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Amen.
Thank you, Joanne and Jacob, for leading us in a time of worship as we get started this morning.
First off, I just want to tell everybody, I know we're a day early, but it just feels right that we need to go ahead and say a little early.
Happy new year.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.
And I can't tell you how excited I am that you all chose to gather here with us today so that we can start this day off in prayer.
And we're going to talk about that here in just a minute.
First off, if there are any first time guests who are here this morning, I just want to say thank you for being here and for worshiping on a little bit different Sunday than what it's normally like around here.
We normally, unfortunately, do not have catered lizards thick at breakfast every Sunday morning.
But it is just a blessing to have you here with us.
There is a guest registration card here, a welcome card here if you wouldn't mind, if you're a first time guest filling this out.
And then after the service, me and my wife will be back here to the left.
You can drop this off with us.
If there's any questions that you have about our church, we would love to be able to answer those.
Also, I want to say this to the families in here this morning that are brave with their young children.
All right, number one, I want to say thank you.
Thank you for doing this and for bringing your kids here today.
Here's what I want to tell everybody that's going to happen.
These kids are going to be a little loud.
And that's okay.
We're going to be quiet for prayer, and they're going to ask a question or say they need to go to the bathroom or drop something or spill something, and that's okay.
And here's why this is so okay.
It's because what these kids get to watch and experience this morning is the church family that they're a part of.
Their church family as well, is gathered together to pray.
They get to see their moms and dads worship.
They get to see their moms and dads pray.
And for me, this is the essence of what family discipleship is all about.
So if you're here today and your child or your grandchild, if they get a little loud, don't feel the need to apologize don't feel the need to be embarrassed.
We're just glad that they're here.
And it's a reminder every time they make a loud noise that we all can hear, it's a reminder from God about the precious gift that they are.
Before we get into our time of prayer, we got a lot of things as the new year gets ready to get started here, right?
How many of you, quick show of hands.
How many of you have already made a New Year's resolution?
Raise your hand.
How many of you weave your hands in the air?
If you have the belief in yourself that you're going to carry that all the way through the year, some hands are still up.
All right, so here's what I want to do for all of you who didn't raise your hand.
I want to help you with some New Year's resolutions that you can do.
Joel van Ham and I were talking about this this morning.
It's great to say I'm going to eat healthy.
It's great to say that I'm going to commit to go to the gym or exercise every day.
It's great to set all of these things that we're going to do, and I want to encourage you to follow through with those.
But we want to help you in setting some goals for 2024 to help you grow and mature and get healthier spiritually.
And the first one with three areas.
First one is with discipleship.
We've got small groups, we got cards back here for connection to all our small groups, but we've also got all of our discipleship.
Studies that happen on Sunday mornings are going to be starting on January 14.
And so here's what I want to press out there.
Okay?
This is a wonderful time not only for adults with all that's here, but our students who meet upstairs, our 6th through twelveth graders that meet upstairs, and then our young kids who meet over in building two.
It's a wonderful time for the whole family to go through discipleship and what that means together.
And Dave and I were just commenting on how so many of the studies that we're providing starting on January 14 really fit for facing a new year and all that the new year has in store for us.
So just quick, these are around here in the auditorium as well.
There's a scan where you can scan to register for these.
We've got a class that's going to be led by Nancy, a study that's led by Nancy Yates to talk to the journey of grief, loss, and how to have hope and recovery through that Tim Scholl and Kevin Adams are going to be leading a men's study of disciplines of a godly man.
I'm going to be leading a theological study on the doctrine of Christ, of Christiology.
Jennifer Brewer and Robin fraud.
Definitely one for the first of the year, as you feel the who from Christmas.
All right.
Freedom in your finances and how to maybe approach Christmas 2024.
A little better than Christmas of 23, right?
Relentless.
A women's study led by Tricia Allen and Christina Morgan.
And then Mike Vaught is going to be talking about the master plan of evangelism.
So just wonderful opportunities that cover all different areas of growth.
And we want to encourage you to do that and to be a part of that.
You do not have to be a member of our church to partake in these studies, and so we would love to have you for those.
The second thing, so probably the one that I hear the most common from people is, hey, I want to commit, as I start off the new year, of committing to reading my Bible every day.
And so we want to walk alongside of you and encourage you to do that.
And here's how we're going to do that.
Starting next Sunday, I'm going to start a sermon series over the month of January in the book of proverbs.
And I want to challenge you to study through proverbs with me.
So here's how we're going to do this.
On January 1.
We're going to commit to reading proverbs 1, January 2, proverbs two, all the way through January 31.
Proverbs 31.
A proverb a day, a chapter a day to dive into God's word, to read the wisdom that God has for us, and then seeing the areas of our lives that we can apply these to.
Right?
So people think that James is the most practical book of the Bible, and I think it is in the New Testament.
But I think what proverbs gives us in the Old Testament these rich nuggets of wisdom that we can build the foundation of our life in Christ on.
