Hey Waite Park!
We have something exciting to share with you. Our fall Focus Season is beginning on Sunday, October 21st! In case you're new around here a Focus Season when we set aside five weeks where the whole church studies the same thing. We design a series based on a particular topic where we want to grow as a church and we preach about it, our small groups study it, and we even have daily devotional guides and family devotions so you can get the most out of the time.
This fall Focus Season will be called Prayer: The Master's Class. As I talk to many Christians, one of the biggest frustrations of their spiritual walk has to do with prayer. They don't pray enough. They don't see answers to prayer. The might not even know how to pray or what to pray for. So, for five weeks, we will learn from the master--Jesus.
In Luke, chapter 11, the disciples came to Jesus and requested, "Teach us to pray..." That's when Jesus taught them what we call The Lord's Prayer. Jesus' point wasn't to get us to repeat the words of the Lord's prayer as a liturgy (although there's nothing wrong with that), but his point was, "These are the kinds of things you should pray for." So, we'll work our way through The Lord's Prayer, focusing on the topics Jesus told us to pray about.
We'll start with the basics of prayer. What is prayer? How should we pray? Do the words we use matter?
Then we'll move on to prayers of Devotion where we become reoriented from our will to God's will. Next, we'll talk about prayers of Petition--what kinds of things should we ask for? Should we pray for others or only ourselves? On November 11th, we'll look at prayer of Confession in which we admit to God what he already knows about us so we can experience his forgiveness and the power to move forward. Finally, we'll talk about prayer as spiritual warfare. How does prayer impact the spiritual realm and how do we pray prayers with spiritual power? That's the five weeks. (Since Thanksgiving interrupts our Focus Season, we'll add a bonus sermon on the practice of Solitude.)
The value of a Focus Season is to have others who will help you be diligent about practicing. The best way to do that is to be a part of a small group. In small group, you'll process the sermon together, review your weeks practicing prayer and hold each other accountable to learn and grow together. If you're not currently part of a small group, contact Pastor Keith and we'll find a place for you.
During this focus season, we have a number of goals for individuals and as a church, including:
Forming a habit of regular, private prayer time.
Developing a constant awareness of God's presence.
Learning to pray specifically and seeing answers to prayer.
Shaping our church culture to be unified by and empowered by prayer.
Teaching our small groups to engage in times of spiritually effective prayer.
We hope you'll make the time to join us for this critical season.
Blessings,
Pastor Kory