♪ He rules with justice ♪ ♪ Only a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and behold Him ♪ ♪ The one and the only ♪ ♪ Cry out, sing holy ♪ ♪ Forever a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and worship the holy God ♪ ♪ What other glory consumes like fire ♪ ♪ What other power can raise the dead ♪ ♪ What other name remains undefeated ♪ ♪ Only a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and behold Him ♪ ♪ The one and the only ♪ ♪ Cry out, sing holy ♪ ♪ Forever a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and worship the holy God ♪ ♪ Come and behold Him ♪ ♪ The one and the only ♪ ♪ Cry out, sing holy ♪ ♪ Forever a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and worship the holy God ♪ ♪ Who else could rescue me from my failing ♪ ♪ Who else would offer His only Son ♪ ♪ And who else invites me to call Him Father ♪ ♪ Only a holy God ♪ ♪ Only my holy God ♪ ♪ Come and behold Him ♪ ♪ The one and the only ♪ ♪ Cry out, sing holy ♪ ♪ Forever a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and worship the holy God ♪ ♪ Come and behold Him ♪ ♪ The one and the only ♪ ♪ Cry out, sing holy ♪ ♪ Forever a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and worship the holy God ♪ ♪ Come and worship the holy God ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Come and behold Him ♪ ♪ The one and the only ♪ ♪ Cry out, sing holy ♪ ♪ Forever a holy God ♪ ♪ Come and worship the holy God ♪ (congregation applauding) (gentle music) ♪ Worthy of every song we could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for You ♪ ♪ Jesus, the name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one we could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for You ♪ ♪ Oh, we live for You ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ There is no one like You ♪ ♪ There is none besides You ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ And show me who You are and fill me with Your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in Your love to those around me ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy of every song we could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for You ♪ ♪ Oh, we live for You, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, the name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one we could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for You ♪ ♪ Oh, we live for You ♪ ♪ And holy, there is no one like You ♪ ♪ There is none besides You ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ And show me who You are and fill me with Your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in Your love to those around me ♪ ♪ Oh, holy, there is no one like You ♪ ♪ There is none besides You ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ And show me who You are and fill me with Your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in Your love to those around me ♪ ♪ Those around me ♪ ♪ Lead me in Your love ♪ ♪ Lead me in Your love ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon Your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in You alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon Your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in You alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like You ♪ ♪ There is none besides You ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ And show me who You are and fill me with Your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in Your love to those around me ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like You ♪ ♪ There is none besides You ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who You are and fill me with Your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in Your love ♪ ♪ I will build my life ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon Your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in You alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ All my life for You Lord ♪ ♪ All my days for You Lord ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon Your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in You alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon Your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in You alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Be shaken ♪ ♪ When the music fades ♪ ♪ All is stripped away ♪ ♪ And I simply come ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music continues) ♪ The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend ♪ ♪ The agonies of Calvary ♪ ♪ You the perfect Holy One crushed Your Son ♪ ♪ Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus thank You ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus thank You ♪ ♪ Once Your enemy ♪ ♪ Now seated at Your table ♪ ♪ Jesus thank You ♪ ♪ By Your perfect sacrifice I've been bought near ♪ ♪ Your enemy You've made Your friend ♪ ♪ Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace ♪ ♪ Your mercy and Your kindness no knowing ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus thank You ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus thank You ♪ ♪ Once Your enemy ♪ ♪ Now seated at Your table ♪ ♪ Jesus thank You ♪ ♪ Jesus thank You ♪ ♪ Thank You ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for You ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for You ♪ ♪ For You ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for You ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ Church family, welcome to our praise and prayer night.

Let's spend just a few more moments just to prepare our hearts for tonight. So let's spend some time in prayer. (soft piano music) , Father God, thank You so much for this opportunity that we get to come as a church to pray to You. No matter how our weeks have been, Father may we come just desiring to meet with You in prayer.

I pray that we could find our rest in You, that we could put all our trust in You. Father may we come before You with reverence and humility, knowing that You are a holy God. Also come just knowing that we can find our peace in You, knowing that You are faithful, and faithful to Your own promises as well.

