Praise and Prayer (5/8/26) | Pastor Seung Kang

Thank you. Thank you.

God bless you. Church family, good evening. We're going to go ahead and start our service with this first song, His Mercy is More. Just encourage us to come before the Lord. It's because of his mercy that we're able to come together to pray.

And it's been a bit, it's been a while since we've had a praise and prayer. So I encourage us to come before the Lord with many supplications, just a humble attitude, especially as we get to pray together in this corporate setting.

Praise the Lord, his mercy is more, stronger than darkness, new everyborn, sins they are many, his mercy is more. Let's sing it together, what love What love could remember No wrongs we have done A nation tall knowing He counts not their son Thrown into a sea Without bottom or shore Our sins, they are many His mercy is more Praise the Lord His mercy is more Stronger than I miss New every morn Our sins they are many His mercy is more What patience will wait as we constantly roam What Father so tender is calling us home Here welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the bold Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more Praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new evermore Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more What riches of kindness he lavished on us His blood was the payment, his life was the cost

We stood near the debt we could never afford Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more Praise the Lord Praise the Lord His mercy is more Stronger than Agnes, new and more My sins, they are many His first. One more time. Praise the Lord. His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness to every morn. My sins, they are many His first. Stronger than. Stronger than darkness, new evermore, our sins they are many, his mercy is lost.

All right, good evening church family. It's such a joy and a privilege to be here on this night to praise the Lord and lift up our prayers to Him. You know, the Lord said His house is a house of prayer. And what a great joy it is to come gather together with my brothers and sisters to lift up our supplications to the Lord. And so before we start our worship, let's prepare our hearts, go to the Lord in prayer, and ask Him to lead us this evening, okay?

Heavenly Father, we come to praise you. Lord, it is your mercy that brought us here. Even though we were dead in our sins and trespasses, because of your great mercy, you've made us alive together with Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. And because we are redeemed by your precious blood, we are gathered together as a church to pray and to praise you for all the good things that you have done for us. And so, Lord, as we prepare our hearts for praise and prayer, I pray, God, that you will be honored with the songs of our lips, but you will also be pleased and delighted to hear your children lifting up their prayers to you. And so, Lord, we ask that you will be honored this evening, and we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. Let's stand together. Who, O Lord, could save themselves Their own soul could heal Our shame was deeper than the sin Your grace is deeper still One more time, oh Lord Who, oh Lord, could save themselves Their own soul could eat The shame was deeper than the sea Your grace is deeper still You alone can rescue You alone can save You alone can lift us from the grave You came down to find us Let us out of death To you alone belongs the highest praise You, O Lord, have made a way The great divine duty And when our hearts are far away, your love went further to death, and yes, your love goes further still.

You alone can rescue, you alone can save, you alone can beat us from the grave. You came down to find us, let us out of debt To you alone belongs the highest free To you alone belongs the highest free

We lift up. You alone can rescue, you alone can save You alone can lift us from the grave You came down to find us, let us out of death To you alone belongs the highest free To you alone belongs the highest praise. You alone belongs the highest praise.

This life is an altar Where I want to offer My soul, my mind and strength Pleased by your mercy To live a life worthy Of the one who called my name Jesus be glorified Jesus be magnified Let me be the pleasing sacrifice Jesus be glorified Jesus be magnified Here at the altar My life is there offer you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. You offered my rescue. You laid me up from dead to Your spirit is in me, revealing your glory, oh what joy, as I give my life.

Jesus, be glorified, Jesus, be magnified, and may be a pleasing sacrifice. Jesus, be glorified, Jesus, be magnified, here at the altar. My life doesn't offer me. I choose to lose my life, Lord, and find it in you. I choose to lose my life, Lord, and find it in You, I choose to lose my life, Lord, and find it in You, I choose to lose my life, Lord, and find it in You.

Jesus, be glorified, Jesus, be magnified, and meet me a pleasing sacrifice, Jesus, be glorified, Jesus, be magnified, here at the altar. My life is an offer to me Again, good evening, church. Tonight's topic is going to be on revival, and the topic for our message is revival. So I'm going to read for you 2 Chronicles 7, verse 11-14 as our text for the evening.

So 2 Chronicles 7, verse 11-14. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, and my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now let me give you some context to the text that we just read. Solomon just had completed construction on the temple, and he dedicated the temple to the Lord. And Solomon prayed during this dedication ceremony, hollowing God's name, thanking God for fulfilling his promise to his father David to always have a successor on the throne and to build a temple for his name.

