Sermon on the Mount

The Model Prayer AKA The Lord’s Prayer AKA The Our Father AKA The Kingdom Prayer

/ Bob / Leave a comment

Halfway through His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seizes the teachable moment to instruct his followers about prayer and how to pray. What follows is what has become one of most recognizable passages of scripture in all of Christendom – The Lord’s Prayer. For this study we use the term “Model Prayer” since Jesus seems to offer it as a “model prayer” in Matthew 6:7-9. There He gives a warning about repetitious prayers and then says, “Pray in this manner.”

The Model Prayer is not only in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount – it is the hub of the sermon. In this prayer Jesus addresses all of the topics He brings out in the sermon itself and, in so doing, provides His followers with the framework of prayer that will enable them to live out the sermon. In one way He was saying that all of the life applications He was encouraging them to follow in His sermon could only be realized through prayer.

This prayer was so significant in the 1st Century Church that we find it in the Didache (c. AD 80-120) – a handbook developed by the early church fathers which gave instruction of how churches were to “do church.” In Chapter 8 of the Didache, church members were told to recite the Lord’s Prayer 3 times each day. Unfortunately, The Lord’s Prayer has become one of those meaningless repetitions Jesus warned us about in Matthew 6:7 which is often said in something of perfunctory way. However, if we were to adopt the practice of the 1st Century church and pray this prayer carefully, reflecting on what we are praying, then 3 times a day we would remember:

Who God is.

What He wants.

Who meets our needs.

How we are to relate to Him.

How we are to relate to others.

Who the enemy is.

Who our Defender is.

& Who should receive Glory in our daily living.

For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever,

AMEN!

Transcript

We’re talking about the modern prayer, right?

As we begin our time together,

could we say this prayer together?

Father, as we turn to the Bible,

what we know not teach us,

what we have not give us,

what we are not make us,

the sun’s safe.

The prayer itself begins in verse 7,

Matthew 6, verse 7.

So it starts with kind of a preamble.

It kind of piggybacks off of what Jesus said right before this.

You remember Jesus said,

when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites,

you know, who like to do it in public,

in a big way, big showing, flashy way.

When you pray, do it in secret,

and your father who sees you in secret will hear your prayers.

Right?

Now, right on the heels of that,

he goes into this portion that we know as the model prayer,

the Lord’s Prayer.

He goes into that,

and then he comes back after that and talks about fasting.

But there’s a little preamble to the actual Lord’s Prayer,

and it’s in Matthew 7,

through actually the first part of verse 9,

and it says,

And when you are praying do not use thoughtless repetition as a Gentiles do,
for they think that they would be heard because of their many words,
so do not be like them.
For your father knows what you need before you ask him,
Pray them in this way, and then he goes ahead and starts into the Lord’s Prayer.

So the preamble is real simple, real simple.

He comes up with, I mean, he brings out the hypocrites again, right?

He says, “Don’t be like those massacres.

Don’t be like those people who are play acting.

Don’t do that.”

They figure that they get paid by the line.

You know, a lot of actors like to get paid by the line,

if they have a lot of lines, right?

Otherwise,

so they want to get paid by the line,

and they think that by saying a lot of stuff,

their prayers will be heard,

and more than that,

people will recognize them as someone who knows how to pray.

And they’re happy about that when somebody knows that they know how to pray.

This phrase right here,

Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Hold on to that.

For the rest of your life,

you go to the Lord in prayer, right?

But, you know, last week,

one of the things that I said was,

our main reason in praying

is to be in proper relationship with God.

It’s not to get what you want.

It’s not to get what you want.

It’s to be in communion with God.

That’s what prayer is really all about.

And this is one of the reasons why that’s what it’s all about.

God already knows what you need.

You don’t have to go ahead and say,

Listen, I really need.

Yeah, I know, I know.

Let’s talk about you and me.

I’ve used this wheel only in a different,

for a different purpose before.

I modified it and put some extra spokes on it

and changed it up to illustrate something.

This prayer falls right in the middle of the sermon on the mount.

Okay?

I like to think of it in these terms.

You have the sermon on the mount,

the whole wheel,

the whole enchilada.

Okay?

The whole thing you have there

in the model prayer,

Jesus addresses everything that is in the sermon on the mount

so that you can pray about it.

You understand what I’m saying?

Everything that comes in the Lord’s Prayer

is tied to something out here in the sermon on the mount.

And so I like to think of it as the hub,

the hub of the sermon on the mount,

and all of the sermon on the mount reaches out

and touches that through prayer.

The different verses, if you look at them,

if you want to follow along,

start with nine, ten, ten B.

I broke up some of the verses

and you can see why when you look at them.

11, 12, and then 13, I broke up into two parts.

And you’ll understand that if you look at it.

It makes sense.

Our Father in Heaven,

that’s one.

Howled be your name, right?

That’s actually two different concepts.

Okay?

We’re going to look at this in more detail later.

Your kingdom come is a concept,

and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven is a separate concept.

Your will be done in general,

then what your kingdom is all about means to come here on earth.

So we’re going to look at this,

and we’re going to break it down,

and we’re going to go by each one of these,

and we’re going to see what it has to say.

You ready?

This is where you need to have your bottles open.

You need to have it ready to go,

because I’m going to ask you to actually look at the verses.

Bernard, you cannot sit idly by.

You must participate.

Yes.

Okay, here we go.

The first one is Matthew 6.9.

