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Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Praise and Prayer. We're going to be doing something, like every once in a while, we will kind of change it up just to make sure that our prayer and all of this, we're staying engaged. And so something we're gonna be doing tonight, we haven't done this in, I feel like it's been a year or two, but we are going to be spending some time looking through something and kind of filling some stuff out in order to be able to help jog our thought process, our examination of heart, and then we'll follow that with some prayer.

But before we begin, if I could ask you to bow your heads with me. I'll give you a quick moment to prepare your hearts and to lay down whatever you need to before the Lord to come into praising Him with a proper surrendered heart. And then I'll open us up in prayer after a moment.

(silence) (silence) Holy God, as we come before you to engage with you, I pray, Lord, that we would come with the proper fear and reverence, but God, also remembering that you beckon us to come. You desire an intimate relationship with us. And so, Lord, I pray that you would help us as we sing these songs, as we spend time praying to you.

That it wouldn't be done flippantly, but God, it would be filled with joy and hope and a desire, Father, for a heart that yearns for you. I pray, God, that our love for you would flow into our prayers. I pray, God, that you'd be pleased. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Let us all rise as we sing these songs. Let's sing "What Can Wash." 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? What comes as the friends of God? Nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood, King Jesus.

Your blood, your blood speaks a better word. All the empty prayers occur upon this earth. His righteousness for me stands above the facts. Jesus, it's your blood. It's in your blood. Your blood speaks a better word. All the empty prayers occur upon this earth. His righteousness for me stands above the facts.

Jesus, it's your blood. What can wash? 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? What comes as the friends of God? Nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood, King Jesus.

Your cross, your cross testifies a grace to preserve a father's heart. You can't go with no one else. Only we go alone. Our perfect confidence is only by your blood. What can wash? 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? What comes as the friends of God? Nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood, King Jesus. What can wash us pure? What can wash us pure as snow? What comes as the friends of God? Nothing but your blood, nothing but your blood, King Jesus.

My heart is cold. My heart is cold in my face. I think I wonder if God is in pursuit of me. And before the world was green, He had chosen to redeem me. Lord, you love me. Lord, you love me. I know you are worthy. All things, all things for your glory and my good.

Lord, you will accomplish everything you promised. All things for your glory and my good. Lord, everything is mine. The clouds have all decided to defend me. When the world ends in darkness, then we'll hear the way of darkness. You are with me. You are with me. I know you are worthy.

You are worthy. All things, all things for your glory and my good. Lord, you will accomplish everything you promised. All things for your glory and my good. All things for your glory and my good. All things for your glory and my good. Until the day, until the day of power, or I reach my final hour, you will keep me.

You're the author of my story. You are faithful, you are worthy. I will praise you. I will praise you. I know you are worthy. You are worthy. All things, all things for your glory and my good. Lord, you will accomplish everything you promised. All things for your glory and my good.

I know you, I know you are worthy. You are worthy. All things, all things for your glory and my good. Lord, you will accomplish everything you promised. All things for your glory and my good. All things for your glory and my good. Okay. Well, we do praise and prayer once a month.

This is actually probably going to be our last praise and prayer for the remainder of the year as November, December, we'll be taking those off with the holidays approaching. And as you've known, we've been having prayer as our main theme for the last four years. And moving forward, I don't know if that's going to change.

I think we're going to continue to focus on this idea of prayer. Now prayer is such a tricky thing because sometimes it's like the more we try to structure, the more we try to schedule, it has a possibility of backfiring. And so when we come to places like this, we have to remember that the prayer that we're engaging in needs to be flowing and stemming out of a life of prayer.

If we have not been praying, if we have not been praying in our closets, praying on our own, if we have not been praying with each other, and this is just going to be one of those unique times where we spend extra time in prayer, hopefully our desires moving forward, again, it's not out of guilt to say like I have to create another checkbox that needs to be marked day after day, but that our desires would awaken and our desire to commune with the Lord will be great.

