Our Father in Heaven
One of the things I’ve said over and over again since the Vision and Worship Night is that I believe the one thing that will have the greatest influence on our church in 2026 is our individual commitment to growing our own prayer life. In last week’s letter I recommended some books from those that I read in 2025. One that had a significant influence on my prayer life already this year is Tim Keller’s book on prayer. The main thing I’ve done daily since reading it is to pray slowly, phrase by phrase, through the Lord’s Prayer. Each phrase works to focus my prayers on His character, His power, aligning my will with His, His Kingdom, His provision, forgiveness, and protection. That’s why our memory “verse” for January will be the Lord’s Prayer. It’s actually five verses, which would normally be quite a bit to try and memorize in a month, but I’m guessing the Lord’s Prayer is already a familiar passage for many; plus, our AWANA kids are working to memorize it this month. I believe God has a spiritual breakthrough waiting for us in 2026. Our men are focusing on going deeper to prepare their hearts to lead us in spiritual growth. Be praying that we are ready to hear from God (unlike Jonah) and ready to follow in obedience.
Speaking of Jonah, I’m trying something new this week. Each sermon I leave out more than I include from my time of study and research, so I recorded a video sharing some of the additional research. But let me give a caveat or warning: this video will definitely be more on the ‘nerdy’ end of the spectrum. But I thought I’d try it and see how it goes, so please offer any feedback you have. You can watch the video here.
In the video, I recommend Tim Keller’s excellent book on Jonah, called Rediscovering Jonah. I try to recommend a commentary on each book of the Bible I’m preaching through for those who would like additional study resources. This week we continue in the book of Jonah and study Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the whale (or, “great fish”) in chapter two. There’s much for us to learn from this prayer, as we focus on prayer and walking by faith in 2026, to help us reach the South End of Louisville with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!