Prayer Warriors

Worship Service for January 17, 2021

WELCOME

Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s online worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Christ is also the head of the church, which is His body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything. For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him, God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

Colossians 1:18-22

OPENING WORSHIP SONGS

Beautiful One

Hughes, Tim

Wonderful, so wonderful is Your unfailing love,
Your cross has spoken mercy over me.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
No heart could fully know.
How glorious, how beautiful You are.

Beautiful One I love,
Beautiful One I a-dore
Beautiful One my soul must sing.

Powerful, so powerful
Your glory fills the skies,
Your mighty works dis-played for all to see.
The beauty of Your majesty awakes my heart to sing
How marvelous, how wonderful You are.

Beautiful One I love,
Beautiful One I a-dore
Beautiful One my soul must sing.

Beautiful One I love,
Beautiful One I a-dore
Beautiful One my soul must sing.

You’ve opened my eyes to Your wonders anew.
You’ve captured my heart with this love,
‘Cause nothing on earth is as beautiful as You.

You’ve opened my eyes to Your wonders anew.
You’ve captured my heart with this love,
‘Cause nothing on earth is as beautiful as You.

Beautiful One I love,
Beautiful One I a-dore
Beautiful One my soul must sing.

My soul, my soul must sing,
My soul, my soul must sing,
My soul, my soul must sing, Beautiful One.

My soul, my soul must sing,
My soul, my soul must sing,
My soul, my soul must sing, Beautiful One.

Beautiful One I love,
Beautiful One I a-dore
Beautiful One my soul must sing.

© 2002 Thankyou Music
CCLI License No. 1843349

Awesome In Power

Founds, Rick

Oh God, awesome in power.
Oh God, gentle in love.
Oh God, You are my God
And I love You.

Oh God, full of compassion
Oh God, faithful and true.
Oh God, You are my God
And I love You.

Oh God, You are my God.
And I love You.

©1990 Maranatha Praise, Inc.
CCLI License No. 1843349

OPENING PRAYER

Lord Christ, we worship You as Lord because You are the first, the last, the living One. We recognize You as Lord over Your Church and Lord of our lives. For You have spoken mercy over us through the power of Your cross. We love You. Help us, we pray, to love You more as a result of our gathering here today to worship. In the name of Jesus, amen.

THE GIVING OF THE LORD’S OFFERING

I will be at the church today until 12 noon if you would like to bring your offering. Or you may send it in to:

CrossPointe Community Church
PO Box 126
Chippewa Lake, OH 44215

As we consider the opportunity to give, I remind you of Malachi 3:10:

‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My Temple. If you do,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!’

PRAYER SONG

My Peace

Routledge, Keith

My peace I give unto you.
It’s a peace that the world cannot give.
It’s a peace that the world cannot understand.
Peace to know, peace to live.
My peace I give unto you.

My love I give unto you.
It’s a love that the world cannot give.
It’s a love that the world cannot understand.
Love to know, love to live.
My love I give unto you.

©1975, 1980 and this arrangement ©1997 Kenwood Music.
Admin. by Maranatha! Music
CCLI License No. 1843349

MORNING PRAYER

Brad Winter

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you for the freedom of being able to meet together to worship. Although not in our church at this time we pray to be reunited in person once again very soon.

God, we know that you have been flooded with prayers of concern, understanding, and healing from ALL of the events of this world unfolding right before our very eyes.

Help us to understand and realize that everything that is strong and everlasting is built on a solid foundation. This can be illustrated by seeing the amazing structures around the world that have been built by talented men and women. Or large trees created by you that boast a strong root system and stand tall for many years. God, you are the foundation for humanity. Those who believe in you and build their life on the foundation cemented in Your love will be successful and live a prosperous and everlasting life. The world is crumbling before our eyes. That is evidence that more people need to turn to You. Encourage us as Christians to stand strong and share the great news!

“‭By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” ‭(1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:10-11‬)

Please bless this day and all days and give us strength in Jesus’ name, amen.

SCRIPTURE

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And He healed every kind of disease and illness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

He said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into his fields.”

Matthew 9:35-38

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

I Timothy 2:1-6

THE MESSAGE

Randy K’Meyer

Prayer Warriors

A teenage girl prayed, “Lord, I’m not going to pray for myself today; I’m going to pray for others,” which by the way, makes her an intercessor.

Yet, she ended her intercessory prayer with, “And God, please give my mother a handsome son-in-law!”

Wasn’t that a clever way of getting a request in for herself. Well at least she had good intentions . . . praying for others.

Were you aware that you are never more like Jesus than when you pray for someone other than yourself?

In John 17, He begins His ministry of intercession in His high Priestly Prayer in which He prays not only for His disciples at that time, but also for all who will ever become disciples through their word.

Romans 8:34 says, “Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting at the place of honor at God’s right hand, interceding for us.”

Hebrews 7:25 “Because Jesus lives forever, His priesthood lasts forever. Therefore; He is able once and forever to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.”

Intercessors recognize two Biblical truths:

First, there is a world filled with people with tremendous spiritual needs. There are millions living as if there had never been a Son of God who are within reach of the power of intercession.

Second, intercessors believe there is a God in heaven who can supply every spiritual need through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

When God’s people take hold of those two Biblical truths, they, like Jesus, are filled with compassion for others. Matthew tells us when Jesus saw the needs of people, who were wandering lost like sheep without a shepherd He was filled with compassion for them. And He tells His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful; so PRAY to the Lord of the harvest and ask Him to send more people into the mission field.

Prayer, intercessory prayer, is the most important thing that we can do to help God bring His kingdom to the peoples of the earth.

Perhaps you weren’t aware of this before, but you are an intercessor.