Okay, well it seems like, okay, are we going to be okay? I don't know if I printed out enough of those papers. There should have been some papers around. If there are people around you who don't have it, maybe you can kind of take a snapshot of that paper that was sitting on your chair, or someone else's chair maybe, so that you at least have something in front of you.

So I don't know if the papers made it into the cry room, but if some papers have, oh, thank you, Andrew. So if the papers have, you guys can kind of take a photo of it. If you have your own pens, great. If not, you can kind of look at it.

You don't have to write anything down. But we are going to be taking a moment tonight to pen down some thoughts. All right, so if you could turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5, and it would be helpful to actually turn to the passage, Ephesians chapter 5. Because of the size of the font, the PowerPoints are going to move a little bit faster.

But keep this open tonight. Keep this open tonight so that you can reference it. And it's okay, even in prayer, to open your eyes, to go back into the text, to look again, and to go back into prayer. So it says in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1 and 2, "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Now Ephesians is broken in six chapters.

Chapters 1 through 3 has plenty of indicatives. And starting from chapter 4, you get a lot of the imperatives. So there's a lot of truths and promises that are given up front. And chapter 4, 5, and 6 are filled with now how are we called to live as a result.

And so chapter 5 is a continuation of chapter 4 that has been telling you how to live as a Christian, what it looks like to live as a Christian. That is to put away the old and to put on the new. And so it's given a lot of instructions.

And it says, chapter 5, verse 1 here, "Therefore be imitators of God." Because what Paul is doing is he's reminding his people, he's reminding God's people that at the end of this day, it's not again a list of things that you are called to robotically and dutifully follow, but that there is some imitation that happens here.

And if imitation is the call, if imitation is kind of the thing that Paul is calling on the church to have, then what comes first is to see God. So in order to imitate, we need to see the original. And so that's what he starts this part off with in chapter 5.

Imitate God. To imitate God means that we need to know who he is. And so we're not able to, in a place where we're seeing him and imitating him, to hijack and take control of what it means to live a Christian life. To live a Christian life means to actually live in a godly manner.

To be the way God is. These ideas of be perfect as God is perfect, be holy as God is holy, is this idea that is given to us as an example set in imitation that is being called for in us. So we have to see God for all of who he is.

And so if we just look at this text and go, "Okay, I'll try to imitate God," then we'll do our very best of whatever image of God that we have, but unless we're regularly walking with God in communion, with him in his word, with him in prayer, we're just going to have a shape, we're just going to have an outline or shadow of who God is.

And so we might have some truths floating around, but the heaviness and weightiness of everything that God is and all his holiness and everything that that kind of produces and gratitude that comes when we see his love and his grace and his kindness towards us, we will not be able to imitate God unless we're properly seeing him.

This idea of becoming what we behold is something that theologians have talked about for many, many years. That unless we're actually seeing God, there's going to be something else taking that place. So what is that image for us? It could be an image of what we think a Christian is supposed to look like or what a Christian culture has given to us or what it is at a certain point in time that I'm just kind of reading this part of scripture that kind of encouraged my heart.

But all of who God is, we have to see God because he calls us here to imitate God. Next year, it's not only just God, but he kind of zooms in in verse 2. He says, "Just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us." So it's this call to see Christ.

So in seeing God, seeing Christ, it's very easy to kind of separate that and put that back together. And there is some of that that is required of us. He says, "Walk in love just as Christ also loved." And so very specifically, Christ is the very image of God.

Christ comes down into the world and he, in his incarnation, shows us who he is. God walks amongst us. And so it's not a God simply high and lifted up, a God who is simply just content and satisfied sitting at heaven's heights on his throne. The image of God that we're supposed to have is one who in his lofty and holy state, in his state being set apart from all of creation, would have a love that is so great that he would come into the world, walk amongst the people, touch the dust of creation, and to give himself for us.

So seeing God actually means we need to see Christ. And so all of what we're going to see after this passage now is going to be coming and stemming. It's anchored around these two verses. And so there is a third part here. We're called to then see ourselves. This is the only proper time, the only appropriate way that we can see ourselves.

