Prayer That Works Intercessory Prayer Religion Essay Example

Prayer That Works Intercessory Prayer Religion Essay Example Prayer That Works Intercessory Prayer Religion Essay Prayer That Works Intercessory Prayer Religion Essay Most people pray even if its merely at hard minutes when weve exhausted every other avenue. Whoever we are and whatever our fortunes we certainly want to do our supplications count. So welcome to Word Alive because you re listening to the right programme! That s what today s broadcast is all about. During the following few minutes we re traveling to speak about Intercessory Prayer. And so to complete things up we ll concentrate specifically on praying for others and ourselves in respect to mending. That s ever a relevant subject. My name is Jane Moxon Word Alive is a Good News Broadcasting production and our Bible Teacher is Dr Derek Stringer. There s a batch to cover in the following few proceedingss so I ll manus over to Derek but be available for a biblical quotation mark or remark here and at that place as we go along. Derek! Derek And allow me add my welcome to that which Jane has given. If you are new to us I hope that you ll happen how we approach things in Word Alive a existent aid in researching Prayer That Works. Incidentally the office has a free phone figure for the UK and we ever like to hear from you, and to pray for you excessively. Today s topic is based on 1 Playboies 1:8 to 11. If you are able to follow along in a Bible that will assist but I know that many of you listen while you re on the move so, we ll read the appropriate words as we go along. Or Jane will anyhow! Television has tonss of reality shows. I caught portion of such a show called Survivor .A The thought was 12 work forces were dropped in an unidentified suburb with a new wave, six kids ( each of whom play two athleticss and take either a musical instrument or dance category ) and no entree to fast nutrient. A They had to maintain the house clean, correct all prep ( having at least a C plus on all documents ) , complete one scientific discipline undertaking, cook ( OK, they can convey one cook-book ) , do laundry, attention for a Canis familiaris and a cat, food market store, purchase birthday nowadayss for childs friends, and a batch more! The kids vote them off. The victor gets to travel back to his occupation. We all have to larn to survive.A Survival that has little to make with life on a desert island or in the Outback of Australia, but much to make with merely acquiring by from twenty-four hours to day.A Possibly you ve had to larn to last after being diagnosed with a deathly disease.A Possibly you ve learned to last while raising several kids entirely after the decease or abandonment of a partner.A Possibly you ve had to last the last few yearss of a month as you juggled disbursals to do certain that there was adequate money to cover repasts before the following pay-day or acquiring a occupation. If you re in survival manner, it s hard for you to be after old ages down the road.A It s all you can make to acquire through the day.A And, every bit much as you might pray for it, you may happen that there is no unsusceptibility. The adversities do nt disappear.A And you learn that there is nil you can make but tilt on God. Which is precisely what he wants you to larn. We all need to cognize how to pray in the tough times. And how to assist other people traveling through the tough clip to pray in a manner that truly helps. To assist us travel in that way, we re traveling to concentrate on an unmarked exchequer of religious truth-the supplications of the Apostle Paul in his epistles. That is, we re traveling to analyze one of those topographic points where Paul prays for people. Our end is this: We want to cognize what Paul said when he prayed. We want to cognize what God is stating to us through these ancient supplications. We want our ain supplications to go closer to these great Bible supplications by Paul. And so besides, we ll use all of this in the country pf praying for mending. If you want to larn how to pray, there are two chief things you should make. First, you learn to pray by praying. That s the most basic measure. Open your oral cavity and get down speaking to God. If you come in Jesus name and with a sincere bosom, he will non turn you off. Second, you learn to pray by listening to others as they pray. For new Christians, this may be the most of import measure of all. We tell new trusters to acquire in a group and merely listen as others pray. Soon you ll cognize how to pray yourself. You learn by making and you besides learn by listening. Jane So today on Word Alive we re traveling to turn our monolithic wireless audience into a group where we ll all listen carefully to the supplications of one of the greatest Christians who of all time lived. Derek And as we listen to his supplications, our ain supplications will no uncertainty be changed. Many of us have lived excessively long in the religious playgroup when it comes to prayer. Some Christians neer acquire beyond the Bless Aunt Jane degree of supplication. When they pray, it s Bless my kids, bless my married woman, bless my hubby, bless my friends, bless my church, bless the ill, bless the hapless, bless the missionaries, and while you re at it, Lord, bless everyone everyplace. Now on one degree, there is nil incorrect with this kind of supplication if it is offered in earnestness. The approval of God is a fantastic thing and we ought to inquire God to bless others. But there is more to prayer than inquiring God to bless person. The