We spent last night orienting to a new year of Cornerstone.  Last year we had a full class period with no lesson to get acclimated.  It seemed to long.  This year we tried to just fit it in to the normal class time with a few modifications.  There wasn’t enough time.  I think next year we’ll try doing a 2-hour first class.  We’ll see.

Introduced the topic of prayer before getting into the Lord’s Prayer specifically.  The key points from the lesson:

  • Revelation 22:8-9 | The angel tells John to Worship God alone.  It’s a good reminder that we should also pray to God alone.  Not to the saints, not to angels, but only God because He’s the only one that can hear and answer our prayers.
  • Romans 8:26 | The Holy Spirit prays with us.  Great news for when we don’t know what to pray.
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 | Pray a lot.  Find opportunities to pray throughout the day.  Maybe it’s between classes, whenever you look outside, before meals, whatever.  Look for those opportunities to pray to God.
  • Matthew 6:5-8 | It’s what on the inside that matters.  We don’t pray to be noticed by others.  It’s ok to pray in public, but we need to do it from a pure heart.
  • Matthew 6:9-13 | Here’s where we get the Lord’s Prayer from.  Don’t know what to pray?  Pray this!
  • Luke 11:11-13 | Just as earthly fathers know how to give good things to their children, so our Heavenly Father does the same.  God gives good.  He’s unlike our earthly fathers in that He never fails, forgets or hurts us.  God gives good.  Jaclyn had a great question on this point.  She was reading a book in English class and the boy in the story was being abused by his mother.  For six years he prayed to God for help and for six years saw nothing.  If God gives good, where was He for this boy?  Great question!  I love when students make connections to real life from what we discuss at Cornerstone.  It’s part of being relevant to today.  I told her that sometimes God lets bad things happen to us to prepare us for ministry and to draw us closer to Him.  Sometimes we don’t see what the good in this situation is until much later in life.  Sometimes, we never understand the good because God is something completely and utterly different.  His ways are not our ways.
  • Jeremiah 23:28 | One of the ways that we “hallow” God’s name is speaking His Word faithfully.  We don’t ignore parts or change it.
  • Matthew 5:16 | Another way we “hallow” God’s name is when we serve and care for others, pointing them back to the Father.
  • Romans 3:23-24 | We “hollow” God’s name when our actions don’t match our words regarding what God says about how we should live.

Overall, a fun night.  Here’s the audio file from the evening:

[Audio http://www.firsttrinity.com/cornerstone/audio/LP01%20-%20Audio.mp3]