New Life in an Old Prayer?
Read Mt. 6:9 So having first told his disciples how NOT to pray, Jesus also told them what to do; and now he moves on to give them a model…
David Hall
The Doctrine of God Affects the Practice of Prayer
Matthew 6:6-8 Think you can live without doctrine? Try that with prayer. Far from being an obstacle to godly living, doctrine helps. Specifically, when we pray we should be clear…
The Disciple’s Prayer Life 101
Read Matthew 6:5-13 The verses in Mt. 6:6-8 show us how Jesus instructed us NOT to pray. He said that we were not to pray seeking fame and admiration from…
Fasting Does Not Slow Us Down
Read Mt. 6:16-18 Many Protestants avoid fasting, thinking it to be a vestige of Medieval asceticism that is somehow alien to Reformed piety. The third example in this context concerns…
Praying that is Not Presumptuous
Read Mt. 6:5-8 The next example from the first Gospel that we’ll consider briefly concerns praying that is not presumptuous. The same principles hold for prayer as for almsgiving. All…
Religion should be Shown-not a Show
Read Mt. 6:1-4 Jesus opposed ostentatious piety. Tell that to your friends and also to yourself. And he was not fooled by the counterfeit. In Matthew 6, he developed these…
What If We Practiced This?
Some Christians have become so allergic to work or effort that they blanch at the prospect of practice, virtually cursing any kind of effort as a legalistic bogeyman of some…
Spirituality That is Not Showy
Read Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 Jesus began his instruction in the Sermon on the Mount by describing the essential elements of Christian character, and then proceeded to indicate by his metaphors…
Cases of the Extraordinary
Jesus’ teaching is not only piercing but it is also crystal clear. In this part of the Sermon on the Mount, he gives four cases that illustrate the main point.…
Extraordinary Christianity
Read Matthew 5:38-48 In these verses, we consider the last two illustrations in Jesus’ sermon, returning the Law to its original meaning. He is in the process of stripping away…
On The Hermeneutics of Subscription: Part 3
This article is the third part of an article called “On the Hermeneutics of Subscription.” Read part 1 and part 2. Scotland and Ireland Prior to the Adopting Act In…
On The Hermeneutics of Subscription – Part 2
This article is a continuation of “On the Hermeneutics of Subscription.” England A moderately successful experiment in “presbyterianizing” was carried out in Northampton in 1571, with “prophesyings” (exposition of Scripture…