Our Father.

Look at chapter 5 verse 9.

Look at chapter 5 verse 16.

Look at chapter 6, verse 1.

Verse 4.

Verse 6.

Verse 8.

Do you see how our Father is addressed in all of these different —

do you understand?

See how it’s all pulling together?

And then verse 18.

How about — it’s our Father in heaven.

Look at 5, 12.

Look at 5, 16.

Look at 5, 45.

6, 1.

And then go to chapter 7, verse 21.

Do you see how all of those time with heaven keep going?

How old is your name?

5, 16.

Holy is your name.

5, 48.

And 6, 9.

Now if you look at all of those verses, all of them, all of them tie in with these portions of the Lord’s prayer.

We’re not done.

Keep going.

6, 10.

Your kingdom come.

Your kingdom come.

5, 3.

By now you should understand what I’m talking about.

If I just say 5, 3, that’s good enough, right?

You know where to go.

5, 3, 5, 10.

5, 19, and 20.

6, 33.

We’re talking about his kingdom, right?

And this is — the Lord’s prayer, the summit on the Mount, it’s all about kingdom living.

How about your will be done?

God’s will.

5, 18.

5, 48.

6, 4.

6, 6, 6, 18.

Then back in chapter 7, chapter 7, 11, and 12.

Your will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven, chapter 5, verses 13, and 14.

Verse 18.

Chapter 6, verses 19, and 20.

Chapter 5, verses 48, and 69.

Chapter 7, verses 24, through 27.

Now I know I’m feeling — I’m putting a lot of thoughts in your mind because you’re reading this stuff.

And there’s no way you can physically and mentally take it all in and retain it.

I understand that.

That’s why I send you these notes.

In case you ever want to go back and look at it.

Okay?

But I want you to get the — I want you to get the idea.

Matthew 6, 11.

Give us this day our daily bread. We’re talking about God’s provision, God’s provision.

All the way through the beatitudes, that’s God’s provision, right?

I mean, that’s just — that’s a given.

Verses 4, 6, and 18 of chapter 6.

It’s talking about the rewards, right?

That’s His provision.

Chapter 6, 25, 234.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, all kinds of provision in there.

Look at chapter 6, start with verse 25 and just start reading.

And you’ll realize it covers food, clothing, necessities of life, your future, everything.

Everything.

7, 7 through 11.

Whatever it is you need.

Okay?

Forgive us our deaths as we also have forgiven our debt tours.

Let’s talk to that mercy back in the beatitudes, 5, 7.

Reconciliation, 5, 21 through 26.

Remember that passage about reconciliation.

How you need to be reconciled to your brother.

Leave it on all, right?

Loving your enemies, 5, 43 through 48.

Forgiveness, now we’re going to talk about this passage later, okay?

And then judging others.

Yeah, it talks about judging others and it’s talking about as we forgive our debt tours.

It’s kind of hard to stand in judgment over somebody you’re forgiven.

You understand?

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Avoiding temptation, chapter 5 verses 27 through 30.

Remember when we went over that, 6, 22 through 23.

Also in chapter 6, verse 34.

In chapter 7 verses 1 through 5.

And the evil one.

5, 10 through 12.

37

And then 7. 15 through 20.

And verse 23.

Now, we went through that in a hurry, didn’t we?

Whether you want to or not.

We’re going to go through it again.

Okay.

You tell me, what does this mean to you?

Our Father, do is in heaven.

How it is your name?

You’re recognizing God’s holy authority over my life and over everything.

Over everything.

How it is your name?

Holy is your name.

Sacred is your name.

Above all others is your name.

Right?

Wow.

Your kingdom come.

What does it mean for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven?

You will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What does that mean?

I want to remind you of something that…

I don’t know why it’s been on my mind a lot more over the past few months, maybe years, but definitely months.

You realize that his kingdom came on earth when he created the earth.

You remember that?

You remember that his kingdom was the garden.

In Revelation, when we have a new heaven and a new earth, that heaven is referred to as garden paradise.

He intended it to that be that way all along.

It’s not going to be what it was until that time come.

However, in the meantime, we can bring heaven into our world.

You carry the very spirit of Christ with you wherever you go.

You are taking Jesus Christ into the world wherever you go.

The kingdom of Christ should be so alive in you that others are very aware of the kingdom of God, when you’re in the room.

That’s the way it’s supposed to work.

Your kingdom come.

You will be done in my life.

Just as it is in heaven.

Okay, how about give us this day our David Brick?

What does that mean?

For vision.

For vision?

Give us exactly what we need and nothing more so that our sustenance will surely go to you.

Yeah, sometimes he does give us more of that, doesn’t he?

But really, give us what we need.

We may want what we need, but we may not need what we want.

You understand?

Okay.

Give us what we need, what we need.

And he says he’s going to provide it.

We’re going to see that more as we go on.

What does this say to you?

Forgive us our deaths as we also have forgiven our deaders.

As we forgive our dead towards.

There’s a pattern there that we have to follow.

Forgive us Lord.

But if you ain’t willing to forgive somebody else.

You’ve got no right to say forgive me.

Oh, you understand?

Okay, here we go.

It’s not intimidation, but delivers from the evil one.

What does that say?

Yeah.

Yeah, there’s a lot of times where if God’s not leading us from temptation, we’re going to walk right into it.

We stupid sometimes.

But really what it’s saying is, is lead us in such a way that we don’t fall into temptation.

