Praying Beyond Our Limitations – Sermon 4 (August 30, 2026)

Click the Blue Heading to Download Notes

 

Praying Beyond Our Limits

August 30, 2026

I Dedicate Myself To Pray For God’s Kingdom Work

Praying Beyond Our Limit’s: Part 4

This is our fourth sermon in a series called – Praying Beyond Our Limitations

In each of the previous three sermons we discussed a main truth:

Sermon #1 – God’s Power Gives Believers Confidence To Pray Beyond Our Limitations The key verse was Ephesians 3:20

 

Ephesians 3:20 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

 

Sermon #2 – When I don’t Know What To Do, I Know Exactly What To Do The key text was 2 Chronicles 20 – King Jehoshaphat discovered that a coalition of enemy armies had come together to invade Judah and Jerusalem. When he confess two things to God: They had not might to protect themselves and they did not know what to do. But Jehoshaphat knew exactly what to do: He went to God in prayer

 

Sermon #3 – I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer, Because I Refuse To Give Up On God. The main text was from Luke 18 – We found three examples of this truth: one of the examples was a widow who kept asking a king for justice; another was a father who was seeking help for his son who was demon possessed; the last was a woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years but came to Jesus.

 

The SLBC Prayer Bowl

During the first sermon we asked you to write down one or more prayer request on a card, seal it, write your name on the envelope, and place it in this bowl.

This bowl now represents our prayers, and we are using it as a visual reminder of the things we are praying about.

For this final sermon, we are going to add four more prayers to the bowl. These are prayers that are about the church and ministry. They come from the Bible and I want to ask you to help us pray about them together.

•     Prayer #1 – God will save souls here •     Prayer #2 – God will send laborers from here •     Prayer #3 – God to open doors for the gospel •     Prayer #4 – God to make us bold in witnessing

The first prayer we will add is the prayer that God will save souls here:

Prayer #1 – God will save souls here

 

Romans 10:1 1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

This was the prayer from the Apostle Paul, who was an Israelite. Paul loved his own people and greatly desired for them to be saved.

The Jews were religious and they believed in God. Their downfall was that they rejected Jesus.

Paul suffered a lot of pain and problems at the hands of other Jews but he never stopped praying for their salvation.

Paul also instructed Timothy to pray for the salvation of souls:

1 Timothy 2:1 1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

 

1 Timothy 2:3–4 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Key Truths

• Praying for people to be saved aligns with God’s will
• We must not neglect praying for people to be saved nor assume they will be saved apart from our asking God.

Review: the first prayer card we are adding is the prayer for souls to be saved here. The second prayer we are adding to the bowl is: God will send laborers from here.

 

Prayer #2 – God will send laborers from here

 

Matthew 9:36–38 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

 

Jesus Himself gave this command. He tells the disciples to pray for this specifically.

But what does it mean? What are we asking God to do?

• We must not assume people will come and be saved!
• We must pray God will send us to them!

 

Romans 10:14–15 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Paul urges the church to pray this prayer! He calls on us to be ready to go to the unsaved.

•     Prayer #1 – God will save souls here •     Prayer #2 – God will send laborers from here

The third prayer we will add to the bowl is

Prayer #3 – God to open doors for the gospel

 

Colossians 4:2–3 2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; 3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

Paul was asking the church to pray for him that God would open a door of utterance…. he was referring to the opportunity to share the gospel with people willing to hear it.

The first prayer is for God to save people here at the church, the second is that God will send us out to the unsaved. The third fits both of them: We are asking God that both here at church and when we go out to the unsaved we will have opportunity to share the saving gospel with unsaved people.

God provides the opportunity to share the gospel and He prepares hearts to receive it.

• We must not assume people do not want to hear the gospel message

• We must never rely on our own ability to reach people

• We must recognize our dependance on God for opportunities to witness

•     Prayer #1 – God will save souls here •     Prayer #2 – God will send laborers from here •     Prayer #3 – God to open doors for the gospel

The fourth and final prayer we are adding today is that

Prayer #4 – God to make us bold in witnessing

 

How important is this prayer?

God uses us to reach the unsaved with the gospel. But we have to share the gospel with them. This requires our confidence and boldness to speak up.

• God will not save souls here if we fail to tell the truth and confront false beliefs or blindspots.

• God may send out laborers but if they are not willing to speak truth and confront false belief they are useless.

• God may open doors of utterance, but if we neglect to “utter the gospel” then they are all missed opportunities.

The Big Question????

 

Are you willing to pray these prayers?

Are you willing for God to use you to answer them?

Are you willing to continue without doing something about lost souls?

Will You Dedicate Yourself To These Prayers?