This world tries to tell you what you ought to feel about yourself, how you ought to see yourself, that there is value and worth and all of these kinds of things. We'll try to compare our sins with others. We'll try to compare our good works with others. And all of it is going to be inappropriate unless our eyes are locked squarely on the Lord.

But if we see God in all of his holiness, if we see Christ in all of his love for us, then we're going to see very clearly, if you are a Christian sitting in this room, the greatest comfort that just changes everything about your life. And he says, he calls us beloved children.

And before we go into all the imperatives that we're going to just kind of knock out, and I'm not going to be teaching. I'm just going to be teaching on this portion here. And everything else, I'm just going to be reading it out. But before we go into it, I want to remind you that if you are a Christian, that you need to pray to God as your father, a father who loves you, a father who cares about you.

I think too often it is easy for us to kind of see our shortcomings and our weaknesses. And it's very, very simple for us to run off of guilt and duty. But he calls us here to see God, to see Christ, and he wants to tell us that you are beloved children.

That he wants you to cry out to him as a child would cry out to his father. So prayer tonight, I hope that it feels like that. He is holy God who created all things. He has set apart and he is otherly. But he has ushered us into his kingdom.

He has adopted us as his own. And so a lot of this passage, if you go to the next slide here, he even tells us that he loved you, he gave himself up. Jesus gave himself up for us. That it's not just a small love, that he felt some kind of pity and compassion.

He loved us so much that he would give his only begotten son to purchase us. So try to, sometime in the night, I'm going to give you 20 minutes of a chunk of prayer after we go through the rest of this passage here. If you need to, come back and it's okay to cycle through the passage every once in a while.

To remember how it is that we ought to pray. Okay. If we go to the next slide here. Let's read. It says in verse 3, "But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." Continuing in verse 6, "Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." And notice how he uses the word "sons" here.

He's talking about the sons of disobedience, not his adopted children. These are different people. And so verse 7 says, "Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light.

For everything that becomes visible is light." So when you look at these two slides, you're going to see, again, a litany, a list of things. And as you look at each of these things, we have to take proper care to look at each element. This is a good list to pray through.

This is a good list to use to scrutinize and examine our own hearts. If we are indeed children of God, beloved children, and we know who he is, and we're seeing him, not only in the love that he's given to us, but in all his holiness. If we remember what it was, if we remember the Old Testament God, that they would not even be able to set foot near him without fear of death instantly.

That there is some repercussion into our lives. And so if we go to the next slide here, there are a lot of the negative things. Negative not as in a bad way, but that there are things that we are called not to do. Or here, I kind of listed them out.

In verse 3, he says, "No immorality." And rather than just look at this, and just cling on to these words of truth, this is the call into our lives. That if it is true that God is who he is, and we are who we are before him, then this is what needs to happen in our lives.

That this is the only correct response. No immorality. And so ask yourself that question, "Am I living in sexual sin?" It's talking about sexual immorality, sexual impurity. There must not be any of that in our lives. It's not lessen it. It's not try to do better. It's eliminate, mortify.

Sexual sin cannot be there tomorrow. We cannot come into the presence of a holy God with that. We need to come and surrender. Verse 3, it continues by saying, "There should be no impurity." And we ask ourselves that question, "Is there any filthiness in our lives?" A lot of people would say that many of these things actually deal with the sexual realm, but there are different kind of angles to this.

Is there any impurity in our lives? Anything that would cause us to feel filth? Anything that we would understand? Maybe not by our standards of filth, but God's standards of filth. Doesn't that change the whole idea of filth? You guys know what I'm talking about, right? I want us to really engage in the text.

There's some people who have very low standards of filth. You've met those people. You go into an apartment, and their standards are low, and you go, "Oh, this place is nasty." They're okay with it, you know why? Because their standards of filth is low. But if you've ever gone to the next apartment and seen that there's people who have a high standard of filth, and you go, "Whoa, it's sparkling clean in here." What is God's standard of filth?

And so ask yourself, "Am I living in filthiness?" Verse 3 continues, "No greed." He says, "No greed." So ask yourself this question. I think greed is one of those very subtle sins that kind of creep in. We think it's okay. Am I sinfully desiring to possess more of the world?

