♪ He reckons on and pardoned from his sin ♪ ♪ The love of God is greater far than Tom or Ben ♪ ♪ Can ever tell ♪ ♪ It goes beyond the highest star ♪ ♪ And reaches to the lowest hell ♪ ♪ The guilty bear bowed down with care ♪ ♪ God gave his Son to win ♪ ♪ His erring child he reconciled ♪ ♪ And pardoned from his sin ♪ ♪ Oh God how rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless and strong ♪ ♪ Richer forever more impure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels sung ♪ ♪ Could we believe the ocean filled ♪ ♪ And were the skies of parchment made ♪ ♪ Were every stock on earth a quail ♪ ♪ And every man a scribe by trade ♪ ♪ To write the love of God above ♪ ♪ Would a dream be o'er ♪ ♪ No good could grow ♪ ♪ No strength from sky to sky ♪ ♪ Oh God how rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless and strong ♪ ♪ Richer forever more impure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels sung ♪ ♪ Oh love of God how rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless and strong ♪ ♪ Richer forever more impure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels sung ♪ ♪ Richer forever more impure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels sung ♪ inaudible] ♪ Worthy of every song you could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise you could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath you could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live through you ♪ ♪ Jesus in name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus the only one you could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath you could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live through you ♪ ♪ Oh we live through you ♪ ♪ Holy, 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 love to those around me ♪ ♪ Worthy of every song you could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise you could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the breath you could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live through you ♪ ♪ Oh we live through you ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus in name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus the only one you could ever save ♪ ♪ Jesus the only one you could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath you could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live through you ♪ ♪ Oh we live through you ♪ ♪ And holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none besides you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ And show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in love to those around me ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ There is no one like you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ And show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in love to those around me ♪ ♪ Lead me in love ♪ ♪ Lead me in 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 ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ - Church family, good evening.

Why don't we all come together and stand for our Lord as we sing this first song. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Sing it together, who has held. ♪ Who has held the oceans in his hands ♪ ♪ Who has numbered every grain of sand ♪ ♪ Kings and nations tremble at his voice ♪ ♪ All creation rises to rejoice ♪ ♪ Behold our God, seated on his throne ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ ♪ Behold our king, nothing can compare to him ♪ ♪ Nothing can compare ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ - Those giving counsel.

♪ Who has given counsel to the Lord ♪ ♪ Who can question any of his words ♪ ♪ Who can teach the one who knows all things ♪ ♪ Who can fathom all his wondrous deeds ♪ - Behold our God. ♪ Behold our God, seated on his throne ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ ♪ Behold our king, nothing can compare ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Let's felt.

♪ Who has felt the nails upon his hands ♪ ♪ Bearing all the guilt of sinful man ♪ ♪ God eternal, humble to the grave ♪ ♪ Jesus savior, risen now to reign ♪ ♪ Behold our God, seated on his throne ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ ♪ Behold our king, nothing can compare ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ - Sing now, you will reign forever, Lord.

♪ You will reign forever ♪ ♪ You will reign forever ♪ ♪ You will reign forever ♪ ♪ You will reign forever ♪ ♪ Behold our God, seated on his throne ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ ♪ Behold our king, nothing can compare ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Let's go and pray together.

Father, we thank you that you've gathered your church to come before you, to spend some extended time worshiping you and praying. Lord, help us realize our own weaknesses. Lord God, we so often rely on ourselves and our own strength, but help us, Lord God, understand we are weak, but when we trust and rely on you, Lord God, we are strong.

Lord God, may that be evident tonight as we pray that we seek your face, that the things, Lord God, out of our control may be lifted up, that the songs that we sing may be from our heart. From a desire, Lord God, to see your name magnified. Lord God, be with us to watch and pray.

Lord God, help us, Lord God, to humble ourselves, to seek you, Lord God, to honor you, Lord God, through our lives, but we need you and we need your spirit's power, Lord, to survive, to walk through this life, Lord God. I pray, Lord, that you remind us of that.

Lord, that it may cause us, Lord God, to pray fervently, that we may come in repentance, we may come, Lord God, in reliance, and that we come in reverence, Lord God. So I pray, Lord God, that as we spend some more time singing and worshiping you and an extended time praying, Lord, fill our minds with things, Lord God, that we see the need for prayer.

