Book beginnings are often very important in understanding what follows in the book. I think this is especially true of the writings, the books, in the Bible. We began a several week reading study of the book of Acts. The opening paragraph of Acts connects to the gospel of Luke. By careful reading of the opening paragraphs we learn the method, the structure and the purpose of Luke's writing his two volume work on the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth in order to establish a believer name Theophilus in the certainty of the teaching he had received as a believer. A challenge is for us to read carefully in a few settings all of Luke-Acts. Let the Word impact you and study the Scriptures. This is a way of loving God with your mind.

After Jesus leads his disciples to begin their prayers with the focus on God and his will and his kingdom, he surprisingly instructs them to pray for daily bread, showing his awareness of the practical needs of human life. Three simple but vital truths about prayer are seen here: I. God commands us to ask him for the necessities of life. ("bread") II. God wants us to realize that everything that we have from him is a pure gift. ("give") III. God instructs us to be in continual prayer for his provision. ("daily")

How do you usually pray? Is there a particular position that your body takes? Some believe and it is often announced especially in church meetings to bow your head and close your eyes. What does the Bible say about the positions of our body when we pray? You may be surprised but one of the best positions is to "pray with your eyes open"! Explore with me the various positions of biblical prayer.

This third petition in the Disciples' Model Prayer, "your will be done," is closely related to the second petition, "your kingdom come," yet it is distinct enough to warrant special attention. First of all, we should understand that although the ultimate fulfillment is at Christ's return, the more immediate relevance is a prayer that God's will be done here and now, in the church, in the kingdom subjects who live in a fallen and hostile world. For each of us personally, we are concerned that his kingdom be fulfilled in our lives. There are two primary aspects of God's will: 1) His decreed will, his eternal plan, that he carries out on earth (cf. Acts 2:23), and 2) His prescriptive will, that is, specific revelation and execution of his will in the lives of his people. Two examples would be Jesus' submission to the Father's will in submitting to the horrors of the cross, and Paul and the believers' submission to God's will in the prophecy that in Jerusalem suffering and imprisonment awaited him. Martin Luther in his catechism question on this petition summarizes this teaching in this idea, "that the good will of God would be done on earth but we want it done among us also."

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, Our Father, your kingdom come. Two words are key to understand this petition. Kingdom. What is this kingdom of God? In what way is it to come? Jesus who teaches his disciples this prayer is the king of God's kingdom. Where the King is there is his kingdom. The prayer is not focused on geography but on relationship with God in the person of Jesus. So we are asking God to bring in a greater realization of the kingdom in and through our lives culminating in the personal arrival of the king in power and glory at the end of the age. We want God to actively bring in his reign in the midst of the rival kingdom of Satan ultimately totally destroying that kingdom and filling the earth with the eternal kingdom. The kingdom of God has a present and a not yet aspect. The present reality of the kingdom and its future aspect are present in this petition as demonstrated in the gospel narratives and Acts and Paul's descriptions of the kingdom in his letters. Revelation shows its ultimate fulfillment at the return of Jesus to this earth in power and glory.

This second petition in the Disciples' Model Prayer states, "Your kingdom come." A number of characteristics of the kingdom of God as set forth in the Bible are described in this sermon. God's kingdom is a reality wherever king Jesus rules and reigns, especially in the lives of his people. This Kingdom will come completely and fully at Jesus' Second Coming. Until then, the kingdom is expanded on earth as the Gospel goes out to the world and is received by faith and believers grow in him. These are ways we should pray that God's kingdom through Christ will come.

One day when Jesus was engaged in prayer to his Heavenly Father one of his disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Luke 11:1-4 record this conversation. On another occasion when Jesus was instructing his disciples on the mountain side he gave them this prayer model, Matthew 6:9-13. This podcast gives an overview of the prayer by noting its two sections. The first section deals with the concerns of God, his honor and kingdom. The second section deals with our needs as his dependent children. God's glory and his will must always be our chief priorities, but our material and spiritual needs are also important to him. Let this prayer be a model and guide to you as you come before the Father in praise and petition.

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray what we term "the Lord's Prayer," but is better named, "the Disciples Model Prayer." The prayer consists of 7 petitions which are easily divided into two sections. 1. That which concerns God's interest. 2. That which concerns our needs as God's dependent children. Jesus teaches us first to be concerned about God's concerns. We ask the Father to do what only he can truly do. Sometimes we interpret these petitions as if they are commands for us to follow. They are not. Only God can truly make his name great, only he is the Holy One. The petition centers on two key words: "holy" and "name" The sermon today looks at both terms with special reference to God's revelation of his Name to Moses in Exodus chapter 3 and 34. The 3 petitions of the first section of the prayer are interconnected • Father, hallowed be your name. • Your kingdom come. • Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. These three sections all involve God's doing. He makes his name holy; he will bring about his kingdom and he will do his will on earth. "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Revelation 15:4

How should we pray? According to Jesus we must address our prayers to "Our Father". (Matthew 6:9ff; Luke 11:1-4)This episode explores the meaning of this expression both as to what conveys concerning our family relationship to God and fellow believers. But it also looks at a theological question on Jesus as the "only begotten Son" or "the one and only Son" and our being called sons of God. Devotion plus theology is embedded in this broadcast. Exposition leading to worship.

How do Christians know God is our heavenly Father? It is to Jesus Christ himself that we are indebted for the chief revelation in the Bible, primarily in the Gospel of John, that God is the heavenly Father of his people. When we look at Jesus Christ, we look at the Father also. He is a kind Father who desires to give good gifts to his children. Christians do not stand before the heavenly Father isolated from the other people of God, but in union with them, the one body of Christ that both rejoices and suffers together. We bow before the Father in the name and because of the redeeming merit of our Lord Jesus Christ.