Praying for Salvation - An essential need for any church is reaching the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ and seeing them saved from their sins. While there are many things that are important in striving to fulfill this endeavor, the first and foremost essential is seeing poeple come to Jesus Christ is prayer. 

Petitions of Prayer, Part 2
Using the Bible to Pray Properly

The better I understand the Bible which reveals the nature and character of God and His will then the better able I will be to come to Him properly and pray according to His will, and the key to effective prayer is to pray according to God's will. I can properly pray about anything if I apply what scripture says about it in my prayers. For the rest of the morning I want to give you some practical examples of this

Pastor Scott L. Harris

Grace Bible Church, NY

February 25, 2007

Petitions of Prayer, Pt. 1 -  Selected Scriptures

Part 8 in the series on prayer. - What things should we be praying for? This morning we will be looking at the specific petitions the apostles mention in the Scriptures. My hope is that this will stimulate your prayer life by moving you to pray as the Apostles did. As we go through the list, examine your own prayer life and consider what should be added and/or emphasized in it and what should be reduced or eliminated. Confidence in prayer comes from praying according to God's will (1 John 5:14,15) - and praying as the Apostles did will ensure we are praying according to God's will.

Notes and an outline (Including Hymns) for a Worship & Communion service that uses "The Lord's Prayer" (Matt. 6:9-13) as a model for prayer.  There are seven different place to have people either pray themselves or have someone model it for them with a congregational prayer 

Grace Bible Church

Prerequisites to Prayer

 While it is true that since believers are cleansed from their sins through faith in Jesus Christ that they can therefore come before God’s throne of Grace (Hebrews. 4:16), and because they are adopted in to God’s family they can before Him at any time as His children, it is not true prayer is without restrictions. The Bible contains many commands concerning the proper approach to God and requirements concerning the petitions that are brought before Him. If we want God to answer the requests we make to Him we must first make sure we are fulfilling the many prerequisites to proper prayer. This sermon discusses those prerequisites and how to meet them. 

The Proper Pattern of Prayer, Pt. 2 - Matthew 6:10-14

We can get so caught up in the rush of trying to live that we forget what life is all about. It takes diligence to keep the proper priorities in life and we struggle against that pressures that call for us to fill up our time with so many other lesser things. We know that time with the Lord is the life blood of the Christian life, yet in the rush to get everything else done, that ends up suffering. We then try to prevail in our own power and fail to communicate with the One that empowers us to live. But even if we do manage to keep time reserved to spend with the Lord, it is not enough to just spend time in prayer, we must also pray properly.

This sermon continues an exposition of the model of prayer that Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 6:9-13.  It explains what it really means to pray for "Thy will be done" as well as trusting God to provide for our daily needs, forgive us our sins and protect us from falling into sin.

The Proper Pattern of Prayer, Pt. 1 - Matthew 6:9-10

Pastor Scott L. Harris                             Grace Bible Church, NY                            January 28, 2007

Introduction

It has been well said that the church cannot go forward unless it is on its knees. When we properly understand that we can accomplish nothing for the kingdom of God unless it by the Holy Spirit working through us, then we also then understand the absolute necessity of prayer. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that prayer is "beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul."

The tragedy is that most people learn to pray in ways that are in direct violation of the what the Scriptures say about prayer. The best way to learn to pray is to follow what Jesus taught His disciples concerning prayer in Matthew 6:5-12. This sermon focuses on the first half of what is commonly known as "The Lord's Prayer.

The Proper Purpose & Practice of Prayer

Matt. 6:5-15

Introduction

Prayer. It is very elementary in its essence. Its most simple definition is "talking to God." Yet prayer is also one of the most complex subjects that can be discussed.

How can a human talk with the creator of the universe? How does an insignificant human address the creator of the universe? How can God hear all those prayers at once? How does prayer work? God is sovereign and does not change, yet prayer somehow moves Him to do things differently? How does God know what to do? One farmer prays for rain because his crops are getting dry, and another farmer prays for a sunny day because he just cut his field of hay and rain would ruin his crop. How come some prayers are answered quickly, others after a long delay, and some get a "pocket veto." Why are some people so good at praying and others not? What is a good prayer? What should we pray for?

What is Prayer?

Selected Scriptures

This is the second sermon in our series on prayer. Last week I emphasized that the proper motivation to pray arises from our relationship with the Lord. We should have a vibrant love for Him, and if that does not exist or has diminished then we need to remember, repent and redo. Remember what our love for Jesus was like when we were first saved. Repent of our departure from that and then redo the things we did back then.

This morning I want us to start to understand what prayer is for there are many blatantly false ideas as well as many misconceptions about prayer. We cannot pray properly if we do not properly understand it. To illustrate this point I want you to consider how you would respond to the following situations.

A Foundation for Prayer

Revelation 2:1-7

Introduction

This morning I will begin a series on a topic that I hope will be helpful to all of us in increasing our intimacy with our Lord. We will be spending the better part of the next couple of months talking about prayer.

This morning will be an introduction to the subject in that it will be dealing with the basic motivation that should cause us to pray. A basic motivation that causes us to want to live the Christian life. Without this motivation, the Christian life will not only become prayerless, it will also become frustrating, painful, and full of guilt which will result in depression. With this motivation the Christian life is prayerful, satisfying and joyful in all circumstances.

This morning we are going to talk about the motivation that comes with a deep and abiding love. Turn to Revelation 2:1-7 where we will find not only the importance of loving the Lord Jesus Christ, but also how to regain that love if it has diminished over the years.