Let’s go on.

Because I need to spend a little bit of time on this.

How many of you have the words for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever?

I’m in.

How many of you have that in your Bible?

Is it written down there?

Yeah.

Some of you nodding.

Some of you going nope.

Nope.

You see what I’m talking about?

It’s at the end of verse 6, that 13.

How many of you have it in brackets?

You have it in brackets?

How many of you have it in the talus, the talus eyes?

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Here’s the thing, guys.

I need to, I need to just inform you.

I’m not trying to persuade you of anything.

I’m just informing you.

That phrase does not appear in the oldest manuscripts that we have of Matthew.

None of them.

That phrase does not appear.

The first time it appears in any kind of printed form or anything else is in something called the dedicate.

We aren’t sure exactly when the dedicate came out.

Maybe late 1st century, 2nd century, sometime around in there.

The dedicate was developed by the early church father.

It is a series of statements.

I think it’s like 25, 30 chapters, something like that.

And some of them are relatively short.

As you’re going to see, I’m going to show you one.

The dedicate was like a how to do church manual.

Okay.

It wasn’t anything.

It wasn’t anything.

I mean, it has scripture in it.

But it wasn’t anything that was designed to be on a par with scripture.

You understand?

They didn’t write it for that purpose.

They just wrote it to say, this is what we believe about some things.

This is the way we do some things.

This is the way we handle certain things.

Okay.

And yes, at times it draws on, it draws on scriptures like it does in this particular case.

If you look at 1 Chronicles 29-11, go ahead and look at that.

It’s not on the page that I gave you, but you can look it up in your Bible.

It’s actually in the Bible.

First Chronicles is.

It’s not on the paper that I passed out.

But it is in the Bible.

First Chronicles.

It’s in the Old Testament.

First Chronicles.

First Chronicles 29-11.

Okay.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor

for everything in heaven and for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom.

You’re exalted as head over all.

Now, that is a, a, a, a, a, a doxology, if you will, that’s added on to one of David’s

pronouncements.

Okay.

These things show up all the way through the Old Testament.

I, I just gave you this as a sample.

So, when they were working on the dedicate, they came up with a concept of how to say the Lord’s prayer.

That was one of the chapters.

I said there were 25 or 30.

Chapter 8.

Chapter 8 in the dedicate says what you have right there in front of you.

Okay.

And your fastings let them be, let them not be with the hypocrites.

For they fast on the second and fifth days of the week.

But do ye fast on the fourth and on the preparation.

That means the preparation before the satan on Friday.

Neither pray ye as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in his gospel, even so pray ye.

And then it gives the text.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven.

So also upon the earth give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our deaths as we forgive our debt towards.

And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The divine is the power and the glory forever.

You notice anything?

You want to say it again.

For thine is the power and the glory forever.

Pull stop.

What?

What?

Yeah.

The dedicate didn’t have to kingdom in there.

Okay.

And then it concludes by saying Christ a day.

That’s right.

By the way, this was translated in like 1803 or something like that.

That’s why it’s the language that it is.

But guys, guys, guys.

Do you understand?

This is what they said you were to do with the Lord’s prayer.

And also how to handle fasting.

Do you see how it comes from scripture?

In other words, they were referring back to scripture with the whole thing with this whole chapter.

Is there talking about how you’re supposed to be fasting, right?

We talked about that last week comes out of the same same chapter in Matthew.

Does that mean that for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever that it should not be used in scripture?

That you should not say it.

Well, you should not say it if you’re in a Catholic church because you’ll be the only one saying it.

Okay.

I’ll just slow that out there.

Believe me.

I was one who blurted out.

I’m sorry.

No, there’s certain churches where you won’t.

They won’t say it.

They won’t say that phrase because it’s not a part of their scripture.

You understand?

But I want you to be aware of that.

I think that’s a valid thing to say.

I think it’s valid in light of what went on.

I think it was wise for them to add it in the dedicate.

Okay.

Okay.

I’ve got two minutes.

And two slides.

Can you say with me?

The post script to the model prayer for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

I said it earlier.

I’m going to say it again.

If you aren’t willing to forgive someone else, no matter what it is, even if you’re right and they’re wrong.

If you aren’t willing to forgive them, believe me.

God has forgiven you over and over again when you were wrong and he was right.

If you think you don’t have to forgive someone because you’re right and they’re wrong, then you think you’re better than God.

Had I said enough?

Do I need to be more forceful with that?

We have to be forgiving people.

God demands it.

And if you read that the way I read that, it’s a pretty iron plan deal.

There’s no wiggle room in this.

Don’t go to God saying, “Please forgive me, God.”

Because the first thing God’s going to say is, “Wait a minute, wait a minute.”

Talk to me about all so and so.

Where you stand with them.

The early church was instructed to pray the model prayer three times a day.

Now, I know the model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, has become almost tripped at times when it shows up.

And people treated as such, you know, as a perfunctory prayer, not as something that’s heartfelt.

But I submit something to you.

If we were to adopt that same practice three times a day.

Then, during those three times each day, we would remember who God is, how long is your name?

What He wants is will to be done.

Who meets our needs?

He alone meets our needs.

How we are to relate to Him in repentance.

How we are to relate to others in forgiveness.

Who the enemy is?

It ain’t people. We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood.

I mean, Satan is the enemy.

And who our defender is.

And not like that, you would remember who should receive glory in our daily living.

As we close, can we say this prayer together?

