Many Christians have the Lord's Prayer memorized, but few take the time to regularly meditate and prayer from it. Our familiarity can so easily become our peril. We cognitively know the prayer's contents, but has it entwined itself into our very DNA? When considering this most excellent of all prayers, we should note three things. …
Now that we have learned how to pray with reverence and confidence. Now comes the question: What should we pray? The answer rightly sets our sights upon the Scriptures: The whole Word of God directs and inspires us in what we should pray. Praying in accordance with God's will ought to be our supreme desire, …
Last year, I had the privilege of being a tutor for my daughter’s Classical Conversations class. Since we are encouraged to write out our whiteboards with God at the center of each subject, I began every class by asking the students where we must always begin our studies. The answer, of course, being God. I …
Continue reading A Catechism for Classical Christian Education
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3fme87cehrvqNGvI78SaP3?si=89a0dedb32024f24 In our previous study, we began the final section of the catechism, which is called Restoration. As we noted back in Question 2, the premise of this section is to know “how I am to lead a thankful life of holiness and sexual purity in conformity to and union with Christ.” Question 27-30 initiated …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3d9BqJuD0NlppKi3gAkHWH?si=052c81d636aa40e4 As we begin the fourth and final part of this catechism, we should remind ourselves that Questions 1-2 are the introduction to everything. This catechism is aiming to teach us how we can find the comfort of our new identity in Christ. Now that we have seen the goodness of God’s design (Part 1), …
Having previously defined what prayer is, we might expect this question to address the content of our prayers. However, that is the following question: What should we pray? Yet the New City Catechism rightly places this question before that one. We should note this order well. When discussing prayer, it is all too easy to …
Continue reading Question 39: With What Attitude Should We Pray?
https://open.spotify.com/episode/53E0BjtQ56dR3P4xB10ZB0?si=l-5ezlVZQs-FBw4uNvHh0A In our previous lesson, we moved through Part 2 of the New Reformation Catechism on Human Sexuality. Those questions focused upon the effects of humanity’s fall into sin upon our natural desires and the temptations that now arise from within our deceitful hearts. Although their subject matter is far from pleasant, it is essential …
With the person and work of the Holy Spirit addressed in the previous two question, we move now into the topic of prayer. This is fitting since it is only through power of the Holy Spirit that we can pray to God as our Father, as our Lord has taught us to pray. Indeed, as …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ukIS5bYpx1VLyZLqKbTjc?si=xaVScHWSQPCb7zGuvsRYYw Let us begin again by reminding ourselves of the purpose of this catechism, which is expressed in question 1, to point us toward the great comfort that is to be found in our new identity in Jesus Christ. Question 2 gives us the roadmap for walking in that comfort by telling us the four …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JPkDOzgTHsVWIfi0xgHmc?si=xU-pHpQ2RXey3dIF7bk6PQ Moving through the first section of the catechism, we have focused upon God's good design for human sexuality and some of the challenges that our sin-scarred world brings against them. In questions 3-5, we studied the goodness of being made male and female to image God, while questions 6-8 addressed the present-day challenge that …
B. C. Newton 