After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

In this final episode on prayer, Pastor Paul and Mark step back in biblical tradition to examine the Lord's Prayer. This collection of verses is recited and celebrated by churches the world over, but can it have real meaning in the prayer lives of people today? The answer, it turns out, is yes.

The Lord's Prayer, when spoken with genuine thought and intention, is more than just another rote recitation. It is a place where you can learn how to start praying. It is a tool to teach your children how to build flourishing prayer lives. It is a chance for every believer to examine not only their needs but their wants as well and to ensure that they align with what God wants for his people. 

In today's episode of A Fresh Take, Paul and Mark break down each section of this prayer and apply it to our lives. From adoration to confession and from thanksgiving to supplication (or, as Paul prefers, the "stuff" of prayer), this final foray into prayer finds new value and worth for the world of today in one of the most well-known sections of Scripture. 

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"Prayer is not meant to be a grocery list... Prayer is communication with the God of the universe who calls Himself our parent and longs for a deeper fellowship."

Ever seen those three dots? They pop up in your text messaging app when you're waiting for a response from someone...they appear, they disappear, they reappear, and still...no answer comes. Prayer can feel like that sometimes. You ask, you please, you beg, and still...nothing.

In today's episode, Pastor Paul and Mark look at some of the reasons our prayers might go unanswered, as well as steps we can take to make sure we are in the right place with God before we even begin to pray. They'll cover topics like:

Our series on prayer continues with even more vital information on how our prayers can be more effective, more focused, and more powerful. Thanks for joining us for another episode of A Fresh Take. 

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"The power is not in the prayer. It's in the God to whom you are praying."

Today's episode of A Fresh Take has it all--questions, answers, and all the gray areas in between. Mark serves as today's mini-panel correspondent, questioning Paul on the multi-faceted topic of prayer and helping create conversations that apply to anyone searching for better ways to talk to God. His questions include:

If you've ever wondered anything similar to the points above, this episode is for you. Together, let's explore and identify the purpose of prayer and learn how we can best communicate with the God and Creator of the universe. 

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"Part of our spiritual lives is to realize, that's real prayer. Sometimes real prayer is long or journal-written but sometimes it just starts with that: 'Lord, help me.'"

As we continue with our latest series on prayer, Pastor Paul and Mark are looking at the reasons why we DON'T pray. After all, how do you pray when you're sad, lonely, or depressed? Does God meet us where we are even if we're struggling to pray? In today's episode, we emphasize the importance of remembering that when we pray, we are physical beings participating in a spiritual experience--and as such, it's expected for us to struggle at times. But when we do, there's three things that can help:

Pastor Paul and Mark fill this episode of A Fresh Take with practical steps you can use to help you overcome that feeling of separation from God and answer the question so many of us wrestle with: How can we reach toward heaven when we've hit rock bottom?

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Welcome back to Season 3 of A Fresh Take! Today, we're kicking off the new season with the first episode in a series on prayer: what it is, how we do it, and why it can be both challenging and rewarding to develop it into a consistent habit. In this episode, Paul and Mark cover such topics as:

The conversation today includes not just the definition of prayer but its application, methodology, and common misunderstandings as a way to encourage the listener toward a countercultural life of faithfulness that fulfills the way we were always intended to live. Thanks for tuning in to another season of A Fresh Take!

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The Westminster Larger Catechism (specifically, Q.178)

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We've turned the page (or stone tablet, as it were) and reached the end of our series on the Ten Commandments. In today's episode, Pastor Paul and Mark summarize all the relevant points made over the course of the last few months and reinforce the need for a continued commitment to the principles laid out so many years ago--even when they might seem antiquated or out of date, the Ten Commandments are just as necessary to the life of a Christ-follower today as they were for Moses and God's people all those millennia before. 

A Fresh Take will be breaking for the remainder of the summer and picking back up in the fall of 2022 with a whole new roster of topics, ideas, and fresh takes on the issues that intersect both Christianity and culture. Thanks for being a listener!

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Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbors. [Exodus 20:17]

We've saved, as they say, the most applicable and convicting for last. (Well, maybe they don't say exactly that.) Let's face it: We all covet. We might not murder, or commit adultery, or steal--at least, not in the most obvious sense--but we ALL covet. We envy. We desire. We feel discontentment. There's something out there that we need, something that will complete us, make us better or smarter or skinnier or just plain happier. The advertising industry thrives on our propensity to covet: ads that show us what we're missing and how much greater our lives could be if we just had *it* (whatever the it du jour is, of course).

Today, Pastor Paul and Mark start their sprint toward the finish line of the second season of A Fresh Take by taking a look at the tenth and final commandment. Beginning with the question of why this commandment is so important--after all, it seems tame in comparison to cheating on your spouse or taking someone's life--and ending with the conclusion that God definitely knew what he was doing by including this one in the list, we're wrapping up this series and season with one more deep dive into the command against coveting. 

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We're counting down our last couple commandments by taking a deeper look at Number 9: do not lie. We live in an age inundated with fake news and fake bodies, but what about fake personalities? Today's episode examines five different types of liars who skirt the edges of the definition with the intention of coming out ahead:

This one hits home, because we can probably see ourselves in at least one of these personalities at least some of the time. The truth is out, and it hurts--but the damage done by lies might even be worse. 

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Do not give false testimony against your neighbor. [Exodus 20:16]

Fake news, anyone? Lying has become so pervasive in our society today, we barely bat an eye at it anymore. But it turns out there's a good reason that it's included as one of the Ten Commandments. Pastor Paul and Mark examine the concept of truth and its opposite in today's episode of A Fresh Take as they dive first into a discussion of ethics (When is lying justified? Why do we have to follow rules? Shouldn't I decide for myself which laws to obey?) before turning to the ninth commandment and beginning to scratch the surface on why God would make such a point of telling us to the truthful. 

Far from restraining us, the law of liberty, love and Christ is the one that sets us free. Our freedom in Christ might look different than the rest of the world's, but ultimately it is our attractive ethic of living that will help attract others to the Savior. 

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Do not steal. [Exodus 20:15]

We're deep into our series on the Ten Commandments now, and the relevance just keeps growing: In today's episode, Pastor Paul and Mark expand upon the eighth commandment to bring its meaning into the current day. No longer applying only to taking physical items that aren't your own, stealing encompasses a lot--whether it's time, money, or even sermons. (Yes, it happens.) And let's not even get started on what stealing looks like at the gas pump nowadays...

This episode touches on many of the different ways that the biblical command not to steal applies to our lives today and also features an introduction to Pastor Paul's biblical theology of economics. While we know that people are always sinful, we also learn from God's Word that work is good, and it is the hard work done by the honest person that serves as a cultural antidote to the rampant and ever-present problem of stealing.

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