The Cross and the Crown

When the Lord challenges us to pray "Your Kingdom come... on earth as it is in heaven," how would his immediate audience have understood this concept?

The Lord's Prayer aligns us with God's own heart. Its first declaration is for the hallowing of God's name. How does this drive us deeper into the heart of God's desire and our chief purpose in life?

Before leading his disciples how to pray, Jesus spends significant time explaining how not to pray. This helps us understand the Lord's Prayer with greater depth.

Psalm 25 paints for us picture of a believer after God's own heart. We see the beauty of the God we stand in awe of... the God of our salvation who calls us friend.

What are the implications of the ascension and exaltation of Jesus? How does this lead us to place of humility and confidence in our daily walk? How does this spur us into an unflinchable pursuit of the Great Commission?

Why does the acsension and exaltation of Christ after the resurrection matter? What prominence did the early church place on it in their preaching and teaching?

How does the book of Hebrews as a whole, and chapter eleven specifically, call us to rest and run by faith in the supremacy of the person and work of Christ amidst our sufferings? What is faith? What is it not?

In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us about giving, prayer, and fasting. How can we guard against hypocrisy in our giving? Why is it so crucial to align our hearts to the Giver of life as we seek to glorify God through our giving? How can we practically grow into givers that glorify the Giver?

In Matthew 6:1, Jesus introduces the next section of His Sermon on the Mount by calling us to guard against hypocrisy. He paints a clear picture of not only the roots of hypocrisy, but how we can actively and practically guard against it as believers.

What?! Jesus' conclusion to the "You've heard it said... but I say" passages is a gripping statement that we must wrestle with. If we misunderstand it, it has the potential to plunge us into Phariseeism or dispair. If we rightly comprehend it, it has the power to cast us deeper into the glories of Christ's person and work, helping us reorient our lives to His calling.