A Road of Prayer! (Sermon Audio)

This is the audio from the April 2, 2023 sermon, “A Road of Prayer; Sweet HOUR of Prayer”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Luke 22:31-32, 39-46

“But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Luke 22:32 (NIV)

Today I continued a sermon series with a focus on The Road to Resurrection. Each week of this series considers a different glimpse of the life of Jesus during His final week leading up to His death, burial, and resurrection. Throughout His life on earth, Jesus set the example regarding the necessity of prayer. As we walk this road to resurrection with Jesus, we find Him praying in the upper room with His disciples then returning to prayer in the garden as He asked them to join Him in the sweet . . .

Hope of Prayer: — Luke 22:31-32
- Life is full of struggles and difficulties that may very well shake us to the very core of our being. In the midst of Jesus telling Peter what Satan has desired to do, there is great hope in knowing Jesus has prayed for him and states work that is to be done after the failure. When we live life on the road of prayer with Jesus, we live with great hope as we trust Him to accomplish everything He has promised.
Opportunity of Prayer: — Luke 22:39-40
- The greatest opportunities of life are not about luck, but rather they are about being prepared. We find Jesus praying in the garden because prayer was His natural response to life. When we create a habit of prayer in our own life, we find every moment is an opportunity to pray for our self, for our friends, and even for our enemies.
Understanding of Prayer — Luke 22:41-44
- Many people give up on prayer because it didn’t accomplish what they had hoped it would. Prayer is not some type of cosmic vending machine that gives us whatever we want simply because we put the “coin’ of prayer in the proper slot. Jesus taught us that a proper understanding of prayer is that which always seeks the will of God and seeks to honor Him regardless of whether the result is what we wanted or not.
Result of Prayer — Luke 22:45-46
- If our understanding of prayer teaches us it isn’t about our will, then the result of prayer should always be such that our will aligns more closely with what God wants. Jesus asked His disciples to pray so they would not fall into temptation. When we walk this road of prayer each step of life we take, we discover a result that helps us to avoid the traps of temptation the enemy has placed all along our way.