So may tonight be a blessing to You, Lord. Thank You in Christ's name we pray. Let's rise as we sing these praises. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) I forgive you. ♪ I'm forgiven because You were forsaken ♪ ♪ I'm accepted, You were condemned ♪ ♪ I'm alive and well, Your spirit is within me ♪ ♪ Because You died and rose again ♪ Sing I'm forgiven.

♪ I'm forgiven because You were forsaken ♪ ♪ I'm accepted, You were condemned ♪ ♪ I'm alive and well, Your spirit is within me ♪ ♪ Because You died and rose again ♪ ♪ Amazing love, how can it be ♪ ♪ That You, my King, would die for me ♪ ♪ Amazing love, I know it's true ♪ ♪ It's my joy to honor You ♪ ♪ In all I do, I honor You ♪ Sing I'm forgiven.

♪ I'm forgiven because You were forsaken ♪ ♪ I'm accepted, You were condemned ♪ ♪ I'm alive and well, Your spirit is within me ♪ ♪ Because You died and rose again ♪ ♪ Amazing love, how can it be ♪ ♪ That You, my King, would die for me ♪ ♪ Amazing love, I know it's true ♪ ♪ It's my joy to honor You ♪ ♪ In all I do, I honor You ♪ You are my King.

♪ You are my King ♪ ♪ You are my King ♪ ♪ Jesus, You are my King ♪ ♪ Jesus, You are my King ♪ ♪ Amazing love, amazing love, how can it be ♪ ♪ That You, my King, would die for me ♪ ♪ Amazing love, I know it's true ♪ ♪ It's my joy to honor You ♪ ♪ Amazing love, amazing love, how can it be ♪ ♪ That You, my King, would die for me ♪ ♪ Amazing love, I know it's true ♪ ♪ It's my joy to honor You ♪ ♪ In all I do, I honor You ♪ ♪ In all I do, I honor You ♪ (upbeat music) (gentle music) ♪ All creatures of our God and King ♪ ♪ Lift up your voice and with us sing ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Thou burning sun with golden beam ♪ ♪ Thou silver moon with softer gleam ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, oh, praise Him ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Let all things their Creator bless ♪ ♪ And worship Him in humbleness ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ And praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, oh, praise Him ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ All the redeemed ♪ ♪ All the redeemed washed by His blood ♪ ♪ Come and rejoice in His great love ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ has defeated every sin ♪ ♪ Cast all your burdens now on Him ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, oh, praise Him ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ He shall return ♪ ♪ He shall return in power to reign ♪ ♪ Heaven and earth all join to sing ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Then who shall fall on bended knee ♪ ♪ All creatures of our God and King ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, oh, praise Him ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, praise Him, oh, praise Him ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ (soft music) ♪ Oh God, before the mountains were brought forth ♪ ♪ Your days of spring and summer filled the earth ♪ ♪ From everlasting ♪ ♪ You are God ♪ ♪ We dwell beneath the stars in ancient skies ♪ ♪ A thousand years are nothing in Your sight ♪ ♪ From everlasting ♪ ♪ You are God ♪ ♪ And all our days are housed within Your hands ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ ♪ Oh God, when joy and tragedy collide ♪ ♪ And loss reminds us life is but a sight ♪ ♪ From everlasting ♪ ♪ You are God ♪ ♪ And all our days are housed within Your hands ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ ♪ We rest within Your plan ♪ ♪ Oh God, of light our ways are known to You ♪ ♪ But by Your grace You're making all things new ♪ ♪ So satisfy us in our numbered days ♪ ♪ Establish every effort while we wait ♪ ♪ From everlasting ♪ ♪ You are God ♪ ♪ And all our days are housed within Your hands ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting ♪ ♪ And all our days are housed within Your plan ♪ ♪ Your perfect love and favor have no end ♪ ♪ We rest within the wisdom of Your plan ♪ ♪ Everlasting God ♪ - Amen, you may be seated.

