Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

 Sermon Text: Luke 11:1-13

 Other Readings: Genesis 18:20-32 and James 5:13-18

 

  1. It seems like Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer on two separate occasions. Compare Luke 11:2-4 with Matthew 6:9-13. What do you notice?

 

  1. Look at the First Lesson from Genesis 18:20-32. How did Abraham show boldness in his prayer life?

 

  1. Explain why Jesus called his disciples “evil” (v. 13). Confer Psalm 51:5 and Romans 7:15-25 for help.

 

  1. In what ways is the Holy Spirit an even better gift than the good gifts our earthly fathers give us?

 

  1. Jesus promises that God gives to those who ask, but he doesn’t promise that God always will give us exactly what we ask for. Talk about a time when you prayed for something but God gave you something else that turned out even better than you could have hope for.

 

 

 

 

  1. While most of it is very similar, our text doesn’t have petitions three and seven. (The petitions are the things we ask God to do in the Lord’s Prayer we pray nowadays.) The address in Luke 11:2 also doesn’t have “our” and “in heaven.” Why the difference? Jesus may have emphasized different things at different times. Or, he may have said it the same way on both occasions, but because Greek manuscripts differ, we can’t be sure what exactly to include in our translations.

 

  1. First of all, he prayed to God even though he confessed to being dust and ashes. Secondly, he prayed on behalf of two very wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. Thirdly, he kept asking God to lower the number of righteous people needed to be found.

 

  1. This side of heaven, every believer is a sinner-saint. At the same time each believer is a saint whom God sees as holy through faith in Jesus, but each believer also still has a sinful nature that thinks, says, and does evil things. The saint inside us battles against the sinner inside us and uses prayer to help overcome temptation toward evil.

 

  1. The Holy Spirit comforts and guides us with God’s Word, strengthening us in God’s kingdom, reminding our sins are forgiven, and giving us the power to overcome temptation. He is always with us, but earthly gifts from earthly fathers don’t last.

 

  1. Answers will vary based on personal experiences.