Our Father, who art in heaven, how will be the enemy?

Your people can come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily prayer.

Forgive us our trespasses.

As we forgive those trespassing incidents.

We just not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For our time is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

CLASSN~1Download

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, October 25, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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An Incontrovertible Truth for a Nation of Pretty Little Liars

/ Bob

In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus continues His expansion of Jewish law by addressing the issue of vows and oaths as seen in Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. He reminds His listeners that it was said to the ancients that they were not to swear falsely and to always fulfill their oaths to the Lord. Then, in keeping with His previous discourses, He proceeded to expand what was said in the Law, by saying to not make any oath at all.

In the legal discussions that became the Midrash, Mishnah, and eventually the Talmud, the issue shifted from the vow itself to the manner in which it was presented and the guarantees of fulfillment offered up by the person making the vow. Swearing by heaven (instead of G_D) or swearing by earth (instead of G_D) or even swearing by your own life (instead of G_D) became accepted practices, or loopholes if you will, in making the oath more binding without actually naming the name of G_D. Jesus pointed out the foolishness in their efforts and told them to simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” Anything more was unnecessary, and actually evil, because hedging your bets with some form of oath sullied the purity of truth demanded by the One Who is truth Himself.

We do the same thing today when we say things like, “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or “I swear on my Mother’s grave” or “As God is my witness” or “Cross my heart and hope to die.” We often say these things in jest, but that attitude in itself is more of an affront to God. At least the 1st Century Jews were trying to honor G_D in their statements. We just are flippant in our cute little oaths – nothing more than pretty little liars.

The solution? If you can’t speak the truth in love, don’t speak. In other words, if you can’t speak the truth – keep your mouth shut. “If you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.” (Deuteronomy 23:22 – NKJ)

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free if you abide in My word, because then you are truly My disciples. (John 8:31b-32)

Transcript

Boys and girls, today not an inconvenient truth, an incontrovertible truth. Okay, do you know what incontrovertible means? It’s absolutely true. But not only that, it is undeniably you cannot refute it. You cannot dispute it. You cannot prove it false. What’s going on here?

Being sworn in as president. Lyndon Baines Johnson being sworn in as president. Where is he?

He’s on Air Force One in Dallas, Texas. Okay. Um, do you know who any of the other people are that are around him?

Jackie Onasses Kennedy or Jackie Kennedy Onasis. Oops. Jackie Kennedy is to his left. Ladybird Johnson is to his right looking over his shoulder wondering why Jackie’s up there so close. Did I say that out? I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but it was the first thought that popped into my mind when I looked at this picture here. Anybody else? You know any of these other people? Okay. You don’t know who the uh the judge is?

No, it’s not. It was a district judge. It wasn’t a a Supreme Court justice. Okay. It was a a district court judge, I think. Uh Sarah Hughes. Sarah Hughes was her name. Okay. How about the lurch back there on the left? No. No. Wonderful guess. Good guess, but incorrect. Okay. You probably won’t remember him. I had to actually look it up and make sure that I I knew I knew who he was in the sense of what he did, but I couldn’t remember his name. Uh that’s Thomas, Albert Thomas, US representative here in Texas. I mean he was a from Texas representative from Texas and the guy over there the other one is another representative. Um the reason Thomas I knew who or I knew the connection there. It’s a little piece of history. We have the space center in Houston because of him. Okay. And no doubt the connection that he had uh he he made that happen. I thought that was kind of cool. Interesting. So uh he’s he’s taking the oath, the oath of office, right?

Does he close the oath of office with so help me God?

Do what? You think so? Is that phrase in the Constitution as part of the oath that the president must swear to? No. No, it is not. says, “I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the office president of the United States and will do the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Full stop. However,

presidents for decades have always said at the end, “So help me God.” They’ve been asked to say it. I mean the whoever was administering the oath has said it. Hughes the lady who is giving the oath, she was of course handed a piece of paper, right? She was handed a piece of paper said here’s what you’re supposed to get him to say. Here’s the oath. And so she got to the end and she had the oath as it is in the Constitution. But she got to the end the Constitution of the United States. Constitution of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. He said it. She volunteered it. She just thought given the circumstances it was appropriate. Okay. So what’s his left hand on? Okay. So did he say Yes, he Yes, he said it. Yes, he said it. Every president I want to say hang on. No. Did I write that down? I don’t think I did. And it’s every I know every president since Truman has said so help me God. But the the process of saying so help me God started back in the 1800s. But I don’t know that all of them said it. I just know okay. Uh is his hand on a Bible.

Looks like it. Yeah. That’s what the aids thought too.

They were scrambling around looking for a Bible, right? What they found was a book that belonged to JFK that was filled with prayers. Okay. A missive. Okay. It had a cross on the front. His aid said good enough. Snatched it up. So he put his hand on on the missive, if you will, and uh took the oath of office. The oath was made. The oath was made. Right? We’re talking today about oaths. We’re talking about swearing oaths.

We’re in Matthew 5:33-37.

There Jesus begins with commands concerning vows from both numbers 30 chap 30 chapter of Numbers and Deuteronomy 23. He then moves in into a discussion of what I’m calling loopholes and then solemn oaths and impregatory oaths.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that some of you don’t know what impregatory is. Okay, I used one in the next statement.

