back to indexPraise and Prayer 1-29-21
00:07:57.460 |
The life of life was crushed for our rebellion. 00:08:03.500 |
He died our death and rose up from the grave. 00:08:26.120 |
Father, great are you, Lord, and most worthy of praise. 00:08:31.500 |
We thank you for tonight, for this night of prayer. 00:08:35.400 |
May we continue to be prayerful, to be watchful, 00:08:44.940 |
unwavering in our hope, and that we will love you 00:08:54.480 |
And our desire would be not for the things of this world, 00:08:56.880 |
but for your praise, for your glory, your honor. 00:09:00.460 |
We thank you, Lord, in Christ's name we pray. 00:16:53.620 |
♪ Great is the Lord in whom we have the victory ♪ 00:17:26.180 |
♪ And all we want to lift your name, oh Lord ♪ 00:18:01.440 |
♪ Great is the Lord and most worthy, praise ♪ 00:18:26.800 |
♪ Great is the Lord in whom we have the victory ♪ 00:18:58.060 |
♪ And all we want to lift your name, oh Lord ♪ 00:19:26.180 |
♪ And all we want to lift your name, oh Lord ♪ 00:20:34.800 |
And probably going forward, we're probably gonna use 00:20:36.960 |
this format more than what we've done before. 00:20:56.180 |
and I could tell you sometimes even three minutes, 00:20:59.860 |
like some of you already kinda like your mind is wandering 00:21:04.240 |
If you do not learn to persevere through that, 00:21:10.680 |
or oh, I don't know what to say and then you stop praying, 00:21:13.280 |
you'll never practice your muscle how to pray. 00:21:15.720 |
Just like anything else, if you want a fellowship, 00:21:35.840 |
is directly linked to how much time you put digging 00:21:38.760 |
and struggling and wrestling with the text, right? 00:21:48.640 |
You have to be praying and deliberately searching 00:21:54.120 |
and that's how we become better at evangelism. 00:22:03.480 |
And then so, you know, like if you do not learn 00:22:07.320 |
how to wrestle in prayer, your ability to be able to pray 00:22:18.440 |
But outside of that, you do maybe like one minute, 00:22:29.420 |
So I'm gonna, we're gonna give you plenty of time to pray 00:22:34.840 |
challenge you to struggle in prayer today, right? 00:22:39.760 |
Even if half the time, more than half the time, 00:22:41.840 |
your mind is wandering, you're thinking about, 00:22:44.280 |
you know, should I have bought that stock or not, right? 00:22:51.320 |
Should I show, even if all that stuff is going on 00:22:54.120 |
in your head, right, to learn to persevere in prayer, okay? 00:22:59.120 |
So what I wanna do is we've given you a sheet 00:23:03.240 |
Now I give you a physical copy because I wanted you 00:23:13.560 |
let's pray for missions and let's pray for this. 00:23:15.240 |
I wanted you to really get down to the specifics 00:23:21.400 |
So again, I'm not gonna give a, just as an encouragement, 00:23:25.580 |
you know, at the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26, 36, 00:23:36.080 |
he sees them sleeping and twice he says to them, 00:23:39.160 |
could you not stay and watch and pray with me 00:23:44.180 |
they were tired, they had a huge meal, right? 00:23:51.540 |
And so again, the challenge is to wrestle in prayer. 00:23:53.720 |
So what I wanna do is if you look at number one, 00:23:56.120 |
the very first thing that we should always do 00:23:58.980 |
before we come to God is the sin of confession, right? 00:24:22.560 |
it says, the psalmist says, search me, O God, 00:24:24.800 |
and know my heart, try me and know my anxious thoughts 00:24:32.120 |
I'm less concerned about people who came into this room 00:24:49.800 |
you know what it is that you need to repent of. 00:24:53.000 |
The people who are gonna struggle in prayer tonight 00:25:21.600 |
there's a sin of commission and sin of omission. 00:25:23.640 |
Sin of commission are the things that you've committed. 00:25:26.880 |
Maybe you watch things that you shouldn't have watched. 00:25:28.720 |
Maybe you've said things that you shouldn't have said. 00:25:30.980 |
Maybe you've gone places that you shouldn't have gone to. 00:25:41.200 |
And so those are things that you may not have thought about 00:25:45.160 |
because you're just kind of in the habit of burying. 00:25:50.200 |
And there's certain things that God has commanded you to do 00:25:52.440 |
and you're just like, ah, you know, I don't have the time, 00:25:56.160 |