Can we have the lights turned on? Okay, all right, that's good. I want to read the text of the Lord's Prayer and then let me pray and then I'll give you a brief encouragement. And so today our prayer is gonna be a little bit different where I'm gonna have you guys break up into small groups first and then we'll have individual prayer at the end.

And the text is in Matthew chapter six, verse nine. It says, "Pray then in this way, "Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. "Your kingdom come. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. "Give us this day our daily bread "and forgive us our debts "as we also have forgiven our debtors.

"Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil "for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory "forever and ever, amen." Let's pray. Father, give us understanding. Give us a spirit of prayer, of reconciliation, of repentance, of urgency, Lord God, to spread Your word and Your truth.

A deeper conviction, Father, of the things that we already confess. A sharpening reality, Lord, of Your presence in our lives. A brokenness, Lord, for the loss that is around us. A sense of compassion, Father God, for those who are hurting. Help us, Lord God, that we may intercede and to pray and to beseech You this evening.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I wanna give you an outline of the Lord's Prayer because this is, the disciples, as they were watching Christ and His miracles and all that was happening, and obviously they saw a man who was deeply convicted in prayer and in practice prayer, and so of all the things that they could've asked, they said, "Lord, teach us how to pray," and so as you know, the Lord's Prayer is Jesus answering that question of how to pray.

Typically, we have a tendency to think that I need to get things in order in order for me to pray effectively. So our natural tendency is, well, I gotta get my needs met. If we're sick, if there's a need in our home, or maybe there's things that I'm struggling with, and so let me deal with that first, and until my life is in order, I can't really come to God and to pray effectively.

If you look at the order of the Lord's Prayer, it's exactly the opposite, where first and foremost, they beseech the Lord in His, "Hallowed be His name, "His will be done on earth as it is in heaven," and then He gets into their personal request, give us this day our daily bread, and lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil, and so our natural tendency, again, to think that somehow we need to get right so that we can pray.

The Lord's Prayer actually does exactly the opposite. In fact, in James chapter four, verse seven, it says, "Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, "and he will flee from you," right? "Submit to God, therefore, resist the devil, "and he will flee from you." So it's in that order. You don't flee from the devil, and you don't get things in order so that you can do the will of God.

He says, "First, do the will of God," right? Part of the reason why we can't do the will of God, part of the reason why we don't have a passion for the lost and why there's an issue of why do I not feel a sense of urgency in sharing the gospel, maybe because we're not seeking His will first, right?

Maybe there's things that we need to bring in order first so that I can win over temptation, and to be delivered from evil, right? So we begin by Him saying, "Hallowed be your name," right? "Hallowed be your name," meaning God's name be glorified. If you know John Piper's book where it says, "Mission exists because worship doesn't," meaning that even in missions, even in evangelism, the central person or the purpose of missions is God.

Before we even are concerned about salvation of the lost, if we're not connected to God, if our primary purpose isn't to bring honor and glory to God, you miss the whole point of even missions. It becomes God-centered. So if you look at this prayer, the focus of the prayer is not man.

Focus of the prayer is God. God is the main character, main focus of our prayer. So He said, "Hallowed be your name." May your name be magnified, right? And then He says, "Your kingdom come. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." So first and foremost, when we pray, we are seeking His will, right?

Before we come to God with petition. There's sicknesses, these are our desires, and all of these things God said. God desires us to pray, but before we do that, we need to make sure that our life and our will, our heart, is surrendered to His will. You can't live your life seeking your will, and then said, "Lord, would you answer my prayers?" Because your prayers are your will, right?

We need to make sure that even our pursuit is His will. And so what I wanna do this evening, before we get into anything else, I wanna take some time to seeking His will. And so the Bible makes it crystal clear what His will is for us. His will for us, I don't know if I, yeah, His main focus of prayer is not man, but God's name and God's will to be done.

