Sunday's Sermon

Ross gave one of the best sermons ever yesterday. Definately in my top two ever. You can download the mp3 or the video at Galloway's website (from the main page, scroll to the bottom left and you'll see the link). The sermon title is "Praying the Devil Out of Hell" and even if it's been replaced by a new one by the time you read this, it's availalbe for free on iTunes. This was the last of a six part series on prayer. Ross does like to preach a series.

The real meat of this sermon had to do with the presence of Evil, how it works in the Bible and how it works in our lives today. He talked about how if everything is perfect in your life, you're probably praying to the wrong god. If you're focused on God, you're probably attracting negative attention from Satan, who likes to create hardships for God's people. He told a story about how if you're already spiritually dead, Satan has no reason to attack you, and you can go on with your life thinking all is good because you have everything you want, not realizing you don't have everything you NEED.

I won't go into all the personal stories I've seen and heard on this topic, because most of them aren't my stories to tell. But I will say that I realize that too often I pray for the wrong things. Some things I can't seem to help. If someone you love is sick, you pray for them to get better, not for God to use the illness for his glory. Thankfully with my mom we got both. When life is just plain crappy we pray for things to get easier, not for God to show us the lesson we get from going through it. When I was taking my Disciple Bible Study class we debated whether or not God tests us, or if it's Satan attacking, or if we just reap the benefit of bad decisions. The more I think about it, what difference does it make? Our reaction should be the same. Ross said something at the end of the sermon that I tend to neglect. He said he didn't believe in the power of prayer, he believed in the Power of the God that answered them.