And so we have all kinds of excuses not to participate. 00:26:00.000 |
But in the end, the end result is disobedience. 00:26:07.680 |
"Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do 00:26:13.480 |
So the first thing that we wanna encourage you to do 00:26:15.240 |
is take some time to confess that before God. 00:26:25.880 |
What are the compromise that I've gotten accustom to? 00:26:33.240 |
And then to first come before the Lord and be specific. 00:26:48.880 |
What are the specific sins that you wanna come before God 00:26:52.200 |
and pray and ask for forgiveness for those things, okay? 00:26:56.760 |
Second, building up with the body of Christ, the church. 00:27:00.640 |
Are there relationships that need to be reconciled 00:27:04.540 |
Now, I know that we may not have full control 00:27:11.760 |
So the two questions that I encourage you to ask is, 00:27:17.940 |
You're holding a grudge against someone in your heart 00:27:23.720 |
But you're harboring in your heart and you're justifying it 00:27:26.680 |
and that may have given a foothold for the devil 00:27:30.680 |
and may have made your heart callous toward God. 00:27:46.560 |
So take time to think about the fellowship, right? 00:27:51.560 |
The second offering in the five major offerings 00:28:05.440 |
don't just pray broad strokes and pray for people. 00:28:10.400 |
I wanna encourage you to pray for specific people 00:28:21.560 |
Name by name, what you know about that person, 00:28:28.720 |
one by one, pray for those people around you, right? 00:28:34.320 |
make sure that you pray again for them, same thing. 00:28:46.960 |
Pray for all the pastors, myself, Pastor Mark, 00:28:51.520 |
and then the elders, Philip Kim, Joseph Chun, James Hong. 00:29:08.160 |
that the leadership is first practicing this. 00:29:10.520 |
So there's specific things that we ask to pray for, 00:29:15.600 |
that this is not just something that we do corporately, 00:29:24.440 |
And again, because we discuss a lot of things 00:29:26.600 |
that a lot of times we may not fully be on the same page. 00:29:30.320 |
And if we keep a healthy distance, we're always united. 00:29:34.960 |
Generally, we love Jesus, we love the church, 00:29:40.480 |
there's always opportunity for the devil to come in 00:29:49.960 |
wisdom to lead the church, and then above reproach. 00:29:54.200 |
So everything that we're asking you to pray for, 00:29:55.760 |
we ask that you would pray for each one of the leaders 00:29:58.320 |
that we would set an example of what that means. 00:30:00.780 |
Spreading of the gospel, okay, locally and globally. 00:30:09.760 |
even though they're not physically on campus yet. 00:30:22.740 |
they're gonna be on campus for the purpose of evangelism. 00:30:38.980 |
So they think the pandemic may have something to do with it, 00:30:44.400 |
So there's that many students who are, you know, 00:30:48.500 |
So either God placed us in a unique place near campus 00:30:53.300 |
so please pray for the church-like college ministry. 00:31:00.860 |
instead of even the people that you may not know well, 00:31:03.500 |
the non-Christians that you are in regular contact with, 00:31:10.260 |
Pray specifically so that God would give you an opportunity, 00:31:22.100 |
to sit with that person, to work with that person, 00:31:24.180 |
and be deliberate about sharing the gospel with that person. 00:31:28.740 |
Pray for your heart, pray for courage on your part 00:31:34.100 |
and not just kind of spend day in and day out, you know, 00:31:37.460 |
and be satisfied that they know you're a Christian, 00:31:39.600 |
but actively, what kind of Christian are you, right? 00:31:48.540 |
so therefore you go to church on Sunday, right? 00:31:54.380 |
and to pray specifically for those people by name. 00:32:01.460 |
And I know that you've been praying for them, 00:32:03.320 |
and maybe some of you, because they haven't come to Christ, 00:32:15.080 |
because I know that if you have a non-Christian 00:32:31.120 |
"I can't let you go until you answer this prayer," 00:32:37.920 |
And again, and then not just to pray for them, 00:32:43.400 |
to be proactive to share the gospel with those people. 00:32:46.440 |
And then ultimately that God would use our church, right? 00:33:05.340 |
