United Methodist Church of Livonia, NY

Sermon Starter - The Lord's Prayer Series #1

THIS THEN IS HOW YOU SHOULD PRAY

John 17:21
Luke 11:1
Matthew 6:9-11

This week I asked you to take a brief survey regarding prayer.  Here are a few things I learned.  First, you have many questions about prayer,
·      How do I do it?
·      Is there a right way or wrong way to pray?
·      How do I make prayer a normal part of my day?
·      If the Bible states we should not pray in vain repetition… why do we pray the Lord’s Prayer every Sunday?
·      If Jesus told us to pray in private and alone, why do we use public prayer in church?
·      Can God hear the silent prayers along with the ones said out loud?

I also learned that 97% of you have the Lord’s Prayer memorized.

Everyone prays, at least sometimes.  In times of tragedy  we ask for prayer.  We pray together and when we are alone.  We thank God. We ask for help when we are scared, or sick, or feeling alone.  But still we wonder does God hear our prayers?

Over the next 6 weeks we are going to explore what Jesus said about prayer in the Gospels, and we are going to look at how he prayed.  And we are going to have a primary focus on the Lord’s Prayer, this pattern of prayer he taught his disciples.

You know, on any given weekend there are probably about 1 billion human beings on earth praying the Lord’s prayer by one estimate.

Many times we pray the Lord’s Prayer without really understanding what it is we are praying.  We may have it memorized, we know it.  But do we really KNOW it.  Do we understand what we are praying for?

You will recall that one day Jesus was off praying.  And a disciple approached him and said, “Jesus, would you teach us how to pray?

And so he did.

Watch/listen to the July 11, 2021 message, "This Then Is How You Should Pray"

Pastor Hoyt
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