supplications of Paul will dispute us to travel both broader and deeper when we pray for others. A good thing for us to make if we are traveling to utilize supplication to assist other people is this. We need to cognize the amazing power of praying for others. Jane Our Bible transition is 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. He writes to state of God s rescue and to inquire them to go on to pray for him. Derek There are three cardinal phrases that help us unlock the significance of this text. The first 1 is found in poetry 8 where Paul says, We were under great force per unit area, far beyond our ability to digest, so that we despaired even of life. The phrase under great force per unit area translates a Grecian word that refers to a oppressing load. It pictures a adult male walking down the route transporting an tremendous burden that might weigh two or three hundred lbs. It s far more than the individual can bear and each measure increases the physical torment. Finally, he drops the burden because he ca nt travel any farther. That s how Paul felt. The phrase beyond our ability heightens the image by utilizing the Grecian word from which we get the English word exaggeration, an overdone statement. Here it means that the state of affairs had become so despairing that it was off the charts wholly. Paul was in a province of arrant desperation. For one time in his life he felt wholly hopeless. He concluded that decease was at hand. The 2nd cardinal phrase comes from poetry 11 where Paul encourages the Corinthians by stating as you help us by your supplications. Those four words are really one Grecian word that is a compound of three shorter Grecian words. Put it together and it means something like, working with another under something. It has the general thought of collaborating together to assist person in demand. Travel back to the image of the adult male with the oppressing burden. That s Paul in the state of Asia. He says that the Corinthians by their supplications got under the load, and working together with each other and with the Lord, by their supplications, they lifted the load from Paul. Their supplications literally saved Paul s life. He survived because of their supplication aid. The 3rd phrase tells us the consequence: Many will give thanks. That s clear plenty as it stands, but there is a Grecian word left un-translated in our English versions. It s a word that usually means face or faces. It s used eight times in 2 Corinthians and in every other instance refers to the actual face. I think that s the significance here. You could state, Many faces will give thanks. Picture a sea of happy faces in the church at Corinth when they hear the glad intelligence that Paul is making better and their supplications are answered. Many faces are lifted up to God in thanksgiving and congratulations for the gift of answered supplication. So, we see in this transition how supplication works. Merely note that there is a despairing demand, which leads Paul to reason that he is under a kind of decease sentence . The phrase means that Paul s status ( either physically or emotionally or externally ) had deteriorated so severely that he came to the decision that decease was strike harding at his door. But God gave him a Godhead rescue. Note that Paul says, But this happened in verse 9. Those three words unlock a universe of religious truth. When calamity work stoppages or when difficult times come or when friends turn against us or when the underside drops out of life, we wonder why things happen the manner they do. Here we find one of import account. Hard times come to learn us non to swear in ourselves but merely in the Lord who raises the dead. Most of us are expert at managing the moderate jobs of life. We can cover with tender kids or a tender foreman or a bad cold or a heap of work that gets dumped on our desk. We understand normal force per unit areas and we learn how to cover with them. But sometimes things happen that deprive the cogwheels of life and coerce us to our articulatio genuss and sometimes all the manner down so that we are level on the land. At that point, when all human options are foreclosed, our lone hope is the Lord. When that happens, we cry out to God in despair, cognizing that if he does nt assist us, we re done for. Looking back at his awful ordeal, Paul understands that it had to go on the manner it did, painful though it was, so that he would larn to swear in God entirely. We all have to larn the same lesson, and we have to larn it over and over once more. But when God delivers us, fantastic things happen. We come to depend on God to make it over and over once more. This is precisely where God wants us-to be in the topographic point of changeless dependance on him. Not merely this but a great chorus of thanksgiving arises from those who prayed for us during our clip of trouble. Therefore we move from despair to prayer to praise, and others who prayed for us move with us as God answers our supplications. Jane Author John Piper negotiations about the line of supplication that starts with Paul and ends with God. And what he says makes good sense. The line of supplication looks like this: Paul is in despairing problem. Paul asks for supplication. The church prays for him. God delivers him. And the church unites in a chorus of thanks to God. What starts with a despairing, dangerous state of affairs ends up in a brilliant chorus of congratulations and thanksgiving from many faces uplifted to the Lord. Derek I like to believe of it as a sort of Prayer Triangle with God at the