So it's easy on Sunday just to kind of, you know, 00:33:07.840 |
go to our safety zone and see the people who are familiar 00:33:10.480 |
and just gravitate toward them and spend that day 00:33:18.920 |
because there are non-Christians who are coming. 00:33:25.780 |
that there are non-Christians here, pray for them. 00:33:34.740 |
That's something that the whole church needs to do. 00:33:42.940 |
is something that God calls all of us to do, right? 00:33:50.820 |
to spread the gospel and to spread it urgently, 00:33:56.140 |
thinking that we're gonna be here forever, right? 00:34:03.400 |
to as many people as possible, to as quickly as possible, 00:34:06.500 |
that we would also have that sense of urgency 00:34:09.900 |
Globally, pray for Pastor Alex, Jen, and their children, 00:34:15.380 |
they're gonna probably be here another eight, nine months, 00:34:21.100 |
that they would not just be in a holding pattern, 00:34:23.340 |
but that they would learn to be fruitful here, 00:34:29.580 |
they will be refreshed and ready to go, right? 00:34:34.040 |
As you've been, many of you are reading their newsletters, 00:34:37.280 |
they're very active in what they're doing over there. 00:34:51.160 |
You know, I don't post up everything that I get from them 00:35:08.160 |
where the COVID has made it very, very difficult, 00:35:11.520 |
where the persecution has intensified much more 00:35:14.760 |
because of COVID, and India was on the top of that list. 00:35:18.520 |
And again, all of that is being confirmed by the pastors 00:35:21.200 |
because the radical Hindus are using that as an excuse 00:35:26.600 |
and because the government is busy with COVID, 00:35:28.780 |
they're just kind of sweeping it under the rug. 00:35:31.100 |
But the pastors and their families are, you know, 00:35:33.500 |
are not any less active now than they were before, okay? 00:35:37.660 |
So if you guys can continue to keep them in your prayer, 00:35:40.020 |
keep them safe, to be bold and to be fruitful, 00:35:58.280 |
and they're all in the holding pattern, okay? 00:36:05.380 |
but wherever God sends them, that they will be fruitful, 00:36:11.740 |
for other people that may not have been reached 00:36:13.980 |
because of this, but that God would use it for that purpose. 00:36:26.080 |
We've been talking about what's going on here at home, 00:36:28.780 |
and you could see what's going on here, right? 00:36:35.420 |
And the Bible says that there's gonna be hatred 00:36:41.680 |
to the coming of Christ, persecution is going to increase. 00:36:51.660 |
And so if you know people specifically by name, 00:36:54.740 |
to take some time to pray for them specifically. 00:37:05.160 |
in some of the things that we need to pray for, 00:37:06.580 |
and we just kind of skim over the other things. 00:37:10.940 |
And then for your personal needs, after the repentance, 00:37:13.500 |
your personal stuff, pray that you will be diligent 00:37:16.060 |
to better prepare for the inductive Bible study coming up. 00:37:28.540 |
but that you would learn how to eat for yourself. 00:37:30.720 |
So really ask God that you would prioritize your time 00:37:34.860 |
to give the attention that the Word of God deserves, 00:37:39.060 |
and to really pray that God would help you to do that. 00:37:42.020 |
For your daily disciplines in the Word and prayer, 00:37:54.660 |
in your spiritual life that will revolutionize 00:37:56.620 |
your spiritual life than doing that on a daily basis. 00:38:01.120 |
I'll give you a lollipop if I'm wrong, right? 00:38:08.000 |
if you're not regularly praying, regularly reading, 00:38:17.260 |
there's no friendship, there's no church that you will go to 00:38:26.280 |
So pray, if that's not a regular pattern, to do that, 00:38:31.620 |
And then to have the courage to live obediently, right? 00:38:38.140 |
it's easy for us to just compromise and just, you know, 00:38:45.180 |
to be able to live worthy of the gospel that He's given us. 00:38:49.100 |
write down the prayer requests of others on the back. 00:38:59.300 |
like, we need to be socially distanced and all this stuff, 00:39:02.020 |
and so this is gonna be a little bit tricky, okay? 00:39:12.380 |
because again, we don't want too much movement, 00:39:14.580 |
but take about four or five people around you, 00:39:27.580 |