Because I think we use standards that we see around us to assess whether I'm greedy or not. So what other people have--cars they have, homes they have, how much money they have to spend, what they can eat, what they can do, what vacations they can go on, and then we use that as a standard and say, "I am not like that, and so, therefore, I don't think I'm greedy." I might need to work on this a bit, but we have to ask ourselves the question, "Am I mortifying greed?" Eliminating this.

Is there any place in my heart where I desire to possess more and more and more of the world? Verse 4, "Let there be no filthy talk, no silly and coarse talk." Ask yourself the question, "Am I acting shamefully, speaking impurely, using my words to bring dishonor to God?" Am I cursing?

I know some people think, "Cursing is no big deal." No, is there anything that--like, before God, there would be something that would cause us to lose reputation, and there would be a lessening of our above-reproachedness or something like that. That when--perhaps when we're with church people, we speak in a certain way, and then when we're with coworkers or other people, we speak in another way.

We have to ask ourselves these questions. If we go to the next slide, we'll go a little faster here. Continuing in verse 5, he says, "No covening. Let there be no covening in you. Am I sinfully desiring what other people possess?" And so, not just a greed in general, but you want what that person wants.

Your friend, your family member, the people you see on social media, that's what I want, that I'm coveting actively. Verse 5, "No idolatry." If there's anything that's going to just blanket-statement everything else, he says, "Okay, if there's anything left, is there any idolatry? Let there be no idolatry." Is there something that you're setting up and that you're bowing down before?

Do you have any idols in your heart, any idols that have to do with relationships, career, reputation, money, security, desires for rest? What idols are there? Are they your children? Are they your spouse? Is it something to do with your future? Is it something to do with pleasures of this world?

Are there idols? Verse 6, "Don't be deceived." Am I willfully allowing myself to be deceived? The interesting thing about the way it's put in Ephesians is that it is a choice that you're making. It's not someone's trying to lie to you and you're like, "Oh, I'm just a helpless victim." You're allowing yourself to be deceived.

You know what's right. Are you deceiving yourselves? Next slide here. And then we have the positive side. "Grow in love for God and others." In verse 4, he says, "Do," so not know, "but do give thanks." Ask yourself the question, am I actively, genuinely expressing gratitude towards God? Are there more complaints coming out of me?

When people see us, do they see somebody who is thankful? If I were to ask your parents, your spouse, your children, your co-workers, will they say, "That's a thankful person"? What will they say? Verse 9, "Do what is good." Am I doing what is good for others? We're so good at doing good for ourselves.

Do I give as much pressure and weight into the place of doing good for others? Do I consider others' interests greater than my own? In verse 9, "Do what is righteous." So ask yourself that question. Am I doing what is righteous? Am I living a holy life as God is holy?

So this is not just a denial of sin. This is not just a mortification of sin. This is, am I living in every way in which God is righteous? Doing what is right and good in God's sight. Next slide. Verse 9, "Do what is true." Am I living in accordance to what is true?

Do I live shining the truth of Christ's love, Christ's work, and Christ's glorious return? So it's not just me being truthful, but me living in the truth. This is when our theology and our life starts to separate. We can know what is right to do, but we know that we are living in the truth when we're surrendering to the truth that we believe and proclaim.

So people might say, like, "You're saying with your lips all of these things, but your lifestyle shows a different truth." So are we living in truth? Verse 10, "Do try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord." Am I making an effort to examine my decisions and see if they are pleasing to the Lord?

Do we examine our decisions? Or do we live kind of in the permissible? Like, these things are okay to do, and so I'm just going to do it because it's not sin. And so our lifestyle becomes just trying not to sin, and everything else is fair game. And by the way, I'm going to use these things to try to honor God, but the decision in and of itself was for me.

In 1 Corinthians 10.31, it says, "Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all things all to the glory of God." Everything is not-- there is no neutral zone to this. Every decision we make, do you examine it? Do you scrutinize it? Do I live in the permissible or beneficial?