Solomon then asked the Lord to hear the cries of his people and to forgive them and to heal them when calamity befalls them. And God responded and said, when my people humble themselves and they pray and they seek my face and they turn from their wicked ways, I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. And I open with this passage from 2 Chronicles chapter 7 because God, he said, when my people pray, this is a possessive noun. God is referring to his people, the ones who are called by his name. He said, when my people humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, he said, I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, I will heal their land. That is a revival. It is when the people of God are awakened to the truth, humbling themselves before God, seeking him and turning from their wickedness.

I was reading Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones' sermon titled, What is Revival? And he explained revival in this way, and I quote, he said, a revival is a period of unusual blessing and activity in the life of the Christian church. Revival means awakening, stimulating the life, bringing it to surface again. It happens primarily in the church of God and amongst believing people, and it is only secondly something that affects those who are outside also. And I agree with Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones that a revival happens primarily in his church. Revival must happen with Christians before revival can happen elsewhere. God said, my people who are called by my name, if they humble themselves and pray, he said, I will hear them from heaven.

If we want to see change, if any of us here are burdened by the moral ills of our society and we are longing for godly virtues and godly morals to be restored in our land, the church must be revived first. And since judgment begins at the house of God, revival also must begin with the house of God. In other words, it needs to start with me because I'm part of the church. And I'll be honest with you, when I get busy and have a full plate of responsibilities, I sometimes get stuck in this routine and that makes me grow apathetic towards personal devotion time and and even in my own personal prayer time. And when I find myself in this rut, I notice I try to find strength in myself to muscle through it.

But eventually, I get tired and don't really feel the urgency to pray or even read the Bible sometimes. And when I do this, it doesn't just affect me, but it starts to affect people around me. And I fail to redeem every opportunity to be more proficient in serving my church and others. George Whitfield, who was influential during the Great Awakening, he said that prayer is the fan of the divine life whereby the spark of holy fire kindled in the soul by God is not only kept in, but raised into flame. Oh man, when I read this, I was so challenged. You know, all the faithful ministers in the past understood that the secret to their public ministry was not in their eloquence or how much knowledge they had acquired over the years.

But it was first and foremost found in private prayer. It was found in time spent alone with God in secret. And so when I realize I have neglected my private prayers, which is the source that should fuel my ministry, that is when I come before the Lord in humble submission and repent by saying, God, I am sorry. I am sorry for being so arrogant. You know, I thought I could sustain this on my own. How prideful of me to think that I could accomplish anything without you. You are the vine. I am the branch. And you have told me that apart from you, I can do nothing. So how prideful was I when I thought that I could carry this on my own.

And you know, there are several times where I had to come before the Lord to say, forgive me for thinking that I can do this alone. Would you please help me to abide in you? And so even for me, I have to ask God to revive my apathetic heart. And you know, from time to time, God's regenerate people backslide into lifelessness and even lethargy. You know, all of us can be stuck in a rut of spiritual apathy. And perhaps maybe some of you who are here today are in that place of spiritual apathy. And when the church is apathetic and it becomes indifferent to prayer and daily intake of God's living word, that is when we become weak. That is when we become ineffective in the world that we need to be lights in.

And this is why we need the giver of life, who is the Holy Spirit, to revive us. Not renew us as in regeneration, but to revive us, to break us out of our spiritual apathy so that we can once again be convicted by our own sins, rejoice in our salvation in Christ, be bold in our witness, and have a great regard for the word of God, have great regard for the worship of our God, and have a renewed commitment towards missions.

Now, a true revival is when the truth is proclaimed and people respond in faith and repentance. And I want to read for you a few passages of scripture to drive this point home this evening. In the Old Testament, we see revival happening with God's people when the high priest Hickiah discovered the book of the law and he read it to King Josiah, who was the king of Judah.

And King Josiah, when he heard the reading of the word of God, he tore his clothes, which was a sign of mourning and repentance. And afterward, King Josiah had the book of the law read to the people of the land, and he was calling for national repentance. And in 2 Kings chapter 23, verse 3, the word of God says this, the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to carry out the words of this covenant that they were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant. Josiah was a good king. He was a righteous king. And you know, because of him, he brought sweeping reform to the land of Judah.