So ask them, "What prayer request, how can I pray for you?" 00:39:39.820 |
Then after that, we're just gonna give you a chunk of time, 00:39:48.300 |
You guys can go out, grab your chair, go outside. 00:39:54.100 |
but you're welcome to grab your chairs and go outside, 00:39:56.100 |
just to get away from people if you want, okay? 00:40:01.340 |
Take a few minutes, get their prayer request first, 00:40:04.620 |
and then let me pray for you before you guys go, okay? 00:40:12.020 |
You're only getting their prayer request, okay? 00:43:37.540 |
If you're done, if you could just kinda look this way, 00:44:27.540 |
I wanna give you as much time to pray as possible. 00:44:34.540 |
All right, as I said, you guys can stay in this room, 00:44:39.540 |
you guys can go outside, you can grab your chairs 00:44:54.540 |
because you can cover the whole topic of evangelism, 00:45:02.540 |
Pray for safety for the church, you're done, right? 00:45:06.040 |
So pray specifically, that's why I wrote this down 00:45:09.040 |
specifically, so go down the list and pray specifically. 00:45:12.540 |
Don't just read the sentence, pray for them by name, okay? 00:45:15.540 |
Some of you, like when I first learned how to pray, 00:45:26.040 |
like we just prayed out loud, like we were screaming. 00:45:38.040 |
when they said let's pray, it was just 3,000 people 00:45:44.040 |
it doesn't feel like prayer if I'm not crying out. 00:45:58.040 |
and actually having a conversation with God, right? 00:46:01.540 |
But when you're having a hard time concentrating, 00:46:05.540 |
So I'm not saying you need to pray out loud, but it helps. 00:46:11.540 |
if you're thinking about some trip you're taking 00:46:13.040 |
and then just like constantly, every two seconds, 00:46:18.540 |
So I'm not asking you to like scream or anything, 00:46:23.540 |
like you're talking to somebody else in front of you, 00:46:36.040 |
just 'cause I want my mind engaged in all of it. 00:46:38.040 |
But again, there are times when praying out loud 00:46:54.540 |
Don't give up because, oh, I have nothing more to pray, right? 00:47:04.540 |
you know, they were sleepy, of course they're sleepy, 00:47:09.540 |
that you need to wrestle in prayer, watch and pray. 00:47:11.540 |
And so we really need to learn how to do that, right? 00:47:17.540 |
tell me when you're not tired when you wanna pray. 00:47:19.540 |
Don't you always get tired when you wanna pray? 00:47:24.540 |
You need to learn, if you get up, drink something, 00:47:33.540 |
fight against your mind wandering with something else, 00:47:36.540 |
and to really come before God and to wrestle in prayer, okay? 00:48:01.540 |
If I can, I'm gonna call you back here at 8.50. 00:48:07.540 |
So again, it's praise and prayer, not praise and share. 00:48:12.540 |
So don't spend the rest of 15 minutes going around 00:48:15.540 |
saying, hey, I wanna, you didn't get to finish your thing, 00:48:21.540 |
just pray for the people that's on your card, okay? 00:48:24.540 |
'Cause I want you to take more time to pray, okay? 00:48:28.540 |
So let me pray for us and I'm gonna dismiss you 00:48:32.540 |
and then again, in 35 minutes, we'll be back here. 00:48:50.540 |
We know mentally, we know because of your word 00:49:04.540 |
I pray that you would help us to use the prayer muscles, 00:49:10.540 |
that you would give us a sense of urgency, Lord God, 00:49:14.540 |
I pray for our brothers and sisters who are fatigued 00:49:18.540 |
Lord, I pray that you would give them soberness, alertness, 00:49:29.540 |
And so we pray for guidance, we pray for your Holy Spirit 00:49:34.540 |
that we would engage in this spiritual battle tonight 00:49:38.540 |
that with all the things that are going around, 00:49:44.540 |
but against principalities and powers, Lord God. 00:49:46.540 |
So we pray that as we pray, that you would open our eyes 00:49:51.540 |
the demonic forces that are around us, Father God, 00:50:04.540 |
Okay, we'll see you guys in about 30 minutes. 01:24:56.540 |
All right, if you guys can stand with me for the final praise. 01:25:01.540 |
But before we do that, I'm gonna pray for us and finish, 01:25:04.540 |
and then we're gonna let the last thing we do end with praise. 01:25:08.540 |
I hope your spiritual muscles are sore tomorrow, okay? 01:25:12.540 |