Cross my heart and hope to

to what? To die. An impregatory oath is swearing on your death. Okay, it’s saying, “May I die if I’m lying?” Okay, and then he concludes with the kiss principle. Yes or no? Keep it simple, stupid. Don’t need to embellish that, right? So, let’s take us let’s take a look at it in a little bit more depth. Making a vow to God. Jesus starts off. This is verse 33. Again, you have heard it said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your vows to the Lord.” Specifically, this is what he was referring to. Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. Okay, the wording is is a, you know, you kind of put them together to to come up with what Jesus was saying, but that’s part of the reason it’s it goes back to that midrash thing. They’re discussing this and they’re saying, “What does it really mean to make a vow, okay? They’re trying to nail it down because they want to make every they want to make sure that they’re doing everything according to the law. According to the law, want to, you know, dot every eye, cross every tea. I want to take care. I want to make sure I’m doing.” So, they go back and they start reviewing this stuff. Jesus says, “You’ve heard it said, you shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths.” And basically, that’s what that’s what we find here, right? Can you see that in in those statements? Yeah. Okay. A man makes a vow to the Lord, swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it. For the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you if you didn’t fulfill it. If you didn’t pay the, you know, or do whatever it is that you said you’re going to do. Okay. But what does Jesus do with all of these basic statements? He says, “This is what was said.” And then what does he say next? But I say to you, But I say to you, But I say to you, But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is his foottool, by nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. You shall not, nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. Now you’re thinking, what? Yeah, those were some of the loopholes they were coming up with. You want to swear by God, that’s a big deal. If you’re going to go if you’re going to go to that link, that’s a big deal. And they said, “We need we need to kind of uh soften this a little bit.” So, they came up with some uh look at Isaiah 66, verse one. Look at Isaiah 66.

you there? Yeah. Isaiah 66 verse one. Heaven is my throne and the earth is the foottool of my feet. So you can swear by heaven. Why? That’s where God is. But it’s not as serious as swearing by God.

You can even swear by his foottool. I mean, guys, I know you think it’s it sounds crazy, but some of these rabbis were sitting around coming up with this stuff, saying you can swear by his foottool. That’s even a little bit lower down on the totem pole. You know, that’s not even swearing by the throne, which by the way, you could also do.

They had all of these loopholes built in. built in uh Psalm 48:2. Psalm 48:2,

it’s swear by Mount Zion, the city of the great king, Jerusalem. You see that they had all of these things built in and then they decided to put in you could swear on your life. That’s what the last one means. You could swear by your own life. Only he used the word head. When he in the scripture says head, that’s a loophole. Because if you’re swearing by your head, you lose your head.

You’re dead, right?

Loopholes. Very common common practice in the Middle East to swear by all of these different all of these different things. kind of makes sense that he would say all of that, doesn’t it? In light of the fact that those are the discussions that are taking place and and he’s saying you’re you’re pondering that stuff. You is wasting pers. If that’s what you’re pondering, that’s just a waste of ponders right there. So, do we ever do this?

You ever hear any of these? A stack of Bibles because one isn’t good enough.

I mean, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. You can swear on a Bible. You give me I swear on a Bible. No, no, no. Give me a stack of Bibles. I don’t swear on a stack of Bibles, guys. I don’t know whether y’all have heard any of these. I have literally heard all of these.

If I’m dying, if I’m lying, I’m dying. Actually, I’ve said that one.

And we do it kind of with a wink and a nod and a nudge nudge. You know what I’m saying? We, you know, it’s not like we’re saying we’re not late, but some people are really serious about it.

It’s common, isn’t it? It’s common. Those things those things are so common. It makes me kind of shudder because we take God so lightly.

Do you understand? Swear on a stack of Bibles. I’m with you, John. You know,

swear on my mother’s grave. I swear by all that’s holy.

I mean, come on. Come on, guys. But we do it. We do it. And we shouldn’t. And Jesus Jesus says, “Nope. You know what you need to say is let your yes be yes.” and you know be known for whatever you do above and beyond that that’s just from the evil one. You say that’s a little harsh, isn’t it? From the evil one. No, it’s true. And it has to do with truth. It has to do with integrity. It has to do with the purity that is the very nature of God.

Absolute truth.

You’ve you’ve heard these phrases before, I’m sure, too. You might not have heard this one. Actually, I just found this one. But I thought it was so good I just had to share it with you. But you’ve heard your word as your bond. Isn’t it you? Don’t you you know man is only as good as his word, right? I’ve told this story, but it’s been a while. So those of you that have heard it, go ahead and take a nap. Um, back when we were living down on Lake Houston, we had to have one pier on our pier and beam house fixed. Okay. So, I was calling up foundation people and getting bids and all this kind of stuff, you know, get that thing jacked up and leveled and all that kind of stuff and all of this. And I had had a couple of companies come out and they had given me their written bids with all of the details with all of the stuff, you know, and all that kind of stuff. Woo. And then I had one more house moving company that was going to come out and and give me a bid. Okay. And so I’m waiting for them, sitting out on the front porch, waiting for them to show up. Here they came in an old raggedy flatbed truck.

They’re getting out. They all have beards down to here, long hair, overalls, and all of them barefoot.

