Praying to Our Father in Heaven

July 13, 2022Posted inLord's Prayer
Our Lord taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer on at least two separate occasions. The first was in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6 he gave the Lord’s Prayer, but also instructions about it. 1) That we should pray in secret, and not as the hypocrites, on the street corners and in the…

Praying for the Hallowing of Our Father’s Name

July 6, 2022Posted inLord's Prayer
One of the important things that Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer is that we should pray as members of his body. That does not mean that we may never pray as individuals. Many psalms are individual prayers. LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.…

Christian Burial vs. Cremation

June 29, 2022Posted inCremation
The Reformed Church in the United States has published a paper defending Christian burial against the increasingly common practice of cremation. Magnifying Christ in My Body: Is Cremation a Legitimate Alternative to Christian Burial? A Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Analysis This is highly recommended reading. The paper traces briefly the history of cremation in…

Christ in the Psalms of Suffering

June 23, 2022Posted inPsalms Commentary
To speak of Messianic psalms as if there are only a few psalms that speak prophetically of the sufferings and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ is a serious mistake. Christ’s presence in the psalms is pervasive.  They are his songs first, and ours only as we are one with him. One of the best…

Praying for Our Daily Bread

June 16, 2022Posted inLord's Prayer
There are two errors we can fall into with regard to the material things we pray about in this fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. The first is that we value them too much and set our hearts on them as if they were the means to a happy and fulfilled life. The apostle Paul…