Praying Like a Human
Psalm 51 Sermon Series
Give Me Joy Again
August 20, 2017 • Jonathan Parnell
When it comes to this joy in God that we want restored, we should ask, restored for what? What’s the point? Because there is a point. There is a purpose, and it’s two-fold. First, our joy is about the glory of God. And then second, our joy is about the good of others.
Don't Leave Me
August 13, 2017 • Jonathan Parnell
Which means that right now, God is not dwelling at Minnehaha Academy. Last Sunday morning God was dwelling at the Riverview Theater, and then at Hiawatha School Park, and right now God is dwelling here, in this room, where his people, filled by his Spirit, are gathered in his name. And when we leave here, he goes with us. Because now, God’s presence isn’t a holy place that his people must go to, but his presence is in his people who go everywhere.
Create in Me a Clean Heart
August 6, 2017 • Jonathan Parnell
But what’s amazing about what we mean when we say “heart” or “soul” or “gut” is that we’re talking about a fact that humans have known since the very beginning of humanity. The idea of the “heart” — the idea that humans have this unseen causer in them, this inner self, this energy at the center of who they are — this is an ancient idea that goes back thousands and thousands of years ago, and you see it all over the place in the Bible.
Let Me Praise You
July 30, 2017 • Jonathan Parnell
We pray for God to open our lips so that our mouths declare his praise because we know that’s why God has given us mouths. The Psalms talk a lot about the mouth and it always goes one of two ways. Either our mouths speak lies and are full of violence, or they speak truth and praise God — and a repeated prayer throughout the Psalms as a whole is that our mouths be full of praise.