Lord God, that praying may become easy, Lord God, because we've worked through it and we've labored through it. So I pray for our church, Lord, that tonight may be a fruitful time, it may be a blessing, and that we may walk away from here encouraged and challenged to pray even more.

So we entrust this time to you in Christ's name we pray. Amen. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ In a land that is plentiful ♪ ♪ Where streams of abundance flow ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ When found in the desert place ♪ ♪ Though walk through the wilderness ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Every blessing you pour out ♪ ♪ I'll turn back to pray ♪ ♪ When the darkness closes in, Lord ♪ ♪ Still I will say ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your glorious name ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ When the sun's shining down on me ♪ ♪ When the world's all as it should be ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ - Blessed be, Lord.

(gentle music) ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ On the road marked with suffering ♪ ♪ Though there's pain in the offering ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ - Sing out every blessing. (gentle music) ♪ Every blessing you pour out ♪ ♪ I'll turn back to pray ♪ ♪ When the darkness closes in, Lord ♪ ♪ Still I will say ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your glorious name ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ You give and take away ♪ ♪ You give and take away ♪ ♪ My heart will choose to say ♪ ♪ Lord, blessed be your name ♪ - One more time, you can.

♪ You give and take away ♪ ♪ You give and take away ♪ ♪ My heart will choose to say ♪ ♪ Lord, blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your glorious name ♪ ♪ Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name, yes, Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your glorious name ♪ - Amen.

- Amen. (gentle piano music) ♪ I will trust my Savior Jesus ♪ ♪ When my darkest doubts befall ♪ ♪ Trust Him when to simply trust Him ♪ ♪ Seems the hardest thing of all ♪ ♪ I will trust my Savior Jesus ♪ ♪ Trust Him when my strength is low ♪ ♪ For I know the shield of Jesus ♪ ♪ Is the safest place to go ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ Help me trust You more and more ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ May my heart be Yours alone ♪ ♪ I will trust my Savior Jesus ♪ ♪ He has set His way as best ♪ ♪ And I know the path He's chosen ♪ ♪ Leads to everlasting rest ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ Help me trust You more and more ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ May my heart be ever Yours ♪ (gentle piano music) ♪ Oh, on that cross ♪ ♪ Oh, on that cross ♪ ♪ How it was seen ♪ ♪ I can go now ever trusting ♪ ♪ In the One who died for me ♪ ♪ What can I bring ♪ ♪ For Your gift is complete ♪ ♪ So I trust You, simply trust You ♪ ♪ Lord, with every part of me ♪ ♪ Oh, on that cross ♪ ♪ How it was seen ♪ ♪ I can go now ever trusting ♪ ♪ In the One who died for me ♪ ♪ What can I bring ♪ ♪ For Your gift is complete ♪ ♪ So I trust You, simply trust You ♪ ♪ Lord, with every part of me ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ Help me trust You more and more ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ May my heart be ever Yours ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ Help me trust You more and more ♪ ♪ Jesus, only Jesus ♪ ♪ May my heart be ever Yours ♪ And let's all be seated.

- All right, hopefully if you came into the room, you should have a prayer sheet with you, and if you haven't, you probably need to get one, okay? And we have, again, I should have plenty over there, and if you don't have one, we also do have a digital copy, so if you go on our church app, and they have that on there as well.

I'm gonna give us plenty of time to pray corporately, but I wanna give a short encouragement before we do that. You know, we've been studying through Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter three, and we're almost at a close, and I wanna read a passage that Apostle Paul, as he is wrapping up in chapter three, and he says, "Finally, brethren," in verses one and two, "pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly "and be glorified, just as it did also with you, "and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men, "for not all have faith." When you study the Bible, there are different periods of your life where the word of God makes much more sense.

You can relate to it. So when you are wrestling or struggling with something, and you're reading a passage where there's a crying out to God and desperateness, and you read that passage, and there's a completely different take on that, when not only do you understand it mentally, but emotionally, you're exactly where they are, right?

And then many of you parents can relate that you're talking about God's heart for us, and you understand it in a different way when you have your own child and the love that you have for your own kids and the kind of emotions that's attached to that. So we're able to understand God's emotions better because we're in that state.