So again, I know some of you guys may have been struggling through prayer, 01:25:17.540 |
and I can hear the chairs wiggling about 15 minutes into it 01:25:21.540 |
because some of you guys are struggling, but that's a good thing, 01:25:24.540 |
that you're wrestling through that, wrestling through your fatigue, 01:25:27.540 |
and when you get in the habit of keep doing that, 01:25:30.540 |
your prayer life, you'll see it getting strengthened, right? 01:25:34.540 |
If you're in the habit of quitting, as soon as it gets harder, 01:25:37.540 |
you're fatigued and you can't concentrate, that's gonna be a pattern also. 01:25:41.540 |
So hopefully that, again, as we said that we want to be a church 01:25:45.540 |
that is genuinely committed to prayer, that this is something 01:25:48.540 |
that will kind of continue to go down this path. 01:25:51.540 |
And again, not just when we're gathered together. 01:25:54.540 |
We gather together to do this because we want to encourage you 01:25:56.540 |
to do this when you're alone, to get in the habit. 01:25:59.540 |
So now that we've kind of wrestled through in prayer, 01:26:02.540 |
I know some of you guys, 30 minutes is nothing. 01:26:05.540 |
Some of you guys have prayed like that before. 01:26:07.540 |
Some of you guys, this may be the longest time you've prayed continuously. 01:26:11.540 |
So my encouragement to you is when you go home, set aside time, 01:26:14.540 |
whether it's at office or maybe in your car or maybe just somewhere else, 01:26:21.540 |
to come here and really learn how to pray and wrestle. 01:26:25.540 |
And so let me pray for us and then our worship team is going to lead 01:26:29.540 |
and then after that Pastor Peter is going to make an announcement. 01:27:06.540 |
All right, let me pray for us and then we'll finish with the closing praise. 01:27:11.540 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for giving us opportunity to pray. 01:27:17.540 |
We know that more than anything else that we do, 01:27:22.540 |
coming before you and asking your help, Father God, 01:27:29.540 |
I pray that you would open our eyes to be able to see things through your lens. 01:27:37.540 |
Lord, we live just day to day, Father God, forgetting, entangled, 01:27:44.540 |
trying to take care of our families, paying bills, 01:27:48.540 |
things that are going on at work and at home. 01:27:51.540 |
But in the midst of all of these things, Lord God, that distract us, 01:27:55.540 |
help us, Lord God, as we pray to have an eternal perspective. 01:28:00.540 |
Teach us what it means to truly be broken for the lost. 01:28:04.540 |
What does it mean, Lord God, to pray with tears, Lord God, 01:28:15.540 |
So help us, Lord God, to live by faith and not by sight. 01:28:21.540 |
Teach us this year specifically as we desire to be a church that really prays. 01:28:32.540 |
that we may be vessels used for your kingdom. 01:29:31.540 |
The sin I lived to crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 01:29:56.540 |
Lord, now indeed I find that Thine and mine alone 01:30:07.540 |
can change the land of spots and melt the heart of stone. 01:30:28.540 |
The sin I lived to crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 01:30:41.540 |
Never before, never when before, I've known, I've stood and known, 01:31:28.540 |
The sin I lived to crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 01:31:38.540 |
The sin I lived to crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 01:31:58.540 |
Oh, praise-- oh, praise the one who paid my debt 01:32:16.540 |
Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up 01:32:27.540 |
Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up 01:32:37.540 |
Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up 01:33:01.540 |
The sin I lived to crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 01:33:13.540 |
The sin I lived to crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. 01:33:29.540 |
Just to clarify, maybe what we could do is everyone on this 01:33:35.540 |
side, if you guys could put away your chairs, and then all you 01:33:43.540 |
But if you want to help grab these chairs and move it, then 01:33:46.540 |
please do so, and then we'll try to set up for Sunday, all right? 01:33:50.540 |
All the chairs on this side, just clear it up, and you guys