071013: Welcome to the TAB #2 -- Prayer

a.       What is Prayer?

                                                               i.      Communication with God, someone talks the other listens

b.      Why is Prayer Important?

                                                               i.      Builds relationship with God

                                                             ii.      Can give direction

                                                            iii.      Helps us to surrender problems to someone who can do something about it

                                                           iv.      Can bring about change for you, those around you, and even the world

c.       How do we Pray?

                                                               i.      What do I pray about?

1.      Just like regular communication between people it can be for all different kinds of reasons

a.       Get to know each other, Request help, Request information, For fun, Thank the person, To give information, etc…

2.      Nothing is too trivial, he won’t get annoyed, and you won’t waste his time (he is outside of time and he is all powerful, he can handle all requests, without a sweat)

                                                             ii.      What words do I use?

1.      Any you would normally use, as long as they are respectful

2.      You don’t have to be repetitive, you don’t have to say God’s name over and over again, you don’t have to be fancy

3.      You can speak aloud or not

                                                            iii.      Where/When can I pray?

1.      Anywhere at Anytime

a.       1^st Thessalonians 5:17, 18b – “Pray continually…for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

b.      Word means “constantly reoccurring, throughout the day”

2.      You don’t have to stand, sit, bow, etc… whatever is the most natural

3.      You don’t have to close your eyes, bow your head, fold your hands, those are to help you concentrate

d.      How do we know it works?

                                                               i.      The Bible shows it works

                                                             ii.      Other believer’s stories shows it works

                                                            iii.      Our own answered prayers show it works

1.      Illus: Car healing

e.       Does God answer every prayer?

                                                               i.      God hears every prayer, but he doesn’t always give us what we ask for 

                                                             ii.      Sometimes God says yes, no, and wait

                                                            iii.      Why does He say no sometimes?

1.      Bad motives – James 4:3 – “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

2.      We are living a life of sin – Psalm 66:18-19 – “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.”

3.      No faith – Matthew 13:58 – “And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.”

4.      Not good for us or the best for us (or for those around us)

                                                           iv.      The hard part is we don’t always understand why he says no at the time, instead we get hurt because we didn’t get what we wanted.  But God has a plan and that plan is for the best for everyone on this planet, including you.

II.                 Conclusion

a.       Be in prayer daily, find other opportunities to pray: MCT, Pre-service prayer

b.      Make a prayer list

c.       Fill out Group Prayer Slip and Pray over with extra Time

To Boldly Go! #1: Pray and Give -- 041112

Tonight we started our new series for the month called: To Boldly Go!  Over the last six weeks we have talked about a survey of the Bible.  For those of you here last week we talked about the epilogue, that Jesus was returning but that we have jobs until He returns.  One of those jobs is what this sereis is about: To Boldly Go!  We are called by God to be active "amabassadors" in our world, tryin gto get people to get back into a good relationship with God.  This mission is given in 3 parts by our denomination: Pray, Give, Go.  We will be talking about Pray and Give tonight because they both focus on other who are doing the mission already, then next week we will talk about us going on the mission personally.  The third week we have a special speaker who has just gotten back from going. 

Paul, a missionary in the arly church writes this to Christians ina  church and I think missionaries today would ask the same.  Ephesians 6:19-20.  We are to be praying boldly (which means without fear) for our missionaries.  Asking God to help those who are on the mission to accomplish their calling, and help them accomplish it more effectively.  it is a big responsibility, but it is worthwhile and needed. 

2nd Corinthians 9:6-13.  We are to give boldly (without fear) to our missionaries, so they can do their job more effectively.  This passage gives us several things to keep in mind with our giving:  #1.  Give generously.  #2.  When we give generously, God helps us out and rewards us, so that we can give even more.  #3.  We should determine what we are to give, and give it cheerfully not out of guilt or coercion.  #4.  Not only does your giving help the missionary it brings others closer to God.

You are a vital part of this mission to Boldly Go and change our world, and the first part of that is to give and to pray! 

I give tonight: C+
Favorite Moment: Easter Egg Challenges

181 Days: Pray -- 091510

Tonight we continued with our series about changing our schools over the next 181 days, until summer begins. We have talked about how we need to be changed by God first, then we need to start bringing God into the converstation, the next stop was to start praying. When we pray something starts to happen, God starts to change things. God does here us when we talk to Him, it creates a closer relationship with Him, but it also transforms the things we are praying for. We challenged you to do a prayer challenge for the week and look forward to seeing how each of you did with your challenge was we look to see God changing our schools into something great!

I give tonigth: B+
Favorite Moment: The Prayer Challenge Cards

Video from Wednesday, February 24th

Can You Hear Me Now?

Disciplined: Prayer -- Wednesday, February 24th

Tonight we continued our disciplined series. We are not talking about punihsment but training in order to gain a closer relationship with God and order our life around him. We talked about the Christian discipline called prayer.

Prayer is talking with God and God wants us to do it. Why is it so important? It is time with God, it builds relationship between the two of you, and it can make things change. What can you pray? Ask (things for yourself or others), Share (emotions, love, what is going on), and Listen. When should you pray? Constantly reoccuringly throughout the day. Does God listen? Yes, nothing is to small or large, he is never too busy. Sometimes he will answer yes, sometimes he will answer no, and sometimes it will take him time to answer, but he always does. Make it a discipline in your life to pray, and pray more.

I give tonight: A
Favorite Moment: Building a dinosaur through a door

Praying for Guidance -- Sunday, November 8th

Today we continued our story in Genesis 24:11-22. In this massage Abraham makes a dying request for his son Isaac. He asks his servant to find a wife for Isaac. She has to be from his family, in order to avoid false worship and avoid loss of identity. The servant must find her and keep Isaac from leaving Canaan if he can't. The servant leaves for Ur, 100's of miles away and arrives tired and thristy with his camels. He prays and asks God to help him identify the girl, which God does help him. It is interesting though because he prayed, and God answered his prayer even as he prayed, which means God started to answer this even before he prayed.

So what does this teach us? We are all looking for guidance about what to do with our lives and where to go. When we do, we should pray and ask God for guidance. We should read the Bible and see what God has to say about it. We should get wisdom from wise people. We should trust that God is already working on it. Don't pray unless you are willing to follow through with what God tells you to do. Don't just assume you know what to do, life sometimes seems obvious, but we need to learn to involve God in all stages, even when we think it is obvious. Then wait for the answer.

I give this morning: A+
Favorite Moment: God's plan being like dominos falling