PRAYER MEETING DOWNWARD AND OUTWARD

Prelude

Welcome

Last night we focused on ourselves. We looked inward, asking the Spirit to reveal anything that is in us that is holding us back in growing in Jesus.

We looked upward to the Lord, to forgive us of our sins, to reveal where we needed to get right with the Lord and with others.

We confessed, repented, and interceded for one another. We ended with remembering God’s sovereign promises and looked forward with confidence and hope, before as we lean on the Lord, the Lord goes before us and we have a certain hope of eternal life with Him through Jesus Christ alone.

Tonight, we continue to look at 2 Chronicles, moving into chapter 31.

As a body of Jesus, we need to ask the Lord, how are we to minister in our community.

We need to be sure we are supporting each other as we minister to those outside our church.

Music Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne (Margaret) 91977 TCH292

Music Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness 1828792 TCH293

Music Jesus Name Above All Names 21291 TCH86

2 Chronicles 31:1–3 ESV

1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession. 2 And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise. 3 The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed feasts, as it is written in the Law of the Lord.

We see that the result of their obedience with the Passover, their reconciliation with God and acknowledgment of their sins, the turn outward and begin to remove the false idols and other relics of worship that was outside the prescribed method of worshiping God in Jerusalem.

The PEOPLE

After corporate worship, all the people go out and remove the public displays of idol worship.

How does this translate today for Christians in a corrupted culture? LOOK TO THE EARLY CHURCH?!!!

Only then did each person return to their homes.

We must determine what God is calling us as a church. But we are not without clues.

We have one family, and many seniors, of which nine of our women are widows. Is this to be an area of focus?

The part time job I have at Cross Keys is also senior focused.

What would the Lord have us do at this stage of our life as a church?

Market on the Square went well, but how can we leverage the Harvest Festival in the fall to gain more contacts?

How can our people work on an individual level in connecting with non-believers in the natural course of their lives?

How would God use us as Salt and light in our community with whom we have today?

But first, let us sing

Music: Breathe On Me Breath Of God (Trentham) 99481 TCH393

PRAYER: 1. Who are target audience is? Families? Seniors? Someone else? 2. Is there a ministry God is guiding us to? Grief Share, Meals, Something else? 3. Corporate Outreach? 4. Individual Outreach

We must determine what God is calling us as a church. But we are not without clues.

We have one family, and many seniors, of which nine of our women are widows. Is this to be an area of focus?

The part time job I have at Cross Keys is also senior focused.

1. Who are target audience is? Families? Seniors? Someone else?

What would the Lord have us do at this stage of our life as a church?

2. Is there a ministry God is guiding us to? Grief Share, Meals, Something else?

Market on the Square went well, but how can we leverage the Harvest Festival in the fall to gain more contacts?

3. Corporate Outreach?

How can our people work on an individual level in connecting with non-believers in the natural course of their lives?

How would God use us as Salt and light in our community with whom we have today?

4. Individual Outreach

Let’s get in groups of four or five people and begin asking God these questions.

Any responses, senses from the LORD?

Note 2 Chronicles 31:4-6

2 Chronicles 31:4–6 ESV

4 And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the Lord. 5 As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. 6 And the people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been dedicated to the Lord their God, and laid them in heaps.

Hezekiah calls on those in Jerusalem (and it goes out to all the land) to give so that the priests may fulfill the Law of the Lord.

xPerhaps God’s preference is full time ministry - yet there are times when bi-vocational is needed, or it may happen as a judgment of God on the people and elders…x

PRAYER FOR FINANCES 1. Thank the Lord for providing for our needs and for providing the pastor a part time job to help with the finances. 2. That the Lord would guide each of us how He wishes us to give to His work here. 3. Asking the Lord to guide us to use the funds wisely for the work, for the needs of the body, and the maintenance and upkeep of the facility.

Within your groups pray for the church finances.

Note, God has been generous with us, but it is not wrong to seek His direction and ask for his continued provision

As the Spirit leads you.

MUSIC Children of the Heavenly Father 6006495 TCH719

MUSIC Day by Day 104479 TCH718

2 Chronicles 34:29–33 ESV

29 Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. 31 And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32 Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 33 And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

PRAYER: Prayer for the Graduation Metrics Prayer for this place being a place where the Word of God is read and upheld by all. Prayer for this place where lives are renewed, relationships restored, and unity through the Spirit of God is known and seen.

Time of praise and singing to our God.

We have just about all the targets at a minimum.

I am asking the Lord that He will enable us over the minimum.

So let us sing some songs in praise and thanksgiving what God has done and will do.

Regardless of your station in life, ask God what He would have you do to minister inside the church and outside.

MUSIC All Creatures of Our God and King 1503 TCH63

MUSIC All The Way My Savior Leads Me 85093 TCH680

MUSIC Freely Freely 13209 TCH436