Sermons

Desiring God: The Prescription for Prayer  Introduction: How many of you received a prescription this week? Wow, so several of you.  Ok, if you raised your hand, come up on stage and tell everyone what it was for.  Ok, ok, just kidding.  Seriously though, several of us received prescriptions from medically trained personnel.  We took that prescription in faith that the doctor knows what is best in hopes that it would make us feel better.   Now that is faith.  Right? Think about it.  We received prescriptions from doctors whose names we cannot pronounce.  We trust them even though we have not fully verified their medical degrees of licensing.  We just trust that they are in good standing.  We take these prescriptions, which no one can read, to a pharmacist.  This pharmacist then takes this illegible note, and gives us pills made up of chemical compounds that we do not understand.  We then travel home and take the pills believing that the prescription that was writt

Desiring God: The Purpose of Prayer  Opening Illustration: It was not long ago that I heard a pretty funny story about a man and his wife.  They were having some pretty large issues and the woman was ready for a divorce.  So, she took her husband to court and the judge began to ask some pretty probing questions.    "Do you have any grounds?" the judge asked.  "Just two acres," she replied.  "That's not it, lady. I mean, do you have a grudge?"  "No, we park the car in the front of the house."  Frustrated, the judge continued: "Does your husband beat you up?"  She replied, "No, I get up before he does."  "Then why do you want a divorce?" the judge queried.  "Because," she confessed, "we just don't seem to be able to communicate." Point: Well friends, that’s a somewhat humorous story but there is a lot of truth in that statement isn’t there. 

Opening Remarks: Like any good story, there is a beginning and end. We all love great stories.  We have read thousands of tremendous books that take us on journeys with the hero.  We see how the hero became the hero and we eventually see how the hero vanquishes the evil of his or her time.  Movies have been dedicated to these sorts of stories.  Now a days, we often divide up these tails into trilogies, prequels and sequels.  We are left on the edge of our seats as the first of three movies ends.  We are left wondering what will happen.  We all long for the ending of the story.   Many times, we must wait.  We wait for the conclusion.  The end.  In our hearts, we know that it turns out ok.  We know the victor wins.  We know that good triumphs over evil.  We just want to see it happen.   This morning, I want to tell you a story.  I want to tell you the story of us.  You and me.  All humanity.  I want to do my best to give you a clear understanding of where we have been, w