How Not To Pray (A Prologue to Praying the Lord's Prayer)
November 4, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, but before he did he taught them how not to pray.
Last Sunday we concluded our fall sermon series on Praying the Lord's Prayer. This Sunday we are taking one week to look at Jesus' prologue to the Lord's Prayer, in which he spends four verses teaching his disciples how not to pray.
In preparation for Sunday, read, meditate, and pray through Mathew 6:5-8. Ask yourself if your life of prayer might be similar to two of the examples Jesus gives of how not to pray. If so, reflect on how you might shift more toward the model of prayer found in the Lord's Prayer.
I look forward to worshiping and praying with you this Sunday!
Pastor Adam
Praying The Lord's Prayer: The Doxology
October 28, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
Praying the Lord's Prayer: Lead Us Not Into Temptation
October 21, 2018 • Rev. Chris Stratton
Life is full of temptations and trials. How are we to pray in the midst of difficult times?
This Sunday we have the honor of having Rev. Chris Stratton, Academic Dean at Pacifica Christian High School, continue our fall sermon series on Praying the Lord's Prayer. Rev. Stratton will unpack the sixth petition of the prayer from the Gospel of Matthew 6:13 which is, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." In preparation for this Sunday, spend a few minutes reflecting on what temptations and trials are currently in your life, then pray for God to lead you away from those situations and shelter you with his loving protection.
Have a blessed weekend and may God encourage and strengthen you as you gather together for common worship around Word and sacrament this Sunday.
Pastor Adam
Praying The Lord's Prayer: Forgive Us Our Debts
October 14, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
To forgive is to suffer.
When we forgive someone we don't just forget their sins and shove them under the rug. Rather, we pay the cost for their sins and carry them ourselves. We suffer instead of trying to make them suffer for what they did.
This Sunday we are continuing our fall sermon series through Praying the Lord's Prayer by looking at the fifth petition of the prayer, which is, "and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." As you prepare for Sunday, reflect on your relationships with God and those in your life. Do you need to ask God or someone else to forgive a specific debt/sin? Is there someone whom you need to forgive their debt/sin? Neither of those conversations will be easy, they may even cost you something, but as we will see on Sunday, forgiveness ultimately will bring life not death.
I look forward to worshiping and praying with you this Sunday!
Pastor Adam
Praying The Lord's Prayer: Our Daily Bread
October 7, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
Greed or need?
In your prayers of petition, are you able to identify whether your requests are based on greed or need? Reflect back over your most recent prayers of petition and ask yourself if they leaned more in the direction of greed or need.
Jesus in the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer teaches his disciples to ask God to "Give us this day our daily bread." Bread is food at its most basic level. It represents our essential needs to survive. Most of us at Redeemer are surrounded by material affluence and thus in our prayer lives we might have the temptation to skip over this fourth petition. However, upon deeper reflection, the fourth petition might actually be the most relevant petition in the Lord's Prayer to us!
Prepare with me for worship on Sunday by reading, meditating, and praying the Lord's Prayer from the Gospel of Matthew 6:9-13. Pause and take a few minutes to ponder the fourth petition. Ask God what your most basic needs are, how he is providing for you, and how you can deepen your dependence on him.
I look forward to worshiping and praying with you this Sunday!
Pastor Adam
Praying The Lord's Prayer: Thy Will Be Done
September 30, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
What is the point of prayer?
In the the third petition of the Lord's Prayer, which is "Thy will be done," Jesus answers that question. In most of our lives, and even more specifically in our prayer lives, we desire for our will to be done. Jesus teaches the disciples, and us today, that the point of prayer is alignment. That we need to be people who learn to align our will to God's will.
Alignment of our will to God's will is no easy task. To best prepare for our sermon, take a few minutes and ask yourself if in your prayers you are often trying to align your will to God's will, or if you are trying to have God somehow align his will to yours?
I look forward to worshiping and praying with you all this Sunday!
Pastor Adam
Praying The Lord's Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come
September 16, 2018 • Rev. Jason Polk
I am excited to announce that Rev. Jason Polk, our global partner in Ethiopia, will be in town and preaching at Redeemer this Sunday!
Jason is an ordained PCA pastor, together with his wife Liz and their three children, is one of the two families that we directly support, as he oversees the spiritual care for Ethiopia ACT and its work to grow a gospel-centered church planting movement among the poor communities of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Find out more about Jason and Ethiopia ACT by stopping by his table before or after the worship service this Sunday and at http://www.ethiopiaact.org
He we will be continuing our fall sermon series on Praying the Lord's Prayer by preaching on the second petition, which is "Thy kingdom come." To best prepare for the sermon, spend a few minutes reading, meditating, and praying the Lord's Prayer, and specifically the second petition. Reflect one how the Kingdom of God is already, but not yet fully here, how Jesus currently is reigning as our king, and what implications those truths have on how we live as kingdom-bearers in our daily lives.
I look forward to welcoming Jason back to Redeemer and worshiping with you all this Sunday!
Pastor Adam
Praying the Lord's Prayer: Hallowed be Thy Name
September 9, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
I often see prayer as medicine, yet Jesus sees prayer as food.
(adapted from a Tim Keller quote)
In my life of prayer, the first thing that I normally ask of God is a petition for him to help me in some way. The first thing that Jesus asks of God, in the Lord's Prayer, is for God's name to be hallowed, to be treated as holy and sacred, to be given glory and worship. Why?
This Sunday we are continuing our fall sermon series through The Lord's Prayer by looking at its' first petition, which is "Hallowed be Thy Name." In preparation for Sunday, meditate on why you think Jesus would purposefully teach his disciples, and us today, to not have the first thing that they/we pray for be a petition for help, but rather a petition to hallow God's name.
I look forward to worshiping and praying with you this Sunday!
Pastor Adam
Praying The Lord's Prayer: Our Father
September 2, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
Brief. Intense. Frequent. Those are the words that Martin Luther used to describe what prayer should be like.
Do you think a healthy prayer life = long prayers on your knees for hours?
This Sunday we are beginning a new fall sermon series on the Lord's Prayer in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6. Over the weeks we will see how Jesus offered a corrective to some of the poor prayer practices of his day, and also learn how he taught his disciples to pray a 30-second prayer. A prayer which is simple for children and yet profound for theologians.
In preparation for this Sunday, spend a few minutes slowly reading the Gospel of Matthew 6:5-13. Pause on each of the petitions in the prayer to meditate and pray through its significance in your life. May your prayers be brief, yet intense, and frequent as you ponder this text over the next few days and months.
I look forward to worshiping with you all together on Sunday!
Pastor Adam
