Sermons:
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Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Luke 11:1-13
(see below)
by Rev. Randy L. Quinn
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LOVE THAT REDEEMS,
Hosea 1:2-10
By Dr. David Rogne
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When
You Pray,
Genesis 18:20-32 & Luke 11:1-13
by Rev. Rick Thompson
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What Prayer is Not, Luke11:1-13,
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
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Why
Pray? Luke 11:1-13, Rev. Heather McCance
-
Shameless Praying,
Luke 11:1-13, Thomas Hall
-
Lord,
teach us to pray,
Luke 11:1-13, Dewey E Brown, Jr
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Knocking on Heaven’s Door
a sermon based on Luke 11:1-13
by Rev. Randy L. Quinn
Knock. Knock. (I’ll wait for them to answer: Who’s there?)
Isaiah. Isaiah who?
Isaiah, Old Chap, won’t you let me in?
Knock. Knock. Who’s there?
Aaron. Aaron who?
Why Aaron you opening the door?
Knock. Knock. Who’s there?
Adam. Adam who?
Adam my way, I’m coming in [1].
Some people like “knock-knock” jokes. And some “knock-knock” jokes are
better than others. But what happens if no one says, “Who’s there?”
(I’ll let them answer, but the obvious answer is – you couldn’t tell the
joke.)
It’s like that with God, too. If God speaks and we don’t listen, we
can’t do anything God wants us to do. And if we ask God for something
but don’t stop to listen for an answer, God can’t answer our prayers,
either.
In our lesson this morning, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to
pray.
When people ask about prayer, they rarely ask for words to pray. We can
all find good prayers that have already been written. People who ask
about prayer aren’t looking for words. But that’s how Jesus answers when
the disciples ask him about prayer.
“When you pray, say . . .” (v 2).
Jesus' answer is a short example of prayer, a prayer without a lot of
fancy words, in natural language – much like you might address your own
parents. He even uses the intimate language of a young child calling on
his Daddy.
Then he tells us a few stories to help us understand what prayer is
about and what makes prayer effective. The first one is quite easy for
some of us to imagine. A man comes to your door in the middle of the
night. He says that he just had some unexpected guests drop in and there
is nothing in the house to feed them. Could you spare a few pieces of
bread? Maybe a little coffee?
Barb was our next door neighbor when we lived in Saint John, Washington.
Barb loved to cook and bake. And she was good at it too. I always
enjoyed it when she was trying out a new recipe because we always got to
sample it before she served it for guests.
But there were only two grocery stores in Saint John and they both
closed at 5:00. Neither was open on Sunday, either. There were times
when Barb would start baking and realize she didn't have enough eggs or
flour or something. (That happened to us more than once, too, by the
way.)
So Barb would call and ask to borrow an egg or whatever she needed. It
didn't matter what time of the day or night. She knew that if we had
what she needed, we would lend it to her.
Maybe you’ve done the same thing, but it had never happened to me before
we moved to Saint John. If I ran out of something I would wait until I
had time to get to the store or I would make something else. By asking
us for a cup of sugar, though, Barb gave me permission to ask for help
in my times of need.
But what happens when you are new in town and you don’t know your
neighbor? Our first few mornings in McLouth were like that. We had eggs,
but we didn’t have a frying pan. Should we run next door and borrow one
or should we find something else to eat? If it was really important –
say we had some unexpected family drop in – would we ask our neighbor
whom we had never met? [continue]
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