21 Days And Beyond: The Church That Prays Jon Wright 25 th Sept 2005

What came out from the 21 days of Prayer. 35 different people prayed - inc Glenna (USA), Andy/Fiona (UK) There is great change coming to Oasis Forgiveness needs to be offered and given Repentance needs to occur The attitude of the Church should be obedience, intimacy with the Lord, a focus on prayer and praise.

Change Can Be A Good Thing OT: God anointed David to be king instead of Saul (1 Sam 16) NT: The curtain in the Holy of Holies was split when Jesus died (Matt 27:51) Oasis: Many things have changed: –A preaching team instead of one person (inc Chinese preaching) –Regular monthly evening prayer meeting –More opportunities for people to pray for others

Forgiveness: 1 John 2 Forgiveness is essential for Christians, unforgiveness is a sin & also gives rise to hate 1 John 2: 9-12 Anyone who hates his brother is still in the darkness, our sins are forgiven on account of Jesus’s name Matt 6:14-15, Our sins are forgiven as we forgive others Luke 17:3-4 If a brother sins against you, rebuke him, if he repents then forgive him, if he does it 7 times and repents 7 times then forgive him

Repentance Repentance requires recognition and restitution - Zacchaeus gave back 4x what he took (Lk 19:8-9) Repentance results in a change in life-style It can be hard, but often with support of others it is easier, with the help of the Holy Spirit it can be very easy! Temptations have to be rejected to have any chance of living in repentance, the Church body can help each other overcome temptations

Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11-32 Treated his father as if the father was dead Lived a sinners life, being a son meant nothing Ended up living with pigs, the lowest of the low Realized he needed to return to his father to ask for forgiveness He returned (but on his own terms) and repented Was taken back into the fathers family with much love

God Blesses His People With Spiritual Gifts For the Church to survive and grow God gives gifts to the Church body (1 Cor 12:7-11) Very often Pastors receive gifts, but the gifts are for all Christians, in fact we are to eagerly desire spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1,39) Gifts need to be exercised otherwise they never develop, they certainly should not be hidden from view We can only judge the gifts by their fruit and nothing else

Pride And Arrogance Have No Place In The Church Goliath was arrogant and he was taken down by a small shepherd boy with a slingshot (1 Sam 17) The disciples bickered over who was to the seated at Jesus’s right hand (Mark 9:33-35) The prodigal son left in arrogance and returned in humility 1 Cor 5:5 We are to cast out immoral brothers - this is an act of love because only by going into the pit can they know the difference

Humility is the opposite of arrogance We can only minister to others from a position of humbleness and obedience False-humility is no good as it is a self-centered humility Real humility comes from knowing how little/small we are compared to God Too often we called God ‘Father’ and we forget that He is also ‘Master’ - (Matt 6:24) 1 John 2:3-6: we should obey Gods commands because we love him not from fear

Summary: Don’t Worry God Knows What He Is Doing Change is coming to this Church, We need to forgive others, individually and as a Church, and ask for forgiveness We need to repent and continue in repentance We need to pray - individually and corporately We need to ask for and exercise the gifts He gives for the edification of the whole Church body We need to be obedient to God the Master

Summary: Hold Onto Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 耶和華說：我知道我向你們所懷的意念 是賜平安的意念，不是降災禍的意念， 要叫你們末後有指望。