So in various different places in our life, the word of God makes much more sense, and we have an attachment to it that we may have just superficially had and maybe even didn't know until we get to that point. Well, New Testament, in fact, the whole Bible, but in particular the New Testament, Apostle Paul's writing is written in the context of desperately seeking to save sinners.

And so when we're studying the Bible, and that's not our primary engagement in life, it's almost impossible to study the Bible emotionally. You can study mentally and say, "Well, this is what it's like. "Oh, this was what he must be like." It's just like reading a book or watching a movie, and you can kind of relate in the sense that I can imagine what that would be like.

But only when you are actually engaged in the same things that Apostle Paul is engaged in, you can understand his desperateness of why he would ask for prayer, of all the things that he could ask for. As he is wrapping up this letter, concerned for them, he is struggling, he's being chased everywhere, but the primary thing that's in his heart is that he says to pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly.

And he's not saying that this is a goal of my life. He says rapidly. There's a sense of urgency to get the gospel out as fast as possible to as many people as possible, and that he was going to live his life being burnt out. In fact, I think in Corinthians, when Apostle Paul says, "If I were you," again, not from the Lord, but from me, "I would ask that you would be like me." And I know a lot of people interpret that passage as Apostle Paul saying to stay single and maybe you have the gift of singleness.

I have a different take on that passage. I don't think Apostle Paul is simply asking people to be single. I think what Apostle Paul was saying was to be like him in the sense that he gave everything for Christ, that he was living his life day to day, going into villages, being chased out, stoned, and being shipwrecked, and that if you were married, you wouldn't be able to do that because you would have to take care of your family.

So he wasn't simply calling certain people to singleness. He was calling certain people to singleness so they could have an undivided attention. In other words, Apostle Paul was not saying that some of you may have been called to singleness, some of you may have been called to be married.

What he is saying is that the Lord is not requiring this of you, but I'm asking you to join me, to stay single, come with me and risk your life to get the gospel out to as many people as possible, as rapidly as possible. And so I think in our prayer, what we are always wrestling with is a sense of urgency.

We pray, but it's not urgent until something becomes urgent. We get sick, we lose a job, something tragic happens in our life, and then our prayer life gets lit. But otherwise, we have a tendency to kind of casually approach God. But this, when we understand soberly the position that you and I are in, that this really ought to be our own prayers.

This is not just Apostle Paul happened to be a great man and an apostle who did this. But every Christian should challenge ourselves that we would wrestle in this same manner. I want to get the gospel out. Whether you are a full-time ministry, whether you are a full-time homemaker, whatever position we are in life, that our primary sense of urgency should be to get the gospel to as many people as possible before we pass.

And I don't think anybody can argue on paper that that ought to be our greatest urgency. I mean, we have our life here, and we're headed to heaven in the midst of all these people who are headed the wrong way, and judgment is coming. How can that not be our greatest concern?

How can that not be our greatest pursuit? So he says, and if you notice, he says, "Spread rapidly and be glorified, that the word of God may be glorified." He's not praying that he would find more techniques. He's not praying that I would be able to do a better job.

He says that the word of God, that the word of God would spray rapidly and that the word of God may be glorified. In other words, that it would bear fruit. More people would come to Christ, just as it did with them. And then we will be rescued from perverse and evil if we not all have faith.

He could have easily avoided this persecution by not spreading the gospel urgently. Because of his sense of urgency to spread the gospel, those people who didn't believe, those people who didn't glorify the word of God, those are the ones who are attacking him. So when he's asking for prayer for protection, he's not asking to avoid persecution, because he's running into that.

It's what he's doing that's causing the hatred toward him. So he's not saying that protect us from this so that we can avoid it. If we go there, there's going to be persecution. If we go here, there's going to be trouble. He says, we're going to go. We're going to go preach the gospel.

And because we're going to preach the gospel, there's going to be some men who don't believe who's going to attack us, that he would protect us in the context of sharing the gospel. So why is this so important to us? When we pray with that kind of urgency, if our life is detached from how the apostles and how the New Testament is written, we can study it as a textbook.

We can study it for knowledge. And it's interesting. Of course, we have some kind of connection to it. But we don't really understand the emotional attachment, the sense of urgency, the desperateness that Apostle Paul had, that even in the midst of risking his life, calling other people to join him to spread the gospel.

So this evening, we want to take some time to pray, and to pray, again, with the sense of urgency. So if you look at the list, I'm going to just give you a chunk of time to pray. And again, I'm not asking you-- if you have desperate things that you need to pray for, this is not a task that you need to finish tonight.

But if you are wrestling with prayer, this is my suggestion that we pray corporately. First of all, pray as Apostle Paul asked that the gospel would spread rapidly. And for whatever the reason, the longer that we are a Christian, the sense of urgency kind of dies down, because we've done it for so long.

So let's pray, right? First of all, that we would have that sense of urgency. We're going to pray that the gospel would spread with urgency, and we're going to pray that God would give us a sense of urgency. For whatever the reason that we've been entangled and there is no sense of urgency to get the gospel out to as many people as possible, that God would deal with our own hearts first.

What is it that we're entangled with that's causing us to live day to day as if this is our home, as if we're not leaving, as if the people are not dying? What is causing us to forget that on a day to day, only to be reminded once a week or once every once in a while, and then say, "Oh, shoot, that's right." So let's come to the Lord and pray that we would live with sense of urgency.

Two, B, pray for specific people. Don't pray generally for the world. Pray specific people by name, the lives that you desire to share the gospel with. Maybe you've been hesitating. Ask God for courage and boldness to be able to share the gospel with these people, and to actually plan.

And any time you say, "I want to do this," and you don't actually implement and put it on your calendar, it usually ends with wishful thinking. And so after a while, you have a lot of things that you think you ought to do, and then you have a sense of guilt that builds.

But to actually pray. There are specific people in mind that say, "Oh, yeah, I mean, it'd be good. That person's in my life." But to actually plan to pray for them by name. Pray for the missionaries who've been displaced. Right now, there's many people who are on kind of standby.

As you guys know, Pastor Alex and Harry and their family, they're one of thousands of missionaries who are not in the field spreading the gospel right now. Pray for them, that God would use them to prepare them, so that when the doors do open up, Lord willing, that they'd go in even with a greater sense of urgency.

But along with that, that as they are waiting, that they're not just waiting. That the time that God has placed, whether it's a month or a year or even longer than that, that God would use them to spread the gospel wherever they are displaced for the moment. So let's pray for them, specifically for the people that I've mentioned.

And then pray for our Indian pastors. I've been communicating back and forth with them. And some of you guys may know that the COVID situation in India has become as worse as it can be. And so even the COVID vaccination centers are being shut down because they think it's too dangerous to gather.

So I've been talking to the pastors, and they're functioning like nothing's going on. The laws are not being enforced in the village area, so they're doing ministry like normal. They're still going to the villages. It's not that they're not aware of what's going on with the COVID, but they are committed to spreading the gospel.

So let's pray for protection. The persecution there has been intensified. As much as the COVID situation was intensified, the persecution is just as intense. So if you guys can keep that in your prayers as well. Those of you who have been with us to India, pray for specific villages.

Pray for specific pastors, not just the leaders, but main leaders, but pray for those people that you remember, if you can pray for them. Also, pray for the cafe event. I know this is not coming up until July. Our outreach team that's being led by our brother, June, and that team is preparing to have a cafe night to gather them together and to be able to share the gospel so that our church, not only for the cafe night, but the preparation for that, that we would be prayerful in reaching the lost, if you can pray for that.

Pray for Searchlight Ministry or College Ministry that started this year for the specific purpose of outreaching the campus, again, led by Pastor Nate. And if you can pray for the college students, that they would have, again, a sense of urgency on campus to spread the gospel to as many people as they can.

Pray for the nonbelievers who are coming to our church. I hope that you are aware that any given Sunday, there are a handful of non-Christians who are in the church. And so it doesn't make sense for us to go to foreign lands to preach the gospel if we're unaware and unwilling to do that when we're home.

So we actually have quite a few people who are being brought by members of our church who do not know the faith yet. So let's pray for those people who are coming, that the gospel message would not just be heard from the pulpit, but even in the fellowship. As you're having conversations, if you meet somebody new, if you're in the habit of always just kind of clinging to two or three people that you know, unaware that you may be surrounded by people who are in need of your encouragement or to even hear the gospel, that God would, again, change our mind, our attitude, and that we would be mindful of the non-Christians also who are coming to church.

And then if you can pray for our children. We have--they're not official members yet. They're members--they're children of the members of our church, most of them, and obviously most of them are not Christian. And so, again, that we would not have this attitude that they're kids. We're just going to teach them Bible stories until they become college students, and then we'll get serious with them.

And I think that, again, that's a wrong attitude for us to have, that they are non-Christians that need the gospel, and it's from a young age. So let's pray for their salvation, right, not just so that they would like the church. Again, if we're not careful, little children who are raised in the church are sometimes the hardest people to reach because they've been around Sunday school and heard gospel messages in a very nonchalant way without a sense of urgency, and they become inoculated to the gospel.

So that's not what happens in our church, that pray for our Sunday school teachers so that the Sunday school teachers would also have a sense of urgency, spread the gospel to the children, and that they would, again, be rewarded for doing so. So let's really pray for these things, right?

Don't just pray casually. Pray for the salvation not only of our own children, but, again, the children in our church. Pray for the persecuted church. I'm not going to get into too much detail. I strongly encourage you, if you go to the International Mission Board, IMB website, they have declared July--I think it was July or sometime in June-- the prayer--is it a day or a month--for persecuted churches.

If you sign up for that, if you go to the imb.org, if you sign up for that, they will send you information about what's going on around the world and the numbers of people who are being persecuted, what country to pray for, how to pray for them. And so if you--I highly encourage you to do that so that we can participate in praying for the persecuted church.

So I'm not going to get too into that, but as I've mentioned before, the persecution in the church is increasing drastically. Pray for wisdom in discerning what to fight for right now, because the churches are being divided, and that we would not divide over our opinions. No matter how strong our opinions are, that we would not divide over our opinions.

But at the same time, that God would give courage to the church leadership, not only us but in other churches, to divide when it is necessary. Unity at all costs is not unity. And again, right now, we need true discernment because the church is drifting so far away from the true message of the gospel.

There is a temptation to either overly be aggressive in dividing lines or sweep everything under the table where everything is good. And so we need wisdom. We need wisdom to know not to divide over opinions, but again, to have courage when it is time that we would not fear man but God.

So if you can pray for that, pray for the families of the Indian pastors, not only for the evangelists, but the families that are supporting them as well, if you can keep them in your prayers. Pray also for the leaders of our country. And as you guys know, the politics has become as ugly as I can ever remember that God would cause them to fear God.

Many of them, even if they're not Christians, profess to know God, but that there would be a fear of God in their lives that would cause them to have God-fearing policies. Pray for the Christians who are in the government, that they would have boldness to be able to share the gospel with other leaders.

And so let's take some time to pray for that. Pray also for the upcoming events at our church, your cafe outreach I mentioned already, 24/5 for the young couples in our church, college fellowship, brian seeds opening, that's this Sunday, film-o-ship that's happening. It's not May 8th, I think it's May 22nd.

And we're going to give a brief announcement at the end of our prayer time for that, if you can pray for that. Pray for our small groups, small group leaders, home group leaders, as we are wrapping up our study, that again, not only for them but for our whole church, that our inductive Bible study is not just, well, our church is doing it so we're just checking it off.

The reason why we're doing inductive Bible study this way is to encourage and challenge our church that we would do this even when we're not doing Bible study, that this would become a habit, a daily habit. And so that hopefully at some point that Bible study is happening in your life and every time you get together with other Christians, you would naturally have something to share.

Not only because you've been given an assignment, but that's become a habit in our life. So if you can pray for that as well, for your life and for the culture of the church. And then pray for the summer retreat that's coming up. There's a lot of logistical things that we need to work on because of the COVID situation.

We don't know where we're going to be. We are going to have it. The hotel is allowing us to come and we need to do everything we can. And I know that there are some people in the church still nervous about that. And we're praying that by August, that all of us, no matter what the situation, we can't hunker down forever.

And so we're going to challenge the church. We're going to encourage you to do your best to sign up for that and come out to that retreat and really try to get back on our feet and with full force, not just from a distance, but together that we would utilize everything God has given us.

And with the environment that God has created because of COVID, more and more people are willing to talk about faith and beyond this life. And so it's a great opportunity for our church to kind of regroup and then to go out together. And I hope that this retreat will serve for that purpose.

So if you guys can keep that in your prayer as well. Okay, so before I send you off and I'm going to give you about 35 minutes to pray. But before I do that, I'm going to give you a three, five minutes to turn around. You don't have to go far.

Right. And you can keep your distance. If you can get the prayer request of about three people around you and then put it on the back sheet. Okay. And then after you've done that, I'm just going to five minutes go by. So, you know, this is not share your deepest longings.

Right. This is like whatever is urgent you're praying for. Pray for that. And you're not going to have time to pray together. You're just going to share. Jot it down. And then when you go off to pray on your own, you'll pray for that along with these prayer requests.

Okay, so I'll give you five minutes. Just turn around. Don't move around. Just kind of turn your head. Whoever is around you in five minutes. But I tap the table. We'll begin our prayer. One minute. It should be the last person sharing now. Okay. We should be wrapping up.

If you're done, if you can turn your heads toward this direction for a minute before we get started. Okay. Okay. Alright, before I let you go and take the next 35 minutes, which means 8 to 8.50, and then we're going to be, we're going to wrap up things around 9 o'clock.

Just want to give you an encouragement of prayer, right? And just like we did last time we talked about it, prayer is a muscle that you have to exercise. That if you're in a habit of as soon as your mind starts wandering and you give into that, that's going to be a pattern continuously, right?

It's like, "Oh, I can't concentrate," or "I start to keep thinking about some movie that I watch," or "I have some urgent things that I need to take care of," and you just kind of let your mind wander, right? You give in and you just kind of let it go, and that's kind of like the habit that you're going to build, and so you can't pray, right?

So prayer is something that you have to be in a habit, just like starting the Bible. If you only study the Bible when you open it up and God speaks to you from the first line, right, you're not going to get your insight. That's why we do inductive Bible study, we take time.

Sometimes you may be sitting there 15 minutes and you don't get any insight, and after 20, 30 minutes of wrestling with this text, you start to see things, and all of a sudden once you see it, things begin to click, right? But that doesn't happen the moment you open up the Bible.

It's because you've wrestled, you put your time in it, and prayer is no different. There are some days when you're able to pray, something's going on in your life, and you can just jump into prayer right away, and then a lot of times, prayer requires a commitment, a discipline, that you choose to pray, right?

And you choose to pray over these things, and so you can just—that's why I've given you this, so that this can help you and guide you when you're wrestling and your mind wanders so you can read this and pray along this line. But again, I want to encourage you for the next 35 minutes to learn to wrestle in prayer, even if you felt like for the next 35 minutes, every two seconds, something else comes into your mind, but you were fighting that.

That ability to fight through that is also an important thing, even if you felt like that's all you did, that wrestling was necessary. And each time you do that, hopefully it gets better, right? So I want to, again, give you guys the opportunity to kind of spread out if you want, stay where you are, you can get on the floor if you want, but for the next 35 minutes, we'll pray, and then when we're about a minute or so away from wrapping it up, I'll just tap the table, and you'll know, okay?

All right, let me pray for us, and then we'll release you to take some time to pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for our brothers and sisters. Lord, that we may run this race together, that whether we are strong in our faith or whether we've been drifting, whether we've been Christians for many years, or whether we've just become aware of Lord God, of your presence, help us, Lord, to pray.

Though we are weak, we know, Father God, and we believe how important this is. The example that you've set, the example that Christ set, the clear commands of Scripture, and even our own past experiences, Lord God, of answered prayers, Lord, that we remember. I pray that you would give us a sense of urgency, that we would not simply coast along in this life.

Help us, Lord God, not only for us, but even for the next generation, that we would build a church that is grounded upon your word, that is desperate, Lord God, for your blessing and for your grace. And so we pray this evening that you would help us to pray.

Help us, Lord God, that our mind would not wander. Help us to wrestle. Help us to persevere. And help us, Lord God, to cry out to you, asking you to answer our prayers, Lord God, and to recognize, Lord, that we are just wanderers, soldier-in-resistance, just passing by, that we would not be entangled with this world.

So I pray for each one of my brothers and sisters here that you would help us, help us to struggle, help us, Lord, to stay sober and alert, that I know some of our brothers and sisters are fatigued after a long day at work, but that even more so, Father God, that you would teach us to pray.

So we ask for your anointing and your blessing in this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Okay. All right, let's pray. >> Okay, if I can ask the praise team to come back up. Okay, before we have our final praise, if I can have Grace come in. She's going to give a brief announcement about the film-morship that's happening.

And then I'll pray for us to wrap up the meeting and then we'll have our final song. Our final song and then I'll pray. Okay? >> Grace. >> Okay. Hi, everyone. My name is Grace. Two Sundays ago I went ahead and shared that we were going to have a women's fellowship, a sister's fellowship.

And it's not going to be May 8th. That's actually the last date to sign up. So that's one week from tomorrow. So we're really trying to push this event out. May 22nd is the date that you want to keep in mind. There's no slide here, but it's essentially a film fellowship.

We're going to get together and have a time of -- so sorry. Got kind of nervous for a second. I'm kind of looking at faces and it's a little dark. But it's a really, really awesome event. For those of you who are new to this church or have never attended one of these events, it's a great way to meet other sisters.

This is going to be from high school and up. And it's going to be May 22nd, 830 to 1230. This is for the ladies, but I was just thinking for the gentlemen, whether it's your wives, your girlfriends, future girlfriends, sisters in Christ, invite them. Push them to come and be in prayer at the time, too.

I would say for the husbands, be supportive. Watch the kids. It means a lot. But anyway, so if you have any questions, we do have -- the e-mail should have been pushed out. You can talk to Carrie Chang about it. And it's also on social media as well through Facebook.

If you have any questions, just let me know. But it's going to be pretty wonderful. It's the first women's event since the lockdown, so we're excited. There is a virtual option, but we really want to push for this in person. It makes so much of a difference. Her name is Darlene Dibler-Rose.

If you'd like to look her up just before you come, she is a missionary from Papua New Guinea, and she's phenomenal. You won't forget. Thanks so much. Church family, let's all rise together. What can wash away our sins? What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Your blood speaks a better word than all the empty claims I've heard upon this earth. Your blood speaks righteousness for me, stands in my defense. Jesus, it's your blood. What can wash away our sins? What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can wash us pure as snow? Welcome, dance the friends of God. Nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood, King Jesus. Your cross testifies in grace, tells of the Father's heart to make a way for us. How boldly we approach, not earthly confidence, it's only by your blood.

What can wash away our sins? What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can wash us pure as snow? Welcome, dance the friends of God. Nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood, King Jesus. What can wash away our sins?

What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Okay, so before I pray, I want to again encourage you and remind you that on Sundays, we left 15 minutes before the service so that we can have corporate prayer. And so we encourage you to come out 15 minutes and just spend some time in your person of prayer, preparing for worship, praying for the needs of the church.

And if you happen to be in the room or in that time for doing whatever you're doing, please try to respect the time that we have so that we can pray. But again, we want to encourage you to at least mentally have it in mind that our worship starts 15 minutes earlier so that that can be a habit that we have.

Okay, so let me pray for us. Gracious Father, we thank you so much for our church, the fellowship that we have with one another. I pray that each time we gather together, that iron sharpening iron, that we may be sharpened toward you in times of discouragement and in times of rejoicing, that we truly would be a church, Lord God, that we are, we'll be better than when we are alone.

And so help us, Lord God, to be a church dedicated to prayer, that even though we are weak, that this is something that we can grow and to be strengthened in each month, each year. And just asking, Lord God, that not only your word, but much more in prayer, Father God, so that all that we do would honor and glorify you.

So we thank you, Lord God, that believing in our hearts, Lord, that you have heard us, and that when you do answer the prayers that we've offered, help us, Lord God, to be sober, to know that it is you being gracious to us, that we may rejoice and worship you and thank you as well.

So we bless your name, Father, for all that you are and all that you've done. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Turn the lights on. I do have a quick announcement. Okay, quick announcement. Our sister, Susan Fong-Rae, was able to secure our extra parking, not right behind us, but behind our new building.

So there's a building behind that. So if you park on the wrong side, you might get towed. So make sure you know what you're doing. That building and right behind that, there's about 60 or 70 parking spots there. So if you happen to come late, which you shouldn't, but if you did, check that parking lot, and then there is a path that you can cross across.

There's a gate, and so it's actually a pretty close parking lot. So starting from this Sunday, it will be open. So if you happen to want to check that out, and if you don't know how to get there, ask somebody. So it'll start opening this Sunday.