Prepare - 7/1/18

Our sermon passage for Sunday is John 15:18-6:4: 

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
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I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you."

Here are some ways you can pray as we approach our worship gathering: 

1. Pray for Jeremy as he prepares to preach the Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill Jeremy with understanding of the text and lead him to explain and apply it for those who gather with us. 

2. Pray for our Kids Ministry teachers. Ask that the Spirit would help them as they prepare to teach the Gospel to our children and that they would be filled with Spirit-given patience and energy on Sunday morning. 

3. Pray for our Missional Communities. Ask that our time worshipping together and conversations before and after our gathering would lead towards the strengthening and growth of our home groups. 

4. Pray for our witness. Ask God to continue shaping our church family into a church that visibly reflects the Gospel and for opportunities to connect and share with our neighborhood this week.