2. Prayer and Power God's Will= My Power

3. I pray at mealtimes When things go wrong When I need (or want) something

4. What if there's more? And…what if the more Isn't just for you?

5. Really been praying, lately I'm a spiritual person I pray all the time

6. Thinking about things Isn't praying

7. What if there's more? And what if it's more powerful Than you can imagine?

8. Because prayer is Communication with God Prayer can do Whatever God can do

9. In all things, God cares more About your heart and your Relationship with him Than the things you receive From him

10. 2 Things: Right with…? Right with…?

11. James 5

12. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise Go to God

13. Suffering is either an intrusion Or an instrument I get to decide

14. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord Go to Community

15. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven

16. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed Safe place to confess Praying place for healing

17. Restoration happens In Community As we confess and pray Oil, Confession, Prayer= We believe in this!

18. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (NIV)

19. THIS is why it matters how we live It's never just about us Right with people and with God

20. And if I get so right with God That I think I can Look down on people I've missed the Target

21. Prayer is for help from God And restoration of people Not for condemnation And dishonoring And…it is powerful and effective

22. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth

23. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit

24. Why did God stop the rain?

25. Why did God stop the rain? Restoration of his people

26. Would he have if it wasn't His will?

27. Would he have if it wasn't His will? No

28. Yet he used Elijah's prayers

29. The power of prayer Is in following the will of God As he places it in your heart Or has shown you In the Scriptures

30. God designed prayer To connect you to his power So that through you his will Would be accomplished In this world

31. Restoration Community Begins with Restoration-minded Believers Who care more for grace Than for condemnation

32. Creation Fall Redemption Restoration

33. Creation- done Fall- living in it Redemption- taken care of We get to invite others in Restoration- God invites you in

34. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back… Jesus satisfies Living for Christ is life

35. …let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins James 5:13-20

36. God calls us to Restoration Community Focused on Jesus Confessing to and Actively praying for one another

37. Your enemy fears Community that operates Like this

38. So he divides and conquers By magnifying convictions Encouraging gossip and Self-righteous anger Rather than grieving over sin

39. When our eyes are on Jesus And our lives belong to him His mission becomes ours And we become agents of Reconciliation

40. God designed prayer To connect you to his power So that through you his will Would be accomplished In this world

41. It's not easy to speak Jesus Like it was back then, right?

42. …praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints

43. …and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel…

44. …for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak - Eph. 6:18-20

45. A woman who shares And gets hit left and right I pray for her May her boldness remain Because to this we are called

46. The woman drawing water At noon

47. Jesus breaks all the rules Because people are always More important than Well-intended religious rules

48. "Messiah will tell us" "Yeah…that's me"

49. Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work

50. Satisfaction is a function of Doing the will of God And stepping outside of his will Will always produce a thirst That can't be satisfied

51. The people of Sychar Start heading to the well…

52. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest

53. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together

54. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor”

55. You will never share Jesus With someone for whom Christ did not bleed

56. You will never share Jesus With someone better off Without him You will never share Jesus with Someone the Spirit isn't calling

57. God will always go before And prepare the way So you get to share But don't have to push Or manipulate

58. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did” - John 4:34-39 That's the harvest…eternal life

59. When our eyes are on Jesus And our lives belong to him His mission becomes ours And we become agents of Reconciliation

60. God designed prayer To connect you to his power So that through you his will Would be accomplished In this world

61. This is his mission This is his will:

62. …not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance - 2 Peter 3:9

63. …the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost - Luke 19:10 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- 1 Tim. 1:15 …the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost - Luke 19:10 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- 1 Tim. 1:15

64. Our most powerful prayers Will be for his will to be done In and through our lives

65. Jesus is our example: For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me - John 6:38

66. The bulk of our prayers Ought to involve the expressed Will of our God and King

67. "God use me so that people Know you (redemption) And walk with you (restoration)"

68. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us

69. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him - 1 John 5:14-15

70. God designed prayer To connect you to his power So that through you his will Would be accomplished In this world

71. Check out what Jesus tells His disciples to pray for

72. And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction

73. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd

74. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…

75. …therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” - Matt. 9:35-38

76. If I follow, I'm already there …therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” - Matt. 9:35-38

77. …therefore pray earnestly Harvest is plentiful Laborers are few I'm already there…working

78. God designed prayer To connect you to his power So that through you his will Would be accomplished In this world

79. …the Lord appointed seventy- two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go

80. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few

81. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest - Luke 10:1-2

82. God designed prayer To connect you to his power So that through you his will Would be accomplished In this world

83. When our eyes are on Jesus And our lives belong to him His mission becomes ours And we become agents of Reconciliation

84. We live in grace Community Confessing, praying, restoring We take that same message Of God's grace To our world, looking to restore

85. Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name

86. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven - Matt. 6

87. God designed prayer To connect you to his power So that through you his will Would be accomplished In this world

88. What if there's more? And it's about more than just us? There is. It is.

89. "God, use me God send out even more Break my heart For what breaks yours Humble me so I can be used"

90. How do we grow In our call to rescue Becoming a place of healing And grace?

91. As a church It's not about numerical growth It's about changed lives "God, do what it takes To use us for your Kingdom"

92. Questions, Comments Disagreements

93. Pray

94. 3 Services