Blogs

Forgiveness and Forgiving

Posted by Art Nuernberg on January 31, 2012

After outlining the direction vital prayer should take, Jesus returns to the fifth petition.
Curiously, this is the only request coupled with a condition: And forgive us our debts, as we also
have forgiven our debtors (Matt. 6:12). In making certain that we do not miss the point, Jesus
returns to explain why the wording of this petition is necessary. He teaches us that forgiveness is
dependent on our willingness to freely bestow forgiveness upon others.

The Gospels leave us in no doubt that the Master considered the connection between forgiveness
and prayer a core issue. No less than a year later, the disciples asked the Lord to teach them
to pray (Luke 11:1-4). Jesus responded by giving an abbreviated form of the prayer found in
Matthew 6. Everything was shortened except the matter of forgiveness and forgiving, which

A Christmas Letter

Posted by Art Nuernberg on December 21, 2011

Dear Friends,

The eternal God never distances Himself from His creation. He is everywhere and personally involved with all that happens. Paul could proclaim to lost men that in Him we live and move and have our being, but mankind needed more. Sin darkened our hearts and obscured our comprehension of God. From creation, we knew something of God's power and wisdom; but to understand the beauty of His essential character, we needed a person. We needed to observe God's character at work in circumstances in order to embrace Him. The Lord humbled Himself and answered our need. The Word became flesh to dwell among us, and we saw His glory. We observed righteousness in action. Jesus showed us the Father through a life saturated with grace and truth.

A Pattern to Pray

Posted by Art Nuernberg on December 16, 2011

The crowd who listened when Jesus spoke the words recorded in Matthew 6 was largely common people. Most of them probably eked out an insignificant existence, barely keeping ahead of disaster. The conquering Romans despised them. Their leaders, the educated, religious elite, considered them ignorant of the law and accursed. This crowd represented the unimpressive mass of humanity, many of whom suffered from serious physical and spiritual afflictions.

Your Father Knows...

Posted by Art Nuernberg on December 5, 2011

Prayer is properly addressed to our Father. As Jesus instructed His disciples about prayer in Matthew 6, He began what we call the Lord’s Prayer with the words: Our Father, who is in heaven. More than a year and a half later (Luke 11) when those same disciples asked to be taught to pray, the Master repeated the essence of this prayer and started with exactly the same address: Father, hallowed be your name.

Meaningless Repetition

Posted by Art Nuernberg on November 18, 2011

Have you ever had a longstanding, strong, mental impression for which you cannot pinpoint the origin? Despite the fact that you cannot speak with certainty about the source of the impression, the imprint remains clear and deep.

The Father Who Is In Secret

Posted by Art Nuernberg on November 7, 2011

The first principle of prayer is to get alone with God. We have looked at the negative side of this principle, as we noted our tendency to use spiritual activities for self-promotion. To guard against this pressure, we simply concluded: NEVER use prayer for anything other than speaking to God.

Now let us consider the positive aspects of this lesson. Think with me about Matthew 6:6: But you when you pray, go in your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. A few simple encouragements may be gleaned from this passage.

Get Alone With God

Posted by Art Nuernberg on October 28, 2011

We will consider the Lord’s lessons on prayer in chronological order, although the timing of some of His later lessons are hard to pin with certainty. The earliest lesson is found in Matthew 6 as part of his Sermon on the Mount discourse. Although this message was primarily intended for the early disciples, a great crowd had gathered to listen. The applications at the end of the sermon assure us that this crowd was also much on the Lord’s mind as He spoke.

Teach Us to Pray

Posted by Art Nuernberg on October 21, 2011

Effective ministry is a healthy balance between the Spirit empowered use of the Word of God and prevailing prayer. We are thankful for the many electronic means available for spreading truth. These provide the necessary tools to penetrate every area of the world; however, as wonderful as this may be, it is only half of what is needed for effective ministry.

Fellowship with the Body

Posted by Art Nuernberg on September 16, 2011

The pursuit of God is necessarily both a public and private quest. As one writer put it, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.” A rich knowledge of God demands fellowship with the Body.

God is a triune Being: one essential unity in three distinct Persons. This defines an essentially incomprehensible Reality beyond our capacity to illustrate without distortion. Nevertheless, God's triune nature stands as one of the foundational truths of the Word of God.

Your Father Knows

Posted by Art Nuernberg on September 2, 2011

Jesus always went right to the heart of human need when He taught. After addressing the real human tendency to pray for men rather than for God, He moves to what I believe is the principle reason people do not pray: “Do not use meaningless repetition.” A great deal of debate surrounds this phrase because it is somewhat difficult to define with certainty. Perhaps the Spirit of God has intentionally left the meaning obscure so we will not miss the stunning revelation of the Lord’s words.