Prayer that Pleads for the Lost: Abraham

Our life with God is shaped by the way we pray. Prayer is the basic communication with God in speaking and listening that is as essential as air, food and water to our biological life. Prayer is simple in the sense that every human being feels the pull to communicate with the divine, often whispering or shouting prayers unbidden. At the same time, prayer is complicated because we often don’t know how to approach God or what is okay to do.

I began a new series on prayer this past weekend at Eastbrook Church, “Great Prayers of the Bible“, in which we are looking at selected prayers throughout Scripture in order to learn how to pray. This series accompanies our Summer of Prayer at Eastbrook. The focus of the message this weekend is the interesting story of Abraham bargaining with God in prayer over Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:16-33. What can we learn about praying to God and how do we appropriately plead for the lost in prayer?

You can view the message video and an expanded sermon outline below. You can follow the entire series at our web-site, through the Eastbrook app, or through our audio podcast.

Learning to Pray from Examples

Examples we can follow who are “humans just like us”

Examples we can follow whose words are inspired by God’s Spirit

Knowing God’s Mind (Genesis 18:16-19)

The opening of God’s mind to Abraham

God’s goal of righteousness and justice

Entering God’s Throne room (Genesis 18:20-25)

Judging rightly

Extending compassion

Bargaining with God (Genesis 18:26-33; Luke 18:1-7)

Prayer as the bargaining of two partners

Prayer as unveiling the character of God