Giving for Growth Prayer

Text for the week: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. One of the great things about belonging to church is that everyone counts, everyone matters! At the same time, that means everyone has a part to play. If you haven’t already, do write your name and contact details on our Giving for Growth … time and talents leaflet and identify the things you feel you are able to contribute to the life of the church: then place it on an offering plate. Use the Giving for Growth … money leaflet to reflect on what you are able to give in a planned way to help to ensure we have the funds to further the vision we have to share in our community. Underpinning all that we do is prayer. From the start prayer has been at the heart of the life of the church. Whenever he wrote to a church, as Karen Waldock pointed out in one of this month’s Explore evenings, he always began with prayer. Put those prayers together and you can see how he prayed for unity, for wisdom, for strength, for encouragement, for love. Above all, he longed in prayer for the churches he worked with to bear fruit. So, let’s join together in prayer for our church and its future … and use our up-dated Prayer Diary to focus our prayers together. Be warned, however, “Prayer is always a dangerous activity since it is a drawing near to the God who will change us!”

If you would like to watch a recording of our service please email minister@highburychurch.co.uk

Morning Worship

Welcome and Call to Worship

Praise with Hy-Spirit

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

So this is prayer

It hadn’t got off to a good start. And since then everything had gone wrong. They may have been twins but the family traditions of the time dictated that all the family inheritance would pass to the first of the twins to be born.

They were great brothers. They loved playing with each other. Their dad was always full of fun, his name meant a bundle of laughs. Their mum kept them in order. But she had her favourite one. And it wasn’t the eldest.

By the time they were young men, Esau loved to spend time out in the fields – he had a rough beard and a swarthy complexion. Jacob loved to stay at home. His skin was soft to the touch.

Their father was very sick. He had lost his sight. And was at the point of dying. Tradition had it that he must give his blessing to the older of the twins and so he would inherit his father’s wealth.

But their mum didn’t think that was fair. And so she plotted with Jacob and got him to cover his arms and his face with the animal skin. She brought him in and in his dying breath Isaac bestowed his blessing on him.

You can imagine what Esau felt when he came in from the fields and found he had been cheated of his inheritance.

From that day the brothers fell out.

Jacob fled.

And on his journeyings he came to a deserted place where he found a rock to lay his head and go to sleep.

And in his sleep he dreamed a dream. A ladder was going up into the presence of God and angels were going up the ladder and coming down.

He woke and it was as if that was such a special place it had re-connected him with God.

He determined to mark the place with the rock he had laid his head on and a standing stone – this was nothing less than the House of God – Bethel – and it would be a place to remember that connection with God.

And from that day, Jacob had the presence of God in his life and was a changed person.

Time passed and the estranged brothers were far away from each other … until one day, Jacob out in the fields heard that Esau was approaching. He looked out and Esau was coming with a band of men. Jacob feared the worst. But as Esau came closer a wonderful thing happened – he rushed forward, flung his arms around Jacob and embraced him.

It was a wonderful moment of reconciliation.

How special that in that place Jacob re-connected with God – and it was as if his prayers transformed his life and he became conscious of the presence of God with him once more.

How important prayer is … and how important for us to share our prayer with God. In reconnection with God transformation happens.

Reading: Luke 11:9-13

‘So I say to you,

Ask, and it will be given to you;

search, and you will find;

knock, and the door will be opened for you.

For everyone who asks receives,

and everyone who searches finds,

and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Is there anyone among you who,

if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?

Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit

to those who ask him!’

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

One of the great things about belonging to church is that everyone counts, everyone matters! At the same time, that means everyone has a part to play. If you haven’t already, do write your name and contact details on our Giving for Growth … time and talents leaflet and identify the things you feel you are able to contribute to the life of the church: then place it on an offering plate. Use the Giving for Growth … money leaflet to reflect on what you are able to give in a planned way to help to ensure we have the funds to further the vision we have to share in our community.

Underpinning all that we do is prayer.

So rounding off our month to start this important year in the life of the church we turn from launching Giving for Growth to a focus on prayer. There is much we think of in prayer …  but specifically we want to focus on prayer for our church.

From the start prayer has been at the heart of the life of the church. Whenever he wrote to a church, as Karen Waldock pointed out in one of this month’s Explore evenings, he always began with prayer.

Karen is going to share with us what she shared with that Explore Group.

