Read these three verses

Matthew 4:19

Romans 1:16

Matt 28v19,20

 What do they say to you?

 Why don’t you share your faith more often with others:

a) not sure of it.

b) don’t know how.

c)  fear rejection.

d)

Not one of these reasons will be acceptable when we stand before God.

Paul writes, ‘[My] life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about God’s mighty kindness and love’ (Acts 20:24 TLB).

You don’t have to be eloquent you just have to share the story! What story?  ’God was in Christ, restoring the world to Himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message He has given us to tell others’ (2 Corinthians 5:19 TLB).

 How then do we win someone to Christ? By attacking what they think? No, that alienates them.

 We must do three things:

1) convince them that we truly care about them

2) convince them that God truly cares about them

3) find their wounded area and apply God’s healing love to it .No one is argued into the Kingdom; people are loved into the Kingdom

 Pray for a fresh touch of God’s love for lost people, especially those close to you – family friends, work colleagues, neighbours who don’t know Jesus.

 Why not write a prayer list of five or six friends you’d love to see come to the Lord and look out for opportunities to love them a bit nearer the Kingdom

End the Prayer Week on a HIGH!

It may be the end of the January prayer week, but it could be the beginning of a decade of significance if you’ve really taken time to pray these 4 spokes into your life

 It’s said that people don’t determine their future, they determine their habits and their habits determine their future. Develop these four habits – the word, prayer, fellowship, witnessing – and you’ll go far!!!

FRIDAY NIGHT WORSHIP & PRAYER NIGHT

Two things about prayer are truly amazing:

1) God listens when we pray. ‘”…You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it”‘ (see Mark 11:24 NLT). You may not have much clout anywhere else, but when you pray God listens.

2) We seldom pray. We’ve the greatest privilege imaginable – access to the control centre of the Universe – yet we rarely use it. And our lack of prayer surprises God. Through the prophet Ezekiel He lamented: ‘”I sought for a man among them who would…stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one”‘ (Ezekiel 22:30 NKJ).

Scripture attaches breathtaking power to prayer.

Jesus said, ‘Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire? (Matthew 26:41 TM).

Could language be clearer?

See you tonight!

Read these two verses Matthew 18:20; Hebrews 10:24-25.

 Write down what they are saying

Geese

Ever wonder why geese in the autumn fly in a ‘V’ formation and not just randomly?

Geese know that to complete the long trip south, to Africa they have to fly united.

Scientists tell us that flying in formation increases their flight range by 71%. Air waves created each time a bird flaps its wings provide uplift for the next one in formation, supporting it, decreasing its work load and conserving its energy. A solo goose could never complete the trip but in formation the youngest, the oldest and even the weakest get there. In other words, they do collectively what they could never do alone.

 When God said, ‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another,’ He was saying,

‘Stay in formation children! Enjoy the uplift!’

You weren’t designed to fly solo no matter what your rank, calling, gifting or maturity level. You’re a part of the body of Christ, created to function in concert full partnership with all the other parts. ‘The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”‘ (1 Corinthians 12:21 NIV).

Occasionally a goose, disoriented or overconfident, goes on autopilot and finds itself adrift. Soon, however, its wings become heavy from exhaustion and it loses altitude. It begins to feel the drag of increasing wind resistance and unless it is able to pulls its weakened body back into formation alongside its feathered fellow pilgrims it will fall to the ground and die.

 Jesus said, ‘Look at the birds’ (Matthew 6:26 NIV). So get back in formation (and fellowship) and stay there! Rejoin that small group you used to belong to; ring them up and say when are we meeting again. If you don’t have a small group to fly with start one or ask the church for a group you could join  up with.

How come only one in ten people who make a commitment to Christ are still serving Him five years later? Could it be they’ve tried to fly solo?

 Ask yourself

(a) If you discovered your spouse had been unfaithful, who could you confide in?

(b) if your biopsy confirmed cancer, who would you turn to?

(c) if you were lonely, where would you go?

 As you start this new decade decide to get in formation.