I call them the mountain men because they were mountain men. You understand? They got out and at first I’m sitting there waiting and I’m thought, “Oh man, I hope these guys don’t take long. I’ve got to hit and see my the people they’re coming to bid on.” It was them. They were coming to to make me a bid, right? And uh so they uh they got busy and all three of them crawled up under the house. All three of them crawled up into the house, looked around, came out, and about it was it was less than 10 minutes, I know that they were there. And they said, “So, what we’re going to do, we’re going to take we’re going to jack this up right here. We’re going to put this down here in the ground. We’re going to set this footing down here. And then we’re going to put that post in there. We’re going to solid it up. And then we’re going to pump underneath it. We’re going to pump some stuff, some concrete and stuff like that. We’re going to get it all set. It’s going to be all nice and level.” And he gave me a price.

It was a fourth of the lowest bid I had received.

And I said, “You know what?” I was impressed. I mean, they knew what they were talking about, right? I said, “You know what? I think we got us a deal.” I stuck my hand out and shook that man’s hand and he said, “We’ll be here on Monday.” And I said, ‘W wait, don’t you have some kind of contract or something like that we need to sign here? And he said, ‘We just shook on it, didn’t we? I said, yes, sir, we did. And he said, see you Monday.

But isn’t that a nice phrase right there? To keep your word is to weave a thread of gold into the fabric of your reputation. That’s what we’re That’s what That’s what we want, right? We want that reputation. But unfortunately, we’re a nation of pretty little liars. I had to ask Pam what that show is about. I’ve heard that the name of that show and apparently it’s about some mean girls in school. Yeah. Really pretty little liars. But the fact is we as a nation uh we are pretty little liars in general. Well, how often do you tell lies, including the small ones? Where do you fit in there? Look at that.

Several times a day. Well,

I love it. They get down to a certain point and it’s almost like they gave them an out. They give them several times, once a day, few times a week, few times a month. Less often than that. Yeah, less often than that. Gave him an out. Compared with most other people, do you think you tell lies more often or less often? Now you’re thinking about other people. You think you tell lies more often than other people or less often? Oh, you think you tell lies less often than most people? Right? You realize that all the rest of those people are putting you in that same category because they say I tell lies less than

right. I just thought that was kind of interesting. In other words, look, we look at ourselves, we say, “Nah, not me. Not me. Not me.” How about this one? Compared with most other people, do you think you are better or worse at telling lies? Oo, why are we obsessed with comparison? If you claim, this was a good safe answer there, but if you claim I’m better at it. I can I can beat them off. I’m better than most people. Yeah. When I tell a lie, it works, right? Okay. Telling someone the truth might hurt their feelings. Which would you be more likely to do? Ooh. You’re going to tell them the truth, but it’s going to hurt their feelings. Tell them the truth. about half the people and then they’re split here on what they’re going to do. But here’s the other one. Here’s the other one. If being told the truth might hurt your feelings, which would you prefer someone to do? Probably already know what the truth is. You probably already know. 82%. And yet that previous one we’re saying, I don’t know. I don’t know. When most people say, “Yeah, I’d really rather know.” Last one. In general, do you think telling small lies to try to spare someone’s feelings makes the relationship better or worse? It all depends. Really, here’s the thing. You tell that little lie thinking it’s going to make things better. They find out about it. All of a sudden, it’s a whole lot worse. It’s a whole lot worse. The thing is, folks, we are a nation of liars. We don’t believe politicians at all. I’m serious. I I I don’t When I hear a politician say something, I’m thinking, how did he just word that so that he could say that? Do you understand what I’m saying? How did he how did he phrase that so that he could get away with saying that? Jesus says just say yes or or no. Just say yes or no. Okay? No need to lie. And if you if you don’t take it from Jesus, take it from Proverbs. This all comes out of the same chapter. As a matter of fact, there’s one verse in the middle of it that I pulled out because it didn’t specifically mention liars. But the one that pulled that I pulled out was no harm comes to the godly, but the wicked have their fill of trouble. Well, if you lie, you’re going to have your fill of trouble. But here, he who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness deceit. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes help. The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.

Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the way, is that is that phrase still used in courts of law? It is. Okay. Are you required to swear on a Bible in a court of law? Not anymore. Not anymore. Okay. But you are required to tell the truth.

Right? So when Jesus says this, he highlights the deceitfulness of swearing an oath or making a vow and the foolishness of such efforts. That’s why it’s called that’s that’s why it says right here uh for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Come on guys, that’s evil. You don’t need to do that. You don’t need to do that. In Deuteronomy 23, you remember we looked at Deuteronomy 23 earlier. That’s one of the places where Jesus was quoting. He didn’t quote this verse, but Deuteronomy 23:22 is the very next verse. And it says, “But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be a sin to you.” In other words, Jesus in the in the law in the Deuteronomy law, the law itself says don’t vow or if you do, make sure you vow and and follow through. The next verse says, “But if you abstain from vowing, it won’t be sin.” Well, hello. Jesus is saying something very similar, isn’t he? He’s saying, “You want to avoid sin, don’t make the vow, don’t swear.” Okay, going to wrap it up real quick here.

In other words, can’t speak the truth, just keep your mouth shut. Again, Proverbs echoes this over and over and over again. He who guards his mouth preserves life, but he who opens his lips shall have destruction. Whoever guards his mouth and keeps his tongue from keeps his soul from trouble. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace. When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive. It’s kind of that take on Abraham Lincoln’s thing. Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt, right? I mean, this is biblical, people. Keep your mouth shut. You don’t need to go on and on and on and on and on and say, “But I got to prove I got to prove to you that I’m right. I got to prove to you that I’m right.” No, you don’t. You don’t got to prove nothing.