Am I growing and learning what is pleasing to the Lord? Is there a growth? Is there a growth in this? Am I learning? If you've learned something, then you will employ it, right? If you've learned something, then there is going to be some growth on top of that. That becomes your new floor.

Or am I constantly just kind of going back to the same place? Verse 11, "Do expose darkness." Am I filled with the light of Christ as to expose darkness wherever I walk? Have I been putting a basket over the light? Am I regularly exposing darkness in my life? Exposing darkness in this world?

Sometimes we have to make our opinions, which, if they're biblical, are not just opinions. This is God's truth. We need to shed light on these things, to talk to people. Everywhere we walk, we shed light on who God is, on His truths. Okay, if we go to the next slide here.

We'll finish this passage and go through one more slide. Verse 15 says, "Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." So I'm going to not go through this one as much, but if we go to the next slide here, there's another list.

When he says, "Be careful how you walk," ask yourself, "What have I been doing lately?" And sit there and think, "What have I been doing lately? What have I been spending my time in?" Verse 15, "Walk wisely." Where have I been living wisely? In the decisions I've been making.

What has shown a wise Christian living? Versus, the next one, "Do not walk unwisely," where I've been living foolishly. If I've been investing in the things of this world, then I've been living foolishly. If I've been investing in the kingdom, then I'm living wisely. Verse 16, "Make the most of your time." Have I been spending my time?

How have I been spending my time? Write it down. Actually, if you need to, write down how many hours you spent doing things that were just time wasters. Verse 16, "Remember the days are evil." Have I been living like I'm in a war, that the evil and the enemy is prowling?

Have I been actually been actively engaged in the fact that danger is near us? Verse 17, "Understand God's will." Do I know what God wants me to do today? And really sit and ask God if you need to, but there are things that we know God wants us to do today and not to put it off for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the devil's word. God calls us today to let go, to surrender. Do I know what God wants me to do? Do I understand God's will? Does understanding link to obedience? If you do not obey, there is no understanding. And so take time tonight to go through this.

So you should have a sheet of paper. You can write things down, or you can just kind of look at it and think about it in your heart. But 10 minutes, you don't have to pray during these 10 minutes. Just take time, okay? 'Til about 8.18 or so, we'll do that.

And then at 8.18, I'm gonna come up, and then we're gonna go into a time of prayer, personal prayer all together, okay? All right, so for 10 minutes, you can take that time. (soft piano music) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (soft piano music) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) (music drowns out voice) All right, well if we go to that next slide, Ephesians 5, verse 1 through 2, to remind you of what it says there.

It says, "Therefore, be imitators of God "as beloved children, "and walk in love just as Christ also loved you "and gave himself up for us, "an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." It's a reminder that all that you've been meditating on is a call to imitate God, to be as God is, and to respond in a way that would be appropriate to that call.

And so, you don't have to pray through everything that you wrote down tonight. I hope that at least produced a little bit of fuel for you to be able to pray on your own. But for a little bit of help, we're gonna go through the Acts method tonight of prayer.

And if you have never prayed the Acts method, this is adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. And so this is one of the ways, there's many ways that you can pray. This is one of them. And so adoration, if we go to the first one there, "Pray after a moment of reflecting on who God is.

"Reflect on his holiness, justice, and wrath, "and then reflect on his love, patience, kindness, and grace." You can pray truths of who God is back to God, that there is something in that proclamation. If you think about how David sometimes prays in his psalms, it kind of just calls out who he is, what he's like, what he loves, what he hates.

You can pray these things back to God in adoration to God. The second one is confession. And you can pray in repentance over anything in your life that you need to pray over. And so you pray actually surrendering. I hope that you are a little bit more specific in what you were writing or what you were kind of thinking about as you examined your heart.

That it's not just wide swaths of things in our lives, but there is something that actually needs to break, something that actually needs to be given up in our hearts. It's an actual person, it's an actual thing, an actual whatever it is that we're holding on to. Confess to God and pray in repentance.

Repentance means not just saying sorry to God, but committing to live in a way that is opposite, committing to live in a way that is honoring to him, that is not just forsaking the evil, but it is pursuing God and the good. T is thanksgiving. I think this should be more of a regular part of our prayers than I think we might make it sometimes.