top, Paul on one terminal at the underside, and the church at the other terminal on the underside. The sequence begins with Paul undergoing his awful ordeal. He so sends a message to the church at Corinth inquiring his Christian friends to pray for him. The church unites in fervent supplication for their darling Apostle Paul. Those supplications ascend upward to God who responds by directing the sanctum angels to supply rescue for Paul. As he is released from the load, he sends word back to the church, which leads to a monolithic, joyful release of congratulations and Thanksgiving that rises up to the Heavenly Father. So it goes like this: Paul Church God Paul Church Supreme being! As I thought about that, a monolithic truth came place to me that I had neer clearly seen earlier. This line of supplication leads to a simple yet profound truth: God is greatly canonized when we pray for others. I do nt cognize why that had neer hit me before so to the full, but it had nt. I m non certain I had of all time thought about praying for others as a agency of lauding God. But I can believe of at least 5 grounds why it must be true. First, God is glorified in our supplications for others because we are reacting to demands in a Christ-like mode. Second, he is glorified because we are showing that we believe God s Word about supplication is true. Third, he is glorified by our supplications for others because one portion of the organic structure of Christ is traveling to run into the demands of another portion of the organic structure of Christ. Fourth, our supplications for others glorify God because as we pray, we are partnering with God to foster his work in the universe. When the puny arm of flesh is linked to the mighty arm of God s omnipotence, miracles are let loose on the Earth. Fifth, God is glorified by the terminal consequence as we give thanks to him when the replies come and the demands are met. Jane This is an dignifying position of intercessory supplication. Derek It surely is! Sometimes ( frequently, possibly ) we may see such supplication as a load or even a distraction from the existent work of life. But nil could be farther from the truth. Our God is greatly honoured when we take clip to pray for others. By our supplications we help those for whom we pray and we besides bring glorification to our Heavenly Father. Let s wrap up this first portion to our survey with two simple truths about praying for others. Here are a twosome of things we must nt bury. Let s neer forget that through intercessory supplication we spouse with God in assisting those in demand. The idea of partnering with God is an exciting construct because it means that when I am on my articulatio genuss, I can do contact with the most powerful force in the existence. As I pray, my motivations are purified, my religion is strengthened, and my bosom is focused on ageless things. When I pray, I am in touch with Almighty God himself, the Creator of the celestial spheres and the Earth. Through my halting words and my stumbling requests ( aided by the Holy Spirit ) , I join custodies with God to bless others and to progress his cause in the universe. By supplication I am strike harding holes in the darkness and turn overing back Satan s evil rule. Jane This is why the expression is good: The Satan trembles when he sees, the weakest saint upon his articulatio genuss. Derek And there s another affair we should nt bury either. Through united supplication, we experience heightened joy as we see our supplications being answered. This transition brings us face-to-face with a inquiry thoughtful trusters sometimes ask. Why does the church stress praying together? Is nt it merely as effectual for me to pray by myself? Why ca nt I pray while I ride my motorcycle and you pray while you drive your auto? The reply is, I can and you can, and we should, but that does nt state the whole narrative. There are at least two things that happen when we pray together that can non go on when we pray entirely. When we pray together, our religion is reciprocally strengthened. If we are in a little group, it is inevitable that some will come with strong religion, others with weak religion, and others someplace mediate. As we pray, the supplications of one individual will trip something in another individual so that your religion strengthens me and my religion strengthens you. And we all leave the supplication clip with more faith than we had in the beginning. When we pray together, the joy is multiplied when the replies eventually come. We ve all seen this happen, I m certain. We may be praying for a loved 1 who is urgently sick and for whom the mentality seems hopeless. But when the physician says, I ca nt explicate it but she is much better today, word spreads and all those who prayed so long and so difficult Begin to laugh and call and clinch and high-five each other. Our rejoicing is louder and longer and more public when we have prayed together. Jane You are listening to Word Alive produced by Good News Broadcasting with Dr. Derek Stringer our wireless Bible Teacher. This message is portion of a series titled: Prayer That Works. We can direct you the whole series on CD, merely inquire for inside informations. If you have an electronic mail we can direct free transcripts of this and other wireless negotiations by Dr. Stringer. Contact inside informations will come up at the terminal of the programme. Let s travel back to Derek as he continues to speak about supplication. Derek You know, I ve got a batch to larn about this topic. I m non at that place yet. . . but I