Many people could not handle the truth that Jesus told. Uh, look at John 8. Go ahead and look at John 8. I’d like for you to have it open. I’m going to give you some of the verses up here, but I’d like for you to just have the whole thing open. In John 8,

Jesus is talking with a group of people who take exception to some of the things that he says. Okay.

The first one I want to point out is this. He says, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Do you see that? It’s in verses 31 and 32. 31B and 32. However, is mine different than yours? I flipped the order. Yes, I flipped the order. Why did I do that? Because we love to say the truth will set you free, but we never say what comes before that. Another way of saying what Jesus said in those two verses is you will know the truth. The truth will make you free if you abide in my word because then you are truly my disciples. See, that’s not what it says. Is it you will know the truth and the truth will make you free is what we hear all the time. I mean you say that all the time. You’ll know the truth and the truth. I said it to my kids. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free. But the thing is we are ignoring the fact that the truth Jesus is talking about is himself.

The truth that Jesus is referencing is the truth, the way, the life. Right. It’s not just, yeah, you’re going to know the truth about, you know, whether or not the Cowboys or the the Texans are going to win today. You’re going to know the truth about that. No, that that don’t mean nothing, man. That don’t mean nothing. Well, the Texans are going to win, but still that don’t mean nothing. You understand? No. What means something is Jesus is the truth. And if you know him, if you are his disciple, ooh, then you’re set free because he sets you free. That’s the whole thing about what he was saying here. If you if you drop down to verses 37 and 38, what he said was then you’re going to be free. And they came back and they said, “Well, we’re free. We’re Abraham’s kids and we ain’t never been enslaved.” Which was a lie to begin with. I mean, they were enslaved in Egypt. I mean, do they not even know what happened back then? You know, but they say, “We have never been enslaved.” He said, “No, no, no, no, no. I know that you’re Abraham’s seed. Yet, you are seeking to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with my father. Therefore, you also do the things that you have heard from your father, like trying to kill me for speaking the truth. Wow. Wow.

And then he says, you belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language.

That’s his native tongue right there. For he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell you the truth, you don’t believe me.

Guys, the fact is when Jack Nicholson said truth, you can’t handle the truth. Now, there’s a lot of this world that can’t handle the truth. There’s a lot of this world that can’t handle the truth. But the fact But the fact is that if we know Jesus, we not only can handle the truth, we know the truth. Ain’t that right? Ain’t that right? Take that, Jack.

You can’t handle the truth. Father, we thank you that you have given us your truth that supersedes all of the the silly notions that we we proclaim as truth. Father, thank you that in your wisdom we can know the truth, even your son, Jesus Christ. And we can know the truth of your gospel. We can know the truth of your salvation. We can know the truth of your love. And Father, help us to rightly handle that truth. So many don’t know it. So much of the world does not know the truth. So many of our friends, co-workers, neighbors, relatives, so many people do not know the truth. Help us, Father, to proclaim the truth that is Jesus Christ. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Class Notes – An Incontrovertible Truth – October 4, 2026Download

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, October 4, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Podcast – Agape Life From the Back Porch

Salt and Light – Making a Difference

/ Bob

You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

In 1st Century Galilee, salt was used commonly as a preservative, a healing and cleansing agent, and as a seasoning. However, its spiritual and ceremonial use gives us the depth of meaning found in this simple mineral. Sacrifices were brought to the altar with salt – even the grain offerings. In passages such as Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5 God’s unchanging, everlasting, permanent covenant was referred to as the “covenant of salt.” In ancient Middle Eastern cultures a covenant was sealed (ratified) with various means of sharing salt (i.e.- a meal or simple exchange) with the salt representing permanence, incorruptibility, and shared fellowship. As believers we are the “salt of the earth” and, hence, we are physical agents of healing, cleansing, purification, preservation of God’s goodness, seasoning – bringing out and highlighting the glorious flavors of God’s creation, and of reminding the world of God’s “chesed” – His Everlasting Love!

The prime focus of the Romans was glory. The prime focus of the Greeks was knowledge. The prime focus of the Jews was light. The world began with God saying, “let there be light” and light has been the central theme all along. A burning bush, a pillar of fire, and numerous descriptions of the LORD and His Word being light. (Psalm 27:1; Isaiah 60:19-20; Micah 7:8) Jesus refers to Himself as the Light of the world and there is no doubt that He is “the light that shines in the darkness” as seen in Isaiah 9:2. Paul summarizes the superiority of Jesus as the Light in 2 Corinthians 4:6: For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

And now that Light lives within us and consequently, as believers, we are bearers of the Light, torch bearers in the darkness, lighthouses of hope in the storms of life, glowing examples of what God can do and how God can love, and reminders to the world of God’s Everlasting Light, the Light of the World!

We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world because God, through the blood of Jesus, has made us so.

Class Notes – Salt and Light – Making a Difference – September 6, 2026Download

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, September 6, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .

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The Pure in Heart Peacemakers

/ Bob

Many theologians down through the centuries – Augustine, Thomas of Aquinas, John Wesley, and Pam Young, just to name a few – have seen the Beatitudes as a progression of faith and a process of sanctification in which you begin with a poverty in spirit before you mourn and you mourn before you develop meekness. Meekness leads to a longing for God’s justice to prevail which leads to a response of God’s mercy for those who face God’s justice.  This growth process must be observed when you find yourself in the role of peacemaker, because unless you are pure in heart, your peacemaking efforts will fall flat.

