Most often, we treat prayer as the work of internal processing. We try to compose, sanitize, and spiritualize our thoughts before we turn them into prayer requests. Or worse yet, we have a conversation about our needs with ourselves first and only after do we talk to Jesus. But Jesus wants us to be external processors in prayer. To just start asking before we even know what we need or want, before we even know how to complete the sentence. He will begin to shape us, and even more joyous, He will bring us into fellowship with Him. In the last petition in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus wants to teach us also how to pray in “real time” as temptation, trials, and evil unfold before us. This petition is one that is to be prayed both before difficulty arrives and also to be blurted out immediately as temptation strikes. In times of temptation, like all other times in prayer, we are to be external processors with our Father in prayer. Let’s look at this last petition in the Lord’s Prayer as we close out our series on prayer this morning.

Can you think of a time when it was hard to ask for forgiveness, or hard to forgive someone? Our culture has a forgiveness problem, and my guess is that all of us struggle with forgiveness at times. We become super sensitive to all the ways others have hurt us and insensitive to the ways we hurt others. Even though the Bible says that Jesus has, “forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us…nailing it to the cross,” we find it easier to cancel someone than to cancel their debt against us and do the long work of forgiveness. Jesus was often asked by his disciples about forgiveness. No one really asked, “Should I forgive someone?” But the question was, “What should be the LIMIT of my forgiveness?” Surely mercy has boundaries; the river of grace must have banks. And surely forgiveness should have its limit before someone doesn’t deserve to be forgiven anymore. Join us as we continue looking at the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.

Praying for daily bread can seem like a throwback to Biblical times. In modern times we have savings accounts, retirement funds, a spare car, a side hustle, and a plentitude of banks willing to loan us money for next year’s bread if we don’t have it today. But we as the modern church, the modern people of God, must somehow learn to pray this line. It’s part of Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ begging Him: “Teach us to pray.” Because no matter what century we live in, God does not help those who help themselves; He helps the helpless. Prayer happens when we realize we have no skill great enough to pull the strings of the cosmos. We have no education so great that it allows us to mine the depths of all wisdom. We are owed no wages for living for God and whenever we need something we only have to go to our Father and ask like a child. Let’s once again dive into The Lord’s Prayer.

We are in a series on prayer, and this morning we are continuing to look at what is called the Lord’s Prayer in the the gospel of Matthew. When Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, He begins His prayer with “Our Father.” If we are going to pray like Jesus prays, He knows that we really need to understand fathers and what they are like. In fact, in both Matthew and Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus follows the prayer with a story about a good father so that we can know what a good father is like. To address God as Father in prayer was not anything unique with Jesus; Jews often addressed God as “Our Father” in prayer. We see that in Isaiah 63 and other places in Scripture. What was unique about Jesus teaching us this prayer in response to the heart cry of “Teach us now to pray!” is that the one teaching us to pray “Our Father” is actually the true son of God. So, when the only begotten Son of the Father is asked about how to pray, His first thought is, “I want you to know that My Father is also your Father.”

“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” - John 17:1-3 (ft. David Rapp, Church Planting Resident at Deer Creek Church).

Since Jesus first taught the Lord’s prayer, it has been a comfort to many. It’s so simple that it’s been the prayer companion of children, and yet it’s a prayer that grows with our growth so that even the wisest and oldest of Christians would never dare to say they have mastered the treasures of wisdom it contains. The Lord’s prayer remains calm and even tempered throughout all the changing scenes of the past two thousand years, suited just as much for stained glass high church cathedrals as it is for an infant’s bedside. The Lord’s Prayer seems to anticipate every difficulty and danger, seems to answer every problem, and seems to offer every comfort to Christ’s disciples in every tribulation the world has known for the past two thousand years. Its petitions are serious and yet they bring a lightness to the heart when they are prayed. In spite of all the subtle and simple grandeur of this prayer, for some the Lord’s prayer is associated with things like penance or just vain repetition. But whether your heart shuts off or comes alive when you hear the Lord’s prayer, it remains how Jesus taught His disciples to pray when specifically asked.

Anguish isn’t just a small part of our existence. All of humanity has in common the fact that we come into this world crying; it’s how we start our life. In fact, the apostle Paul says that the entire creation groans in sorrow and anguish (Romans 8:22). We live in a world plagued by emotional and heart struggles. The Bible says depression, anxiety, hopelessness, loneliness, and suicide all affect God’s people too. We don’t like to talk about that in the church because we feel like if we had a vibrant spiritual life, if we really understood the gospel and really had faith, then we shouldn’t struggle with those things; those struggles are only for people without Jesus. The Bible shows us otherwise. A vibrant spiritual life does not always prevent mental health struggles. Depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts still come and that is why the Bible tells us what to do with them. So join us this Sunday as we look at a kind of prayer that has often been forgotten in the modern church: a prayer of lament.

We are in a series on how we get disconnected from God and how to reconnect with Him. And the answer is prayer. Last week we talked about why we ought to pray; this week we will look at some reasons why we don’t pray. Why do we seem to struggle to have a meaningful prayer life? Why are there seasons where it seems almost impossible to pray or to remember to pray? This morning we will look at three major reasons why it is hard to pray, being encouraged by the fact that Jesus Himself acknowledged to His disciples that prayer is hard.