He called for a time of national repentance. He ordered that the people of Judah enter a covenant with their God to walk after the Lord and to keep all of his commandments. And the scripture tells us that the people agreed, they repented, and they entered into the covenant with the Lord. King Josiah then cleansed the temple of all pagan idols. He destroyed all these high places where they were worshiping these pagan gods. He restored the observance of the Passover because they haven't practiced the Passover since the time of the judges. and he removed the mediums and the spirituses that were in the land. And so Josiah, he responded to God's word and he was blessed for it. He brought reform to his nation because he turned to the Lord with all of his heart.

And because of King Josiah's faithful leadership, you know, he actually delayed the judgment of God for his people. That is revival. That is true biblical revival. We also read of Jonah preaching in Nineveh. In Jonah chapter 3 verse 4 and 6 it says, Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk, and he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. Then the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. Many of us know that Jonah, he was a reluctant preacher.

He did not want to preach to the Ninevites because the Ninevites were enemies of Israel. But Jonah also knew that our God was a gracious and compassionate God who will forgive the Ninevites if they repent. And so many of us are familiar with this story. Jonah attempted to flee. He was swallowed by a big fish. The Lord commanded the fish to spit him out. he was given a second chance from the Lord he went back and he preached to the Ninevites and so Jonah went to Nineveh and he announced judgment to the Assyrians and can you imagine the sight of this man, he was just spit out of a fish and in a one day's walk he was pronouncing to the Ninevites, in 40 days judgment is coming and when Jonah preached the people of Nineveh, they believed God and they repented. Even the king of Nineveh joined in repentance and he issued a decree throughout the land calling for all the citizens of Nineveh to repent. And I believe this is because God knows his own. And even among the Ninevites, I believe, were the elect of God who was called to salvation. And God ordained Jonah to announce judgment to put the fear of God in their hearts and lead them to repent so that he would not have to destroy their city. The people of Nineveh repented. They had reverence for God, and there was a national reform turning people away from their wickedness, from their violence.

That was a true revival. Then we move on to the New Testament. On the day of Pentecost, The reported 3,000 souls that were added to the church were saved because they heard the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you know, when the men were cut to the heart, it says, they were asking the apostles after they heard this great message, men, what must we do to be saved? Then Peter answered them and said in Acts chapter 2, verse 38, he says, repent, repent. And each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then in verse 41 it tells us, So then those who had received his word were baptized and that day they were added about 3,000 souls.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. The Holy Spirit was working to bring the multitude to salvation. Following the Apostle Peter's message, The multitude responded with contrition in their heart, and they repented. There was a genuine turning from sin and submitting to the Lordship of Christ. And there was this renewed hunger to learn from the Scripture. They were devoted to the apostles' teaching. And we just read that they continued in prayer and the worship of God. That is revival. And let me give you one more example of a true revival. And for this, we have to fast forward in history from the time of Pentecost to the colonial period in America to examine what many of us are familiar with, which is the Great Awakening.

And, you know, for us to truly appreciate the work of God during this time, we have to understand the state of the church in the early colonies. You know, as many pilgrims journey to the American colonies to enjoy religious freedom, some actually began to experience prosperity. so they no longer relied on God for their daily bread. Wealth brought complacency toward God and as a result church attendance and even membership declined in the colonies. And you know many pastors and ministers wishing to make it easier to increase church attendance, many of these leaders allowed membership without a public testimony of conversion. And so the church in the early period in the colonies were attended largely by nominal Christians. And many of the ordained ministers themselves, they didn't know Christ. And so they themselves could not lead the people to Christ, who is their chief shepherd. But then God began to move and he had ordained the preacher by the name of Jonathan Edwards to be used during the Great Awakening. And I have to admit, until recently. I didn't know too much about Jonathan Edwards. I knew of Jonathan Edwards. I didn't know too much. But in preparation for this message, I've read articles. I read books. I even watched documentary videos of Jonathan Edwards. And you know, I come to appreciate the contribution that Jonathan Edwards did during the Great Awakening. And I appreciated the fact that God worked through

this man during that time. And what was so interesting is that I learned that Jonathan Edwards, he was monotone. Nothing was impressive about this guy. But the words that he spoke on the pulpit, it had weight. It had conviction. And so people were listening. And you know, even though his method of speaking lacked enthusiasm, the words that he were spoken to the people of that time, it was powerful. When he preached his most famous sermon titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, it actually awakened people to the truth. And I want to give you an excerpt from his message. Maybe you'll be convicted by it. This is just a short example. He said, on that day, the bow of God's wrath is bent and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God and that of an angry God without any promise of obligation at all that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood."