Purity of heart seems like a lofty goal, but it is actually an unattainable goal from the human perspective.  Those who are pure in heart are those whose inmost being is focused on one thing and only one thing – God Himself – and that focus is not the result of human effort, but rather the Holy Spirit working within the Christian to purge the impurities and remove the things that keep us from pure devotion to Christ. The beatitude doesn’t say, “Blessed are they who have purified their hearts.” It says “Blessed are the pure in heart” – a condition that comes from the sanctification of Holy Spirit.

As our hearts are cleansed, then and only then can our hearts know true peace. The Hebrew word for peace is “Shalom” and it means so much more than just peace. It means properly joined together, whole, complete and, for the Christian, true peace is being properly joined together with Christ, whole in Him, complete as He intended us to be from the beginning. The singleness of focus for the heart that is pure is the same singularity in the peace that passes all understanding. It’s the peace of Christ.

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the presence of God. If you want to be a peacemaker you must allow the Spirit to purify your heart and then you must bring Daddy to the table with you, because He alone is true peace.

The Final Word is this: Let the Spirit lead you as you are told in Galatians 5:16-25. Your heart will be pure (clean, clear, singularly focused) and you will truly know God and see Him work in your world. Furthermore, your heart will be at peace (whole, complete, bonded together with Jesus) and then you will be able to introduce into any situation the peace that passes all understanding.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, August 16, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – The Pure in Heart See God – The Peacemakers Are God’s KidsDownload

Meek, Hungry, and Thirsty – a Winning Trio

/ Bob

The two beatitudes for this session involve meekness and hunger for righteousness. They both include our response to the wickedness of the world around us. We are constantly bombarded with the evil actions of people around the world and in our own backyard. We see it on the news, at work, at school, in our politics, and in our churches. Our initial response might be anger, disgust, frustration, or any number of emotional reactions. However, at some point we will quite often allow our emotions to move us to taking action – or at least wanting to do so. That’s when the Holy Spirit, if He is allowed to do so in our hearts and minds, will trigger meekness. We exercise God’s strength under His control and we trust Him rather than our own power to act and assert our own will.

Similarly, these scenes of wickedness in our world – these acts of injustice – cause us to hunger for righteousness. Our justice warrior genes are activated and we are ready to go into the moral battlefield with our spiritual guns blazing. However, Jesus says we are blessed when we hunger, not when we act. We are blessed when we thirst for righteousness because it is at that point that we are most in tune with the heart of God who longs for righteousness to prevail. “Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

It all comes down to trust. Can we trust God or do we have to act? Can we trust the Hand of God or do we need to take matters into our own hands? Now and in the Day of the Lord we are more than conquerors not because of our wisdom or morality or strength but through Jesus Christ our Lord

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, August 2, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – Meek, Hungry and Thirsty – A Winning TrioDownload

The Happy Mourners

/ Bob

We spend so much time and so much money trying to avoid physical pain.  Likewise, we spend time, money, and sorts of personal resources trying avoid or ease emotional pain.  In the Bible mourning was woven into the fabric of life.  In fact, the clothes worn were used as visible exclamations of mourning and lament as they were torn apart in the face of deep grief.  Biblical characters like David, Jacob, Job, Peter, Mary and Martha, and even Jesus Himself mourned to the point of shedding tears.  Mourning is Biblical.  There is even an entire book of the Bible called Lamentations written by Jeremiah who was known as the “Weeping Prophet” because of his laments found in the Books of Jeremiah and Lamentations.  

So what is the Christian response to mourning?  Avoidance?  Certainly not.  Dismissal, since Christians are always to be joyful? Uh, no.  We should mourn properly – first as God mourns.  God mourns over the lost condition of mankind.  God mourns over thee pain of death.  God mourns over hardness of heart.  If God mourns over these things and more, so should we.  However, God also provides a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the One Who comes along side us in our grief.  Furthermore, He gives us hope in the midst of our grief.

The Christian’s response to mourning?  First, we don’t grieve as those who don’t know Jesus.  (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)  Second, we come along side those who are grieving with the same hope that we have receive. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)  Third, we glorify God through our trust in Him when we face grief.

The difference between Christian grief and worldly grief is not the absence of tears but the presence of hope.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, July 26, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – The Happy Mourners – 07.26.2026Download

Kingdom Living – An Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

/ Bob

Matthew’s Gospel was written in a time of distress for thee Jewish people. The prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah seemed to point to the beginning of what we know as the 1st Century AD and specifically to about 30-33 AD. Daniel’s “70 Weeks” were up and the Promised One was due to arrive at any moment. However, Rome’s grip on the land was firm and demanding.

Matthew, under the inspiration of the very Spirit of God, spoke to the people about the true Kingdom – the Kingdom of Heaven. Of the 162 times the word “kingdom” is used in the New Testament, 150 times it refers to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, etc. 55 of those 150 are found in the Book of Matthew. Of those 55, 47 were spoken by Jesus – including 8 times in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus wanted us to fully understand what Kingdom living was all about and Matthew gives us His instructions in how to do just that.

For the next few weeks we will take a deep dive into the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7. The early Christians learned what it meant to live as Kingdom Citizens in a land controlled by a foreign power. We will see what Kingdom Living is and we will see what it means for us as we live in a land controlled by the prince of the air. (Ephesians 2:1-2)

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, July 12, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – Introduction – Kingdom Living – 07.12.2026Download