We have been in a series called Disconnected, looking at how we get disconnected from God and why that is so fatal to our life and our being. And now we will look at how we reconnect with God; how we stay connected to God. And the answer is prayer. We will be talking about prayer for the next several weeks: what is prayer? Why do we pray? Why is prayer so hard? What about all of the hard things Jesus says about prayer? Join us as we become people of prayer and a church that grows ever-dependent on God in prayer.

We are in a series called Disconnected, looking at what happens in our lives when we become disconnected from God, and how to connect or reconnect with God in our lives. When we live life apart from God we begin to slowly lose our life and our vitality; it’s when we disconnect from the life God offers us in Jesus that life begins to not hold together anymore. The Bible talks about those who are not connected to God in relationship as lost. Lost in our sin, lost in ourselves, lost in this world. When the Bible speaks about the lost, it’s an endearing term. A picture of a shepherd distressed because he can’t find his sheep; a woman distressed because she can’t find something valuable to her. If you lose something you don’t care about, you stop looking for it immediately. You are called “lost” only because you are valuable to God. Your friends, neighbors, coworkers, family, who don’t know God are called lost because they are incredibly valuable to God. Our Father in heaven knows us even when we don’t yet know Him, and He is distressed when we are lost and rejoices when we are found.

Think about everything we use our phones for; connecting with our loved ones, building relationships, figuring our what is happening in our world. With all of those things we use our phones for, statistics show that the average person needs or wants something from their phone about 140 times per day; as a result, the average American spends 5 hours and 24 minutes on their phone each day. One of the major problems with us wanting or needing something from our phones nearly 6 hours a day is that our phones were designed to only last 5-6 hours a day while doing those things disconnected from a source of power. Because the moment we disconnect them and use them for life, they begin to die. And if they remain disconnected, they will eventually be completely powerless and dead until we connect them again. The same thing is happening to us as human beings when we live life disconnected from God; we begin to slowly die. So join us as we look at what Psalm 24 and Acts 17 have to say about our connection to God.

Join us this Sunday as we look at how our expectations in Christ change our perspective, our behaviors, and our relationships through the message of Colossians 3 (ft. Colin Campbell, Member at Elevate Hope Centennial).

We have been going through the entire book of Romans together as a church since the beginning of 2023, or for about 8 months. We would be remiss if, after reading this grand letter, we didn’t ask ourselves in light of the previous 15 chapters, in light of the past 8 months in it together, “How then shall we live?” As a church; as people. We find in this final chapter and a half the answer to that question, “How then shall we live?” The answer to the questions we pose to God, “Why am I here?” and “What do you want me to do?” So join us this morning for our final sermon in the book of Romans.

Does it seem sometimes like no matter what you do there is always someone out there who will criticize or judge you for it? Even the most trivial things? No one likes to be judged, but we all like to judge don’t we? The Bible has a lot to say about judging and being judged. Sometimes judgement or criticism have their place, but those times are few. Join us this morning as we look at what Romans 14 has to say about Christian judgment within the community of believers, and the call to unity.

According to recent statistics, American household debt hit a record of $17 trillion at the end of 2022. With all of that debt it’s no surprise that a popular topic in church circles is what the Bible has to say about staying out of debt. And that is great. But there is one place in Scripture where it tells us explicitly to stay in debt; to take joy in our debt. And not just that, but it tells us to try to get into more debt! And furthermore, to rejoice as you watch your debt grow into an out of control debt spiral! Let’s see what kind of debt the Bible is talking about as we continue in Romans 13.

There is no topic as divisive today as politics, politicians and political parties. The world around us is sharply divided around the area of politics, and each election promises to be more divisive than the last. And in the past number of years the Christian community—the body of Christ which Jesus commanded to show the world His love by their unity—has also been sharply divided around the area of government and politics. Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not. Today, and especially after the COVID crisis, many Christians are quick to dismiss Paul’s command to have “every person be subject to the governing authorities”, rather applying it ONLY if the one governing is thought to deserve honor and respect. But is that really what it says? If so, it wouldn’t be any radical new teaching by the Bible, but just another human doctrine; respect those in authority when they deserve it. But the book of Romans tells us something different, so let’s see what Paul has to say to us in Romans 13.

Sacrifice is not a popular word today. There are few things as foreign to modern man as sacrifice. In a culture where we make our own truth, where we reign supreme, and we rarely say no to what our heart or our bodies long for, the idea of living a disciplined life or a life of sacrifice sounds like a prison. But the ancient wisdom of Scripture tells us that when it comes to our bodies and our souls, the things that really matter, we owe God total sacrifice rather than just lukewarm commitment. I believe that our passage today is the key to understanding what it means to be a human being, what it means to worship God, and what it means to belong fully to Christ. To live the satisfying and abundant life Jesus talked about, and to save our souls from the wide path of destruction that constantly beckons to us and our children to follow down its road. Romans 12 invites us into the life of being a living sacrifice to God.

Luke 15 is a precious stone at the center of the gospel showing off the beauty and the authority of the kingdom of God. Join us as we observe these three parables that highlight God’s passionate pursuit for the lost, and His extravagant, prodigal delight in the found (ft. Ryan Beerwinkle, Deacon at Elevate Hope Centennial).