• Sunday, June 21st, 2026
James 5:16-18 (NASB)
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.
Theme: Since the prayer of the righteous is very powerful, we as Christians should be motivated to pray.
1) A Motivation to pray (5:16b)
2) An Illustration of the power of prayer (5:17-18)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
• Sunday, June 14th, 2026
James 5:13-16 (NASB)
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.
Theme: Prayer is an expression of our dependence on God in all of life’s circumstances.
1) Times of suffering should lead us to prayer (5:13a)
2) Times of blessing should lead us to praise (5:13b)
3) In extreme sickness, we should call on the elders to pray (5:14-15)
4) In struggles with sin, we should confess to one another and pray (5:16a)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
• Sunday, February 23rd, 2025
Jonah 1:17-2:10 (NASB)
17 And the Lord designated a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish for three days and three nights.
Jonah’s Prayer
1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, 2 and he said,
“I called out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I called for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
3 For You threw me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current flowed around me.
All Your breakers and waves passed over me.
4 So I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
5 Water encompassed me to the point of death.
The deep flowed around me,
Seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 I descended to the base of the mountains.
The earth with its bars was around me forever,
But You have brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God.
7 While I was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
And my prayer came to You,
Into Your holy temple.
8 Those who are followers of worthless idols
Abandon their faithfulness,
9 But I will sacrifice to You
With a voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation is from the Lord.”
10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.
1) God’s Rescue (1:17)
2) Jonah’s Prayer to God (2:1-9)
3) God’s Answer (2:10)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
• Sunday, December 15th, 2024
2 Thessalonians 3:16-18 (NASB)
16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!
17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Three prayer petitions to encourage the church’s continued spiritual growth together
1) All-encompassing peace from the Lord (3:16a)
2) All-inclusive presence of the Lord (3:16b)
[*] All-authoritative truth from the Lord (via Paul; 3:17)
3) All-sufficient grace of the Lord (3:18)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
• Sunday, April 10th, 2022
14And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them.15 Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him.16 And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?”17 And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak;18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.”19And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”20 And they brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”23But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.”24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again!”26 And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!”27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up.28 When He came into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?”29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”
Sermon Theme/Outline: Jesus teaches a critical lesson about the necessity of faith to access God’s power and accomplish what seems impossible.
I. The Lack of Faith and Spiritual Power (9:14-19)
II. The Lord’s Demonstration of Spiritual Power (9:20-27)
III. The Lesson about Prayer and Spiritual Power (9:28-29)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
• Sunday, June 09th, 2019
Colossians 1:9-12 (NASB)
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Big Idea: Our continual prayers for one another as Christians should focus on our spiritual needs, for the purpose of our actual lives becoming more worthy of and pleasing to our Lord Jesus.
Outline: The “What” and the “Why” of your continual prayers for each other (1:9-10a)
>What should you pray for other? That they would be “filled with the knowledge of God’s Will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”. (1:9)
>Why should you pray for this for others? The purpose/goal is so that their actual lives would become more worthy of Christ and pleasing to Him in every area. (1:10a)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
