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Week of Prayer 2020

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Each year, our church begins with a Week of Prayer. It’s our way of saying, there are some basics that we constantly need to be reminded of. It’s the equivalent of helping your teenager remember to tidy up their room. Prayer is so essential to the life of the church because the posture of prayer is the essence of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Prayer is saying, “I’m not God and I can’t fix this, help me.” So, each year, around the start of the year, we begin with this rhythm.

This year, I asked my friend, Kole Farney, to serve us with a sermon on prayer. He chose Psalm 130 as his text and help us understand something about how needy we are and who God is. I hope you’ll listen to his sermon Wait for the Lord.

Kole also wrote a week of prayer devotional for our body. It’s so encouraging. Why don’t you take some time this week and join us in admitting that we can’t fix anything and we need God? You’ll find Him ready to draw near to you as you draw near to Him.

Weekend Recap – Week of Prayer Kickoff

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My 1/1/17 sermon at Crestview entitled Constant in Prayer is now online.  Prayer, even your devotion to prayer, isn’t enough to make you a Christian, after all, we’re not saved by works, otherwise we’d boast (Ephesians 2:9).  But, those who are new creations in Jesus are characterized by a devotion to prayer.  In this sermon, I sought to showcase this idea and remind my hearers that it is a commitment to which we must give ourselves.  I hope it proves helpful.

Weekend Preview – Week of Prayer

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This coming Lord’s Day, 1/1/17, we’ll gather at 10:15AM for worship (no Sunday School or Children’s Church) at Crestview.  This will kick off the Week of Prayer for us.  My sermon will hopefully propel this week.  Most of my work is around the idea of being “devoted to prayer”.  Nearly 10 times in Scripture, the people of God are characterized or called to be constant or devoted to prayer.  So, I’m going to tease out this idea in Scripture and hopefully encourage more practice of prayer in the coming year.  Pray for fruit from this.  And, join us Sunday at 10:15 if you’re able.

Prayer for Beginners

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Our church’s Week of Prayer is going to start this coming Sunday, January 1.  In doing some research for it, I came across this helpful post entitled Prayer for Beginners.  I hope it encourages you and reminds you of where we can start this coming new year…

  1. Pick a time and place.
  2. Listen before you speak.
  3. Prioritize the spiritual over the circumstantial.
  4. Don’t be afraid to stop and pray now.
  5. Identify your prayer circles.
  6. Ask whatever you wish — literally anything.
  7. Be willing to ask one more time.

Grab the entire post for elaboration on these things.

Weekend Recap – Waiting Expectantly

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My 2/21/16AM sermon, Waiting Expectantly from Luke 18:1-8, is now online.  This passage ends with a question, “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth?”  And, what I teased out was what the parable was about – inspiring people to pray consistently and not lose heart.  I hope it encourages you.  It also helped launch our church’s Week of Prayer.  Here’s more info on this week in the life of our church.

Weekend Recap – 2/1/15

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Just realized I never posted a recap from my Sunday’s sermon…been a busy week in church life.  We kicked off our Week of Prayer on Sunday and my sermon was a conglomeration of texts from Romans related to prayer.  I entitled the sermon Prayer In Romans.  We’ve also produced some resources related to our Week of Prayer.  One is simply a prayer devotional that people have been using each day to fire their hearts for prayer, based on Juan Sanchez’ recent article the Priority of Prayer (in Credo Magazine’s How Then Shall We Pray?).  We’ve also launched a Passport to Prayer, a way for people to connect to us throughout the year in prayer.  It features 10 different prayer stations and different requests related to church life.  I’ve heard great things about this so far.  It’s still not to late to join our Week of Prayer.  Join us!

Praying to Our God

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My sermon, Praying To Our God, from Psalm 34 is online.  This sermon, which served to kick off our church’s Week of Prayer, sought to encourage us to be a people of prayer by showing that God gives joy, listens to our prayers and comes near to help us.  We distributed our Week of Prayer devotionals and had an enjoyable morning looking heavenward for help.  I trust you had a glorious Lord’s Day kicking off the New Year.

Weekend Preview – Psalm 34

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For the next couple of Sundays, Crestview will be looking at Psalm 34.  This coming Lord’s Day, in particular, we will be thinking about prayer in this Psalm.  Those who cry to the Lord are heard.  We are called to praise. There is so much for us.  Over on Twitter, I’ve been tweeting meditations on these verses.  I would encourage you to read this Psalm and think about what it means for your prayer life.  If you are interested in some of our Week of Prayer resources, they are available here.