Teach Us to Pray

SERMON TITLE:   “Teach Us to Pray”
SERMON TEXT:    Luke 11:1-13
PREACHER:           Rev. Kim James
OCCASION:           Sept. 1, 2019, at First UMC
 
 
INTRODUCTION
 
                All through this month of September, we’re going to focus on the theme of prayer.  In children’s Sunday School, which begins next week, the kids will use a variety of methods—like story-telling, games, drama, science, crafts, spiritual practices, and cooking—to learn The Lord’s Prayer.  Here in the worship services, we’ll read and learn from a variety of biblical prayers. 
                Maybe you’ve heard the story about the friends who were engaging in a little friendly competition about their knowledge of the church, the Bible, and Christian faith when Sam said to Fred,
“Why, I’ll bet you ten dollars you can’t even recite the Lord’s Prayer.”
Fred replied, “It’s a bet.”  Then he prayed, “Now I lay me down to sleep.  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”
Sam responded, “OK.  Here’s your ten dollars.  I didn’t think you could do it.”1
 
                As this joke shows, many people have a lot to learn about prayer.  In Luke 11:1, that’s what the disciples were thinking too, when one of them said to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  

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