And so I want to challenge you not only to be here for Sunday mornings, but to commit to reading through these with me.
And then last.
And what we are starting off today is in prayer, to spend a year of focused, intentional prayer.
We started this last year with doing this gathering together, and God has grown that, and God has built that.
And as I look back over the last year, I think a lot of the things that we were able to go and do is because we decided as a church the foundation for the year that we were going to build on was the foundation of prayer in all that we do.
And so we're starting that today.
But you've got these prayer cards.
They're on the tables around you.
They're in the rows of chairs that are here.
We've got extras in the back.
And so if you want to take multiple ones with you, I encourage you to do that.
I encourage you to put this in your Bible.
Maybe you have a prayer strategy of what you like to pray about on any given basis.
But I know sometimes if you're like me, God, I want something new, something fresh to pray with, to pray for.
You can pray for all of these things that we're going to cover today.
But if you turn over to the back, there's additional, there's all of our missionaries that we partner with and missional organizations.
There's things of how we can pray for first responders and police officers and firefighters, for our military, for our schools, all the different things that we can pray for.
And so I want to encourage you to do that.
Well, maybe as we get going this morning, I want to speak generationally a little bit back before, there was something called streaming, there was something called the radio.
And I remember as a teenager what I would do every single New Year's Eve.
I would go up into my room.
I would have, where my stocking had some things called blank cassette tapes were put in there.
And I would get on my dual deck stereo system in my room on New Year's Eve, and I would turn on the Rick D's weekly top 40.
That's my generation.
Now there's another generation that's here that would remember Casey Caseum before he was shaggy, right in the weekly top 40.
But I had Rick D's in the weekly top 40.
And on New Year's Eve every year, he would go through and go through the top 100 songs of that year.
And I would sit there with all of those blank cassettes.
And if it was a song that I like, I would hit record.
If it was a song that I didn't like, I would just skip it.
And so I would miss, like, the first 3 seconds of every song as I recorded these.
But what was also neat, as he worked through this, he would look back over events that had happened over the course of the last year, and he would speak to things that would have impacted culturally of what had happened during that time.
And I love the song that we began with.
And Joanne, I love how you led into that, because as we look back over the last year, we see grief and loss.
We see freedom and victory.
We see joy and happiness.
We see pain and suffering.
But through it all, we can look and see the hand of God at work.
And so this morning, as we're going to go into our time of prayer, what we're going to do is we're going to just go over the front of this card together, and I'm going to lead us through times where we're going to pray silently right where you're at.
Maybe you want to pray together as a family.
Maybe you want to pray individually.
And then I'm going to close us in each section as we pray through and lead us through each section of how we're going to pray.
But the first thing that we're going to do, regardless of how you felt 2023 was, is we want to begin by offering up this morning a prayer of thanksgiving.
Psalm 171 says, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
So there's three little prayer prompts here, and so all I ask that you do is bow your heads, close your eyes as we begin in our time in prayer.
And would you begin by thanking the Lord for his love for you, his grace, his mercy, his faithfulness and his salvation?
Thank the Lord for this past year.
Thank him for all of the challenges and all of the blessings that were.
Used to grow you it.
Thank him for this coming year.
Thank him for the opportunities he will provide you to serve him, to worship him, and to grow in a relationship with him.
God, we come to you, thanking you.
Lord, for who you are, Lord, for what you have done this past year.
In our lives, Lord, we've had moments of difficulty and frustration, moments of joy and happiness.
And in every instance, Lord, you are working in them and using those moments to grow us.
We thank you for your unfailing love, for your grace, for your mercy, for your faithfulness.
Lord, we thank you that you save us, you hold us, and that you keep us, Lord, as we look forward to this coming year, Lord, you've called us into the game, onto the battlefield with you.
Lord, we thank you for the opportunities that you're going to provide for us, that you're going to bless us with opportunities to serve you, opportunities to worship you and to grow in a relationship with you.
Lord, may we see in our lives 2024 a new year, a new year.
Of growth, a new year of strength.
In Christ, in Christ alone.
And it's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Next we're going to pray for the.
Lost.
It'S not hard to whether it's.
Looking at the news, whether it's going to work, whether it's driving in the chaos that is I 20, I 26, I 77.
To know that the lostness that surrounds us, we all have someone close to us who we know doesn't know the Lord.
In Matthew nine.
Starting in verse 36, it says, when he saw the crowd, this being Jesus, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to the disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.
Here's what you do.
As we go into this time, I want you to begin to think with all of the individuals who you know, who don't know the Lord.
And let's begin this time in prayer.
And pray for those who, of God has placed in your life who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus.
Would you go to the Lord as we pray for them?
Now.
This next part that we're going to pray about, as we pray for the lost.
So I think it's a point for many of us that we need to pray consistently in our lives.
Jesus prayed that they would come to know him by the laborers going out.
