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Good News: Talking With HIM! (Sermon Audio)

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This is the audio from the October 1, 2023 sermon, “Good News: Talking With HIM”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Luke 11

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’”
Luke 11:1 (NIV)

Today I continued a series from the gospel of Luke as we gaze deeply into God’s Word to find the good news of Jesus shared with us by Luke the physician.  Of all the things Jesus did as He lived on earth, prayer is the one thing the disciples wanted Jesus to teach them.  I believe they had noticed the prayer life of Jesus was dramatically different than that of anyone else and they wanted in on what made it different.  As Jesus responded to their request, He revealed that prayer can simply be a matter of just talking with . . .

  • Humility: (Luke 11:1-4)

    • When it comes to our prayer life, talking with humility is all about acknowledging who God is and who we are in relationship to Him.  In response to being asked to teach how to pray, Jesus instructs us to honor God and His name as holy.  In doing so, we also acknowledge our need in every area of our life as we ask for daily bread, forgiveness, and the strength to overcome temptation.  We not only have this instruction from Jesus, we can see it in the way He talked with His Father in the humility of submission.  As you learn and practice the good news of prayer, be sure to talk with humility.

  • Insight:  (Luke 11:5-8)

    • When teaching about prayer, Jesus gave more than just the model prayer that we find in Matthew and in the beginning of this chapter of Luke.  He goes on to give insight into what prayer looks like if we were to bring it into the realm of human interaction.  I always find it fascinating that in today’s text we often focus on the second man going to the third man at midnight to ask for bread, when in fact there was a first man who showed up seemingly unexpected that caused the need.  One of the things our prayer life ought to do is to talk with an insight that can see beyond the surface and recognize how God uses different people and different circumstances to accomplish His will in meeting the needs of people.

  • Motivation: — (Luke 11:9-13)

    • As Jesus continues teaching, He makes it clear that it is those who ask, seek, and knock who will receive, find, and have doors opened.  God wants our conversations with Him to be motivated by a desire to receive from Him that which is good and helpful.  Jesus makes it clear that God is a Father that far exceeds the goodness of any earthly father and His gift of the Holy Spirit gives us the help we need even in our prayer life.  As we spend time talking with Him, we do so as one motivated by an awareness of His willingness to respond and help.

Today, how will you choose to talk with HIM?