Text: Matthew 6: 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (ESV)
Q. 126 What does the fifth petition mean?
A. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” means:
Because of Christ’s blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us. Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of your grace in us, to forgive our neighbours.
Text: Genesis 38: 26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again. (ESV)
Text: Matthew 18: 15 – 20 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.(ESV)
Q. What does the fourth petition mean? A. “Give us this day our daily bread” means: Do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good, and that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing. And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and trust in you alone.
Important qualifications: Contentment: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. Intercession: Thanksgiving:
Text: Matthew 18: 10 – 14 See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my[b] Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.(ESV)
A. “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” means: Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey your will without any back talk. Your will alone is good.Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.
A. “Your kingdom come” means: Rule us by your Word and Spirit in such a way
that more and more we submit to you. Preserve your church and make it grow. Destroy the devil’s work; destroy every force which revolts against you and every conspiracy against your holy Word. Do this until your kingdom fully comes, when you will be all in all.
Introduction:
The doing of God:
The glory of God:
1. Spiritual:
Jesus said to Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world.
The implications of our salvation: Paul writes to the Colossians: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Jesus says to Nicodemus that new birth is the only way to enter God’s kingdom. This tells us a lot about the nature of biblical conversion. It is not saying a prayer. It is receiving Jesus as Lord or to use the words of Peter: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God…
The conversion of our neighbours:
The content of our preaching:
2. Ecclesiastical:
Increase our number: We pray that sinners will enter into God’s kingdom.
Increase our power: The apostles in a time of persecution pray that God would grant to his servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. We pray for God to give us strength in our duties.
Increase our faithfulness: By these words, your kingdom come, we show that as a church we want to be faithful to Jesus.