Why not list any believers you know in our church who just don’t belong in a team, group or ministry right now; who are out on a limb, loners. There’s so many of them, just longing to be invited in from the cold. Ask God for the courage to track down their details, call them and invite them to join you for a time of fellowship. Jesus said, ‘… men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.’

And love ain’t what you say, it’s what you do!

Get on the phone TONIGHT

Why not ring someone up, check if they are in, and go and pray with them tonight in their home

Bless them. Let them know you appreciate them. Go and pray with them.

Blessing Your Brothers & Sisters

At the start of a New Year, why not have a sort out of your things and try and find something that you don’t really need to keep but it could be just what another brother or sister has been praying for.

 On Friday at the ‘Worship & Prayer Night’ we open the Kings Table, where you can bring anything to give away – clothes, kitchen things, food, toys, dvd’s, books. Anything  - except junk!

And anyone can take something there that they need. Its called fellowship – Acts 2 style!

Old phones Got any old mobile or house phones you no longer use?

Bring these as well. Instead of gathering dust we can send them off to be recycled and raise funds for charity work. Put them in our phone bank.

‘…ANYONE WHO WANTS…COME AND DRINK THE WATER OF LIFE…’

REVELATION 22:17

How long can you go without water?

That’s what the Babylonians were asking as they encircled Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar had cut off their food and other essential  supplies.

So how long could they survive? A month passed, then two, then an entire year; still they held out.

The secret of the city’s survival lay in a hidden water supply which came from a spring outside the city walls. King Hezekiah had cut a 1,777-foot tunnel through solid rock. From there, water passed under the city walls to a reservoir inside called the Pool of Siloam. Without it God’s people would have gone down in defeat.(2 Kings 20v20)

A victorious, effective Christian draws daily from their heavenly source. If your security, your strength, your self-worth or your strategy for living come from any source other than God, you’re vulnerable! Everything you need comes from God, so protect that relationship, nurture it for it will always be the focal point of Satan’s attack.

A day without God’s Word  and Prayer isn’t a slip, it’s a set-up for failure!

Prayerless-ness isn’t carelessness, it’s craziness or arrogance!

‘Well, I’m doing okay and I don’t pray much.’

Maybe you haven’t reached your hour of testing yet. When it comes, and it will, what will you draw on? Answer this: if you can do it without God, is it even of God? If it’s not, it’ll go up in smoke (See 1 Corinthians 3:13). So, stay connected to your source! Set aside time each day to spend with God – and discipline yourself to keep it!

If you’re diligent about keeping other appointments, yet you change or cancel appointments with God any time you feel like it, imagine how that makes Him feel?

You say, ‘But I’m so busy.’ That’s the lamest excuse you can offer. How you spend your time reveals what’s important to you. If you don’t pray, it’s because either you don’t realise its potential or you don’t think you need God’s help.

Change your schedule! Rearrange your priorities! Make time for prayer or you won’t succeed (as God counts success).

Martin Luther once said, ‘I have so much to do today that I’ll never get it done unless I first spend three hours in prayer.’

John Wesley said, ‘God does nothing, except in answer to prayer.’

It’s not optional. If you want to see anything of worth accomplished in your life, you must pray, and pray with confidence.

‘How bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to His will, sure that He’s listening. And if we’re confident that He’s listening, we know that what we ask for is as good as ours’                         

(1Jn 5:14-15 TM).

What assurance! Decide today to recommit yourself to prayer.

Decide you will pray every day. Start with 5 minutes a day… every day this week, then decide to do it again next week …keep it going…see your pray life grow into something amazing!

Because

‘What you do daily, determines what you become permanently.‘

 TODAY

If your prayer life is a struggle, then why not take the plunge and ask someone to be a Prayer Partner and get together with them weekly for an hour to pray together. Half an hour listening to each other and reading a bible passage , then 30 minutes praying together for each other and the other things God puts on your hearts .

‘When two of you get together on anything…and make a prayer of it, My Father in heaven goes into action”‘ (Matthew 18:19 TM).

 Does any other activity promise such results?

1. My best time to read God’s Word every day is ………………………………
2. My best place to read God’s Word every day is………………………………
3. I will get a notebook/journal to write down everything God says to me