Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ /02~/19~/03/

 

Welcome once again to the prayer time.

It is wonderful to share this time together and to cooperate with God this evening.

I pray that each of you may gain the sense that prayer is something that takes us into the realm that supersedes our own resourcefulness, wisdom and understanding.

When God is in control, He uses His people as He sees fit.

He rarely does the same thing the same way, twice.

Our God who is infinitely creative has never recreated a snowflake or a human being.

He gifts us differently . . . he awakens different passions and burdens in each of our hearts.

What God awakens within us is for His glory.

So let us pray this evening more than we do anything else.

Let us see eternity on our own hearts.

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.[1] (Ecc.

3:11)

 

*Step One – Getting Down*

* *

*Is there any resistance within me tonight relative to our being together?

Give it to God and allow Him to speak to you.

Often we naturally resist following an agenda when it comes to prayer.

Rather than allowing God to lead and guide us we actually resist Him.

The following things need to be surrendered:*

* *

*q       Sanctified time.

This hour has 60 minutes and they all belong to God.

Take your hands off of it.

Let’s let God determine the things that we will talk about.

We have a predetermined prayer list so that we avoid praying publicly about the same things and because we have made a commitment to take these requests before the Lord.

I believe that these names and situations need to be spoken aloud before God.*

* *

*q       Personal areas of estrangement.

Did you ever encounter a person when there was something that was not just right?

A “taboo” topic – something that you just didn’t want to get into with them.

The more forbidden areas that we have in our relationships with others, the more distance we create.

We cannot possibly experience intimacy with God if there are things that we cannot talk about.*

* *

q       *Agreement.

It seems that agreement is something that God looks for when he chooses to work through a group of people.

*“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

[2] (Matt.

18:19)

* *

*Agreement is necessary – that means someone must put their own personal preference and agenda aside.

Others ideas may differ from your own and still be legitimate and right.

It is possible for more than one person to have a right perspective and yet a different perspective.

We’ve observed the same thing but from a different angle.*

* *

*q       Individuality.

When we come together as a body, we represent ourselves as a whole.

Therefore our concerns should be broader in their scope.

We pray that God will help us to grasp a larger picture.

It is not that we lose our individual concerns but that we grasp larger ones and that we cast off our own concerns so that others may share them.*

* *

*Let Us Pray*

\\ *Praises and prayer requests for February 18, 2003 are:*

* *

*/Global Prayer-net is the weekly prayer and praise page of Global Partners.

This week’s concerns are:/*

* *

*GERMANY* This weekend The Wesleyan Church of Germany will be conducting a church training seminar to develop disciples.

The focus of the seminar will be to help attendees give up sin, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to catch the vision of our church in Germany.

Ø      *Pray for* the seminar leaders to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit when presenting the seminar material.

Ø      *Pray for* the Holy Spirit to prepare the hearts of the attendees to hear the Word.

* *

Ø      *Pray that *as a result of the seminar believers will become fully devoted followers, the lost will be saved, and the church will be strengthened.

* *

*BRAZIL*

 

Ø      *Praise the Lord!* /Tom and Grace Ensz/ report that Maria, a seminary resident student, is astounding them with her bold faith.

She arrived on campus with no way to pay for her tuition and board but knew God would supply her needs.

Her church, located in a poor section of the city, is also struggling, however, by faith they promised to pay a good portion of her cost.

Once the need was made known, her monthly tuition and board have been covered by Wesleyans across the Manaus District.

Ø      *Pray for* Flavio.

He is a seminary student who wants to study full-time and live on campus.

The Brazilian churches are helping him met his financial needs, but he needs medical clearance before he can become a full-time student.

Last semester he developed a heart condition.

He is in his early 20s and eager to serve the Lord.

Ø      *Pray for* the Tom and Grace Ensz family.

In early February two of their computers and a video camera were taken in a robbery.

This has affected Tom’s records and files.

They report that throughout this ordeal they have sensed God’s presence.

* *

*SOUTHERN AFRICA* From the Emmanuel Wesleyan Bible College (EWBC) in Swaziland, drums can be heard from the campus of a nearby witch doctor’s college.

The witch doctor’s campus can also be seen from EWBC.

/Dorcas Croft/ reports that God has given the EWBC students a burden for the students of the neighboring campus.

EWBC students have been given the opportunity to visit and share the gospel.

One student, who is a converted witch doctor, gave his testimony of victory over the power of sin and darkness in his life.

Ø      *Pray that* God will strengthen and protect the EWBC students as God uses them to share the light of Christ.

Ø      *Pray that* the power of darkness will be defeated at the witch doctor’s college.

* *

*LATIN AMERICA*

 

Ø      *Praise the Lord!* GO-Net Volunteer /Phil Miller/ reports that since January 1, 2003, CREA (the Latin America resource center in Costa Rica) has had over 750 Christian training resources downloaded from their web site.

They are also sending out resources on CDs to churches that do not have Internet access.

Ø      Continue to *pray for* God to supply CREA with more translators and proofreaders for the materials they want to distribute.

Ø      *Pray for *the many teams of workers that are coming from the United States in the next several months to assist Latin American churches with building new churches, children’s Bible schools, and team evangelism.

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[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version.

1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) .

Zondervan: Grand Rapids

[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version.

1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) .

Zondervan: Grand Rapids