The Lord’s Prayer was given to those who have been born into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ. I’m not suggesting that God never responds mercifully to the cries of those outside his family, because his common grace extends to all creation and all humanity (Matt. 5:43–45; Rom. 2:4). Jesus originally preached the Sermon on the Mount as an ordination sermon for his disciples, but a great crowd of outsiders was also present (Matt. 5:1–2; see Luke 11:1–4). The Lord’s Prayer is not only a family
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