Explore: Praying for the church – Karen Waldock

Recently in the Explore evenings we have been looking at prayer and I took a session on praying for the church.

Prayer is the powerhouse of the church, it underpins everything we do, it is how we find the Mind of Christ which is what we try to do in the church meeting and it is how we put Christ at the centre.

The problem is that some of may find it difficult to think of exactly what we need to pray for when praying for the church

Paul wrote more than anyone else in the Bible about the church therefore it seems a logical place to find some clues

At the beginning of almost all his letters to the churches he tells the churches that he has been “remembering them in his prayers” constantly.

 Whilst each of the churches had different issues that Paul addresses in his letters, there are somethings that he highlights that he is praying for and these are the ones that I have picked out to give us some headings to help guide us in our prayers remembering that we will have other issues unique to our church that we will need to pray for as well.

So the first heading is

Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10 “that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no division among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought”

Ephesians 4:3 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

I want to point out that unity does not mean uniformity, we are all individuals we don’t see everything the same way. But it’s not about what we want it’s about what God wants and finding that together.

Which brings me on to the second heading

Wisdom

Ephesians 1:17 ”I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ , the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”

Philippians 1:9-10 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,”

Colossians 1:9 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

How often do we for get to ask for wisdom and yet it was what Solomon in the Old Testament asked for first, he asked not for wisdom for his own benefit but so that he could rule the people better. So we ask not for wisdom to be right all the time but to know what God wants.

So the next heading

Strengthened and encouraged

Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit through your inner being,”

Ephesians 4:29 “ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Colossians 1:11 “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,”

We need strength to see things through, to keep going. Strength can come through the Holy Spirit but also it needs to come from one another. We need to appreciating each other, encouraging each other and working together.

But none of this will help if we forget the next bit

 Established in love

Ephesians 3:17-18  “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,”

Ephesians 4:2 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Love underpins everything else, love for God but also love for each other. This sounds easy but in reality is more difficult. To pray for something when a decision did go our way or for someone when we have been unintentionally hurt, that requires love.

All of this is for a reason, the great commission, the primary work of the church, to bring glory to God and

To bear fruit

Colossians 1:10 “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,”

This is why we do what we do and remember that it’s not just about how many people we have in a church service but a much wider way we bear fruit. Telling people the good news of Jesus Christ, sharing his love, building disciples

Highbury “a place to Share Christian friendship, explore Christian faith and enter into Christian mission with Christ at the centre and open to all”

Reading: Ephesians 1:15-22

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus

and your love towards all the saints,

and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you

as I remember you in my prayers.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,

may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation

as you come to know him,

so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened,

you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,

what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power

for us who believe,

according to the working of his great power.

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead

and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,

and above every name that is named,

not only in this age but also in the age to come.

And he has put all things under his feet

and has made him the head over all things for the church,

716 Come and find the quiet centre

1          Come and find the quiet centre
            in the crowded life we lead,
            find the room for hope to enter,
            find the frame where we are freed:
            clear the chaos and the clutter,
            clear our eyes, that we can see
            all the things that really matter,
            be at peace, and simply be.

2          Silence is a friend who claims us,
            cools the heat and slows the pace,
            God it is who speaks and names us,
            knows our being, touches base,
            making space within our thinking,
            lifting shades to show the sun,
            raising courage when we're shrinking,
            finding scope for faith begun.

3          In the Spirit let us travel,
            open to each other's pain,
            let our loves and fears unravel,
            celebrate the space we gain:
            there's a place for deepest dreaming,
            there's a time for heart to care,
            in the Spirit's lively scheming
            there is always room to spare!

Shirley Erena Murray (born 1931) from the author's collection In Every Corner Sing
© 1992 Hope Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
8 7 8 7 D Trochaic

Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 3540
Copied from HymnQuest: Copyright Licence Users' Edition
HymnQuest ID: 72435

Praying for the Church

And so we turn to praying for the church …

Share the Giving for Growth Prayer leaflet and introduce the various sections …

http://www.jesusfortoday.co.uk/highbury/Highbury GfG Prayer.pdf

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. Phil 4:6

Prayer is always a dangerous activity since it is a drawing near to the God who will change us.

Worship

Family

Our Church

Church Groups

Caring

Reaching Out

The Wider Picture

619,620 Spirit of the living God

Prayers of Concern

647 What a friend we have in Jesus

Words of Blessing