You listen to that. How could you not be convicted when you're in your sin? When you neglected God, when you stopped asking God for your daily bread because you became a God unto yourself, where you lost dependence on the one true God who is the one who's providing for you. A reverend named Stephen Williams, he was in attendance at that time. He heard Jonathan Edwards deliver this famous sermon and he described Jonathan Edwards sermon as a most awakening sermon. And he wrote in his diary, and I want to share this with you too because this is important. He said before the sermon was done, there was a great moaning and crying out throughout the whole house. People were saying, "What shall I do to be saved?

Oh, I'm going to hell. shall I do for Christ? So that the minister was obliged to deceased. They're asking Jonathan, please stop the message. It's too convicting. It's too challenging. Shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing. And then he goes on to say, the power of God was seen and several souls were hopefully wrought upon that night. And all the cheerfulness and pleasantness their countenance that received comfort. Oh, that God would strengthen and confirm their new faith. Jonathan Edwards, he frequently had to ask the congregation to control themselves so that he had to finish his sermons. And because of his preaching and the work of the Spirit, history tells us that individual lives began to change and soon after the colonies started to change. The Great Awakening in America had tremendous results. Following that, church membership increased as lives were being genuinely changed. There was a renewed concern for missions. Even many higher educations were established to equip young men for the ministry. That was a true revival. So with these examples, let me provide you with the marks of true biblical revival and the reason I'm doing this is because it seems like almost every event today labeled Christian is called the revival if there's a big attendance if it's exciting if it produces emotional responses and gains attention from media they immediately call that a revival but are some of these events a true

outpouring of the Spirit of God? And how do we know if an event is an actual revival? Martin Laurie Jones wrote in his book titled Revival, he said, "Revival is not the church deciding to do something and doing it. It is something that is done to the church, something that happens to the church. It's not gimmicks, It's not some pragmatic approach to evangelism where we get together and say, let's put out this event and we'll call it a revival. It's something that God has to do. It is not a mere playing on the emotions either. Because Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, and I quote, emotionalism, and especially any artificially produced emotionalism is undoubtedly a great hindrance to revival because it brings it all into disrepute.

so what are the marks of a true revival well the first mark of revival is that there's preaching of repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ revival is an emotionalism it isn't producing feelings of excitement with messages that only highlight the love and purposes of our God for sinners revival never ignores sin or the sinner. True revival happens when sinners know that they are under the sentence of divine judgment from God. And yes, sinners need to know that they are sinful. Sinners need to know that they are depraved and that by nature they are children of wrath. And once they realize that, that is when we introduce grace and we tell them but God but God demonstrated his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

We proclaim Christ crucified and we plead with all men to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the markings of a true revival. then the second mark of revival is conversion when sinners hear the gospel a fear of the lord will fill their hearts and they will repent of their sins and turn to christ for the forgiveness of their sins and for everlasting life and yes people will initially agonize over their sin in fact some people might be offended they will agonize over their sin and that's what happened with me when I realized that the law was good and that the law was given for law breakers and that the law if it is used rightly it is lawful but then Paul said here's a noteworthy saying that deserves full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners and when the gospel was introduced to me I felt agony over my sin I felt conviction over my sin and just like the men at the day of Pentecost just like the men and women at the preaching of Jonathan Edwards I had to cry out and say what must I do to be saved but that agony quickly turned to rejoicing in the grace of God because just as I read but God demonstrated his love for us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us and when we have knowledge of the gospel that's when we're compelled with humility to surrender our life to Christ as Lord and the third mark of revival is that the church will multiply

in its membership you know we read in Acts chapter 2 verse 47 that the Lord added to the number of the church those who are being saved and I want you to note that very carefully it is the Lord who was adding to his church and in Acts chapter 5 verse 14 we read all the more believers in the Lord multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number the church multiplies because the converts understand the importance of corporate worship. They understand the importance of the life of the church for a believer. And so the church will multiply in members. The fourth mark of revival is that believers will have a great regard for worship in the Word. We read in Acts chapter 2 that following the revival on the day of Pentecost, many had believed and were baptized, and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Notice it says that they continued. It wasn't just a splash in the pan. It wasn't just a momentary high where they came because they felt emotions. It was a lasting thing. They continued. And finally, a mark of true revival produces a great regard for holiness.