want to be. The best manner to larn to pray is to pray to larn. The secret of supplication is prayer in secret. . . and with other people. Just start. I dream of the twenty-four hours when the un-churched thrust by and state, That church is filled with people who pray. Lord, teach us to pray. And to pray the sort of supplications that help other people. Jane AMEN. Well In the minutes that remain we want to take this a measure farther. Intercessory Prayer is the rubric of today s message from Dr Stringer. We ve looked at this in general and tried to pick up some lessons from how Paul and the early church modelled praying for one another. But allow s now focus that down to the practical topic of healing . How do we travel about praying for one another refering this sort of thing? Is mending something we should be praying about? There are different thoughts around in today s church and at times they are confounding. Over to Derek Derek We ca nt truly speak about Intercessory Prayer without undertaking the inquiry: Does God still mend? Suppose person that you know casually looked troubled one twenty-four hours, and you asked what was incorrect. Suppose they told you that they had merely been diagnosed with malignant neoplastic disease, and you say that you ll pray for them. Make you make it? Make you believe that they will be healed? What if alternatively of malignant neoplastic disease with a just forecast, they told you that they have a partner who is in really advanced phases of Alzheimer s? Do you believe you would hold a different outlook that there would be a healing? And do you believe that if you have a high degree of religion, the healing is more likely to go on aˆÂ ¦ that God is more likely to reply your supplication? Why is it sometimes people get ill, and they pray, and it seems they truly deserve to acquire good, but they stay ill, while sometimes people who do nt look to be really meriting hold astonishing recoveries? These are difficult inquiries. But we ca nt speak about Intercessory Prayer without confronting it. If you read through the Book of Acts, you find there are many narratives about mending aˆÂ ¦ narratives that bring up a batch of inquiries for us today. Questions like: Does God still heal in our twenty-four hours? Does it still go on? Is it OK for me to inquire God for mending? God LOVES to be asked. It s a cardinal portion of supplication. In fact, in the Book of James, it says: You have non because you ask non. So ASK! Do nt cognize how it works? Do nt cognize if you deserve it? Do nt cognize if you have done good plenty? Do nt cognize if you believe plenty? Does nt count! God loves to be asked, even if you do nt cognize how it works. If you need His healing in some country, and something s been barricading you from inquiring, merely come and inquire. Another related inquiry: Does the Holy Spirit normally reserve power for religious giants, or people with unusual religion? Think about the narrative of the square adult male in Acts 3. When the adult male made his initial petition, how much religion did he hold? How much certainty was inside him that he was traveling to be healed? None. He did nt even inquire for mending. He asked for money. But the Holy Spirit is free to give him far more than he of all time thought he would acquire. The ground to inquire God is non that my religion is strong, or that I deserve it. It is merely that God is good. Ask, because Jesus is the sort of individual whose bosom is ever moved by illness and agony. This leads to a farther inquiry, and it gets to the issue of balance. Some churches do non acquire into mending at all. Other times the accent on mending puts the balance in a church s ministry out of whack. If I have adequate religion, am I guaranteed mending? Can I merely claim it, and every bit long as I believe strongly plenty, can I anticipate to have it? And if I do nt have it, does it intend that I merely do nt hold adequate religion? Peoples merely acquire crunched by that one! Healing is a portion of Jesus ministry. There are 41 separate cases in the Gospels of Jesus mending people. But He does nt mend everybody. Apparently, God s program was non that Jesus would be the fountain of wellness for every human being on the planet. The healings that He did-although they were cardinal to His ministry-were merely done for a bantam per centum of the population. It appears that they were more about disclosure, authenticating His mission, authenticating the spread of the Kingdom of God, than about a new program to supply wellness for everybody or every truster on Earth. In the early yearss of the church of Acts, we read about a batch of miracles so. Miracles seem to come in batches, but that does nt intend that God merely works radically. The thought in the Bible is non that when a miracle happens, God is demoing up to make something, and the remainder of the clip what happens is merely the consequence of the Torahs of nature. Who made up the Torahs of nature? That was God. What we call the Torahs of nature is merely another manner of stating the manner God normally does things. We can be confident, because God is truly smart, that He has a good ground for usually moving in that manner. A miracle is non God waking up and stating, Hey, I d break make something. A miracle is merely God making something otherwise than the manner He normally does things. But He is making things all the times. Those of you who are in a healing profession you are making God s work. You are making the work of God. When a sawbones inserts a scalpel and cuts something and healing