You pray for others; I know you do. You pray for your loved ones who are ill and in need of healing. You pray for your children, your aging parents. You pray for your country. That’s why Paul includes “kings and all who are in authority” (2:1)

When you pray for others, you are an intercessor; I call you ‘prayer warriors.’

Those who engage in the ministry of intercession can and do make a kingdom impact in the lives of those they pray for; be it individual persons or whole communities.

Christian author David Fitch tells how intercessory prayer had a tremendous impact on a neighborhood in Sacramento, California. A group of eight people from two churches felt called to Detroit Boulevard, one of the most notorious crime-ridden neighborhoods in all of Sacramento. These eight individuals walked through the neighborhood praying over each home and praying for the presence of Christ to reign over violence and addiction.

One of the eight, Sacramento police officer and gang detective Michael Xiong, reported that “each time we prayed over the houses, we felt the weight of oppression becoming lighter.” A woman from one of the houses confronted them. When she discovered they were praying for the community, she asked for healing, and God healed her.

Two years later a local newspaper reported that there were no homicides, no robberies, or sex crimes, and only one assault between 2013 and 2014. Detroit Boulevard had been transformed by a small group of people who began earnestly praying for the people living in that neighborhood asking God to bring blessing. ¹

When this coronavirus is over, won’t it be wonderful when a group of us get together to walk the streets and neighborhoods of Chippewa Lake and pray for the people who live here. We are a community church and because we are, we are committed to Sharing God’s Grace with Our Community in a number of different ways.

But our greatest influence will come as a result of praying for the people who live in this community.

And what shall we pray for them?

In general, we will ask for God’s blessing, but more specifically, we will pray people to come to know Christ by faith.

Paul writes, “This (prayer) is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave His life to purchase freedom for everyone” (I Tim 2:1-6a)

This is the arena where diehard prayer warriors hang out, pleading to God on behalf of parents and children, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews, friends and acquaintances; asking the Father to by some means open their hearts to the truth that God loves them so much that He gave His only son. (John 3:16).

The great 16th century Scottish Presbyterian minister, John Knox, constantly carried a burden for the people of Scotland. Night after night he prayed on the wooden floor of his hideout from Queen Mary. When his wife pleaded with him to get some sleep, he answered, “How can I sleep when my land is not saved?” Knox would pray all night in agonizing tones, “Lord, give me Scotland or I die!” God did. Revival broke out all over Scotland. ²

Prayer, whether on behalf of one or a group of individuals is the most important component of reaching people for the Lord. Prayer invites the Spirit of Jesus to begin to work on peoples’ hearts; such that when an invitation is given to attend church, or when they do attend, or when someone shares their faith with another, or when that person decides to read the Bible for themselves, or they watch a Christian movie, it will be received into a receptive heart.

Because that’s true, what a tremendous responsibility and wonderful privilege we have to bring people before God in prayer;

asking Him to soften their hearts,

asking Him to open their minds to the reality that God loves them,

asking Him to bring them into contact with the gospel of Christ’s love,

asking Him to help that person be receptive,

asking Him to cultivate the seed until it brings forth a crop of believing faith, and then rejoicing with Him knowing we have participated with Him in the salvation of one soul!

For me, it was four men, faithful members of my home church; Raymond Rex, Harold Smeltz, Doc Sowers, Orville Stanfield who met at the McDonald’s in Willard, Ohio every Tuesday morning to pray through a list of names of men, including mine.

The great and influential people of the world are the people who pray on behalf of others.

I am not referring to those who talk about prayer, nor those who say they believe in the power of prayer, nor those who do their best to explain prayer, but rather, I am talking about the people who actually take time and pray. They don’t have the time; they are busy like the rest of us. So they prioritize their time, they allocate the time they would have given something else and they set aside that time to pray for others.

Why? Because they believe in the power of prayer and because they believe that praying for someone else is the ultimate act of selfless love.

In fact, someone called intercessory prayer, “Love on Its Knees.” And that’s what intercessory prayer is: Love on its knees. When Jesus said, “Love one another,” part of that love includes praying. Perhaps that’s the greatest act of love that you and I can engage in.

General Robert E. Lee was a man of intercessory prayer. He wrote: “Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray–to really pray. Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight–all through the day. Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches. Let us pray for our nation. But most importantly, let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and His redeeming love.” ³

Let us all unite in prayer to God and asking Him to fill our hearts with compassion raising us up as an army of intercessors . . . prayer warriors. Let us awake to our holy calling to pray for the spiritual needs of others. For this is the greatest need in the church and in the world.

PRAYER

(Please pray as you are led by God’s Spirit.)

CLOSING SONG

Little is Much When God is In It

Brock, Dwight/Suffield, Mrs. F.W. Kittie Louise

In the harvest field now ripened,
There’s a work for all to do;
Hark, the voice of God is calling,
To the harvest calling you.

Little is much when God is in it,
Labor not for wealth or fame;
There’s a crown and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ name.

Does the place you’re called to labor
Seem so small and little known?
It is great if God is in it
And He’ll not forget His own.

Little is much when God is in it,
Labor not for wealth or fame;
There’s a crown and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ name.

When the conflict here is ended
And our race on earth is run;
He will say if we are faithful
Welcome home, my child well done.

Little is much when God is in it,
Labor not for wealth or fame;
There’s a crown and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ name.

©1969 Stamps-Baxter Music (Admin. by Brentwood Music Publishing, Inc.)
CCLI License No. 1843349

BENEDICTION

Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

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1 David E. Fitch, Seven Practices for the Church on Mission, [Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Press, © 2018), Pages 120-121.

2 https://heraldofhiscoming.org/index.php/read-the-herald/past-issues/238-past-issues/2003/aug03/2932-ablaze-with-a-passion-for-souls-8-03

3 http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/prayer.htm