We are commanded in Scripture to obey Christ. We are commanded in Scripture to imitate Christ. And to be holy, just as our Lord is holy. You see, when biblical revival happens, there will be an abandonment of the old life. Because all those who are in Christ, Scripture tells us, are new creations. Old things have passed away, behold, all things become new. You and I, who profess faith in Jesus Christ, we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. And do you know what this means to you? This means you give up your old sinful activities. For some of you men who are in addiction, you delete those apps that lead you to sexual sins. and for everyone here you end your worldly relationships you break up with your unbelieving boyfriend and girlfriend everything and anything that offends and grieves the Holy Spirit who is residing in us now we must abandon you walk away from everything and anything that grieves our Lord and so we cannot call something a revival if there isn't repentance from sin we cannot call it a revival if there's not a great regard for the local church we cannot call it a revival if there is no high priority for corporate worship if there is no desire for the reading of scripture if there is no desire for prayer and if there is no desire for personal holiness we cannot call that a revival and you know coming back full circle I know we desire revival to happen in our nation

we want revival to happen in the world if we want to see this kind of revival happen in our generation in our time revival must happen with the church first it must happen with us it must happen with me it has to take place with me before it takes place anywhere else and so I want to exhort everyone here to pray pray to the Lord that revival happens with the Lord's people pray that his people called by his name will humble themselves to pray and to seek his face turning from their wicked ways pray that the Lord will revive your own heart first don't pray Lord revive them what you should be praying is Lord revive me first just like David wrote in Psalm 139 he says search me oh God and know my heart try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and leave me or lead me in the everlasting way true revival must happen with us true revival must happen with us and that is why we're going to take some time to pray and the first thing that we're going to pray for is to ask God to search your own heart to reveal anything in your life that is not right with him?

Do you have besetting sins in your life? Do you have sins that you're keeping secret? Confess that to the Lord. Ask the Lord to search your heart. And you know, when you ask a sovereign God to search your heart, you better believe he's going to search your heart.

Be honest with your prayer. Ask the Lord to search your heart. What is there? Ask the Lord to draw it out. The things that are hindering you. And secondly, ask God to break any stubbornness and hardness of your heart. Three, ask God to grant you a deep conviction of sin, repentance, and a renewal fear of God. And number four, ask God to give you a spiritual hunger and fervency. Don't just settle coming to the well once and drink it and say, I'm done. Brothers and sisters, you and I, we need to constantly go to the well and drink from the well. Christ gives us living water, and we need to go there daily. We need to read his word. We need to pray. so ask God to give you a spiritual hunger and fervency and then ask God to fill your heart with passion to see the lost saved so at this time we have the front rows open here there's a steps here you guys could come and kneel and pray here if you want to I'm going to give everyone 10 minutes to pray this personal prayer and then we'll come back and then we'll do the second half okay so you guys could use the front row here and then we'll come back in 10 minutes and then pray for the second one Thank you.

Thank you.

Father God, we come before you humbly. We ask for your mercy. Lord if we have grown cold if we have gone spiritually apathetic Lord revive us if we have been running the race with our arms to the side and not running with endurance God revive us so that we may run with endurance give us strength Lord and if there is besetting sins if there is things in our heart that we have been hiding God we are broken over our sins and we ask that you forgive us Lord we know that you are close to the broken and that a broken and a contrite heart you will not despise and because we know this truth we're able to come to you and we ask that you will search our heart and know our ways and we ask God that you would help us to always cling to you to not neglect our time with you so that we may constantly draw from you your truth and that we may live in accordance to your truth help us lord to have the urgency knowing that you have commissioned us as a church to go out there and make disciples of all nations and so as you give us strength as you revive our hearts help us lord to have a heart for the gospel so that we may go out and witness to the lost use us lord for your glory for your purpose and god i pray that you'll be honored with our service to your kingdom and so lord thank you for this time and we pray this in the name of jesus christ amen Secondly, I want to ask you as a church to pray for revival.