So I wanna pray for missions. So I'm gonna break you guys into groups of maybe about three, and no more than four, and we're gonna take some time seeking His will. So the Bible makes it very clear. You know, say, "Is it your will that I go to this school, "marry this person, or live here, or do that?" There's nothing in the Bible that will clarify for you, other than your own heart, whether that's God's will or not.

God doesn't have you be a doctor, you be a lawyer, you work here, you work there. The Bible will never answer that question. The Bible will judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart. What is your motive? Why are you asking this, right? And so first and foremost, we need to make sure that our hearts are surrendered to His will, and the Bible makes it very clear what His will is.

His will is that His name be glorified, and the way His name's gonna be glorified is that the people who are in rebellion under God is restored, right? That's His primary purpose. This is the reason why you and I are here, gathered in our church. This is the reason why Christ came, to seek and save the lost.

This is the reason why He's being patient, and He hasn't come already 2,000 years ago. He said, "In order that more may come into the kingdom." So everything He's doing is for that purpose, to glorify His name by bringing the lost to Christ. So the first and foremost, we wanna take our time to pray for missions, okay?

So before I break you up in the group, actually, let me break you up into groups first, and then we're gonna watch this video that was sent from Taiwan, Pastor Alex and his family. So we're gonna get a brief update, and the prayer request that they've sent. So we're gonna take some time to pray for them, and then we're gonna get to the second part, where we're gonna pray for the Easter that's coming up in our church.

So why don't you guys break up into groups of three and four, okay? So you don't have room to move around. You're gonna have to just turn around and grab a couple people, okay? (audience chattering) Yeah, just turn around. All right. Just get comfortable, stay where you are. All right.

Okay, if you have your groups, we're gonna watch the video and update from the Hans, okay? Do I need to get out of the way? You can see over me, right? - Hi, Brian, we're the Hans. (speaking in foreign language) We live in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and we've been here for a little bit over a year, and we just wanted to send you this video to share with you some updates on our family and in our ministries.

- Our family life and our ministry life are really busy, so one of our prayer requests is to ask God to protect our family time, that we would use the time that we do have all together intentionally, also for the kids, for their salvation, and that they would be able to have their own personal relationship with Christ, and for their classmates and their classmates' families as well.

A lot of the families that go to the kids' school, they are not believers, so we wanna be really purposeful in reaching out to them. And I think that's it for our family right now. - Yeah, and in terms of our ministry, one of the big prayer requests is just evangelism.

We come across churches, our local partners, and there's just a huge need to train up an evangelistic heart culture in the churches, and that means engaging with the lost. And at the church that we're serving at right now, we hosted two evangelism trainings, one in English, one in Mandarin, and it was really great.

But one of the heartbreaking observations we made was there are just people who've never heard the gospel, and that was something that was mind-blowing to me personally, and it reminded me that while Taiwan is very comfortable and open and, we are not on neutral grounds. There is a serious darkness that exists on this island and has been preventing, or the church has not been faithfully preaching the gospel.

And so we wanna really pray for just having that evangelistic spirit here on this island and especially down here in the South where we are at. Our second prayer request is to pray for Easter. You know, we are excited about Easter. We wanna celebrate and we wanna talk about the risen Christ.

And so pray that churches here in Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung, we could really be engaged in preaching Christ risen from the grave. And lastly, just pray for leadership development. At the church that we're serving at, we are, this weekend actually, we're starting a leadership development course, and we're really excited about that.

We're hoping that people will be theologically equipped and be ready to serve the Lord in whatever capacity, whether as a missionary, whether as a pastor, or maybe even just a team member of a church plant. And so we're really excited about that. And so please join us in praying that God would raise up new leaders to really help with the ministry here in Taiwan.

Within the next 10 years, a good portion of pastors are gonna be retired. And so we really need to be prayerful about raising up and equipping the next generation of leaders. And so we're just, again, thankful for all your support. We're looking forward to seeing you guys here on the island sometime in the future, but we're just always gonna be praying for a Berean, and we always want to always remember that.

