The Greatest Thing You Can Do for Your Church

TEXT: I Thessalonians 5:17

TOPIC: The Greatest Thing You Can Do for Your Church

Pastor Bobby Earls, Northgate Baptist Church, Florence, SC

Sunday evening, January 13, 2013

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What’s the greatest thing you can do for your church? You might think the greatest thing I could do for my church would be:

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¨ Support my church, with my presence, my attendance, and we need members who support their church;

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¨ Serve my church by getting involved in leadership, and we need members who serve their church;

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¨ Give to my church, my time, my talents, my tithes and offerings, and we need members who do all these things!

But the greatest thing you can do for your church is something that too few members rarely if ever do. What am I talking about? I want to say to you this evening that the greatest thing you can ever do for your church is to pray for your church.

The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “Pray without ceasing.”

You see, I am convinced that any member who prays, I mean really prays, consistently, strategically, powerfully, prays for their church, is also a member who will support their church, serve their church, and give their time, talents and tithes to their church.

So the greatest thing you can ever do for your church is to pray for your church.

Tonight, I want to share with you how you can or should pray for your church. I’m going to give to you four very simple and specific ways you can pray for your church.

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1. PRAY CONTINUALLY

If we want our church to reach its full potential and accomplish the will of God and do the work of God, we need to pray for it all the time.

Creative ways of remembering to pray for your church:

A. Whenever you think for your church, pray for your church.

B. Whenever you ride past a church, pray for your church.

C. Whenever you make plans to come to church, pray for your church.

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2. PRAY STRATEGICALLY

Begin praying for the people and the ministries of the church.

A. Pray for the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit upon the pastor and staff.

B. Pray for people to come to Christ at every service.

C. Pray for newcomers to be drawn to the church.

D. Pray for power as God’s people pray on Wednesday nights

E. Pray for revival to come to the church.

F. Pray for wayward and backslidden church members.

G. Pray for deacons, Sunday School teachers, and other leaders.

H. Become aware of special events occurring at the church and begin praying for them.

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3. PRAY GEOGRAPHICALLY

There is great value in physically moving to the places where ministry takes place in the church and praying for the people who will minister there.

John Maxwell prayed in the nursery. Placing his hands on the cribs he prayed for the children who would be cared for there. “Maybe the next Billy Graham would be playing in one of those cribs the next week.”

Praying over the pews and at the altar for those who will be sitting in our pews and coming to our altar.

Pray in the Student Worship Room “The Loft” asking God’s blessings on our new student ministry.

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4. PRAY POWERFULLY

If you want to pray effectively for your church, pray with power. There are two ways to do that. First, be filled with the Holy Spirit so that you have the power of God flowing through you to touch heaven and earth.

Second, pray according to God’s word. When you pray for the church, use Jesus’ prayer as the model and pray the following:

PRAY FOR BELIEVERS TO EXPERIENCE TRUE WORSHIP

· Pray for an outpouring of God’s glory in His church as people acknowledge Him not only with their lips but with their lives

· Ask God for a spirit of worship to manifest itself in your church.

· Pray for revival in our church and the churches across the nation and the world.

PRAY THAT BELIEVERS WILL KNOW, ACCEPT, AND OBEY THE WORD OF GOD

· Pray that God’s word will be preached powerfully and consistently in this church

· Pray for spiritual understanding (wisdom, James 1:5) and faith to obey God among the people.

PRAY FOR UNITY IN THE CHURCH

· Pray for humility among the church’s leaders and body of believers

· Pray that a spirit of humility, brokenness and repentance will rise up among all believers

PRAY FOR SOULS TO BE WON TO CHRIST

· Ask God to give our staff a vision for reaching the lost.

· Pray for workers for the harvest—for believers who will consistently share their faith.

· Pray that local churches across the country would reach out to the lost in their communities.

PRAY FOR JOY IN THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF BELIEVERS

· Ask God to reveal our church’s potential to your leaders and the people.

· Ask God to bring genuine joy and enthusiasm to your leaders and the people of the church.

Finally, let me share with you what our future Prayer Ministries will look like here at Northgate. You are already doing some of these prayer ministries and I will simply add to it. I hope every member will be involved in at least one area of our Prayer Ministries.

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PASTOR’S PRAYER PARTNERS

WORSHIP AND PREACHING INTERCESSORS

UPPER ROOM PRAYER MINISTRY

PRAYER CHAIN MINISTRY

WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRAYER MEETING

SUNDAY MORNING MEN’S PRAYER MINISTRY

Whatever you do, pray. Remember, the greatest thing you can ever do for your church is simply one thing, pray.