First, ask God to give us a great desire to obey the Great Commission. Number two, ask God to convict hearts and draw people to repentance. It is only God who can grant repentance to sinners, and so we must ask the Lord, right? And number three, ask God for a renewed passion for prayer. and number four ask God to raise up godly leaders to lead his church and so if you'll bow with me again to pray for these things make your petitions known unto the Lord he hears us and so I'm going to give you some time to pray for those things and then we'll come back and break off into groups so we could pray as a group as well okay so I'll give 10 more minutes to pray for these things Let's pray.

Thank you. Thank you.

Father God, your word of promise is that your people who are called by your name, if they humble themselves and they seek you and they forsake their way, that you will hear from heaven and that you will forgive and you will heal the land. Lord, we ask that you would start a revival in our generation. As you start with us, I pray that you would use us to go out there and be a witness for your son, Jesus. Help us, Lord, not to be ashamed of the gospel, knowing that it is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. And I pray that whether we're on college campuses, whether we're out in spectrum, wherever you send us, God, out into the mission field, I pray that we will be bold to speak the truth and that those who hear, I pray that you would grant them repentance so that they may escape the snares of the enemy and come to true saving faith in you.

God, use us. Use us for your glory because we know that we are your workmanship that you had created in Christ Jesus from the very beginning for good works. So God, humble us, help us, Lord, to seek your grace, and help us, Lord, that in all of our evangelistic or missionary efforts, that we would know that you are the one who is being honored. And so, Lord, thank you again for listening to our petitions, to listening to our cries, and we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And finally, I'm going to just ask you to pair up into groups, maybe groups of four, and pray as a group for the upcoming summer events. We have a lot of events coming up here at church. First is the foundation of marriage class. Then we have the distinctive classes and then the all church retreat. So, you know, you could pray for the leaders, the pastors here who are preparing for the foundations of marriage classes, but also the distinctive class. And you could also pray for Dr. Yuan as he is scheduled to come join us for the retreat. You know, pray that the message that he shares with our church will help us understand our identity in Christ and to redeem that identity so that we may live for Christ and I pray for all our church members that that will be a blessed time so pray for that and then also pray for upcoming mission trips we know that the Korea team is scheduled to go in July so please keep them in prayer ask the Lord to open

doors for them so that they could minister to the people in Korea so if you guys could pair up into groups pray for these things and then I'll come up close us in prayer and then have the praise team come up and close us in the closing prayer praise as well okay so a few minutes to pray as a group if you guys could pair up into Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, let's say a word of prayer, and then we'll have the praise team close us out with praise. Lord, we want to thank you for giving us an opportunity to even pray for the church. Lord, it just shows the health and vitality of the church, where we have so many programs in the summer. And God, as we are preparing for these summer events, I pray for all the volunteers. pray for our guest speaker who is coming to the retreat. Lord, I pray that in an act of worship, we will learn to honor you and knowing that it is because you have given us the privilege to serve in this way, that in everything that we do, whether it's from child care or welcome to snacks, ushering, I pray God that we would always understand that we're able to do this as a privilege and that we are serving you in an act of worship. So Lord, thank you for Just allowing us to bring our prayer petitions to you, and I pray, God, that you will be honored.

And we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's all stand together. You alone, the dweller of my heart, mighty King, how beautiful you are, how beautiful, Son of God, the Father's gift to us. You alone were broken on the altar of love Precious lamb, our freedom's in your blood It's in your blood Jesus, oh holy one I sing to you Forgiven, Savior I'm overcome With your great love for me Son of God Son of God Strengthly I'll come there You alone The darkness cannot bear, Lord of God, your kindness draws me near, it draws me near.

Son of God, the prophecy of all, you alone, Redeemer of my soul, come again and lead your people home. Come, lead us home, Jesus, O Holy One, I sing to you, forgiven, Savior, I've overcome with your great love for me. You are worthy, you are worthy, you are worthy of all my praise. You are beautiful, you are beautiful, I will lift up my hands and sing.

One more time you are. You are worthy. You are worthy. You are worthy of all my praise. You are beautiful, so beautiful. I will lift up my hands and sing.

Jesus, O Holy One, I sing to you, Forgiven, Savior, I'm overcome with your great love for me. Father thank you and again of all that we had heard and everything that we had said to you in our time of communing with you in prayer help us to remember and guide us Lord in your grace and we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ amen and that's going to conclude our praise and prayer I do have one request if we have some strong men if you could stay behind to help us set up for Sunday service so please stay behind if you can to help set up the chairs and roll up the carpets in the front and yeah thank you Thank you.