happens, that is an act of God. When a nurse tends a patient and tickers symptoms and brings medical specialty and speaks caring words, and mending happens, that is an act of God. When a church gets a bosom for enduring and attentions and goes and touches and gives, that s an act of God. The Kingdom is about a bosom for all of these things, non merely things that are seeable. When the church does non make this, so all the miracle mending narratives in the universe can non do up for it. For some people, it may be merely interesting to speak about these affairs, but for many of you who are listening right now, this issue is non about idle wonder. You ve got a diagnosing, or there s person you love, or there s a lesion that you carry about. You ve been praying for a long clip, and you re inquiring: Where is God in enduring? This is really of import. One of the chief ways that Christian religion is different from thaumaturgy or psychics, or merely generic cockamamie Television talk show spiritualty that we see around us and that is more and more prevailing all the clip aˆÂ ¦ one of the primary ways that Jesus apprehension and manner is different from this is in His apprehension of agony and the possibility of salvation. When we come to God s thoughts of redeeming and healing, it is more than merely our ain peculiar docket for our lives to travel good. It s more than engineering so that I can accomplish what it is that I want and have the sort of life that I want. It is deeper than that Biblical authors teach that the absence of agony is good, but it s non the highest good. When mending becomes the focal point of a ministry or a church, so the people s inquiry is frequently, Why should I endure? But when following Jesus aˆÂ ¦ when the beauty of His land is the focal point aˆÂ ¦ so the inquiry is: How can we turn our enduring to the service of other people, to our ain growing and the glorification of God? How can it be redeemed? Of class, that is where we ever come back to the Cross. That s what Jesus was making on the cross-taking on our agony and delivering it. Some of you have experienced astonishing, marvelous replies to prayer. Our God heals. That truly happens. Some of you have cared for person twenty-four hours after twenty-four hours, twelvemonth after twelvemonth, helped rinse a organic structure, helped force a wheelchair, helped repair repast after repast after repast aˆÂ ¦ and prayed aˆÂ ¦ and wondered, God, where are You? I do nt understand all the wherefore. I do cognize this: In watching that sort of care-the giving of it and the receiving of it-there is a sort of love and a sort of forbearance and a sort of beauty in which God is at work in ways that mean more than you will of all time cognize. Dr. Robertson McQuilken is a former caput of a Bible College. Jane will read what he wrote about his married woman: Jane It s been a decennary since that twenty-four hours in Florida when Muriel, my married woman, repeated to the twosome holidaying with us the narrative she had merely told five proceedingss earlier. Funny, I thought. That s neer happened before. But it began to go on on occasion. Three old ages subsequently, when Muriel was hospitalised for trials on her bosom, a immature physician called me aside. You may necessitate to believe about the possibility of Alzheimer s, he said. I was incredulous. These immature physicians are so insensitive. But her memory deteriorated farther. We went to a neurologist friend who gave a full battery of trials and, by riddance, confirmed she had Alzheimer s. Derek Dr. McQuilken accepted the finding of fact and more and more of his clip and energy was needed to care for his married woman. Jane He writes: Muriel can non talk in sentences now aˆÂ ¦ merely in phrases and words, and frequently words that make small sense: No when she means, yes. But she can state one sentence, and she says it frequently. I love you. Derek And so, finally, Robertson writes that he had to do a pick between caring for his married woman in the manner that she needed and functioning as a leader in his career: Jane When the clip came, the determination was house. It took no great computation. It was a affair of unity. Had I non promised 42 old ages before in illness and in wellness, for better or for worse, till decease do us portion? It was no inexorable responsibility to which I stoically resigned, nevertheless. It was merely just. And if I took attention of her for 40 old ages, I would neer be out of her debt. As I watch her courageous descent into limbo, Muriel is the joy of my life. Daily I discern new manifestations of the sort of individual she is, the married woman I ever loved. I besides see fresh manifestations of God s love, the God I long to love more to the full. Derek When you see that love, so you see the cardinal index of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It s largely Love. We have this God, and He s the God of Love and the God of Healing. That healing is coming. It may come in this life. It may come in the following, but it s coming. His one petition is, Ask. Mending for your organic structure, for your loved one, for your matrimony, for your depression, for your dependence, for your lesions from the past aˆÂ ¦ God says: Just inquire Me. Just inquire Me. I m Jane Mozon and on behalf of Derek Stringer and the Good News Broadcasting Association squad thanks for fall ining us and we ll be back with another message in this series Prayer That Works right here on this station. I hope that you ll be free to fall in us. Until so adieu for now and God bless you.

