There was a five-year-old girl watching her mother apply cold cream to her face. Curious, she asked, “Mother, why do you do that?” The mother replied, “To make myself beautiful.” Moments later, when the mother wiped the cream off, the girl exclaimed, “What’s the matter? Giving up already?” Just like that little girl’s humorous observation, we often approach prayer with the same mindset—giving up too soon. Have you ever felt like giving up on God? Have you ever prayed and felt like your prayers made no difference? In this message, we’re going to see Jesus give an encouraging, definitive teaching on prayer, reminding us that if we belong to God’s family, He hears and answers our prayers. The key is perseverance. Never give up on the God who will never give up on you. Jesus teaches us four key principles about prayer.

If we are truly going to follow Jesus, we must accept that we will be different from the world. Nowhere is that more evident than in Matthew 7, where we encounter one of the most misunderstood, misused, and misapplied verses in the Bible: “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). This verse has become a cultural slogan, often quoted by people who reject or ridicule the Bible. Even among Christians, the idea that judging is wrong has gained traction, particularly among younger believers. However, Jesus' teaching is not about avoiding judgment altogether but about judging rightly. His message is simple: make sure your heart is right before you call out what is wrong.

There is a principle that applies to business, physics, and life—it’s called “The Domino Effect.” This principle describes how one event can set off a chain reaction of related events. A great example of this is the atomic bomb, where one atom splitting causes an unstoppable chain reaction. The same concept applies spiritually. In The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes a spiritual domino effect that can transform our lives if we start with the right "first domino." Many people place financial success, personal happiness, fame, or power as their first priority, but Jesus tells us that the first domino should be this: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

As we’ve seen in the last two messages in this series on prayer, the first part of prayer focuses on God and His glory. Today, we’re going to see how the second part of prayer focuses on us and our good. We're told specifically that we ought to ask God for three things when we pray, and those three things deal with the three biggest needs in our lives. The first deals with our physical needs, the second deals with our emotional needs, and the last deals with our spiritual needs. The first thing we ask for deals with our present. The second thing we ask for deals with our past, and the third thing we ask for deals with our future. Let’s dive into what this looks like practically in our own prayers.

As we continue our three-week series on prayer, we’re going to find that the key to effective prayer is found in four words: focus on the Father. In today’s message, we’ll discuss the two steps we need to take to pray this kind of Father-focused prayer.

In this message, we’re going to take a class called Prayer 101 where we are going to learn the basics of prayer from Jesus Himself. We’ll see that prayer is not something we do to get what we want from God but to get what God wants for us. To put it simply - wrong prayer is a waste of time, but right prayer is worth the time. With this in mind, let’s dive in and see what Jesus wants to teach us in Prayer 101.

In today’s message, we are going to learn that perfect love loves everyone perfectly, even the most unlovable. If you are to love others the way God loves others (and the way God loves you), you are going to have to take some very radical steps.

If you're going to follow Jesus, you're going to have to live a second-mile life. I will tell you right now it's not a popular mile. If you walk this mile, you'll be in the minority. If you walk this mile, it will tax you and test you and try you like no other mile you'll ever walk. But if you do walk this mile, which is over and above what everybody else walks, it will lead you to the greatest joy, the most fulfilling achievements, the finest rewards, and the approval of your Heavenly Father. It's a higher road. It is a tougher road, but it is the better road.