And so we're going to ask God to give you and I the opportunity, the words and the boldness to share the gospel, to share about our relationship.
With Jesus, with those who don't know him.
Would you pray that prayer finally, ask God, as you think about those individuals, ask God to provide them an opportunity to hear.
This may come from you, another person, or an invitation to church, but that when the gospel is presented, that they.
Would hear and that they would respond.
I lift up all of those people we've thought about, Lord, I lift up all the people that we haven't even.
Met yet that will cross our path.
Lord, I pray that we would be a bold people of faith in the.
Gospel of Jesus Christ, that we'd be.
Willing to give a reason for the hope that lives in us, that we would share our story, that we would share your story, that we would share the gospel with those who are lost and broken and hurting.
Lord, we pray that they would hear it, and that a spiritual work would.
Begin to happen within them, and that.
They would respond to the free gift.
Of grace that you give and that.
They would come to saving faith.
Jesus Christ.
Lord, I pray for those so many who have professed and who have wandered away.
May they come back to faith in you.
May we be reminders, encouragers for them, holding them accountable while loving them where they are.
It's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Third, we're going to ask to pray for our church.
I love this church.
I love the uniqueness of this body of believers and what God has for us.
And in the plan for the nations of what God did, God decided that he was going to form all these unique individual bodies to carry out the mission of God.
And we want to do this not through our own work, not through our own might, not through our own abilities, but through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus in acts one eight, as he's.
Getting ready to ascend into heaven, he tells the disciples, they know the mission of what they're going to go and do.
And he says, here's how it's going to happen.
And Jesus says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, into the ends of the earth church.
We're going to focus this year more.
So than we've ever focused at the.
Forefront of our minds that all that we do must be the work of God, powered by the work of the spirit.
If not, it's the work of man, powered by the work of man.
So the first thing is we go to pray together.
Is pray that unified as a church, that we would seek not to work in our own ability, but that we would seek to work by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Would you join me?
As we, we have no desire to simply be a church in a community, but we desire to be a church for our community.
Ask God to allow us to impact.
Those in our own community who are broken, hurt, and need the hope of the gospel.
You ask God that he would give us his wisdom as we plan and prepare for the work he has for us.
God.
As we look forward into this next year, God, I pray in my own life, in the life of our staff and our leadership, in our volunteers.
Lord, in all of us in our church family.
Lord, I pray the work that we do would be the work that you have for us.
I pray that we would not work in our own powers and our own abilities, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I pray that we would work in our community to reach and to connect and bring hope.
Lord, give us your wisdom, your plan as we prepare.
And Lord, that we would do the work that you have for us.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
Lastly, as we close out our time of prayer together one time of prayer for personal repentance and growth.
Two peter 318 but grow in the.
Grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory both now.
Into the day of eternity.
We all want to get better.
We all want to be better.
We want to be better tomorrow than we were today, better the day after than we are tomorrow.
And this is done through the work.
Of God begins in repentance and the.
Spiritual growth that God has for us.
So of all the things that we want to see happen in 2024, all the goals that we want to accomplish ask primarily what you would seek is to use for God to use 2024 to grow you in your faith and in your relationship with him.
Would you go to him in prayer?
Ask God to show you the areas of sin in your life so that you may repent of them.
And turn to Christmas.
Dad.
To show you his will and plan for your life and to give you.
The strength to follow him wherever he may lead you.
God, may you open up our eyes.
And our hearts to see the sin that is there.
Lord, may we not embrace it, but.
Would we repent of it, turning to you, seeking you, desiring you, passionately, cling to you.
Lord, as we go through this year, help us not to be complacent to the sin that wants to creep in and destroy us, destroy relationships.
Destroy trust, destroy our joy.
But may we understand, Lord, the joy that comes from brokenness, the joy that comes from repentance, the joy that comes from accountability.
Lord, I pray the same prayer for my life and for everyone in here, that this year, Lord, that we would seek your plan and your will for our lives.
Lord, that may be a change in what we've determined, but it's your plan.
And so may we walk it in faith and trust that you've gone before.
Us and that you know and that.
Whatever lies ahead, we do not face it on our own, but we face it with you.
And so we face it with confidence.
And assurance that our savior is with us.
God, I look forward to this year.
I look forward, Lord, to see all that you're going to do, how you're going to grow us, how you're going to bless us, how you're going to use our sufferings that we encounter to grow us, and for your name and for your glory.
Lord, I pray for all of our missionaries scattered all over the world, both locally and across the ocean.
Lord, I pray for those who are at home sick.
Lord, I pray for those who have lost loved ones and who are grieving.
I pray for those who have uncertainty about their jobs, their marriages.
I pray for those who have children who have wandered.
Lord, may they feel your comfort and.
Your peace in the midst of their storms.
Jesus, thank you for loving us.
Through the power of your spirit, may we seek after you and all that you have for us.
And it's in your name we pray.
Amen.
Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode.
In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willowridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.