Gun Rights Under President George W. Bush

Gun Rights Under President George W. Bush After a series of new laws under the administration of President Bill Clinton instituted background checks for handgun purchases and banned assault weapons, gun rights took a significant step forward during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration that followed. Although Bush himself supported several mild gun control measures and vowed to sign a renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban if it reached his desk, his administration saw several advancements of gun rights on the federal level, especially in the courts. A Supporter of ‘Common Sense’ Gun Control In debates during both the 2000 and the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush stated his support for background checks for gun buyers and for trigger locks. Additionally, he said on multiple occasions that the minimum age for carrying a handgun should be 21, not 18. However, Bush’s support for background checks stopped at instant checks that did not require waiting periods of three or five days. And his push for trigger locks extended only to voluntary programs. During his administration as governor of Texas, Bush implemented a program that provided voluntary trigger locks through police stations and fire departments. During the 2000 campaign, he called for Congress to spend $325 million in matching funds to enable state and local governments across the country to set up similar voluntary trigger lock programs. While his advocacy was for voluntary trigger locks, Bush said at one point during the 2000 campaign that he would sign a law requiring trigger locks for all handguns. On the other hand, Bush was an opponent of state and federal lawsuits against firearms manufacturers. An 11th-hour victory of the Clinton administration was a landmark deal with firearms manufacturer Smith Wesson that would see lawsuits cease in exchange for the company including trigger locks with gun sales and implementing a smart gun technology. Early in his presidency, Bush’s stance on gun industry lawsuits led to Smith Wesson withdrawing from its promises made to the Clinton White House. In 2005, Bush signed legislation providing the gun industry federal protection against lawsuits. The Assault Weapons Ban With the Assault Weapons Ban set to expire before the next presidential term was complete, Bush stated his support for the ban during the 2000 presidential campaign but stopped short of pledging to sign an extension. As the 2004 expiration date neared, however, the Bush administration signaled its willingness to sign legislation that either extended the ban or made it permanent. â€Å"[Bush] supports reauthorization of the current law,† White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in 2003, as the debate over the gun ban began to heat up. Bush’s position on the ban represented a break from the National Rifle Association, which had been one of his administration’s staunchest allies. But the September 2004 deadline for renewing the ban came and went without an extension making it to the president’s desk, as the Republican-led Congress declined to take up the matter. The result was criticism on Bush from both sides: the gun owners who felt betrayed and the gun ban proponents who felt he did not do enough to pressure Congress into passing the AWB extension. â€Å"There are a lot of gun owners who worked hard to put President Bush into office, and there are a lot of gun owners who feel betrayed by him,† keepandbeararms.com publisher Angel Shamaya told the New York Times. â€Å"In a secret deal, [Bush] chose his powerful friends in the gun lobby over the police officers and families he promised to protect,† said U.S. Sen. John Kerry, Bush’s opponent in the looming 2004 presidential election. Supreme Court Appointments Despite a cloudy picture on his overall stance on gun rights, the lasting legacy of the Bush administration will be his appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. John Roberts was nominated by Bush to replace William Rehnquist in 2005. Later that same year, Bush nominated Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the high court. Three years later, the court took up arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, a critical case revolving around the District’s 25-year handgun ban. In a landmark ruling, the court knocked down the ban as unconstitutional and ruled for the first time that the Second Amendment applies to individuals, providing a right to own guns for self-defense inside the home. Both Roberts and Alito ruled with the majority in a narrow 5-4 decision. Just 12 months after the Heller decision, another monumental gun rights case made its way before the court. In McDonald v. Chicago, the court struck down a gun ban in the city of Chicago as unconstitutional, ruling for the first time that the gun owner protections of the Second Amendment apply to states as well as to the federal government. Again, Roberts and Alito sided with the majority in a 5-4 decision.