We have a lot of confession, a lot of supplication. I wonder how much thanksgiving there is. But pray thanking God for things in your life you have not said thank you to him for. Pray thanking him for good things, but also pray for things that are difficult and troublesome in your life right now.

Pray thanking God for difficult people, for difficult situations at work, difficult things that we know we can be thankful because we can count it all joy even when all these trials come, knowing that he's bringing it there for our good. So thank him for it. Find the good things and thank him.

And then lastly, pray all your supplications, all of the requests that you have. This incorporates everything else. You can ask God as his child for what it is that your heart desires, provided that you are going after his will and you love him, that you can ask him for his help.

You can ask him to change situations. You can pray for people that he might change their hearts. It's the supplication time. You can also pray for supplications that other people have. In our small groups, in our home groups, they have shared with you their prayer requests. Pray on behalf of them.

Pray supplication prayers for them. And so this time could take quite a bit of time. So we're going to give you 20 minutes tonight to do this. It's going to be 20 minutes of pure time. If you are easily distractible, the first time to praise and prayer, you're like, "Whoa, 20 minutes.

This is going to be very hard." You can do things to help. Go back into the text, read it again, and remind yourself of things, and then go back into prayer. You can separate yourselves out. Sometimes I know it's hard to pray when there's a stranger next to you.

As always, there's a place up here you can sit or kneel. You can go to the sides of the rooms. Find a space that you can pray. You can take time. You don't have to pray rigid. Pray out loud if you want to pray out loud. Pray in silence if you want to pray in silence.

Spend this time to do whatever it is that you need. If we go to the next and last slide here, I just wrote out some things that if you run out of things to pray for, that you can pray for. But pray all of this. Pray really remembering that God is listening and that God is desiring to commune with you as a believer, as his child.

After 20 minutes, without prompting, the Praise Team is going to play a third song. Once they start playing, you're welcome to join us in singing, or you can continue to pray. Then after that song, I'm going to come back up, and then we're going to go into a final time of corporate prayer.

20 minutes from now, we'll be reconvening here. In about a minute, the praise team will be coming up to play a final song. So continue to pray if you would like to, and join us in song if you can. If we could put those supplications back up, the list of prayer requests.

What we're going to be doing now, before we end in the final song at the end, is we're going to be spending some time grouping up and praying. We're pretty used to doing this at Praise and Prayers now. I know that initial time is a little bit awkward to do this, but break off into maybe about three or four people and go right into prayer.

If you don't know each other's names, at least say your names. Do a real quick introduction, but don't spend more than one minute doing that. Let's spend time praying tonight. How about we pray, and then afterwards you guys could go get some food or something. There's a whole list of things in that group.

Everybody just pick one thing that you would like to pray for, and just go around in a circle and pray. We're going to be concluding this time in about 15 minutes, so it's not a lot of time. Just go break up right away. Don't take too much time doing that awkward thing.

Just grab people and just go right into prayer. I'll be back up here, and we'll close in the final song after. All right. Father, we pray to you because we understand and recognize how utterly helpless we are. Father, we come to you tonight and lift up these things, the Sovereign One, the One who loves and cares far more than we can, and we lay these things in your hands, and we ask you, Father, to do your will.

God, we pray for the privilege to do your will through us, that we might obey you, follow and pursue you, that these prayers would be done not as something we just complete and move on, but, Father, that it be an extension of our hearts, that we would continue in movement towards all the things that we prayed for.

Lord, that we would live and surrender to you, that we would not pray empty prayers by allowing our lives now, God, to not reflect the things that we've asked. Help us, God, to do what we need to do. Help us, God, to believe so much that these desires would be awakened in us.

Father, help us to continue in prayer, to battle, to wrestle in prayer. Thank you so much, God, for the gift of it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, well, that concludes tonight. Just two things. If you could help us out by putting the chairs back in the front couple rows and also returning the pens.

There will be people collecting them, or you can put it somewhere as you're leaving in the back. Thank you.