Kingdom having come (people are saved from sin and Christ rules at the right hand) and the Kingdom not having been consummated completely (there is still evil and sadness left in the world). This is a hard tension and used by the Deceiver frequently to encourage doubt in believers. This is why we pray, “Lord Jesus, come quickly!” On that day all that is wrong will be right as the poor are made rich and the rich are made poor, the weak are made strong and the strong are made weak, the humble shall be exalted and the exalted shall be humbled. Oh what a great day that will be!
The second answer is that Jesus commands us to pray that the Kingdom will come more fully upon us. That is, “Thy Kingdom Come” precedes “Give us this day our daily bread” because those who seek first the Kingdom of God will have all the things they need added to them. The counterintuitive nature of the gospel is that those who seek the Kingdom before they seek the satisfaction of their worldly desires get both, but those who seek the satisfaction of their worldly desires before the Kingdom of God get neither.
That said, and all very true, nonetheless “Thy Kingdom Come” is a prayer we must pray because we strive under the demands of the law, the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Even the Sermon on the Mount from whence comes the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew’s Gospel lays out the burden of perfection we bear. When the Kingdom finally comes in all its fullness, we, by the perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ will meet the perfection God requires without faltering. As the fantastic Geerhardus Vos has said, “We are not received by Jesus into a school of ethics but into a kingdom of redemption.”
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
For All the Saints
Jesus Shall Reign
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. –Matthew 6:9
The reason “hallowed by thy name” is called the “first petition” is because it is just that: a petition, a request. It’s easy to think that it is a statement of a fact—something like, “Our Father in heaven, your name is holy!” That would be an utterly true statement, but that’s now what Jesus is saying here. This is a request, a petition that is paraphrased something like, “Our Father in heaven, let your name be sanctified, honored, adored, and revered!”
Why should we be jealous of the sanctity of God’s name? Because he is, of course! Of the Ten Commandments, one of them is devoted to this exactly, “Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11) Wow! That means his sanctity of God’s name is a top priority for him. Is it for us?
Someone has said (source untraceable) that when we pray the first petition, our request is “cause your word to be believed, cause your displeasure to be feared, cause your commandments to be obeyed, and cause yourself to be glorified.” We hallow the name of God when we trust him, revere him, obey him, and glorify him. It must be the believer’s passion that the whole earth gladly hallow the name of God.
And you know what? It will happen someday. Our prayer is that it happen today, but without a doubt it will happen on the Great Day of the Lord when at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11). Every Islamic Imam, every Buddhist monk, every Scientologist, every gentle but unbelieving grandmother will bow their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord. Every time we pray for the Name to be hallowed, we look forward to that great day. And our prayer will be answered because Christ has so hallowed the name of his Father that we finally can too.
That’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in baptism and the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Rejoice, the Lord is King
Baptized in Water
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
ADULT BAPTISM THIS SUNDAY!
Don’t miss this special celebration of the promise that as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly His blood and Spirit wash away the impurity of our soul, that is, all our sins.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven. –Matthew 6:9
Jesus commands us to pray a certain way, not merely to our Creator, Judge, or even King, but to our Father. Justification is fundamental; it is the doctrine by which the church stands or falls. But it is legal; it is forensic. It is a declaration by God as judge that penitent sinners are not and never will be liable to the wrath and punishment they deserve because Christ is their substitute and sacrifice.
Yet justification is not all there is. Adoption also comes with salvation, and while adoption is impossible without justification, it is an even greater privilege because it is a move from the court room to the family room. In justification God is judge who reviews the facts with regard to those on trial, but in adoption God is the Father looking on his children with love, with affections to his heirs. That’s “our Father.”
Then in wonderful balance, Jesus adds, “In heaven.” As Jeremiah speaks for the Lord: “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord?” (Jer. 23:23,24)
In other words, he’s no teddy bear to make me happy and just be there if I need him. He rules heaven and earth! That’s the only kind of God who could answer the prayers of broken and sinful people so perfectly for their salvation every time, all the time. He’s so great and loving simultaneously that he answers the prayers we should have prayed and looks down from heaven on us with the same favor he did on Christ.
Jesus tells us to pray to our Father in heaven because through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection, we are truly the children of God who get to call him Father even while he is far off.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
Like a River Glorious
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. –Matthew 6:5-8
Many people know the Lord’s Prayer, fewer know that it (in Matthew) is in the Sermon on the Mount, and far fewer know that the verses above are the introductory context of Jesus giving us the exemplary prayer. Notice that the contrast is between the “god” of the hypocrites (read: outwardly religious types), the “god” of the Gentiles (read: religious when convenient) and “your Father.” The outwardly religious and conveniently religious are alike in that they do pray and they see that prayer as a transaction. The transaction is culture-affecting public religiosity or many words in exchange for answered prayer.
It’s different for Christians. Because “your Father knows what you need before you ask him,” it is not a transaction for them. Christians don’t have to talk him into it or perform certain works to earn answers to prayer. This is because God is not merely their Creator (though he certainly is), nor is he merely their King (though he certainly is), but God is their Father. The relationship is not based upon relationships such as landlord-tenant, employer-employee, or any other mutually agreed upon, yet temporary arrangement. It is as Father-child, which does not vary with performance.
This is good news because as a transaction, we would have to wonder if he will answer in our favor. The more keenly we are aware of our sin, the more anxiety there is that our prayers won’t be answered. But because God has sworn by himself to provide for and protect his chosen ones and given us Christ to ensure that all transactions are taken care of, we can pray with a child-like trust that his answering our prayers is simply his keeping his promises.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
This is My Father’s World
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!
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