So thank you again for all your prayers. Thank you for all your support. Thank you for all the kind words that you have privately said to us. And we just pray that we'll see each other again soon. All right, thank you, guys. Bye. - Zaijian. - Zaijian. - Okay, before you go into prayer, again, I just wanted to reiterate, we are in the talks, Pastor Alex, even starting from last year, they're doing evangelism projects in the church, and they've asked us to come.

So that's one of the things that we're working on in that coming year, maybe not summer, and I know that we're kind of beginning to get ready for Korea, but we're in talks that possibly, maybe sometime in October, November, that we'll begin sending short-term missionaries out there, mission teams out there, and it'll probably be a short one, maybe going on a Thursday and come back the next Saturday so that the people who are working can take just a week and maybe a couple days off to be able to go and help them with evangelism.

So that's one of the things that we're working on, and as soon as that gets confirmed, we'll let you know, and we'll probably start recruiting maybe sometime in the summer for that. Taiwan is an interesting country, 'cause we are gonna be praying for Taiwan. It's an open country. They've had the Western influence there for so long.

Obviously, it's a free country where it's democratic. You can freely preach the gospel there, but the gospel has never taken root there. It's been, I think it's like 1% or 2% of the country that's Christian and very superstitious, and so they're not necessarily hostile to the gospel, but they're very hardened toward the gospel, and so there's a great need for the gospel to bear fruit in that country.

When we pray for the family, pray for all the things, that one, two, three, you guys can divvy it up in your group to pray, but for any missionary, no matter where they go, whether they go to Taiwan or China or wherever they go, the greatest sacrifice that any parent makes in going out to missions is their children, and knowing that every decision a parent makes is what is the best for their child, what's gonna make them the happiest, but every missionary that packs up their bags and goes overseas, first and foremost, has to sacrifice the comforts and things that most of our children have here, and so one of the biggest things that we need to pray for is for their children.

We have so many children out in the mission field who struggle as the parents are doing the work, and a lot of the missionaries end up coming back because the children have such a hard time adjusting to wherever they are, and then because they begin to rebel and move away from God, many missionaries end up coming back home for the sake of their children, so one, let's pray for what they've asked for, for that the children will come to faith early, if you can pray for those things, and then the second part of it, ministry prayer, they're actively engaging in evangelism.

He told me that they went door to door, and it kind of awakened the church because evangelism is not something that's emphasized in that country. It's just kind of, you know, they just kind of accepted the fact that people aren't open. It's kind of like Orange County. They just assume that people are not interested, and he told me that once they went out and started going door to door and just talking to people, realizing how many people know nothing of the gospel.

It's not that they've heard it and rejected it. They don't know it at all, so the churches there are not actively evangelizing. The Christians there are not sharing their faith, and so he told me that one of the main goals of the church now is to mobilize and to begin to do evangelism, and that's why he is hoping that at some point we will be able to bring our team out and to do some training and then to go along with them to kind of do a catalyst for evangelism for not only that church, but other churches that will get involved, so if you can pray for that, and then obviously they have Easter coming up, so pray for that, and then the leadership development in the church, okay?

So if I can break you up into groups of three like you are, just assign different people, and then when you guys are ready, maybe in about seven minutes, I'll call you guys back, and then we'll get to the second part, okay? All right, so just turn around. Assign the people to the prayer topics.

(congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) (congregation chattering) And for the second part, and you can continue to pray for the things if you haven't finished yet, but for the second part, I wanna pray for the Easter week that's coming, the Passion Week that's coming.

As we're praying for God's will to be done, again, before anything else that we seek, we know that this is His heart. The Bible says, "If you abide in me, my words abide in you. "Ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." If there's anything that we have confidence that God desires to answer is the prayer to get the Gospel out, to seek and save the lost.

So I have three prayers, but again, obviously, it's not limited to these things. First of all, pray that there will be a spirit of urgency to spread the Gospel, not just, oh, it's important, and that's something to be done, and we have a team that goes and evangelizes, but each one of our hearts, that if you haven't prayed fervently for the lost, first and foremost, that God would open your eyes and soften your heart.

