Right in the middle of his message on The Second Mile Jesus tells His followers to pray a prayer no one would ever think of praying. It’s an outrageous prayer! It seems to make no sense. Yet Jesus prayed it in His most agonizing moment—as His enemies were driving nails through His hands and feet. I’m guessing that He’d been praying it all along – practicing for this moment. Jesus put it like this; Love your enemies… and pray for those who persecute you.

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast and PDF File

To give up praying is to give up hope in the character of God, in the intimacy of our relationship with Him – and to miss what God wants to do, both in us and in the situations that seems so hopeless.

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast and PDF File

(Matthew 6:16-18; Mark 2:18-22)
When we fast, (taking a break from food) we do it for God – not as a form of bribery to get what we want. Something changes deep within us in those hidden moments.

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast and PDF File

Prayer is often seen as talking to God – or talking at God. Truth is, He wants to talk with us and nudge us in ways we won’t see. He can’t direct us in the ways we should go if we won’t listen!

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast and PDF File

Dark nights of the soul will come, and at that rock as we sweat blood over agonizing decisions and predicaments – God will meet us. Our faith has to include, “even if He does NOT!”  and “even if THEY do NOT!” Even if our best friends fall asleep, God will not abandon us.

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast and PDF File

God does not expect us to crank up our faith to a certain level before He can act in miraculous ways; what He needs is us to believe in His power and His judgment to do what’s best. God wants people who will make room for Him to be huge, majestic, active and loving.

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast, Audio MP3 and PDF File

A crabby, selfish, distant, abusive, or non-existent human father can cause us to doubt that a Heavenly Father is even interested in helping. We need to rethink the relationship – and rethink what help looks like.

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast, Audio MP3 and PDF File

Sometimes we put prayer into this weird category of special words and quotes and things we can do to get what we want from God. Asking God for things is certainly part of prayer – but, in some ways, it can become very self-centered, that is – it’s all about me and my needs! There is a huge difference between talking with God as a Friend, as a loving Father who knows what you need – and trying to leverage God to give you what you want.

*Go to LAUNCH SERMON PLAYER for Vimeo Podcast, Audio MP3 and PDF File