The Lord's Prayer, as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, 9 through 13,

is one of the most well-known passages in the Bible.

In this episode, Dr. David K. Bernard explains how the Lord's Prayer serves as a model to help us pray more effectively.

If you struggle to know what to say when you pray, keep listening.

Welcome to Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, a podcast dedicated to helping modern-day believers live out the teachings of the first century church.

This podcast is part of the teaching ministry of Dr. David K. Bernard.

Dr. Bernard has dedicated his life to studying the Bible and

helping believers apply its message to their daily lives. In apostolic life in the 21st century,

Dr. Bernard answers your questions about what the Bible teaches and how those teachings apply to

everyday life.

In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave us a model prayer that has come to be known as the Lord's Prayer.

Many Christians can quote this passage from Matthew 6 from memory.

Jesus tells his followers, after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven,

how it would be thy name.

And then, of course, he goes on to the rest of the prayer. I won't quote it here. But did Jesus mean that we should repeat these words when we pray? And how do we apply Jesus' teaching, I guess, to our own prayer life? This passage, what we call the Lord's Prayer, I think, is highly significant for Christians and very instructive for us today. I don't think Jesus was meaning primarily to repeat the words because he himself said in

the same context of the sermon on the Mount, the heathen used vain repetitions. Don't pray like that. Pray

sincerely, pray honestly. I do think it's very valuable to memorize it because it's helpful.

But Jesus gave it, I think, to, as he said, pray in this manner.

So he didn't say, repeat these words.

So he has given us a model prayer to teach us how to pray.

And that's the disciples actually ask him, teach us to pray.

So it's a model prayer.

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