Will God Help The St. Louis Cardinals Win?
Preaching
Shaking Wolves Out Of Cherry Trees
And 149 Other Sermon Ideas
Purpose Statement: What are the appropriate and inappropriate subjects for prayer?
Because we hear prayers for almost everything, and knowing that there are boundaries to the things we should pray for, this message would delineate the limits to proper and improper prayer requests. Praying for a victory for your favorite athletic team is out-of-bounds. Praying for courage to face a moral choice is a good prayer.
The ultimate answer to the question of what are we allowed to pray for is that "it must be in harmony with the will of God." And what is that will? The following might be main points of this message:
a. It must be a moral request. (i.e.: You cannot pray for harm for another person.)
b. It cannot contradict God's natural law. (i.e.: You do not seek to suspend gravity.)
c. It cannot be a selfish request.
d. It should be something you are willing to work for and become a part of the answer.
Scripture references: Luke 11:5-13, Matthew 17:19-20; 21:21-22. (When dealing with this subject, it would be important to clarify scriptures that can be misunderstood such as these.)
(Humorous illustration: A little girl who wasn't invited to her best friend's birthday picnic was told by her mom that the mislaid invitation had arrived at the last moment. The little girl said that it was too late, she had already prayed for rain.)
Because we hear prayers for almost everything, and knowing that there are boundaries to the things we should pray for, this message would delineate the limits to proper and improper prayer requests. Praying for a victory for your favorite athletic team is out-of-bounds. Praying for courage to face a moral choice is a good prayer.
The ultimate answer to the question of what are we allowed to pray for is that "it must be in harmony with the will of God." And what is that will? The following might be main points of this message:
a. It must be a moral request. (i.e.: You cannot pray for harm for another person.)
b. It cannot contradict God's natural law. (i.e.: You do not seek to suspend gravity.)
c. It cannot be a selfish request.
d. It should be something you are willing to work for and become a part of the answer.
Scripture references: Luke 11:5-13, Matthew 17:19-20; 21:21-22. (When dealing with this subject, it would be important to clarify scriptures that can be misunderstood such as these.)
(Humorous illustration: A little girl who wasn't invited to her best friend's birthday picnic was told by her mom that the mislaid invitation had arrived at the last moment. The little girl said that it was too late, she had already prayed for rain.)