An honest question that we need to be asking ourselves is, how do I confess that I'm living around and in the context of people that we confess that when Christ comes are going to be judged for eternity and yet not feel any compassion? I'm more concerned about my bills being paid.

I'm more concerned about the school that I'm trying to get. I'm more concerned about my children's health, and I have very little concern for the people who do not know Christ. There's something off, right? Something has happened to our hearts. Something has seriously gone astray, and so first and foremost, that every time we do this, it's not just for the lost.

The Church needs to get to a point where spreading the Gospel and interceding for the lost becomes our second nature. That every opportunity we get, that your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So that God would use this week, and that you would use this week to really reawaken.

If you strayed and your heart has been hardened, I don't know how many of you can honestly say that God has used you to bring somebody to Christ. If you've never, and you've been a Christian for 5, 10 years, and you have never brought a single person to Christ, maybe that's something that you can really put on paper, right?

"Lord, I want to be able to share the Gospel and bring someone to Christ." So along with that, I'm going to ask you, not like, "Oh, I did my part, I cleaned the Church," and all those things are important. We have various, like, different gifts, but to really be able to intercede on their behalf and to pray so that God would awaken a soberness of what it is that we are doing.

Why are we gathered here together, right? And two, for yourself, and two, who are people around you that are not believers? It may be a family friend, it may be your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad, and uncle, maybe your co-worker that you're really close to, that you've been thinking, like, "I've got to share the Gospel with them, and this is a great opportunity to invite them to church where the Gospel will be taught, and maybe that'll spark an opportunity for you to share the Gospel." And don't just pray because, "This is somebody I need to check off." If your heart isn't hurting for them, come before the Lord in an honest confession.

"Why do I believe he's going to go to hell, and it doesn't bother me? Why is it just my duty? I checked, I prayed for them, but outside of that, how come that doesn't bother me?" Right? So that's something that we need to pray for, that ask the Lord to open my eyes that God had so much compassion, he was willing to send his only begotten Son, his only begotten Son, and yet our hearts so callous when we see the lost, right?

So before you pray for the lost generally, pray passionately for the people that you love, right? Pray passionately. Don't just pray passing. Pray passionately for people that you love, and cry out on their behalf, "Lord, save them. You have to save them," and plead on their behalf, okay? And then, obviously, through all of it, ultimately, we want God's name to be glorified, right?

If the church wakes up and prays and is concerned for the lost and lives in such a way where we're being the light in the world, God's name will be glorified. So let's pray specifically for Palm Sunday, where we kick it off, that even from then that we would pray earnestly, and then each night, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday we have the Passover meal, and then Friday we have the Good Friday service and communion, that each of the nights that the pastors are going to be going over the day, pray for that.

Pray for the various people who come and give their testimonies, and that even your co-workers, if maybe they're nominal Christians or they've fallen out, maybe those are opportunities for them to come and to pray and to interact. And then for Good Friday service, that the cross, that we would not be numb to what Christ has done on the cross, that we would really come to that service desiring to be broken, and then to be able to come on Sunday to celebrate early rise service, pray for that.

Pray for the non-Christians who will be joining us throughout the week, and especially on that Sunday. More people are willing to come to church on Sunday, on Easter Sunday and Christmas, than any other Sunday. And the Bible tells us to redeem every opportunity, and this is an opportunity that we have every single year in this country, and so we are surrounded by people who confess to be Christians and may not be.

And then we are surrounded by people who don't know anything about the gospel, but they think that they do. So let's take this opportunity first and foremost, pray for the people that you love, pray for your co-workers, pray specifically, by name, those people that you really want to bring them to Christ, and then secondly, pray for the specific events and the pastors and the people who will be sharing.

So let me break you up into your groups, divide these things, share the people that you want to pray for, and maybe after you pray for that, pray for the general events that are going to be taking place. Okay? So I'll call you back in about 10 minutes after you take some time to pray over that.

Okay? (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring)