(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good evening, church family.

We're gonna go ahead and open up our praise and prayer with a word of prayer, so please bow your heads with me. Father, we thank you for your grace, your love for us. Lord, we're so grateful, Lord, that we can come together as the body of Christ to spend some extended time in worship and singing your praises as well, Lord God, to come before you in times of prayer.

Lord God, help us utilize this time well, that as we knit our hearts together, Lord God, that as we pray for different things going on in our lives, that we may come humbled, realizing, Lord God, that you have the power to change things that we cannot. Help us to come before you, to beseech you with various things, Lord God, that we're going through in our lives, whether that be those that we love and care for that do not know you, whether it be the struggles of life, Lord God, that are bearing us down.

I pray, Lord God, that this time may be spent well, that we may draw closer to you, that we may understand your heart a little bit more, that we can come humbled, Lord God, as we approach the King of kings, the Lord of lords, as your children, that we have confidence because of the blood of Christ.

So, God, I pray that you be pleased with this evening. And again, so thankful, Lord God, that we can gather together on a monthly basis to do this, to spend extended time just worshiping you and praying. Again, we thank you for your loving kindness. It's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Why don't we all stand together as we sing? (piano playing) ♪ As we seek your face ♪ ♪ May we know your heart ♪ ♪ Feel your presence ♪ ♪ Acceptance ♪ ♪ As we seek your face ♪ ♪ At your feet we fall ♪ ♪ Sovereign Lord ♪ ♪ We cry holy, holy ♪ ♪ At your feet we fall ♪ Sing it, Jesus.

♪ Jesus, draw me close ♪ ♪ Closer, Lord, to you ♪ ♪ Let the world around me ♪ ♪ Fade away ♪ (piano playing) ♪ Jesus, draw me close ♪ ♪ Closer, Lord, to you ♪ ♪ For I desire to worship ♪ ♪ And obey ♪ One more time, Jesus, draw.

♪ Jesus, draw me close ♪ ♪ Closer, Lord, to you ♪ ♪ Let the world around me ♪ ♪ Fade away ♪ (piano playing) ♪ Jesus, draw me close ♪ ♪ Closer, Lord, to you ♪ ♪ For I desire to worship ♪ ♪ And for I desire to worship ♪ ♪ And for I desire to worship ♪ ♪ And obey ♪ (piano playing) ♪ ♪ Who has held the oceans in his hand?

♪ ♪ 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 ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ (piano playing) Who has given 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 ♪ (piano playing) ♪ Who has felt the nails upon his hand?

♪ ♪ 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 ♪ ♪ Behold our God seated on his throne ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ ♪ Behold our King ♪ ♪ Nothing can compare ♪ ♪ Come let us adore him ♪ Amen, you may be seated.

(footsteps) All right, as we prepare for our time of worship, can I have one of the lights turned on? Just maybe somewhere in the middle so I'm not speaking into the dark. Okay, there you go, I can see. That's good enough. All right, so just to kind of give you an outline of how we're gonna be approaching tonight for prayer is there's gonna be two parts.

The first part is going to be in our vertical relationship with God. And so I'm gonna give just kind of a few topics to pray for in our vertical relationship. And then the second part is going to be our horizontal relationship with our brothers and sisters and the world.

So the first part of it is when we talk about our vertical relationship with God, all our relationship with God begins with repentance and forgiveness. And so the first thing I wanna encourage you is to take time as we, after I give you the encouragement, the praise team's gonna lead us and we'll give you about 20 minutes just kind of uninterrupted time for you to pray, to sing along with the praise team.

Then I'll come up for the second part and we'll do that again the second time. But the first part of it is before we do anything else, to examine carefully are there things that we need to repent of? Let me read you a few passages about repentance. Isaiah 59, one through two, it's a description for the need for repentance.

And it says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short "that it cannot save, "nor is his ear so dull that it cannot hear. "But your iniquities have made a separation "between you and your God "and your sins have hidden his face from you "so that he does not hear." Right?

If there's unrepentant sins, you cannot pray, right? First of all, you have a difficult time praying, but even when you do pray, fervently, it says that God cannot hear because there's a separation. And so, anytime we come before the Lord with any sins in our heart, that needs to be dealt with first before we get to God.

God is not somebody we can turn on and off because we said some things to God, right? It's a relationship. So if that relationship has been hindered in some way because of our sins, that's the first thing that we need to examine. But when we talk about sin, you know, we typically think about the most obvious sins, right?

Whether you're struggling with purity or maybe you did something that you're clearly it bothers your conscience. But oftentimes, sin is a condition of our heart. It could be even pride. Whatever that causes you to be distant from God, you know, those are things that we need to confess. In Psalm 32, 2-5, David says, "How blessed is the man "to whom the Lord "does not impute iniquity "and in whose spirit "there is no deceit.

"When I kept silent about my sin, "my body wasted away "through my groaning "all day long." Meaning that when we know that there's things that we need to confess and repent and to be cleansed of and we, for whatever the reason, inconvenience, our pride, we excuse it, we see everybody else and at least we're not as bad as them.

For whatever the reason, we don't think, we don't understand the weightiness of this sin and when that happens, it says the Holy Spirit begins to groan inside of us because it desires to fellowship with the Lord and so David describes it as God's hand upon him. "For day and night "your hand was heavy upon me." Anxiousness, depression, how much of that within the Christian circle comes because of unrepentant hearts?

How much of our anxiousness, depression comes because there is a barrier between us and God because of unrepentant sins? He says, "My vitality was drained away "as with the fever heat of summer." There's no energy. How much of our spiritual apathy comes from unrepentant sin? How much of our desire to passionately serve the Lord yet because of unrepentant sin, because of compromise, that all the energy that we need for living a vital Christian life is drained?

He said, "I acknowledge my sin to you "and my iniquity I did not hide. "I said, "I will confess my transgression "to the Lord "and you forgave "the guilt of my sin." The first thing we need to do before anything else is confess sins. Confess sins that are obvious.

Confess sins of hindrance. Confess sins of lust. Confess sins that you've coveted in your heart. Maybe you're chasing after finances or money or safety or prestige or reputation. Whatever it may be that you're pursuing that you've allowed or you've excused as idle in your heart is hindering your walk with God more than you think you know.

More than you may be aware of. First and foremost, to examine that and come before the Lord in Psalm 51, 9 through 12, it says, "Hide your face from my sins "and blot out all my iniquities. "Create in me a clean heart." A repentant person is not just somebody who repents of an act.

He's a repentant of cleansing of my heart attitude, desire for purity, desire for the Lord. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Not something that you repent of and then you go back and then you fall right back into sin, but that you ask the Lord to cause you to be steadfast.

The word repent literally means to turn away. Turn away from the thing that caused you to sin and to be steadfast in the path of righteousness. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain with me the willing spirit.

One of the first things that happens with unrepentant sin is the joy for our salvation gets squashed, right? And you start to seek joy somewhere else. So when you see that happening there may be compromise in our hearts that we were loud or entertained. Things that you may be watching, things that you are pursuing, things that you are thinking when you have free time.

All of these things are idle thoughts that may cause you to squash the joy that God has given you for salvation. So first and foremost that we be sensitive to sin, sensitive to God's holiness and to come before the Lord in repentance. Along with that, second part is thanksgiving, worship, right?

After repentance the second theme is do I have a thankful heart? At the end of David's repentance he said, "Restore unto me the joy of my salvation." Do you have joy for your salvation? Paul says in Philippians 1, 3 to 4, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always offering prayer with joy in every prayer for you all." Again, it's a great verse to memorize but understand that Paul's writing this in prison.

You know how we often talk about you don't know what's in a person until they get squeezed? Paul's being squeezed in prison and joy and thanksgiving is coming out. So this is not joy and thanksgiving because of a circumstance, joy and thanksgiving because God answering all the prayers that they have but while he's sitting in prison, while people are preaching the gospel to put more pressure on him, he says, "I'm very thankful because he sees God in me." 2 Timothy 1, 3, "I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did as I constantly remember you in my prayer night and day." Remember the Corinthians, right?

If you've ever studied through the Corinthians, it's one church that really just went out of whack and yet as he's about to write this difficult letter to the Corinthians, he begins by saying, "I'm thankful to the Lord because of what God is doing." Despite chaos that is in this church, he says they're able to understand this letter because of God's work, right?

So his thankfulness was not dependent upon the great fruit or because there was no problem but because he saw God in the midst of that. And then so second thing about prayer when we get time to pray to actually think carefully what are you truly thankful for? Do you day to day exist and walk with God in thankfulness?

Of what you have, of your salvation or is your day filled with things that you don't like, things that you'd like to change or how much of it is grumbling in your heart, right? Or do you truly have a worshipful heart and to come before the Lord and think through carefully what you're thankful for and to express that thankfulness to God.

Second, third and finally to really commit to knowing God, right? Not just to give your time, not just to kind of stroll along, but are you passionately pursuing God? Paul says in Philippians again sitting in prison 3, 13 to 15, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching, straining toward what is ahead.

Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus." This is Paul sitting in prison possibly, possibly, right? Maybe dying and he may be at the end of his ministry and yet he says, "I'm straining, right? I'm pressing toward the goal to know God." And so the third part in our vertical relationship with God, are we just kind of strolling along just week to week, Bible study, fellowship or is there a sense of urgency to know God, right?

Again in 2nd Jeremiah 29, 13 it says, "You will seek me and find me when you search me with all your heart." When you search me with all your heart. So really come before the Lord and if your heart has become dry, we're just putting your time and just making it from week to week, but there is no sense of urgency to know God, that to take time to really build up your vertical relationship with God, that you're not just doing your Christian duty, but that you are genuinely worshiping God, genuinely thankful, genuinely pursuing Him to know Him, that that is your primary passion, okay?

So we're going to let our praise team lead us. I'm going to pray for us and then we'll give them some time to lead us and then after about 20 minutes I'll come back and lead us in the second part, okay? Let me pray for us before I let you guys go to pray.

Heavenly Father, we come before you asking for your guidance, your Spirit's power. Lord, we know that all our efforts, Lord God, can mean nothing and only lead to frustration, Lord, unless your Holy Spirit has mercy and grace on us. Help us, Lord God, to abide in you tonight as we pray, to depend on you, to remain in you, Father God, as you have encouraged us, warned us, challenged us, that we cannot bear fruit unless we abide in you.

Help us, Lord, to abide. Help us to persevere. Help us to cry out. Help us to seek you with all our hearts so that all that we desire, Lord God, will be centered upon Christ. So we pray for your anointing this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. ♪ Create in me a clean heart, ♪ ♪ O God, ♪ ♪ and renew a right spirit ♪ ♪ within me.

♪ ♪ Create in me a clean heart, ♪ ♪ create in me a clean heart, ♪ ♪ O God, ♪ ♪ and renew a right spirit ♪ ♪ within me. ♪ ♪ Cast me not away ♪ ♪ from thy presence, O Lord. ♪ ♪ Take not thy Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ from me.

♪ ♪ Restore unto me ♪ ♪ the joy of thy salvation, ♪ ♪ and renew a right spirit ♪ ♪ within me. ♪ ♪ Create in me a clean heart, ♪ ♪ O God, ♪ ♪ and renew a right spirit ♪ ♪ within me. ♪ ♪ Create in me a clean heart, ♪ ♪ O God, ♪ ♪ and renew a right spirit ♪ ♪ within me.

♪ ♪ Cast me not away ♪ ♪ from thy presence, O Lord. ♪ ♪ Take not thy Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ from me. ♪ ♪ Restore unto me ♪ ♪ the joy of thy salvation, ♪ ♪ and renew a right spirit ♪ ♪ within me. ♪ ♪ Cast me not away ♪ ♪ from thy presence, O Lord.

♪ ♪ Take not thy Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ from me. ♪ ♪ Restore unto me ♪ ♪ the joy of thy salvation, ♪ ♪ and renew a right spirit ♪ ♪ within me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Grace and peace, ♪ ♪ oh, how can this be?

♪ ♪ The lawbreakers and thieves ♪ ♪ for the world is the least. ♪ ♪ You have sent me ♪ ♪ that our judgment is death ♪ ♪ for all eternity ♪ ♪ without hope, without rest. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, what an amazing mystery, ♪ ♪ what an amazing mystery ♪ ♪ that your grace has come to me.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Grace and peace, ♪ ♪ oh, how can this be? ♪ ♪ The matchless king of all ♪ ♪ paid the blood price for me. ♪ ♪ Slaughtered man, ♪ ♪ what atonement you bring. ♪ ♪ The vilest sinner's ♪ ♪ hope can be cleansed, ♪ ♪ can be free.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, what an amazing mystery, ♪ ♪ what an amazing mystery ♪ ♪ that your grace has come to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Grace and peace, ♪ ♪ oh, how can this be? ♪ ♪ That songs of gratefulness ♪ ♪ ever rise, never cease. ♪ ♪ Loved by God ♪ ♪ and called as a saint, ♪ ♪ my heart is satisfied ♪ ♪ in the riches of Christ.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, what an amazing mystery, ♪ ♪ what an amazing mystery ♪ ♪ that your grace has come to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, what an amazing love I see, ♪ ♪ what an amazing love I see ♪ ♪ that your grace has come to me.

♪ ♪ Oh, what an amazing love I see, ♪ ♪ what an amazing love I see ♪ ♪ that your grace has come to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, what an amazing love I see, ♪ ♪ what an amazing love I see ♪ ♪ that your grace has come to me.

♪ ♪ Oh, what an amazing love I see, ♪ ♪ what an amazing love I see ♪ ♪ that your grace has come to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ As we sing this next song, I want to take some time to go over it.

I've just been reflecting on this theme a lot these days. If you can read the lyrics with me, it's called "I Want to Be Faithful." It's difficult sometimes to be faithful. And this song has been dear to my heart these days. Please read with me. Verse 1 says, "So many times I've failed and I have turned away, "but I will never leave, for you are so faithful.

"I can just see in you all that is just and true. "Less of me, more of you. I am your servant. "I want to be faithful to you. "I want to be true, Lord. "Whatever you say I will do, I will obey." Now, Verse 2, "Help me to walk in truth, never to stray from you.

"Lead me in righteousness, I want to follow. "Teach me to lose my life, that I will be found in you. "Better to lose it all to be found in you." Thank you, Jesus. So as we sing this song, I hope that will be our prayer, that we would come before a faithful God and that we would be faithful to him as he is to us.

So many times I've failed and I have turned away, but I will never leave, for you are so faithful. I can just see in you all that is just and true. Less of me, more of you. I am your servant. I want to be faithful to you. I want to be true, Lord.

Whatever you say I will do, I will obey. Help me to walk in truth, never to stray from you. Lead me in righteousness, I want to follow. Teach me to lose my life, that I will be found in you. Better to lose it all to be found in Jesus.

I want to be faithful to you. I want to be true, Lord. Whatever you say I will do, I will obey. I will obey. I want to be faithful to you. I want to be true, Lord. Whatever you say I will do, I will obey. I want to be faithful to you.

I want to be true, Lord. Whatever you say I will do, I will obey. The second part is our horizontal relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, first of all, and then to pray for evangelism. First of all, when we think about fellowship, again, we're not talking about hanging out with other Christians and doing meetings with other Christians.

We're talking about genuine fellowship where we're partnering together, where meeting up with other Christians causes you to be more passionate toward God and to take your faith more seriously, to be better worshippers. Again, we're not just talking about hanging out. And Ephesians 4, 1 to 3 says, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." And if you know, Ephesians chapter 4 is the beginning of the imperatives.

First three chapters of Ephesians basically outlines for us what God has done for us, our salvation, our election, predestination, our adoption. And then he ends the chapter 3 by saying that he's praying for them that they may know the depth and height and width of the love of Christ.

And then so in conclusion to that in chapter 4, he says, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling." So what is the worthy calling? The first thing that he says is, "With all humility and gentleness and patience." Our natural tendency is that when we get excited for God, that we're going to conquer the world for Jesus Christ.

But he says the first thing that he says is to be humble, right? With all humility and then with gentleness, with patience, show tolerance for one another in love. The practice of love is the first and the highest calling of a Christian. And so, yes, we need to fight for the integrity of the gospel.

We need to fight for what is right. But we need to first and foremost practice humility, gentleness, patience, and love. He says, "Be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That we are not to be overly quick to draw lines and say you're with us or you're against us.

The first and foremost that am I humble, am I gentle, am I patient, and am I a person known for love? In the context of all of this, we seek truth, right? We seek righteousness. But without it, right, no matter how righteous we think we are, we can do all of this and, again, be guilty of the most important thing that God has called us to do.

And so, first thing that we want to pray for is genuine fellowship, right? If you're hanging around with a lot of Christians, but fellowship is not taking place, that's the first thing that to really come before the Lord and pray that your friendships that you have, your Christian friendships, would really be true fellowship.

Second, if you have broken relationships, if you have something against, the easiest way to break up a household is to allow contention to linger year after year after year. The easiest way to break up the church is to have contention in the church and just let it linger year after year after year because from that moment on, you cannot work together.

You cannot worship together. You cannot strive together. So, all you have to do is to stiff arm enough people in the church in your life and fellowship is broken, right? Worship is broken. Labor is broken. Evangelism is broken. So, if there's any broken relationships before the Lord that you would come before the Lord and ask the Lord to help you to reconcile, right, to really make every effort.

And in order to do that, this is the reason why we need to be humble, right? If you're always fighting for the truth, if you're always--all you're doing is fighting for the truth, then take a step back, right? If anybody is listening or not because without humility, truth just sounds like knife, right, cutting people.

And so, in order to fight for truth, we need to have humility. In order to have true relationship, there needs to be gentleness being practiced and this is always cutting to me because I don't know how to be gentle, right? So, I'm always praying to be gentle. I'm always being rebuked for not being gentle enough.

So, this is an area that I need to be convicted in and then to be patient with one another, okay? So, reconciliation, right? If there's anything that I've done or slandered that caused this rift to happen, to come before the Lord in repentance and not just say, "I'm sorry," before the Lord, but to really ask the Lord how to pursue unity in the faith in the church to be restored.

The second part of it is obviously for evangelism, right? He says, "Make disciples by going, by baptizing, and to teach." One is going, right? You can be at church and not go. You can be in Bible study and not be going. You can just kind of check off the list that this is what Christians do, but are you actively going?

Going doesn't mean you have to go overseas. Going doesn't mean that, you know, necessarily that you have to be out on the street every single day. Going basically means that you are actively pursuing unbelievers, actively pursuing, not passively waiting for them to come, but actively pursuing through prayer, actively pursuing that God would open your eyes to see where they are, actively making engagement with non-Christians to share the gospel, not just passively letting it happen, right?

Are we going? Baptizing. Baptizing is converting, right? Just being a light with our life is not enough. Going to work and just being a good person is not enough. Baptizing means that our pursuit of them and make disciples is to bring conversion so they would be baptized and put away their old life and to embrace a new life.

That can't happen just by being a good person, right? Being a good example. And so are we baptizing? Are we actively preaching the gospel? Again, are we doing that passively only when people ask or are we actively seeking opportunities for this to happen, right? Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, right?

Whether by example or whether by teaching, small group, you don't need to be up in the pulpit to be a teacher, right? You can be the light. You can be the voice of God wherever you are, right? Now, along with that, and obviously we want to give you plenty of time to pray, but along with that, our horizontal relationship with God, pray for people who are broken, who are hurt, who are having difficult times around you, right?

If I ask you that now, like, do you know people who are in desperate need of your prayer that you've been praying for? And if you can't think of anybody, it's because you've been living self-centered. It doesn't mean that you haven't been talking to people. It doesn't mean that you haven't been around people.

It's because you've been self-centered. There are people who are broken and desperate around us, and you may know of them from a distance, but you don't break with them. You don't hurt with them. You don't cry with them. And so this evening, as we come before the Lord in prayer, how much of your thoughts have been consumed with yourself, and how much of your thoughts in your heart has been consumed with other people who are hurting, right?

If we're going to live and have true fellowship, we need to be mindful of those who are hurting around us, first and foremost, right? You know, I've been praying for that myself. I've been praying that God would open my eyes, that I would have a more broken and compassionate heart.

You know, and as I've been praying that, God has been opening my eyes to all kinds of people. In fact, it's overwhelming. Without sharing any details, it's overwhelming how many people who are genuinely hurting even in this church. And you may be sitting there thinking, "I don't know of anybody." It could be.

It could be because you have been self-centered, because all your eyes and attention has been upon yourself. And so, first and foremost, to come before the Lord and ask the Lord, "Open my eyes." If there's hurting people, that I would hurt with them. If there are people who are in despair, that I would be in despair with them, that we would walk alongside them, and to pray for them, right?

So that you'd pray before the Lord, and to pray. And if you know who they are, and if you know what they're suffering with, pray for them desperately, right? Don't just pray a passing prayer, right? And part of true fellowship is learning to come alongside people. And I know that the size of this church, that there's no way that we can know everybody.

But I guarantee you, there's probably people who are directly in contact with you that are going through a lot of stuff that they just don't feel like they can share with you because they don't think you're going to care. And so, if that's the case, that you would pray that God would open our eyes.

And even if they are not openly sharing, right? Think about all the non-Christians that we live among. That every day that we live, it's a ticking time that's going by. Every day that we live, they're getting closer and closer to the judgment of God. And we live very callously because, again, we live self-centered lives, not thinking where this is headed.

Every single one of us is on this cruise headed toward judgment, and it's not a reality for us, the way we live, right? Even though we sing about it, we study it, but it's not a reality because it doesn't fit the way that we live. It doesn't fit the way that we feel.

It doesn't fit the way that we pray. And so, tonight, as we come before the Lord, part of the reason why we do this is in the context of doing Bible study that it just doesn't become knowledge and theology, that the real meat of everything that we're studying is God in the context of pursuing sinners.

And so, everything that He teaches us in the Bible is for us to join Him in the context of pursuing sinners. So, if we started the Bible without pursuing sinners, without being broken for the lost, it just becomes knowledge. It's not a practical tool to help you, and there is no practical application of it because all it is is, "Oh, that's what Paul means.

That's what the church is supposed to do. That's what we're supposed to say." That's all it becomes. But when we engage in pursuing sinners ourselves and engaging with God, it becomes a tool. It becomes discipleship because every single thing that Paul says and the apostles say in those letters are to help us in the context of pursuing sinners.

So, first and foremost, we need to pray that God would open our hearts and open our eyes and we would see the world as He sees the world. He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Imagine how much compassion He must have had to send His only begotten Son.

So, we should understand His heart. We should know why He did what He did. We should know that you and I are here because of His compassion and that we would pray with that same compassion. So, again, to strive for unity in the church, to ask for reconciliation in the church, that we would be one body, pray for those who are lost, to go make disciples, teach them to observe all that I've commanded, and ask the Lord to, as the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few, to beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers and, first and foremost, that you and I would participate as we engage in this, okay?

So, I have some very specific things I'm going to ask you to pray for as far as the evangelism is concerned. Pray for the missionaries, right? Pray for the missionaries who have been displaced because of COVID and because of persecution. We have some families, you know, that, again, some of you guys are aware of.

Pray for them. Pray for the missionaries who are praying to get back into the field and that, especially now, if there's any group of people among the faith, among our, you know, the Christian world that has gone through difficulties in the last two and a half years, it's the missionaries, right?

As uncomfortable as it is, our big deal is, like, are we going to get together? We're not going to get together. But at the end of the day, how much has it really impacted your life? The missionaries all over the world have been displaced. Persecution meter has been ramping up, right?

Our pastors who are in India, I'm going to go visit them this, fly out there this Wednesday to visit them. They are being beaten, rocks thrown at them, and yet in the midst of COVID, they're walking right back into the villages and sharing the gospel. We have tons of missionaries who have been displaced and they're just praying to get back and the people who can't get back there looking for new assignments.

And think about that. If you're a family with young children, right, our biggest problem is, like, what school they're going to go to and where do they feel are going to be taken care of the most. But imagine all these missionaries who've been kicked out of their homes and they've been just kind of living out of their suitcase for the last two and a half years.

And so to diligently pray for our missionaries, right, pray for our Indian pastors, pray that we would have some perspective in our struggle in comparison to what's going on around the world. So let's take some time to pray. Again, let me pray for us to begin and then our worship team will lead us in our second part and then I'll come up at the end.

Okay, let me pray for us. Gracious Father, we pray for your Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us. We know that the enemy has been working overtime to divide the churches, to cause us, Lord God, to misunderstand, to slander, to make the Christian community smaller and smaller, to make our faith smaller and smaller.

Help us, Lord God, to stand for righteousness and for truth, to fight for what is right, but at the same time, guard our hearts. Help us first and foremost to be humble, to be gentle, to be patient, and in love, to work hard, Lord God, for the unity of faith, especially within the church.

Help us to be one, Father God, one heart, one voice, one passion. If there's any broken relationship Lord God, I pray that you would help us to be diligent to seek love, Lord, with one another. Lord, we pray for those who are hurting around us. Lord, if we've been living callous lives, concerned about only our problems, help us to be open in our eyes, soften in our hearts, Lord God.

Help us to know and to come alongside people who are suffering, people who have lost loved ones, people who are wrestling, Lord God, in their personal lives, having marriage issues, concerns for their children. Lord, I pray, Father God, that you would help us to be prayerful. Help us, Lord God, to consider others more important than ourselves as Christ set an example for us.

Lord, we pray for missions. We pray for evangelism. Help us, Lord God, to pray for the missionaries who have been displaced, those who have sacrificed so much, Lord God, to be in the field, sacrificing their children's education, fellowship of genuine believers, who've put aside their comfort, Lord God, to be out in the remotest parts, Lord, to share the gospel.

Bless them. Remind them. Give them your grace, Lord God, that their reward is far greater because of their sacrifices. So I pray, Father God, this evening, help us as a church call us from our comfort zone to cry out to you in prayer. We ask for your anointing and your Spirit's blessing.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. (bell tols) (bell tols) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (bell tolls) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ Mother of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Mother of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend ♪ ♪ The agonies of Calvary ♪ ♪ You the perfect holy one ♪ ♪ Crossed your son ♪ ♪ Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Father's wrath completely sanctified ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy ♪ ♪ Now sitting at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Father's wrath completely sanctified ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy ♪ ♪ Now sitting at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Mother of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Mother of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ For you ♪ (soft piano music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) (soft guitar 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 who could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ Oh, we live for you ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside 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 ♪ (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) - It's worthy of everything.

♪ 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 name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ Oh, we live for you ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside 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 ♪ (soft guitar music) (soft guitar music) ♪ Lord, as you have done ♪ ♪ You will build my home 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 ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ 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 beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are ♪ ♪ And fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in your love to those around me ♪ (gentle music) - Can I have the lights turned on?

Can you have all the lights turned on? Okay, so for this, all of it on. Yeah, for this last portion, we wanna pair you guys up with somebody that you didn't come here with. So find somebody that you're not familiar with and to pair each other up. And take some time to pray.

But along with that, if I can have Sean come up. While you're praying, we have a special prayer request that we wanna take some time to pray for because as you guys know, that the abortion issue at the Supreme Court level and what that's doing at the local level, it's just starting to kind of like, there's been a lot of chatter and I'm sure you guys read up on it, but we wanna take some time to pray for that as well as we pray for each other.

Okay, and I asked Sean to kind of explain a little bit. Okay, let me make this mic for him. (congregation laughing) - Thank you, Pastor Pierre. Let me begin by reading a quick verse. Proverbs 24, 11 to 12 says, "Rescue those who are being taken away to death. "Hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

"If you say, 'Behold, we did not know this,' "does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? "Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? "And will he not repay a man according to his work?" You know, this church has grown a lot and this issue of abortion is obviously a very emotional and charged topic.

I don't know where everyone stands on the issue, but I do wanna share some things. You know, this week, we as a nation, was very heartbroken, you know, of what happened in Texas. We saw, you know, many families lose their children. And why do we grieve with them? Because the weak and the vulnerable who are incapable of protecting themselves, you know, lost their lives, and many friends saw that.

Many families experienced this loss. And while I'm not--believe me, while I'm not trying to detract from that, we should weep with those who weep. The fact of the matter is this, that every single day, 2,000 to 3,000 babies are aborted every single day. These are not just lifeless cells.

These are human beings that are woven in the image of God in the womb. God says that he knew you in your womb. Each and every one of us here, each and every one that will ever be born, each and every one in the past and in the future, he knew you in your womb.

You have personhoods, and you have rights. And unfortunately, you know, we as a nation, this government does not hold to that, and they have continued to choose who has personhood and who doesn't. But we know we have a higher authority in the Bible and in God who--he is the one who determines who has personhood.

