Sermon: A Life of Prayer, Pt. 2

“Caring for One Another: A Life of Prayer” (Pt. 2) Romans 1:8-10 June 28, 2015 Loneliness is an age-old problem, and in Japan one restaurant has come up with a novel solution. The owners of Tokyo’s Moomin House Café observed many customers who came alone and sat alone. So they set about to cultivate a […]

Pray for us

Three times New Testament writers ask their readers to pray for them: Brethren, pray for us. (1 Thess. 5:25) Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you. (2 Thess. 3:1) Pray for us, for we are sure that we […]

Sermon: A Life of Prayer

“Caring for One Another: A Life of Prayer” Romans 1:8-10 June 21, 2015 Speaker Robert Henry went to a large discount department store a number of years ago in search of a pair of binoculars. Charles Swindoll tells the story: As he walked up to the appropriate counter he noticed that he was the only […]

My first visit to the principal’s office

It was my first time in the principal’s office (that I remember, anyway). I wasn’t there for a good reason. A friend and I had a disagreement and decided to settle it in a “manly” fashion — with our fists. It may have been a long walk to the office, but the conversation behind the […]

Prayer’s primacy

Every believer will acknowledge the importance and priority of prayer. And most of those same believers (all?) will also acknowledge that they don’t pray satisfactorily — their attention in prayer is too short, their time in prayer is inadequate, and their prayers feel ineffective. Reasons abound why we don’t pray: We really believe we are […]

When God doesn’t answer prayers

A company in Chicago is one of the largest magazine fulfillment firms. They send out renewal and expiration notices and handle the re-subcriptions for many different magazines. A number of years ago there was a mistake in a piece of computer software. A short time later the error was realized when a rancher in Powder […]

Hallow God’s name

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Lord’s Prayer, “The First Petition in the Lord’s Prayer.” When may we be said to hallow and sanctify God’s name? [1] When we profess his name.… [2] We hallow and sanctify God’s name […]

The blessings of having God as our Father

As believers we acknowledge that God is our Father, but that reality too often feels inadequate to us. We would rather have a loving father with flesh — a human daddy — than a heavenly Father. I have heard it said on multiple occasions, “I know God loves me, but I want my dad…” Yet […]

Sermon: Pray in this way

Pray in This Way Matthew 6:9-15 January 18, 2015 At the beginning of a new year, we often engage in self-evaluation — Perhaps you have an annual physical like I did this week. You may evaluate the state of your marriage and home — “how are the children or grandchildren doing and how effective are […]

A benediction to worship and a prayer for the week

I wrote the benediction below for the conclusion of our worship service this morning; it also serves as a fitting prayer for the beginning of a new week. The content of this prayer is taken from 1 Peter 1:2-9. May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. May you know the power of the […]

Why does God listen to your prayers?

God is a prayer-hearing God. He hears the prayers of His people (1 Jn. 5:14). And that does not mean that He has an ability to audibly comprehend the sounds being made by our voices. For God to hear our prayers means that God responds to our prayers with action. He is favorable to us, […]

Praying in Jesus’ name

To pray “in Jesus’ name” (Jn. 14:13) does not mean that Jesus is bound to answer our requests the way we want. It is not a set of magic words that constrict God from acting according to His will. In fact, to pray, “in Jesus’ name” is to request the will of God above all […]

Sunday Leftovers: You can pray

Because the believer in Christ is secure in his salvation, he can be sure that God has saved and will save Him through eternity (1 Jn. 5:13). But that’s not the only benefit of salvation; because the believer is saved, he also can be confident in going to God in prayer, not withholding anything from […]

Sermon: Pray with Confidence

Pray with Confidence 1 John 5:14-15 August 10, 2014 When a new college graduate takes his first job, one of his concerns will be, “what kind of benefit package do you have?” He wants to know what added privileges there are for working in this job — is there health care and a retirement package […]

Why pray?

Bruce Ware, “Prayer and the Sovereignty of God,” in For the Fame of God’s Name: Clearly, God does not need us to bring our concerns to him in order for him to know what we need or to know how best to act. He is God! He knows perfectly our backgrounds, our families, our friends, […]