So I just want to share a few-- a couple of prayer requests for us. It's been 50 years since Roe v. Wade was created, and as you guys know, sometime in June in the next couple days, probably, it's going to be overturned. I don't know if you guys have been following the news, but many of the judges are experiencing threats from the opposition.

Their families are being threatened. There are churches that are being vandalized. There are pregnancy help centers. These centers help pregnant women being vandalized by the opposition. And as a church, I would like you guys to join me in prayer for them. It is actually a law to intimidate a judge in order to change his stance on something, so I don't know why those things aren't being addressed, but please pray for the judges, too, to uphold what true justice is.

In addition to that, there's a bill called AB 2223 that is ramping up in California. It's passed three stages of voting, and now it's going to the House Senate. It is a bill that will make it legal for a woman and any person helping her to perform an abortion at any part of pregnancy up to 9 months and even up to 28 days after birth.

Yeah, after birth. This is also known as the infanticide bill. It's--yeah, there's no--you guys-- Sorry. Sorry, that's my son. Yeah, as you guys know, there's no excuse for this. As we know, sin continues, starts small, and it keeps on spreading and spreading until--there's no excuse. This is after birth that you are able to kill a baby.

That's--it's unheard of, right? So please just--you know, as Christians, we're supposed to call to love our neighbors and protect the weak and the vulnerable, and there's no one more weak and vulnerable than these babies who have no voice. They have no voice. They cannot speak for themselves, and they have no rights.

They are people, but they have no rights. So yeah, that's--please pray for them. Thank you. - All right, you want to take your stuff? Okay, if I can ask you guys to pair up into two, no more than three, and I want to take--maybe take about the next 10 minutes to pray for each other and pray for the specific thing that Sean shared with us, because, again, this is something that I think the Christian world has been praying for for many, many years, and for the first time that I'm aware of in my lifetime where we've gotten this close to overturning Roe v.

Wade, so this is very important, and obviously the opposition is very angered by that, and so there's a lot of things that are going on behind the scenes that we pray for the courage of the justices, for the people who are in authority, that they would stand strong, encouraged to be able to make this decision, okay?

So if we can, again, get you guys to get into your groups, take some time to pray, and then after about 10 minutes of that, we're going to call you back around 9, 10, and we're going to have the closing song, and then we'll pray together, okay? All right, just--yes, sir, grab a couple people around you.

All right, if we can all stand up together for the closing praise. We're going to go ahead and sing this hymn, "Grace," as we think about, as we close up our praise and prayer, just that we function on grace, that our God has been merciful, loving, gracious to us.

So as we sing, it's a slower hymn, but we want to accentuate our voices. So we're just going to go piano and vocals. So let's sing to our God. Your grace that leads the sinner home From death to life forever And sings the song of righteousness By blood and not by merit Your grace that reaches far and wide To every tribe and nation Has called my heart to enter in The joy of your salvation By grace I am redeemed By grace I am restored And now I freely walk into The arms of Christ my Lord Your grace that I cannot explain Not by my earthly wisdom The Prince of life without a stain Was traded for this sinner By grace I am redeemed By grace I am restored And now I freely walk into The arms of Christ my Lord Let praise rise up and overflow My song resound forever For grace will see me welcome home To walk beside my Savior By grace I am redeemed By grace I am restored And now I freely walk into The arms of Christ my Lord By grace I am redeemed By grace I am restored And now I freely walk into The arms of Christ my Lord >> Can we have all the lights turned off?

Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we thank you so much that it is because of your grace that we are able to hear your voice. It is because of your grace, Lord God, that we are able to call you our Abba Father. And it is only by your grace, Lord God, that we are able to stand upon Christ.

Help us, Lord God, to lift up our eyes beyond our troubles, beyond our concerns, beyond our temptations, that we would firmly fix our eyes upon Christ. The hope that we have, the refuge, Lord, that we run to, the drink, Lord God, that causes us to never thirst, and the bread that was broken for us, Lord God, that we can never eat again.

Lord, in our weakness, help us to run to you. In our struggle, Lord God, that you would be our strength. So wherever you send us, whatever we do, help us, Lord God, to be a reflection of Christ's mercy and grace. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.